Serana Character Philosphy

The Character of Serana, as depicted in SDA

Main Goals: 

I am aiming to build upon vanilla Serana, but not be constrained by it. That means all facets of her character that were either explored in depth (her sarcasm, witty personality), or even those just merely hinted (romance, and non-platonic feelings for the player). With more recent updates, I aimed to (and want to continue) exploring a more open and broken side of her character- a psychologically damaged and previously indoctrinated sexual assault victim; a side of her character that Serana herself tries to cover up and run away from, using her occasionally snarky comments, sarcasm, and comedic banter.

I intend to portray a personal progression already shown and hinted at in the vanilla game- a progression from a largely cynical and irreverent Serana, not knowing who she should trust (she can’t even trust her mother since she was forcibly locked up in a sarcophagus), to a much more open woman, knowing that there are people who matter to her.

Serana is looking for genuine affection and relationships- something to fill in the rift in her heart that was left from her dysfunctional family. In terms of other goals or plans, she’d want to increase her affinity in magic, and to explore the rest of Tamriel (both hinted at in vanilla). 

Serana’s Interests:

Besides magic, she is interested in alchemy and gardening (as she did help with her mother’s garden). She likes reading books and has some affinity for singing.

Serana’s moral values:

She values established trust. Despite the devious and deceitful characters that her parents are, Serana values truth, integrity, and honesty with those that she cares about. Additionally, she likes someone who isn’t so uptight; she enjoys exchanging playful banter. In terms of what puts her off, she doesn’t like being manipulated, decisions being forced upon both her and her friends (hence how she reacts negatively during the “Silver Hand” quest).  

A lot of the minor details of her character (theft, assassination, serving other daedra, etc…) can be dependent on player choice. That means she'd generally be okay with the player joining any playable Skyrim faction. These are not core facets of her character, so she can skew anywhere from Chaotic Neutral to Lawful Good (Serana however will never lean towards the far spectrum of Evil. Even the ‘bad guy’ side in Dawnguard can be seen as Chaotic Good, because you still are trying to stop an evil tyrant and save the world).