Summary
- Sera is a divisive character loved by some and disliked by others due to her provocative and unapologetic nature.
- Sera's romancers can marry her in Trespasser; she brings levity to the plot, but her character is flawed and unlikable for some.
- Sera's backstory, motivations, and complex relationships with her heritage and trauma make her a realistic and relatable character.
Dragon Age: Inquisition has a cast of complex characters who evoke a range of responses in fans, and Sera is one of the most divisive among them. She’s strongly loved by her fans and deeply disliked by those she alienates, and she’s nothing if not provocative in all the ways one might expect a rogue with an agenda from modern Thedas to be. She’s not a character to influence or win over, and she doesn’t need the Inquisition to thrive. If given a chance, Sera can be either the best partner in crime one could ask for or the person to shatter players’ hearts if her beliefs are challenged too forcefully. She’s a strong flavor and leaves a bad aftertaste in some mouths, but her distinctness makes her one of the most compellingly written characters in the lineup.
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For all her flaws, Sera lovers also have plenty to enjoy with her in Inquisition: her romancers can marry her in Trespasser, she’s got a neurodivergent mix of keen justice and anarchy, and she can bring levity to an otherwise heavy plot. She’s conflicted, limited in some of her black-and-white thinking, loyal to herself and to Inquisitors who don’t want to be shackled to the past. She doesn’t care if she’s problematic and isn’t interested in being fixed or confronted. That doesn’t mean her character doesn’t undergo any growth or change. It’s just that Sera is keen to leave the dark things behind and embrace new, forward-thinking things, as imperfect as her visions are. It’s unclear where Sera’s trajectory eventually takes her, but wherever she is, she’s probably still convinced she had the right idea, and The Veilguard doesn’t prove her wrong.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Sera’s entire character arc in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
7 Sass Of The City
Sera Lives For Irreverent Honesty
Sera is pure chaos, creative, and a great laugh for players who like pranks and a light-hearted approach in general. She’s not averse to a mean-spirited laugh, either. So long as things don’t get too serious or too close to her hot-button topics, Sera has a literally endless quiver to ride or die with the Inquisitor. It’s possible to see her only through this lens, and Sera is upfront about her approach and style.
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The downside to her personality is that she’s very secure in it, so if this type of character rubs the player the wrong way, Sera can be irretrievably unlikable. Players who romance her but have too much empathy for the Dalish will be broken up with. She’s unapologetic in her bigotry, which is enough for some players to send her away permanently. She’s far from being a paragon to aspire to because that’s not what her story is about.
6 Only Elfy To The Eye
Andrastian, Political, & The Underdog Hero
Sera has an interesting mix of disenfranchisement and privilege in her background. Originally from the Denerim Alienage’s infamous orphanage, her first years were harrowing. Then, she was adopted by Lady Emmald into not only a human family but one of the nobility. Sera, though, is unwanted by all: her relationship with her elven heritage is mostly traumatic, and apart from her adoptive family, she is just a knife-ear to the human nobles around her.
Having denounced any attachment to or insight into her elven heritage, Sera is also an Andrastian and prefers human culture to the point that she mostly has contempt for anything “elfy”. She doesn’t resonate with everything human, though, and she shuns the opportunity to bridge these different worlds as someone who can move between them. Instead, she focuses on bringing down the system that fuels her excessive violence, one noble at a time.
5 Bee Punk Anarchy
The Only Good Nobles Are Dead Nobles
Sera’s goals revolve around helping the disadvantaged in Thedas, and she sees the core of the problem as a class divide between the “little people” and the nobility. That said, her take on Red Jenny is not quite the Robin Hood figure she aspires to be. While not classically heroic, her pain is uncomfortably realistic, even when she’s at her most childish and vengeful.
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Adding complexity to Sera’s character is the clear contrast between her noble goals and her inability to think critically about her biases. This is frustrating for any Inquisitor who tries to reason with her when her fear of facing her intolerances and traumas prevents her growth. Her character explores the worst-case possibility of unresolved trauma without allowing the Inquisitor to persuade it out of her.
4 The Nature Of Sera’s Soul
Andruil, Spirits, & Magic
There are fan theories about Sera hinting at a mystical background. Some details about her stand out as unusual, like her Fade-attunement that makes her uncomfortable, comments made by Solas and Cole, her unusual height, and Sera’s Fade experiences if she’s in the party during the Adamant Fortress questline, among others. These things have led not a few of her fans to believe that Sera is actually the reincarnated soul of Andruil, the elven Goddess of the Hunt.
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Knowing the elven lore revealed by The Veilguard, it’s more likely that Sera’s elven heritage is the culprit behind her magic-adjacent senses, and the similarities between her persona and that of Andruil may be more of an archetypal one than an indication of reincarnation similar to Mythal/Flemeth or Kieran. Many dialogues are vague enough to support both theories. Either way, she certainly inspired players to dig deep into elven lore to divine what drives Sera.
3 Displaced, Disgraced, & A Haunting Aftertaste
From Alienage To Alienated
In so many ways, Sera needed to become a fighter who does something about the kind of injustice she faced as a child for others. She began life as an orphan living in the same alienage subjected to the horrific demon and slaver encounters resolved by the Hero of Ferelden in Origins after a lot of death and destruction. She was gone by the time the orphanage was haunted, but it’s still easy to see how, growing up in this world, she felt like no one was in her corner when it mattered.
In adulthood, Sera can stand up for herself, and she makes it her mission to do it for everyone who doesn’t have an ally by joining the Friends of Red Jenny. Her childishness also makes sense—her maturity being stuck in amber is part of the larger puzzle that is Sera’s psyche and motivations. Her greatest flaw isn’t her intentions or approach, she’s just not ready to digest her past. As frustrating as this is, Sera is a realistic portrayal of someone traumatized all her life.
2 Putting Arrows Into Conformity
The Compelling Power Of Divisive Characters
Sera’s most unlikable qualities contribute a great deal to her realness. She’s recovering from trauma and prioritizes bonding with her inner child. She has a complicated relationship and history with class divides, racism, and a disconnect from her heritage. If these are the reasons some players don’t like her, it means she was well-written for what she represents.
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Sera has a complicated past, but she is one of the little people caught up in dramatic events outside her control. Her character is relatable in that she strives to fight for change in whatever way she can, but her inability to practice empathy with herself and others is vexing and tragic. Yet, in so many ways, Sera’s story is also about how the weight of the world isn’t on her shoulders, and she doesn’t need her battles picked for her.
1 The Faces Of Sera
She’s A Drastically Different Experience For Every Inquisitor
Sera is one of those characters who can be a substantially different person towards various Inquisitors across multiple playthroughs. This depends on the Inquisitor’s background, dialogue choices about elves, class politics, and a touch of irreverent mischief. Qunari Inquisitors have the easiest time with this un-elfy archer, but to Dalish players, she is downright insufferable and disrespectful by default.
There are so many sides to Sera, and she’s compelling precisely because she wasn’t written to be beloved by everyone, nor be putty in players’ hands. She is the harsh voice of the people who are collateral damage to Thedas’ most powerful, including the player’s heroes. Haunted as she is, she’s not meant to make players feel good about this tormented world of magic, demons, and cruel and broken people. Sera is about stealing the breeches off the nobles before introducing them to her arrows.
Dragon Age: Inquisition
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 88 /100 Critics Rec: 92%
- Released
- November 18, 2014
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- BioWare
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Engine
- Frostbite
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Dragon Age
