I find Serana to be one of the most dull NPC's in all of Skyrim. Others seem to love her and want to marry her. I, on the other hand, tire of prolonging her presence in Tamriel on every save file. And her incessant use of conjuration magic is distracting. Can I choose to side with Harkon at all?

I know he wants to kill the Dragonborn and all that, but is there anyway I can avoid that?

*UPDATE* Sorry if it is considered obligatory to reply to people on threads. I just couldn't keep up with all the activity. I've read most of the replies though. Interesting views. Thanks to those of you who helped.

[quote name="Vampiric" post="23481141" timestamp="1394804055"]

I find Serana to be one of the most dull NPC's in all of Skyrim. Others seem to love her and want to marry her. I, on the other hand, tire of prolonging her presence in Tamriel on every save file. And her incessant use of conjuration magic is distracting. Can I choose to side with Harkon at all?

I know he wants to kill the Dragonborn and all that, but is there anyway I can avoid that?[/quote

Well we all feel the same way, but the redeeming thing about her imo is she's cute and a vampire chick .... but even Molag Bal had his way with her ....

I dont agree with the OP, but thats what makes this game great. I for one feel that you have the most dialogue and relationship with Serana over any other NPC in the game.

Even if you side with Harkon, the end result is the same. Perhaps if you're on PC there might be a mod allowing you to do what you wish with her.

Yeah, that's one of the great things about her. Love her or not, she offers some fantastic dialogue, and it's interesting to get to know her over the course of Dawnguard. I don't like her however.. but I still would.

Yeah yeah we know....... Giggity giggity.....

Oh dear... haha.

Unfortunately you cannot. He ends up the antagonist either way because daddy issues. It's a nice illusion of choice for the player to think they're actually choosing a side.

Damn...

It's quite bad for me considering the fact that I am on the Xbox and can only play what Bethesda provided us with. Oh well.

I've never chosen to give him the bow. No matter how annoying Serana is(To others, I mean. I love her), there's no way I'd choose the guy who thinks of me as less than trash, a broken tool.

No. But you do get to "informally" take over the Volkihar clan. Even if the various member's dialogue remains the same.

Wait... when did we all become a single hive-mind? And how come you're the voice?

Yes how could I forget about the fantastic dialogue of her always complaining about the brightness or the "what do you need" every time my cursor crosses her path...she would be more tolerable if she didn't reanimate every damn thing and her magic sound didn't linger after battle.

I wonder if everyone would praise her so if she wasn't a pretty vamp and looked like Olava the Feeble

OP I feel your pain brother, I wanted to bury her with her dad.

I'm a huge Serana supporter. I enjoy the talks ALL my characters have with her, despite if they're evil or not. While yes she is attractive and has a very extensive dialogue, thats perhaps why you find her annoying. Because of the fact that she comments on most things that all other NPC's overlook. You speak for yourself.

Serana is dull? really? what about the other "people" you get as followers? those things are almost robots lol.

I like serana though and imo, Bethesda needs to keep going in that direction with followers for the next game.

Agree

Don't speak as if it's everyone else's.

One can appreciate that Serana is one of the few characters in this game with actual depth. She isn't robot follower 4 code named "Lydia". When exactly did she "nag" besides the radiant dialogue she is given when wondering?

I don't think the devs have put quite as much effort into most Skyrim characters as they did with her. Maybe Ulfric, but that's it.

If you don't like Serana's personality that's one thing, but if you find her dull... I can't fanthom your hatred for the rest of the npcs, lol.

What annoys me more is that if you never go against Harkon and voice support for him and disagreement with Serena's worries about him, by the end of the quest chain you are -literally- crammed into the same boat with the people who agreed with Serena, the game never acknowledging whatsoever that you never signed up to support her plan to stop him.

As for Serena as a character, I would consider her highly overrated, yet rightly so. Serena reminds me of those generic artificial girlfriend mods you can find on any nexus, except this one is official content. When you look at it that way, she's -literally- a character none of us would bother with if it weren't for the fact that six sells. However, despite this, Serena is also hands down the single most detailed companion in Skyrim.

I think it needs to be made clear that the people praising her? You're praising her depth more than her actual personality. We need more depth in future titles with future followers. Her personality itself however is nothing to write home about. Angsty teenage vampire that hates her parents and rarely has a positive thing to say ever: GEE, NEVER HEARD THAT ONE BEFORE...

Actually, you can. That dialogue appears when you're with Serana in the castle's undercroft. (Or was it when you reach the portal/ Return from the Soul Cairn? I can't remember)

And then she replies saying that it's naive to trust him.

What depth is it that you guys speak of? That she has a long list of comments based on location/encounter? So do Mjoll and Teldryn. The only thing she does differently then them is that she'll tinker with nearby crafting tables if you pause for a moment...I wouldn't call that "deep". She has repetitive dialogue the same as anyone, hers is the constant complaints about the sun and weather when wandering but somehow that's better then Mjoll telling the same story when wandering?

I think most of you guys think with the wrong head, picture her as Olava and see if you still think she's so amazing...especially when she reanimates every thing you kill, even in stealth mode blowing your cover. She's a horrible follower for that alone.

And then she replies saying that it's naive to trust him.

Wait, what. Why are you anolysing depth based on follower behavior? We're talking about the questline.

Serana isn't quite perfect, but certainly not one dimentional as most npcs.

Maybe I'm just not easily annoyed like other people.

When you're comparing her to other followers it wouldn't be fair to consider her role in the DLC main quest that focuses on her and her family.

Fair enough. But in that case, you still would have characters from other questlines for comparison.

Does she benefit from the spotlight? Yup. But that doesn't invalidate anything.

And I think you're focusing too much on the follower aspect. We're talking about character.

Even as a regular follower she still has more character than any other follower.