While Serana is one of the best followers from the Dawngaurd expansion. Some of the conversations about her never getting attention from her dad, Harkon and how she was left to herself as a newly turned vampire to wander the castle and how she uses her lonliness to follow you around like a lost puppy dog the entire time. She also is obviously rebelling against her father because she knows deep down inside that something is going to happen to her. So she rebels whether you're a vampire or in the Dawngaurd.

The whole Dawnguard storyline seems to be around Serana having issues with her dad. Whether you journey into the Soul Cairyn, and meet her mother. Well, the conversation goes back to Harkon, yet again. Even when you first get to the castle.....we see that Harkon isn't at all surprised to see his long lost daughter. He's mainly concerned about the elder scroll that she has. But why be concerned about the elder scroll if Serana is the key to the Tyranny of Sun?

However its very comical how Bethesda decided to give Serana major issues. Its obvious that Bethesda gave Serana abandonement issues as to motivate her into helping you on either side.

Could it really be that Serana see's the Dragon Born as a father figure since her own father had little to nothing to do with her?

I doubt it's that black and white as the DB isn't necessarily defined to be gender specific. Granted the protagonist image from the cover suggests they initially see it as a "him". The gameworld isn't set to recognize any aspect pf the PC. Be it gender, race.. or any other aspect.

... aside form the cheesy and underwhelmingly irrelevant comments form passing guards.

Daddy, why did you eat my fries?

I bought them, and they were mine.

If anything else, she sees the Dragonborn as someone she looks up to, someone she wished was her father/mother when she was a little girl. The vibe I'm getting is that she never had a stable home, a stable relationship with anyone as she was seen as a macguffin, or a means to an end. The Dragonborn is quite possibly the first person in her lifetime that treated her as a person, not an object to be used to further personal goals. If not her mother/father-figure, then definitely a mentor. She's alone in an alien world she doesn't recognize, and could use someone like the Dragonborn to catch her up to speed.

And if your parents treated you the way Harkon did her, wouldn't you have some issues?

http://youtu.be/98TQ4jJkXqs?t=7s

Though I'd say it's issues with both her parents. It's clear she doesn't like her mom that much either, but she definitely likes her better than her dad.

A father figure?... all my Dragonborns bar one are women. A mother figure maybe? I always thought that with Dragonborn ladies, their relationship becomes a bit more sisterly.

But I agree that on the Volkihar side, or if you're playing as a mean character, it's a bit sad and pathetic how she'll keep tailing along after you even though you're helping her father and/or horrible to her. Roleplaying a really nasty vampire character, I felt that it was less a father-figure thing, and more that she just didn't know who else she could go to. Her mother is wrapped up in opposing Harkon, Harkon wants to kill Serana, the court would rat her out in a second if she confided in any of them that she doesn't want to go through with Harkon's plans for her... you're all she has. You're the only person who hasn't betrayed her trust, bound together by the blood you gave her in Dimhollow Crypt.

It's even sadder when she tells her mother "she/he's done more for me in a few days than you have in centuries". I mean, there my character was being a complete ass to her the entire time, and he's done more for her than her own mother? That's depressing.

It's definitely a way to motivate the player to like her. Also, psychologically speaking, we tend to like people more when they owe us things. You can make people like you more by convincing them to do a favour for you, as they'll feel that you're in their debt. What's the first thing she says to you? "Hey, there. Help me get back home, would you?"

No, unless you role-play it as such.

Serana has severe abandonment issues, so I feel the way she acts towards you as well as her clinginess being well and truly justified. I also feel that Serana is drawn towards you due to her being awoken by your blood... I wonder if she goes through a process like that scene from Underworld where Selene woke Viktor with her blood, aka the memory share ect.

I know what you mean, Aelfgyve. It's depressing to think that you are just about the only person left in the world she can trust, and if you end up being an ass, she just has to sit there and take it. I wish she could stand up to you, show some guts. Guess in a lot of ways, Serana is still a little girl trapped in the body of a centuries old vampire, lost and confused in a world far different than her own. Parents are too busy hating each other to care, everyone else is either indifferent to her, or sees her as nothing more than a monster.

Yeah, I'm gonna go give the Dawnguard DLC another playthrough, and this time, I'm not going to be helping Harkon.

Personally, I think Serana should be a lot more neurotic and untrusting. I think she is way too charming and self-confident considering what a horrid childhood she had. Not to mention all the abuse and abandonment.

She should have been very flighty and closed and slowly opened up after the player earns her trust. Showing up randomly at fort Dawnguard? I think it is more likely someone like her would run back to her father and value whatever attention he gave her, not to a bunch of strangers and some vampire killer she just met regardless of having 'saved' her.

I think that before Harkon and his family became vampires, they still seemed to have issues even than. Harkon seemed to put his wants and selfish desires before Valerica and Serana. So one day Harkon has a huge mid life crisis and has this panic that one day he's going to die and lose all his earthly possessions and power. I assume that they worshipped the Divines long ago from the old Mara statues laying about the castle near Valerica's secret lab, so Harkon has his family switch their faith over to Molag Bal and has both of them [censored] by a demonic god?

Thats the worst thing any parent could do to their child. Even worse. Valerica lies about stopping Harkon. So she slaps Serena in an old vampire cave, in a coffin with an elder scroll and goes hiding off in the soul cairn, some obsession she had with necromancy to begin with.

Valerica uses Harkon's dream of eternal night ( some Ragnarok based Phrophecy that bethesda based off the Scandinavian Mythology on how the sun eclipses and darkeness envelopes all of Nirn just with Auriels Bow) so she locks her daughter up, abandons her and runs off into the Soul Cairn on permanent vacation so she can stay there and study the undead for eternity. She's no better.

Here's why I say this and here's the real kicker as of how I realize that Valerica never cared much either. She stays after you deal with the dragon. She has another excuse as of why she's not coming back.

" Oh sorry, I'm going ot stay here so Harkon doesn't get a daughter of cold harbor"

Seriously? What does it matter if you're daughter and the dragonborn are going back out there. Even if if Harkon won, he'd have a Daughter of Cold Harbor anyway!

Valerica just stays in escapade mode, sitting it out, not wanting to make things right for her daughter.

Whether or not Valerica didn't want to get involved with the Phrophecy, she contributed to it by taking part in Harkon's hobbies leading up to it. This is why she's not that far from being different from him. She does alot less. So again its up to the DragonBorn to take care of someone elses problem.

No wonder why Serana has abandonement issues. Her dad always did what he wanted, and her mother always ran away instead of standing up for her own kid.

The reason why I say that she looked up to the Dragonborn as a father figure is because the character that Bethesda uses in their advertisemant is a blond nord male. So I figured that by Default that the Dragonborn was male. Even if its not based on that, than sure. A mentor than.

Well, you said it yourself: Serana's parents only cared about themselves, not about their kid. So regardless of the Dovahkiin's six, Serana looks up to him/her as the last person who could give a [censored] about her.