So I really enjoyed Dawnguard-the story was great and the environments were fantastic. And they wrote a character they knew would strike a chord, namely, Serana (basically a vampire Cortana). Overall, she was well acted and had a few good lines of dialogue. Hey, it was sappy and cliche, but at least they tried to write in some family and personal conflicts this time, not just some rubbish about prophecy this and ancient that.

But all that aside one thing strikes me as stupid, Serana joining the Dawnguard and remaining a vampire.

It makes no sense. She only sided against her father because he was straight up evil. And she even harped on him for hurting 'innocent' vampires.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but Serana has just barely won the acceptance, no, the tolerance of the Dawnguard because she vowed to kill Harkon. They don't want her around, they wanted to use her, and Isran was very clear about that.

And all that aside the Dawnguard ha vowed to kill all vampires, regardless of said vampire's agenda. So why would Serana join them? Or even stick around? To kill her own kind?

Now, if they had somehow written in that Serana gets cured it would be more believable but as it is I find it a bit much.

A better ending:

Serana takes over Volikhar and vows to begin a new order in her family's name that will not terrorize the innocent. She and Isran reach this understanding and vow not to interfere with each other's clans.

EDIT: I just read in the UESP she can be convinced to be cured....but my plot point still stands in general.

Well in the Dawnguard ending, she killed all the Volikhar clan and now is the only vampire lord in Skyrim other than she, her mother, and possibly the DB.

And, weirdly, the DG are her friends.

It's just an odd friendship.

She also can be cured.

Really, Isran is all talk about being such a hardass. The Vigilants would have murdered Serana the moment her usefulness ended.

But that's what I find stupid, the whole idea of everyone getting along after the fact...and her going to hang out at fort Dawnguard whose goal was not to kill Harkon but to kill all vampires, everywhere, unless I misunderstood the recruitment speech. So why would she affiliate herself with them after Harkon is dealt with?

Well, she's won their support by betraying her family and saving the world. It's not uncommon for RL groups to make exceptions for singular beings while continuing to persecute the majority.

Anyway, its also possible that Serana is aware the rest of her clan (Radiant quests) aren't going to be so forgiving of her, so it's in her best interests to make sure they're all finished off.

That's assuming that she's not putting the mind-whammy on everyone.

I get the Dawnguard cutting her some slack I just thought it weakened the whole plot over all after her father was killed..."lol yeah, we totally killed my dad-no probs-I guess I'll go chill with this crazy DG fanatics at their snow fort now-maybe they will even take me on adventures to kill more of my own kind!!"It could have been much more interesting, imagine if Serana turned on the Dawnguard at the end, and you had to choose Serana or the Dawnguard-that would have been awesome-it is just way too tidy to knock off her dad and suddenly we are all best friends and go for ice cream and happy meals.

Eh, the game is set up so the "ideal" ending is Serana becomes a human.

Personally, I think that's [censored] but there it is.

Serana and the DB, DRAGON VAMPIRE OVERLORDS.

Daddy issues

/thread

Yeah, I think for the sake of my RP I am going to pretend she has secretly been yearning to be human and then I'll do the whole cure dialogue.

Too bad.

I would have also accepted her vampiric powers being stolen by her father during the final battle. Still a better ending ^^

lol@Cider

ALSO, the whole time I kept picking the dialogue options that indicated you didn't give a crap about Serana and were only interested in killing vampires, and as part of my RP I was going to kill her, which is apparently impossible and very surprising as those dialogue options were present through most of the questline.

It's my belief that Serana canonically uses her powers to mind-whammy the DG into taking her back to her father with the Elder Scroll. Likewise, I suspect she did the same thing with Isran. He's not actually a tolerant understanding guy. He's a psycho hardass but he and the rest of the Dawnguard are zapped by Serana, who is an immensely old and powerful vampire. It makes a lot more sense in my "dark and edgy" Tamriel.

Of course, in my canonical roleplay, Serana eventually turns the Dawnguard into her new vampire family.

DG = Dawnguard. DB = Dark Brotherhood. Just to clear it out.

Anyway, tbh I didn't see members of the DG as insane vampire killers no matter what. They protect Skyrim from vampries who kill innocent people. Serana isn't killing innocent people wherever she sees one and shouldn't be considered dangerous. So I see no real reason to kill her. Then again maybe she is/was killing, I didn't really play the quest line the whole way through.

I'm pretty sure they just kill vampires in general regardless of what they're up to and just gave Serana a pass because she betrayed her father. All the dialogue refers to vampires as being, basically, animals to the DG.

I think he meant DB to mean Drgonborn ^^

See, that's the sort of plot twist I was hoping for

Alas, it exists only in our dreams.

For now.

It'd make a killer Mod, though.

Fixed that for you.

Honestly? I think Serana is just plain lonely. She has no one at all in the world. That's why it hit her so hard to realize that her mother -- her one "good person" -- was using her against her father. She wanted someone to be her friend. So she projects that onto you, even if you act like a jerk. She inherited her father's capacity for wishful thinking, and her mother's ability to place walls around her psyche.

For my part, I saw her siding with the DG as her coming to realize the serious danger vampires as a whole represent to Skyrim. I don't say joined, since she's never actually proclaimed a member per se and neither does she switch from her vampire armor to DG armor, though there's not exactly much of an initiation ceremony for the DG to begin with.

Of course, this is to say nothing of the mind-effing she gets from both parents. When someone's parents drop the ball, the results are usually not pretty.

I tend to agree; after all, Serana appears to have been turned into a vampire at about age 17-25 or somewhere in there. Despite centuries of experience, there's probably a large part of her that is still that 17-25ish young woman who is lonely and deeply hurt by her family's actions. Holing up with the DG, who arguably treat her better than her family has, doesn't seem too terribly far-fetched.

Serana never joined the Dawnguard, she stays there at first to help ensure the prophecy doesn't come to pass/kill her father/whatever rebellious vampire girls do. Then at the end of the main DG quest, when she has helped you wipe out her entire family (Valerica aside), she remains at Fort Dawnguard, in what I interpret as a sort of asylum. (Poor girl. I do feel sorry for her at this stage. Cure or no cure).

It kind of makes sense until... you find out that you can go back to the Soul Cairn and free Valerica, at which point Valerica will return to Castle Volkihar. Without Serana. (Eh? Another loose end, perhaps.)

Agree wholly about the asylum bit--and as a useful advisor of sorts, considering how she notes that the DG might find her helpful, after Harkon is killed.

It is definitely a loose thread, that Serana and Valerica do not reunite if you go back to the Soul Cairn and tell her the good news. On the other hand, Valerica certainly seems to enjoy her vampirism, unlike Serana (who either gets it cured or simply refuses to talk about it, depending on the dialogue options you choose), so she might not take too kindly to Serana getting cured.

Another loose end, that--Valerica not reacting at all if you get Serana cured and the two are in the same cell together. Silly Beth.

Eh, somewhere Serena got lost after the DG quest because I can't find her ANYWHERE at FD and I've combed it.

No the Vigilants would have attacked her on sight and been killed outright or never figured out she was a vampire to begin with.

People want to see a nuanced portrayal of the Vigilants. I say [censored] that and want them as a full-on villain faction.

Done and done.

It was mildly disappointing that Serana and Valerica did not react to each other at all at the end of the questline. I suppose that reinforces the impression that Serana was meant to sever her ties with her past life. I'm sure she's in good hands with the Dawnguard though, I remember what Isran said to her after the fight with Harkon and it feels like she has found new friends (hence her decision to remain at Fort Dawnguard).

My thoughts exactly.