Serana

Serana is an ancient pure-blood vampire in.

Personality
She is enterprising and friendly, but also lonely due to her troubled childhood and her mother's self-exile, which is why she confides in the Dragonborn.

She harbors a resentment towards her mother, Valerica for locking her away for centuries and is angry that her feelings weren't taken into consideration.

As a child she was close with her mother, but once her parents began to fight, she felt trapped between both. Her mother would often feed her negative opinions of her father and after a time Serana began to believe them. She was never very close with her father Harkon before her family were vampires, but once they became followers of Molag Bal, it only worsened as her parents became drunk with power and were always in conflict. Her father started to see her as a means to an end and would often state "Power takes precedence". Despite this she still admits to loving him as he was still her father.

She feels trapped between the conflict that consumes her parents and sees herself as a pawn that they are using against each other. Deep down she wishes they were able to reconcile and become a family again, but realises that it's not possible.

When questioned about her vampirism, she can be defensive. She doesn't like to talk about the actual ceremony as it was degrading, but she doesn't seem to regret the power it has granted her, and rather sees it as a gift that she earned. The only regret she does seem to have is how it tore her family apart.

Origins
Her exact age cannot be determined, but she is believed to predate the Alessian Empire from the early First Era.

She is one of the few pure-blood Vampires known to exist. Pure-blood vampires are individuals who are granted vampirism directly from Molag Bal, the creator and patron deity of Vampires. The process is somewhat similar to the creation of the first vampire, Lamae Beolfag. Serana gained her vampirism through a ritual in which members of her family pledged themselves to Molag Bal. Females like Serana and her mother, Valerica, who survive the horrific ordeal are dubbed "Daughters of Coldharbor".

Prophecy
Her father, Lord Harkon, is leader of a Volkihar vampire clan based in Castle Volkihar. He discovered an ancient prophecy called the Tyranny of the Sun which, if enacted, would allow Vampires to roam the world freely without the fear of weakness from the sun; but to do so, he required two Elder Scrolls, Auriel's Bow and Serana for a ritual sacrifice.

In response to this, her mother hid her away with one of the Elder Scrolls in a sealed sarcophagus within Dimhollow Crypt for thousands of years to protect her from her father. She then fled to the Soul Cairn with the other Scroll.

Awakening
The Dragonborn is sent to Dimhollow Crypt to investigate what vampires are looking for there. Serana is discovered in the crypt and set free. She asks the Dragonborn to help her get home to Castle Volkihar. If the Dragonborn is a vampire when freeing her from the sarcophagus, there will be different dialog options for the player.

Chasing Echoes
Serana indicates her desire to locate her estranged mother, Valerica. She believes that Valerica may have left a clue to her whereabouts somewhere in the courtyard of Castle Volkihar. The Dragonborn must travel with her and infiltrate the castle to discover the whereabouts of Valerica.

Beyond Death
It is discovered Valerica fled to the Soul Cairn vie a portal in Castle Volkihar. The Dragonborn and Serana must travel there to retrieve the Elder Scroll Valerica took with her.

Unseen Visions
As Dexion Evicus, the Moth Priest who read Serana's Elder Scroll is now blind, the Dragonborn and Serana must travel to Ancestor Glade to learn how to read the Elder Scroll that will show them where to obtain Auriel's Bow.

Touching the Sky
Serana travels with the Dragonborn to the Forgotten Vale to seek Auriel's Bow.

Kindred Judgement
Serana travels with the Dragonborn back to [[Castle Volkihar] to confront Lord Harkon.

Follower interactions
Unlike regular followers, Serana displays advanced behavior and situational awareness: While Serana has fewer Follower Commands (Skyrim) than other followers during the Dawnguard questline, once the Dawnguard questline is completed, she can continue to serve as a follower and now has the same set of Follower Commands that other followers have. She will equip enchanted rings, chains and circlets, as well as both light and heavy armor. When outdoors, however, she wears her hood which displaces any circlets.
 * If Serana is outside during sunlight hours, she will always don a hood.
 * She will comment on the weather; however, be it rain or shine, it's typically a complaint.
 * She will interact with her surroundings. If the Dragonborn is standing still, she may walk around, sit down and even interact with workstations like a grindstones, forge or alchemy lab. If she has a Dead Thrall following her, the thrall may join in.
 * If near an ore vein, she may begin mining, despite not having a pickaxe in her inventory.

She can also be asked to bite the Dragonborn, which grants the ability to become a Vampire Lord, however this cannot be done if she has been cured of vampirism. While she is a follower, the Vampire Lord's Drain Life spell is weakened.

Serana can not be healed with normal healing spells as she is undead, the Necromantic healing spells must be used instead.

After the completing the quest Touching the Sky on the main quest line, Serana is able to make Bloodcursed Elven Arrows for use with Auriel's Bow.

Combat
In battle, Serana is a powerful necromancer. She will raise the corpses of both humanoids and creatures, even very powerful ones, including Dremora Catiffs, (which do not disintegrate into ash when the spell ends).

She prefers to dual wield Vampiric Drain and Ice Spike spells, but may use Lightning Bolt for attacking at range. She will switch to melee combat when her magicka runs dry, with her default weapon being an Elven Dagger. She will equip stronger daggers and swords if given to her and will even wield two-handed weapons. Bows seem to be her least favored weapon.

She will also use a staff if given a powerful enough one. The staff may change in appearance to Falmer style, (metallic grey with a forked end), when she uses it. This change in appearance persists if the staff is taken from her.

Although her exact stats are not known, due to the fact that she has a high Sneak skill, (she has the "Silent Roll" perk), she prefers Light Armor, and she starts with a dagger, it can be assumed that she is meant to be an assassin-type follower.

Trivia

 * Serana is voiced by Laura Bailey.
 * Serana will politely refuse a proposal of marriage, mentioning her unease with temples and complicated history.
 * Once the Dawnguard questline is complete, she can be asked about curing her Vampirism. Should she agree, she will leave to see Falion for a cure. She will return to Fort Dawnguard after a few days, cured, yet she will still use the same dialog as though she were still a vampire and will still wear her hood when outdoors.The Dragonborn may permanently lose the option to get her cured by choosing the wrong dialog option. Every time she is asked about getting cured she says "I'm not talking about this with you anymore."
 * Interestingly, Serana appears to be missing lines for certain scenarios. For example, if ran into while stationary, she will say nothing, whereas every other character will make a remark of some sort as they stagger.
 * If taken to a high-altitude point in the game Serana will say something along the lines of "Oh wow, this is gorgeous, I'm glad you're here with me."
 * There is currently a petition to try and make Serana a possible marriage option due to fans' overwhelmingly positive reactions to her as a character, yet small disappointment in the fact that she was not a marriage candidate. Some of her dialogue may imply a romantic link to the Dragonborn. The petition is seeing a very steady but consistent rise in signatures.
 * Serana's hairstyle is unique, it cannot be selected during the original character creation.

Bugs

 * She might get stuck in one place as if being ordered to wait. Pushing her with Unrelenting Force can fix this.
 * Sometimes when sneak is entered and then left, she'll continue to be sneaking. Entering another cell should fix this.
 * If told to "Wait Here", the option to "Follow me" may not appear when spoken to. If the cell is unloaded, she may disappear forever and it may only be fixed with console commands.
 * If the main questline for Dawnguard is finished, asking to part ways may fix this. If she will not continue following during the questline, she will appear at scenarios requiring her. If not, using ally commands to move her into the area may also work.
 *  Possible, unconfirmed solution : Go to another town such as Whiterun and wait 72 in-game hours. She should get tired of waiting and return to you.
 * It may be impossible to recruit her again once dismissed. The only know fix is to reload a save back when she was a follower.
 * If she "dies" she may not get up until entering a new area. She will slide along the ground as if "dead" and can even still be talked to.
 * After using her spells to defeat an enemy, the crackling sound from her spells may continue to be heard around her despite the spells no longer being active. The sound usually fades overtime though.
 * Fix: Enter a new area and the sound should go away. Doesn't always work, and doesn't work on some NPC's who also have this glitch (i.e. Anska).
 * After the Vampires Questline is complete, when dismissed she may say things such as, "I'll meet you at Darkfall Cave" or "I'll be at the glade" even though you've already been there and are done with the quests required for them. Dismissing her many times until she says something different should fix this.
 * When wearing armor given to her instead of her standard attire, she sometimes doesn't wear her hood when outside and sometimes wears it when indoors.
 * Even though she can be seen rolling forward while sneaking she still sets of pressure plates and tripwires.
 * When she is brought to a place with a specific animation, such as Molag Bal's altar or Cicero's room in the Dawnstar Sanctuary, she will perform the action done there (crouching with her hands on her head and curling into fetal position, respectively). This likely happens due to the fact that she is meant to interact with her environment, unlike other followers.
 * When first encountered during Bloodline, she becomes a possible candidate for the multiple followers exploit.
 * Serana may disappear after a Draugr Deathlord uses Unrelenting Force on her. Will reappear after a loading screen.
 * The name 'Serana' may appear over other Vampires and Vampire Thralls
 * Sometimes Serana might repeat the line "Yes? What do you need?" outside of dialogue every time she gets close to the player. Which can be an hindrance while in dialogue with other characters (i.e during the Season Unending scenes)
 * Serana may get stuck in Broken Oar Grotto and be unable to leave, even when following the player. Upon attempting to leave the area, she will simply turn invisible instead of exiting the cave. This could be a hinderance to some players, as she is required to finish the Dawnguard questline.
 * When attacking Serana may hit one of the Dragonborn's other companions (dog, horse, ect.) if she hits them too many times, (three times or more), the other companions will start attacking her causing her to also attack the Dragonborn. Because she is essential, she cannot die and will kill the Dragonborn.
 * FIX: When she is down sprint or use Whirlwind Sprint and then when away fast travel to any location and she will be back to normal.