A note on the figure seen in the well of sorrows thing. I distinctly remember reading a tweet from one of the devs (name is escaping me) saying that they used a human body model and that they expected the SFX to mask most of the features. That we can see the figure's hair and ears is not intentional at all. Also I love this video! We have very similar views on this theory, I really do think it would cheapen her character if proven true. Sera is wonderful and complex on her own merits, she doesn't need a bunch of magical shit thrown in there to make her cool!
I'm going to pin this for two reasons: 1.) So further promote the best opinion ever that Sera is best how she is and 2.) You jogged my memory about that Bioware dev! I think Mari from Geek Remix was the one who tweeted it out and found the information- here is her video with more information on it plus her thoughts: th-cam.com/video/YTNAAF6fRf0/w-d-xo.htmlm50s and while I put the time stamp in the link, I would recommend checking out the whole video!
Yea she unique in d way she doesn't c herself as an elf dats all der not goin make her a vessel as well I think trespasser dlc ans a lot of questions f me all doh I'll prob b wrong wit my conclusions av to c wen DA5 comes out
Just noticed, in the language banter between Solas and Sera, he says "our people." He never refers to any modern elf as being one of his people, not even a romanced elf inquisitor.
@@saltyskegg5355 can you confirm whether it was in romance with solas or not? it is important because solas would only say "our people" to someone he grew fond of, or to someone who he has to admit the connection with them is undeniable, such as a true elvhen. That would mean if he only used "our people" with the romanced inquisitor but did not do so with the non-romanced - that means Sera has an undeniable connection to him, one that he surely knows of.
@@sorta-7272 well at the time of that scene fem elf Quizzy hasn't started a relationship with Solas yet. So technically he uses 'our people' with all elf Quizzy (both male and female)
There's also another thing, This explains Sera sexual alignment, she prefers woman. According to the wiki Andruil's chosen one and/or beloved is Ghila'nain whom was once a mortal elven woman. And also in Jaws of Hakkon when professor Kenric seems to not recall Ghila'nain's name, Sera actually corrected him and pronounced the name properly. I find it odd since Sera hates elfy stuff, but she knows about Ghila'nain and pronounce her name correctly!
I think her hatred of all things elven isn't directed at the culture itself, or it didn't used to be. From talking to her, what I get is that she hated the pretentious attitudes of the "elfy" elves who tried to push their beliefs onto her, and over time that evolved into a generic dislike of the culture as a whole because of the people in it. And, to be completely honest, I'd agree with her if I wasn't so fascinated by the lore of Thedas.
@@cairrean2412 I think she probably suffered rejection from the dalish elves she has encountered that's why she reject their belief. If you romance her then break up with her over the issue of mythal. She tell you to say that you think that if she was smarter and a true elven she would understand. I think she fear that as a dalish when you realise the only think elfy about her is her ears you will reject her as a fake.
@@ddy7323 I do not think she fears that, since she is quite confident about herself being not elfy, but she do not like you if you become too serious about elven tradition
@@miaz3839 that's the thing, she rejects anything elfy because elfy dalish elves look down on her and see her as inferior or fake elves and reject her.
I agree strongly with this point. Because if you play as a elvin Inquisitor, Solas makes multiple mocking and almost annoyed comments about comparing himself to currently living elves. He looks down on Dalish culture and feels no connection to any living elves that are not ancient ones. He wouldn't say "we are not that different" to Sera if she was just an average elf. Something is going on with her. Some connection to the fade, Andruil's spirit, something.
I think you're reading far too much in to it and adding needless complication and significance to what was most likely a meaningless, passing comment. Solas did come to realize he was unfair in his judgement of modern Elves, after all, and the more he gets to know his fellow companions the more he begins to relate to them. I highly doubt he was implying that Sera had some connection to the ancient Elves, let alone the Evanuris. Honestly, there is such a thing as going out of control with the theorizing. Not everything and everyone has to have a secret/ancient identity. No, nothing is going on with Sera. She's exactly what she seems to be, a small fish desperately struggling for relevance in a vast ocean filled with sharks. She masks her desire to spite and kill nobles beneath a Robinhood-esque façade.
I would just like to say that I personally don't care either way if Sera is "special/different" or not. It's a disclaimer to let you know I'm unbiased on this subject. Though Solas did realize his judgment of modern day elves (and other races) was unfair, it didn't automatically diminish his racial bias against them. A romanced Inquisitor is the exception, of course, but to even do that she would need to express an interest (and preference) for the old ways of the Elvhen. Sera irritated Solas, in fact. He makes a very harsh curse against her in Elvish in one of their banters. I very much doubt that he would relate himself to her had she not been special in some way. He might have dismissed her as "unredeemable" in his eyes once he figured out that she hated her heritage. Food for thought, though I don't dismiss the argument that her banter is all normal, surface level stuff that we already know about her. :)
@@Bandikitty "a small fish desperately struggling for relevance in a vast ocean filled with ocean," where do you get that? don't you think you are reading too much into that too? Sera does despite nobles and wants to kill them if they deserve it, what kind of relevance? I do not think.she yearn for relevance, at leaset not.the kind you are talking about. She stands on her own as a character, tbh I can get where she is coming from, I think she will probably laugh if she hears you.say that.
@@Bandikitty It's late and all, but I don't think she is normal. It's true, reading to much into something and coming up with weird theories is a thing that totally annoys me. Especially when those are theories where someone just spurrted out the first thing that came to his/her mind and has actually no real claim, since most of that theories can be disabled in mere seconds, just by looking at the lore. But the Sera/Andruil theory is definitely not on of those theories. I'm definitely not saying it is 100% true, but the possibility is there and the theory has a solid ground, unlike other theories. For once, there are to much similiaritys between Sera and Andruil. Also, Sera and Solas highly mirror Andruil and Fen'Harel's relationship. Some of the banter she has with Solas and Cole is pretty ominous. And we already have prove that Cole's ominous remarks during banters are more than just weird phrases. That boy literally told us who Solas is and what he did, way before the end of the main game. He also told us Blackwall's story before Revelations started. And 2 of his banters with her are too straight forward to be meaningless. Another thing that should be mentioned, is Sera's storie in DA:I, who is pretty odd compared to the other companions of the games. Usually, they all have sort of an storie arc that developes there character and changes them or how they see things, even back in Origins, if you did all your companion quests, they evolved. The exceptions are always those characters that surve a higher purpose in later games. And funnily, the only character that hasn't changed a bit, is Sera. We didn't REALLY learned anything about her and her personal quest didn't triggered some sort of development in her
Great vid, but you left out the most compelling piece of evidence imo (albeit tin foil-y). Her tombstone in the fade near the fear demon. 'The Nothing' - literally the Void. This could be just her leaning on chantry belief of it being like hell, or it could be that she's actually been there. Who fears hell? I mean its depicted as a nasty place that we should fear.... but without real context most people fear other things more so. Something that kind of backs this up is that Andruil went to the Void after losing her interest of hunting men and beasts (bigger game). Andruil would have reason to fear the Void seeing it first hand. Sera shares this interest of hunting men and beasts. Evidence of this being her fascination w/ hunting dragons -the greatest game in the land (its even specifically mentioned in the codex) and being a Red Jenny.
Yeah, and the Codex about Andruil also says that she managed to make an armor out of the Void and it drove her crazy. And Sera a) fears the Nothing and b) after the Fade she says that in the realm of the Fear Demon she was attacked by Nothing, don't remember the exact quote, but it implied that there were the items of Nothing Although I am on board with the idea that some companions are allowed to be simple people chillin' with the protagonist
I always interpreted The Nothing to mean insignificance. She wants to do good in the world, but all she can manage is a band of hoodlums, who (Before joining the Inquisition) didn't amount to anything. All her efforts, all in vain...Sera "The Nothing".
Other people might consider the efforts of the jennys to be insignificant, but Sera doesn’t. She likes them exactly as they are: a little group that sticks up for the little guy. She’s not interested in recognition or significance. I really don’t think that can be what is meant by “the nothing”
"we are not so far apart, you and i" goddamit Solas, you are a GOD. to say that to Sera is to all but name drop that she either is one, was one or could become one.
(Spoilers for Trespasser) Don't forget all the odd dialog that happens when you bring Sera into the crossroads when stoping the Quinari, especially when you get to Vir Dithara and you meet the Learning Spirit who seems to address Sera in Elvish and she totally flips out. Even weirder, she KNEW that it was talking to her even if your Inquisitor is an Elf too, but it chose to speak to her first or at least it seemed to.
Tharess Crestar, thats right. I think, sera is one of the forgotten ones. Solas said to her : "Ar dirthan as ir elgara, ma sula evar, vhenan." i couldnt translate it perfektly, but its something like "i know, i am elgara?, you........, my heard." maybe they were friends / in love, once?
Yeah, but Varric also calls Solas "elf" and if Sera's there she takes offense to it. I've always thought part of that was just Sera hating being lumped in with the Dalish just because she's got pointed ears.
To add to the Andruil thing, there's a plaque of Andruil...a very stylized 'image' of her in one of the temples I think, a kind of mosaic. The plaque shows a vague figure holding a bow in a down position...identical in posture to Sera's alternate tarot card. Clearly no proof exists one way or the other, because the writers saw fit to only tease with ambiguous info (or disinfo), but I do find the notion of some mad sliver of Andruil finding its way into an elven host and driving HER mostly mad in the process rather interesting. I do hope it's not lost in the shuffle of DA4, one way or the other.
To me, it seems clear that there is something special about Sera. C'mon, there are too many "coincidences" otherwise. To me there are three parts that make it clear... at least in my mind of course: 1- The game makes an emphasis about Sera being an excellent archer without much training; to her, it is clear and even obvious to notice a good shot from a bad one; It seems very reminiscent to one of the dragon age books... when a magical ring gives the person who wears it the magical ability to perceive clearly the movements of the enemy and to give the person the precision needed when they use their weapons for example. 2- She really hates magical related things. Yes, you may have reasons for people to hate magic (you may have them even for Sera), but the theory of her having the soul of "an elven god" would explain this hate... she doesn't want to allow one part of herself to show, resulting in her attempt to suppress this part with a particular dislike towards magic. 3-Yes, for me you cannot explain the specific banter you hear coming from Solas and Cole otherwise. Sera must be related in some way to magic... otherwise, those comments from Cole and Solas would make no sense whatsoever. Solas and Cole are special in the sense that they perceive more than other people, being able to notice something more about Sera... Cole because he is related to the fate and Solas for being who he is. Perhaps this is the most important piece of evidence for me. The banter can be explained with Sera being related in some way or another to the fade. To me, the tarot card and her body type are just maybe extras, you don't need them for this theory to work.
She goes to great lengths to hide where she comes from, and anything real about who she is. She is very immature, in the way that people use to disguise pain, or mask over real emotions. Sera speaks in riddles for the most part. When talking to Solas/going through Trespasser, Solas talks about all the elven gods being imprisoned. This is what he believes. If Sera is Andruil, it would make sense. She is the goddess of the hunt and survival. If any of the other gods would survive, it would be her. Solas talks about the pain he feels for the other gods, but when he was the one doing the imprisoning, and being hunted I think his pain would be less than Andruils, had she survived. So much pain she runs away from it? She suppresses it to the point she is no longer Andruil. She would have had thousand of years to fully suppress who she is at the point of Inquisition that even Solas doesn't recognize her. I don't think this cheapens Sera at all, I think it makes her character more rich.
Or, and FAR more likely, the person who wrote her was so enamored with the notion of creating a 'non-elfy' Elven character that he spared little thought for her origins, choosing instead to focus on making her as over the top crazy as possible. These little quotes of hers that people give such significance to were just the writer's overeager attempts to make her seem quirky and unique. The banter between her, Solas and Cole is meant to illustrate her aversion to all things magic related and Solas and Cole's attempts to make it less frightening to her and to make her more accepting. Solas, when he said she was the furthest from what she was meant to be, is clearly referring to the fate that's befallen ALL Elves. All of them are not what they were meant to be. Abelas even refers to them as shadows (exact words: "shadows wearing vallaslin"). Sera in particular is not as she ought to be because she is an Elf who has a clear aversion to her own kind, to her rightful heritage. Solas slept through all the thousands of years of strife the Elves endured and he's only been in the modern world for a single year. Do you even consider that amidst all your theorizing? Think of it logically. You have Fen'Harel HIMSELF walking the earth once again, but for him, he lived for countless years, thousands, or even tens of thousands, in the Elven empire are the very height of its power. That is all he's ever known. After banishing the Enavuris he SLEPT and when he woke up the world was completely different from what he was familiar with. Can you imagine how jarring that would be? The Elves are but shadows of their former selves and for Solas, who slept through it all, the days of the Elven empire still seem like yesterday. He didn't feel the thousands of years during which he slept, that passed him by, like you falling asleep at night and waking up the next morning. Can you recount the hours during which you slept? Of course not. The transition from night to day, when passed through sleep, almost feels Instantaneous. To Solas, it would almost feel like the Elven empire crumbled overnight. Then he encounters modern Elves, who are nothing like the People as he knows them. And worse, someone like Sera, who is an Elf but who bears a distinct prejudice for Elves and an intense fear of magic and all things even remotely connected to the arcane. To Solas, a genuine ancient Elf, she is the farthest thing from the People he knew as one can get. That's what he meant. Not that she was somehow more than what she seems. She ISN'T. All of Solas' banter with Sera is him trying to make her accept her heritage because he has such a hard time reconciling an Elf like Sera with the magical Elves he used to know. To Solas, magic is as natural as breathing and someone like Sera, especially with her being an Elf, is difficult for him to comprehend. Again, the Elven empire no doubt seems like just yesterday to him. He's only known the modern world for one year vs the thousands of years he likely lived in Elvhenan (sp?). He isn't implying that Sera is special, he's just trying to make her more what he feels an Elf should be, hence why he's constantly offering to teach her magic, or test her for any dormant magical abilities. Seriously, not everything has to have some deeper, veiled significance. It should also be noted that the person who wrote her, if I recall correctly, did not write any other character; Sera was his one contribution, which speaks volumes. When DA:I was first being advertised and their characters displayed they made a great fuss about Sera being the most un-elflike Elf ever, and it was toted as a good thing. It backfired on them. There's really nothing more to her, she was a failed attempt at creating a unique and quirky character. Period. Honestly, the Sera theorists are just adding needless complication and depth where none exists. Sort of reminds me of Chicken Little. An acorn falls and plonks you on the head and because of that you think the sky is falling. Something fell from above ergo it MUST mean a part of the sky fell, surely it couldn't be something so simple or mundane as an acorn. You grasp at minute, sporadic details and desperately try to prove they are relevant and connected in some way with no other logic than it's what you want to think. How in the world would Sera come to possess the soul of an Elven god? The Evanuris were ALL sealed away with the exception of Mythal and HER soul, or its remnant, is already accounted for. And she certainly cannot possess the soul of an Old God, because that child is also accounted for and in any case Sera is both too old to be the Old God child (already identified as Kieran) of the fifth Blight and far too young by several centuries to be the Old God child of the fourth Blight. There isn't even any evidence that any Old God child other than Kieran has ever been born, which is a safe bet because until the Hero of Ferelden every warden documented killing an Archdemon DIED in the killing, which pretty much ends all possibility of another Old God child existing. Because if they had existed the wardens who struck the killing blows would have been documented as living, but the Hero of Ferelden is the only one with that distinction. That's why his survival was met with such incredulity by some, because all other Archdemon slayers died, to a one. The Hero of Ferelden is singular in that he is the only warden to ever survive killing an Archdemon. So, it is a pretty safe bet that Sera is NOT the vessel of either an Old God or one of the Evanuris. She's just Sera - a sociopathic, short-sighted, vapid, magic fearing bigot with a prejudice against her own kind likely born from a deep-seated, long hidden, sense of inferiority. Your assertion that her having the soul of an Elven God explains her aversion to magic is nonsensical at best. HOW, exactly, would possessing such a soul make her fear and loath magic? The Elven gods were big on magic so, if anything, someone who possessed an Elven god's soul would be MORE interested in magic, not blindly terrified of it. Flemeth (the only one who actually does possess a fragment of one of the Elven gods, I hope you recall) is a marvelous example of this and a direct contradiction to such a bizarre claim. Flemeth's connection to Mythal makes her one of the most powerful and knowledgeable magic users in all of Thedas; she certainly has no fear of it in any way, shape or form. So, I just have to ask, why in the WORLD would you think a person with an ELVEN God's soul would FEAR magic? There is no logic to that whatsoever and shows just how much you're grasping at straws. If anything, Sera's blatant fear and hatred for magic is further proof that she ISN'T what you want her to be. She is not the vessel for anything or anyone.
That's sad really. I liked Sera. The only character I did not like was Vivienne (Mme Le Fer)...and after I abolished the circle she created her own at the end of it all. Was not impressed that she's the most overpowered character to boot.
@@Bandikitty Kudos, you, brave, controversial BAMF. People in the Fandom make up too many weird theories. Giving in too much to the writers. They have written too many stories. And they are human after all. Prone to errors and repetitions, understandably.
My theory? The writers considered some secret like this for Sera, so they set up the grounds for it (like all the mentioned hints), but then for whatever reason decided against it and left Sera to be the way we know her. Possibly there was even supposed to be a DLC where we would discover this, but it was scrapped? Or a personal quest.
This is an old thread, but I've been rewatching DA stuff lately, and here's a hot take: perhaps some of the reactions she's getting from Solas are because she reminds him of Andruil (and may not necessarily BE her). I mean, we can't rule it out, because some of these bread crumb trails turn into something later, but Sera, on the surface, is a mad, bow-wielding elf. One of the things we know about Andruil is that she went a bit mad with a presumptive brush with the blight. Her peculiar manner of speech, handiness with a bow and prevailing hesitance towards magic unknowns and elf business may just be something Solas (and Cole, by proxy) is identifying as being like Andruil, since the people Solas knew are long gone; and with the exception of a cherry-picked few, he admits he has some degree of difficulty relating to the sundered people of the new world. He could just be projecting that familiarity on her.
It honestly makes more sense that she would be Andruil, especially considering that when she brought back the armor of the void (possibly red lyrium?) and went crazy they had to make her sort of tranquil to stop hunting everyone. So of course she wouldn't even remember where she came from, she only remembered "growing up in Denerim." Could also be possession of an ancient elven spirit such as Flemethal, the difference being, her spirit is tranquil and can't remember. Ancient elven tranquility may be different from chantry tranquility, and I hope they explore that possiblilty in the next game. Quite a bit more that wasn't covered in this video. Bioware is known for A LOT of easter eggs, so it's a very reasonable assumption, or it could just be Sera is a weird childish girl molded by her harsh childhood. If Sera is Andruil, it wouldn't cheapen her, just add more depth into her already strange personality. She seems to forget a lot more in Trespasseser, evident in her diary if she is with Dagna. I hope Dagna can help her with her insecurities, or help her realize who she is. Either way, I'd love to see her development as a character.
In the Trespasser DLC unless Sera is with a female Inquisitor she gets into a relationship with Dagna or her 'Widdle' as she affectionately nicknames her
Andrés De la Oliva Guzmán Sera definitely romances Dagna it says so at the very end of DA:I and in the Trespasser DLC. And it is Dagna because prior to me playing Trespasser i googled it and found out. if that is what youre saying
Playing as a Qunari inquisitor my first time Sera’s honesty and straightforward albeit joking nature was more welcoming than any of the other companions at the start and I’ve liked her ever since
Sera is the and will always be the best companion in Dragon Age, no one else feels more real than her in the entire game, she is down to earth, cares about the little things and lives life daily, struggling to be happy and comfortable with herself. Sera is the best and her personality is awesome.
Someone else mentioned this in their video but I have also seen it while playing Origins and Inquisition: in Origins when you are in the circle tower and you get to Irvin's (that's the tower leaders name right?) office you find a "small painted box" in his desk that you later hand off very discreetly to a Jenny in Denerim. In Inquisition you talk to Sera and ask about herself and she will mention that she used to play with small painted boxes while she was in Denerim. Could she have unleashed something magical on herself? There's no telling what it could be though
@@maxsalmon4980 Yeah, it was just supposed to be an easter egg from what I remember. Doesn’t mean there isn’t any significance to it though. Who knows?
Just a thought: Maybe Sera is the daughter of Iona from DAO. If i remember right, Sera tells the Inqusitor she was born and raised in Denerim. When romancing Iona at castle Highever, she tells the warden she has a daughter back in Denerim, who you can meet after you complete the late game quest with the Tevinter Mages in the Alienage hospital (at least i believe its her daughter, given the fact that she only says that she misses her mother or something and to my knowledge is not part of any quest). Just a theory of mine and maybe the devs have explained the true origin of Sera, but its something i noticed in the game and makes sense to me ;)
My personal theory: Sera is an unawakened dreamer. Solas may (or seems to) feel some kind of resonance with her, but she does her damnedest to avoid anything magical or elfie. Maybe it’s just in her blood, maybe it’s just something that she’s never tapped into. The only two dreamers that we ever see in the games or even hear about at any length are Feynriel and Solas. Both of them had to be trained to become what they are. It’s entirely possible that when Cole refers to her being asleep, or when Solas refers to her being the furthest from what she is meant to be, that what they mean is that she had the potential. And because of her character and choices, it never happened. On the character design level, maybe it was an abandoned plot thread that they just simply hint at in conversation, or with idle banter. For whatever reason, she is who she is and the story is better for it.
That is actually more believable than her being an tranquilled elven god reincarnated, for the simple reason that Solas would already have killed or resealed her
BioWare was actually going to make her magic abilities an unique specialization but the idea was scrapped because it was breaking character (she hates magic so she won't use it even if she could).
While I've been researching this theory, I've been kind of happy to see that the biggest retort is that all of this makes Sera too complex when Sera is awesome just being Sera. And while I personally believe Sera is Andruil based on all the evidence given in the game, I'm glad to see that people are fighting for Sera just being a person. She'd have preferred it that way. By the way, Freud's a dummy. Leon Festinger and the theory of cognitive dissonance are much more relevant here.
Freud is totally a dummy to todays standards- but my point of bringing him up was that I believe that people are looking at something that has a totally reasonable explanation and reading too much into it- much like Freud would do. I feel like cognitive dissonance doesn't match with that point very well- do you mean that Sera is effected by it?
It's not even by today's standards. The dude didn't even use the scientific method. But feh. I don't want to rant about Freud. I want to rant about Sera! I've been putting together research on the "Sera is Andruil" theory and I've been trying to look at it from both sides. What keeps popping up to validate Sera's reactions as a person rather than a goddess is that she has trouble reconciling shades of grey in her beliefs. The best example is after the Well of Sorrows where she can't reconcile elven gods existing and ALSO the Maker existing, so she says they must be demons because any other answer doesn't follow her preconceived notions. Every time you see Sera freak out, it's because she has a belief she holds as a 100% true and doesn't have any room for new beliefs or compromise. Elves suck because they tell her she's not good enough, and she knows she's good enough. Nobles suck for the same reason and also because they use their influence to step on people. Elven gods also suck because they counter her belief in the Maker. Everything she craps on goes back to her experiencing cognitive dissonance about it. It can't be true because she believes everyone's made equal by the Maker and good people do good things and bad people do bad things. And that's that. I guess what I was trying to say was is that if you're going to argue against the Andruil theory, cognitive dissonance is the best counter I've been able to find to it. There's a reason Sera has holes in her memory and becomes violently opposed to certain beliefs and philosophies. Since this is Thedas, it could just as easily be a mental disorder or magic.
I'm not Freud's biggest fan either. But, in his defence, your comment 'sometimes a cigar is just a cigar' to presumably dismiss his apparent obsessions in your video was supposedly one which he himself made to an indignant student referencing the cigar he was sucking on at the time
@@ClintEPereira I think you are perfectly right with your last sentence. Sometimes, in fantasy litterature, the most effective way to portray an interaction between a human mind and the supernatural (for example, demonic possession) is getting inspiration from true mental disorders. That's because most ancient legends about possessions and haunting come from real life mental disorders that were unknown to medicine at that time. In my opinion, it can be both. I personally think there are good elements for both versions
Maybe she was made tranquil, and someone along the line used (the seeker information on reversing tranquility) and removed her tranquility effects. Perhaps the borderline madness she has is just an effect from whatever one has to go through to reverse tranquility. Perhaps she was a mage?
the way sera says "greenish..? ... and clear along ways and.. kind of... felt like falling" her voice softens right at the end and idk why but it just makes me think of Andruil. not that Andruil has ever been soft but I'm in love with her so... lmao
So the argument for Sera being special in some weird way (I don't necessarily mean as being Andruil, but some sort of repressed mage or who knows what) is essentially, "But look at all these weird references!" and the rebuttal is pretty much, "So what?" ;) I find it hard to believe that they went to all that trouble to put in all those weird dialogue moments just to have them mean nothing whatsoever, but time will tell, I guess.
Wasn't Sera being a potential mage confirmed by someone in the dev team? I thought I read something about it. That's why she keeps having deja vu. And the other things.
Seems to me that elves, having been a magical race in the time of Arlathan, are just more sensitive to magic. Usually. Of course, there are exceptions to this as there are to everything, but it would explain a lot, I think.
This is the right way to see it. I mean, if you look at DA 2 for example, you can see that characters have a huge amount of dialogue but nothing is going anywhere with it, and just like so the characters in Inquisition also have many not interesting dialogues that come up here and there, but then there are also dialogues with hidden info, certain meanings, an actual idea behind the lines, that's exactly Cole and Solas to Sera, it must have a meaning.
The one piece of banter that isn't brought up here is Sera hides a bee hive inside a practice dummy but can't remember how she actually did it. Iron Bull suggests that Cole helped her and then wiped her memory to make it less disturbing for her. But if you don't recruit Cole, the banter still happens sans the Cole suggestion, and no one including Sera has any idea how it happened.
She's incredibly annoying and unnecessarily mean to the Levellan Inquisitor if they even mention something "elfy". She has a lot of hate and is really bitter. I suppose it could be never being able to fit in and that she really hates herself, kind of like Morrigan (who I also can't like no matter how hard I try). Her being a lesbian is the last thing on my mind when I think of her.
Just started playing DA:I about a month ago( long time fan of the other games but life happened and I never got around to this one until now, I know, it's ridiculous...) but I am absolutely eating these tin foil theories up. Flemeth is one of my favorite characters how her story concludes left me shook for a bit. As far as Sera I love the banter with Solas and Cole. Those two alone make some really interesting notes throughout the game and drop strange tid bits for characters.
After all these years, I feel like there one more thing to add, Sera mostly doesn't care about Elves culture, but when asked, she remember clearly about Ghilan'nan especially. Hmm, and who Ghilan'nain is really close to huh?
Honestly I feel like revealing that YET ANOTHER character's a elven god by now wouldn't even be that big of a reveal anymore. But there's something that really makes me think that there's more to Sera: her companion quest. There are some many new information and big decisions to be made on inquisitions for your companions: cassandra questions her faith and you can help her rebuild the seekers or not, you can forgive rainer or make him a grey warden, you can LITERALLY turn Iron Bull against his people and make him Tal-Vashoth, you can make cole more human or spirit like, you understand why Dorian is a pariah to his family and can help he fix his relationship with his father, even on Vivienne's quest you get to know a little more about her personal life. The counselors also have very meaningful chances to their life's by your decisions. I feel like the only characters that their personal quests don't have such a big impact are varric, solas and sera. And again, we know a bunch about varric from da2 already. Solas and Sera have such impersonal quests that are about things that were already established in the game story. And since now we know why we didn't get much information on Solas' past, it makes me think. Sera's quest is just about how she hates when noble people step on commom people which is something she already established as being a Red Jenny. She just vaguely mentions her past and we never really get an explanation why she has strong beliefs against nobles, elven culture and magic. I don't think that necessarily means that she is more than she seems but... for me's just kinda fishy.
I like certain aspects of Sera but playing an elven inquisitor as I do/did and her understandable hatred of her races culture and casual racism towards practically all elves in general grates my nerves, since before Trespasser it seemed like she couldn’t at the very least wouldn’t consider the point of view of a close friend who is an elf. I would say romance but if you as a Dalish Inquisitor decide to believe that the events at the Temple of Mythal are an important part of history or belief of the elves she gives you the ultimatum of saying that it’s nonsense or it’s over between you romantically. Again I understand why she gives that ultimatum but at the same time I just consider that one of the specific reasons why my Inquisitor would never romance her. Even if you romance Solas as mine did and you have good standing with her as a close friend she just can’t help but act like that “elves hook up with other elves because they believe it means something special when they bump bits” granted this attitude changes at Trespasser by Sera saying she’s sorry that Solas left her which shows a level of growth of her character but at the time before that I just wanted to have an option to have at least one moment to slap her in a playful way and just be like “shush”. But hey the fact that I care enough to find positive and negative points with Sera just shows how layered her character along with the other companions are as a whole.
I think that Sera is going to be important for DA4. I believe Solas' mention of her being 'unique' and 'the farthest from what she should be' are because she is elvahn but has separated herself so far from the fade that she may just throw a wrench into Solas' plan merely by existing as she does. I believe he was trying to convince her to return to her roots.
I bet others have already said this, but I'm sure that what Solas and Cole are getting at is that Sera has magical leanings. Likely she has suppressed it well enough and denies all things spirit-y and magical strong enough that she doesn't have the same problem that other mages seemed to have, but it also might just be that her 'magic' manifests in a non-traditional way which actually makes it easier for her to control.
@@RashidMBey Andruil went mad stalking the Forgotten Ones in the Void. Mythal cured her in part by taking away her knowledge of how to get to the Void. So if Sera is Andruil, then it would make sense that her greatest fear is the Void and also that she might not be able to name it exactly.
@@SopranoOfTheNight Just like that I'm on train "Sera is Andruil" It also would explain Sera's lingering madness and nonsense in a way that I can more closely appreciate it, tbh. Thanks! That's rad!
@@RashidMBey Shes also the only one that remembers the name of Andruil's lover in Jaws of Hakkon... something she shouldnt know being just a city elf. I also saw another person saying there's a mosaic depicting Aldruil and their lover (Ghila'nain I think it is) and one of them looks like Sera's tarot card, can't verify that one though
Great commentary on a possible theory about Sera. I honestly think she's Andruil but with maybe some memory loss or strong denial of what happened to her in the past. I hope her temperance doesn't change in DA4.
I remember being way into this theory back in 2014 (crazy how long it’s been). Though now as I listen to Solas’ banter, I can’t help but think he saw Sera as a waste of potential. He recognizes she has many traits that would have been valued in the heyday of the elves. But now she’s “the furthest from what she was meant to be”.
I just realized that Solas said "our people" when talking to Sera, but he does not ever say similar when talking to an elfy inquisitor, in fact, for the most part he denies being in anyway similar to the elves of this time
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Solas answers her with questions clearly trying to figure out “what” she is. The devs wouldn’t add that in the game if it didn’t mean anything. Coles’ quote about her ears always turning to the fade is especially suspicious.
I love that Sera is very much a person who’s torn between herself and her people. It’s what made my Bran Lavellan and her dynamic so amazing, he’s someone who wants to know everything about the world and culture, and Sera is someone who just wants to be separated from hers. It’s why I love how I make them slowly bond as best friends throughout the game.
Her biggest fear is nothingness, then she sees little nothings in the fade. Andruil's madness was because of the abyss, the void, filled with old whispers better left forgotten, but Mythal removed this knowledge of her head. She removed any memory of what the abyss is, so it is like an empty hole, but the fear is still there. Solas says that fear is older than everything but, maybe, desire. In a bizarre way, I think the only plausible connection between her and Andruil is the fear of nothingness. Abyss and void are synonyms for the unknown and nothingness; having the path to it removed from her mind is different than having the fear it caused in her removed. That would be the my retittal to your rebuttal.
Ive never understood people who dont like Sera. Shes one of my favorites as a companion and to romance. Shes just fun and different, unique as Ghil so eloquently put it
She is childish, rude and obnoxious. She is barely tolerable. Not to mention her voice is so damn annoying. She is the worst companion. Her banter however is sometimes entertaining.
@@youngarchivest9092 I wanted to like her. I really did. She's just too tonally dissonant with the setting. I feel like I have custody of a nasty child too dimwitted for a nuanced perspective, too sure in her stupidly simplistic view to understand geopolitics and what's universally at stake here. Every time she speaks I'm compelled to ask why she's here, and, because I want her archery, I have to babysit her and her obnoxious attitude. Every other companion brings something vital to the party as far as perspective *except Sera*. She kills nobles? Absolutely cool, especially with how oppressive and abusive they are. She runs an anonymous network of the peasant class as a sort of invisible union that keeps masters in check? Cool. Absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately, we get to know her personality, and it undercuts the only cool things about her.
I think the only semi-hidden thing about Sera is that she was the one who ended up with the Small Painted Box that the Warden can get a quest to steal from Irving's desk ion Origins. It was a quest from the Red Jennies, so it implies Sera was under Red Jenny protection as a child.
I love all these theories! I can't wait for Dragon Age 4. I just hope it won't turn out like Mass Effect Andromeda. The departure of Mike Laidlaw isn't reassuring.
Probably not. Andromeda does feel a lot like a B Team Inquisition, or iow a worse inquisition. That i feel is important. Andromeda being made by the B team which DA4 wont be.
One thing that ive noticed between Solas and Sera. Solas doesn't acknowledge ANY other elves as "his people" yet, he calls Sera "Our people" when discussing their language. The interactions between Solas and Sera are too convincing to me.
The most compelling evidence to me about her being tied to andruil is her dialogue between Solas and Cole. Her having a different body type from most elves, while also being similar to ancient elves is interesting, but I don't think that's an indicator. After all, Fenris is a behemoth when compared to most elves, and he's never been connected to ancient elves or their gods. It could just be that she's mixed-blooded.
I’m late to this convo but I think sera’s secret is that she has immense magical aptitude that she keeps hidden. Her greatest fears seem to be associated with the fade being aware of her. It’s possible she’s a reincarnation but doesn’t know it but I lean towards the idea that she was the bastard child of a Teventer Magistrate who was having an affair with an elf. It aligns with what Dorian says about his people not so much having children but breeding a prodigy and how they hide anything that would be perceived imperfections. Sera’s story is good character development as it stands as being an orphan raised by people who witnessed people doing people things. Making her something more belittles all the stories she told if they were just lies.
okay really roughly, a possible translation of "Ar dirthan’as ir elgara, ma’sula e’var vhenan" *could* be "I [speak, know, definitely something relating to knowledge] ; i am the sun, you are our heart". the dragon age wiki says "ma" has no known meaning, but evidence suggests strongly to me that it means you, and while e'var is not directly the same as var, i assume its not coincidence that they are so closely spelled. it might be a stretch, but perhaps the elves had forms of words denoting inclusivity? "var" might be "our" relating to a specific group of people, where "e'var" could mean elves as a whole? or perhaps the other way around? "ma'sula" is the trickiest to translate, as "sula" shows up in 2 different words as a root, sulahn’nehn=joy/rejoice, sulahn=sing. being related to the word for song definitely reminds me of cole saying stuff about sera "hums"
Sera's tombstone in the fade has "The Nothing" written on it, while Cole has just "despair" and Cassandra has "helplessness" which are understandable for their characters.
Is Sera just fine as she is? Absolutely. But I also think it wouldn't really be all that bad if she was 'special'. I mean, on one hand, I see Sera as a young woman with a lot of potential. It would be awesome seeing what she becomes, years later, after her experience with the Inquisition. No magical explanations or reincarnations or anything like that. I mean, she is already a brash prodigy with a fair bit of issues but also a big heart and a desire to help. What happens if she learns from the Inquisitor and grows into being a great leader? On the other hand...it could be a really interesting character moment for Sera to deal with being 'more' than she ever wanted to be. Either learning to accept who she really is, perhaps coming into her heritage but on her own terms. Or otherwise rejecting everything that makes her special. If she is the reincarnation of Andruil, perhaps she decides that THAT is not who she wants to be, and has to actually learn who she wants to be. Understand who 'Sera' actually is. Or perhaps she rejects everything to do with Andruil - she is Sera, not some ancient elven pissbag - and in doing so gives up all sorts of amazing godlike powers. Hell, imagine if there were two paths to chose from. One path has Andruil completely taking over Sera and becoming an enemy. One that is completely Andruil, no longer resembling anything of Sera. Or the alternative path, Sera rejects Andruil from her body. Everything that made her 'special' is gone, and she helps the player completely defeat the spirit of Andruil or something. Perhaps Sera loses her ability with a bow, but she is still a wicked tempest. Or perhaps Sera proves that her ability with a bow, her greatest talent, was hers and hers alone, not Andruils. And in ultimately defeating Andruil, proves herself as more than a connection to Andruil. She is Sera, and nobody can take that from her. ----- Personally, I think Sera being a little more 'special' would be great, as long as it is done right. I wouldn't mind seeing her being 'normal' (as much as Sera can be considered normal anyways). But there is more potential if Sera had some connection to Andruil or something like that. It wouldn't necessarily cheapen her character. As long as it is used as a tool to deepen/grow/solidify her character, and not a tool to overwrite her character, it would be a great addition. Probably also worth mentioning that a "normal" Sera without anything special would probably not feature much in future games. But with a Sera connected to Andruil, we'd likely see a fair bit more of her.
I love the video and the conclusion. I have heard the theory before (mentioned it in a previous comment), and it's fun to play with, but I doubt it's true. And I like the idea of Sera more being a result of her life experiences as an elf in the alienage. She's not always my favorite character (more the pranks...just not my thing), but she's a very interesting one, that's what sparks the theory making. They don't do that for the boring ones. Though for fun conspiracy theory stuff, I'll also note, I found her archery skills most interesting considering she herself says she never had any training. Despite her mockery of the elves' skills, it is NOT an entirely intuitive weapon, and she even notes you don't really tend to come across archery experts (or bows and arrows, for that matter) in city alleyways. So why choose such an unlikely weapon for her upbringing, and how did she get so good at it? (Again, mostly for fun, she may simply be lying about not having any teachers to poke at the inquisitor, or be an archery 'savant'. She just gets it..) But if she was an ancient elf who, horrified by what elves of that time became, and especially the Evanuris and decided to become a freedom fighter for the little people? There's a romantic edge to that... But so is someone taken from an alienage as an orphan and seeing the hypocrisy of the wealthy around her, fights against it.
I agree that Sera is fine as it is. I think that with the reveals of two elven gods in the same game people got a bit carried away and "Elven gods" seems to be the most popular answer to pretty much every question.
I know Sera is carefree but she's actually an injured soul in her earlier years. Well, Sera disliked magic or anything occult, but she at least liked my human mage inquisitor. Even of I didn't romance her, at least she's got a friend she can pull jokes and pranks while doing red jenny jobs. My ending showed her part in my mage's story, they're both pulling pranks or doing red jenny, while canonically amputated (and armed with crossbow).
My HC is that Sera is a self-suppressed mage. She probably would have manifested around the time of the Blight, and the lack of any kind of teacher and fear of the Darkspawn finding her lead to her suppressing her magic, which then finds ways to manifest outside of the norm. So her skill with a bow, apparently without much training, sneak abilities (beehive in a training dummy) and general resilience are consequences of that. It also explains her issues with the Fade and demons (as opposed to Darkspawn), since she would probably have the usual magey dreams. Her general body type and height I think is just because she was fed enough as a child - the elves in Dalish clans or the Alienages probably struggle to get enough food for a growing child, and that naturally limits their growth. This would also explain a lot of the Cole/Solas party banter, if you take Solas' use of 'our people' to mean elven mages, not just elves.
Hmmm, I think there is a hidden past to Sera but I think the thing that makes Sera unique is the fact she is trying to move beyond that. She has no need for the past that once bound her. It clings to her but she refuses to cling to it. Whatever she was before she isn't anymore. She is her own person seperate from whatever her past holds. I suspect some of her tendencies do stem from that past time but as a mold to follow in the absence of anything else. Lacking a directions she will take that shape. But when she makes a new decision she follows that wholeheartedly even if it goes against all she was before. Sera is a new person, maybe born of an old one, but the road she walks is made by her with every step forward. That is her beauty.
I love this goofball, I'm scared for her when Solas tears it all apart if these theories are true. She also says she hates pride. I recall seeing somewhere that the Dread Wolf's greatest sin is pride. Her tarot card is also The Fool, and it's a card that's got connections to the Void, nothingness. And what's Sera's greatest fear according to the Fade? The Void / nothingness.
I think the truth is somewhere in between. When you enter Vir Vir Dirthara, an elf inquisitor will mention seeing all the colors. Other races will not remark on this, and see it as only bland and different. I think this sort of relates to what Solas and Cole are getting at. Sera may hate Elfy-ness, but she *is* an elf and will have characteristics of one. She may even have unrealized magical ability, which Solas might even be able to pick up on. He even mentions her possibly having it, and would explain Sera ears ‘pointing toward the fade.’ As for the body type, I checked after watching it, the male Lavellan and Solas have an obviously much more similar body type than the female Lavellan and Solas do, so I think that may explain that one. You also nailed the Dalish armor equip issue in regards to Sera, so I won't address that. Great vid!
I always figured Solas and Sera having a thicker body type than an elf inquisitor was because they were actually well fed. Prolonged malnourishment -especially in childhood- has a substantial impact on a body, stunting growth and physical development. We don’t know much of Solas’ early history, but if he was able to move among the Evanuris as one of them, then he was likely at least well off growing up. Sera was raised by a human noble, and has likely been stealing carb heavy foods from nobles as a Red Jenny. The Dalish inquisitor, by contrast, has been living a nomadic hunter-gatherer life in a world that openly mistrusts and oppresses them, surviving on whatever supplies their clan is able to gather in the wilderness.
The thing is that Sera is a powerful and secret figure... And she tells us the moment she meets us... She is the Red Jenny of Val Royeux. The biggest and nobbiest place in game and she was unknown to Liliana. She operated a cooporative spy network, liaised with countless people, assassinated several key nobles in enemy territory all under the SpyMaster's nose?! That's blooming impressive all on it's own!
does anyone remember when you frist meet sera? remember what she saids when you ask "what is your name?" She flat out says something along the lines of "i have/had 2"
Just found your channel, I love the theories on Sera and who she might be! Loving that you have a whole channel devoted to the lore of Thedas! Please do keep up the wonderful work!
Your recent foil hat video on Leliana reminded me of this... And it still makes me frustrated. There's so much here and even more you haven't mentioned (though that Cole research was thorough). Now I'm back on this train. I need to dig up my old notes.
I lean more to her being "special" they've gone to great lengths to show ancient figures persisting through time by any means necessary. Solas being a 1:1 Elven God, Flemeth actually holding Mythal's soul, the evanuris being real and being sealed deep in the fade. It would also be great because it would break Bioware's trend of "non-regular human hates being non-regular human" that they perpetuate with characters like Peebee, Varric, and Sera in the majority of DA:I. But at the same time Bioware could just make us fight Andruil after she's unsealed from the fade and Sera is nowhere to be seen in DA4 cuz she was "unpopular"
sera is forced into notice more than other companions as well, but the weirder part is her deja vu also cole says something about how seras name said wrong can make the r sound like a d or something like that
My journeys with Sera, in Dragon Age: Inquisition, has led me to come up with a theory of my own... My theory is that the fade... Well, she's salty in some places! :D
I highly suspect dear old Sera is a old God and a God that is displeased with the Dalish Elves just like Solas. Her fear of magicks may be from the Elven civil war since magicks was common among the ancient Elves.
While this theory is very believable because I think the devs left her backstory pretty vague, with solas, flemeth, anders, and wynne I think that maybe only mages are able to consciously host another soul/spirit (like have them w/out being full on possessed) since they are more connected to the fade than non-mages.
Sara could also have human heritage, just look at Alistair, he had a elven mother but looks totally human. Half blooded races aren’t really addressed in Dragon Age so it could just be that she has human heritage and it changed her body type over time.
It would make sense if she were channelling Andruil, if not completely possessed by her. She picked up bowmanship better than any Dalish elf. She has an affinity to the fade and the veil, even though she tries to suppress it (she always knows when the veil is 'wobbly'). like Andruil, she runs her own path and won't let anyone tell her differently. it's possible she even knows this, deep down, and why she fights so hard against anything remotely 'elfy' because the implications are so troubling.
Or she is just magical like Solas and Cole hinted at heavily. Why does she have to be an elven god? With how much people bang at it, im surprised they havent insisted that the Inquisitor is an elven god
A note on the figure seen in the well of sorrows thing. I distinctly remember reading a tweet from one of the devs (name is escaping me) saying that they used a human body model and that they expected the SFX to mask most of the features. That we can see the figure's hair and ears is not intentional at all. Also I love this video! We have very similar views on this theory, I really do think it would cheapen her character if proven true. Sera is wonderful and complex on her own merits, she doesn't need a bunch of magical shit thrown in there to make her cool!
I'm going to pin this for two reasons: 1.) So further promote the best opinion ever that Sera is best how she is and 2.) You jogged my memory about that Bioware dev! I think Mari from Geek Remix was the one who tweeted it out and found the information- here is her video with more information on it plus her thoughts: th-cam.com/video/YTNAAF6fRf0/w-d-xo.htmlm50s
and while I put the time stamp in the link, I would recommend checking out the whole video!
Yea she unique in d way she doesn't c herself as an elf dats all der not goin make her a vessel as well I think trespasser dlc ans a lot of questions f me all doh I'll prob b wrong wit my conclusions av to c wen DA5 comes out
Just noticed, in the language banter between Solas and Sera, he says "our people." He never refers to any modern elf as being one of his people, not even a romanced elf inquisitor.
This is true. He even gets mad if you say "our people" or "elves" etc in reference to him. But he says "our people" to Sera.
Shit, you’re right...
Not exactly true. th-cam.com/video/9lnes2bQf-Q/w-d-xo.html 14:35
@@saltyskegg5355 can you confirm whether it was in romance with solas or not?
it is important because solas would only say "our people" to someone he grew fond of, or to someone who he has to admit the connection with them is undeniable, such as a true elvhen.
That would mean if he only used "our people" with the romanced inquisitor but did not do so with the non-romanced - that means Sera has an undeniable connection to him, one that he surely knows of.
@@sorta-7272 well at the time of that scene fem elf Quizzy hasn't started a relationship with Solas yet. So technically he uses 'our people' with all elf Quizzy (both male and female)
There's also another thing, This explains Sera sexual alignment, she prefers woman. According to the wiki Andruil's chosen one and/or beloved is Ghila'nain whom was once a mortal elven woman.
And also in Jaws of Hakkon when professor Kenric seems to not recall Ghila'nain's name, Sera actually corrected him and pronounced the name properly. I find it odd since Sera hates elfy stuff, but she knows about Ghila'nain and pronounce her name correctly!
Interesting... and she was RAISED by a human woman in human culture, not even in an alienage, so how would that name be familiar to her?
I think her hatred of all things elven isn't directed at the culture itself, or it didn't used to be. From talking to her, what I get is that she hated the pretentious attitudes of the "elfy" elves who tried to push their beliefs onto her, and over time that evolved into a generic dislike of the culture as a whole because of the people in it. And, to be completely honest, I'd agree with her if I wasn't so fascinated by the lore of Thedas.
@@cairrean2412 I think she probably suffered rejection from the dalish elves she has encountered that's why she reject their belief. If you romance her then break up with her over the issue of mythal. She tell you to say that you think that if she was smarter and a true elven she would understand. I think she fear that as a dalish when you realise the only think elfy about her is her ears you will reject her as a fake.
@@ddy7323 I do not think she fears that, since she is quite confident about herself being not elfy, but she do not like you if you become too serious about elven tradition
@@miaz3839 that's the thing, she rejects anything elfy because elfy dalish elves look down on her and see her as inferior or fake elves and reject her.
Sera can also tell where the veil is thin despite having no skill for magic
Wait when was this omitted ?
@@goodisgood153 in the banter section where shes getting deja vu. She is seeing into the fade via the weaknesses and mistaking it for remembering
Solas also tells her she might have magical talent, though it might be a joke because she put lizards in his bed or something lol
"We're not so far apart, you and I" "We will be" Best line ever.
Here's my theory: Sera is a secret anagram for "arse".
this is a much better theory than the Sera= Evanuris one, because this one is actually plausibly true
Also sounds like general greetings.
I like this theory.
One of the Jenny's in trespasser says you'll get a name that rhymes with arse so... legit
Sera Greatly Approves
Solas did say ssomething like "we are not that different". Looking at who Solas really is, this is even stronger evidence.
I agree strongly with this point. Because if you play as a elvin Inquisitor, Solas makes multiple mocking and almost annoyed comments about comparing himself to currently living elves. He looks down on Dalish culture and feels no connection to any living elves that are not ancient ones. He wouldn't say "we are not that different" to Sera if she was just an average elf. Something is going on with her. Some connection to the fade, Andruil's spirit, something.
I think you're reading far too much in to it and adding needless complication and significance to what was most likely a meaningless, passing comment. Solas did come to realize he was unfair in his judgement of modern Elves, after all, and the more he gets to know his fellow companions the more he begins to relate to them. I highly doubt he was implying that Sera had some connection to the ancient Elves, let alone the Evanuris. Honestly, there is such a thing as going out of control with the theorizing. Not everything and everyone has to have a secret/ancient identity.
No, nothing is going on with Sera. She's exactly what she seems to be, a small fish desperately struggling for relevance in a vast ocean filled with sharks. She masks her desire to spite and kill nobles beneath a Robinhood-esque façade.
I would just like to say that I personally don't care either way if Sera is "special/different" or not. It's a disclaimer to let you know I'm unbiased on this subject.
Though Solas did realize his judgment of modern day elves (and other races) was unfair, it didn't automatically diminish his racial bias against them. A romanced Inquisitor is the exception, of course, but to even do that she would need to express an interest (and preference) for the old ways of the Elvhen.
Sera irritated Solas, in fact. He makes a very harsh curse against her in Elvish in one of their banters. I very much doubt that he would relate himself to her had she not been special in some way. He might have dismissed her as "unredeemable" in his eyes once he figured out that she hated her heritage. Food for thought, though I don't dismiss the argument that her banter is all normal, surface level stuff that we already know about her. :)
@@Bandikitty "a small fish desperately struggling for relevance in a vast ocean filled with ocean," where do you get that? don't you think you are reading too much into that too? Sera does despite nobles and wants to kill them if they deserve it, what kind of relevance? I do not think.she yearn for relevance, at leaset not.the kind you are talking about. She stands on her own as a character, tbh I can get where she is coming from, I think she will probably laugh if she hears you.say that.
@@Bandikitty It's late and all, but I don't think she is normal.
It's true, reading to much into something and coming up with weird theories is a thing that totally annoys me. Especially when those are theories where someone just spurrted out the first thing that came to his/her mind and has actually no real claim, since most of that theories can be disabled in mere seconds, just by looking at the lore.
But the Sera/Andruil theory is definitely not on of those theories.
I'm definitely not saying it is 100% true, but the possibility is there and the theory has a solid ground, unlike other theories.
For once, there are to much similiaritys between Sera and Andruil. Also, Sera and Solas highly mirror Andruil and Fen'Harel's relationship.
Some of the banter she has with Solas and Cole is pretty ominous. And we already have prove that Cole's ominous remarks during banters are more than just weird phrases.
That boy literally told us who Solas is and what he did, way before the end of the main game. He also told us Blackwall's story before Revelations started.
And 2 of his banters with her are too straight forward to be meaningless.
Another thing that should be mentioned, is Sera's storie in DA:I, who is pretty odd compared to the other companions of the games.
Usually, they all have sort of an storie arc that developes there character and changes them or how they see things, even back in Origins, if you did all your companion quests, they evolved. The exceptions are always those characters that surve a higher purpose in later games. And funnily, the only character that hasn't changed a bit, is Sera. We didn't REALLY learned anything about her and her personal quest didn't triggered some sort of development in her
Great vid, but you left out the most compelling piece of evidence imo (albeit tin foil-y). Her tombstone in the fade near the fear demon. 'The Nothing' - literally the Void. This could be just her leaning on chantry belief of it being like hell, or it could be that she's actually been there. Who fears hell? I mean its depicted as a nasty place that we should fear.... but without real context most people fear other things more so.
Something that kind of backs this up is that Andruil went to the Void after losing her interest of hunting men and beasts (bigger game). Andruil would have reason to fear the Void seeing it first hand. Sera shares this interest of hunting men and beasts. Evidence of this being her fascination w/ hunting dragons -the greatest game in the land (its even specifically mentioned in the codex) and being a Red Jenny.
Yeah, and the Codex about Andruil also says that she managed to make an armor out of the Void and it drove her crazy. And Sera a) fears the Nothing and b) after the Fade she says that in the realm of the Fear Demon she was attacked by Nothing, don't remember the exact quote, but it implied that there were the items of Nothing
Although I am on board with the idea that some companions are allowed to be simple people chillin' with the protagonist
I always interpreted The Nothing to mean insignificance. She wants to do good in the world, but all she can manage is a band of hoodlums, who (Before joining the Inquisition) didn't amount to anything. All her efforts, all in vain...Sera "The Nothing".
Full Auto Skeptic maybe, that would be a nice touch, too)
Other people might consider the efforts of the jennys to be insignificant, but Sera doesn’t. She likes them exactly as they are: a little group that sticks up for the little guy. She’s not interested in recognition or significance. I really don’t think that can be what is meant by “the nothing”
"we are not so far apart, you and i" goddamit Solas, you are a GOD. to say that to Sera is to all but name drop that she either is one, was one or could become one.
Exactly. Solas may even deny he is truly a god, but Solas is also rather hypocritical in the name of his nuance.
Given Solas view on the elven gods, if he thought she was one, she would be dead ...
(Spoilers for Trespasser) Don't forget all the odd dialog that happens when you bring Sera into the crossroads when stoping the Quinari, especially when you get to Vir Dithara and you meet the Learning Spirit who seems to address Sera in Elvish and she totally flips out. Even weirder, she KNEW that it was talking to her even if your Inquisitor is an Elf too, but it chose to speak to her first or at least it seemed to.
Tharess Crestar, thats right. I think, sera is one of the forgotten ones. Solas said to her : "Ar dirthan as ir elgara, ma sula evar, vhenan." i couldnt translate it perfektly, but its something like "i know, i am elgara?, you........, my heard." maybe they were friends / in love, once?
Yeah, but Varric also calls Solas "elf" and if Sera's there she takes offense to it. I've always thought part of that was just Sera hating being lumped in with the Dalish just because she's got pointed ears.
To add to the Andruil thing, there's a plaque of Andruil...a very stylized 'image' of her in one of the temples I think, a kind of mosaic. The plaque shows a vague figure holding a bow in a down position...identical in posture to Sera's alternate tarot card.
Clearly no proof exists one way or the other, because the writers saw fit to only tease with ambiguous info (or disinfo), but I do find the notion of some mad sliver of Andruil finding its way into an elven host and driving HER mostly mad in the process rather interesting.
I do hope it's not lost in the shuffle of DA4, one way or the other.
Do you remember which temple that is?
To me, it seems clear that there is something special about Sera. C'mon, there are too many "coincidences" otherwise. To me there are three parts that make it clear... at least in my mind of course:
1- The game makes an emphasis about Sera being an excellent archer without much training; to her, it is clear and even obvious to notice a good shot from a bad one; It seems very reminiscent to one of the dragon age books... when a magical ring gives the person who wears it the magical ability to perceive clearly the movements of the enemy and to give the person the precision needed when they use their weapons for example.
2- She really hates magical related things. Yes, you may have reasons for people to hate magic (you may have them even for Sera), but the theory of her having the soul of "an elven god" would explain this hate... she doesn't want to allow one part of herself to show, resulting in her attempt to suppress this part with a particular dislike towards magic.
3-Yes, for me you cannot explain the specific banter you hear coming from Solas and Cole otherwise. Sera must be related in some way to magic... otherwise, those comments from Cole and Solas would make no sense whatsoever. Solas and Cole are special in the sense that they perceive more than other people, being able to notice something more about Sera... Cole because he is related to the fate and Solas for being who he is. Perhaps this is the most important piece of evidence for me. The banter can be explained with Sera being related in some way or another to the fade.
To me, the tarot card and her body type are just maybe extras, you don't need them for this theory to work.
She goes to great lengths to hide where she comes from, and anything real about who she is. She is very immature, in the way that people use to disguise pain, or mask over real emotions. Sera speaks in riddles for the most part.
When talking to Solas/going through Trespasser, Solas talks about all the elven gods being imprisoned. This is what he believes.
If Sera is Andruil, it would make sense. She is the goddess of the hunt and survival. If any of the other gods would survive, it would be her. Solas talks about the pain he feels for the other gods, but when he was the one doing the imprisoning, and being hunted I think his pain would be less than Andruils, had she survived. So much pain she runs away from it? She suppresses it to the point she is no longer Andruil. She would have had thousand of years to fully suppress who she is at the point of Inquisition that even Solas doesn't recognize her.
I don't think this cheapens Sera at all, I think it makes her character more rich.
Or, and FAR more likely, the person who wrote her was so enamored with the notion of creating a 'non-elfy' Elven character that he spared little thought for her origins, choosing instead to focus on making her as over the top crazy as possible. These little quotes of hers that people give such significance to were just the writer's overeager attempts to make her seem quirky and unique. The banter between her, Solas and Cole is meant to illustrate her aversion to all things magic related and Solas and Cole's attempts to make it less frightening to her and to make her more accepting. Solas, when he said she was the furthest from what she was meant to be, is clearly referring to the fate that's befallen ALL Elves. All of them are not what they were meant to be. Abelas even refers to them as shadows (exact words: "shadows wearing vallaslin"). Sera in particular is not as she ought to be because she is an Elf who has a clear aversion to her own kind, to her rightful heritage. Solas slept through all the thousands of years of strife the Elves endured and he's only been in the modern world for a single year. Do you even consider that amidst all your theorizing?
Think of it logically. You have Fen'Harel HIMSELF walking the earth once again, but for him, he lived for countless years, thousands, or even tens of thousands, in the Elven empire are the very height of its power. That is all he's ever known. After banishing the Enavuris he SLEPT and when he woke up the world was completely different from what he was familiar with. Can you imagine how jarring that would be? The Elves are but shadows of their former selves and for Solas, who slept through it all, the days of the Elven empire still seem like yesterday. He didn't feel the thousands of years during which he slept, that passed him by, like you falling asleep at night and waking up the next morning. Can you recount the hours during which you slept? Of course not. The transition from night to day, when passed through sleep, almost feels Instantaneous. To Solas, it would almost feel like the Elven empire crumbled overnight. Then he encounters modern Elves, who are nothing like the People as he knows them. And worse, someone like Sera, who is an Elf but who bears a distinct prejudice for Elves and an intense fear of magic and all things even remotely connected to the arcane. To Solas, a genuine ancient Elf, she is the farthest thing from the People he knew as one can get. That's what he meant. Not that she was somehow more than what she seems. She ISN'T.
All of Solas' banter with Sera is him trying to make her accept her heritage because he has such a hard time reconciling an Elf like Sera with the magical Elves he used to know. To Solas, magic is as natural as breathing and someone like Sera, especially with her being an Elf, is difficult for him to comprehend. Again, the Elven empire no doubt seems like just yesterday to him. He's only known the modern world for one year vs the thousands of years he likely lived in Elvhenan (sp?). He isn't implying that Sera is special, he's just trying to make her more what he feels an Elf should be, hence why he's constantly offering to teach her magic, or test her for any dormant magical abilities. Seriously, not everything has to have some deeper, veiled significance.
It should also be noted that the person who wrote her, if I recall correctly, did not write any other character; Sera was his one contribution, which speaks volumes. When DA:I was first being advertised and their characters displayed they made a great fuss about Sera being the most un-elflike Elf ever, and it was toted as a good thing. It backfired on them. There's really nothing more to her, she was a failed attempt at creating a unique and quirky character. Period.
Honestly, the Sera theorists are just adding needless complication and depth where none exists. Sort of reminds me of Chicken Little. An acorn falls and plonks you on the head and because of that you think the sky is falling. Something fell from above ergo it MUST mean a part of the sky fell, surely it couldn't be something so simple or mundane as an acorn. You grasp at minute, sporadic details and desperately try to prove they are relevant and connected in some way with no other logic than it's what you want to think. How in the world would Sera come to possess the soul of an Elven god? The Evanuris were ALL sealed away with the exception of Mythal and HER soul, or its remnant, is already accounted for.
And she certainly cannot possess the soul of an Old God, because that child is also accounted for and in any case Sera is both too old to be the Old God child (already identified as Kieran) of the fifth Blight and far too young by several centuries to be the Old God child of the fourth Blight. There isn't even any evidence that any Old God child other than Kieran has ever been born, which is a safe bet because until the Hero of Ferelden every warden documented killing an Archdemon DIED in the killing, which pretty much ends all possibility of another Old God child existing. Because if they had existed the wardens who struck the killing blows would have been documented as living, but the Hero of Ferelden is the only one with that distinction. That's why his survival was met with such incredulity by some, because all other Archdemon slayers died, to a one. The Hero of Ferelden is singular in that he is the only warden to ever survive killing an Archdemon. So, it is a pretty safe bet that Sera is NOT the vessel of either an Old God or one of the Evanuris. She's just Sera - a sociopathic, short-sighted, vapid, magic fearing bigot with a prejudice against her own kind likely born from a deep-seated, long hidden, sense of inferiority.
Your assertion that her having the soul of an Elven God explains her aversion to magic is nonsensical at best. HOW, exactly, would possessing such a soul make her fear and loath magic? The Elven gods were big on magic so, if anything, someone who possessed an Elven god's soul would be MORE interested in magic, not blindly terrified of it. Flemeth (the only one who actually does possess a fragment of one of the Elven gods, I hope you recall) is a marvelous example of this and a direct contradiction to such a bizarre claim. Flemeth's connection to Mythal makes her one of the most powerful and knowledgeable magic users in all of Thedas; she certainly has no fear of it in any way, shape or form. So, I just have to ask, why in the WORLD would you think a person with an ELVEN God's soul would FEAR magic? There is no logic to that whatsoever and shows just how much you're grasping at straws. If anything, Sera's blatant fear and hatred for magic is further proof that she ISN'T what you want her to be. She is not the vessel for anything or anyone.
But the character was overall so hated, that maybe they wont bother to bring her back.
That's sad really. I liked Sera. The only character I did not like was Vivienne (Mme Le Fer)...and after I abolished the circle she created her own at the end of it all. Was not impressed that she's the most overpowered character to boot.
@@Bandikitty Kudos, you, brave, controversial BAMF. People in the Fandom make up too many weird theories. Giving in too much to the writers.
They have written too many stories. And they are human after all. Prone to errors and repetitions, understandably.
My theory? The writers considered some secret like this for Sera, so they set up the grounds for it (like all the mentioned hints), but then for whatever reason decided against it and left Sera to be the way we know her.
Possibly there was even supposed to be a DLC where we would discover this, but it was scrapped? Or a personal quest.
This is an old thread, but I've been rewatching DA stuff lately, and here's a hot take: perhaps some of the reactions she's getting from Solas are because she reminds him of Andruil (and may not necessarily BE her). I mean, we can't rule it out, because some of these bread crumb trails turn into something later, but Sera, on the surface, is a mad, bow-wielding elf. One of the things we know about Andruil is that she went a bit mad with a presumptive brush with the blight. Her peculiar manner of speech, handiness with a bow and prevailing hesitance towards magic unknowns and elf business may just be something Solas (and Cole, by proxy) is identifying as being like Andruil, since the people Solas knew are long gone; and with the exception of a cherry-picked few, he admits he has some degree of difficulty relating to the sundered people of the new world. He could just be projecting that familiarity on her.
It honestly makes more sense that she would be Andruil, especially considering that when she brought back the armor of the void (possibly red lyrium?) and went crazy they had to make her sort of tranquil to stop hunting everyone. So of course she wouldn't even remember where she came from, she only remembered "growing up in Denerim." Could also be possession of an ancient elven spirit such as Flemethal, the difference being, her spirit is tranquil and can't remember. Ancient elven tranquility may be different from chantry tranquility, and I hope they explore that possiblilty in the next game. Quite a bit more that wasn't covered in this video. Bioware is known for A LOT of easter eggs, so it's a very reasonable assumption, or it could just be Sera is a weird childish girl molded by her harsh childhood. If Sera is Andruil, it wouldn't cheapen her, just add more depth into her already strange personality. She seems to forget a lot more in Trespasseser, evident in her diary if she is with Dagna. I hope Dagna can help her with her insecurities, or help her realize who she is. Either way, I'd love to see her development as a character.
Wait, what do you mean by "if she is with Dagna"?
In the Trespasser DLC unless Sera is with a female Inquisitor she gets into a relationship with Dagna or her 'Widdle' as she affectionately nicknames her
It's not Dagna, it's Scout Harding... I think...
Andrés De la Oliva Guzmán Sera definitely romances Dagna it says so at the very end of DA:I and in the Trespasser DLC. And it is Dagna because prior to me playing Trespasser i googled it and found out. if that is what youre saying
You're right!! I don't know why I thought it was Harding xD
Here I am nearly 3 years later, listening to this...I still believe there's more to her. I hope we learn more in the next Dragon Age game.
Here I am nearly 3 years later replying to you, still hoping we learn more in the next Dragon Age game.
Playing as a Qunari inquisitor my first time Sera’s honesty and straightforward albeit joking nature was more welcoming than any of the other companions at the start and I’ve liked her ever since
Sera is the and will always be the best companion in Dragon Age, no one else feels more real than her in the entire game, she is down to earth, cares about the little things and lives life daily, struggling to be happy and comfortable with herself. Sera is the best and her personality is awesome.
*beleaguered voice* "I mean, it's a bow? It's a common design? I don't see how this is proof?"
I absolutely lost my shit
Someone else mentioned this in their video but I have also seen it while playing Origins and Inquisition: in Origins when you are in the circle tower and you get to Irvin's (that's the tower leaders name right?) office you find a "small painted box" in his desk that you later hand off very discreetly to a Jenny in Denerim. In Inquisition you talk to Sera and ask about herself and she will mention that she used to play with small painted boxes while she was in Denerim. Could she have unleashed something magical on herself? There's no telling what it could be though
Feels like an easter egg to me; I doubt they had planned through DA3 during Origins...but ya never know!
I just assumed she was playing with blocks, because she was just a kid during the Blight.
@@maxsalmon4980 Yeah, it was just supposed to be an easter egg from what I remember. Doesn’t mean there isn’t any significance to it though. Who knows?
See I was under the impression that she was a mage and just didn’t wanna be one which is why she’s so against magic
I don't care if Sera is exactly what she seems. I still love her.
i similarly don't care if Sera is not what she seems.
except i hate her.
@@gendoruwo6322 😞
@@gendoruwo6322 hate her too
Yeah, bigoted elves are lit
@@SomeLonelyShmuckYes, I am also a fan of an unapologetically self-hating racist with black and white mentality, as well.
Feel like Sara at the very least is a mage, denying her abilities.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense really, and why Solas takes an interest in her.
Sera is as much a Mage as Dalish (Bull's Chargers) is a Mage.
I think she's trying to suppress who and what she is in fear of history repeating
Just a thought:
Maybe Sera is the daughter of Iona from DAO.
If i remember right, Sera tells the Inqusitor she was born and raised in Denerim. When romancing Iona at castle Highever, she tells the warden she has a daughter back in Denerim, who you can meet after you complete the late game quest with the Tevinter Mages in the Alienage hospital (at least i believe its her daughter, given the fact that she only says that she misses her mother or something and to my knowledge is not part of any quest). Just a theory of mine and maybe the devs have explained the true origin of Sera, but its something i noticed in the game and makes sense to me ;)
My personal theory: Sera is an unawakened dreamer. Solas may (or seems to) feel some kind of resonance with her, but she does her damnedest to avoid anything magical or elfie. Maybe it’s just in her blood, maybe it’s just something that she’s never tapped into. The only two dreamers that we ever see in the games or even hear about at any length are Feynriel and Solas. Both of them had to be trained to become what they are. It’s entirely possible that when Cole refers to her being asleep, or when Solas refers to her being the furthest from what she is meant to be, that what they mean is that she had the potential. And because of her character and choices, it never happened.
On the character design level, maybe it was an abandoned plot thread that they just simply hint at in conversation, or with idle banter. For whatever reason, she is who she is and the story is better for it.
That is actually more believable than her being an tranquilled elven god reincarnated, for the simple reason that Solas would already have killed or resealed her
BioWare was actually going to make her magic abilities an unique specialization but the idea was scrapped because it was breaking character (she hates magic so she won't use it even if she could).
While I've been researching this theory, I've been kind of happy to see that the biggest retort is that all of this makes Sera too complex when Sera is awesome just being Sera. And while I personally believe Sera is Andruil based on all the evidence given in the game, I'm glad to see that people are fighting for Sera just being a person. She'd have preferred it that way.
By the way, Freud's a dummy. Leon Festinger and the theory of cognitive dissonance are much more relevant here.
Freud is totally a dummy to todays standards- but my point of bringing him up was that I believe that people are looking at something that has a totally reasonable explanation and reading too much into it- much like Freud would do. I feel like cognitive dissonance doesn't match with that point very well- do you mean that Sera is effected by it?
It's not even by today's standards. The dude didn't even use the scientific method. But feh. I don't want to rant about Freud. I want to rant about Sera!
I've been putting together research on the "Sera is Andruil" theory and I've been trying to look at it from both sides. What keeps popping up to validate Sera's reactions as a person rather than a goddess is that she has trouble reconciling shades of grey in her beliefs. The best example is after the Well of Sorrows where she can't reconcile elven gods existing and ALSO the Maker existing, so she says they must be demons because any other answer doesn't follow her preconceived notions. Every time you see Sera freak out, it's because she has a belief she holds as a 100% true and doesn't have any room for new beliefs or compromise. Elves suck because they tell her she's not good enough, and she knows she's good enough. Nobles suck for the same reason and also because they use their influence to step on people. Elven gods also suck because they counter her belief in the Maker. Everything she craps on goes back to her experiencing cognitive dissonance about it. It can't be true because she believes everyone's made equal by the Maker and good people do good things and bad people do bad things. And that's that.
I guess what I was trying to say was is that if you're going to argue against the Andruil theory, cognitive dissonance is the best counter I've been able to find to it. There's a reason Sera has holes in her memory and becomes violently opposed to certain beliefs and philosophies. Since this is Thedas, it could just as easily be a mental disorder or magic.
I'm not Freud's biggest fan either. But, in his defence, your comment 'sometimes a cigar is just a cigar' to presumably dismiss his apparent obsessions in your video was supposedly one which he himself made to an indignant student referencing the cigar he was sucking on at the time
@@ClintEPereira I think you are perfectly right with your last sentence.
Sometimes, in fantasy litterature, the most effective way to portray an interaction between a human mind and the supernatural (for example, demonic possession) is getting inspiration from true mental disorders. That's because most ancient legends about possessions and haunting come from real life mental disorders that were unknown to medicine at that time.
In my opinion, it can be both. I personally think there are good elements for both versions
Maybe she was made tranquil, and someone along the line used (the seeker information on reversing tranquility) and removed her tranquility effects. Perhaps the borderline madness she has is just an effect from whatever one has to go through to reverse tranquility. Perhaps she was a mage?
the way sera says "greenish..? ... and clear along ways and.. kind of... felt like falling" her voice softens right at the end and idk why but it just makes me think of Andruil. not that Andruil has ever been soft but I'm in love with her so... lmao
We really don't know the context of Andruil. Its consistent in DA that myth says one important thing, but you have to be there to know better.
So the argument for Sera being special in some weird way (I don't necessarily mean as being Andruil, but some sort of repressed mage or who knows what) is essentially, "But look at all these weird references!" and the rebuttal is pretty much, "So what?" ;) I find it hard to believe that they went to all that trouble to put in all those weird dialogue moments just to have them mean nothing whatsoever, but time will tell, I guess.
Wasn't Sera being a potential mage confirmed by someone in the dev team? I thought I read something about it. That's why she keeps having deja vu. And the other things.
Seems to me that elves, having been a magical race in the time of Arlathan, are just more sensitive to magic. Usually. Of course, there are exceptions to this as there are to everything, but it would explain a lot, I think.
This is the right way to see it.
I mean, if you look at DA 2 for example, you can see that characters have a huge amount of dialogue but nothing is going anywhere with it, and just like so the characters in Inquisition also have many not interesting dialogues that come up here and there, but then there are also dialogues with hidden info, certain meanings, an actual idea behind the lines, that's exactly Cole and Solas to Sera, it must have a meaning.
But why would the writer make an important character someone they hate to write. 🤔
The one piece of banter that isn't brought up here is Sera hides a bee hive inside a practice dummy but can't remember how she actually did it. Iron Bull suggests that Cole helped her and then wiped her memory to make it less disturbing for her. But if you don't recruit Cole, the banter still happens sans the Cole suggestion, and no one including Sera has any idea how it happened.
I'm happy someone is talking positive about Sera, because it annoys me when she's just treated as 'the lesbian '
I can't stand her and it has nothing to do with her being a lesbian. Just speaking to her, seeing the things she approves or disapproves of.
When I think of Sera, the last thing I think of is her sexuality. It's her prejudice, rudeness and selfishness that I have a hard time overlooking.
She's blatantly racist against her own race, kinda like a white liberal in the US
she is not treated as "the leasbian", she is treated as an annoyng obnoxious shit that she is
She's incredibly annoying and unnecessarily mean to the Levellan Inquisitor if they even mention something "elfy". She has a lot of hate and is really bitter. I suppose it could be never being able to fit in and that she really hates herself, kind of like Morrigan (who I also can't like no matter how hard I try). Her being a lesbian is the last thing on my mind when I think of her.
Just started playing DA:I about a month ago( long time fan of the other games but life happened and I never got around to this one until now, I know, it's ridiculous...) but I am absolutely eating these tin foil theories up. Flemeth is one of my favorite characters how her story concludes left me shook for a bit.
As far as Sera I love the banter with Solas and Cole. Those two alone make some really interesting notes throughout the game and drop strange tid bits for characters.
After all these years, I feel like there one more thing to add, Sera mostly doesn't care about Elves culture, but when asked, she remember clearly about Ghilan'nan especially. Hmm, and who Ghilan'nain is really close to huh?
Honestly I feel like revealing that YET ANOTHER character's a elven god by now wouldn't even be that big of a reveal anymore. But there's something that really makes me think that there's more to Sera: her companion quest. There are some many new information and big decisions to be made on inquisitions for your companions: cassandra questions her faith and you can help her rebuild the seekers or not, you can forgive rainer or make him a grey warden, you can LITERALLY turn Iron Bull against his people and make him Tal-Vashoth, you can make cole more human or spirit like, you understand why Dorian is a pariah to his family and can help he fix his relationship with his father, even on Vivienne's quest you get to know a little more about her personal life. The counselors also have very meaningful chances to their life's by your decisions. I feel like the only characters that their personal quests don't have such a big impact are varric, solas and sera. And again, we know a bunch about varric from da2 already. Solas and Sera have such impersonal quests that are about things that were already established in the game story. And since now we know why we didn't get much information on Solas' past, it makes me think. Sera's quest is just about how she hates when noble people step on commom people which is something she already established as being a Red Jenny. She just vaguely mentions her past and we never really get an explanation why she has strong beliefs against nobles, elven culture and magic. I don't think that necessarily means that she is more than she seems but... for me's just kinda fishy.
I WILL TALK FOR HOURS ON HOW SPECIAL THE IRON BULL IS!!! XD
"I can't feel my legs." ohhhh josey XD
I like certain aspects of Sera but playing an elven inquisitor as I do/did and her understandable hatred of her races culture and casual racism towards practically all elves in general grates my nerves, since before Trespasser it seemed like she couldn’t at the very least wouldn’t consider the point of view of a close friend who is an elf.
I would say romance but if you as a Dalish Inquisitor decide to believe that the events at the Temple of Mythal are an important part of history or belief of the elves she gives you the ultimatum of saying that it’s nonsense or it’s over between you romantically.
Again I understand why she gives that ultimatum but at the same time I just consider that one of the specific reasons why my Inquisitor would never romance her.
Even if you romance Solas as mine did and you have good standing with her as a close friend she just can’t help but act like that “elves hook up with other elves because they believe it means something special when they bump bits” granted this attitude changes at Trespasser by Sera saying she’s sorry that Solas left her which shows a level of growth of her character but at the time before that I just wanted to have an option to have at least one moment to slap her in a playful way and just be like “shush”.
But hey the fact that I care enough to find positive and negative points with Sera just shows how layered her character along with the other companions are as a whole.
I think that Sera is going to be important for DA4. I believe Solas' mention of her being 'unique' and 'the farthest from what she should be' are because she is elvahn but has separated herself so far from the fade that she may just throw a wrench into Solas' plan merely by existing as she does. I believe he was trying to convince her to return to her roots.
Nooooo, please, I hope not, I really dislike this character.
Yeeeeees, i hope so, i really like this character.
Hope she returns as well! Love her.
I've always felt that Solas and Cole are hinting heavily toward Sera having some sort of latent magical ability though
I bet others have already said this, but I'm sure that what Solas and Cole are getting at is that Sera has magical leanings. Likely she has suppressed it well enough and denies all things spirit-y and magical strong enough that she doesn't have the same problem that other mages seemed to have, but it also might just be that her 'magic' manifests in a non-traditional way which actually makes it easier for her to control.
I think Sera pretends to be simple but is actually quite intelligent and well educated.
2:45 In my land of wisdom I am the sun, my strength is our shared heart.
or
Held in a secret place is my sun, your song comes from our heart.
So glad I found this channel, their aren't enough channels out there that still do DA theories and lore.
Something clicked in my head this morning and I was internally screaming all day,
Sera's greatest fear in the Fade is nothingness
Literally, the void
Care to expand?
@@RashidMBey Andruil went mad stalking the Forgotten Ones in the Void. Mythal cured her in part by taking away her knowledge of how to get to the Void. So if Sera is Andruil, then it would make sense that her greatest fear is the Void and also that she might not be able to name it exactly.
@@SopranoOfTheNight Just like that I'm on train "Sera is Andruil"
It also would explain Sera's lingering madness and nonsense in a way that I can more closely appreciate it, tbh. Thanks! That's rad!
@@RashidMBey Shes also the only one that remembers the name of Andruil's lover in Jaws of Hakkon... something she shouldnt know being just a city elf.
I also saw another person saying there's a mosaic depicting Aldruil and their lover (Ghila'nain I think it is) and one of them looks like Sera's tarot card, can't verify that one though
Great commentary on a possible theory about Sera. I honestly think she's Andruil but with maybe some memory loss or strong denial of what happened to her in the past. I hope her temperance doesn't change in DA4.
Tbh the rebuttals sound more flimsy than the evidence they rebut.
I remember being way into this theory back in 2014 (crazy how long it’s been). Though now as I listen to Solas’ banter, I can’t help but think he saw Sera as a waste of potential. He recognizes she has many traits that would have been valued in the heyday of the elves. But now she’s “the furthest from what she was meant to be”.
i found your channel a few days ago and it has by far become my favourite place to learn Dragon Age Lore. Keep up the good work
I just realized that Solas said "our people" when talking to Sera, but he does not ever say similar when talking to an elfy inquisitor, in fact, for the most part he denies being in anyway similar to the elves of this time
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Solas answers her with questions clearly trying to figure out “what” she is. The devs wouldn’t add that in the game if it didn’t mean anything. Coles’ quote about her ears always turning to the fade is especially suspicious.
"Get your treacherous face out of my sight" best moment in the game.
I love that Sera is very much a person who’s torn between herself and her people. It’s what made my Bran Lavellan and her dynamic so amazing, he’s someone who wants to know everything about the world and culture, and Sera is someone who just wants to be separated from hers. It’s why I love how I make them slowly bond as best friends throughout the game.
Her biggest fear is nothingness, then she sees little nothings in the fade. Andruil's madness was because of the abyss, the void, filled with old whispers better left forgotten, but Mythal removed this knowledge of her head. She removed any memory of what the abyss is, so it is like an empty hole, but the fear is still there. Solas says that fear is older than everything but, maybe, desire. In a bizarre way, I think the only plausible connection between her and Andruil is the fear of nothingness. Abyss and void are synonyms for the unknown and nothingness; having the path to it removed from her mind is different than having the fear it caused in her removed. That would be the my retittal to your rebuttal.
Good luck with all the life changes :)
Ive never understood people who dont like Sera. Shes one of my favorites as a companion and to romance. Shes just fun and different, unique as Ghil so eloquently put it
It's the bratty attitude and pug dog face
She is childish, rude and obnoxious. She is barely tolerable. Not to mention her voice is so damn annoying. She is the worst companion. Her banter however is sometimes entertaining.
@@youngarchivest9092 I wanted to like her. I really did. She's just too tonally dissonant with the setting.
I feel like I have custody of a nasty child too dimwitted for a nuanced perspective, too sure in her stupidly simplistic view to understand geopolitics and what's universally at stake here. Every time she speaks I'm compelled to ask why she's here, and, because I want her archery, I have to babysit her and her obnoxious attitude.
Every other companion brings something vital to the party as far as perspective *except Sera*.
She kills nobles?
Absolutely cool, especially with how oppressive and abusive they are.
She runs an anonymous network of the peasant class as a sort of invisible union that keeps masters in check?
Cool. Absolutely brilliant.
Unfortunately, we get to know her personality, and it undercuts the only cool things about her.
Solas says "our people" to Sera. If you, as an elf Inquisitor, say the same to him he disapproves makes it clear he doesn't consider them his people.
I’ll subscribe. I don’t see many talking about Dragon Age on TH-cam for my liking. Your video and it’s topic was good enough to warrant a sub.
I think the only semi-hidden thing about Sera is that she was the one who ended up with the Small Painted Box that the Warden can get a quest to steal from Irving's desk ion Origins. It was a quest from the Red Jennies, so it implies Sera was under Red Jenny protection as a child.
I love all these theories! I can't wait for Dragon Age 4. I just hope it won't turn out like Mass Effect Andromeda. The departure of Mike Laidlaw isn't reassuring.
Yes, but I just hope she doesnt appear in DA4.
Probably not. Andromeda does feel a lot like a B Team Inquisition, or iow a worse inquisition.
That i feel is important. Andromeda being made by the B team which DA4 wont be.
One thing that ive noticed between Solas and Sera. Solas doesn't acknowledge ANY other elves as "his people" yet, he calls Sera "Our people" when discussing their language. The interactions between Solas and Sera are too convincing to me.
The most compelling evidence to me about her being tied to andruil is her dialogue between Solas and Cole. Her having a different body type from most elves, while also being similar to ancient elves is interesting, but I don't think that's an indicator. After all, Fenris is a behemoth when compared to most elves, and he's never been connected to ancient elves or their gods. It could just be that she's mixed-blooded.
she could have a human and an elf for parents
Cole mentioned that Sera's ears always point towards the Fade.
I’m late to this convo but I think sera’s secret is that she has immense magical aptitude that she keeps hidden. Her greatest fears seem to be associated with the fade being aware of her.
It’s possible she’s a reincarnation but doesn’t know it but I lean towards the idea that she was the bastard child of a Teventer Magistrate who was having an affair with an elf.
It aligns with what Dorian says about his people not so much having children but breeding a prodigy and how they hide anything that would be perceived imperfections.
Sera’s story is good character development as it stands as being an orphan raised by people who witnessed people doing people things.
Making her something more belittles all the stories she told if they were just lies.
okay really roughly, a possible translation of "Ar dirthan’as ir elgara, ma’sula e’var vhenan" *could* be "I [speak, know, definitely something relating to knowledge] ; i am the sun, you are our heart". the dragon age wiki says "ma" has no known meaning, but evidence suggests strongly to me that it means you, and while e'var is not directly the same as var, i assume its not coincidence that they are so closely spelled. it might be a stretch, but perhaps the elves had forms of words denoting inclusivity? "var" might be "our" relating to a specific group of people, where "e'var" could mean elves as a whole? or perhaps the other way around? "ma'sula" is the trickiest to translate, as "sula" shows up in 2 different words as a root, sulahn’nehn=joy/rejoice, sulahn=sing. being related to the word for song definitely reminds me of cole saying stuff about sera "hums"
Sera's tombstone in the fade has "The Nothing" written on it, while Cole has just "despair" and Cassandra has "helplessness" which are understandable for their characters.
Is Sera just fine as she is? Absolutely. But I also think it wouldn't really be all that bad if she was 'special'.
I mean, on one hand, I see Sera as a young woman with a lot of potential. It would be awesome seeing what she becomes, years later, after her experience with the Inquisition. No magical explanations or reincarnations or anything like that. I mean, she is already a brash prodigy with a fair bit of issues but also a big heart and a desire to help. What happens if she learns from the Inquisitor and grows into being a great leader?
On the other hand...it could be a really interesting character moment for Sera to deal with being 'more' than she ever wanted to be. Either learning to accept who she really is, perhaps coming into her heritage but on her own terms. Or otherwise rejecting everything that makes her special. If she is the reincarnation of Andruil, perhaps she decides that THAT is not who she wants to be, and has to actually learn who she wants to be. Understand who 'Sera' actually is. Or perhaps she rejects everything to do with Andruil - she is Sera, not some ancient elven pissbag - and in doing so gives up all sorts of amazing godlike powers. Hell, imagine if there were two paths to chose from. One path has Andruil completely taking over Sera and becoming an enemy. One that is completely Andruil, no longer resembling anything of Sera. Or the alternative path, Sera rejects Andruil from her body. Everything that made her 'special' is gone, and she helps the player completely defeat the spirit of Andruil or something. Perhaps Sera loses her ability with a bow, but she is still a wicked tempest. Or perhaps Sera proves that her ability with a bow, her greatest talent, was hers and hers alone, not Andruils. And in ultimately defeating Andruil, proves herself as more than a connection to Andruil. She is Sera, and nobody can take that from her.
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Personally, I think Sera being a little more 'special' would be great, as long as it is done right. I wouldn't mind seeing her being 'normal' (as much as Sera can be considered normal anyways). But there is more potential if Sera had some connection to Andruil or something like that. It wouldn't necessarily cheapen her character. As long as it is used as a tool to deepen/grow/solidify her character, and not a tool to overwrite her character, it would be a great addition.
Probably also worth mentioning that a "normal" Sera without anything special would probably not feature much in future games. But with a Sera connected to Andruil, we'd likely see a fair bit more of her.
It was weird seeing Sera's hair clip through her ear lol
I love the video and the conclusion. I have heard the theory before (mentioned it in a previous comment), and it's fun to play with, but I doubt it's true. And I like the idea of Sera more being a result of her life experiences as an elf in the alienage. She's not always my favorite character (more the pranks...just not my thing), but she's a very interesting one, that's what sparks the theory making. They don't do that for the boring ones.
Though for fun conspiracy theory stuff, I'll also note, I found her archery skills most interesting considering she herself says she never had any training. Despite her mockery of the elves' skills, it is NOT an entirely intuitive weapon, and she even notes you don't really tend to come across archery experts (or bows and arrows, for that matter) in city alleyways. So why choose such an unlikely weapon for her upbringing, and how did she get so good at it? (Again, mostly for fun, she may simply be lying about not having any teachers to poke at the inquisitor, or be an archery 'savant'. She just gets it..) But if she was an ancient elf who, horrified by what elves of that time became, and especially the Evanuris and decided to become a freedom fighter for the little people? There's a romantic edge to that... But so is someone taken from an alienage as an orphan and seeing the hypocrisy of the wealthy around her, fights against it.
I agree that Sera is fine as it is. I think that with the reveals of two elven gods in the same game people got a bit carried away and "Elven gods" seems to be the most popular answer to pretty much every question.
I know Sera is carefree but she's actually an injured soul in her earlier years. Well, Sera disliked magic or anything occult, but she at least liked my human mage inquisitor. Even of I didn't romance her, at least she's got a friend she can pull jokes and pranks while doing red jenny jobs. My ending showed her part in my mage's story, they're both pulling pranks or doing red jenny, while canonically amputated (and armed with crossbow).
My HC is that Sera is a self-suppressed mage. She probably would have manifested around the time of the Blight, and the lack of any kind of teacher and fear of the Darkspawn finding her lead to her suppressing her magic, which then finds ways to manifest outside of the norm. So her skill with a bow, apparently without much training, sneak abilities (beehive in a training dummy) and general resilience are consequences of that. It also explains her issues with the Fade and demons (as opposed to Darkspawn), since she would probably have the usual magey dreams. Her general body type and height I think is just because she was fed enough as a child - the elves in Dalish clans or the Alienages probably struggle to get enough food for a growing child, and that naturally limits their growth.
This would also explain a lot of the Cole/Solas party banter, if you take Solas' use of 'our people' to mean elven mages, not just elves.
Hmmm, I think there is a hidden past to Sera but I think the thing that makes Sera unique is the fact she is trying to move beyond that. She has no need for the past that once bound her. It clings to her but she refuses to cling to it. Whatever she was before she isn't anymore. She is her own person seperate from whatever her past holds. I suspect some of her tendencies do stem from that past time but as a mold to follow in the absence of anything else. Lacking a directions she will take that shape. But when she makes a new decision she follows that wholeheartedly even if it goes against all she was before. Sera is a new person, maybe born of an old one, but the road she walks is made by her with every step forward. That is her beauty.
I love this goofball, I'm scared for her when Solas tears it all apart if these theories are true.
She also says she hates pride. I recall seeing somewhere that the Dread Wolf's greatest sin is pride. Her tarot card is also The Fool, and it's a card that's got connections to the Void, nothingness. And what's Sera's greatest fear according to the Fade? The Void / nothingness.
I always got the feeling that she is a spirit that took on a physical form much like Cole. And she's the furthest thing from a spirit now
I think the truth is somewhere in between. When you enter Vir Vir Dirthara, an elf inquisitor will mention seeing all the colors. Other races will not remark on this, and see it as only bland and different. I think this sort of relates to what Solas and Cole are getting at. Sera may hate Elfy-ness, but she *is* an elf and will have characteristics of one. She may even have unrealized magical ability, which Solas might even be able to pick up on. He even mentions her possibly having it, and would explain Sera ears ‘pointing toward the fade.’
As for the body type, I checked after watching it, the male Lavellan and Solas have an obviously much more similar body type than the female Lavellan and Solas do, so I think that may explain that one. You also nailed the Dalish armor equip issue in regards to Sera, so I won't address that.
Great vid!
am totally buying that she is a Tranquil Andruil ! great video
Perry Chandler_ob haha not tranquil really, she would have no emotions and she has too much of those
@Melody Ackerman did we play the same game? Play it again. Was tranquil for a short time.
I always figured Solas and Sera having a thicker body type than an elf inquisitor was because they were actually well fed. Prolonged malnourishment -especially in childhood- has a substantial impact on a body, stunting growth and physical development. We don’t know much of Solas’ early history, but if he was able to move among the Evanuris as one of them, then he was likely at least well off growing up. Sera was raised by a human noble, and has likely been stealing carb heavy foods from nobles as a Red Jenny. The Dalish inquisitor, by contrast, has been living a nomadic hunter-gatherer life in a world that openly mistrusts and oppresses them, surviving on whatever supplies their clan is able to gather in the wilderness.
*Sera Greatly Disapproves*
I like the 'cigar is just a cigar' quote which was Freud making fun of himself.
So.. she will turn out to have been an agreeable girl all along.
“Sera is also taller and thiccer than other elven NPCs”
I’ve noticed... 👀
The thing is that Sera is a powerful and secret figure... And she tells us the moment she meets us... She is the Red Jenny of Val Royeux. The biggest and nobbiest place in game and she was unknown to Liliana. She operated a cooporative spy network, liaised with countless people, assassinated several key nobles in enemy territory all under the SpyMaster's nose?! That's blooming impressive all on it's own!
2:45
Best dialogue in the whole game, Solas tries speaking elvhen all dignified and Sera responds by making fart noises.
I just found you after a quick search about the upcoming games. And I've completely binged. Got my ass outta Fallout and back to Thedas
The only wrench in this is her reaction to the events at the temple of Mythal calling the elven gods demons and saying the elves are demon worshippers
Sera being more than a skillful archer is almost obvious if you've played DA:I long enough
does anyone remember when you frist meet sera? remember what she saids when you ask "what is your name?"
She flat out says something along the lines of "i have/had 2"
Just found your channel, I love the theories on Sera and who she might be! Loving that you have a whole channel devoted to the lore of Thedas! Please do keep up the wonderful work!
Your recent foil hat video on Leliana reminded me of this... And it still makes me frustrated. There's so much here and even more you haven't mentioned (though that Cole research was thorough). Now I'm back on this train. I need to dig up my old notes.
I lean more to her being "special" they've gone to great lengths to show ancient figures persisting through time by any means necessary. Solas being a 1:1 Elven God, Flemeth actually holding Mythal's soul, the evanuris being real and being sealed deep in the fade. It would also be great because it would break Bioware's trend of "non-regular human hates being non-regular human" that they perpetuate with characters like Peebee, Varric, and Sera in the majority of DA:I.
But at the same time Bioware could just make us fight Andruil after she's unsealed from the fade and Sera is nowhere to be seen in DA4 cuz she was "unpopular"
sera is forced into notice more than other companions as well, but the weirder part is her deja vu
also cole says something about how seras name said wrong can make the r sound like a d or something like that
Oh, Iron Bull is plenty special. Woof.
My journeys with Sera, in Dragon Age: Inquisition, has led me to come up with a theory of my own... My theory is that the fade... Well, she's salty in some places! :D
I highly suspect dear old Sera is a old God and a God that is displeased with the Dalish Elves just like Solas. Her fear of magicks may be from the Elven civil war since magicks was common among the ancient Elves.
While this theory is very believable because I think the devs left her backstory pretty vague, with solas, flemeth, anders, and wynne I think that maybe only mages are able to consciously host another soul/spirit (like have them w/out being full on possessed) since they are more connected to the fade than non-mages.
Sera would be a spirit of Humor or Amusement.
Sera is probably a hedge mage in denial. Nothing too fancy, but it explains how Solas and Cole see her.
Coming back to this video after DAV because I just can't let go of my tinfoil hat regarding this theory
Sara could also have human heritage, just look at Alistair, he had a elven mother but looks totally human. Half blooded races aren’t really addressed in Dragon Age so it could just be that she has human heritage and it changed her body type over time.
It would make sense if she were channelling Andruil, if not completely possessed by her. She picked up bowmanship better than any Dalish elf. She has an affinity to the fade and the veil, even though she tries to suppress it (she always knows when the veil is 'wobbly'). like Andruil, she runs her own path and won't let anyone tell her differently. it's possible she even knows this, deep down, and why she fights so hard against anything remotely 'elfy' because the implications are so troubling.
Or she is just magical like Solas and Cole hinted at heavily. Why does she have to be an elven god? With how much people bang at it, im surprised they havent insisted that the Inquisitor is an elven god