After all, every character has their own little cutscene when their approval is high enough, and I had not seen any of Sera’s before. However, I also resolved to get along better with Sera. On this occasion, I had decided from the start to romance Cullen. I started a second playthrough of Dragon Age: Inquisition shortly after I finished my first ever playthrough of Dragon Age 2. And, for many, she’s just bloody annoying. She’s been labelled a transphobe by others, due to a three-word comment during the Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts quest. Sera has been dismissed as yet another angry lesbian trope by some. It’s no wonder that she draws the ire of both in-game characters and real-life players. She’s outwardly racist to Dalish elves, antagonistic to any form of authority, seems incapable of taking anything seriously and has her head tightly lodged in her own backside. There is everything to dislike about Sera. Indeed, “Sera Disapproves” was a regular notification as I continued my adventures throughout Ferelden and Orlais. I didn’t need Sera, so she was welcome to mope about her room in the tavern, occasionally ranting about whatever was grinding her gears this time. I had Varric, Iron Bull, Dorian and Blackwall to be pally with, and Josephine Montiliyet to romance.

On that first playthrough, my relationship with Sera died with the noble. Growing frustrated with the Inquisitor’s persistence in questioning a nobleman, Sera snaps and brutally beats him to death, hurling obscenities as she does so.

This is no clearer than during her personal quest, The Verchiel March. She may play pranks and have fun, but wind her up a little too much, and a vicious, sadistic personality emerges. If Mass Effect’s Mordin is, to quote Kelly Chambers, “like a hamster on coffee”, then Sera is like a chimpanzee on cocaine. Sure, she made me chuckle on occasion, but in truth, her only real contribution was a War Table operation that awarded the ‘Jar of Bees’ grenade. I’ll be honest, during my first playthrough, Sera and I did not get along. The lesbian anti-elf is rude, crude and thoroughly argumentative. Sera a polarising presence in Bioware’s Dragon Age: Inquisition. For Gaming Month, Kath Rella explores the complexities behind one of Dragon Age’s most infamous characters: Sera.

Sera dragon age