Guest_Corvus I_*
It's like the writers wrote Sera for the purposes of trolling the PC. "Hey, try to save the world with this annoying pebble in your shoe. You can't reason with it, so either live with it or throw it out."
Sera's internal struggle is based on a reaction to how the world has treated her combined with an intuition for truth, which leads to a continually contradicting worldview that I find very interesting.
For example, despite claiming to want to help the Inquisition close the Breach, she later admits she joined because she wants to see if you're really Andraste's chosen, since she believes in Andraste. At the same time, she's terrified of what it might mean if it's actually true, based on her fear of the supernatural which one imagines is grounded in bad past experiences. Similarly, post-Mythal temple, she delights that the Dalish have been shown to be delusional, but struggles to admit that in doing so the Elven Gods have been proven to have a factual basis, which actually ends up reaffirming a different sort of "elfy" truth even while demolishing the Dalish version.
Sera is atypical of BioWare companions because the Inquisitor can't wash away her issues with words and love. You can't invalidate what she's experienced in her life. Lukas said that an essential part of Sera's character is her naivete, and he's right, but that in itself is its own sort of truth. Instead of accepting the world as it is, she defends how she thinks the world should be: namely, no exploitation of the weak, and power-hungry nobles being exposed for the douches they are. The interesting thing about that belief is that it isn't grounded in unexperienced idealism but is rather a reaction to life on the streets. Rather than form her guiding principle around what is reasonable in the real world, Sera begins with a resolution and stubbornly headbutts opposition to it.
Now, I can see why that is exasperating for some, but it's for this reason that I teared up a bit when, in the victory feast, I told Sera that the Inquisition was her family and home, and she laughed and maybe cried a bit and accepted it. As a part of the Inquisition, Sera has the power to gain her small victories for the little people, which is all she cares about. Personally I think it's a noble ideal for the Inquisition to be a considerable force of power that nevertheless continues to fight for the people, something organizations forget once they become established in the big picture. In Champions of the Just, I raised the flag of the people highest, after all, which Sera liked. Then I told everyone I just picked at random which she liked even more. Contradictions, indeed!
Wonderfully said.
Sera is a very complex character, and I certainly do understand why some might not want to wade through the layers she builds up around herself to be bothered with unpicking it. She's one of the most interesting characters in the game for me, though, for many of the reasons you articulately stated.
And yes, that end conversation in the main hall - I'd recently broken off the relationship with her, but I had that conversation with her and it was quite beautiful.
I find the sheer strength of reaction to her very interesting. She provokes outright rage and anger. It's interesting to watch.
She's probably my favourite companion, after Verric. But I see lots of people hating on her. Whats the deal?
My biggest complaint was that I couldn't romance her unless I was a lesbian. Still a funny and mechanically sound companion though.
She has a british accent ... nuff said.
True, I had forgotten that Cullen comments on it, but it's so peripheral that I didn't see why Inquisition troops should be involved at all. They've got better things to do.
Same with 75% of the war table missions.
She has a british accent ... nuff said.
Her VA grew up about 8 miles from where I grew up. She says she's using her Derbyshire accent, but it's ever so slightly off for the area. I suspect she's moved around a bit since, but it's as reasonably close to the local accent as I've ever heard in one of these games before. Honestly though, it might just be Sera's way of speaking that makes it harder to pin down as being an out-and-out Derbyshire accent, but since I don't consider her to have any accent at all I guess after all maybe it is pretty spot on!
Guest_Corvus I_*
Her VA grew up about 8 miles from where I grew up. She says she's using her Derbyshire accent, but it's ever so slightly off for the area. I suspect she's moved around a bit since, but it's as reasonably close to the local accent as I've ever heard in one of these games before. Honestly though, it might just be Sera's way of speaking that makes it harder to pin down as being an out-and-out Derbyshire accent, but since I don't consider her to have any accent at all I guess after all maybe it is pretty spot on!
Same with 75% of the war table missions.
And I ignore a lot of those petty Orlesian quests. I suppose if people want to involve themselves in the squabbles of the Game, it's good they're there, they just don't have any appeal to me and they get downright distasteful in both Sera and Vivienne's case.
No, she's atypical because she's too stupid to learn to be a decent person and too selfish to think anything except "Shite, beats down, stupid, not really real, innit, os biscut, arrow in the dangle bag/face, breeches." She has no dialog to speak of, just those words in different orders. Then has the nerve to tell you not use magic when you are a mage - HELLO dummy, why did you agree to join a mage then? Next she attacks poor Quizzy when all he ever did was TRY to be kind to the urchin. Even animals know you don't bite the hand that feeds you - she's too stupid to even know that.
I have lots of little reasons for disliking her but, it all boils down to sheer stupidity and entitlement disease on her part.
I could care less what accent she has, she'd still be just as unintelligent, stubborn, narrow minded and, have entitlement disease in any accent.
She is also an English major which will effect her speech. My grandmamma told me at one time you could tell down to the village where some one was from excepting received English. When you get farther north you need to have been brought up in area to understand some of the Yorkshiremen. My family comes from around the Pontefract area. But people are so traveled now that it is not so easy to discern.
What do you mean by English major? My understanding is that an English degree has nothing at all to do with how to speak, but is invariably either about studying literature (the most common) or understanding and studying the construction of language. I've got an English degree and an American Studies degree - neither had bugger all to do with what I sound like ^^ As a voice actor I expect she'll have had lessons in elocution and voice work, and that will have had an impact on her accent.
Interesting you bring up Yorkshire. It's dying out a bit now, but there are a few similarities between a proper working class Derby accent and a Yorkshire accent. My dad would say "watter" for water, which is most commonly understood as part of a Yorkshire dialect, but he was from Nottinghamshire (which is for all intents and purposes very similar to Derbyshire, being that they border each other -- in fact, the town where I grew up was officially in Derbyshire but had a Nottingham address - it was right on the border - I lived 1 house away from the border ^^). Watter is very common in Derby and Nottingham, Derby more specifically, I think.
Sera is a very complex character, and I certainly do understand why some might not want to wade through the layers she builds up around herself to be bothered with unpicking it.
Sera is about as far from complex or multidimensional as you can get with a character.
My qunari romanced her, then dumped her because she couldn't put up with Sera's lack of intelligence, insight, and constant hate for people who had the audacity to think differently about things.
Sera is about as far from complex or multidimensional as you can get with a character.
My qunari romanced her, then dumped her because she couldn't put up with Sera's lack of intelligence, insight, and constant hate for people who had the audacity to think differently about things.
I disagree, clearly.
It's nice to see that Sera's awesomeness could bring us together.
It's nice to see that Sera's
awesomenessridiculously ridiculous accent couldbringanger us together.
Guest_Corvus I_*
What do you mean by English major?
It's nice to see that Sera's
awesomenessridiculously ridiculous accent couldbringanger us together.
Haters gonna hate, yeah?
I don't think I'd mind Sera so much if she were any one of these things:
1) Plot relevant within DAI
2) Capable of experiencing character growth
3) If set in her ways like Viv, capable of articulating her reasons and thought process
4) Insightful in any way regarding plot points
The other characters can meet at least one of these items.
Falling short of these points, I would have at least liked the opportunity to tell Sera, "I'm the inquisitor, the leader of a giant military/spymaster/diplomatic organization, and I have to make the best choice for all of Thedas. Sometimes, the best choice isn't always the right one, but that's what I need to do to pretty much save the friggin' world. You are nothing but a child who plays at Robin Hood, and have no clue about what it takes. Take you own advice and stuff it for a while, Sera." But no, the game, pretty much limits the PC to either bowing down to Sera's will or running her ass out of the inquisition. It's like the writers wrote Sera for the purposes of trolling the PC. "Hey, try to save the world with this annoying pebble in your shoe. You can't reason with it, so either live with it or throw it out."
Yep. If she was any one of the four, she would have been someone that does not deserve to be disliked or hated on.
Yep. If she was any one of the four, she would have been someone that does not deserve to be disliked or hated on.
So Vivienne doesn't deserve to be disliked or hated on?
It's nice to see that Sera's
awesomenessridiculously ridiculous accent couldbringanger us together.
I think you're confusing accent and way of speaking. The two are different. I share Sera's accent for the most part. I do not speak with her same manner.
This analysis really says it all:
*nods* An astute, mature observation!
I don't hate Sera but I don't tend to use her much in my party - I definitely have a people I prefer (Dorian. Dorian all day. And Iron Bull). She is so unpredictible in how she answers what I think are prefectly logical questions. So she is always cool toward my Inquisitor. Strangely she was my friend in my first playthrough (we had cookies!), but none of the subsequent ones. She'll probably hate on my newest Inquisitor, a female Dalish mage. But we'll see. I literally just started a new game last night and I have not gotten to the point of recruitment yet. I have decided that I am going to make this char as flirty as possible, before picking someone to romance. Maybe that will make her like my char more...
Her VA grew up about 8 miles from where I grew up. She says she's using her Derbyshire accent, but it's ever so slightly off for the area. I suspect she's moved around a bit since, but it's as reasonably close to the local accent as I've ever heard in one of these games before. Honestly though, it might just be Sera's way of speaking that makes it harder to pin down as being an out-and-out Derbyshire accent, but since I don't consider her to have any accent at all I guess after all maybe it is pretty spot on!
Its nice to hear some regional accents. There's too many 'bbc English' accents. I did catch myself saying innit the other day though which is not something I usually say so I'm blaming Sera for that.
I agree that Sera is a pretty complex character. Some of her opinions sound mental because of the way she phrases them but often they make sense. The mage/templar thing for example, she thinks their stupid for fighting when there's a big hole in the sky and I agree they should just get a bloody grip. I think the same thing quite frequently irl, I see pointless wars, corrupt politicians, lying bankers etc and I do think why can't they all just get a grip? Her other point about the mages and templars was pretty fair too. She points out that normal people don't care about the mage/templar conflict. Mages and templars are probably scary to normal people because they are not going to have enough first hand experience of them to really know about them.
I think Sera is much like Merrill in how people view her (not in personality, they have very different personalities). People seem to have strong opinions about them, be it positive or negative.
What I mean is the difference between the announcing of watter for water. In Yorkshire there are many such differences and in the common language of the area a child might learn to say "thanks" but would spend there life saying "teur".
No, I meant "what university degree are you referring to when you say she was an English major?"
Being a 'major' in something is typically an American way of saying someone 'majored' at university in a particular subject. It's not generally said over here in the UK. We'll say "I did English at Uni" or "I did an English degree." I can't think of any circumstance under which someone would say "English major" other than to refer (using an American term) to someone who studied for an English degree at university.
So that is why I asked what you were referring to. Because doing an English degree has nothing to do with the way you pronounce words, or what accent you use. You might take a module in studying the background of accents, or you might take a module studying linguistics, but you wouldn't receive instruction in how to alter your own accent - that is beyond the purview of a standard English degree.
If you're just referring to the way regional dialects alter and become less distinct because of the way people now tend to move around a lot more, well that has nothing to do with studying for an English degree. It's to do with the way our communities aren't as cohesive and insular as they once were, as well as the greater range of accents we regularly hear in our media.
I live in Stoke-on-Trent (I moved here when I was 18). The local Potteries dialect is particularly difficult to understand, but it's less common in its most strong form now as younger generations move away, move in from elsewhere (as I did), and so on. Even so, there are still regional variations to accents around the UK that remain strong, if not wholly incomprehensible to outsiders as something like the traditional Potteries dialect would be, You mention 'thanks' and 'teur' - I'm not familiar with 'teur', but 'ta' (pronounced tah or tar) is common in a great deal of places as a shortened version of thanks. Here in Stoke (and indeed back in Derby/Nottingham where I grew up) it might go something like this:
Person gives me something: "'ere ya go, love"
Me upon receiving it: "ta, duck."
Honestly, I'm well aware of regional differences in accent and dialect - there's often great friendly rivalry between regions as to the 'proper' way to say certain things (the lunch vs dinner vs tea debate (it's breakfast - dinner - tea - supper); what do you call a bread roll? (it's a cob); why on earth has no one outside of the Midlands heard of the word "mardy"? (it means throwing a strop... getting upset over something trivial... don't be such a mard-arse); etc.). The reason I started off down this line of discussion was my confusion over what you meant by her being an English major, because as I understand that term it would have absolutely no bearing on whether her accent changed or not, just like I don't suddenly speak with an American accent because I spent 8 years at university studying American culture. I have picked up Stokie-isms in the 18 years since I've lived here, but since there are many similarities between my original accent and the general Stoke accent it's not massively noticeable, I don't think. I soon fall back into my Derby/Notts accent when I'm speaking to family, just as I sound a bit posher when speaking to someone who's posh themselves. Accents are interesting things, they fluctuate through exposure to other accents, they mingle and merge, there are similarities between quite distinct accents and dialects (accents and dialects are different things - watter is arguably an example of where accent and dialect interact). Aaaaanyway, Sera's VA doesn't have a noticeable accent to me, which as I said earlier is probably proof enough that she still has enough of that East Midlands twang to be awesome ^^
Its nice to hear some regional accents. There's too many 'bbc English' accents. I did catch myself saying innit the other day though which is not something I usually say so I'm blaming Sera for that.
I agree that Sera is a pretty complex character. Some of her opinions sound mental because of the way she phrases them but often they make sense. The mage/templar thing for example, she thinks their stupid for fighting when there's a big hole in the sky and I agree they should just get a bloody grip. I think the same thing quite frequently irl, I see pointless wars, corrupt politicians, lying bankers etc and I do think why can't they all just get a grip? Her other point about the mages and templars was pretty fair too. She points out that normal people don't care about the mage/templar conflict. Mages and templars are probably scary to normal people because they are not going to have enough first hand experience of them to really know about them.
I think Sera is much like Merrill in how people view her (not in personality, they have very different personalities). People seem to have strong opinions about them, be it positive or negative.
I'm out of likes it seems, but yes, I agree with you. I'm glad you reminded me about where she says people don't care about the mage/templar conflict. That was pretty spot on. These sorts of games focus our attention on these world-altering events, and insert us into high up levels of political and religious and military involvement. But your average person on the street - their viewpoint is lost. They don't care in the same way we care. They care that there's a big bastard hole in the sky and they don't understand what it is, they're hoping they're safe, they know some idiots keep tearing up the world around them in some big fight between themselves and it's probably impacting their lives in ways the mages and templars never realise, and certainly don't care about. Your average person on the street is probably more concerned about whether they'll be able to afford their next meal, or whether their harvest will succeed, or whether that cute boy from the neighbouring village likes them. Most people aren't nobles, but when we're the leader of this, that and the other we tend to move in more privileged circles (very definitely so in this game) and apart from the odd fetch quest the people who make up the majority are just window dressing, local 'colour'. We're always asked to look at things in black and white terms (even when games allow for shades of grey in moral choices) - but Sera shifts the paradigm, she offers a completely different way of thinking about things that isn't usually presented in games like this because we're always the hero and saviour of the goddamn world - but what happens to the 'little people' once we've buggered off?
Sera's great.
She's a complete idiot but that's part of her charm, so I don't have a problem with her.
Guest_Corvus I_*
So that is why I asked what you were referring to. Because doing an English degree has nothing to do with the way you pronounce words, or what accent you use. You might take a module in studying the background of accents, or you might take a module studying linguistics, but you wouldn't receive instruction in how to alter your own accent - that is beyond the purview of a standard English degree.
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