serena: most likely dead

[Sephiroth555]

hi there. this contains spoilers of all 5 episodes, but im sure you've played them all.

You all remember the flashback Rhue has of Serena right? Too easy. Remember when we get to select the hair colour of Serena's hair. It's got me thinking...

If Serena is alive and, lets say hypothetically i picked her hair as brown, she pops in the game with blonde hair, where is the explanation in this? This is obviously a time where hair dying products weren't found easily but then again it is a fantasy RPG. And I love the way how Lun has introduced female characters each with a blonde, pink and brown hair feature (kloe, cetsa, lyrra) which makes draw some conclusions.

If i picked serena to be brown haired, does that mean lyrra was serena? What if I picked pink? Does this make Cetsa, Serena? I think Rhue's memory (midian's memory for those believing in this 'theory' though it is quite a smart theory whoever announced it) of Serena has to be vivid if he's making a lifelong commitment to finding her and pushing aside all others (fool, should've slept with kloe when he had the chance lol). Havng said that, I don't think the entirety of the storyline of finding serena is going to be changed when you select her hair colour, unless of course Lun kills off Kloe. Cetsa and Lyrra are already dead, why not go for the whole three? Then the only thing that would change is the dialogue. That is of course if you found out who serena is at the end of the episodes. But who said we were ever going to find out who and where serena is?

What am I saying? I'm saying Lun isnt stupid enough to make Serena's hair colour choice something that'll give multiple endings or something like that. im pretty sure cetsa isnt serena, and if it was lyrra, rhue would probably go mental (this reminds me of anakin skywalker turning into darth vader due to death of loved one for those who watch Star Wars). And could it be Kloe? Well no mention of any clues regarding her being less or more of being Serena, and could that be so that we all are tricked to believe that Serena is someone else since Kloe is just some hot random chick wielding a sword. But if it is Kloe, and I picked Serena's hair colour brown, then what happened to Kloe's hair? Btw, Scatha is also a blonde, and Lexus had black hair. Lexus is dead though, and Scatha remains hateful to all men. But could that be of childhood experiences? Lets say... a certain boy not being able to protect a certain girl in the wilderness? But then again that wouldn't explain why EVERYONE from the Landorin Stretch was killed because Scatha's childhood consisted of a brother (Slade), sister and a b**** mother.

And i'm pretty sure that during the game, a chick is going to walk by a stretch and Rhue will exclaim "Is that Serena?" because that'll just be the stupidest thing ever.

So what's the point of this? It's not exactly a theory, it's more of a "challenge your thoughts". Please share your thoughts, and I apologise if you don't get some of the things I said.

[DSOK]

(this reminds me of anakin skywalker turning into darth vader due to death of loved one for those who watch Star Wars).

I just wanted to get this out of the way before I went into the meat of what you've said. Anakin Skywalker could not have turned into Darth Vader for this reason. He has an uncontrolled violent episode when his mother dies, yes, but that is manifestly not his transformation. Padme, on the other hand, does not die until later, after the transfiguration.

Anyway, regarding your theory of Serena, I think you are missing a much more likely scenario that Serena being dead. The girl never existed as such! You speak of the theory that Rhue's memories actually belong to Midian, implying both that you don't believe that line, yet you find it a clever alternative. In fact, this theory is probably the simplest comprehensive one that is not provably false. It has been suggested numerous times, and it captures the broad strokes of what should be obvious when the game is thought through carefully.

Rhue memories are a mess. This is unambiguous. We know that he refuses to accept his own appearance in a mirror and instead calls what he sees a lie. We know that he picks up some of Jed's memories after killing the man. He experiences Slade's memories while his sword is stuck in the Shadow Foot. The fact that you can choose Serena's hair and persona are probably indications that she will never appear, as you correctly reason, but also of something much more fundamental. Note that Rhue sometimes pauses and has to think before you make these choices. He is making this stuff up as he goes along! Since all he has is some fractured memories, involving that pendant and the Landorin massacre, he needs to flesh out his constructed Serena when people question him about her. There is definitely some real basis for those memories, but whose remembrances they are is as yet unknown, and most of Serena's character would appear to have been manufactured by Rhue's distorted psyche.

[Lucre Mammon]

If you choose a hair color other than red, Rhue will speculate Cetsa might be Serena even though the hair color doesn't match because she could have dyed it. The Way apparently does have hair dyes.

[Hamelin]

Anakin became Darth Vader (at least if Lucas is following the book) after he fell into a volcano and all that was left of him was his head and spinal cord. In a sense, the Lava 'burned away' what was left of the good in him and his implantation into the black robotic suit represented his final joining of the dark side.

Anakin was a proud boy, he was rash and after his mother died and that doubt was cast into his heart he just became more and more bitter at the Jedi's ways and it was all the easier for him to be lured to the dark side.

Something like that.

[Lord_Ehrgeiz]

as for construction of Serena: remember, you chose not only the color of her hair, but the way she reacting diferent things (when Rhue discribes Serena to Lexus). And it's obvious that Rhue is constructing his "dream love", basing on other girls he met on the Way.
so, or Serena is dead, or she is Kloe. Because i like her!

[DSOK]

Anakin became Darth Vader (at least if Lucas is following the book) after he fell into a volcano.

Lucas has said quite explicitly that he will not be following any material penned by others.

[Impossible]

Serena isn't anyone we've met yet.
If she doesn't exist, which is easily possible, then it's obviously formed together from other absorbed memories. Midian is looking for someone. Where did Serena come from? Jeruh? Traziun's mother (the two are completely different scenarios though, and the latter is hard to make sense of)?

[samlai]

If Serena is alive

If i picked serena to be brown haired, does that mean lyrra was serena? What if I picked pink? Does this make Cetsa, Serena? I think Rhue's memory (midian's memory for those believing in this 'theory' though it is quite a smart theory whoever announced it) of Serena has to be vivid if he's making a lifelong commitment to finding her and pushing aside all others (fool, should've slept with kloe when he had the chance lol). Havng said that, I don't think the entirety of the storyline of finding serena is going to be changed when you select her hair colour, unless of course Lun kills off Kloe. Cetsa and Lyrra are already dead, why not go for the whole three? Then the only thing that would change is the dialogue. That is of course if you found out who serena is at the end of the episodes. But who said we were ever going to find out who and where serena is?

But then again that wouldn't explain why EVERYONE from the Landorin Stretch was killed because Scatha's childhood consisted of a brother (Slade), sister and a b**** mother.

Ok, 1st of all remember when Cetsa was found with serena's pedant? I seriously insists that Serena is alife (otherwise the story wun be continuing much later on.)
Rhue is able to absorb memories from people thru the sword he wields. At least, i think so.

Serena isn't anyone we've met yet.
If she doesn't exist, which is easily possible, then it's obviously formed together from other absorbed memories. Midian is looking for someone. Where did Serena come from? Jeruh? Traziun's mother (the two are completely different scenarios though, and the latter is hard to make sense of)?

According to the above, you insists that Serena isnt possible to be any of those girls we met, going on insisting that Serena doesnt exist. For that, i think you're wrong. If Serena really doesnt exists... whats with the existance of the pedant then? Your trying to tell us that the pedant doesnt exists too? Nah, i dont think so, do you? Jeruh might be Rhue. Jeruh might be killed by Midian and "Rhue" appears within Midian. Rhue sounded just like Jeruh without the "Je".
Its possible when Rhue gets the book on his hand, find out that Rhue doesnt exists... or maybe he finds his name in book of sermeot or something similar. Just an assumption again tho.
Back to the question. Serena cant be dead, its the main question in this whole storyline.

But then again that wouldn't explain why EVERYONE from the Landorin Stretch was killed because Scatha's childhood consisted of a brother (Slade), sister and a b**** mother.

Theres a memory break when rhue's sword was stucked in slades' body. In it, theres 2 girls, and a boy, most probably siblings. They are Slade, Scatha, and the 3rd girl's identity is missing. Either Scatha or the 3rd girl is Serena. If the 3rd girl (the one who went missing first can be scatha or the 3rd girl, which i think scatha is more suitable for the 2nd girl) The 1st girl missing might be dead in landorin. If im not wrong, the 2nd girl was betrayed by her brother (slade) who was presumed dead (i presume her as after going down to pit, = scatha)
Their mother was a bit**. Either because the 3rd girl had sex/ pregnant she was blamed by her mother. And the 2nd girl had similar problems, with her ending similar to her sister. One of the sisters might be Cetsa or Kloe, (who both are supposed to be good friends until they quarrelled over the pedant, supposedly belong to Serena) Cetsa seems to be the one who won the pedant, so both lost contact or somethin' similar. (according to the scene shown at epid5 after leaving the cursed city)

Leave some comments, im in a hurry so im sure i left something out.

[Impossible]

According to the above, you insists that Serena isnt possible to be any of those girls we met, going on insisting that Serena doesnt exist.

I didn't insist that Serena doesn't exist, I said it's entirely possible - fwacho even hinted at this possibility a while back (at the theory I quite liked, that Serena's name is in neither the Book of Eve or the Book of Sermeot).

[nerx]

How can Serena not exist if Scatha says she knew her?
Also, maybe the choice of what Serena looks like and how she behaves in Rhue's memories is just put in there to reflect Rhue's loss of memory, and to sidetrack us from the truth. - Maybe we already know Serena?

Anyway, I think that she does exist, though she may have a different name.

[Sephiroth555]

Firstly with the Star Wars thingy, I didnt read the books or search endlessly for the spoilers so I jus made a randomn guess. I only said this because I was trying to say that Rhue would most probably go insane... if he isn't already... after killing lyrra and finding out it was serena, but i was just pointing out possibilities.. In fact my whole post was pointing out possibilities of Serena. That and the whole serena thing in the game clicked in me head and had me thinking...

Still great theories and such and yeh it's all great.

DSOK I don't know what u are on about. One day I read a post with the theory explaining that Rhue is Midian and la de da de da and I thought that's a really smart theory. In fact thats the best theory I've heard explaining Rhue's past in such.

Impossible, you're theory is very possible also. I like it since it does back itself up with the whole Rhue absorbing all these memories and such. But since we've been controlling Rhue for some time now, and he has been doing the memory absorbing thingy a few times, shouldn't we be seeing some kind of change in Rhue? (I'm completely aware that throughout the game, Rhue becomes increasingly more and more stained with blood and not minding it, but thats to do with the shadow sword and the fact that he has been desensitized now from the killings he has committed and/or seen. and he's distrurbed... and he needs a chix0rz).

Great to read all ur little theories and ideas on Serena and yeh, until ep. 6 i guess we shall be revealed more information, but regarding Serena, who knows...

Lun knows and fwacho

[DSOK]

DSOK I don't know what u are on about. One day I read a post with the theory explaining that Rhue is Midian and la de da de da and I thought that's a really smart theory. In fact thats the best theory I've heard explaining Rhue's past in such.

I'm not saying it's a bad theory or that it's wrong. It's just dead obvious. And if you do believe it, I would advise you not to refer to it in quotes---'theory'--because that implies a rather disparaging attitude toward it on your part.

According to the above, you insists that Serena isnt possible to be any of those girls we met, going on insisting that Serena doesnt exist. For that, i think you're wrong. If Serena really doesnt exists... whats with the existance of the pedant then? Your trying to tell us that the pedant doesnt exists too? Nah, i dont think so, do you?

The pendant clearly exists, but that doesn't imply anything about Serena. Presuming Serena is an amalgam made partially from the varied memories Rhue has absorbed and partially invented on the fly, then it is reasonable to assume that the pendant was indeed involved in one of the real memories that Rhue possesses. However, since those memories are such a mess, there's no reason to think that the full story associated with the item is in any way accurate. That is, it might not have anything to do with whoever (or whatever) fell in the river (if that ever happened), and even if it was, there's no reason to believe it was a gift from Rhue previously.

[Lucre Mammon]

How can Serena not exist if Scatha says she knew her?

Scatha only said that she knew the girl that Rhue was searching for. It's strongly implied that she's referring to Serena, but it's not completely unambiguous. Rhue is a pretty screwed up guy. He thinks he's searching for a woman named Serena, but that's not necessarily true.

[OverlordBill]

Someone check to see what non-stat variables were transfered over from Episode four to five, those will most likely be transfered again, then see what's likely to be transfered from five to six. We can pretty much tell if Lun is going to base Serena on what you've done, or if the only thing you've affected is her hair color.

[Sage Of The Wise]

If Serena doesn't exist, my therory was that Scatha knew Cetsa was lying and just said she knew Serena to make Cetsa tell the truth.