Skyrim Serana and where to find her

Skyrim’s Serana, the daughter of Lord Harkon and one of the Daughters of Coldharbour, is an especially interesting NPC. She can also become one of your followers, leading to lots of possible interactions on your many adventures. If you’re stuck with her for most of the game, you’re going to want to learn everything about her.

So that’s where we can help. We’ve got details of Skyrim’s Serana’s marriage, Skyrim cure vampirism, follower details, and more. Has Serana disappeared? We can help there too, so you and Serana can ride off into the vampiric sunset. For more on the game, check out our Skyrim maps or our best picks for games like Skyrim, and if you’re after something totally new, check out our list for the best ARPGS.

Right, let’s dive into everything you need to know about Skyrim’s Serena.

How do I find Skyrim’s Serana?

In order to meet Serana, you need to have the Dawnguard expansion. This expansion is included in most of the special and collector’s editions, so if you’re picking the game up for the first time, or deciding to play on a different platform, it’s worth shelling out the extra money for.

As long as you have the Dawnguard expansion, you can find Serana in Dimhollow Crypt, following an attack on the Hall of the Vigilant during the Dawnguard storyline. This encounter is unavoidable if you follow the questline, so just play through Dawnguard and you’ll eventually find her.

How do I get Skyrim’s Serana as a follower?

To get Serana as a follower in Skyrim, you just need to complete the Dawnguard questline. Follow it all the way through to the end and then you’ve got another follower you can use on your other quests.

Skyrim Serana disappeared

Sometimes, followers can disappear – trust me, it’s happened to the best of us. If Serana disappears, there are a few things you can try to get her back:

• Find a new follower, ask them to join you, then go back to Fort Dawnguard to ask her to follow you again
• Fast travel to your last destination
• Sleep in a bed
• Restart the game

In general, the first of these options has always worked for me in my more-than-a-decade of playing this game on a way-too-regular basis, but there are other solutions.

Can you marry Serana in Skyrim?

Unfortunately, when it comes to marriage, Serana is off the table. If you ask Serana to marry you, she says she can’t bring herself into a temple given her past. She still, however, commits to go with you wherever you want to go, and who says you can’t have platonic soulmates?

Skyrim Serana cure

Curing Serana of her vampirism is a little complicated, so be sure to take care (also, it’s important to note that there are, of course, spoilers ahead). The first thing you need to make sure of is that you side with Fort Dawnguard during the Dawnguard questline (check out our Skyrim cure vampirism guide for curing other characters).

Second is to ensure that you don’t ask her whether she has thought about curing her vampirism until the end of the Kindred Judgement questline. For clarity – big spoiler here – this culminates with killing Harkon.

Lastly, you need to ask her about curing her vampirism after the Kindred Judgement quest. There are two dialogue options that will succeed and two that will fail – though it’s pretty obvious which ones to choose, you can find the correct and incorrect responses below.

Ask the question, “have you thought about getting cured of vampirism?” of Serana and she says “no, why?”. If you want Serana to cure her vampirism, respond with either:

• “Look what it did to your family”
• “You could be your own person again”

If you do not want Serana to cure her vampirism, respond with:

• “I think I’d feel more comfortable”

After choosing one of the first two responses, another choice arises. If you want Serana to cure her vampirism, respond with:

• “If you want to cure yourself, I’ll support you”

If you do not want Serana to cure her vampirism, respond with:

• “I don’t think I can help you with this”

That last one is pretty self-explanatory, but it’s outlined there just in case. Keep in mind, that following through with Skyrim’s Serana cure means she cannot make Bloodcursed Elven Arrows or turn you into a vampire lord, so be sure you want to go ahead before you do so.

Anyway, that’s all we’ve got on Skyrim Serana. For more, check out our picks for the best Soulslike games and the best open-world games, and if you want some freebies, we’ve got plenty of Genshin Impact codes and Honkai Star Rail codes.