Serena Lockwood Gwydion

"“If my grandmother was Lelenara's white rose; demure and poised, then my mother was the red rose; passionate and fiery.”"

Serena Lockwood Gwydion (married name Millicent) is the Queen of Lelenara and leader of The Order of The Emerald Court. She is a pureblood, or a direct descendant of Evanora.

According to Rhiannon, her mother has been queen since she was fifteen after her parents, Lydia Gwydion and Holland Lockwood, were assassinated. However, she did not ascend until she was nineteen years old. Her maternal uncle, Phillip Gwydion, ruled as regnant until she was of age.

Serena has been married to Derek Millicent since she was twenty and is the mother of their six children; Christian, Angelica, Delilah, Isabella, Arrow and Rhiannon.

Early Life
Serena Penélope Graciana Lockwood Gwydion was born on the twenty-fifth of May at 5:19 AM. She arrived fifteen minutes before her fraternal twin sister, Jolie, and was declared as the rightful heir. They were joined by another sister, Caroline, or Carolee, five years later.

The three girls grew up in the palace of Lelenara, where they were taught various languages, history of their country, and etiquette. Jolie mentions to Rhiannon that Serena was sitting in on cabinet meetings and press conferences since before she could both walk and talk. This led to her being both a very well-versed child, and a very isolated one. During her small amounts of off time, she usually spent it by herself by practicing the new language or musical piece she was learning, or by writing a new song. She really only spent time with her sisters during their weekly private horseback riding lessons.

By the time she turned thirteen, her parents began the search for a proper husband for their daughter. While they had been keeping a file since she was born, they had begun to narrow down their options to a list of a select few men. Serena was not interested in any man with the exception of the son of one of the gardeners, Calix Gray.

Personality
"My mother has an aura around her that makes sure that she carries herself more highly than other people do. The reasoning behind it is simple; she's the queen, therefore she should be the example."

-- Rhiannon

Amongst the citizens in Lelenara, Serena is known for her intimidating appearance and strong-willed nature. They find their queen to be a hard-worker and very intelligent, something that they admire. Before she gave her official interview, the people thought that she was cold-hearted and stiff.

Ever since she was crowned, Serena has been a very independent and ambitious queen. Serena is very sure of herself and the decisions she makes for her country, and rarely second guesses herself. Like other monarchs, she has a cabinet, but tends to use them very sparingly. In any final decision, Serena is the one to make the ultimatum. Additionally, Serena is extremely dedicated to her work. She walks on the thin line of workaholism and thrives off of productivity. Since she does most of the work on her own, she is often working until the late hours of the night. Her advisors and family often condemn this behavior.

It is stated that the queen has a very sharp tongue and a strong temper, which go hand-in-hand. She often escalates arguments quickly and has issues with her cabinet due to her having a hard time controlling her tongue. Serena acts on impulse and is very stubborn and headstrong.

Serena carries a lot of emotional baggage due to her parents' deaths and her ascending to the throne at a young age. As she said "No one planned on me becoming queen this early. Fate just decided to take them away from me." Serena has attachment issues that make her chances of opening her heart to new people and making friends outside of her family very unlikely.

If you do manage to break through her hard outer shell, you begin to see the real Serena. She is very compassionate and an extremely dedicated and overprotective mother and wife. She is completely fearless when it comes to protecting her family, even going as far as not banning her children from attending public events until they are ten years of age. While she loves all of her children, she is particularly close with Christian due to their similar situations. Serena has a very dry sense of humor, often cracking jokes at the expense of her family. Serena is also extremely wise and uses her wisdom to give out advice.

Features
"Your mother's a striker; it's always been that way. Everything about her is stunning."

-- Jolie to Rhiannon

"You still resemble a model more than a queen."

-- Calix Barlieu

According to Rhiannon, her mother has more features from her maternal side of the family, rather than her paternal side. Phillip often jokes that she is the reincarnation of her mother.

Serena has curly, raven-black hair that reaches to the top of her ribcage. It is very silky and has natural deep brown highlights throughout it. In recent years, gray had started to accumulate around her temples and in small streaks on the top of her head. Serena often has it pulled up or out of her face. In comparison to her mother, Serena has a stronger and more resilient look to her. Even though her face shape is identical to her Lydia's, her features are more severe and eye-catching. She is described as having "full, arched eyebrows, soft, yet distinct cheekbones and and full lips with a distinct cupids-bow." Her eyes are feline-shaped and have crow's feet at the corners. Serena's eyes are emerald green and can shift to lime and can glow, thanks to The Bougueux Glow and The Carcassis Morph. Serena has an hourglass figure and is described as being "no more than three inches shorter than Christian." It has mentioned that she carries extra weight around her hips, thighs, stomach and breasts due to five pregnancies.

Abilities
Due to her father training her almost everyday from the time she was thirteen up until he died, Serena has become an excellent warrior. She is skilled with most weapons, her favorites being the bow and arrow and the dagger. Thanks to Holland's training, Serena also became exceptionally quick, both speed wise and thinking, and can make decisions on the spot. Serena is incredibly strong, agile and a high pain tolerance, and has been described as "nearly impossible to kill."

Serena is well-known for her talent when it comes to the arts. She started playing the piano and dancing at the age of three, which helped her cope with the loneliness that came with her position as the crown princess. During a quiet moment with her sisters while their parents were in a meeting, she sang for the first time. Their governess was shocked to see that her charge could sing like a seasoned professional. The governess alerted the king and queen, and the three of them couldn’t understand how a child so young had such a rich and developed voice. Her beautiful singing voice would later become her trademark and the envy of many. At the age of nine, she began teaching herself how to play the flute.

Serena has loved horses and has riding them ever since she was a baby. She and her sisters took weekly private lessons as children, which helped them bond in a way. When she could sneak out, she would ride out to the Eclearan Forest to challenge herself more. As she grew older, Serena began learning how to ride dressage, show-jumping and endurance riding from her paternal aunt.

Premonition
"My mother... sees things, Your Majesty. She has the gift of Premonition- the ability to see into the future."

-- Rhiannon to the Queen of Tenebris

In Lelenara, Serena is one of the few who have the rare gift of Premonition. Hers is the most powerful case due to assistance from her other power, Soul-Reading. With it, she is easily able to see and experience events during a person's past and their present. Serena is also one of the few Premonition-gifted people who have access to the future.

Unlike others, Serena was born with Premonition and the minor visions that come along with it. According to Jolie; whenever their parents proposed something in a meeting, her sister always seemed to be more interested in the outcome than the actual subject. Even though she physically couldn't see into the future quite yet, Serena was able to make predictions based on what was being said and tell her parents if their idea would fail or not. Publicly, they brushed off her warnings, but in private they considered them more. Serena did not start receiving Celestial-sent visions until she was a teenager.

Visions
There are two types of visions that she receives: the minor, harmless visions, and the wild and unpredictable ones sent from the Celestials. The minor visions are easy to control and not always accurate to what will happen. Serena uses them frequently in order predict ordinary things, like what the palace will be serving for dinner and when someone will arrive at the palace. These are the visions she uses while predicting how someone will die (See below.)

Serena is the only practicing psychic who receives Celestial-sent visions on a frequent basis. These visions are very important and should not be taken with a grain of salt. In her early-teens, Serena began getting intense headaches, which were preparing her for the Celestial-sent visions. She experienced her first one shortly after and nearly died due to blood vessels and arteries bursting. For a month, she was left with agonizing pain and a great fear for future Celestial-sent visions. As she became an adult, the side effects stemming from Celestial-sent visions became much less intense, leaving her with only a splitting headache and bloodshot eyes when she receives them.

As a party trick Serena often uses her "minor" visions in order to predict people's deaths. She most frequently uses it during the state dinners which amuses the foreign nobility and diplomats, and they go as far as to bet on if she'll be correct or not; usually she is wrong. But when she correctly predicted the death of the King of Roihsa, right down to every minute, everyone became creeped out by her gift.

Soul-Reading
In Lelenara, Serena has the rare gift of Premonition and Soul-Reading.

With just a single brush of her fingers, Serena will know everything about a person's past and what they're going through currently. With her ability of Soul-Reading, she is able to figure out what kind of person they are before deciding to look into their future. Thanks to the "smaller visions", she is able to predict when and how they die, and see how their in the past decisions have affected them. Since people's decisions change so frequently in the present, she prefers to not look into the future to warn them and would rather let them deal with the consequences.

Derek Millicent
She and Derek have a very loving and intimate relationship that is based on trust and dedication. She treats him with respect and he treats her with tenderness, which neither of her parents really showed.

Philip Gwydion
James Gilmore (Son-In-Law)

Aspen Ciarda (Son-In-Law)

Jarrod Winston (Son-In-Law)

Trivia

 * It is mentioned that Serena can speak six languages other than Lelenaraian
 * She is the tallest female character in the entire book series
 * According to the author, Serena’s hobbies include; writing songs/singing; playing the piano, flute, and guitar; riding horses; fixing up cars; dancing; mixing cocktails; and practicing magic
 * Serena has a severe allergy to pansies