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Regardless of whether she\'s a MagnificentBastard or SmugSnake, Senna has always struck me as a character who didn\'t care if she made mistakes or stirred up trouble while she was operating in Everworld. Her goal was never to control every minute aspect of the situation and to keep herself in control at all times; rather, her plan was more along the lines of \
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Regardless of whether she\\\'s a MagnificentBastard or SmugSnake, Senna has always struck me as a character who didn\\\'t care if she made mistakes or stirred up trouble while she was operating in Everworld. Her goal was never to control every minute aspect of the situation and to keep herself in control at all times; rather, her plan was more along the lines of \\\"[[TheThirtySixStratagems Stir up the Waters to catch a Fish]].\\\" She wanted to cause chaos and disorder and problems in Everworld, and use the core four to her advantage, and was willing to deal with the problems that might arise for her. She was always more inclined to use XanatosSpeedChess than play {{Chessmaster}} and try to control every aspect of a situation. She said as much herself in \\\'\\\'Inside the Illusion\\\'\\\', something to the effect of, \\\"For this plan, you needed less of an ability to see many moves ahead, more of an ability to adapt quickly and consider the effects of [[SpannerInTheWorks human free will]].\\\" She ended up in a lot of dangerous and comprimising situations, but it\\\'s worth noting that before \\\'\\\'Mystify the Magician\\\'\\\', she always managed to wiggle her way out of them somehow. Even in cases where she was helped by the core four, she obviously had helped herself to a degree as well. Even during the \\\"Hel incident\\\" for example, Senna was the one who convinced Hel to spare her at first, keeping herself alive long enough for David and the others to arrive.
The problem with justifying her actions in Book 11 as being in-character is that we never \\\'\\\'see\\\'\\\' her reasons. If the, \\\"Wow! I have power now! Let\\\'s abuse it!\\\" explanation was explicit in the books, fine, but it never was. Sure, you could argue, \\\"This is what Senna was thinking and this is why she did this,\\\" but if that isn\\\'t in the books, than it\\\'s just speculation. Really, that goes for all of the books; except for \\\'\\\'Inside the Illusion\\\'\\\', we never see Senna\\\'s thought process or plans, and you could argue endlessly on whether Senna intended to do this or foresaw this or made a mistake here or failed at this. If someone didn\\\'t personally see Senna as going off the deep end by the time book eleven started, than from their point of view, she suddenly became much more evil for no apparent reason.
As for Senna\\\'s evil in the last book, it may or may not have been CharacterDerailment, but it was definitely JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope. Maybe it\\\'s just personal opinion, but she never really seemed \\\"sadistic\\\" to me. Rather, she was more like a KnightTemplar or WellIntentionedExtremist who was amoral in the pursuit of her \\\"[[DimensionLord destiny]]\\\" and merciless in her revenge, which \\\'\\\'she\\\'\\\' honestly thought was [[KickTheSonOfABitch right]] [[ReasonBeforeHonor and]] [[IDidWhatIHadToDo justified]]. She says this herself somewhere in Book 9, that she was not a sadist and did not enjoy [[MindRape punishing]] those who wronged her, but she would do whatever she had to in the name of her destiny, and woe onto anyone who got in her way. What I\\\'m trying to say is that (prior to the eleventh book), no matter what Senna did or how evil she was, there always seemed to be a reason why she did what she did. She never maimed or killed or manipulated just because she liked doing it.
That seemed to me to be the case with the Sennites to. It was clear that she didn\\\'t recruit them because she agreed with their policies and thought they were ideal people; she treated them as a means to an end and disposable EliteMooks. Heck, in the ninth book, Senna herself admitted that [[EvenEvilHasStandards she thought Keith and the others were a bunch of sick, messed up creeps and psychos]]. In the eleventh book, however, she seemed to have embraced their policies completely, right down to seeming to honestly [[AGodAmI believe that she was a god]], while two books previously, she admitted that she wasn\\\'t, and only used the \\\"Great One\\\" as a puppet, distinct from her own identity, to make the Sennites think they were serving a higher cause.
Anyway, I didn\\\'t mean to write such a point-by-point essay of Senna\\\'s motives. What I mean to say is, basically, YourMileageMayVary. Senna is a very ambiguous character, as we don\\\'t see most of her motives and thoughts, and can be interpreted several ways. I don\\\'t think that she fits cleanly into being either a MagnificentBastard or a SmugSnake, and if you think she\\\'s one or the other and have your own personal interpretation to make sense of it all, than good for you. Like I said, I personally find her to be more of a character who was wasted to resolve the plot quickly than a \\\"good\\\" character who was \\\"derailed\\\" into acting evil, though I would still contend that her actions in \\\'\\\'Mystify the Magician\\\'\\\' were way over the top.
The problem with justifying her actions in Book 11 as being in-character is that we never \\\'\\\'see\\\'\\\' her reasons. If the, \\\"Wow! I have power now! Let\\\'s abuse it!\\\" explanation was explicit in the books, fine, but it never was. Sure, you could argue, \\\"This is what Senna was thinking and this is why she did this,\\\" but if that isn\\\'t in the books, than it\\\'s just speculation. Really, that goes for all of the books; except for \\\'\\\'Inside the Illusion\\\'\\\', we never see Senna\\\'s thought process or plans, and you could argue endlessly on whether Senna intended to do this or foresaw this or made a mistake here or failed at this. If someone didn\\\'t personally see Senna as going off the deep end by the time book eleven started, than from their point of view, she suddenly became much more evil for no apparent reason.
As for Senna\\\'s evil in the last book, it may or may not have been CharacterDerailment, but it was definitely JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope. Maybe it\\\'s just personal opinion, but she never really seemed \\\"sadistic\\\" to me. Rather, she was more like a KnightTemplar or WellIntentionedExtremist who was amoral in the pursuit of her \\\"[[DimensionLord destiny]]\\\" and merciless in her revenge, which \\\'\\\'she\\\'\\\' honestly thought was [[KickTheSonOfABitch right]] [[ReasonBeforeHonor and]] [[IDidWhatIHadToDo justified]]. She says this herself somewhere in Book 9, that she was not a sadist and did not enjoy [[MindRape punishing]] those who wronged her, but she would do whatever she had to in the name of her destiny, and woe onto anyone who got in her way. What I\\\'m trying to say is that (prior to the eleventh book), no matter what Senna did or how evil she was, there always seemed to be a reason why she did what she did. She never maimed or killed or manipulated just because she liked doing it.
That seemed to me to be the case with the Sennites to. It was clear that she didn\\\'t recruit them because she agreed with their policies and thought they were ideal people; she treated them as a means to an end and disposable EliteMooks. Heck, in the ninth book, Senna herself admitted that [[EvenEvilHasStandards she thought Keith and the others were a bunch of sick, messed up creeps and psychos]]. In the eleventh book, however, she seemed to have embraced their policies completely, right down to seeming to honestly [[AGodAmI believe that she was a god]], while two books previously, she admitted that she wasn\\\'t, and only used the \\\"Great One\\\" as a puppet, distinct from her own identity, to make the Sennites think they were serving a higher cause.
Anyway, I didn\\\'t mean to write such a point-by-point essay of Senna\\\'s motives. What I mean to say is, basically, YourMileageMayVary. Senna is a very ambiguous character, as we don\\\'t see most of her motives and thoughts, and can be interpreted several ways. I don\\\'t think that she fits cleanly into being either a MagnificentBastard or a SmugSnake, and if you think she\\\'s one or the other and have your own personal interpretation to make sense of it all, than good for you. Like I said, I personally find her to be more of a character who was wasted to resolve the plot quickly than a \\\"good\\\" character who was \\\"derailed\\\" into acting evil, though I would still contend that her actions in \\\'\\\'Mystify the Magician\\\'\\\' were way over the top.
