Senua is the player character and protagonist of the Hellblade video game series which consists of the 2017 video game Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice that marks her first appearance, as well the upcoming sequel Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. She is presented as a Pict warrior who experiences disturbances and hallucinations due to an undiagnosed mental disorder. As a result of Senua's internal struggle with her delusional beliefs, she is determined to travel to the Norse afterlife realm Helheim with the notion of rescuing the soul of her lover from the Norse goddess Hela following his killing by Norsemen invaders, which occurred prior to the events of Senua's Sacrifice.
Created by a development team led by director Tameem Antoniades at British video game developer Ninja Theory, Senua was the product of extensive research efforts conducted by the team into various topics like Celtic history, Norse mythology, and mental disorders. Her appearance, in particular her facial war paint and braided hair clumped with lime, is based on a popular belief about the way Celtic warriors would have looked. Senua is played by Ninja Theory employee Melina Juergens, who was initially used as a stand-in for the character while the team were adjusting their motion capture techniques early in development. Encouraged by Antoniades to channel her own emotions into the context of Senua's struggle, Juergens became the team's final choice to portray the character even though she had no prior acting experience.
The character of Senua has been met with a very positive reception. Several critics considered the portrayal of the character's mental health condition as a landmark representation of people with mental health disorders in the video game medium. Juergens' debut acting performance as Senua has earned critical acclaim, and is credited by critics to be instrumental to the generally positive reception of Senua's Sacrifice.
Character development history
Senua's name is derived from a misnomer for Senuna, a Celtic goddess previously lost to recorded history but was re-discovered at Ashwell End in Hertfordshire in the year 2002. The goddess' name was originally read incorrectly as "Senua". The team modeled Senua's character archetype as a warrior woman after historical accounts of the Iceni queen Boudica, who led an uprising against the invading Roman Empire in the first century AD.
Senua's mental disorder originally occupied a less central role to the story of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. During the team's research into Celtic culture and history, they discover that the Celts used the term "gelt" for a person who appeared to have been driven mad by a curse, grief, or the trauma of a battle, and that such individuals would often go on a self-imposed exile into the woods in search of penance, punishment and purgatory. The team saw this as an opportunity to develop Senua's backstory as a gelt who was stigmatized and isolated by her community due to her mental condition, and was eventually driven into exile. The Darkness, a malevolent entity which antagonizes Senua throughout the narrative of Senua's Sacrifice, is explained as the manifestation of the abuse and mistreatment she suffered at the hands of her father Zynbel during her youth.
Antoniades noted that mental trauma or severe mental illness is less conspicuous compared to the pain and suffering caused by physical diseases or physical trauma. Instead of relying on common tropes about mentally ill people in popular culture, Ninja Theory opted to consult mental health experts and non-profit advocacy groups to fully inform themselves about the true nature of psychosis and how it affects the minds of the mentally ill. Senua's struggle with the unruly voices in her head and her harrowing hallucinations is inspired by the experiences of a girl who resides at a "recovery college", an establishment which acts as both a health facility and an education institute for its patients. The team worked with a group of voice hearers to ensure that the auditory hallucinations experienced by Senua sound as realistic as possible. Senua's visual hallucinations, such as the flashbacks to her past or how several elements of a level appear brighter than they should be, were also based on descriptions from people with delusions.