The Characters of Firefly – Part 4

Serenity is named for the Battle of Serenity, the last battle of the Unification War. She is a Firefly-class vessel, a light freighter with no weaponry beyond that carried by her crew. The Firefly class of vessels gets its name from the distinctive way that the rear section of the ship glows when accelerating.

In some ways, Serenity is the tenth character of this ensemble show, since she provides the show with a lot of its atmosphere. The affection that the show’s human characters have for her (particularly Mal and Kaylee, and, to a lesser degree, River) gives her an emotional presence in the show, not just a physical one.