Lana Lang ~ "I know what I need to do with my life now. Life is so precious, so beautiful and to be able to protect that, that's an amazing gift".

The death of her parents when Lana Lang was three was very influential in shaping her personality. Despite the fact that her aunt raised and cared for her, Lana has felt like an abandoned orphan her whole life and idolizes her dead parents. She often states that she feels isolated and out of place and dreams about leaving Smallville forever for something more. Despite this, Lana developed a reputation for being a sweet girl – pleasant, caring, and eager to help others. She found herself without any family before she graduated from high school. With no one to rely on but herself, Lana is also quite driven to pursue her goals. She successfully managed the Talon coffee shop as a high school student and lived alone during her senior year.

Lana was initially characterized as the gullible "girl next door" archetype, always demanding the truth and thus believing whatever lies are told to her, which has put her and Clark's relationship into trouble more than once.

Lana took self-defense classes, but seems to always find herself in threatening situations, needing to be rescued. She once stated that she always felt she would die young. Having been attacked multiple times by meteor freaks, she became critical of meta humans and aliens; at the beginning of their relationship, Lana and Lex grew close over their shared belief that humans need to be protected from dangerous aliens and meta humans. Clark seemingly picked up on Lana's opinion and it was part of his reluctance to trust her with his secret; despite this, Clark is convinced that they are meant to be together. In addition, it is shown in Phantom that her feelings for Clark surpass her fear of super powered beings, and she immediately accepted the fact that he was actually an alien and not a meteor freak as she herself (and Chloe before her) originally believed. Due to Lex's inhumane treatment of super powered beings in his Level 33.1 and Project Ares experiments, Lana's justified disdain for meta humans and other super powered beings has lessened considerably, and she developed the Isis Foundation to provide emotional support to the meteor-infected and help them lead a normal life.

Lana's romantic relationships also reflect her personality; she places great trust in her partner and expects the same in return. Lana values honesty within her relationship and will build a relationship with someone she perceives will trust her. Whitney Fordman was simple and unassuming, but they were not soul mates. Jason Teague swept her off her feet in Paris, but he too began to hide things from her. Her attraction to Lex Luthor was intensified by her belief that Lex was always honest with her. Yet Lex kept secrets of his own, leading her to question his loyalty and seemingly rekindle her feelings for Clark.

Lana started to show her dark side early on, when a rival coffee shop called The Beanery tried to put the Talon out of business. The owner even stopped by to inform Lana that he was making it his mission to run the place into the ground, and "that it wasn't personal, just business". Lana found out from her friend Amanda, that apparently the rival coffeehouse has had several health department violations they've been trying to cover up. She told Chloe, who got her reporter friend to look into it. It was revealed that the Beanery was in fact breaking the law and was forced to close down. Lana was of two minds about what she did. She later told Clark that she didn't like what she did, because she felt she had to choose between doing the right thing and being successful. However, Lana admitted that she kind of enjoyed being underhanded.

After learning that her pregnancy was faked, Lana became a stronger and more mature woman, far from the soft and naive girl she once was. No longer waiting to be saved or wanting help, she has taken action into her own hands to make sure that the people who have done her and others wrong pay, revealing a strong vengeful and bitter streak as well as a firm "eye for an eye" sense of justice. She retaliated against Lex and Lionel Luther with both violence and theft. Despite her gritty transformations and the hardships she has endured, Lana is a compassionate and optimistic person who deeply values life and considers the opportunity to protect and save lives to be an amazing gift. Lana is an accomplished horseback rider and an avid reader.