#Nivellen

[old-deerstalker-hat]

1.04 | 2.01 | 3.08

[this-will-get-messy]

the good and the bad part I

while as a Witcher reader I am obviously unhappy with some of the decisions the writers of the netflix show made, some I really stan.

Not trivialising rape as 90s novels were unfortunately wont to do for example (talking about Nivellen here)

[themuskrater]

When I say Denis Gordeev art is unhinged in the best way, this is what I'm saying

I think I found the absolute funniest witcher illustration

(By Denis Gordeev)

“Are ya fucking finished Geralt?”

*having the time of his life playing rock, paper, scissors with Vereena, a bruxa*

[hanzajesthanza]

a grain of truth fans wake up !! lihtar studio tribute just dropped!!

[viina-art]

Durgewyll is like reverse Beauty and the Beast to me (especially if you have a. not fucked up looking durge)

[tallfroggie]

Ok well a month later and I have returned with a finished product!

You can read it here on ao3 <3

@littlerocksrants you wanted to be tagged if anyone wrote it so here you go <3

I… want a fic post mountain where Ciri and Geralt find jask early and they go to Nivellen’s as per the plan

and Jask has to see Geralt call this dude ‘friend’

[geminipdf]

shoutout to the monsterfucker women in "a grain of truth" oh my god. icons the lot of them

[senshis-tenshi]

You know what really grinds my gears?

When a character isn’t “evil enough” so the writer(s) make them a creep, or even worse, let’s make them force themselves on someone!

See: Funny Valentine from JJBA, Rictus Erectus from Mad Max, Nivellen from The Witcher…

Like… isn’t there another way to make the audience understand that we have a villain here… do we always have to resort to extremes… especially when you really like a character and then bam, “they’re a r*pist btw” bomb is dropped. Like can you not 😭

[jensjumbledmess]

My review/thoughts about A Grain of Truth by Jack Rembiś, based on the short story by Andrzej Sapkowski.

Star & Spice Rating: ⭐️ 4/5, 🌶️ 0/5

TWs: Blood & Gore, Nudity (Female & Male), Sexual Assault

Judging a Book By It’s Cover: I think the cover is really pretty, the blue roses make a nice contrast to the beast door knocker and Geralt himself.

✨📖Review📖✨

If you enjoyed the story A Grain of Truth from The Last Wish, then of course you’re going to enjoy this; it’s the same story, just told as a graphic novel. This little comic makes a great addition to any Witcher fan’s collection. The art in it is BEAUTIFUL, and as a matter of fact, I liked the art in this SO MUCH MORE than most of the art in The Witcher Omnibus, Volume 1. I can't get over it; the pages seem so vibrant, even the dark scenes. I love the way the characters are depicted. I will definitely be adding The Lesser Evil to my collection too at some point and I would love it if Jack Rembiś adapted all the other short stories as well.

For those that don’t know, A Grain of Truth is essentially a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Geralt encounters two dead bodies while traveling, leading to him investigate the area. He then stumbles across a strange, shy woman who runs away after he greets her; nearby finding  a manor, with a big courtyard and unique blue rose bush. While literally stopping to smell the roses, a large beast bursts from the manor in a (failed) attempt to scare Geralt away. The beast’s name is Nivellen, and he has been cursed into this form by a priestess after he was basically peer-pressured into sexually assaulting her many years ago. After Geralt and Nivellen talk and have dinner, Geralt decides to simply leave after Nivellen confesses that he has come to appreciate and favor his beastly form and doesn’t want Geralt to try to break the curse. Over night, Geralt has the revelation that the strange woman outside the manor, who has been keeping Nivellen company, may actually be very dangerous.

Thank you for reading! If you liked my review/thoughts, consider following me on [GoodReads], [Bookstagram], or [Threads]! (I tend to post on GoodReads & Threads first!)

[vulpinesaint]

bitches will watch a whole show about a man trying his very fucking hardest to avoid violence as the first option and save people and protect people and watch his struggle to be a good person by not falling back on the tactics of violence that he was taught and that the world keeps trying to hammer into him and the fact that he only fights and kills when he has exhausted all other options or when his immense efforts to talk through things and compromise and work for diplomacy have failed and go 'haha he goes hmmm all the time! he never talks!' come ON now. every motherfucker in the witcher meets geralt of rivia and they go "pleeeeeeaaaassseeee geralt of rivia be a stoic violent man and go kill this thing for me so that i can avoid my problems" and then without fail geralt sighs really hard and LAUNCHES into a paragraph-long speech on what he thinks the correct moral situation is that NOBODY in that situation wants to hear except him. BE SO FUCKING REAL WITH ME THE PROBLEM IS THAT HE TALKS TOO MUCH!!!!!!

listen i am geralt of rivia hater number one but one thing i actually CANNOT stand is when the fandom mischaracterizes him. took one look at this man who speaks very straight-forwardly and matter-of-fact and is a little recalcitrant with his words sometimes and went "haha he communicates in grunts! man who only says 'hm'!" and then won't even write him to speak in full fucking sentences. hello???? hello???????? yes the netflix show was a bad influence on everybody because they were trying too hard to depict geralt as a stoic manly badass but we CANNOT let that distract us from the REAL thing to make fun of geralt for. which are his Constant Unprovoked Monologues

[littlestsnicket]

witcher wip amnesty 2023

summary: there was a post going around ages ago about an AU where geralt went to get jaskier before A Grain of Truth, so he's there when geralt refers to nivellen as a friend. and i had a 'oh jaskier would not react like that' moment and started writing fic. and then i thought 'do i really need to rehash why i think large parts of fandom are misinterpreting jaskier and geralt's fight on the mountain?' and i thought 'no' but it turns out i already had.

word count: .8k

[also on ao3]

I know someone nearby, an old friend

“Geralt, it’s fine. It was a joke.”

“It’s not fine,” Geralt growled.

“You don’t need to get all self-flagellate-y. I said it’s fine.”

“I’m not self-flagellate-y. That’s not why it’s not fine.” Geralt deliberately did not comment on Jaskier’s tendency to make up words, he did not want to give Jaskier the opportunity to derail the conversation.

“I said it was fine.” Jaskier’s voice dropped to a lower register. He was actually angry. Geralt wasn’t backing down on this though. 

“You do this to me all the time.”

“Well, I am a bard and you are an emotionally constipated Witcher. I’m allowed and you’re not.”

“Jaskier, shut up and let me finish.”

Jaskier’s face scrunched in exaggerated displeasure, but he sat there studying Geralt with uncomfortable intensity for a very long moment. 

“Geralt.”

“What?”

“I’m trying very hard here, but you’re going to have to actually say something.”

“Fuck,” Geralt sighed and pressed the heels of his hands into his browbone before forcing hmiself to speak. “If you hadn’t had some doubt, if it didn't weigh on you in any way that I kept denying we’re friends, would you have left or would you have squawked at me about being a needlessly cruel Witcher and talked in circles until I was too irritated to be properly mad anymore?”

“Oh, that’s...” Jaskier trailed off looking away.

“You mean more to me than I know how to say.”

Jaskier’s mouth quirked like it always did right before he said something he thought was funny but was actually incredibly irritating. But his expression shifted the moment his gaze settled back on Geralt. Geralt could see the gears in Jaskier’s mind downshifting as he forced himself to properly engage with the conversation they were having. It had taken Geralt a very long time to understand that, for all his fast talking and nearly uncanny observational skills, it sometimes took Jaskier a while to really process and integrate new information. 

“I know. And you’re my best friend.”

Jaskier dropped his gaze to stare at his hands, fidgeting with his fingers. Geralt was privately glad he did, Jaskier’s intensity discomfited him as much as he also craved the attention.

Suddenly, Geralt found himself fixed with Jaskier’s blue eyed stare, “Do you really think that little of me, that I would let you get away with that for decades if it bothered me?” 

Jaskier’s smile went wobbly but sincere. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. I guess I shouldn’t claim it wouldn’t have made any difference to have that reassurance of you having said it, but it wasn’t that. I made it pretty clear you were really hurting me and you just kept going. And I—I get it, I’m not mad anymore, but I can’t just let you do that. Yen hurt you, and you—”

“I wasn’t—”

“No. Yennefer reminded you how easy it is to hurt someone who cares about you and you decided to deal the decisive blow first before I could hurt you too. It’s not fine, but I do understand. You haven’t lived this long by ignoring potential threats.”

Geralt sighed. Sometimes Jaskier was impossible, mostly because he was right. 

“Why didn’t you tell her you didn’t wish for that? You didn’t wish for that, did you?”

“No. It wouldn’t have mattered.”

“Exactly,” Jaskier replied, his voice pained. 

Geralt, unsure what else to do, rested his hand on Jaskier’s shoulder. 

“Just, you know, do better next time. And for what it’s worth, though I made no secret of how much I hated her, I am truly sorry the two of you won’t get a second chance.”

They were both quiet for a long time, at least by Jaskier’s standards, before Jaskier did the imitation of a hyper-alert squirrel he did when his attention caught on something he was uncertain about. “You know, I don’t like this place. There’s something off about it. It’s... creepy? But not in an oooo spooky old house way. You get used to that. This gets worse the longer I’m here. It’s... whatever is in the ceiling is not a cat.”

Jaskier was right. Geralt refocused all of his senses. Cats did not make subtle clicking noises. He remembered the barefoot prints vanishing suddenly in the snow. “It’s a bruxa. We have to get to Ciri. Now.”

“Tell me what you need me to do,” Jaskier said as he tailed Geralt down the hall.

“Go with Ciri and get to Roach. Watch out for her. She doesn’t trust me yet and might not listen.”

“Ok. Yes, easy. This will be fine,” Jaskier mumbled to himself. Geralt didn’t snap at him to be quiet like he once might have. He was used to Jaskier, his murmuring wasn’t distracting as much as it was a reassuring reminder that he was there.

[winters-mistress]

Nightmare

Geralt's eyes snap open, his chest aching in a way no kikimora or aechna wound could come close to. He shoots up, ignoring the way his joints pop, old wounds screeching in protest, not yet healed stitches pulling his skin painfully tight.

The witcher looks around wildly, side to side, only seeing trees and snow and twigs and twinkling stars, the moon mocking him in all her majesty.

His fingers shake, breath rattling in his old lungs, lungs expanding and shrinking in rapid succession, so fast that he briefly sees black spots dancing in front of him.

Eyes wide, taking in the cold air, he shakes, fingers twitching towards his swords that were always a few inches away from his fingers whenever he would allow himself to sleep. A reason why he did not, had just occurred.

"Ciri," he gasps out, mouth dry, throat burning. He looks wildly for her, eyes big and golden, taking in every sight, every sound, every smell, until he takes in the limp form a few strides lengths away from him.

If he was rational in this moment, he wouldn't do what he would do next. He would realise that his girl getting decent sleep that was not plagued by ghosts and monsters and hunters, he would remember that she needed all the rest she could get, if they were going to make the trip back up to kaer mohren in the morning.

But coherent and rational, Geralt of Rivia is not. And it is for that reason that he scrambles out of his blankets, crawling wildly over towards his girl, turning her around so she falls on her back.

Startled, the girl is awake within a moment. She gasps out, eyes snapping open. She looks down her body first, before looking up at him as he leans over her.

Her eyes are big and beautiful, a deep jade in the darkness of the night. Not yellow, not anything unnatural. She's here, she's alive.

"Geralt?" she whispers.

It's almost an echo of when he had awoken her when he had realised Vereena's true form in Nivellen's manor house. He is as usual as he ever is, dark clothing and bright hair and eyes, while her white dress is swapped for a white tunic and some brown leather trousers. She is stronger, braver, while he is softened to her in a way he never could have imagined that night.

"What's wrong?" she asks, leaning up upon her elbows. She blinks as she's suddenly forced from her back all together, gathered up in his arms as he embraces her tightly to his chest. She can hear how it echoes and rattles, even to her puny human ears.

Her arms wrap around him, fingers messily getting caught in his hair. She inhales deeply, breathing in his scent as he clings to her.

Over the last few months, Cirilla has realised that she doesn't need to speak to gage Geralt's emotion. She can read him easily now, understands his keenness for silence and will not push for conversation when he is lost to the horror of his past. She understands that, doesn't push him to speak, only let's him hold her in the way it's obvious that he needs.

"It's alright, we're together." she states quietly, he squeezes her quickly, before pulling back far enough to press their forehead together.

She knows what it means. Family, safety, pack.

It's one of the quickest lessons she had learned when he had brought her to his home months ago, watching how he embraced his brothers, for all of their burliness and aggression. A silent way to show their love and bond in ways no words could.

She closes her eyes tighter, clutches him. Their roles have seemingly been reversed as he takes in deep breaths. She can be strong in the moments where he is weak, a stark contrast to their usual situation where he holds her and fends off her ghosts and hunters.

"You're okay, we're okay. I love you, Papa." she whispers.

He holds her tighter, and she knows what he says.

I love you, my little pup.

[ginstermoff]

hello! hazbin hotel, the witcher & toh for the ask game :)

Ooooh boi here we goooo!! *^*

HAZBIN HOTEL

​blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)​​ Angel Dust. My son, my baby, my darling, my fellow trauma endurer I love him so much I love HIM SO MUCH 😭😭😭🩷🩷🩷

​scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped) FAT. NUGGETS. Yes he is a character and I want to squeeze him like the football.

​scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave) Honestly Husk. I feel like with Alastor, Lucifer and Angel he kinda gets shoved in the corner. My mans has layers and he needs to be hugged by Angel.

​glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week) Zestial. You can't give him Ozzie's VA and expect me not to fall for him.

​poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave) Adam. Toxic masculinity incarnate, but he's SUCH a fucking Kylechadkevindude I just have to respect him for that. He watches Nick Colletti vines for self-care.

​horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason) Alastor. Charismatic opportunist who already has endured so much. I can break him. Watch me.

​eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell) Sera.

THE WITCHER

​Blorbo: Dijkstra. Oh to love a morally corrupt huge ginormous well-endowed boar of a man that could order me dead. <3

​Scrunkly: Gaetan. *slaps the bald head*

​Scrimblo bimblo: Ciri. Which is kind of ironic, because the Saga wouldn't exist without her. I get people being horny for gruffy huffy guys in armor, but come on, fandom.

Glup shitto: Nivellen I love you.

Poor little meow meow: Lambert. Trauma in a leather jacket.

Horse Plinko: Emhyr.

Eeby Deeby: Can I say Emhyr again?^^"

THE OWL HOUSE

Blorbo: Eda. I relate to her on a spiritual level. Also disability rep my beloved.

Scrunkly: HOOTY. He is so adorable and baby. My sweet sweet Worm demon.

Scrimblo Bimblo: I wanna say The Collector? At first I hated him because he was annoying to me, but the Special absolutely Sold him. My childe.

Glup Shitto: Him. Iykyk.

Poor little meow meow: Hunter. Trauma my beloved.

Horse Plinko: Odalia Blight.

Eeby Deeby: Belos.

[wiedzm1n]

my favorite thing is geralt getting along with monsters. like nivellen from the last wish.

[hanzajesthanza]

combining (one of my) favorite short story with (some of my) favorite characters ❤️

[doberbutts]

One thing I did really like as far as changes to the existing media re: witcher netflix is Geralt's disgust with rape. With Nivellen, in the book he's like "yeah bro of course she cursed you that's what happens when you rape a priestess idiot" but also a bit of "I'm not judging you, I'm not perfect either" which is a common theme in both the books and the games where unless something awful is happening in front of him he tries to stay neutral on past evil deeds.

Contrasting this with the show, where his opinion of Renfri significantly improves when she says she began killing to survive after she killed her rapist, and his complete disgust with Nivellen's reveal at the end to the point of telling the man to kill himself. It's out of character for book/game Geralt but I'm also really not mad about it.

In all three versions, he does call rapists monsters ("wanna hear about my first monster?" "have I told you of my first monster?") though it would seem he only feels that strongly, again, when it's happening in front of him re: books/games. In the games he also does the same "I'm not judging you" thing a few different times depending on your choices with rapists (I'm thinking of that first village in the first game, where the witch in the woods was raped) and wife-beaters (third game, Bloody Baron), and while there's some argument about whether that 'counts' as canon it's still an adaption's choice to interpret the neutrality of Geralt in the books in that manner. It is difficult for Geralt to hear Triss be tortured even if you choose to let it happen- he does not like the idea of allowing others to cause pain and get off on it if he can stop it. The trailer for Wild Hunt also points to that- when he stops the hanging of a woman and tells Vesemir- who is letting it happen as witchers *are supposed to stay neutral*- that he's "killing monsters" as he steps in to intervene. It seems that it needs to happen in front of him, in a manner that he can feasibly put an end to it if he's physically there, for him to feel so strongly about it.

Not so, in the show, when he shows active distain for this type of violence pretty much the second he hears about it. The only thing I can really think of that breaks this is the striga- no matter what version of the story he sacrifices the man responsible (as started by comics, games, and show- it's more vague in the book) for the curse as bait. This man lusted after Adda, enough to put a curse on her for being impregnated by her own brother, and Geralt made the choice to allow him to die in order to break the curse on her daughter. In the show, it's implied that he orgasmed on her bed both before and after she died ("your scent, old ones and new ones" "what would I be doing in a dead girl's bed" "I smelled what you were doing")- did he rape Adda in life and masturbate to it after she'd died? Did he just soil her bedding when she was out? He tries to say Foltest raped Adda ("what if the relationship was not entirely consensual?"), perhaps to hide what he'd done himself?

It's made to sound like it WAS consensual between Foltest and Adda, that the problem was that it was incestuous, not that he was forcing himself on her. Geralt doesn't move to harm the king- and there's a long list of reasons why he couldn't even if he wanted to- but he *does* choose to kill Ostrit even though he didn't have to. This is really the only one that I can think of that breaks this "rule", and in fairness it's the very first Witcher short story that the author wrote so it's also very possible he hadn't fully decided on exactly what Geralt's personal morality line was just yet.