#TWN Season 3

[rebrandedbard]

new season new kate beaton comic redraw

[hold-me-witcher]

I can't believe Jaskier's character and sexuality has so much incredible nuance to it.

Like yes, he's a slut, he gets chased out of bedrooms by husbands, he sleeps casually with men, he has a few usual fuck buddies around the world who are as equally as interested in just sex and no romance. He was in love with Geralt for years

The second there was someone with no actual hangups about wanting a relationship with him he fell ass over teakettle in love back and was SO CONFUSED but also a slut about it.

[freebearz]

"Then take me here."

[victoria-daydreams]

The way Cahir was genuinely upset at the thought of Fringilla being dead

[gingersimasnaps]

[cailenbraern]

Not sure if I can fully articulate my thoughts about Jaskier’s growth as an artist throughout the seasons of The Witcher but I'm going to give it a go.

Because when we meet him in season 1 , he's more or less just starting out. He's fresh from Oxenfurt and determined to make a name for himself on the continent. The trouble is, he's got nothing to draw on. He's still young so his experience is negligible. He performs songs about monsters and creatures with little accuracy or meaning, and we meet him being jeered and pelted with food.

Meeting Geralt gives him a new inspiration for original songs, although he's not truthful, particularly in Toss a Coin. As Geralt said, that's not what happened, and Jaskier responds with respect doesn't make history. He's still too young and too inexperienced to realise what impact his songs can have, and he's solely determined to improve the reputations of Witchers along with his own reputation.

The two other songs in season 1 are Fishmongers Daughter, which I'm not going to discuss in any detail, and Her Sweet Kiss. Now one cane argue that the latter is heavily drawn from personal emotion and feeling, but the end result is a fairly normal ballad style of song with poetry as lyrics and vivid imagery and metaphors. It's a start, but Jaskier still has a long way to go.

Then we get to season 2, where we find Jaskier in the early stages of recognition. We see him performing in a packed bar, with accompaniment, and the crowd are lapping it up. It helps that the song he's singing comes, as per his own words, from the heart. Burn Butcher, Burn is 100% emotion, 100% authentic, and gone is the poetry. The lyrics are raw and passionate.

Despite this, we're led to believe that he found his fame with The Golden One. In contrast with BBB, this song lacks any emotional punch. It's purely a story or anecdote set to music. A fun little ditty, but unless you can suspend your disbelief, if open to criticism. As happens when attempting to smuggle the Elves onto the ship.

Now, we know that at this point, Jaskier has done and seen and experienced far more things than he had in season 1, and this has left an impact on him. He has matured and developed his sense of empathy and his kindness so much more than the immature travelling bard showed in Posada, thanks tp witnessing the violence and persecution of the elves, while also dealing with his own broken heart. Yet he's still clinging on to his want and desire to be respected and applauded for his skill and talent in writing and singing songs, so we see that he does not take criticism well.

More happens in season 2 to shape and form him, Rience's torture for one, the massacre at Kaer Morhen, his friendship with Yennefer and his mending (such as it is) of his friendship with Geralt along with the continuing politics all across the continent.

I do have a soft spot for Whoreson Prison Blues. The first two verses are beautiful, followed by a very crude, very catchy chorus. I can't imagine he would include it in future sets, but it's so personal to him in that moment that I love it.

Little wonder that by Season Three, we are met with yet more changes in our bard. His words to Radovid stating that he doesn't 'do pretty' suggest to me that he has consciously decided to move away from filling his songs with poetry and imagery and is focused more on honesty and truth. Extraordinary Things which immediately follows is a perfect demonstration of Jaskier singing openly and from the heart.

But what I wanted to get to in this long winded post, is that this is the season we finally see the Emotional Impact Jaskier's songs have on other people. No criticisms, no jokes, just the power of his music.

Whatever your opinion on Radovid and his motivations, Extraordinary Things affected him. You can see this in his reaction as he hears it for the first time, and he so clearly can't get it out of his head after hearing it only one time, that he goes above and beyond to learn it.

Next is Ciri, and we see Jaskier singing a lullaby (which he may or may not have written himself, jury's out on that) to her. Later, in the desert, she sings the lullaby back to herself, drawing strength and courage from it. This power has been given by Jaskier through his singing, making her feel safe and loved in a vulnerable moment.

Finally, Eternal Flowers, which I'll say here, is the best I've ever heard Joey sing, both on the album version and in the live performance on the show. He has his lute, but he lays it down like laying down a weapon. It's just him, stripped bare, open, vulnerable, honest, true. This is not his song, but he feels the emotion and the message as thought it was. His empathy is shining. It moves him to tears, but not only him, the Dryads also feel the emotion he is channelling, and it moves them to tears.

I don't have much of a conclusion to this ramble, but TL;DR, Jaskier’s songwriting and art has evolved over the three seasons and his bardic power is a might force to be reckoned with. He will be remembered long after Valdo for his honesty and beauty.

Not pretty. Real.

[jaskiersboobs]

After a season and a half of crumbs geraskier girlies finally have some food!!!

[iwillbringyouruin]

I absolutely loved the shot of Radovid eavesdropping on Dijsktra and Philippa. I loved it so much so that I drew it not only once but three times also because I couldn't decide which expression was my favourite :)

Click for better quality!

Please don't remove the watermarks or repost without credit and my explicit permission!

[attwnone]

the way twn s3 made me turn around and love stregobor was wild like when he's being accused of plotting against the eleven students, his answer is YES I do hate elves YES I would love to kill them all YES do jot that down but NO I did not hatch this plan and then!!!! he turns up when everything's going to shit and tells yen, "hey girl, I got this," and the 'this' is killing elves, his absolute most favorite activity in the whole entire world and for all we know that's how he dies!!

the way this man has a lane and stays in it no matter what political bullshit is happening around him is frankly admirable

[abeautifulblog]

Thoughts on the Radovid romance

A couple people have asked about the Radovid/Jaskier relationship, and I thought it was... fine? As fine as anything in this show gets?

I wasn't expecting it to dethrone Geralt/Jaskier, because 20+ years of Jaskier building his life and legacy around Geralt is a lot more compelling than Some Twink He Met Yesterday, but I did go into it with a genuinely open mind. Everyone on tumblr was gushing over their chemistry, and I was like, Yea I'd believe it, given that this is Joey Batey we're talking about. So I was expecting to enjoy it the way I'd enjoyed the Yennskier content in S2, the rare treat of two characters having a real emotional connection.

And then I watched it, and it wasn't bad, but the relationship was a lot more disjointed (and their "chemistry" a lot less compelling) than tumblr had led me to believe. (Lol, mea culpa, I should have known better than to take tumblr's word for it.) Also it’s unclear whether it’s supposed to be a cute romance, or whether it’s two people using each other for their own ends?

But it did brush up against some interesting thoughts I'd had before about Jaskier and his patrons, and got me to thinking about consent and power dynamics again, because I am THEE MOST predictable little beastie in fandom. 🤣

First off, I'm not sure what we're supposed to make of Radovid. Obviously he's ~hiding his true self~ in some way, but I can't tell if we're meant to take at face value the side of himself he shows Jaskier -- that he's more intelligent than he's been letting on, and is actually deeply lonely in the empty-headed partyboy role he's been playing, desperate for genuine connection and for someone to truly see him for who he is -- or whether that is yet more deception, and this is all part of some big ambitious scheme that he'll whip out in a mustache-twirling villain reveal. There are elements that make me think it's the latter, but Hugh Skinner's acting is also just weird (and why are his eyes so wet o_o), and I can't tell whether that's supposed to be deliberate foreshadowing, or if, once again, the people making the show are just clueless about how their creative choices are coming off.

(I assume this will get answered at some point, possibly already has in part 2, but I haven't watched that yet.)

Honestly, the part that caught my interest the most was when Jaskier showed up at Radovid's salon wanting to talk about new intel he had on Rience, and Radovid was blithely uninterested, just wanted Jaskier to sing for them -- and then proceeded to casually, completely disregard Jaskier's No.

gremble: Oho? 👀

That's a red flag! 😊 Jaskier tried to set a boundary, and Radovid brushed right past it. And in any competently-executed piece of media, I would expect that to be deliberately signaling something. It doesn't necessarily mean that Radovid is evil -- could just mean he's a crown prince who doesn't have much experience with people telling him No -- but seeing him blithely override Jaskier's wishes in a low-stakes situation sets a bad precedent, and foreshadows how he might behave later, when the stakes might well be higher.

...Except that this production team is so HILARIOUSLY bad at writing healthy relationships -- for three seasons they've been feeding us the most toxic slop imaginable and telling us that's what love looks like -- that I have no idea whether that was on purpose or not. 😂😂😂

--

The Radovid storyline does touch on some concepts that I've long found fascinating, about Jaskier's system of patronage and how he trades on his sexuality. How his work is canonically sex work, or at least sex-work adjacent (that's made explicit when he talks about the Countess de Stael, that they were involved sexually while she was supporting him financially), and the balancing act of keeping his patrons happy when they are always, always going to be second in his affections to Geralt -- and how they probably wouldn't be too happy to learn that.

Because for all that S3 tells us Jaskier is developing a crush on Radovid, Joey Batey's acting says something very different. He did not come off as a man in love, to me -- he came off as someone who's acutely aware that when the crown prince of Redania rolls up and tells you he's your biggest fan, you fucking smile for him.

(Why yes, Moulin Rouge is my all-time favorite movie, why do you ask? 🤣)

Jaskier's interactions with Radovid feel very... 'calculated' isn't quite the word for it, but Jaskier is conscious of the power differentials there, and always carefully choosing what he does and says in light of what he knows Radovid wants from him. He's conscious of having to keep Radovid happy, yes but he's also conscious of what he stands to gain from having a crown prince clamoring to win his affections, and what he could leverage out of that. (Like, say, having the entire Redanian army to protect his little found family.)

And the power imbalance isn't entirely one-directional either. Radovid wants Jaskier's affections, something that can't be bought or coerced, and wants his specifically, which means Jaskier has all the power to give or withhold it... while also being aware that toying with a prince's affections is a dangerous game.

........Or maybe I entirely misread that, and Jaskier's feelings for Radovid are meant to be genuine, and the whole thing was supposed to be a cute little romance. The way that Joey & the production team have talked about that relationship makes it sound like that's what they were going for, but what's onscreen is very ambiguous.

It will surprise no one to learn that I think the more interesting option would be the one that complicates Jaskier’s motives. That even if he likes Radovid well enough, he's still deliberately leveraging Radovid's crush on him to get help for Geralt -- and that if he oversteps, he's risking the wrath of a very powerful man. (And that as the perceived rival, Geralt could wind up as the target of Radovid’s retribution.)

Anyway, it's a fascinating situation, and almost identical to a fic premise I've been tossing around for years. It's never quite coalesced enough to get written, but it does compel me.

(Alternately, if you wanted Radovid to be noble and tragic, @coffee-mage-sans-caffeine suggested a situation in which Radovid and Geralt are in peril together, one of them is not going to make it out of this, and Radovid sacrifices himself so Geralt lives -- because he knows which of them Jaskier loves more.)

[kuwdora]

The Witcher Netflix - 3x08 Episode Reaction In season 3 of The Witcher Netflix we got our first look inside the Nilfgaardian Empire. I was taken by surprise because sometimes I think the show isn't subtle with certain things. Sometimes showing without telling. Or telling without showing in a way doesn't offer viewers enough information to understand the impact of a creative choice. The glimpses we got of Nilfgaard are, in my opinion, a subtle bit of worldbuilding that doesn't lose its impact without showing too much or telling too little. In the books Nilfgaard's culture and history, its military strategy--it's all pastiche from different historical empires. That is a hallmark of Sapko's style. I'm sure other people have spoken more definitively about that on tumblr and elsewhere. CDPR absorbed a lot of Roman Empire influences from the books for its own take for Nilfgaard. And now we can see TWN's production is also picking up on that as well and going with Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine) flavor. So let me share a few screenshots from episode 3x08 that caught my eye. This is a mini-commentary with some thoughts, not a deep analysis. We had this establishing shot of a Nilfgaardian city (which I'm presuming to be the capital). This looks like Constantinople to me.

A modern day photo of Constantinople ruins for comparison:

Next we have Emhyr with several men dressed in what comes off as very Eastern Orthodox-inspired vestments, right down to the monastic headwear (mitre, I think?). I'll leave more the in depth TWN and costume critical takedown to perseruna. But those hats definitely kept screaming Eastern Orthodoxy at me and making me circle back to Eastern Roman Empire.

And finally we have this scene of Francesca and Fringilla in the church. In all of my groupchats everyone was losing their mind about their conversation and heartbreak. But I was losing my mind over the fact that they were a) in a Nilfgaardian church or temple and b) this shot was framed in such a way to show us the statue of an ambiguous church figure in the background. Standing in between Fringilla and Francesca, no less.

I can't help but think this might be a statue of the Nilfgaardian Emperor who, in the books, is implied to be a prophet or important figure in the religious sphere.

"...Recently the main topic of preaching has been of a Saviour who will come from the south. From the south! From beyond the Yaruga!” “The White Flame,” muttered Demavend. “White Chill will come to be, and after it the White Light. And then the world will be reborn through the White Flame and the White Queen… I’ve heard it, too. It’s a travesty of the prophecy of Ithlinne aep Aevenien, the elven seeress. I gave orders to catch one cleric who was going on about it in the Vengerberg market place and the torturer asked him politely and at length how much gold the prophet had received from Emhyr for doing it… But the preacher only prattled on about the White Flame and the White Queen… the same thing, to the very end.” -Blood of Elves

(thank you to @akilah12902 for sourcing this quote for me when I was looking for help!) This just reaffirms my thoughts that Fringilla and Francesca are arguing before a statue of Emhyr. A surprising amount of symbolism for this scene and show. Anyway. This was my main takeaway from 3x08. It was nice to be pleasantly surprised by this.

[rebrandedbard]

They'll put anything on a doublet these days

[hold-me-witcher]

When Yennefer was like, "don't stare at anyone no matter what they're wearing" I was very disappointed that no one was wearing anything particularly ludicrous or revealing

[daughtersofbelleteyn]

"Dear friend, I miss you already."

[identity-404]

I'd die for Vespula

That's it. That's the post.

[gingersimasnaps]

So I've been thinking about Tissaia's death in The Witcher Netflix. I'm not going to dive into the fact she got herself fooled by Vilgefortz, that just a no go territory, because I refuse to believe TISSAIA of all the people would be so stupid, given the fact anyone with one brain cell could see Vilgefortz is no good.

BUT.

Her dead scene is so off. Yes yes, the guilt and the reason she unalived herself is basically the same as in the canon (which is surprising actually because when did the series gave a shit about canon?). The timing tho?

Tissaia hugs Yennefer as Triss knocks and informs them the vigil is starting (means everything is READY and Tissaia and Yen are the only two people missing). Yen goes while Tissaia says something about being there in a minute. Even if the journey from her office to the basement or vault or where the vigil took place would be across the whole Aretuza, it could be like 20 mins MAXIMUM between Yen leaving Tissaia and Yen running to find her dead.

In those 20 mins, Tissaia managed to write a whole ass letter, brush her hair, lit a pipe and smoke it, do her little "sometimes a flower is just a flower" spell and slit her wrists. In which fucking reality you manage to do all this in such a short time span?!

Second thing - when Yennefer feels the pain in her own wrists, it takes her like .3 seconds to realize what's happening, so she runs into Tissaia's office basically immediately. Again, even if it would be across the whole Aretuza, there's NO WAY IN FUCKING HELL she wouldn't be there in time to save her. She's a witch, she can portal herself to be there faster, and don't tell me you can't do that in Aretuza, because a) it's not Hogwarts and b) even if you really couldn't make a portal in Aretuza, it was in ruins, you could make 284 portals and dance between them. So, when Yen enters Tissaia's office, we see two big pools of blood, and again, no way in hell she would bleed such a big amount of blood in such a short time.

And okay, even if she would, THEY ARE WITCHES FOR FUCK'S SAKE! Yen could probably still save Tissaia! But they had to make her *just* weep and not actually do something to save her mother!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm actually glad Tissaia died (and I can't believe I'm saying this, but there was no plot for that character anymore, not to mention I ship Tissaia with Geralt and by Geralt I mean Henry and not Liam), but it could be done SO. MUCH. BETTER.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk :D