#aglove

[endiness]

wait if we're getting some jaskier backstory about where he's from i wonder if that means ferrant might be in it? 🤔

[fandomwarehouse]

If you like Geralt of Rivia, you'll love him after hearing him sing to the mermaid Sh'eenaz about why her idiot air-breathing man can't join her in the sea

[fangirleaconmigo]

In your expert opinion, do you think there’s any deeper reading to interpret from Geralt’s rebound with Essi, and traits she shares with Dandelion? (I know it wasn’t authorial intention in the least, but when he kissed her within 10 minutes of meeting, I got a “she’s a lot like Dandelion, surely she’s safe to embarrass myself with” vibe).

Hi Nonny!

Essi and Dandelion, Poets and Parallels, Ballads and Broken Hearts

Thank you for the ask! I'm on my lunch break from work, but I'm so happy to be answering Witcher book questions again that I'm sneaking off to do this.

Essi is such an interesting character, right? On one hand, she seems to be treated as the 'anti-Yen" by the narrative and the thing that Geralt 'should' want, thereby reinforcing his love for Yen when he *doesn't* fall in love with Essi.

But then there are all the curious parallels and similarities with Dandelion, which also makes it fun to analyze in that way. The list of similarities is long: their profession, personality, looks, their level of talent, and my favorite, their readiness to throw hands on behalf of Geralt of Rivia. And then there is The Ballad.

Ok. I'm going to set authorial intent aside for the moment, because writers write things all the time they don't intend to write. And I think any artist worth their salt should be thrilled that their work is layered and interesting enough to inspire differing interpretations.

That being said, let's get to the fun part.

SPOILERS SPOILERS FOR ESSI'S STORY PLS DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED.

Profession, personality

Let's look at Essi's introduction! She enters the scene acting just like Dandelion. Both poets are mercilessly insulting one another in their fake-genteel way. (Lots of shade, as well as out and out insults)

Geralt is taken aback, thinking they are fighting, but then they fall on one another embracing and he's like...oh lordt. There's two of them.

"The Witcher was taken aback, but not too greatly. A professional colleague of Dandelion's could not, indeed, differ much from him in terms of predictability."

--Sword of Destiny pg 195

So we have profession, and personality being very similar. Bards with sharp tongues and ready emotions. Then we have looks!

Looks.

I've done a post on Dandelion's looks here. And Essi is similar! Blonde hair, blue eyes, and beautiful. Same same. Sorry, her eyes are a dark blue whereas Dandelion's are cornflower. Much different so contrast.

Level of talent.

They are both beloved and famous. When Ciri is studying at Nenneke's temple, she has access to both of their books of poetry.

[Ciri] read The Adversities of Loving and Time of the Moon, collections of poems by the famous troubadour Dandelion. She shed tears over the ballads of Essi Daven, subtle, infused with mystery, and collected in a small, beautifully bound volume entitled The Blue Pearl. --Blood of Elves pg 298

And Geralt adores both of their voices. When Essi and Dandelion are singing together, Geralt thinks to himself that they have the most beautiful voices that he has ever heard.

They Stay Ready to Throw Hands for Geralt of Rivia.

The text even classifies Essi and Dandelion together on this. And as I said, it's my favorite part of her character, and not just because I love Geralt. It shows her strength, her strong sense of self, her courage, and her values.

First, she, much in the way that Dandelion does, uses her fame, connections, and higher social standing to protect Geralt. And she throws Dandelion into the mix for good measure to strengthen her threats. So when Duke Agloval threatens to drive Geralt to the border with a whip. Essi reponds.

"...please dont threaten Geralt. It so happens that Dandelion and I have several friends...King Ethain of Cidaris...always says that our ballads aren't just lively music and rhymes, but a way of spreading news...Do you wish, your Grace, to be written into the chronicle of human kind? I can arrange it?" --Sword of Destiny pg 212

And when Geralt turns down Agloval's 'offer' of permanent work killing sea creatures in a permanent war with them, (keeping in mind that the noble has stiffed Geralt twice on payment so far) Agloval invokes Geralt's poverty in a demeaning way.

"Oh how proud," Agloval smiled. "How haughty. You reject offers in a way some kings wouldn't be ashamed of. You give up decent money with the air of a wealthy man after a lavish dinner. Geralt? Did you have lunch today? No? And tomorrow? And the day after? I see little chance, Witcher, very little..."

It is so infuriating. Agloval is saying...who the fuck do you think you are? Someone important? Someone with status?? Someone who is allowed to decide his own ethics for himself?

This is a constant theme. The...know your place. Stop trying to think for yourself. Ethics look stupid on you, because you aren't 'real' enough of a human being to have them. So it is super satisfying when Essi lets loose on him.

"How dare you!" Little Eye cried shrilly. "How dare you speak like that to him Agloval!...How can you be so base?"...

Geralt tries to stop her. He sees little point.

"Stop it Essi," Geralt said. "Stop, Essi, there's no point." "Not true," she said angrily. "These is a point. Someone has to tell it straight to this self-appointed duke....who now thinks he has the right to insult other people."

And she isn't done.

"Yes, Agloval, " Essi continued, clenching her shaking hands into fists. "The opportunity to insult other people amuses and pleases you. You delight in the contempt you can show the Witcher...you should know that the Witcher mocks your attempts and slights., that they do not make the faintest impression on him..."

Then we bring Dandelion back in. Because guess who also feels anger and revulsion when Geralt is treated so contemptuously? Let Essi say it...

"The Witcher doesn't feel what Dandelion and I feel, and we feel revulsion."

Sword of Destiny pg 237

That's like...not even half of her unloading on this guy. She is like...you are worth less than Geralt, so jot that down.

Now..

The Ballad

Here is why the ballad matters to me. I think that perhaps even more interesting than how Geralt responds to Essi (interesting though it is) is how Dandelion responds to Essi. Why does he think someone who is almost exactly like him is perfect for Geralt? I mean, he sees himself in her so much that he thinks of her as his sister.

He loves her more than Geralt does I think that is clear. Geralt cares deeply about her. But to Dandelion, she is like his family.

He is put in a shitty position of seeing her distraught and anguished about her feelings for Geralt and Geralt afraid of leading her on or hurting her. Geralt and Essi go back and forth, making it insufferable for Dandelion as a third wheel.

I talked about it here here and here.

Dandelion's response is the subject of controversy in fandom, and there are many valid and differing reader responses. But it seems clear that Dandelion has come to terms with the fact that Geralt and Essi will not be together in love, despite his advice to Geralt. So he suggests they just fuck to get it out of their systems and then everything will be ok. (that's his solution to most things)

So, if he is at ease with that, why the ballad? At the end of the story, Dandelion composes a ballad while Essi and Geralt sleep.

Dandelion, staring into the dying embers, sat much longer, alone, quietly strumming his lute. It began with a few bars, from which an elegant, soothing melody emerged. The lyric suited the melody, and came into being simultaneously with it, the words blending into the music, becoming set in it like insects in translucent, golden lumps of amber. The ballad told of a certain witcher and a certain poet. About how the witcher and the poet met on the seashore, among the crying of seagulls, and how they fell in love at first sight. About how beautiful and powerful was their love. About how nothing - not even death - was able to destroy that love and part them.

Sword of Destiny pg 246

Why this romantic song?? About a witcher and poet?

Yes, it could be just for the ballad, for a successful song. The text talks about the real story not being a good one for a ballad.

But there is so much emotion and magic in that scene. What is he thinking? What is he feeling?

Of course you know about what happens next, Essi's heartbreaking end, and Dandelion's crushing grief. She dies of smallpox during an epidemic. Dandelion is there. Did he go as soon as he heard? Was he visiting her expecting some lovely evenings singing around a fire and found her dead?

However it happened, Dandelion does not leave her to die alone. He does not turn tail and leave, avoiding smallpox. He literally carries the cold dead corpse of this woman he loves, who he sees as his sister, in his arms...

...Dandelion had carried her out in his arms between corpses being cremated on funeral pyres and had buried her far from the city, in the forest, alone and peaceful...

He buries her alone with his own hands! Oh how his heart must have shattered. It is moments like that, that you see the deeper, kinder, even (dare I say) noble side of the vain, braggadocios, whorish bard.

It goes on to say that Dandelion could have changed the song at any point to be a true version (the one where Essi dies), but he never did.

No, Dandelion stuck with his first version. And he never sang it. Never. To no one. Sword of Destiny p 246

Yeah.

To me there is a story about a young girl who cares enough for ten people, who has a huge heart, and a deep soul. A fearless girl who feels things too big for her to handle for a man others call a monster. A girl whose voice is like an angel.

And then there is a story about a broken hearted poet who loved her (far more than Geralt did) and who wrote a song about a witcher and a poet and he never changed the words and never sang it to anyone.

And I wonder if he wasn't writing that ballad about a witcher and a different poet entirely.

*sob*

[andreai04]

Because perhaps Yennefer feels what I'm feeling now, feels a profound certainty that I ought to fulfil what it is impossible to fulfil, even more impossible to fulfil than the relationship between Agloval and Sh'eenaz. Certainty that a little sacrifice isn't enough here; you'd have to sacrifice everything, and there'd still be no way of knowing if that would be enough.

“How do you know whose destiny is destruction and whose eternity?”

“Destiny alone is insufficient, it’s too little. Something more is needed.”

[reinvent-and-believe]

episode 2 here we go!!!!

ciri wandering through the desert singing jaskier’s song about “a little sacrifice” 😢😢😢

ciri devouring the skin cream because she’s dying of thirst 😢😢😢

ciri talking to herself about mousesack to keep herself company 😢😢😢

that’s my baby girl 😢😢😢

i’m really happy we got more of “a little sacrifice”! that we got some of the agloval/sh’eenaz lore in the lyrics!

ciri wandering in the desert had always felt like something that should be boring in the books but in reality i love it. i guess because in a lot of ways, it feels like ciri in the desert is where we start to feel the shape of the narrative shifting. it’s where ciri starts to come into her own as the protagonist of the series.

i love ciri, i love getting some of her interiority, i love her struggles and defeats and triumphs with magic, i love her darkness, i love her rage, i love her fierceness, i love her devotion, i love her doggedness

i’m glad that, at least so far, we’re really taking the time with ciri here

[thelostgirl21]

So, apparently, there's an actual short story called "A Little Sacrifice" where a Prince falls in love with a real mermaid in The Witcher's universe...

And Netflix is supposed to release an anime called "Sirens of the Deep", where Geralt and Jaskier get involved in the situation.

My question is: will this be happening before or after the events of Season 3?!

Because having a freaking Prince (Radovid) hearing Jaskier's songs, finding them "irresistible", and becoming heavily drawn to him as a result gives off crazy strong Prince/Siren vibes.

And metaphorically speaking, the whole song follows their story arc in Season 3 right down to the "twilit red horizon" (Redania's color is red, so is obviously blood and its association with death and murder...) and the Prince sadly immediately "sinking to darkest night" on his very first attempt to swim.

So, if Jaskier and Geralt had already met a mermaid and a Prince that had fallen in love with each other before the events of Season 3, and Jaskier had already written a whole ballad about it (that Ciri ended up learning) before he met Radovid, I'm thinking his own situation would have felt like such an insanely strong case of déjà vu!

[Note: In the short story, it's the Siren that swaps fin for foot, not the Prince. If the song is about "Sirens of the Deep", this means that either the ending of the short story has been changed...

... or something bad happened as a result of the mermaid's choice, and Jaskier decided to give them a different ending where the Prince attempts to become a mermaid, but finds himself sinking and needing the Siren's help (to embrace him and the choice he made, regardless of its consequences)?]

Otherwise, that means Jaskier composed that ballad with Radovid in mind in Season 3.

And then, on his travels with Geralt, winds up meeting an actual mermaid that fell in love with a freaking Prince - essentially facing the same dilemma he's been going through with Radovid - and probably would be going "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?! Is the world trying to fucking tell me something?! Unbelievable!"

I can already imagine the conversations...

Sh'eenaz: You couldn't possibly understand what it's like to -

Jaskier: Save it! I wrote a fucking song about it! And you know what? It was a pretty good one, too! Filled with plenty of symbolism and poetry... But you two just had to show up and turn it into a literal thing, didn't you? Now, each time people will be singing my song, they'll just believe it's all about Prince Aglobal -

Sh'eenaz: Agloval

Jaskier: Whatever! And forget I had already seduced a Prince with my songs, and been offered to go live with him in a castle before you two even met! Oh! And by the way, my Prince is now the King of Redania - the most powerful nation of the Northern Kingdoms - the only one that might be able to stop the Nilfgaardians! He's way more important than -

Sh'eenaz: So, did you accept?

Jaskier: Accept what?

Sh'eenaz: To give up the life you had before to be with him?

Jaskier: *Forgets all about his rant and lets out a heavy sigh.*. It's complicated... *Hesitates* I think I might have? Especially if Ciri had decided she wanted to go to Redania to unite it with Cintra, and become the Queen she'd always dreamed of becoming... But then, Ciri went missing, the Second War began, he actually did offer to come with me instead, but then his brother was brutally murdered and he was crowned King instead...

Sh'eenaz: So, he was willing to sacrifice his world for you?

Jaskier: I guess... I mean, I think he meant it...

Sh'eenaz: Well, at least you two breathe the same air, and you can both walk... And Geralt's mate, from what I've heard, is a powerful sorceress that knows how to create portals. It's not like you can't quickly travel between your two worlds when you miss your family, thanks to her, and he can't accompany you on those visits at times, too...

Jaskier: ...

Sh'eenaz: ...

Jaskier: Yeah, I think your Prince should definitely follow you at sea. Humans are idiots.

Sh'eenaz: Well, if he does, maybe you could write a ballad about us; make it one where a Prince falls in love with a dashing travelling bard, then chooses to renounce his throne to accompany him on his travels?

Jaskier: Yeah, you wait right here in your *motions at the bay surrounding them* little pond; I'll go see your Prince and either convince him to come here and join you, or grab and throw him right into the sea myself! After that, I've got a King to catch...

[shockpine]

im aglover hater. if youre glover dont talk to me

[bammalou]

23 Books Writers Regret Writing

https://www.buzzfeed.com/aglover/books-writers-regret-writing

[kashilascorner]

La última fada by Emilia Pardo Bazán no doubt. I didn't even read it in full but I'm pretty sure that's the first place where i read about Viviane and Merlin's story and the tree and so on. Joseph Bédier's version of Tristan and Iseult too (i mean, i did get properly into Arthurian because of the Tristan and Iseult story. Wild ride). I'll never forget Iseult's faery dog there, truly an MVP.

The wedding of Sir Gawain too for sure Ragnelle changed my brain chemistry. The knight of the cart my beloved. The winter king by Bernard Cornwell was a deciding factor in taking a slightly more historical approach to my setting. Idylls of the queen by Phyllis Ann Karr changed my life for good, it was food for thought and fun to read through and through. Gradalis webcomic is to blame for me suddenly loving Agloval of all people. And finally Culhwch and Olwen for all the lovely names and inadvertently helping me fix a plot hole that was becoming enormous 🙌

Movies & series: Quest for Camelot on account of being my first (childhood) encounter with Arthuriana. BBC Legend of King Arthur because it's the goat. I really love Starz Camelot's characterization of Merlin, taking notes all the time.

What Arthurian media is most influential to you & your art/writing?

[agexplorers]

Once in a While In an Ordinary Life, Love gives us a Fairytale...... #sundaysoulfuls❤️ #6yearsagotoday❤️ #receptionceremony🎉 #enteredanewfamily #lovingpeoplearoundme #bandbaajabaraat #withourlittlehero #indianbrides #redyellow #lehenga #AGLove #AjeetawedsGaurav #Ourlovestory (at Volga resort) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq3rGoQn8OG/?igshid=1ke4798d33czh

[thishomeschoolingadventure-blog]

Rebekah wanted her and Maryellen to be dressed fancy today with matching hair. . . . . . #aglife #americangirlmaryellenlarkin #americangirl #ag #maryellenlarkin #twinning #redheadsofinstagram #redheadgram #aggram #aglove #thishomeschoolingadventure https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw0wkZRgPJF/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=n0sejlufefn9

[tfadi]

Human by Rag'n'Bone Man

[gayregis]

[thinks about something ends something begins]

[whitestnoise]

And the more you deny its presence, the more powerful it gets, and the more likely it is to consume you entirely without you ever even knowing it was there.

[didanawisgi]

“HEREIN doth the adventure tell of a knight who was named Morien. Some of the books give us to wit that he was Perceval's son, and some say that he was son to Agloval, who was Perceval's brother, so that be was nephew unto that good knight. Now we find it written for a truth that Perceval and Galahad alike died virgin knights in the quest of the Holy Grail; and for that cause I say of Perceval that in sooth he was not Morien's father, but that rather was Morien his brother's son. And of a Moorish princess was he begotten at that time when Agloval sought far and wide for Lancelot, who was lost, as ye have read here afore.

I ween that he who made the tale of Lancelot and set it in rhyme forgat, and was heedless of, the fair adventure of Morien. I marvel much that they who were skilled in verse and the making of rhymes did not bring the story to its rightful ending...”

“...He was all black, even as I tell ye: his head, his body, and his hands were all black, saving only his teeth. His shield and his armour were even those of a Moor, and black as a raven.”

Morien translated by JESSIE WESTON

Source: http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/morien.html

Image Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/not-all-knights-round-table-were-white-180949361/#qzR2Heh4DX0X7Bj4.99

[hanzajesthanza]

@emberpanda !!

sh'eenaz should had left that agloval guy he did not deserve her