“the hanza never caught a break, they were treated so poorly by the narrative, sapkowski tortured them terribly”
they stayed in beauclair palace as incognito nobility for three straight months of dizzying dancing, feasting, and pouring wine down their throats*. and eating a sumptuous breakfast for two to three hours every single day together, hosting lazy mornings together day after day. strolling around the gardens. flirting with the knighthood. being the darlings of the duchess.
what i mean to say with this post is that though yes, geralt’s hanza died tragically, they got a moment of paradise to themselves, which they intentionally shared with each other, enjoying each others’ company.
we specifically have a canon three months of geralt’s hanza hanging out together in the most fairytale-like, magical place on the continent. it’s not like they go directly from hiding in the bushes in the swamps of angren to stygga castle.
so it’s astounding to me how little attention their winter snowed-in in beauclair seems to get by the fans 😭 (this isn’t admonishing, rather i’m trying to lift all of our spirits) guys, we have a period where they were not only alive, with one another, safe, but living very well and in good health**. and because they are fictional characters and not people, they can live immortally on the page and in the mind. stygga is their narrative end, but these three months can be forever, they can live in beauclair in your mind eternally if you so desire to imagine them there.
though their tragic end shouldn’t be forgotten or ignored. yes, in beauclair, they caught the biggest break of their lives—but the point of their team of heroes is that they willingly gave it all up, eagerly and gratefully tossed it aside—because they valued their quest and their leader (!) more.
——
* the wine thing applying to all except regis.
** yes, though their stay should be understood as being captive, they were captive in a paradise, which is a specific kind of captivity. it only began to really drive them mad by yuletide, when they had already spent a couple months there. i don’t think you cant say it’s the same as being held captive in the sense that, for example, yennefer was held captive—in a dark stone dungeon, tortured day-in-day-out.
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