#jasktag

[mylarena]

we need to acknowledge the fact that when rience takes jaskier its still dark out, but when the fire torture scene comes its midday or so. and how rience says theyre trying another approach. meaning jaskier had been going through hours of torture and the fire wasnt the only thing he would be affected by.

[ilikebigants]

Keep on thinking about Jaskier having like, an actual Deus ex Machina. It's not that he's been lucky all this time travelling with Geralt, it's that the world genuinely conspires to keep him alive no matter what is happening. Even the monsters are like "ok... That dude, is like, no. No we don't harm him."

[mylarena]

Watch "The Ride of the Witcher | The Witcher: Season 3 (Soundtrack from the Netflix Original S..." on YouTube

Give it a listen!

[mylarena]

suddenly feeling emotions abt jaskier again.

the way geralt has always insisted hes not jaskiers friend, that he needs no one. the way hes disregarded jaskier for all 20 years that they traveled together. the way he was thrown away on the mountain. jaskiers learned that geralt doesnt make friends.

so why is it that he treats everyone at kaer morhen as if they are?

he clearly loves the other witchers, cares for them and protects them. he can understand that- theyre family. he cant stop the pang of pain he feels knowing that he was never close enough to get that.

he clearly loves ciri, slipped into his role of her father despite the years of strict denial and refusal to take the place destiny had demanded of him. he sees the way he dotes on her, makes sure shes fed and warm and as comfortable as she can be. an she deserves it, melitele does that girl deserve all the love an care in the world, but it still hurts, knowing that he didnt matter enough to the wolf to be treated half as good as her.

he can see that geralt still loves yennefer, despite their fights and conflicts. he sees how he lingers, how he treats her softly even when hes coping with the things she did. he sees how fast he started to forgive her after coming back through that portal with her. he heard their conversation on that bridge.

it hurt more than he could ever imagine to hear that he wasnt a part of their future.

he can see the way he treats triss, treated mousesack, even the dwarves.

maybe geralt does make friends.

maybe jaskier just doesnt make the cut.

[mylarena]

in s3 i want jaskier to be hunted down or doomed in some way and hes well aware of it but doesnt tell any of the others. i want him to know his time with them is limited and he has to leave at some point no matter what. i want him to be torn between giving them memories and things to remember him by and letting them forget him and not feel the pain of loss. i want him to selfishly spend the little time he has before hes taken with the little family he doesnt seem to fit in. i want him to fuck with geralt and annoy him, bitch with and at yen, play songs for ciri and braid her hair. i want him to disappear in the night and let himself be captured because he knows theres no way to get out of it. i want him to expect no one to come for him, i want him to hope no one comes for him because this is for them, for their safety, even though to them he is part of their family. i want him to be completely at peace with his situation. i want yen and geralt and ciri to lose their shit and tear anything in their path down to get him back. i want him to be shocked that they came for him.

[mylarena]

i love that hanahaki trope where one character finds out that the other is dying from unrequited love, so they go to them and demand they tell them who it is so they can try and force the other person to love them back, no matter how unreasonable it is, completely unaware that its them. add in the thought of how could somebody possibly not love you? and you have my entire heart.

[mylarena]

[CLENCHES FIST] HRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGHHHHHH. YOU KNOW WHAT ABOUT BLOOD ORIGIN MAKES ME SO FUCKING EXCITED????? THEY GAVE JASKIER A POINT.

BEFORE, he was essentially just comic relief. he was just a side character they would use to nudge geralt or yennefer in the right directions. direct geralt to cintra, to his child surprise, to yennefer. direct yennefer off of the ship, to the deathless mother, towards ciri and geralt.

yeah, he was the sandpiper- he saved hundreds of elves, he became a fighter for freedom- but thats just a side plot. theres no elaboration on the situation past his scenes with yennefer. no focus. no more information.

but THIS? blood origin? they gave him importance.

he knows stories that no one else on the entire continent remembers. he has the power to inspire the common person to fight against their oppressors. he can give hope to all the people who are beaten down and hopeless. excuse me if im jumping to extremes, but he can change the fucking world.

on a slightly smaller scale, he knows history that likely no one else does. he knows about the creation of the very first witcher. he knows how and why the conjunction of the spheres happened. i dont know how much of it is known in canon, or how accurate the records are in universe, but jaskier has a written first hand experience. he doesnt know all of the scientific details of the development and creation of the potions given for the mutations, but he knows why they were given. he knows how the first ever witcher reacted to the rudimentary toxins, how they changed his body, how they empowered him. he knows the name of the first witcher. he knows his story. he knows who he was, what he did, and how he went out. he knows about how he met his lover, how they met, how they fell in love, her importance to not only fjall, but to the rest of the world. to lowborn elves, to dwarves, to everyone that needed the hope she gave.

jaskier knows so much. he can spread so much knowledge. he can give so much hope. hes so fucking important. and the show cant fucking ignore that anymore! he cant be pushed away as just some comic relief bard. hes essential to the future of the continent. hes needed.

[mylarena]

fuckign. the dynamic of the person who is popular and universally liked being with the loner who everyones afraid to look at too long, lest they be gutted, is so fuckig good to me. i love it.

[mylarena]

god i love ships where one of them is stonefaced and stoic and the other is the only person who can read them like an open book

[mylarena]

OOOHHHH YOURE BOTH SO RIGHT.. to add onto this if i may...

"i should not be left to my own devices . . . i end up in crisis (tale as old as time)" callback to the fact that hes targeted by so many people for fucking their wives or daughters, but also can be regarding rience! this tails into the next part-

"i wake up screaming from dreaming" -because there is no chance in hell jaskier doesnt have night terrors regarding that torture. like, fuck you netflix, but that man is traumatized and ill throw fucking HANDS if they ignore it. he was curled around a bottle of fucking alcohol in kaer morhen, meaning he likely drank himself to sleep, which im willing to be is one of the only ways he can sleep.

"sometimes i feel like everybody is a sexy baby, and im a monster on the hill" haha mountain joke- but also regards the inadequacy he likely feels around yennefer and the other witchers. hes a human bard in a keep (and world) of sorceresses and witchers. even the 13 year old girl is significantly more powerful than him, even untrained as she is.

"too big to hang out, slowly lurking towards your favorite city" he also likely feels out of place. with how lambert brushed him off after voleth mier, isnt not improbable that thats how hes been treated his entire time at the keep. their 'favorite city' in this case is kaer morhen. he feels like an intruder to their big happy family. he, again, doesnt fit in with the witchers and all powerful sorceresses & child surprise. hes just a human bard. he cant even play the lute right now, his hands are all fucked.

"pierced through the heart, but never killed" geralt has hurt him, physically with the djinn and emotionally on the mountain, but hes still here. rience burnt him, but hes still around. hes still around, still in the keep, still alive, despite the worlds seeming attempts to remove him from the equation.

"did you hear my covert narcissism i disguise as altruism, like some kind of congressman?" when he started following traveling with geralt, he's doing it to fix geralts image- thats what he says. and i actually 100% believe that, but i have no doubt that countless people believe that hes doing it for his own sake, for the fame and fortune he gains from it. im sure even geralt believes hes not there for him and that hes just there for the stories and adventures he provides. (because who would willingly travel with a witcher if not for their usefulness? its unheard of.) this line could be a sarcastic call on that thought, even when he knows that hes there for geralt. he might even doubt himself- the narrative (and everyone around him) is insistent that hes there for his own gain, not because he loves cares for geralt, and when something is constantly said eventually you would question yourself, even if its just a little bit.

"i have this dream my daughter in law kills me for the money . . . the family gathers around and then someone screams out 'shes laughing up at us from hell!'" as you mentioned he is a viscount but also seems to have ditched that to be a traveling bard, which im sure pissed off his family to no end. from what ive read and/or gathered from fandom opinion, his cousin ferrant wouldnt hesitate to have him killed in an attempt to inherit the lettenhove estate. i feel like jaskier would do anything to fuck that up, though. hes not one to sit and take shit from those around him silently. (he snaps back at yennefer just fine, theres no way he doesnt have the same snark for those who underestimate him and put him down.)

ok but anti-hero is Jaskier’s song. Try to change my mind. 

[mylarena]

just thought about how put together jaskier is in s1. and how fucking disheveled he is in s2. and how the last time geralt saw him before the prison cell he was healthy and neat despite just waking up and the wind in his hair. and in the cell he was bruised and bloody and his hair was a fucking mess. just thinking about that.

[mylarena]

i love fics where jaskier stands up for ciri. like, the witchers are all openly arguing about whats best for her or what ciris going to do and jaskier just goes "what does ciri want to do?" and no ones ever done that for ciri since she got to kaer morhen. or if he says that shes just a child and shouldnt be worked so hard. just,,, ciri and jaskier <3

[mylarena]

i think that everyone every once in a while should listen to burn butcher burn and really lose themselves in the intensity and emotion joey batey sings it with

[mylarena]

switching gears bc i thought abt it. idk wtf happens in blood origin yet bc im watching it next week w my friends but. god jaskier is so fucking loyal to geralt. he was fucking tortured and never fucking broke even when rience was ruining his fucking life by burning his hands. he spent two decades of his life singing the mans praises and improving his life and even when geralt blamed him and drove him off he STILL didnt let anything slip. hes so fucking loyal and im going to CHOKE and SOB

[mylarena]

god!! im thinking about jaskiers "dont FUCKING 'jaskier' me" line in the prison. its SO. just. !!!! god the way i fucking CHEERED. like!! stand up for yourself yes!! the fucking FORCE behind it is just. aaauuagh. i think about it constantly.

[mylarena]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH. IM NOT OVER IT. A BIRD BARD AND A WOLF WITCHER. THE LIMITLESS PARALLELS BETWEEN THE PAIRS. IM GOING TO GO INSANE!!!!!! IM GOING TO LOSE IT!!!!! IM GOING TO LOSE ALL OF MY MARBLES!!!!!!!!!! GONNA GO FERAL!!!!!!!!! I CANNOT FUCKING CONTAIN MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!