#the one ''true'' dandelion perhaps?🤔

[asexual-levia-tan]

apparently there's a theory among the fandom that the MoM is light. which is pretty cool considering that's been my thought since he mentioned to babynort that he never takes his coat off because he's too scared (said in a joking way, but was it a joke?)

my thought was that he wasn't always a being of pure light, but that he shed his form after his friends fell to darkness during the first(?) conflict with darkness. the darkness also used to "look like us" until it realized it was more powerful without a form, so maybe he took a page out of its book and went formless

the problem with this theory is that according to him, he and his 6 apprentices are to be vessels to hold the darkness. which i would imagine would be difficult to do if you were 1) a being of pure light or 2) dont actually have a body to contain it in

[fangirleaconmigo]

Hello! I saw a post that said you were rereading the witcher books. I've never read any of them, that's what I wanted to ask one thing. Is it true that after Geralt met Yen, he started to compare all the women he was with with her? I just saw how someone was talking about it, but I don't know if it's true 🤔 (sorry for my bad english)

Hi Nonny, first of all please never feel you have to apologize for “bad” English. Your English is great. And tbh people can even send me asks in their own language if they feel more comfortable. I will run that through a translator (if it’s not English or Spanish) and consult with friends, and then answer.

So. Your question is does Geralt compare all of the women he sleeps with to Yen after he meets her.

That answer is yes. Without a doubt. People can ship obviously anything they want in fanon (I do. Fanon is fun.) But in canon, Yennefer is the only woman he ever loves.

Yen and Geralt do break up and make up many times over the course of the eight book saga. In fact, most of their relationship takes place 'off the page'. Meaning, most of the time we spend with Geralt in the books, he is broken up with her. So Geralt does sleep with quite a few other people.

However, no matter who Geralt sleeps with, he is always thinking of Yen, and that is explicitly stated over and over again. You can’t miss it. I have pulled the most relevant quotes and passages from the books below to demonstrate that fact.

TW: I do refer to consent and sexual assault because it’s impossible to avoid in a conversation about Geralt of Rivia and sexual partners. But I do not go into detail or belabor the point.

The first time we see Geralt sleep with someone else after Yen is in Sword of Destiny, in the short story A Little Sacrifice.

ESSI DAVEN

Essi Daven is a beautiful 19yo bard. She is a dear friend of Dandelion's.

When Geralt approaches her, he notes that she smells like Verbena, and thinks to himself that:

…he liked the scent of verbena, although the scent of verbena was not the scent of lilac and gooseberry. Sword of Destiny p202

So, he cannot so much as smell an attractive woman without comparing her to Yen’s signature lilac and gooseberries.

Geralt thinks Essi is attractive, and he is extremely fond of her. He even impulsively kisses her when they first meet (though he regrets it).

He really regrets it when Essi falls in love with him. She is very very young (still a teenager!), so it is the first time she has ever been in love. She doesn’t have any experience with love, much less with the agony of unrequited love. She is confused, distressed, and distraught. She cries about her feelings of humiliation. Geralt is very uncomfortable.

Damnit, he thought, if Yennefer feels like I do now when she's with me, I feel sorry for her…I will never hate her again…never again.

Because perhaps Yennefer feels what I'm feeling now, feels a profound certainty that I ought to fulfill what it is impossibly to fulfill…Certainty that a little sacrifice isn't enough here; you'd have to sacrifice everything, that there'd still be no way of knowing if that would be enough.

No, I won't continue to hate Yennefer for not being able and not wanting to give me more than a little sacrifice. Now I know that a little sacrifice is a hell of a lot…

Sword of Destiny p231

He wonders whether this is how he made Yennefer feel during A Shard of Ice, which was the last time they were together when Yennefer broke up with him.

Also, Geralt feels guilty and thinks he should show Essi romantic affection (kiss/hug/sex) to make her feel less rejected. But he doesn’t want to. Perhaps, being 50 or 60 years her senior, he knows it could just make things worse for her. But the biggest issue is that plain and simple, he doesn't want to. Essi is not Yennefer.

Sword of Destiny -p233

He does eventually have sex with her, but based on the passages above, he doesn’t seem to want to. I could say a lot about consent, self worth, and Geralt of Rivia, but I couldn’t do it justice in this post. Honestly, Geralt and consent needs its own post because it is an important and sensitive topic. And since the purpose of this post is just to show that Geralt is always thinking of Yen, and I have done that, I’ll move on.

TRISS MERIGOLD

In Blood of Elves, and we learn that Geralt and Triss have had sex in the past.

So, here is Triss reminiscing on their affair in Blood of Elves p 61.

...she had seduced the witcher -- with the help of a little magic. She had hit on a propitious moment, a moment when he and Yennefer had scratched each other's eyes yet again and had abruptly parted. Geralt had needed warmth, and had wanted to forget.

According to Triss’s own internal monologue, she “hit on a propitious moment” and used the help of magic to seduce him.

So. We’re back at consent. (Sensing a theme?)

Fandom often debates whether this means she sexually assaulted him. Did she purposely wait until he was at his lowest? Or was that a coincidence? If she did wait and engineer that, it feels quite predatory.

And using magic to seduce someone sounds like rape. I’ve seen people argue that no, that is a drastic thing to jump to, that this could simply mean that she set the mood or made herself look better cosmetically. I have seen people argue that magic in that sense simply refers to the happy coincidence. I have my own very strong opinion, but again, these are sensitive issues that deserve their own post. If I get started this will become a novel.

For our purposes here, by Triss’s own reckoning, she was the aggressor. And now that she is at Kaer Morhen again, she tries again to seduce him. She fails.

He turns her down in the stables. He turns her down in the keep. And when they leave to take Ciri to Nenneke, she tries again, and he turns her down again. He says that she is important to him but that sex with her was a mistake. He makes it clear that while he cares about her, he is not in love with her and never has been.

FRINGILLA VIGO

In Lady of the Lake, Geralt has an affair with Fringilla. He and Yennefer are together romantically but separated physically and he erroneously thinks that Yennefer has betrayed him.

However, despite believing Yen has betrayed him, he repeatedly calls her name during sex with Fringilla.

Fringilla Vigo said nothing for some time. She didn't have the slightest intention of mentioning to the lodge that only in the last week the witcher had called her 'Yennefer' twice, and both at a moment when in every respect she was entitled to hear her own name."

Lady of the Lake p 106

LYTTA NEYD (CORAL)

In Season of Storms, Geralt sleeps with a sorceress for various reasons I won’t get into. He and Yen are on a break.

During their first conversation, Coral says that the sorceresses all gossip about him and Yen. She asks him why he loves Yen and no one else.

"...So, I ask you. Why Yennefer? Why her and no one else? Could you explain it? Name it?"

He refuses to talk about Yen with her. She brings up Yen again when they are in bed together. She doesn't like that he is asking her questions.

"You wouldn't dare doing anything like that if you were in bed with Yennefer."

Later, Geralt is with Dandelion, and his best friend warns him (unusually emphatically and forcefully) to steer clear of Coral, who obviously has ulterior motives. (Plot related that I won’t get into). He repeats what everyone knows. Geralt only loves Yen.

Then, after Geralt and Coral spend some time having an affair, the narrative reassures us that his time with Coral has done nothing to change his love for Yen.

Coral is helping Geralt to find his swords. So she casts a searching spell and asks him to think of his swords. The idea is, that his thoughts and the spell will cause the reflection of them to appear in a pool of water. However, when she casts the spell, he is thinking of Yen, and her face appears in the water.

"OFF THE PAGE" hook ups.

Other than those listed there are other people Geralt hooks up with, but it happens “off the page” or does not offer Geralt’s point of view or thoughts.

However, the narrative is consistent and repetitive in every situation where we do know Geralt’s thoughts. When we have his POV, no matter what woman he meets, he is only thinking of Yennefer.

So, given the relentless repetition of that fact in the story, there is really no other possible interpretation. Geralt only ever loves Yennefer. It’s canon!!

I hope that helps, anon! And I hope you enjoyed. xo