#milva: 'you can accept that he's a viscount??'

[hanzajesthanza]

geralt "i will NEVER deadname my best friend" of rivia

"he will ALWAYS be dandelion to ME"

[gayregis]

i’m glad people out there like gerlion content because [charlie voice from it’s always sunny from the pepe silvia bit] that right there is gerlion. now let's talk about gerlion. can we talk about gerlion, please, witcher fandom? i've been dying to talk about gerlion with you all day, OK?

anyways the idea of dandelion leaving the company in toussaint strikes geralt so hard because of three manners.

guilt

dandelion’s leave demonstrates to geralt how different they are and this vast difference scares geralt because he considers the thought that he dragged dandelion — fragile, lute-strumming, softly-singing dandelion — across the continent on the account of his own vain quest, and that it was a horrific experience for him that’s traumatized him for the rest of his human life.

Dandelion muttered some indistinct words, bent down in a courteous, though somewhat shaky bow, then fell to his knees and vomited.

“Who is he?” The archer wiped the tip on some wet leaves, and put the arrow back into her quiver. “A friend of yours, witcher?”

“Yes. He's called Dandelion, he's a poet.”

“A poet.” Milva looked at the troubadour who was now dry-vomiting, then raised her eyes. “Well yes, then I understand. I do not understand, however, why he is here puking, instead of sitting in a town quietly writing rhymes. Anyway, its not my business.”

of course this isn’t the case because dandelion followed geralt out of his own volition and love for the witcher but geralt still fears...

geralt already has HAD issues with accepting the help of others, understanding that others are there for him and he does not have to share the burden of losing and searching for his daughter alone, but dandelion’s leave stirs up these emotions which have since become weaker... and so yes, geralt fears that he’s mistreated someone very close to him. a word on this before i continue onto the next point: geralt carried dandelion on horseback through the dark wilderness as he bled, shaking and terrified, screaming and stammering.

Dandelion yelled, this time in pain and dug his fingers into Geralt’s ribs. The witcher felt something warm splatter on his neck.

“Hold on!” he caught the poet’s arm and pressed him hard against his back. “Hold on, Dandelion!”

“They’ve killed me!” the poet yelled, a little too loud for the dead. “I’m bleeding! I’m dying!”

“Hold on!”

(...)

Geralt took off his jacket and tore off a sleeve. The tip of the arrow had scratched Dandelion’s ear, leaving a cut that reached to his temple. The poet, every now and again touched the wound with his shaking hands, and then looked at the blood covering his hands and sleeves. His eyes were lost. The witcher realized that before him was a man who, for the first time had felt real pain and for the first time in his life seen so much of his own blood.

so when dandelion leaves the company as soon the opportunity presents itself, this comes off as if he’s been trapped or held against his will. and geralt feels guilty that dandelion has experienced this journey, because it is not his place. since dandelion chose to journey with the witcher, this fear and guilt is false, but geralt still feels it.

jealousy, or worry

The Duchess was silent for a while, stroking Dandelion’s forearm with a rhythmic movement, like a cat.

(...)

“Have you ever heard a saying,” said Geralt, “that princesses leap after love like hares? (...) Your chosen duchess is arrogant and ridiculous and spoiled. She is a big child for whom you are nothing but a toy, which she will discard without reproach as soon as a new musician appears with a fascinating new repertoire.”

geralt can see that dandelion and anna henrietta’s relationship is one of infatuation, like the majority of dandelion’s relationships with various women. the thing that makes this specific relationship dangerous is that anna henrietta is incredibly fickle and incredibly politically powerful, and geralt knows this will mix poorly with dandelion’s... ‘free and unrestrained personality,’ let’s put it that way. and geralt is right later on when he returns to toussaint to see dandelion about to be executed.

naturally, he worries for dandelion. he worries for his safety. but there is also an element of jealousy or envy involved, as anna henrietta’s relationship with dandelion is implied to be... possessive, in a manner. she treats dandelion like a thing, or a pet or a servant, and not like a lover. so geralt has a thorough distaste for this relationship, not only because he knows it will eventually sour and become dangerus for his friend, but because he thinks dandelion deserves more. more than a duchess? interesting point of view... geralt feels dandelion deserves actual love, full love, deep love and passionate, equal love that recognizes his whole person, not just his... imagined persona of a handsome troubadour. geralt, knowing dandelion’s flaws and not overlooking them, but rather, loving him even more for them, finds anna henrietta’s approach to his friend disturbing and... wrong.

insecurity

but geralt questions his own knowledge of dandelion— or rather, viscount julian de lettenhove. just a while ago, they sat in a marshy plain laughing over ridiculous titles and unnecessarily long names. geralt THOUGHT he knew everything about his best friend. but apparently he didn’t... and this relates back to the first point, but is its own as well, that geralt is afraid because he realizes that he doesn’t know dandelion as intimately as he thought he did. unlike anna henrietta, he knows dandelion’s entire personality, but he also has NO IDEA of this new, unknown side of nobility to dandelion. it’s jarring to once feel so secure in knowledge of your closest friend, and then have new and entirely unbeknownst information presented to you... geralt is upset by the fact that in toussaint, he cannot approach dandelion in a casual manner like he has become accustomed to. he must address him, his BEST FRIEND, as some high-ranking prince-consort. which is entirely uncomfortable and upsetting.

and this also relates back to the first issue of guilt — geralt fears that he cannot love dandelion like he has, because dandelion has found his ‘ideal’ — and if anna henrietta is his ‘ideal,’ then what is geralt?

geralt begins to deeply question and become highly insecure about his relationship with dandelion, because how could the gentle, sensitive artist in service to his lady poetry ever come to love and join with an emotionless, mutated killer, slayer of beasts? the wilderness, swampy and muck-filled marshes and long, exhausting and dangerous road ahead of the company is no place for a troubadour... as milva said, why is he not sitting in a town quietly writing rhymes? dandelion deserves to be with a duchess, reclining in a palace dressed in crimson embroidered with gold, hand fed grapes and whatever other royal and noble nonsense... and that’s simply something geralt has no desire to partake in, no experience with, and no understand of. and he feels guilty that he could not have realized this sooner and avoided distressing his friend by carrying him through this journey. and he feels jealous that he will never be able to provide this kind of life for him, and so he must leave, say his goodbyes, and face the road without him.