theladyofworlds

[theladyofworlds]

I love how the Witcher Netflix fleshes out certain things that were either lightly addressed in the books or skimmed over. Another example of this is how they adapted the short story from The Last Wish called A Question of Price. Season 1, Episode 4 (Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials) beautifully captures the story of Pavetta and Duny and how Ciri becomes Geralt's Child of Surprise. It gives Pavetta agency and more dialogue than she got in the book (where she only had one line to begin with and was reduced to a wallflower in the background.) It showed how there is a mother-daughter issue between Calanthe and Pavetta because of how protective Calanthe is over her daughter, which is also clearly shown by how she deals with the news of Duny. It only expanded on these things more (as the show continues to do with things) and I love it!

[theladyofworlds]

The Rose and the Raven: Ciri and Cahir’s Journeys

Or the post analyzing their foiling throughout The Witcher Saga. 

While there are quite a few characters who undergo development in the saga, I’d say the four most complete arcs are Yennefer’s, Geralt’s, Ciri’s, and Cahir’s, because all four of them follow the same Jungian/alchemical structure. I’ll write something on Yennefer as the Red King and Geralt as the White Queen (no, those terms are not me mixing them up) later on, but for now I want to focus on Ciri and Cahir, because they are utterly necessary for each other’s arcs. They meet three times, and each of these meetings mark particular points in their development. 

In this meta, I’m going to focus specifically on the very blatant Jungian symbolism employed by Sapkowski. (Honestly the symbolism is basically Jung 101.) In particular, Sapkowski draws from Jung’s Psychology and Alchemy, which explores alchemy as a metaphor for individuation. Individuation is the main goal of Jungian psychology and literature, and it refers to a person reconciling with themselves to become a complete person, without repression, the best they can be. This “complete person/best person you can be” is akin to the philosopher’s stone in literary alchemy, and that is the journey of Yennefer’s, Geralt’s, Ciri’s, and Cahir’s arcs. Additionally, Cahir is Ciri’s shadow, and Ciri is Cahir’s anima. 

NB before we continue: while anima/animus is often romantic in stories, it does not have to be; for example, Jung spoke of one potential frequent anima as a character’s sister. So while Cahir does say he’s in love with Ciri, I’m not delving into that debate in this post. Ty. 

The Black Raven: Cintra

Literary alchemy begins with the prima materia, the primary material that comprises the entire world and from which the philosopher’s stone will be formed (the reason alchemists want to form the stone? It creates the elixir of life, which grants eternal life. This is important for The Witcher’s themes). The Fall of Cintra is where the main saga begins, and it’s also where Ciri and Cahir meet. Cintra itself is not the prima materia; rather, Ciri and Cahir are. 

Cahir describes his mindset before the fall of Cintra as, essentially, the opposite of the ultimate goal of individuation:

A soldier does not question commands… He does not analyze them, he does not think about them, and he does not expect an explanation of their meaning. This is the first thing they taught us soldiers.

Whereas Ciri is quite literally a child at this point: innocent, mischievous, unaware of the horrors that await her. A child relies on adults to help them survive; they cannot individuate because they need people to care for them. 

Ciri is in a sense Cahir’s inner child. In Jungian works, true adulthood can only be achieved when the person learns to parent or care for their inner child. Later on, we hear that Child!Cahir is noted to be mischievous and fun, much like Ciri:

Small Cahir preferred running around the walls and fighting with his peers from families who came with their parents for the funeral, burial and ceremony. Cahir was devoted to making mischief by the walls.

But that changes with his brother’s death and his mother’s admonition:

“Remember, my son,” Mawr sobbed, clutching her child to her breast so hard he could not breathe. “Remember this day. Never forget who put your dear brother Aillil to death. It was those damn Nordlings. Your enemies, my son. Be sure to hate them. Never stop hating that damn nation of murderers!”

“I will always hate, Mother,” Cahir promised.

Jung comments that the inner child “represents the strongest, the most ineluctable urge in every being, namely the urge to realize itself;” i.e. someone has to connect with their inner child in order to be able to develop a sense of who they want to become and thereby achieve individuation. Cahir’s goals prior to meeting Ciri are to achieve fame and glory in war, but once he encounters his inner child, that gradually becomes less important. 

The first stage in alchemy is Nigredo, or the blackening. Nigredo is associated with night, death, dark nights of the soul, and specifically with ravens and crows as well. In fact, Jung called the darkest parts of Nigredo “the raven’s head.” (Yes, really.) 

The Fall of Cintra and Ciri and Cahir’s meeting takes place at night, and Ciri’s main memory of this is the knight with raven wings on his helmet, marking this as Nigredo in both of their developments. 

But even more than that, Nigredo can be divided into further steps. George Ripley’s Magnum Opus (which influenced Shakespeare, among other well known writers who shaped literary tradition) identifies the first stage as “calcination,” which refers to heating something to extremely high temperatures (thus, the blackening). To rescue Ciri, Cahir has to ride through literal flames. 

Keep reading

[theladyofworlds]

Okay but I love how the Witcher Netflix fleshes out certain things that were either lightly addressed in the books or skimmed over.

One of these examples is how they fleshed out Ciri’s life in Cintra with Calanthe and Eist explaining and showing us how Cintra came to be attacked and how she lost her grandparents and home instead of just going straight into the Slaughter of Cintra. We even get to see how Ciri interacts with her grandparents and how she deals with things as a princess before losing it all.

[theladyofworlds]

I love how in Season 1, Episode 1 when Ciri is playing Knucklebones with the other kids that she pauses, glancing over at the archway where our elven sage (Avallac’h) ends up, only to see it empty.

She can’t see him, but she can sense him and that’s just… ✨cinematic poetry. ✨

I thought it was just a thing they added in after Blood Origins, but nah, it’s been right there, planned from the very START!!

[theladyofworlds]

"An army is only as good as its leader... I know a good leader when I see one."

—THE WITCHER (2019-) 3.3 Reunion

[theladyofworlds]

Fairytales of The Witcher

Adda the White → The Princess in the Coffin

Princess Adda the White of Temeria was cursed while in her mother’s womb. Her and her mother died during labor and were buried in a double coffin beneath her family’s palace in Vizima.

Years later, the curse was realized when Adda awoke as a striga and killed everyone in the palace. She went on to terrorize the townspeople, at which point Geralt was brought in to deal with her. Adda attacked at night, and Geralt was told that if someone could keep her from returning to her coffin past the third crowing of the rooster then she would be cured.

Renfri Vellga → Snow White

Nehalenia’s Mirrors are used by prophets and oracles to predict the future. Herself in possession of one, Queen Aridea (Renfri’s stepmother) learns that a horrible death will come to her and a great number of others at Renfri’s hand. To prevent this, Aridea hires a huntsman to take Renfri into the forest and kill her, instructed to return with her heart and liver. Instead, the huntsman rapes her and is killed himself.

Another attempt on Renfri’s life is made using an apple seasoned with nightshade. She is saved by a gnome, one of seven she would come to live with and whom she convinces to assist her robbing merchants rather than continuing their work in the mines.

Now seventeen (four years after the huntsman’s death), Renfri is believed to be responsible for killing her stepmother, father, and eldest half-brother. The wizard Stregobor turns her, fallen into a lethargy, into a slab of mountain crystal.

Renfri is discovered by a prince, who reverses the spell and takes her home to his kingdom.

A Grain of Truth → Beauty and the Beast

The beast in question is Nivellen, who raped a priestess of Coram Agh Tera and was subsequently cursed with the appearance of a humanoid creature with a gigantic, hairy, bear-like head and strong paws to match.

Once cursed, Nivellen’s home does whatever he wishes; conjuring food, drink, clothes, clean linen, hot water, soap; opening and closing windows and doors; lighting fires; such small tasks.

One day Nivellen caught a trespasser stealing a rose from his aunt’s bush. Enraged, he confronted the man; remembering stories from his youth about love breaking curses, he proposed a trade for his stolen property: “Your daughter or your life.”

Nivellen began taking in merchants’ daughters for a year at a time, during which they would grow accustomed to his appearance and live comfortably. Nivellen came to realize spending the night with a virgin maiden would lift his curse; ultimately, it was only possible with true love, which he found with the bruxa Vereena.

Duny of Erlenwald → Hans My Hedgehog

Duny, the Urcheon of Erlenwald, was cursed as a child to look like a humanoid hedgehog. Some years later he came upon the wounded King Roegner of Cintra. After saving him, he invoked the Law of Surprise: upon returning home, King Roegner will owe Duny what he finds yet did not expect. This could be anything from a bountiful crop to a living person. When King Roegner retured home, he found his wife had given birth to Princess Pavetta.

Duny began meeting with Pavetta in secret, and the couple fell in love. At a feast meant to honor Pavetta’s fifteenth birthday, Duny presented himself to the queen and declared that declared that Pavetta was his through the Law of Surprise. Queen Calanthe’s violently opposed the couple, but ultimately they were wed and Duny’s curse lifted.

Rumplestelt → Rumplestiltskin

Queen Zivelina of Metinna achieved her position with the help of the gnome Rumplestelt, and in return promised him her first-born.

Prince Hrobarik → Prince Charming

Prince Hrobarik tried to hire Geralt to look for a girl who had fled the prince’s ball (and his advances), leaving behind a glass slipper.

Ratcatchers → The Pied Piper

For a period of time, ratcatchers with pipes were in high demand. Everybody was fighting over their services. Their business was eventually foiled by alchemists and their poisons.

Geralt → Aladdin

Geralt finds a lamp and frees a djinn from its confines who in turn grants him three wishes; the first for the djinn to “get out of here and go fuck yourself”, due to a mistranslated exorcism; the second for a prison guard to burst, which he promptly does; and the third, for something unknown that ultimately ties his fate to Yennefer’s.

Villentretenmerth → Wawel Dragon

In Barefield, a dragon (Villentretenmerth) has been eating sheep from the pasture. Sheepbagger, the local cobbler, has an idea kill a sheep, stuff it with poison, and hide it among the sheep in a herd. The dragon swallows the bait and flies off in pain.

A hunting party forms under Prince Niedamir and guided by Sheepbagger with the intention of killing the dragon and stealing its hoard. In the party there is Borch Three Jackdaws and his Zerrikanian bodyguards, Téa and Véa; Geralt the witcher; Dandelion the bard; mages Yennefer and Dorregaray; Yarpen Zigrin and his company of dwarves; Sir Eyck of Denesle; and famed dragon hunters, the Crinfrid Reavers.

Queen of Winter → The Snow Queen

Elven legend dictates that there is a Queen of Winter, who travels the realm during the blizzard on a sleigh with two white horses. While travelling she scatters shards of ice; woe will become of the man who gets a shard in his eye or heart, “for he is lost”.

“Nothing will be able to cheer him; all that is not the pure white of snow will become for him ugly, hateful, disgusting. He will not know peace and, forsaking all, will follow the Queen in pursuit of his dream and his love. Of course, he will never find it and will die of sorrow.”

Sh’eenez → The Little Mermaid

Duke Agloval of Bremervoord wishes to marry the mermaid Sh’eenez, but only if she agrees to drink a magical potion that would change her tail into human legs. The Duke goes as far as hiring Geralt to help convince her. Sh’eenez disagrees and instead offers Agloval a similar deal: with a sea witch’s help, he may give up his legs to live with the mermaids. Algoval rejects her proposal.

After a new underwater species is found to be responsible for the deaths of several local pearl divers, a war was at risk of breaking out between the people of the sea and the land. It was avoided thanks to Sh'eenaz, who finally agreed to give up her tail and walked to join Algoval in marriage.

Freixenet the cormorant → The Six Swans

Freixenet, Baron of Hamm, was cursed and turned into a cormorant. His sister, Queen Eliza of Verden, tried several myths to reverse the spell; one of which involved dressing him in a shirt made of nettles. Alas, Freixenet remained a bird. Queen Eliza’s husband (King Ervyll) paid Geralt to lift the curse, which he did so successfully.

[theladyofworlds]

What does Elder Blood allow to do? (Is it narrative-bound immortality?)

‘My story actually has no beginning. I’m not even sure whether it has actually ended. There was an elf who told me that it is like a snake that bites its own tail. In any moment of time is hidden the past, present and future. In any moment of time lies eternity. Do you understand?’   - Ciri to Galahad

‘Va'esse deireádh aep eigean, va'esse eigh faidh'ar. Something ends, something begins.’

What is this ability that the Elder Blood has, and how does Sapkowski frame it by the end of the saga?

At first glance, the answer appears simple: it allows the wielder to move through time and space. Not only everywhere, but also at any time – past, present, or future. Any time anywhere, in fact, if we allow for the notion of a multiverse. However, by the end of the saga, Sapkowski does not really emphasise the physics so much as he emphasises the metafictionality of his story; we don’t need to know so much about, say, time dilation as we need to know about the similarities of elements between, for example, the Arthuriana and the Witcher saga.

The author’s work draws heavily upon fantasy literature, myths, and history, making the Witcher saga an amalgamation of various time periods & fictional “spheres” inside which the author dissects topics of interest to him. There’s nothing odd about that, but textually, there exists an odd self-awareness in the Witcher regarding the nature of its own “realness” – the text is self-aware that it is a text, a work of fiction. Furthermore, it extrapolates that notion to encompass the nature of the Witcher universe via Ciri’s wielding of Elder Blood, via her ability to travel to other realities which can also be naught but fictional as long as we are still reading.

Therefore, I have a small theory about how Sapkowski creates commentary about fiction itself through Ciri’s wielding of Elder Blood, and what that says about the nature of the power in question as well as about the Witcher universe at large.

First of all, the story-like nature of the Witcher universe is emphasised repeatedly, right from the short-stories onward; and I believe this is to be expected when much of “knowledge” in this world is passed on word-to-mouth. Oral traditions in Europe persisted among the masses hundreds of years well after the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press. Not to say that the question of the historical veracity of truth is one of the big themes of most of the Witcher series – everyone knows some version of the story (e.g. Falka, Ithlinne’s Prophecy, humans’ or the Elder Races’ claim over the Continent), only a few know the real truth, and absolutely everyone is bound to twist the truth according to their own biases and interests.

‘I like elven legends, they are so captivating. What a pity humans don’t have any legends like that. But what would human legends deal with? Even things which begin beautifully lead swiftly to boredom and dreariness, to that human ritual, that wearisome rhythm called life.’ - Yennefer of Vengeberg

Yennefer here is talking about the legend of the Winter Queen (i.e. Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen), who, as it turns out according to Geralt, is only a pretty fairy tale about a phenomenon called The Wild Hunt; who, as it turns out, are actually the Aen Elle elves from another world (or reality). The portrayed thing is one thing is another thing at another time perceived from a particular angle by a particular person – or, if we want to be especially pretentious about this, ‘I think it was Derrida who said there is no such thing as actual “empirical truth”.’ (& that was actually a line from the Thick of It; which, in fairness, is the point)

Yennefer and Geralt (& Ciri) receive their opportunity at becoming part of such fairy tales by the end of the saga, when they pass into legend and myth.

‘The horses bore them like the wind. Like a magical gale. Alarmed by the three riders flashing by, a traveller on the road raised his head. A merchant on a cart with his wares, a villain fleeing from the law, and a wandering settler driven by politicians from the land he had settled, having believed other politicians, all raised their heads. A vagabond, a deserter and a pilgrim with a staff raised their heads. They raised their heads, amazed, alarmed. Uncertain of what they had seen.

Tales began to circulate around Ebbing and Geso. About the Wild Hunt. About the Three Spectral Riders. Stories were made up and spun in the evenings in rooms smelling of melting lard and fried onions, village halls, smoky taverns, roadhouses, crofts, tar kilns, forest homesteads and border watchtowers. Tales were spun and told. About war. About heroism and chivalry. About friendship and hatred. About wickedness and betrayal. About faithful and genuine love, about the love that always triumphs. About the crimes and punishments that always befall criminals. About justice that is always just.

About truth, which always rises to the surface like oil.

Tales were told; people rejoiced in them. Enjoyed the fairy-tale fictions. Because, indeed, all around, in real life, things happened entirely back to front.

The legend grew. The listeners–in a veritable trance–drank in the carefully measured words of the storyteller telling of the Witcher and the sorceress. Of the Tower of the Swallow. Of Ciri, the witcher girl with the scar on her face. Of Kelpie, the enchanted black mare.

Of the Lady of the Lake.

That came later, years later. Many, many years later.

But right now, like a seed swollen after warm rain, the legend was sprouting and growing inside people.’ - A. Sapkowski Lady of the Lake

It goes without saying that Nimue sections in the Lady of the Lake only further stress the metafictionality of fictional truth, really ironing in the point. Readers tend to dismiss it as confusing for coming out of the blue, but the groundwork for this line of thought is actually there right from the very start of the saga by way of how Sapkowski treats the laws of his universe and its internal coherency: loosely, playfully, and with tongue in cheek. The narrative may seem like it’s a dark medieval fantasy, but then it’s also Renaissance, but then it’s also on the verge of Industrial Revolution, but then it’s also almost sci-fi, where elves “came in their White Ships” – khm, SpaceX spaceships, khm – through doors – khm, wormholes, khm – in the fabric of space-time – khm, narrative, khm.

(And about elves: they are so alien to humans, yet easily able to inter-breed with them. In another story universe, they might well be evolved humans, no?)

Onward. Into the overarching narrative because of which, ultimately, everything in the Witcher world happens with, to, and around one Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon.

Elder Blood, Aen Hen Ichaer, is the creation of the Alder Elves, Aen Elle. Relatives to the Aen Seidhe, the Aen Elle were once something akin to space-time traversing nomads.

‘We, the Aen Elle, were little concerned what foolishness your ancestor got up to. We, unlike our cousins, the Aen Seidhe, left that world long ago. We chose another, more interesting universe. For at that time–you’ll be astonished by what I say–one could move quite freely between the worlds. With a little talent and skill, naturally. Beyond all doubt you understand what I have in mind.

‘A bubble beside a bubble, and another beside another,’ he crooned. ‘Oh, that’s how it was, that’s how it was … We used to say to ourselves, what’s the difference, we’ll spend some time here, some time there, so what if the Dh’oine insist on destroying their world along with themselves? We’ll go somewhere else … To another bubble …’ -  Auberon Muircetach

 The elves also follow prophecies in a religious fashion. Ithlinne’s prophecy, which foretells the Witcher world’s end through extensive glaciation, also promises its rebirth for the elves who follow the Swallow – the saviour – the child of prophecy. And so, the plan is, by the long of short of it, to leave the dying world and, perhaps, someday return. And so, Auberon further reveals to us why the time-space manipulating power of Aen Hen Ichaer is absolutely imperative to the Alder Elves – the people of Ciri’s ancestor and Auberon’s daughter, Lara Dorren.

 ‘Then came the Conjunction. The number of worlds increased. But the door was closed. It was closed to all but a handful of elected people. And the clock was ticking. We needed to open the door. Urgently. It was imperative.’ - Auberon Muircetach

 It is only when the Alder Elves lose their ability to traverse time-space at will (through the Great Gate, Ard Gaeth) that Ithlinne’s prophecy gains true weight, since the loss renders both the Aen Elle and the Aen Seidhe at the mercy of one particular fate. There is no escape, there are no second chances, and it is impossible to avoid conflicts by leaving doomed scenarios behind in favour of new, more benevolent ones. The elves in Sapkowski’s work become trapped inside one particular narrative (one fictional sphere, or realm) – which in the case of the Witcher world entails the shedding of the blood of elves and their gradual extermination at the hands of the humans, who outbreed them and, consequently, overpower them.

By losing control of the Elder Blood, therefore, elves lose their power to shape their own narrative on the largest scale possible.

This is an interesting point, if we consider that the archetype of elves in fiction heavily permeates most European mythologies (in some of which they disappear by diluting their blood by mixingwith humans, giving humanity its heroes, but fading into background themselves). In other words, elves were part of most cultural narratives fantasy as a fictional genre emerged from. Keep that in mind for later.

Ciri wants to get back to and save Yennefer and Geralt, the elves want to save their own distant relatives and themselves, Emhyr wants to “save the world” and his political power, the Lodge wants to “save the world” from the ignorance of the non-magical plebeians and kings, Vilgefortz wants to… never mind. Overall though, they all want to emerge from the clutches of the narrative of Sapkowski’s story in a way that satisfies them.

But the laws of the fictional universe laid down by the author set constraints upon his characters and the plot.

For instance, time moves differently in the Witcher world and in the world of the Aen Elle. It’s slower at Tir na Lia and faster in the Witcher world (not to mention what happens in-between). This is probably so with many other spheres in the universe as well. We know that unicorns are able to ignore these laws and constraints of Sapkowki’s universe, and so were the Aen Elle once upon a time (some still are, like Avallac’h and Eredin in limited capacity). So are the sufficiently powerful descendants of Elder Blood – for instance, Ciri.

If time moves differently in different worlds, much of what exists in one world can be lost forever, unless you can ignore the time cost of travelling between worlds (narrative realities) altogether – something Avallac’h tells Ciri they can do for her when/if they deliver her back to her world (possibly implying what could be if they had full possession of the Gene again), but also something that Eredin scares Ciri with, by implying how everyone she knows will be dead by the time she gets back (possibly speaking of what is currently the case). In other words, unless you can ignore the laws of the fictional universe laid down by the author upon your narrative, you are screwed. In other words, are you a MacGuffin with infinite plot armour, or not?

Auberon’s insistence on the urgency of opening Ard Gaeth is thus furthermore noteworthy because this is the only occasion on which the Aen Elle come to fundamentally share the same sense of urgency that Ciri experiences throughout her stay at Tir na Lia. ‘You cannot mindlessly waste time! You’ll miss the right moment… There is often only one, unrepeatable. Time cannot go backwards.’ So Ciri thinks, but Auberon then gives her the monologue – infinity, eternity, everything is simultaneously beginning and end – about Time as Ouroboros:

'Here you see the Ouroboros,’ said the elf. 'It is the symbol of infinity, eternal departure and eternal returns. It has neither beginnings nor ends. Time is like Ouroboros. Time is the passing moments, like grains of sand in an hourglass. We try to measure acts and events, but Ouroboros reminds us that every moment, in every deed and every event lurks in the past, present and the future - in short, eternity. Every departure is also returning, every welcome is also a goodbye. Everything is simultaneously the beginning and the end.’ - Auberon Muircetach

Auberon, it seems to me, is pontificating about the theory of the cyclicality of the material universe, as well as the cyclicality and repeatability of all narratives and stories (everything has already happened in some form in another, and will happen again; life into death into life).

Is it therefore not reasonable to assume that the kind of control over travelling through space-time that the elves expect to have from Ciri’s child is the kind that can ignore the time cost of space-travelling altogether? And that by “space-time” we, in fact, mean “the narrative laws” of the universe.

Let’s return to the story-like nature of the Witcher universe & Yennefer’s craving for legends like the elves have. And let me throw in a conjunction: what is Avalon, or the isle of Apple Trees?

In Welsh mythos, it is the afterlife – a place outside of time. It is so in the Witcher, as well. How do you reach such a place? The island stands outside of narrative and is not subject to its laws. When Geralt and Yennefer die, Sapkowski gives his heroes a tribute of a send-off with the help of Ciri and a unicorn – both of whom defy the constraints of space and time, both of whom are able to defy the very same narrative laws Sapkowski has set down in his story.

Within these narrative laws, things have to make sense – who, when, how, what, etc. When did the elves leave the Continent? Did the humans or elves incite violence first? How do unicorns work? What happens to Yennefer and Geralt after they are taken to the Isle of Apple Trees? All of these questions make sense within the so-far established narrative of the story. But beyond these questions sits the author, making it up, controlling the narrative and the Fate, the Destiny, of characters. If he makes something clear, then it is so (until he changes his mind). If the leaves something vague, then it is that way instead. When Geralt and Yennefer die, determining what becomes of them physically (within the boundaries of the narrative of the Witcher story) loses its meaning over centuries – because the tale of Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri becomes a legend. And in legend and myth, the boundaries of verifiable Truth blur.

All can be. And as long as all can be, one’s freedom is absolute.

What does Elder Blood allow to do then?

Why, it provides the kind of absolute freedom every author of their own story desires. Because what if Auberon is indeed speaking about “narrative” in fiction: comparing control over Time as an in-universe law to control over the functionally straight-edged narrative laws of any fictional story? Ciri travels to fictional places and historical times outside of her own fictional Witcher timeline. She visits Earth, she visits Arthuriana, she visits her own universe’s timeline at a different point. The bearer of Aen Hen Ichaer hops between different microcosms (worlds, times, myths, realities). She moves around narratives, around the many possible worlds, as if time and space were not an obstacle.

Ciri is only one individual. However, the Alder Elves want their power back – the power to control their own narrative, the power to just leave a tale that no longer suits them for a more interesting one. To be the author, rather than the character. To exist eternally through Time.

Elder Blood, I argue, allows to have control over space-time within the Witcher’s universe in much the same way as it is to have control over Narrative itself (the absolute number of possibilities you have). Imagine, how the elves would do it if they opened the Great Gate again. Sapkowski’s Continent is but one possible bubble among countless other fantasy bubbles from which Sapkowski himself draws inspiration from. What about Arthuriana? What about the Unseelie and Seelie Court in Scottish legends? Elves, the wielders of Elder Blood, could as easily move into that reality and become that myth that we have of the Unseelies and Seelies. In fact, since elves already exist in these myths, have they perhaps already done so at some other point in time in the cyclical universe that eats its own tail like an Ouroboros?

Infinity, eternal departures, eternal returns. In any moment of Time lies eternity.

Ciri knows or is realising this, perhaps. She is not confined to one tale, one Destiny. The ashen-haired carrier of Elder Blood is the beginning and end unto itself inside the head of the author – the holy grail of writing, if you will.

Since the fabric of all stories is inherently inter-textual, this sort of metafictional attention to the make-up of an imagined fantasy reality is, in my opinion, rather clever.

—

If you like my writing, consider buying me a coffee. Thanks! ❤️

[theladyofworlds]

This is exactly what I was thinking too! I think False Ciri reminded him of Pavetta, not the real Ciri, because Pavetta and False Ciri were so similar to each other as you point out. And I do believe he was fibbing to Geralt about not caring for Pavetta. It's clear as day in his actions, and especially in the fact his curse was broken, that he cared for her more than he would like others to believe.

False Ciri and Pavetta

It’s funny that Emhyr thinks as soon as false Ciri reminds him of Ciri, when one can realize that both girls are opposites and that in fact false Ciri has more similarities with Pavetta whom Emhyr despises as a girl with downcast eyes; think about it both in their first appearance are described as dressed in blue, uncomfortable being in front of people’s scrutiny, shy, quiet, melancholic and with downcast eyes but later they show an internal strength to refuse to comply with Emhyr’s demands even if they are somewhat prone to tears. Does the emperor seem to like melancholy wenches more than he is willing to admit?

[theladyofworlds]

"𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚍. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍𝚜."

Serenity. 28. Female. Sideblog. This is where I post all my thoughts/meta's on everything about The Witcher (Books, Games & yes, even the good and the bad of the Netflix Series.) I love to explore characters thoughts, motivations, backstories and read between the lines of what's presented to us in the text. Follow at your own choice and toss a coin to your Witcher.

[theladyofworlds]

(The Witcher Meta)

Pavetta, Duny/Emhyr & Calanthe ─ The Subject of Consent, Destiny & True Love

I see others often arguing about how Duny/Emhyr and Pavetta's story doesn't have anything to do with true love or consent. That because of the big reveal of Duny being Emhyr var Emries and the fact he lies, saying he didn't truly love Pavetta is a sign that everything that happened in A Question of Price was just him *rooming and claiming ownership over Pavetta to break the curse, but I beg to differ against that. Again, it's something deeper and that you have to read between the lines to understand. The events of everything that happened in A Question of Price involved the themes of consent/choice, true love and obviously destiny/fate, which honestly, all tie together into one. For it to be true love, there must be consent from both parties involved. The bonds of Destiny/Fate can play a part in bringing them together, but ultimately, there needs to be the first two for it to work, especially consent! Geralt points this out below, reminding Duny and everyone of the Law of Surprise (Destiny/Fate) and the oath that come's with it (oath being consent from the involved party.)

As Geralt states --- "It is the child's, not the parent's consent which confirms the oath, which proves that the child was born under the shadow of destiny."

▶ Pavetta's consent/choice is needed for this to work if she is Duny's Law of Surprise. It is also needed to help break his curse. ◄ While others may argue that it was only Calanthe's consent to give away her daughter that was need, everyone keeps forgetting it was also Pavetta's approval that was needed too! And following the Law of Surprise and it's oath --- the consent must be genuine, not forced or manipulated. It is something that must be given FREELY OF THEIR OWN WILL. Otherwise it would not work.

And this is how Duny/Emhyr's curse breaks ─ 1. He meets with an astrologer who tells him to go North to look for a cure for his curse. He doesn't know what it involves. 2. Duny/Emhyr invokes the Law of Surprise upon Roegner of Ebbing after saving his life ("whatever he had left at home without knowing or expecting it.") A year later, Roegner returns home to find Pavetta born. 3. A year before the banquet, Pavetta meets Duny/Emhyr in his cursed form. For several weeks, the two met and continue to read and recite poetry together and he eventually persuades Pavetta to meet him after dark one night. After bribing her servants, she met him and to her astonishment, at the stroke of midnight, he transformed from a hedgehog to a handsome young man, who then informed her he was a cursed prince named Duny. Meetings became regular and more frequent and the two lovers get careless and word get's back to Calanthe about a year after they first meet. Remembering Roegner and the Law of Surprise, Calanthe decided she needed to get rid of the hedgehog being and so brought in a witcher. 4. Calanthe held a feast for the princess' would-be-suitors around Pavetta's 15th birthday and had invited Geralt under the pretext of keeping things civilized. Pavetta discovers she was bound by destiny to Duny since birth by the Law of Surprise. While Calanthe acknowledges it, she refuses to give him her daughter, trying to turn everyone, even Pavetta, against him with the use of trickery, even in making him reveal his hedgehog face. Thinking her daughter wouldn't go with the "monster" now, Calanthe states the law was void and her daughter must agree she wouldn't go with him. However, Pavetta states she would go with him, causing an uproar and the other suitors tried to attack Duny/Emhyr. This obviously doesn't sit well with Pavetta who loses control of her powers, trying to protect her lover. 5. After finally talking it out, and once again confirming Pavetta's approval in this, and with Duny stating his love for Pavetta, Calanthe agrees to give Duny her daughter which ends up fulfilling the Law of Surprise and breaking his curse = Consent is what fulfills destiny. It is also what makes true love exist.

So what was between Duny/Emhyr and Pavetta had to be genuine.

Which brings me to my last point to explain--- Emhyr's statement to Geralt in The Lady of the Lake.

While he may deny loving her, I think Emhyr is lying through his teeth here to Geralt about it.

If he didn't love Pavetta, his curse would not have been broken, with or without just having Calanthe's consent alone. Again, because the consent of all parties involved (yes, even including Duny/Emhyr) was needed and true love only exists with consent! In a story all about destiny/fate and personal choice (something more) playing a role hand-in-hand together, why is that so hard to believe? Their story is mostly based off the fairytale "Hans my Hedgehog" which explores themes of overcoming prejudice, finding your true identity, and the transformative power of love and compassion. It is because of the second princesses love and loyalty, agreeing to marry him, that he sheds his hedgehog skin and becomes human. The Witcher Netflix handled their story beautifully, explaining it perfectly.

[theladyofworlds]

(The Witcher Meta)

Ciri and Emhyr ─ The implications of Father & Daughter, reading between the lines

I love how Emhyr starts out with not wanting Ciri to find out who he is. He doesn't want her discovering it, especially because of what he's about to do and his horrific plans for her. I think it implies he doesn't feel confident or good about what he thinks he must do for "the greater good" as he keeps trying to tell himself and Geralt to justify it.

However, I love how after discovering, or at least putting the pieces together, and giving Duny a humanity talk of his past, Geralt starts realizing similarities between Emhyr and Ciri. The text implies how happy and proud Emhyr is to see his daughter again, even if she is currently dissing him and doesn't get who he is to her yet. It states it with things like "he just smiled, eyeing the girl with a clearly contented gaze", "he looked at her and it seemed he was drinking her in with his gaze" and "not taking his eyes off Ciri."

I think it's also interesting to note how despite his daughter chewing is him out and refusing to go with him, Emhyr tells her "What is destined, shall be" before this next scene happens.

Despite Ciri sobbing her heart out in front of the scary Emperor who's done terrible things, l love how the text notes that "looking upon his face awakens strange and vague memories in her" and especially "she found his touch wasn't unpleasant at all." Emhyr then starts fussing over Ciri, looking her over like a parent would with their own child as a sign of affection and care. The text clearly states that he studies her from "counting the snow-white streaks" in her hair to "touching her cheek, disfigured by the scar." And then how it ends with Emhyr telling her "It's a strange thing, destiny. Farewell, my daughter." Despite not wanting her to know she is his daughter, he tells her in a clever way. And Ciri may have an inkling to who he is to her. In that moment, his plans for her are discarded just by looking upon her after so long. He can't bring himself to go through with them because his fatherly instincts return upon just seeing his true daughter. And sticking true to his promise to Yennefer of not harming Ciri and letting destiny be what it will, he leaves with his company, giving her the opportunity to be with her adoptive parents as she wishes.

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