#[twn] anon | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wren-of-the-woods · 5 months

Note

I hear you're where to go for Witcher fic recs! How about some with Geralt being protective over Jaskier? Shippy, if you can find any, but I wouldn't mind platonic! I just want Geralt to look out for his bard. Thank you for your time!

Hello!! Here's what I've got! There's a wide variety of settings and levels of angst, so hopefully there should be something for everone :D

As always, please feel free to add more recs or promote your own work in the notes!

Don't Leave Me by @geraskierficrecs (Rated M, 6.2k)

Jaskier’s hands tighten around Geralt before slowly losing their grip, spasming where they fall limp. “Ger--geralt--” “Don’t you dare,” he snarls back, “Don’t you dare try to give me your fucking goodbyes. You are not dying.” “S--silly man.” Jaskier’s smile is full of painful fondness. “Would you fight death for me?” Geralt swings him up into his arms and nearly weeps at the sound of familiar hooves running in his direction. “Every. Fucking. Time.”

If You Give a Bard a Lute by @ghostinthelibrarywrites (Rated T, 10k)

After Jaskier’s father disowns him, confiscates all his possessions— including Filavandrel’s lute— and kicks him out with nothing but the clothes on his back, Jaskier spends a long, hungry winter barely surviving. When he reunites with Geralt in the spring, his witcher is determined to get his lute back, even if it means recruiting his fellow witchers to stage a heist.

Wild Blue Yonder by @jaskierswolf (Rated T, 5.3k)

Geralt's bookshop is slowly falling apart and he's ready to give up when Jaskier wanders into the store

remember me I sing by @echo-bleu (Rated G, 3.1k - also includes Yennnefer)

Filavandrel's gift was so much more than a simple lute. It seemed fitting, that Jaskier’s soul would be made of wood and strings and beautiful sounds. The problem is that now Rience has his lute and is threatening to burn it if they don't hand over Ciri. And Jaskier has never told anyone that his very life is tied to his beloved instrument.

This Is How I Disappear by @stacyholmes (Rated T, 5.4k)

Jaskier keeps texting unknown number. Geralt keeps reading said texts without answering.

The Footsteps We Follow by thiswildheart (Rated T, 16.5k)

Look, Jaskier's got a lot going on. He's painfully aware that there are cataclysmic events happening and that the troubled teenager he knows might save the world or speed along the end of days. He's also in love with a man who's never even admitted that they're friends, which is almost as bad. Oh, and he's still working as the Sandpiper, only now a terrifying eldritch creature has entrusted him with the Song of the Seven to give hope to the elves and help them fight back against their oppression. It's probably the bravest thing he's ever done, but not everyone sees it that way. Luckily he knows some people who excel at last minute rescues. ... then he just has to figure out how to tell Geralt why so many people are trying to kill him. This is going to go great.

Getting Warmer (orphaned) (Rated T, 8.2k)

Injured and freezing after a kikimora hunt gone wrong, Geralt and Jaskier must wait out a thunderstorm at the bottom of a cliff, huddling for warmth. It is here that Geralt finally confronts his feelings for the bard.

Jaskier and Mountains Just Don't Mix by C4t1l1n4 (Rated G, 3.8k)

Despite the other Witchers' positive reaction to Geralt's bard, Vesemir is reluctant to have a human stay with them at Kaer Morhen so Jaskier attempts to leave and ends up almost freezing to death on the side of the mountain. Hypothermia fic

Immediately, I Love Him (He's Doing His Best) by @hum-my-name (Rated G, 26.5k)

"In which Greg is some sort of guardian angel, I don't know" <><> A few days ago, Joey Batey did an interview in which he created a lovely little character named Greg. A few days ago, I decided to write a cute little thing about Greg and Jaskier being the best of friends throughout the years, with a dash of Geralt and Jaskier friendship as a treat. 13k words later, here we are. Enjoy.

Broken Mirror by happy_hermit (Rated G, 2.1k)

To Geralt’s credit, he waits until they’re well away from Kaer Morhen to ask the question. He also waits until Yennefer and Ciri have gone to bed, which makes the whole thing feel a bit too calculated for Jaskier’s liking, which is to say that he doesn’t like it at all. “Where’s your lute, Jaskier?” Jaskier doesn’t quite flinch, though his heart does something of the sort all on its own. It is very much a wound that hasn’t healed; as is most of him, these days.

Echo by @kingthunder (Rated E, 29.5k)

Jaskier loses his voice the morning after a concert. As he and Geralt find new ways to fill the silence between them, they realize it isn't only Jaskier's voice that's been lost—and getting it back will bring them closer than they've ever been before.

If There's Any Sleep At Night by @smolalienbee (Rated T, 22.8k)

The mare is but a silhouette of a human and yet at his words something passes through her expression - whether it’s surprise, joy, fear, Geralt doesn’t know. But it’s clear that what he said has struck her in some way. (“She is not some mindless monster, Geralt.” He remembers Jaskier’s words.) A mare, also known as a mara or a zmora - a malicious entity, a bringer of nightmares and a demon of the night. An easy enough contract to fulfill, if only frustrating, or at least that’s what Geralt believes when he first sets out to hunt down one such mare. What he doesn’t expect is to be wrapped up in a tale of a wronged soul, of love and of joy.

Also, because I'm not above reccing my own fics, here's a few I've written!

Wash Away the Blood and Tears by me (Rated T, 1.8k)

Jaskier re-injures his fingers while distracting Nilfgaard from Ciri. Afterward, Geralt volunteers to help wash his hair. Or: In which Jaskier gets a bath and a nap, and Geralt gets a new role in the group.

We'll Build a Den Out of Pillows (And Get Drunk Again) by me (Rated G, 2k)

Jaskier gets sick. When Geralt asks how to help, Jaskier jokingly suggests that he build a pillow fort. He does not expect Geralt to take it seriously. Geralt takes it seriously.

If you want more, there’s a Protective Geralt tag on AO3 that I’m sure has many lovely works I haven’t read!

(You can also find my other reclists here)

#wren recs #geraskier #geralt #jaskier #the witcher #the witcher fic recs #witcher #reclists #twn #asks #anon #am i getting a reputation? how fun!#i guess y'all are catching onto the fact that i have no self-restraing when it comes to reclists lol

97 notes · View notes

bamf-jaskier · 2 years

Note

Thoughts on the interview with Beau DeMayo where he mentions that a lot of the TWN writers dislike and make fun of The Witcher books?

Considering Beau DeMayo wrote the episode where Eskel dies and he was the head writer for Nightmare of the Wolf I find it very hypocritical he would talk about the other writers not liking the games/books and not respecting the lore when his writing decisions go against it quite strongly.

There’s also this tweet from fellow writer Matt D’Ambrosio about DeMayo

Sounds to me like DeMayo knows exactly what he’s doing because he’s always been very active in the fanbase and knows what to say to piss fans off — and let me tell you it worked. Forums and discords and social media is flooded with people now using DeMayo’s words as “proof” the writers are trying to sabotage the Bible that is the games and books. Ignoring the fact the show isn’t based on the games at all and that the current writers routinely talk about how they enjoy the books and games.

People are falling for DeMayo’s hypocritical clout chasing and it’s sad to see.

In addition D’Ambrosio tweeted this as well after DeMayo’s statement.

Which is likely a reference to DeMayo considering this tweet of his:

Which is basically DeMayo defending himself killing off the one gay character he created in Nightmare of the Wolf (which btw this tweet is insulting, historically inaccurate and borderline antisemitic but hey. He’s gay so it’s fine according to him)

Needless to say I’m not impressed by DeMayo’s statement and it seems like a bitter man using the fandom to tear down a show he was taken off of.

#yeah not a fan of this at alll #asks #anon #the witcher #twn #twitter #discourse #btw #cast and crew

438 notes · View notes

fawnnbinary · 2 years

Note

How about the scene I wrote you the other day? In Set B, #11? :D

So Jaskier lifted Geralt’s arm and snuggled under it, pressing his head against Geralt’s chest, and tugging Geralt’s arm over his waist. He threw an arm of his own over Geralt such that he could curl a hand around his opposite shoulder. Finally comfortable he let out a contented sigh.

ohhhhh Clem, once again I liked that scene so much, I'm so very pleased to draw them!! it's short and sweet and 💕🥰💕 their cuddles,,,

#miles.ask #miles.art #palette meme #twn #geraskier #geralt #jaskier #tell me if the link in the ask doesn't work when this posts and I'll put in another bc we should all appreciate Clem's work #I sent the ask on anon to be a lil surprise when I reblogged the finished piece ig and I was SO excited when it was posted kdfjhgh

224 notes · View notes

eredins-a-king-aint-he · 5 months

Note

I have only now found out that they made Jaskier bi in the latest season of TWN and paired him off with RADOViD?!?? I know they aged him up but holy shit I can't believe this show everything I learn about it is against my will

The show is basically really shitty fanfiction at this point, and imo it’s always been a sexed-up cash grab that was not at all intended to cater to or satisfy long term book/games fans. It’s bullshit and I hate it lmao

At this point I’m just trying to stay grateful that it has inspired some people to read the books/play the games and they’ve realized how much better those are, and I feel like that’s a win enough for me😂

Also dandelion has ALWAYS been bi to me? He’s got wild bisexual energy imo, and I personally think they tried to pair him w Radovid in the show in an attempt to get the J*skier fangirlies’ attention—they must’ve seen how people were drooling over the grumpy hunk/twinky bard ship and wanted to capitalize on it🙄

#cedar answers #asks #anon asks #you and I are shaking hands anon #fuck twn #I utterly despise what they did with Eskel and Dijkstra #it’s bullshit #anti twn

8 notes · View notes

simonstamenovic · 28 days

Note

I forget if anybody’s asked about scent/smell for the kinks yet

10/10 really hot in both a normal way like sweat is hot and also clear jaskier brain its like. a thing. geralt the senses. anyway even aside from that please i need hot sweaty smelly wet sex forever

#bloodletting #ask.exe #theres a twn netflix line awfully bad in context but uh. anyway. mostly simon rn but uh.#yeah. do any big sweaty men w armpit hair want to lay on me and #ok nevermind anyway yeah yeah. yeah.#kinkask.exe #anon

3 notes · View notes

crushcandles · 10 months

Note

Can we get a piece with eskel in the alphabetaomega_witcher R1? If I'm thinking this is the right a/b/o witcher fic... 😬

This actually isn't alphabetaomega_witcher R1, because I love being confusing and starting a million a/b/o scraps I don't know what to do with. But just for you, anon, I'll finish this particular piece.

Geralt's alone at the fire when Eskel comes through the bushes at midnight. His neck prickles and he reaches for his sword, but relaxes when he makes out Eskel's shape, scents him, tired but triumphant.

"Good evening, stranger," Eskel says, smiling, swinging his own sword sheath off his back.

"You were gone a week. I didn't forget you."

Eskel sits on a rock near Geralt, sighing as his arse hits the hot stone, dropping his sword beside him.

"I saw you reaching," he murmurs. He rubs his chin. "I know I haven't shaved, but I can't look that different."

"I recognize you," Geralt insists. He shrugs his shoulders uncomfortably and stares down the fire. "I'm just on edge."

read the rest on AO3

#crushcandles answers YOUR asks #i have the best anons #this is unrelated to my quote-unquote main TWN a/b/o fic #but gives you a taste of what crushcandles!a/b/o is like #although i am not close to hitting my gross-hot quota

8 notes · View notes

aghxst · 9 months

Note

I wanted to just say I'm glad someone else is on the 'Give Liam Hemsworth A Beard For Geralt' train, honestly if they do that I'll overlook Jaksier forehead

yes yes yes but also a helpful diagram to getting over your 5head aversion

#twn #anon #ty for the ask

5 notes · View notes

hanzajesthanza · 1 year

Note

Hello! I have been a fan of the series for a few years now. I am currently on my second read of the books and I have played the games 1 and 3 extensively.

Throughout this time I had never really interacted with the community and I have to ask how can you handle all the bigotry?

Simply going on witcher themed subreddits and typing the words "racism" or "diversity" left me dumbfounded. From people ignoring Sapkowski's interview in which he said racial changes are fine, to people trying to flat out justify irl racism...

I get the arguments from people that wanted more Slavic representation in the show and other witcher media like it. I get the people saying they wanted it to feel Eastern European while presenting other cultures through things like Zerrikania or Zangwebar but I find that those arguments, even if they are in good faith, are often accompanied by phrases like "blacks don't belong in The Witcher".

How do you handle things like this? I am so disappointed...

this ask comes at an interesting time, as i've also begun to use reddit more frequently for r/wiedzmin and r/witcher (began lurking in r/wiedzmin around 2019, and have begun to actually post and use the app in recent months). i don't really have "tips" to share, but i have my own experiences.

reddit as a site

first thing's first, as a tour around, because not all tumblr users like to also use other social media sites, particularly reddit, so they may be unfamiliar with how the witcher fandom works on reddit:

r/wiedzmin is the discussion sub for analysis and "deeper" conversations (and one of my favorite places to hang out!), and the canon is mostly books canon/occassional games canon.

r/witcher is the main sub, for all canons, books, games, netflix, etc. - but mainly, games and netflix.

r/wiedzmin has a lot less people subscribed to it than r/witcher (though in the past couple of months, r/wiedzmin did just hit 20,000 subs!).

and, on reddit, tumblr, and racism:

i'm not singling out reddit as the only site, or the most prolific site where racism occurs online, especially since racism takes MANY forms; however, in my experience, i have seen more overt racism on reddit and more covert racism on tumblr. on reddit, racist attitudes tend to be more upfront and direct (such as the comments you mentioned) whereas on tumblr, i've seen racist attitudes expressed and then covered up, explained away, or just unrecognized and unacknowledged as being legitimately racist.

racism DEFINITELY occurs on tumblr, and it occurs right under your nose - so i'm not saying that tumblr communities AREN'T racist. rather, what i am saying is that i have personally encountered more overt racism on reddit.

it also matters how tumblr and reddit are structurally set up which affects how opinions are shared and seen.

reddit also has less of "cult of personality" that tumblr does - you can follow people, you can DM people, but it's not like a tumblr dashboard in which you only see posts from people you follow. rather, on your homepage, you see posts from communities you follow - subreddits.

on reddit, you don't reblog posts to your own blog which your followers will see. instead, you can make a post for a specific subreddit, comment on an already-existing post, and upvote or downvote comments on posts.

i like this forum-like structure in many ways, because it contributes to discussion way more than tumblr does - posts can be threads, where discussion about one topic will always be in the same place with all comments about it underneath the topic - unlike tumblr, where you only see the version of the post which appears on your dash, reblog chains exist, and you can only see the full discussion if you look in the notes.

however, i think this structure also contributes to racist attitudes being shared and proliferating on reddit. because it's not such a "cult of personality," you don't have to follow somebody to see their opinions on a post. plus, upvoting and downvoting is pretty anonymous, and if you see a comment which has a lot of upvotes, there's no way to tell who upvoted or downvoted. therefore, racist attitudes can appear near the top of the post, showing that they are "agreed with"... pretty much anonymously. if a racist comment gets 100 upvotes, not all 100 people sharing racist beliefs who upvoted it had to individually reblog the post to their blog, or make their own posts. they could anonymously and casually upvote for that comment. and that culture of convenience around upvoting/downvoting, i think, leads to a lot of bigoted opinions being "agreed with," because while someone might be aware that this is a stupid racist opinion that someone would roast them for if they said on their own, individually, there's no consequences to upvoting the racist opinion that someone else posted. and since racism is shared among cowards, the anonymity and casual ability of it makes it easy for racist posts and comments to get support.

why do i talk about how the site functions? because it affects which kinds of opinions surface and get "agreed with", and what you will see as a user of the site.

moderation on witcher subreddits

one thing i will say is that i've seen the mods of both r/wiedzmin and r/witcher in comments of posts saying that they do not condone racism and will remove racist posts they see, but the subs are very big and they can't mod 24/7. so, while this may be true, in practice, i have not always seen this enforced - though i have seen rules enforced and posts deleted, i have also seen rules not enforced and posts and comments... not deleted.

could mods do more? of course. but it's more than the mods' responsibility to take down racist posts, it's more the community's responsibility to... not be fucking racist. so i won't be digging into the mods of these subs, since i just basically don't know enough about them, how they moderate the subs, or their personal beliefs and attitudes, and i'd rather not talk about stuff that i have no idea about.

i will say that i've seen r/wiedzmin mods generally be pretty decent (both in their own opinions they share on posts, and also in the sense of modding the sub - their attitude seems to be like, we want discussion and conversations, so we are against whatever hinders that goal).

i haven't seen r/witcher mods around as much, but i did pop into the r/witcher discord once and... um... (it was full of n*zi memes... jfc). however that was in 2019 and i just saw a comment from a r/witcher mod on a post yesterday in the sub saying that they don't condone racism and will delete any racist posts/comments they see, so maybe attitudes differ amongst mods or... again, it's up to speculation, this is just what i've seen.

this precursor to this post took way too much time, but i want to provide context for using reddit and the witcher subreddits, if people are unfamiliar with it. it's both good and bad, it's kind of better than i expected, but still has unsavory parts. and again, tumblr isn't innocent either...

dealing with racism

now to talk about the actual topic, for starters, i feel what you're saying. i've seen racist attitudes in the witcher fandom on both tumblr and reddit.

there's two situations in which i've mainly seen racism in the witcher fandom: 1. people saying racist slander against netflix, and 2. people assuming that all book fans are white, cishet, etc... these two attitudes come from the same presumption that the books are a white-only space, which... obviously... isn't the case...

my method for dealing with the first issue (what you've described above, the hateful kinds of comments flat-out saying that people of color don't belong in the witcher) is to block and report. i don't engage, i just block, because there's no discussion to be had, and i know that engaging with them could actually put me in danger (doxxing, for example).

dealing with racism (emotionally)

however, this ability to block doesn't change the emotional impact of seeing these comments. i think anyone would be disturbed by these kinds of comments, and there's also times when it hits a little more personally.

for example, when the casting for milva was released, even comments which i saw on r/wiedzmin (generally... the less-racist of the two subs...) were upset because of meng'er zhang being chinese. (for context, i am half-chinese and half-white). there were a lot of comments expressing exasperation, skepticism, and the general attitude of "no WAY that there would EVER be an east asian person in the WITCHER" ... yeah...

i've got to say, it makes me less encouraged to participate in the witcher fandom, particularly in circumstances where that participation involves me showing my face online (my poor little youtube channel with one video... i'll come back to you soon!).

so, yeah. there's that element of slimy revulsion and disgusting fear and shame. i'll acknowledge it. and there's no instant solution for it.

community as healing

what has helped me is participating in spaces that are publically diverse and deliberately anti-racist, such as in my own circle of mututals and in my our discord server. it's helped a lot to speak with fans of color, lgbt fans, disabled fans, neurodivergent fans, etc., as well as allied fans, about these attitudes - but not only that, to just exist in the same spaces with them. our conversations aren't all-of-the-time about race, unless the topic comes up, but we're just having discussions and sharing thoughts, headcanons, memes, art, etc. to know that the book fandom includes these people, and myself, is all the encouragement i need to stay active in the community.

the simple existence of me and my friends disproves the rhetoric spread by people saying that the witcher is a white-only space (which, by the way, i've also heard from netflix fans on tumblr). that's just a straight-up lie :'). we're just going to continue enjoying and discussing the books while simultaneously existing as ourselves because there's no other way to exist. nothing much more to say about that.

though i will say it's funny that white twn fans think that people of color can't possibly read books and be fans of them... how do you not recognize that as a hugely bigoted assumption?!

further posting

this post was about the fandom and existing in the fandom as a fan of color. i haven't touched on how the book series itself or its 'adaptations' deals with race, sapkowski's opinions, etc. i've saved these topics for another time. here are some posts about this on my sideblog, if it interests you:

how twn plays into white supremacist rhetoric: "1/2 TWN has uncovered an interesting problem (...)"

design of twn: "“hey, we are adapting got the rights to a polish series and there’s this short story that takes place in farmland and fields reminiscent of the polish countryside, (...) where should we film this scene?” ... “ive got it! … new zealand!”" | everyone and everywhere looks the same (grey, uninteresting, featureless) because of their design decisions. + orientalism in twn's costume design

xenophobia of twn: polish identity of the witcher and why it matters

representation for women and people of color: "i’m not willing to accept offensive trash that demeans marginalized groups as “representation”" | this post lol

antiblackness of twn: netflix whitewashing mecia simson (francesca) | "lauren responded to a black fan’s concerns about antiblack violence with “thanks for your feedback” and no further explanation, thought, or consideration."

the messages of the books: "if people believe the point which the books make is “neutrality is good, always be neutral!” then they either have poor reading comprehension, or didn’t read at all (...)" | the "cynical fantasy" of sapkowski | garfield meme

#ask #anon #the witcher books #cw racism #cw antiblackness #twn critical #the witcher netflix #the witcher

15 notes · View notes

creepyscritches · 2 years

Text

I've been drawing stuff and just moving on without posting and honestly I've never felt freer from other people's brain worms

#Creepy chatter #Too many freaks crossing boundaries w a lot of my series fanart :/ behave #Remember when I got anon hate accusing me of plagiarizing those emo animal crossing comics #When it was a grief processing diary comic framed through a lifelong coping lense of animal crossing lmao #I will not start talking about the incest freaks barnacling to my DMC art I do not need that #Twns know my wrath

19 notes · View notes

holocrypticocs · 2 years

Note

You should actually draw forever and never give up because you're great and skilled and awesome

Jfndnfmsmf nice to me!! 🥺 Dw I am sitting with my sketchbook Right Now, going to draw Esen <333

#shut up mars.txt #from sam #will I ever POST esen... who knows #maybe i will finally watch more of twn #but like. anon. anon worstie.#on god I am too sick to care... anon I will stop drawing if you buy my silence permanently how abt that

3 notes · View notes

hall0ween-twn · 11 months

Note

soft and needy steeb handjob🥹

in honor of the holy day, 6/9, i'll give you this scenario

straddling steve's head while jacking him off, teasingly at first. he's trying so hard to give you head too but he can't focus bc of how soft your hand feels gripping his cock, tugging it in a pace that makes his brain feel all fuzzy. he wants you to go harder, faster but you had something else in mind. before he cums, you move your hand away, running your hands up and down his thighs. you're gonna edge him until he's a fucking mess.

#[twn] hard thoughts #[twn] ask #[twn] anon #steve harrington smut #steve harrington x reader

183 notes · View notes

perseruna · 1 year

Note

I was wondering the same thing as the other anon actually; i was taking a break from social media when i heard about Henry Cavill leaving twn and i thought people were taking his side but never really dug any further.

So honestly if you have time, i wouldn't mind hearing more.

lmaoo alright so here’s a semi deep dive for anyone who wasn’t present for the deuxmoi hcav gate of 2022

okay so everyone started speculating when the news of his recast broke and the general consensus was that he left for the superman money which imo was definitely a big part of that. i don’t believe he left due to “creative differences” im not saying there weren’t any, on the contrary there must’ve been a ton, but everyone who worked in the industry or knows someone who did will tell you that “creative differences” is code for there was something else going on. plus quitting a job that pays you 1 million per episode due to a petty thing like creative differences in literally insane.

and then dc dropped him like a week later which was honestly one of the funniest days of the year.

so when the internet is arguing about all of that the deuxmoi podcast comes out initiating that there was a lot more going on to his twn departure.

believe it or don’t believe it i think there’s definitely some kernel of truth to it. a lot of this checks out with what we already know. he already refused to do a sex scene with anya in s2 so that turning into a refusal to do ANY romantic scenes is not far fetched (i’m not strong enough to get into sex scene discourse as well, everyone should do what they’re comfortable with i agree with that wholeheartedly, but geralt is a role that requires romantic and sexual scenes so don’t take it if you’re not comfortable with that)

the weird alliance thing is about beau de mayo who was actually fired. he’s also the one who accused the other writers of not respecting the source material and started this whole weird thing. here’s a tweet from one of the current writers speaking about him (cropped for x’s legal safety, it’s been since deleted)

then an entire storm started on reddit and here are some posts of people speaking up that i managed to find

believe it or don’t but i’d rather be wrong than support a nasty misogynist. i think he was a nightmare to work with, wanted more creative control and a bigger pay rise and netflx didn’t agree in the end and that’s how it ended.

#that’s why now he’s making his own warhammer (known for having an incredibly incel-y extremely right wing fanbase) show #although i’m hearing rumors that it’s DOA so we’ll see lmao #anyway this is THE END i don’t want to talk about him again #maya answers stuff

112 notes · View notes

bamf-jaskier · 2 years

Note

Abt the racism over the show: personally I have a huge belief that it has to do with the games, too. A lot of people use the whole "accuracy to the books" shtick but most of the fans complaining are actually fans from the games & there are, like, NO PoC in the games. Mix that in with a fantasy where you can be a typically masculine guy going around fighting things & sleeping w tons of women, and you now have a series catering to a specific type of young male gamer. Keep in mind (cont)

Okay, so I actually have been thinking about this for a long time.

Now mind you, when I talk about the games and gamer fans rn I'm not talking about a lot of the "fandom" games content because most of it is really disconnected from the actual games and is really more strongly built out of fandom characterization and headcanons. Which is honestly super cool and it's a interesting subsection of the fandom but that's to talk about or get asked another time.

I agree with most everything you've said here (although I will say the show is very different from the books in many ways -- and there are critiques to be had but seemingly the loudest and most popular people all tie them back to race -- also on tumblr microagressions and exclusion is more popular than the blatant racism seen on other platforms). I also want to add it’s well-known there’s ties to white supremacy circles of TW3 fans. More on that here.

The Show needs to stop trying to be like the Games and focus on the themes of the Books

Long discussion below

The games (mostly TW3) are fun to play especially if u like open-world games. It’s pretty subjective on how you view the characters since they can be pretty different depending on the choices you make. Mostly the game series didn’t feel all that similar to the books to me. The first two games were nothing like the books and the third game is set in a post-book timeline that changes the ending. The whole Triss/Geralt relationship and Kaer Morhen and all those characters in the games are pretty different from the books too. I think a lot of it comes from the fact that a massive theme in the books is extinction.

In the books, there are fewer monsters in the world, there’s less and less need for witchers, non-humans are being persecuted and slaughtered regularly, and the power structure of the Continent is changing. Basically, you follow Geralt and Ciri as they navigate a dying world, and Geralt especially is very specifically framed throughout the books as this relic out of time. People don’t even particularly hate Witchers the same way they do in the games or even show to an extent. They mostly see Witchers as the leftovers of a bygone era. They are considered undesirable because they should be unnecessary. Most people in the books don’t even recognize Geralt as a Witcher when they first meet him. And the only time Geralt really gets appreciation for his craft is when he saves someone’s life and even then, not everyone is grateful.

But of course, this would not be particularly popular in a gaming format so the games present you with a far more vibrant version of the Continent. One where you regularly take contracts (Witchers taking contracts was practically nonexistent in the books). A game where you can fight monsters and grind and level up (in the books monsters are rare and mostly treated with pity and Geralt even tries to help many). And the playing field between non-humans and humans was far more even (the books end with a nonhuman pogrom in Rivia). Even the fact that there are all these Witcher schools in the games is nothing like the books (Coën isn’t a Griffin Witcher in the books, the schools are barely mentioned and there are far fewer than the plenty that exist in the games).

And while there is the White Frost as this big extinction threat in the games (the White Frost is also in the books but in a very different manner) — the extinction in the books is more about the present. It’s about how bias and discrimination and fear of what we don’t understand will destroy us. It’s not some far-off threat like in the games.

And of course, all these sorts of world changes make sense. You want the player to be able to have fun and enjoy playing the game.

But I think this is where the show struggles with a tonal balance.

The show wanted to have games fans interested. While the show is an adaptation of the books, we all know that before the show came out the vast majority of Witcher fans were games fans and not many people actually had read the books. But in order to make a show based on the books compatible with the themes of the show you have to change things in a way that feels disconnected.

For example, the show strikes these cords where they talk about these themes of extinction and showcase the horrors of war. For example, one of my fav episodes of S1 was the dragon hunt and throughout it Geralt talked heavily about how monsters like the Hirikka and dragons were basically extinct and there’s no reason to fight them — a classic book-type moment.

But then in S2 they made a lot of changes that made the world more closely resemble the games. Suddenly there were monsters around Kaer Morhen Geralt was taking Ciri to fight and Basilios coming through portals. This sort of thing is expected in the games but would never happen in the books. Suddenly the theme of monsters dying out is lost. Because now Geralt is grinding and slicing away at monsters just like in TW3.

Similarly, Kaer Morhen in the show looks very similar to the games design, not how it was described in the books. As well, the way the Witchers acted in the show felt like a TW3 cutscene more than anything I read in the books. (Which btw Kaer Morhen and other Witchers besides Geralt only appear in one book of the MAIN series — Blood of Elves — outside of brief flashbacks). Shit even the prostitutes in Kaer Morhen felt like a brothel scene in TW3.

Even the fact that they changed Triss’ hair in the show for S2 came from complaints from gamer fans (in the books her hair is chestnut not dissimilar from S1 and I will go into the polish etymology of the translation variations if I must).

So I felt like in S2 the Geralt we saw on screen felt very far away from the Geralt we saw in the books. He felt like the Geralt from TW3 which don’t get me wrong I love him too but it’s just not what I signed up for.

Actually, the part of season two that I really enjoyed was Xin’trea. It felt much more true to the themes of the books. The idea that elves are targeted for simply existing. The Martin Niemöller quote variation Jaskier used when acting as the Sandpiper. Even having Dara come back and infiltrate Xin'trea and report to Philippa felt just like some of the scenes from Blood of Elves. It all came back to the themes and vibes of the books in a way the Kaer Morhen plots didn’t.

All this to say, I love the show a lot but I feel like there’s a tonal disconnect in S2 based on the show trying too hard to change The Continent into the one from the games instead of sticking to the vibes of the books.

Of course they change things from the books, but isn’t that what all the best adaptations do? If I wanted an exact copy of the books, I would just go reread by well read and well worn copies sitting on my shelf. What's important to me is retaining the themes and overall atmosphere of the books, which I feel like S2 struggles with by trying to have it all and combine the games universe with the books. They are far more incompatible than the show's writers seem to believe.

#anyways there's an overwhelming amount of words I throw at y'all #the witcher #twn #the witcher games #tw3 #the witcher books #geralt #myposts #asks #anon #fandom racism

18 notes · View notes