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#triple triad / tag games

ff14untamedzine · 1 year

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The shop is OPEN! ✨ Untamed 2 is a #FFXIV zine celebrating the game's iconic creatures and primals~

🛒 PRE-ORDER NOW https://ff14untamedzine.bigcartel.com

| Join our giveaway | 🐣 Follow 🐥 Reblog this post 🐤 Tag a friend (JOIN ON INSTAGRAM AND TWITTER FOR ANOTHER CHANCE TO WIN!)

Untamed 1 + 2! 🐥

The complete Untamed experience✨

The Ultimate Bundle includes full bundles from Untamed 1 and Untamed 2. Each volume contains 150+ pages of content and a large collection of creature themed merch, kupo.

Available while supplies last!

Untamed 2 Bundles~ We have a variety of different tiers to fit any adventurers needs.

🐦 Savage Bundle - Full Collection 🐤 EX Bundle - Zine + Some Merch 🐥 Normal Bundle - Physical Zine 🐣 Digital Bundle - PDF Only

*Physical bundles come with a bonus Chocobo triple triad card!

✨Stretch Goals✨

We prepared a large collection of stretch goals to unlock during the pre-order campaign. They include, bonus prints, extra triple triad cards, gold foil treatments, and more!

Share Untamed 2 with your FC and let's unlock them all!

#ffxiv #ffxiv zine #final fantasy #ffxiv art #fanzine #zines #untamed 2 is open for pre-order!

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desertdragon · 2 months

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Tagged By: @shroudkeeper left it open

Tagging: @pettyeti @finishing-touch | actually I'm gonna extend this to @icehearts to talk about someone other than Esca the Fresca | OPEN bc all of ya'll passed this around already

BASICS

Name: Vaste Valescoere / U'ralhana Odh / Osha Tayuun Nicknames: Rala (SIBLINGS ONLY) Age: 23 Nameday: 8th Sun of the 3rd Astral Moon | May 8th Race: Miqo'te | Half Sun Seeker ☀️ and Half Moon Keeper 🌙 Gender: Non-Binary Orientation: Lesbian Profession: Hunter (formerly), The Warrior of Light, Tea Farmer (later)

PHYSICAL ASPECTS

Hair: Blue / Black Eyes: Aqua end of Green Skin: Fair peach Tattoos/scars: Swooped line black tattoos underlining both eyes, horizontal scar across nose bridge from being hit by a Sundrake tail spike

FAMILY

Parents: U'odh Nunh (Father) and Oghii Tayuun (Mother, doesn't know her because she abandoned her baby) Siblings: U'rahtalo Odh (Older Sister), U'thulani Odh (Oldest Sister), U'nkanyezi Tia (Oldest Brother), U'ingwe Tia (Youngest Brother) - 1. Rahtalo is a phonetic name 2. Thulani is a Zulu imperative plural phrase meaning Be Quiet! which she got for being a loud baby among the loudest babies of her time until it stuck as a name, it shares the same root conjugate Thula that makes up the Ukhuthula in Yoshino's Sun name, which means Peace / Tranquil / Clam / Silence 3. Nkanyezi means Star, combining from Khanya (shine) and Unyezi (moonlight), due to the passing star shower when he was born 4. Ingwe means Leopard, for the spotted marks on his ear fur

Dad & Mom

Siblings shown in order: Nkanyezi, Ingwe, Rahtalo, Thulani

Grandparents: Doesn't know Moon Keeper grandparents, Sun Seeker grandparents are U'themba Nunh (Themba meaning Hope, Trust, have Faith in) and U'anele Bheka, (Anele means to be enough in quantity and is usually given as a name to the last child born, Bheka primarily means to look at something) both sets long dead In-laws and Other: Yunagi and Ihanami (Mother and Father in Law), Yhen'ir Ganajai (Older Cousin, Moon Keeper) Pets: Lewena gave him planters of a few different types and said 'These are your feelings' and he's been watering them ever since, a Coelacanth and a Shark both in tanks

SKILLS

Abilities: The power of No you | Limitless physical ability and inability to be physically hurt by anything that is not designed to kill Primals, Echo (immortality, aether reading/attack prediction, knowing all languages, can see into others pasts) , Aether Manipulation extending to 'eating' any living thing by reducing it back into raw aether, immunity to poison, disease, and being mind controlled or compelled, underwater breathing, extreme pain tolerance, unrestricted movement allowing free flowing movement on any surface that exists including air and water, can survive outer space and extreme environments made of aether, power bestowal to others, inherited the mastery of all magic, aiming weapons, axes, and sword shield fighting styles after absorbing all five Warriors of Darkness souls, Sharlayan Astrology healing techniques learned from Leveva Byrde Hobbies: Fishing (accredited member of the Fishing Guild and master fisherman), Gambling over card games like Triple Triad, Chocobo Racing, Eating big at a different restaurant every day, Collecting dildos interesting things to send to people she knows, Training, Walks until she gets lost on purpose

TRAITS

Most Positive Trait: Perseverance Most Negative Trait: Naivety

LIKES

Colors: Orange Smells: Coming Rain, Food, Perfume, Leather, Peeled Wood Textures: Leather, Cool Stone, Sand, Soil, Water, Linen, Yugiri's Scales Drinks: Tea, Water, Alcohol, Fruit Nectar

OTHER

Smokes: Never Drinks: Can drink others under the table and even to death Drugs: Never Mount Issuance: Alba the Chocobo, Alba is Italian for Dawn/Sunrise

Friends for life (his favorite food is apples)

Been Arrested: Was almost arrested several times in New Gridania until Mother Miounne intervened each time then put in a word (read: made threats and bribes) to stop it- because Wood Wailers had clocked her Moon Keeper traits and were ready to make some bullshit up to arrest her because they're racist, now as WoL she can do anything she wants without ever getting arrested because people are either afraid or worship her too much

#hc

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strange-eorzean-tales · 1 year

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Get to know O'livia Kinley!

P.S. I have searched so many places to try and find a tag to properly credit MonsterMyrr but I cannot find them! If you know their link please share with me so I can edit this post!

1. Are they Ticklish?

Yes

2. Introvert or Extrovert?

Introverted Extrovert. She loves being around people and her friends and is often loud or cheery and inviting, but she has a limit and when that is reached she shuts down.

3.Favourite way to spend their free time?

Painting. She isn't good at it, but she likes to paint for catharsis.

4. What they wear to bed?

Pajamas. I imagine the matching flannel set with buttons down the front, some sort of pink plaid pattern.

5. Favourite Treat?

A custard tart with whipped cream and strawberries on top

6. Fondest childhood toy?

A doll that resembled Scrump from Lilo and Stitch made by her mother

7. Alone in the dark, what do they do?

Sleep, maybe cry a little.

8. How good are they at cooking?

She can cook enough to survive, but doesn't make it into an art.

9. Do they have a skill others don't know about?

Kind of, but she also doesn't know about it, or is too afraid to acknowledge it.

10. Guilty pleasure they would never admit to?

She used to read a lot of harlequin novels.

11. Do they like hugging or being hugged?

Absolutely to both

12. Do they have a significant other? If no, would they want one?

Yes!

13. When they enter a room full of people, are they noticed?

Most of the time! The green hair makes it hard to not be noticed.

14. What do they smell like?

Depends on the type of Tree she spent time climbing.

15.Describe their voice.

She speaks with a bit of an accent. A little Limsan a little Gyr Abanian ....she adopted it from someone who had saved her at a young age.

16. Coffee or Tea?

Tea. White tea preferably but will drink any.

17. Do they have any phobias or fears?

So many... voidsent, abandonment, her innate magical abilities (primarily fire based),

18. What position do they sleep in?

Starts off in a ball on her side hugging either a pillow or stuffed animal, wakes up absolutely sprawled out like a starfish.

19. Can they sing?

Yes but she chooses not to publicly.

20. Are they good with kids? Do they have any?

Livia is great with kids! She's liable to get into trouble with them though, pranking some unfortunate merchant for sure...

21. Do they consider themselves good looking? Do others?

She believes she is cute and charming but not alluring or sexy. Others have complimented her looks many times, though she doesn't know if they're just being polite or not.

22. They rip their pants. Do they have them fixed or buy new ones?

If she wears pants she would try to mend them, but she prefers shorts, skirts and dresses

23. Do they use drugs or alcohol?

Occasional drinking

24. Any pets?

A duck named Rooster

25. Do they prefer Night or Day?

She prefers the time between them. Dusk and dawn. The twilight hours where the sky is bright but it is still a bit dark, the birds have awoken, and there is a violet hue to everything.

26. They get a nasty flu, how do they manage?

Becomes an absolute baby and demanding. Eventually she'll feel bad and try doing things herself though.

27. Any siblings? What of their parents?

One older brother by 3-4 years named Mikh'a, and two dead parents.

28. Do they enjoy playing games?

Loves them! She particularly enjoys triple triad

29. Describe their home or living situation.

She has lived in many places, but few she would consider home. The ship was her home. Now the birdhouse is.

30. If someone walked in on them naked, how would they react?

She would become flustered and blush while trying to cover herself with anything available, apologizing profusely as if it were her fault.

31. Random cute fact!

If she is mad or displeased or a situation calls for a degree of seriousness, she will drop her accent.

#ffxiv roleplay #mateus #ffxiv #get to know meme #livia

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monriatitans · 5 months

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Ta-Da! List: Friday, January 19th

I have decided to make a “Ta-Da! List” every day! There won’t be TMI.

Don’t know what a “Ta-Da! List” is? To learn more, check out @adhdjesse‘s book Extra Focus here.

Abbreviations

– TW = Trigger Warning – PAQ = Poverty Awareness Quote – VGQ = Video Game Quote – BMAC = Buy Me a Coffee – O&T = Opinions & Truth Blog – WGS = The Weekend Game Show – LQ = Literacy Quote – FFXIV = Final Fantasy 14

Ta-Da! List

✧ throughout the day: – moved between the bedroom and office setups – kept emails manageable by deleting some and unsubscribing from newsletters – O&T: prepared and scheduled future VGQ, LQ, and PAQs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the bedroom setup: – alternated between watching “Olympus Has Fallen“, listening to “Don’t Leave” by Seven Lions, feat. Ellie Goulding, and reading books – the scheduled VGQ posted to O&T, Tumblr, the O&T and WGS FB Pages, and LinkedIn; shared it to the O&T IG and its Highlight, the post to Pinterest, BMAC, O&T Threads, Hive, and Bluesky – the scheduled LQ posted to O&T, Tumblr, the O&T and WGS FB Pages, and LinkedIn; shared it to the O&T IG and its Highlight, post to Pinterest, BMAC, O&T Threads, Hive, and Bluesky – LinkedIn: added a project and additional information – MonriaTitans’ Carrd: replaced the Minds link with LinkedIn – O&T: added today’s VGQ and the LQ to the “2024” wrap-ups; updated the Menu; finished preparing and scheduling future VGQ and LQs for January, then for Feb. 1st – managed O&T’s Tags ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the office setup: – FFXIV: downloaded patch 6.55; at the apartment, harvested the Coerthan Tea Leaves and planted more; did inventory & Venture management with the Retainers, two leveled up; sold 2 Triple Triad Cards at the Gold Saucer; cleaned the Chocobo stables outside the apartment, grabbed the side quest “Of Duplicity and Duplication”; completed the main quest line; completed the Manderville side quest, grabbed the quest “Resonating with Perfection” with the Dancer – O&T: picked the PAQs for Jan. 24th – prepared the ASO for tomorrow, Jan. 20th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ chores: – unloaded the dishwasher – checked the mail – took out the trash

—

Well, these are all the updates I had for today! Thank you for reading!

May every decision you make be *in the spirit of fairness* and may the rest of your day *NOT go to $#!7*!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please consider supporting through the tip page or Buy Me a Coffee! Like what you see? Click here to subscribe for updates! Watch MonriaTitans on Twitch and YouTube! For more about MonriaTitans, click here! The images were made in Canva!

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achievechamp · 5 months

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My WoL, Emmy Thielsen

Crystal || Brynhildr

Emmy is a Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te from a clan who lived near the edge of the Black Shroud. She was raised to be the next matriarch of her clan, but throughout her childhood, she dreamed of exploring the world and frequently discussed all the places she would go with her older brother. He left the clan to become an adventurer when she was a teenager and sent her letters from all of the places he went. Unfortunately, her brother was killed during the Calamity. This prompted her to finally realize her dreams and leave her clan, and name, behind. Emmy (a nickname given to her by her brother), set off for Gridania with the blessing of those left in her clan.

Emmy is a Bard main (she learned archery for hunting purposes and protection), but she also is well practiced in crafting, due to her clan's main source of income being artisan goods. Her favorite minion is Wind-up Nanamo and she can frequently be seen riding Ehll Tou. Follow Emmy on The Lodestone and Lalachievements.

How long I’ve been playing

I started playing in August 2022 after watching my sibling and roommate play for the prior 6 months. MMOs were never something that appealed to me, but I got fully sucked into the story as I watched it. I started playing within days of my roommate finishing Endwalker.

Fun Fact: I was actually part of the closed beta back in 2010 for 1.0. I didn't play a lot in the game and I can't really remember any part of the beta, but it's wild that over a decade later, it would become an important part of my life!

My favorite content

The story! MSQ, raids, side stories, all of it! I love the stories and characters and world of FFXIV! I also love crafting and gathering. While playing through the game, I sometimes take a break and only craft for a week. I also love collecting, so I've done parts of the game for the sole reason to get orchestrions, minions, and triple triad cards.

Also, special shout out to the music! Soken was my top played artist on Spotify last year. And the year before.

My current achievement score:

11,870 (as of 12/31/23)

My pledge per achievement:

For the month of January, I will commit to $0.50 per achievement earned in the month This amount is likely to change from month to month and I will update my next month's donation amount as this progresses.

Follow my tag to find my progress reports:

#AcheiveChampEmmy

(Yes I am a week late. I have been keeping up on what I've gotten, I just never finished this post...)

https://www.lalachievements.com/char/44606751/

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revolverized · 5 years

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► NAME ➔ ❝ Squall. Squall Leonhart. ❞ ► ARE YOU SINGLE? ➔ ❝ ... ❞ [ verse dependent; default is usually dating Seifer ] ► ARE YOU HAPPY? ➔ ❝ ...Not really. ❞ ► ARE YOU ANGRY? ➔ ❝ Not at the moment. ❞ ► ARE YOUR PARENTS STILL MARRIED? ➔ ❝ I don’t have parents. ❞

NINE FACTS.

► BIRTHPLACE ➔ ❝ Wouldn’t know. ❞ [ Winhill ] ► HAIR COLOUR ➔ ❝ Brown. ❞ ► EYE COLOUR➔ ❝ Blue. ❞ ► BIRTHDAY ➔ ❝ August 23rd. ❞ ► MOOD ➔ ❝ Whatever. ❞ ► GENDER ➔ ❝ Male. ❞ ► SUMMER OR WINTER? ➔ ❝ ...Spring. ❞ ► MORNING OR AFTERNOON? ➔ ❝ Evening. ❞

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE.

► ARE YOU IN LOVE? ➔ ❝ ... ❞ [ verse dependent; usually yes. ] ► DO YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT? ➔ ❝ No. ❞ ► WHO ENDED YOUR LAST RELATIONSHIP? ➔ ❝ Probably me. ❞ ► HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN SOMEONE’S HEART? ➔ ❝ Probably. ❞ ► ARE YOU AFRAID OF COMMITMENTS? ➔ ❝ Maybe.❞ ► HAVE YOU HUGGED SOMEONE WITHIN THE LAST WEEK? ➔ ❝ No. ❞ ► HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SECRET ADMIRER? ➔ ❝ Wouldn’t know. ❞ ► HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN YOUR OWN HEART? ➔ ❝ ... ❞ [ read: yes ]

SIX CHOICES.

► LOVE OR LUST? ➔ ❝ Love.❞ ► LEMONADE OR ICE TEA? ➔ ❝ Iced tea.. ❞ ► CATS OR DOGS? ➔ ❝ Cats. ❞ ► A FEW BEST FRIENDS OR MANY REGULAR FRIENDS? ➔ ❝ I don’t really have friends. ❞ ► WILD NIGHT OUT OR ROMANTIC NIGHT IN? ➔ ❝ Neither. ❞ ► DAY OR NIGHT? ➔ ❝ Night. ❞

FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS.

► BEEN CAUGHT SNEAKING OUT? ➔ ❝ No, because I know what I’m doing when I do. ❞ ► FALLEN DOWN / UP THE STAIRS? ➔ ❝ .... ❞ [ read: yes. ] ► WANTED SOMEONE / SOMETHING SO BADLY IT HURT? ➔ ❝ ... ❞ [ yes ] ► WANTED TO DISAPPEAR? ➔ ❝ I guess. ❞

FOUR PREFERENCES.

► SMILE OR EYES? ➔ ❝ Smiles. ❞ ► SHORTER OR TALLER? ➔ ❝ Taller. ❞ ► INTELLIGENCE OR ATTRACTION? ➔ ❝ Don’t care. ❞ ► HOOK-UP OR RELATIONSHIPS? ➔ ❝ Relationships. ❞

FAMILY.

► DO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY GET ALONG? ➔ ❝ I don’t have any family. ❞ ► WOULD YOU SAY YOU HAVE A “MESSED UP LIFE?” ➔ ❝ Yeah, I guess. ❞ ► HAVE YOU EVER RAN AWAY FROM HOME? ➔ ❝ No. ❞ ► HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN KICKED OUT? ➔ ❝ No. ❞

FRIENDS.

► DO YOU SECRETLY HATE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS? ➔ ❝ Yes. ❞ [ read: no ] ► DO YOU CONSIDER ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS GOOD FRIENDS? ➔ ❝ No. ❞ [ read; yes ] ► WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? ➔ ❝ I don’t have one. ❞ ► WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU? ➔ ❝ No one. ❞

TAGGED BY: @isolov TAGGING: @hyperionized @atlaslain @culturedconjurer @sanctiichor @stormruled @wingxheart

#triple triad / tag games

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mettleforged-blog · 5 years

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Is your muse a thot?

“H-Hey now, not so loud..!”

#triple triad / tag games

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galbadiangunsman · 5 years

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love styles

Your Love Style is Agape

You are a caring, kind, and selfless partner. Unsurprisingly, your love style is the most rare. You are willing to sacrifice your world for your sweetie. Except it doesn't really feel like sacrifice to you. For you, nothing feels better than giving to the one you love.

tagged by: yoinked from myself

tagging: you!

#triple triad / tag games #( i knew he'd get this gdi irvine )#( he just has a big heart... too big to survive in such a harsh world. he cant help it )

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brokenmoonsongs · 2 years

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In Defense of Jaskier, Not Your Average Sidekick

(Original image of Jaskier in the Netflix Timeline site. You could find him playing in a forest, and then below was the list of season one songs.) Summary: My analysis of Jaskier in Netflix's The Witcher, stemming both seasons but an emphasis on season two. His character, his relationships, his portrayal and representation in media. This will touch on fandom and beliefs topics surrounding toxic masculinity, queer platonic relationships, queer bait tropes, and heteronormativity in the media. Word Count: ~11.7K

This is going to be extremely rambly, and probably will be tons of points already mentioned in the the Tags and other parts of Fandom. But I've been stewing over this since I saw season 2 and just need to get it all out. I've only read one post on tumblr, and plenty of author notes through fanfics produced in the last few weeks.

Final disclaimer, while I've only consumed the show, I have read summaries of the books and researched as much as I can of the games/books and talked to a few IRL friends who were fans of the book first. My focus here will be of course on the show's portrayal.

EDIT: Apologies, somehow queuing this up fucked up the formatting?

First Impressions & Jaskier Season 01 vs the Books

I had managed to avoid playing the Witcher Games ever since I saw an interview with the studio in a magazine back when the first one was supposed to come out. Even though Fantasy hack and slash RPG was (and is) totally my jam, I hated how misogynistic and racist the studio interview was (surprise, surprise with what we got from Cyberpunk, lol) so vowed to just ignore.

Flash forward to a few years ago (what is time anymore) when GOG.Com came out with Gwent as a standalone game. Up to that point, I've seen some random scenes of the video games from watching friend streamers play it, so I knew of Gwent. It felt like it was supposed to be as difficult to figure out as Triple Triad from Final Fantasy. But I had a chance to play a beta version of the game. There was a storyline/lore component to learn the game, which was of course narrated by Dandelion. I loved everything about him, even though I didn't know much, but totally my type (I've been a Gambit fan since the Saturday morning cartoon). And already, I was like hmm... What if Dandelion and Geralt? I didn't play the beta long as I got distracted with other stuff and then again Witcher was far from my mind.

Until the Netflix series. Being a fan of Henry Cavil, I was willing to give it a shot. It wasn't until the person I was dating at the time (Jan 2020) insisted on watching it that I finally did. They were a HUGE fan of the book series, having read it all and played the games. So it took a while for me to realize Dandelion was Jaskier, and then things were filled for me as we watched the first few episodes together.

I watched the rest of the season on my own. And again, I was captivated by Jaskier. I don't think it was obvious in season one what was definitely set up on season two. I'm definitely a shipper type of person. But for me, in tv shows? It's almost never the canon ships they want people to see. So it was Istredd/Yennefer and Geralt/Jaskier almost immediately. I didn't know at the time that twenty years had passed from first and last appearances of Jaskier. At least the amount of time that Cirilla was born, for sure.

Look, the barker/bard trailing after the big macho fighter and being the plucky best friend/sidekick is not new. We had Hercules & Joxer, Xena and Gabrielle, He-Man and Gwil-dor, Sherlock & Watson, Robin Hood & Much, Blair & Jim. And in a lot of these, there's a fandom for the pairing. It's just as good as rivals/enemies to lovers. And nearly in all of these, the canon states (except for Xena & Gabrielle) that they are all straight people who only love each other in a platonic way.

We'll get more on that later.

But here are two good friends, complete opposites in nearly every which way who's managed to not kill each other (intentionally) for two decades. And there was Jaskier, reaching out for Geralt, to give us that hint of "hey it's been twenty years, is what pleases us still the same" in Jaskier's demeanor. Geralt was cranky before the mountain, maybe it was the beginning signs of a friendship that needed to adapt/evolve. Nothing can stay the same for that long span of years (at least for humans). And Jaskier, being a very perceptive person, was feeling that out, was realizing maybe something needed to change.

Having slept through an important battle and missed out on a very important discussion regarding his best friend, Jaskier then tries to to do what he always does best. Be an outlet for Geralt, with humor and annoyance. Problem is, he misjudges and gets a verbal lashing that actually affects him. It's the fact that Geralt NEVER said "go" in this that makes it even worse. Because even when they first met, Geralt had tried to leave Jaskier behind and never see him again. It's the words never said, but all in the actions and feeling that Jaskier gets the message. It's not like old fights or yelling.

(What's even MORE frustrating, is in the season two recap we get before starting the first ep, we don't see Jaskier until a little over halfway of the 3minutes. We see everything that Geralt claims is Jaskier's fault, except edited in a way where Jaskier is not shown. And then we get the shit shovel line and Jaskier's heartbreak. AND, super imposed audio of the first meeting: "This is where we part ways, bard, for good." implying he said it in the mountain.

Now, being a video editor and social media marketer myself, and having worked with game marketing departments, one hand doesn't listen to the other. So can't blame this on the writing/editing of the show itself. But it's very telling that they make this scene worse than it is and imply Jaskier's part in Geralt's life was miniscule compared to everything else.)

And then it's the last we see of Jaskier. Obviously, between the pain on Jaskier's face and the vitriol spewed by Geralt, the heartache and heartbreak is where it really cemented this relationship.

It's meant to be platonic heartbreak. And believe me, I know. I've had friends I've loved (in a friend/platonic way) who've betrayed me, who've broken my heart in worse ways than actual relationships have. It's powerful, and it's not often showed or talked about. Especially in fandoms where we're grasping for more queer content that we'll translate this. It's still just as important and meaningful even if we just kept this at surface level.

But what makes this hard to swallow sometimes too, is the book fans crying out about how their relationship in the books wasn't like this. That Geralt was always sweet to Jaskier and they were obviously best friends and yeah Jaskier got on his (and other's) nerves as is the way of being a loud, flamboyant bard. While it was in the books and games that they didn't spend all twenty years together, Jaskier having his own life and pursuits, and probably stupid petty fights too, they never had a break up like this. It never got to this point. When you adapt texts, you have to be mindful of what you change and what that implies.

In theory, this meant that Netflix!Geralt cared less about this friendship than Book!Geralt. And up until the viewing of season two, most fans didn't want to believe this. We gave excuses for his more recalcitrant nature and even more silent demeanor. We still believed and hoped that Netflix!Geralt cared just as much and regretted it immediately. It's unsure whether that final look we get is of that, or if Geralt was just in his head too much (could be both).

INTERMISSION. FRIENDSHIPS VS BROMANCE

Now, there's an argument I've heard a few times, both from online people I know and from just general commentary on media... "Why can't we just have good platonic relationships? Why can't they just be friends?" when talking about a presumed same sex couple. And there's definitely some validity to that and truth to that. But in media, everything's extremely heteronormative. People are always saying "men and women can't be friends" and using that as an excuse to romance two people of different genders. You never hear that about "same sex" friendships.

(I apologize at keeping this in the restrictive binary. Relationships of all sorts are much more complicated and nuanced, and there's not the same tropes with transgender, nonbinary and other minority identities. And while I'm currently questioning my cis-ness, I'm not capable of expanding this conversation with confidence.)

I've watched only a handful of interviews about season two since watching the season, mostly Joey's, and it's emphasized of course about the friendship they have, and being able to celebrate just the closeness and intimacy they have. As friends. Who just happen to be two guys. And that's great. In the very online world that we live in now, we don't actually see a lot of positive male intimacy in American/Western society/media.

There's always the idea of #NoHomo and the marketable #Bromance that's thrown around. There's a lot of toxic masculinity going around that affects everyone, about not showing feelings to other guys, not showing how much their guy friends mean to each other. Usually when we see some form of male intimacy between seemingly straight guys, it's usually quickly played up for laughs, or it happens after some very traumatic event. Sometimes it's the pat on the back type of hug, sometimes it's an actual, genuine full hug. I always think back to the FRIENDS episode where Joey and Ross become nap buddies. They fall asleep together and curl up with each other. They accept it when they're alone. But as soon as anyone else finds out, it's "oh shit!" and they pull apart and then it's known to the group, so they stop doing it.

So no, we really don't get enough positive reinforcements of this. And on the other side, while women friends are more accepted and not questioned, whenever a guy is involved and there's that misnomer love triangle, then suddenly they can't be good or close friends. We get them competing for attention of the guy, or being jealous of each other. Or if one's in a relationship and the other isn't, their friendship usually turns into either complaining about the guy or complaining about being single. And in the few shows that have women as the main characters (such as Rizzoli & Isles) it's very much more about them being independent and not needing a guy and how relationships interfere with their dynamic. We rarely if ever see that particular situation when a show is comprised of mostly male lead characters.

And that's the problem. So many shows, "genre" and modern, are comprised of mostly male leads and casts and are mostly straight. So the whole "why can't they just be friends" argument doesn't hold up that well when we have queerbaiting/bromance marketing going on all the time for shows like Hawaii 5-0, NCIS: LA, Psych, Lethal Weapon show, or even shows not marketed like that like Sons of Anarchy, Cobra Kai, The Boys, and others. And even in non-Western media, we have to contend with shows based on actual LGBTQIA+ works being transformed into "just good friends" like Sleuth of Ming Dynasty because of censorship and other things.

Wheel of Time has some of the best queer rep I've seen in a studio made fantasy adventure show. It fails in other departments, but goddamn, did it make me happy to see polyamory, and queer people, especially queer people of color. And it was a mix of having to hide it (because of politics not favoring relationships of any sort) and being proudly open about it. It's not there as shock value or to titillate or prove a point about someone's proclivities (looking at you, Yennefer orgy scene in season 01).

So when the first season of Witcher came out, it was always marketed as Geralt and Yennefer as the big romance. It was never doing the bromance thing with Jaskier, even though we got more scenes with Jaskier & Geralt together than Yennefer & Geralt making their supposed romance/lust for each other seem very contrived. Even me with knowing how it was years of back and forth with the two in the books, couldn't really see it.

All we get in the show is sexual attraction. It's there in spades between Geralt and Yennefer. There's only implied emotional connect at the end, right when they force the issue in the Mountain scene. It was too little too late. A little bit of this gets fixed in season two, but we'll get to that (sorta).

And this is an issue in a lot of heterosexual "romances" in media, both on TV and in movies. It's always about sexual attraction and then a relationship and then maybe if one's lucky, there's emotional/romantic/mental attraction between the two. And usually it's lopsided.

One gregarious example is with Big Bang Theory. While I liked Leonard mostly in the first season (playing shy nerdy dude who seemed to be a good guy), it was more and more obvious (and tech obvious from the get-go), that he really only cared about Penny's beauty and his attraction to her. This is supposed to be the extreme case of opposites attract. But what Penny first fell for in Leonard was the whole "not like other guys" which was the masculine definition, someone taller than her, strong, and conventionally sexy, but almost always an asshole. She liked that he was sweet and kind to her with not really expecting anything else. Aka the "friendzone." She eventually learns to like him and feel attraction to him because of who he supposedly is. We really never get that from Leonard's side. And while he never cared about her being as smart as him, things really didn't get serious until she got a more reputable job that was science-adjacent. And in one of the many seasons when they were broken up and "just friends", they go out on a friend date and he admits that when they were dating, he only pretended to like the things she was into to get sex. He even lauded it over her. Meanwhile, she suffered with Sheldon's tutelage so she could feel a little smarter. She wasn't a geek, but she tried to get into his geekdom. (We'll ignore the only time this ever worked was when Sheldon got her into things like Star Trek, MMORPGs, and a few others when she felt genuinely interested.)

So here we have Geralt and Yennefer who do actually have a lot in common but we don't get it in the show. I'm sure it's in the books, and fandom, even Geraskier fandom, fills in the blanks about why they should have worked but also why it makes sense that they don't. They're both opposites and yet too much alike. But because they're straight (supposedly, orgy scene aside), that means they're just supposed to fit and it be unquestioned. We get no romance, just some possible romantic lines.

Now here's an interesting thing. In a lot of "bromances" or buddy cop shows, there's always the line of "you act like a married couple", (this also happens in Hallmark Romances with het characters), and usually it's regard to friendly or not so friendly bickering/teasing/light fighting. It always felt like a wink wink nod nod kind of thing. It also is part of that whole trope that's SO excessive in het romances (especially Shoujo manga) that fighting and hiding things and pulling pigtails is indicative of love, and it's "just so obvious guys". So with straight couples, it's a sign of true love, but with generally two men? It's just a joke and they're "just bros" or "good friends".

As a writer, I do my best to do research even for throwaway lines. The Netflix site for the Witcher Timeline is invaluable as I want to stay true to Netflix and then sprinkle in game/book stuff when there's not enough information. I keep forgetting sites like these are VERY ephemeral. I luckily took a cap above before season two hit. There wasn't much about Jaskier in the last iteration of the site before season two (the events of the animated prequel were added then). We had his date of birth which confirmed 20 years went by, and that he came from Oxenfurt and Lettenhove (no mention of Viscount). Now, I don't remember if one of the entries was always like this, but only when I checked last did I notice the paragraph about Jaskier and Geralt. And instead of using the tried and true phrase of "bicker like an old couple" it actually said "they fight like brothers."

That's... not a phrase I've seen often in shows with two main leads, unless they were previously "brothers in arms" in the military or something. I thought this was very choice wording, especially considering that Geralt does have his own brothers and we see he treats them in season two way differently than we've seen him treat Jaskier. Granted, one main difference is that when Jaskier is in trouble, Geralt doesn't hesitate to help him. But this is more I believe because Jaskier is just human and needs that protection than the other Witchers.

I'll touch more on that odd line from the older Netflix entry later, or at least tie it in with what we'll probably get in season 03. Mind, I know we'll never get canon Geraskier. It feels like we'll get bi Jaskier at least, and then quite possibly confirmation of a queer platonic relationship. (I do worry though this will play out like how The Rock handles any queer guys in his last two films: Jungle Cruise & Red Notice, which isn't great.)

Again, we do need more instances of queer platonic relationships, especially in a healthy, positive, affirming light. I just don't think that'll happen here given how poorly Jaskier is treated in the show and related media (like in the updated Netflix timeline site). It would just be nice, you know? It's miserable we're still desperate for crumbs in 2022.

Treatment of Jaskier by Others in Season 01

The Bard is almost always treated as a comedic sidekick in shows, or the supposed best friend of the main hero. They're the ones to lighten up the situation and give some softness to the gruff/angst-ridden lead. They're the wingman. We see this often in Joxer, Gabrielle, Ron, Poe Dameron, Danno (his stories are always second to McGarret), Riley (of National Treasure), Goose, Gus, Donkey, Genie... Usually, the only one that sees their worth or that they're more than just there for comic relief is the audience and the hero. But not always.

Understandably, Yennefer cares not for the bard (and vice versa). We don't get confirmation till the second season that a lot of it is jealousy/rivalry based, and not just Jaskier's personality. But it makes sense, more sense than Yennefer and Geralt's romance.

When we first meet Jaskier, the Posadans don't care for him at all for his shit songs, and that makes sense. He's 18, doesn't know how to read the regular folk, and is very academic. The Sylvan and Elves? Hate humans, especially naïve ones who only know of the hateful rhetoric.

Now, it's roughly 6-8ish years after Posada that Jaskier is invited to play for Calanthe. No matter her opinion of him (which is low) she still invited him. And this is Cintra, where EVERYONE on the continent was afraid to mess with politically or otherwise. So it's definitely high praise if she's seeking out entertainment OUTSIDE her walls, especially from a possible Redanian. (Still unsure where Lettenhove is but, still at least very north of Cintra.) So while Toss a Coin has become an earworm that everyone loves to hate, or hates to love, it's still has brought him fame. Along with every other song he's created since then. Jaskier is already becoming extremely well known. And he plays with the court band well. In the briefest of cameos with the court band, they don't hate him, they like him, and there's at least musical/professional respect going on.

Frankly, this is the only time we see anyone treat Jaskier with respect that's not connected with either his flirtations OR with Geralt (like when the villagers were eager to tell their tales to Jaskier). We get the angry cuckolded noble, we get Mousesack who sniffs at the ridiculous outfit, we get the Queen who sniffs at anyone really who's not a warrior. But at least she enjoys the music when Jaskier changes it up.

I'm not sure about Chireadan, who was hard to watch in his scenes, and doesn't necessarily look down at Jaskier, but it seems like it was more like "we're both lowly people who should bow to the awesomeness that is Yennefer and/or powerful people like Geralt" than anything. Again, here it was more playing for laughs.

Up the mountain, Yarpin and his lot obviously don't care for Jaskier, and neither do the rest of the adventuring party. They just see a foppish fool of a bard. And yeah, Jaskier isn't at his best at his poor flirtation with Téa and Véa. This really reminded me of all the attempts Gus does around Shawn in Psych, skating the lines of creepiness. Again, despite us being told he gets around easily and is the "typical bard" who flirts with anyone, we don't see him being smooth and suave. This could be because he's distracted with Yennefer's presence, or the fact there was again some tension going on with him and Geralt in the beginning of the episode. And then Borch also pays him no mind, more interested in the destiny and chaos surrounding Geralt and Yennefer.

Despite the fact that we're now at twenty years of Jaskier following Geralt around, he still acts like he doesn't know what he's doing for an adventuring party, talking to an unknown and possibly deadly creature. Showing up his supposed incompetence and buffoonery. We can meta this as him just being that goodhearted person that we know, that he's still naïve (and harkens to a famous book quote about him still acting like a child of 10), and that it's not necessarily a bad thing. He's with Geralt, he technically doesn't have to worry about anything.

But, the whole "what pleases me" scene and his reaction to witnessing a traumatic "death" was fantastic and sobering and we get that hint of him realizing it's been YEARS at this and maybe, just maybe, something should change. Like what I wrote at the beginning where he's realizing this subtle shift with Geralt, he's possibly realizing now a shift within himself.

And then we have Geralt. Who barely tolerated him in the first adventure, punched him for mentioning the Butcher, tried to leave him for good after selflessly trying to sacrifice himself for him. Next, we see him barely tolerating him after a nasty hunt, making faces at him (and the bartender which was hilarious), but relying on him for a good bath and the possibility of good food and drink. He then lies to a noble to save his friend, doing it in such a way that yes would make the noble feel bad for the man, but also again, to belittle Jaskier (and emasculate him despite his supposed reputation of being a pleaser). Still, he does his due diligence and even after the end of everything still tries to warn Jaskier to play it safe. The djinn situation makes it seem it happened within a year of Cintra (1249) but it was actually 7 years later. Obviously it wasn't seven years since Jaskier seen Geralt but they definitely hadn't spent most of that year together. We can't fault Geralt's demeaner here with Jaskier, as both aren't in their best of minds. But here we see that he does care (even beyond just helping a hapless human), willing to make a deal with a powerful rogue court mage. Once he's assured that Jaskier will be fine, he relaxes. This is not necessarily a bad thing but when it comes to Jaskier, we see in season two that Geralt is shit at follow through/ups.

I really wish we had gotten one more episode of their adventures to see their friendship more, and hell, more of Geralt and Yennefer interacting that wasn't just sex, but showing how their brilliant minds could solve problems.

But no, despite seeing this care and then kind of discard of Jaskier (Geralt finally getting sleep and who knows if Jaskier stayed around that time or not), we go right to the mountain. Where Geralt again is irritated with Jaskier who's just trying to write a new song and waiting by Roach. Like I had mentioned earlier with Jaskier seemingly not have changed in 20 years, Geralt's treatment to Jaskier here shows similar to Posada. He again mostly ignores Jaskier, worried for Yennefer. And especially when Jaskier tries to not be his bardic self (maybe showing that noble upbringing), to console him and open up to him, Geralt takes it as sign to just go to Yennefer and not realize what Jaskier was attempting.

Who knows why Jaskier isn't woken up by the morning activities, that he misses all the action. Is it because Geralt's so focused on Yennefer? Possibly. Is it because Geralt thinks Jaskier would be safer away? Maybe. More likely it's the Yennefer thing AND that he knows Jaskier would be pretty much useless in a fight. And then the final interaction. Jaskier, not knowing the context, trying to be what was always expected of him, someone to make light of the situation, to get Geralt's mind off of things, and maybe he expected annoyance, but not the anger and vitriol.

Overall, Jaskier is not treated with kindness and respect. We're told that he's loved by a lot, and his songs are famous and revered, and beyond everyone enjoying Toss a Coin, we almost see none of that. He's just here for the comedic outlet, for the songs. Never mind in the books, he's treated better by most everyone, that he's done a lot of respectable things including being a famous musician. He has many flaws, and we see them, just despite it all, he's a good person, he's doing his best, he's HUMAN. And one of the best humans out there for anyone considered or is non-human. Jaskier is a contradiction in so many ways but we shouldn't be getting so much of that in the show and supplements related to the show. But, at least season one ends with the final song Jaskier was working on with Geralt.

I am weak my love, and I am wanting.

Season 02: Where's Jaskier?

The writer(s) seemed to realize that hey, Jaskier is a HUGE fan favorite. We do get more depth to Jaskier in season two, at least more obvious than all the implication in season 01, but again, there's so much contradictions and so much ERASURE done to ensure we're all reminded that this is the Geralt and Ciri and Yennefer show. This part here is just me as a fan's feelings (I mean all of this is but I've been trying to analyze and talk it out with facts we know), but I feel like we were punished in ways for wanting more Jaskier (and possibly Geraskier fandom being one of the loudest? I'm unsure, I kept myself in a grief bubble for most of last year) for what we do and don't get in season two.

Mainly, we had to wait for FOUR episodes for Jaskier to appear. He's not even MENTIONED or referenced in the first three episodes. His part in season one of the recap was erased to JUST show Jaskier being tossed aside, despite his importance to the events in Geralt's life. How does Geralt not bring Jaskier up when talking to Ciri? Even just a passing "I was at your parents' betrothal cause I was protecting a dumb bard" or something. This bothered me so much I wrote a character study about that first episode lol. It's tossed in our faces too when Geralt mentions who his friends are but never once called Jaskier a friend, or admitted it.

There's a possible chance that Yennefer again was the first to mention Jaskier in an offhand way when she picks up that the elven songs have actual lyrics. That's what I was hoping on. This is still a possibility given what we now know will be happening in the prequel mini-series (which I hope turns to be a full on series on its own right). I haven't scoured every single interview for everything, so maybe that's been confirmed? I'll go on the current presumption it's not.

In the original Netflix site timeline, it indicated that between the mountain and Geralt finding Ciri was just nearly a year. It seems like the show writers forgot about that (and what is distance, crossing the continent back and forth like it was only a half day's ride without portals but I digress), and tries to make this entire season fit in just winter?? So three months? Man, music must've spread like wildfire for Jaskier to have THREE BANGERS hit across the continent (Her Sweet Kiss, The Golden One, and now as the Sandpiper, "Man of a Thousand Grunts"). Which we all agree on is impossible again to make such connections with Ciri and the Witchers and just... I'm still going to go with at least a year in between and then maybe 3-5 months with Geralt & Ciri together.

I bring you that tangent because it's related to what we do learn of Jaskier this whole season. Of what he did before we FINALLY see him.

Even the above snippet from Netflixpedia (as I'm going to dub it from here on out) is truly too short of a summary of Jaskier's escapades the past twenty years. Granted, we get a few extra in the locations and events around the continent, but it's still sparse. This is I believe one of the few entries not written as Jaskier (which is common across all media that most of the narration done is by Jaskier/Dandelion himself).

Going with the belief of about a year in between seasons, we know this. Jaskier made it safely down the mountain. Jaskier did not stop composing or performing. Jaskier believed that when Cintra fell, possibly the Witcher did too, temporarily (How disappointing). For a time, instead of going straight back to Oxenfurt, he went to Bleobheris. Although we got "Her Sweet Kiss" at the end of season 01, I don't think he finished it first. I think "The Golden One" came out first. Like "Toss Your Coin", it was a surprise hit, and much similar to one hit wonder pop songs like "Friday" where it's just an ear worm. It's not Jaskier's best, musicality wise still good, but he wrote it cause he needed to get the Mountain out and make himself feel better. Maybe working out his feelings.

I believe he finally released "Her Sweet Kiss" when he thought possibly Geralt and/or Yennefer was dead (Battle of Sodden taking out so many sorcerers and sorceresses). Mind, he's still heartbroken and hurting and the anger building. But Bleobheris happens. We figure he was there at least long enough for it to really make an impression. Was it his first time there? Who knows. Maybe he was even starting to heal a bit, being among others like himself. And then he witnesses an atrocity first hand. I'm sure Jaskier has witnessed a lot, but he's smart to keep himself out of anything military wise. And in this Netflix version, he hasn't done any spying (as far it feels like) prior to the Mountain. But this, similar to what happened in Posada is possibly the first time he's seen anything like it. It's scarring. He knows he's lucky to have been considered "safe" and not a "danger". We'll get more on this below. That affected him deeply, both as a compassionate and empathic person, and knowing it could eventually come down to him. He gets enough out of his rut to be willing to do anything to help. To not shovel piles of shit and be a useless bard. To have a purpose that aligns with his heart and head and abilities.

So he becomes the Sandpiper.

"The common sandpiper is a migrator, but it frequents similar habitats year-round. When in upland areas, sandpipers live along river, ponds, or lakes."

Seems fitting, no?

Between the raid and Oxenfurt and his new identity, he pens what we call "Burn, Butcher, Burn" but technically at last check on Netflixpedia, it's actually called "Man of a Thousand Grunts". His heartbreak and hurt manifested into this song when he realizes that Geralt is still alive. And after all this time, has not come for him. I won't necessarily fault Geralt for this (even most of Geraskier fandom doesn't, we love parent!Geralt), and to a point not even Jaskier later on. But it doesn't mean it doesn't sting, it doesn't hurt. No check ups, no letters left, nothing. And he's dramatic, he's admitted this. With his new purpose in life, he needs to do his best to get past twenty years of history. But it's not easy. He writes this break up song as a way to move on and of course like all his other songs, it's a hit.

Jaskier has been a popular artist for at least a decade. This isn't recent. It may be the most music he's churned out in a season—it helps if he's not on the road dodging monsters and taking care of Witchers, but he's consistent.

Let's not also forget that it seems like he singlehandedly came up with this idea of the Sandpiper or at least put it into execution. That's no easy feat. To use his charm to get several benefactors and to keep the chain going. It had to be working for a long enough time, and he's managed to DISGUISE himself as Sandpiper without a real disguise in the city where Julian Alfred Pankratz/Jaskier, master of the seven arts and occasional teacher is FAMOUS. Granted, yes, it seems like one of his biggest benefactors is freaking Sigismund Dijkstra, but still.

He could've gone back and gone to court or just stayed in the bubble of Oxenfurt Academy. But he doesn't. He does this work as often as there's ships to give enough passage. He's holding a lot of hate and hurt in his heart for what happened on the Mountain, for what is happening to the poor Elves and others. And he's drinking. He's drinking constantly, even before Yennefer gets to him, and definitely after. I believe the drinking isn't necessarily due to the heartbreak but also what he witnessed at the raid. He's no one to confide in, to rely on, even when he reunites with this new Yennefer, and eventually Geralt.

But all this? We learn in a few choice sentences and references. What we get on screen of Jaskier is perfect and wonderful and Joey Batey is probably now one of my most favorite actors and singers out there. All the little things, the subtle the looks and touches he does.

We can see through his quips and expressions and mannerisms that he hasn't moved on. He was ready to be just as nasty to Yennefer as he always was, not caring that she could literally hex his balls off. And I'm sure he had a whole speech ready for Geralt too. But she comes and hugs him, relieved for something resembling normal and safe for her. Her whole demeanor is different. We know she's grown and learned and matured (at least a little) to realize Jaskier's worth before even getting to the Sandpiper business, but I'm sure that helped too. And especially after his explanation. Finally, he has someone who understands, even if it's his rival.

I love their relationship, their dynamics. I wish we saw the cattiness of them in season one even more than what we saw, the in betweens, when Geralt and Yennefer were on a good footing for a bit. But still, this is great, and we can see that Jaskier is touch starved/friend starved. He latches onto Yennefer but is smart enough to know when to let go, to know that he still has a lot of shit to work through. Yennefer brings memories of what he could never have, and if he can save her, and never see her again? Then at least he'll feel accomplished.

I also LOVE that little bit. That he knew. That it was a conversation had either with Yennefer or with Geralt, about her family origins. And it was never a thing lorded over her cause of course Jaskier isn't like that. That despite everything he hates of her, it's not and never been her heritage.

Now, every time we see something serious or mature done by Jaskier, it has to be "balanced" with him giving into his flaws. This is where we get to learn that he did write a song about the mountain, and meeting a fan of sorts. His ego and hubris gets to him, and even admits to himself that he's doing the stupid thing to argue with this guy, potentially ruining this night's run of getting the Elves (and Yennefer) to safety. We have to presume this is a rare occurrence since no on seems wary on relying or searching for the Sandpiper. So that means he has to be consistently helping.

Quick aside. While the writing overall was much better this season as a whole, there are so many easy/simple parallels going on and the writers patting themselves on the back. They're consistently setting things up for an easy win (much to the detriment of characterization when it came to the Witchers and their Keep, or that we can get across the continent conveniently in a day when needed) without good follow through. This scene is to set up Jaskier is beholden to his pride and to give another elf the chance of redemption for the death of a young black elf. It's very contrived and frustrating.

"The Golden One" isn't his best work, not even better than "Toss a Coin" but it's popular and loved and it's possibly one of the few songs (Dandy Lion aside) where Jaskier's inserted himself. Yeah, it's an easy line of him getting the girls, but it's deeper (calling my right of death of the author here) than that. It's him trying to prove to himself and the others that he's not a shit shoveler, that he's a "worthy travel companion" to others. It's a small bit to the rest of the song about the greatness of a dragon. It's technically not supposed to be noticed or called out, just a silly little bard insert, yet it hurts when it's the main part being criticized, along with it being apparently one of his weakest songs. But it's his first song he's written post Geralt fully. So obviously it's still a dear song to him.

And as us who are content creators know online, or even just being professionals online in social media, sometimes it's the straw that breaks the camel back of being told how to do what we're trained to do by people who have NO idea what's it like. (Being a game dev person, a writer, a video editor, and worked manufacturing, it's amazing what Twitter & YouTube commenters think they know about in these industries. Amongst other parallels.) While Jaskier is a well known artist, a rock star in his own right, he doesn't play just the big venues (court, festivals), he plays taverns and bars. For the Sandpiper gig, it has to be that way. I mention this cause it gives the illusion that anyone can come up to him and talk to him like a professional when they're not. Jaskier also is someone who thrives on people liking him, praising him, or engaging him meaningfully so it's not like he's going to keep his distance either. So this, along with what he says to Rience, shows that it's an extremely common occurrence. And he's at that part of his career where he doesn't have to listen to just anyone about his music.

Despite that hiccup, he gets the elves on, meets Dara briefly (and hopefully inspired him), and says what he hopes is final goodbye to Yennefer.

And then he gets hit over the head, knocked out, and loses his lute, for good. Fitting final scene of seeing it broken. The end of an era.

Now the torture scene with Rience is apparently longer and more brutal than it was in the books. All we know is that he gets beaten for a few hours (anywhere between 2 and 4 or more depending on the tides of the ship leaving and it being early morning when he's finally rescued), not spilling anything. And then the fire and his fingers are burned. Not by REGULAR fire mind, but mage fire. Probably burns hotter than we expected. And all it takes is those few seconds to get serious burns.

And despite it all, Jaskier holds out, still has his wits about him. If we take what he says at face value, and later scenes sort of reinforce it. Sadly twenty years of being Geralt's companion yet Geralt never shared anything to Jaskier? Fanon of course had it that Jaskier did see Cirilla a few times after she was born. It's believable (if albeit sad) that Jaskier never went to Kaer Morhen, but man, maybe if he was a sex worker he would have since they were frequent visitors apparently. What he slips out could be coincidence of him making it up, and yes we know Jaskier is brilliant with words. Or it could have all been a ruse and Jaskier did know more but managed to keep it to himself.

Did we ever figure out HOW Rience found the keep?? Man that keep was so easily found by so many this season. And The Killer pass wasn't so murderous.

But guh, that speech was great, and how he's able to go from the pain of torture to improving with Yennefer AND at the same time be scared for her since she has no magic and seemingly as defenseless as him. Fantastic scene there. We see both of their vulnerabilities, we see Jaskier's quick-wittedness (along with Yennefer's), we see how well he knows Oxenfurt by the back of his hand, knowing which way to go and where, and willing to goad men to follow him. Despite being "a humble (human) bard", he's fast on his feet, nimble for his age. And he knows his worth, that he's the damsel and even without her powers, Yennefer's still formidable.

I would've loved to see how Jaskier rescued Yennefer from the brothel, we saw his mind working quick before she escaped herself. And then he's thrown into a prison. For how long? Who knows, a few days, a week. Even without the flashback timeline shenanigans, time is still wibbly wobbly in this season. It's enough that his untreated burns have healed a bit.

Writing nitpick. Oxenfurt is his home. Why didn't he use his name or his place at the Academy to get out of Jail? We know he has a large network of people, outside of the Sandpiper business, and this is his city, not a foreign land. Other than for plot sake, it's weird.

You can on Spotify hear the whole rendition of Whoreson Prison Blue's but I still love the "live" version we hear in the jailcell. Here's Jaskier's beautiful mind always composing, always coming up with something to wile away time or piss off people to his advantage. When he's not alone (truly) or have access to alcohol, he remains pretty stoic and unflappable. We see the charm and Disney princess like quality of him befriending some mice. Played to comedic effect of course, but it works, shows more of what kind of person Jaskier is.

Again, commending Joey Batey's fantastic acting here, giving us so much in the span of a few seconds. He sees Geralt and the relief of him being there, being alive. The "Fuck it" and the hug is so good, and we get Geralt showing a positive emotion and glimmer of guilt (not enough). We get to see Jaskier not be a push over (sort of) when he tries to get Geralt into an actual conversation, an actual apology, because we know and he knows that Jaskier's forgiven him already. Not forgotten, but forgiven. And while Geralt doesn't say "I need you" (again it's Yennefer first) it's close enough for Jaskier.

It's frustrating that we don't get to see the fallout of everything Jaskier's been through, to show anyone have any concern for him and what he went through. We do get a lovely fan service scene of Jaskier and Geralt falling into their old dynamics, with Jaskier cleaning up and doing a bit of exposition and comedy. We see that Jaskier isn't an idiot at all, gullible maybe because he constantly tries to assume the best of people, even Yennefer. But despite the strides he and Yennefer made into amending whatever their own dynamics are, he's of course going to take time to get through those feelings he's harbored for almost a decade when it concerns her. It's easier to slip, especially with Geralt around, to snarking about her, to try and ensure that Geralt doesn't fall back in love or forgiveness for her. But we can see that even Jaskier knows he's fighting a losing battle about it.

The scene with Yarpen and his crew again showcases how little is cared for about Jaskier, but granted, he couldn't remember their names or faces. I do say though he's been nearly drinking himself to oblivion since the mountain, and they didn't care for him back then so why should he do the same?

We get the high horse apology and immediately Jaskier cuts Geralt off, quipping with him and putting Geralt at ease. It's a sweet scene, even if most of fandom doesn't think it's enough (it's not). Jaskier was the one tortured and rotting away in a cell and yet he's the one walking having to look up at Geralt. We see Jaskier sympathizing and empathizing again, learning what Geralt's been through, and putting Geralt (and Ciri) and his needs first and foremost. Jaskier knows Geralt best, knows that the Witcher carries so much on his shoulders, both deserved and undeserved. It's easy to ensure there's one less burden there.

But we can see in the lingering looks and the mannerisms when Geralt isn't looking at Jaskier, that Jaskier still hurts, still aches. His heart is still shattered into a million pieces. But he's a good person, and he won't hold it over Geralt now. He tried in the jail cell to get what he desperately needed. Not the time or place, but will Jaskier ever get what's owed him at least? I doubt it.

Do we even know why Geralt needed Jaskier's help? Just to have someone with him to look for Ciri? To get the Yennefer information and that's it? Or simply for the escort mission to the apparently short distance from Cintra to Kaer Morhen? (Which should've taken weeks.) Jaskier's there though not really in the escort back, no one knowing that Ciri gets possessed.... And then the next we see him is him drunk in a cold bed, sleeping nearly the entire big event away (again). Except Yennefer searches for him.

Yennefer is the one that says she needs HIM. Not his help but him. Seriously their dynamic is so good this season, through and through, and I hope in the next we'll get more of it. Jaskier shows again that he believes he knows his worth, he's not a coward, he's smart. What can he, a human do? So Yennefer gives him a McGuffin.

I really feel like Jaskier was made to be a McGuffin to us fans, teasing us with all this potential. At our grasps yet the follow through is never quite there. (I feel the same with Dara and Istredd. Like the writers knew the fans cared about these characters but they weren't important enough to do much but muddle around in the plot. I love these two and what they tried to do for themselves and others but again, frustration.

Because yeah, in the end, even though Geralt did hear Jaskier, how much of that was really needed? Geralt and the other Witchers were kind of being really stupid in this fight (and in Eskel's fight too) just for the sake of it. Jaskier risked life and limb to the one job he was given. He was determined. But the Jasper, like he, was useless, wasn't needed, truly.

Though we are teased with Dijkstra's reveal that he's one of the Bard's benefactors. That he's of some use and Dijkstra's going to come collect. I fear this means we'll have Jaskier separate again just so that Yennefer, and Geralt, and Ciri can interact and be the DESTINED TRIO. Jaskier will be bardnapped and pressed into spy services, hopefully being actually more crucial to the political plots going on. It may also mean like it seems like a betrayal to Geralt, but we know Jaskier won't do it so willingly. It's been teased in an interview that he'll have a more significant part, and this could be why. I just want him and the other three to have some good adventures together and not suffering.

The final two times we see Jaskier are both meaningful but also contradictory. When the trio comes back from another Sphere, Jaskier goes to Yennefer first, cause she's without chaos and "technically" the weakest of the three. He's genuinely worried for her, for her potential sacrifice to make things right again. The soft touches, the looks at each other before he looks at Ciri and Geralt. He may not be able to do much, but he's able to do this.

Jaskier's an outsider. The only human up in the keep. Everyone knew of Yennefer and Geralt, but we have no indication Geralt talked about Jaskier (like how he wasn't mentioned at all in the first episode this season). He technically didn't help in the fight (he tried). And all he wanted was to feel like he belonged. But instead, we had to be reminded on how little people think of Jaskier, that he's just the comedic sidekick. And so he gets pushed roughly away from Lambert, and is told he's not part of the family. Which Jaskier accepts. Cause it was always this way for him. He takes it mostly in stride, as he does every lump he's been given. And paralleling last season, he is dismissed and that's what we last see.

(Jaskier's) Respect Doesn't Make History

There were times in season one mostly where Jaskier seemingly breaks the fourth wall. The most obvious example of this in season two is when he tells Yennefer that he's supposed to be the damsel in distress. We get these small snippets of Jaskier knowing his place in the grand scheme of things. And he accepts it. He's not the main character. He's the storyteller, he's the one that gets to tell everyone else about the main characters, create scenarios where the real heroes get to prove that they are heroes. I think partially that's why he doesn't push for the respect owed to him beyond his music. It's why that he clings to needing to be right about his music, his craft, which becomes his detriment at times, or his folly. It's why he hides his pain in a breakup song and drink, and lets Geralt believe everything is okay.

Fandom wants a proper apology, wants proper acknowledgement of everything Jaskier's done for and been through with Geralt. Even as friends, brothers, this is just as important than if they were lovers, and in some ways even more important. Especially if the hints thrown this season gets cemented with Jaskier being bi (even if it's typical TV!bi like Lucifer and not atypical!bi like Constantine). Because queer platonic relationships demand respect and love and courtesy and importance as others.

I don't think we'll get this. We may get one more acknowledgement from Geralt, either before Jaskier is taken by Sigi or maybe after he needs rescue again, but it won't be enough. I worry we'll get the typical masculine portrayal of forgiveness (something that's shown frequently between Geralt and his Wolf brothers) of blowing up and then it's water under the bridge. We sort of already got that, but we'll probably get one more of it from the other half too (burn, butcher, burn after all).

I've already mentioned it a few times but emphasizing here, that we get a lot of fantastic writing and acting with Jaskier in this season. Yet also, with the writing, just all these teasers and failed stopping points. We have to be constantly reminded that Jaskier is the side kick, the best buddy friend, the support, but most importantly... The comedic relief. If not through jokes than through his pratfalls. This in essence isn't a bad thing as it's a lot of Jaskier's charm, a lot of why we as the audience love him. He brings levity and joy and innocence, and the human experience. He's surrounded by Destined Ones^TM and people of awesome power, and he can still stand up with them.

But he must always know his place.

Especially in the Netflixpedia, in the dock worker who had an opinion, in the prison guard, in Yarpen and his crew, and in Lambert and the surviving Witchers. And, in Sigismund Dijkstra.

They are all people who don't know Jaskier and takes him and his antics at face value. Despite most knowing of him, of hearing his deeds or songs for the past couple of decades.

We see the maturity of Jaskier, of him figuring out who he could possibly be if he could no longer be the Witcher's anything. And it was working, being the Sandpiper. He was respected, not that he was looking for that, and looked up to. He was still Jaskier the talented lutist/lyricist, whom most of the crowd loved and adored. He still strikes a dashing figure, catching the eyes of women and men in the tavern, in the ship, and even a lovely bearded female dwarf of Yarpen's crew.

I already mentioned most of these characters in the review of the season and their disregard of him. The dock worker's opinion was unprompted. Yarpen threw an axe not between Geralt and Jaskier but to Jaskier's shirt specifically. Ignored and dismissed his introduction for a second time. Sure, maybe like the elves in "Toss a Coin" with "The Golden One" they felt pissed at the portrayal in song. Especially as Jaskier didn't necessarily do anything during the Dragon hunt compared to Yarpen and them.

But that puts in a dichotomy of sorts, with Jaskier's songs being popular and loved by the people, but not by anyone who's opinion that really matters to Jaskier. Again it's not recognizing that Jaskier is more than a one-hit wonder, is a pop star/rock star, yet not treated as anything with respect. Because he's not constituted with doing masculine work, like being a Witcher, being a Knight, being a band of bandits, or anything that would be considered more salt of the earth. Even Yarpen makes a comment on why they didn't stay being lords of the land. Never mind that Jaskier gave up his nobility at a young age and has been traveling on the Path with Geralt on and off for twenty years.

We get the waitress who's sick of the song and seemingly of him, giving him a dirty look when he drinks any of the discarded ale before meeting Yennefer. Of course the prison guard is purposely being annoyed by Jaskier.

Now, between the extreme hubris "Jaskier" writes of himself in Netflixpedia and of course his persona as Jaskier on the show whenever he sees someone pretty, it makes sense to knock him down a little. Even Geralt gets knocked down time again for his own hubris and refusal to learn and grow. But with Geralt, he's always seen on a level playing field. It nearly never is with Jaskier.

Jaskier who can slip into being the Sandpiper and help others, truly selflessly, is one of the only times he has respect and awe. The only one who truly gives him respect as himself is Yennefer. She's happy for him, that he hasn't changed so much to be unrecognizable to what she knew of him, and learns more about him in one evening than all their time together. All because the barrier of Geralt isn't there and they're both nursing their broken hearts. There's a kinship, and I'm glad it's not lost after Yennefer reconnects with Geralt, even to disastrous effect. She finally understands him and when she's without her chaos, she cares and respects and needs him.

She saves Jaskier not for any ulterior motive. Not to help her, or to get on Geralt's good side again, or anything. She takes her time in telling Geralt about Jaskier, and sort of plays down the fact he was tortured for a few hours. I think that's more her juggling with the decisions and and promise she made with baba yaga—I mean, Voleth Meir and her own conflicting feelings with Geralt. Her and Jaskier both tossed their hurt feelings aside to forgive and give into Geralt. And then with the battle at Kaer Morhen, Yennefer relies on Jaskier, believing that he's the best chance to get through to Geralt, that only Jaskier is still trustworthy enough. She accepts his kind touch after coming back from the other sphere and it's sweet and touching. She's the only one in all of season two to see Jaskier, to respect him, to care about him.

Geralt? Did worry about Jaskier when someone finally mentioned him. Did think of him first when Nenneke said he couldn't do this alone. Admitted he missed him and hugged him back. And.. he did try to apologize after [timey wimey travel time], and he trusted Jaskier with Ciri (along with Yarpen). He gave Jaskier a chance to bathe and rant without really pushing him around.

But again I must mention how the writing fails, with Geralt needing Jaskier's help and Yennefer just needing him. It comes to naught, as much as Jaskier tries to be good and useful. But he's only human and of the few GOOD humans in this show, the writers don't know what to do with that.

Geralt has respect, but not a lot for Jaskier. It's better here than in season one to a point. But Geralt has so much more on his mind so much other rightfully important things. He hasn't had time to mourn Eskel, his horse, or the other Witchers dying before and after Ciri's reveal. He barely allowed himself time to mourn when he thought Yennefer was dead. We just unfortunately did not get a lot of interaction between them because of other events that were more pressing. We can only make a lot of assumptions.

With Lambert's remark and Jaskier's final onscreen scene, there is no other context to see if this is just regular joking or the other Witchers seeing Jaskier as less than. This is why it was frustrating that Jaskier is not mentioned for three whole episodes. No one asks about Geralt's Bard, or mentions the new songs going around since before the fall of Cintra. Everything points to Jaskier never been brought up to Geralt's family in the last twenty years. This could have easily been fixed with a single line or two from any of the Witchers, the way that the line of Jaskier knowing of Yennefer's heritage spoke volumes.

Now, granted, in a time of war and politics, everyone's being used as pawns and being seen as useful, threats, or disposable. Dijikstra only sees a pawn of a bard, an investment he put in so he can be used in the future. But aside from Jaskier, every other human who's moving pieces around who seems to be of importance, are kings and queens and of politics. We don't see other human rebels trying to fight the good fight. But understandably so, in this story, in this series they are the bad guys. In most fantasies, it's the case, with maybe a group of plucky young heroes being the exception.

Now, maybe it's the long con, the long game, the hints in interviews that Jaskier will be thrusted into importance in the 3rd (and future??) seasons. We know now he'll be the narrator for the prequel series, but again playing the dumb human who has to be corrected about what really happened. (I'm hoping we won't have Jaskier human!splaining for comedic effect, but... we'll see.) We have the spying come up, and hopefully more political intrigue. This is what I thought would happened this season when we had gotten the season two trailer and Geralt needing Jaskier's help. It's what made sense to me, to navigate the courts.

This could all be buildup for parallels that were set up here for season 03. One can truly hope, but I'm not holding my breath.

We have two seasons of Jaskier being disrespected left and right, having his best friend throw him away when angry and only seek him when he's needed. He doesn't have the respect from others as he should, to the point where he makes it up on his own in his hubris and ego and in the logs of Netflixpedia. When it really matters, Jaskier is always putting others first, always putting himself in harms way to help others. And he swallows his feelings down, transforming them into songs that people listen, and enjoy, but never truly understand.

He's a human, through and through. He is both cowardly and fearless, brilliant and childish, compassionate and ambitious. And the show keeps punishing him for it, for not being more. Yet that's the brilliance of him. Of this single human having shifted destiny so many times, all for the love (platonic or otherwise) of one misunderstood Witcher.

Jaskier, Bi Fodder

I thought this section would be majority of this post, haha. But I've explained a lot of my thoughts on this through the other parts. I apologize for my rambling. While TVTropes isn't the definitive of what is a consensus on media and representation, it does support a lot of what's been written here. Like with any canon or perceived bisexual guys, they tend to have both "Ambiguously Bi" tag and "Camp Straight". Short of us seeing Jaskier with another man, or him straight out saying it, everyone can still explain away that Geralt and him are just brothers, just friends, that the heartbreak was borne of friendship shattered. He flirts only with women on screen, we only hear of his escapades with married women and running from straight men.

And yet, here we are. We know he was heartbroken, he said it. He and Yennefer can sympathize together. In his singing scene, a few of the male patrons look at him with something a little more interesting, and so does one of the male elves. The way he looks at Geralt in this season speaks volumes. Joey's alluded in interviews on how he was surprised and happy that the script took his character into new and dark and surprising situations, to be bold.

"As many of you will know, the story of Geralt and Yennefer's rocky romance is chronicled in 'Her Sweet Kiss, one of Jaskier 's most famous ballads..."

— From Netflixpedia

Yet TVTropes and fandom saw this song as a bit queer, as Jaskier looking in and longing. It was teased and joked in Twitter after what we lovingly call "Burn, Butcher, Burn" that of course "Her Sweet Kiss" wasn't obvious enough in heartbreak so they had to make it more obvious with the break up song of the century.

But what really cinched it for me with the show trying to tell us *wink wink nudge nudge* that Jaskier is more than he seems? The quote above. When he talks about why he's helping the elves.

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

— Martin Niemöller

It was a parallel to this famous poem. Combined with the fact that if one had studied American/Western Media in the 50s through the 80s with regard to LGBTQIA, artists were considered Queer. Majority of the blacklisting that happened wasn't just to do with communism, but anti-Semitism, homophobia, and other prejudices. One had to look between the lines, to see the subtext here. This is both overt and sub text going on.

It was Jaskier alluding that he was other for many reasons, and not just for being a "humble bard" considering we've been shown time again that they're not respected. So where would the fear come into play? Unless he was doing or saying something revolutionary. And this was before he became the Sandpiper. The way he hesitates, pauses, looks at Yennefer... Jaskier is the sort of person that talks all the time and says everything in his mind but not nearly everything in his heart. It's fantastic deflection that's hidden in the expectations of what a bard should be. But here, he's very careful with his words, with not saying too much.

When speaking of hubris this time, I'm pointing at the head writer and others in that team. They think they're so clever, being ambiguous in interviews and social media (and I know, part of it is you have to, you just can't spoil an upcoming season, duh, or promise something that hasn't been written or approved of). There's a lot of "pat on back" moments in the season, not to just Jaskier but others where they think they've done something different and new.

But the fantasy adventure bar is so goddamn low, especially in TV and Movies. Especially when it comes to any sort of MEANINGFUL representation. Wheel of Time did queerness real well, but failed in other marginalized representations. Witcher? Maybe because its origin is Poland, where real people are fighting for their lives to just be queer freely. I'm not saying the author is phobic, but he is very cisgendered straight, and it shows. We have fantasy homophobia, because it always parallels what we perceive history to be (even though history didn't have the right words for this discourse, and in some places were more queer friendly back then than we are now).

Why can't we have fantasy stories where queerness is normalized? It's still treated as something explicitly sexual and weird. We only see it in Yennefer's orgy scene (which was made fun of for such poor choreography), just to show that Yennefer is a "worldly" woman. All the sex workers that came up to Kaer Morhen were visibly women (and presumably cis, but easily could be otherwise).

We can argue what Fringilla and Francesca had as possibly queer too. It was lovely to see their friendship grow and how they helped each other. It's probably the only other sort of representation we can conceivably grasp for in the show.

So yes, I do believe they're setting up Jaskier to be bi/queer. Maybe it wasn't something he even realized till later in life, or something he always hid. One could argue that in the book's version of events of him running from his family cause he messed with the wrong noble, it could've been a male one. They may leave it continually ambiguous. We'll never get Geralt as anything but straight, especially as Henry keeps on insisting that all he wants is the show to be as close/true to the books as possible. While this would bode well for a more friendly happy companionship with his character and Jaskier, it's a continual insistence that the only true love for Geralt is Yennefer. I don't seem him as one of the actors who would be comfortable with anything but straight roles. Mind, again, I don't watch every single interview of this show or of the actors in others. I am a geek and a general fan of Henry, but it's not something I look to often.

And, if the best we can get out of this is a queer platonic relationship, fantastic. But as I've harped on throughout all of this... We need a healthy one. We need Geralt to acknowledge the pain he caused, for Jaskier to admit to that pain to him, to get them to an understanding, one that is full of love and hope and friendship and family and importantly, respect.

I don't know if the solution is to keep him forever pining (please no Supernatural ending here), or to create a new character (or gender swap one we haven't seen yet) for him to have a happy queer relationship. I've always hated "pair the spare" last minute kind of endings we get when a series comes to a close. I think, we just need more of him with the others in meaningful situations. Not empty ones that lead to no where (the jasper, the following possessed!Ciri) but ones of his choice and of others too.

We should be beyond the token bi/queer, the little scraps and hints and that is all we can get from these big shows. Granted, the best option is to have queer media be adapted and created from the get-go. But we should get that and get rep in the popular shows too.

Jaskier is a wonderfully complex character in all versions of him. I just wished the Netflix creators could see that.

“The richness, beauty and depths of love can only be fully experienced in a climate of complete openness, honesty and vulnerability.” – Anthony Venn Brown

Sources Used: Witcher Game Fandom Page - Jaskier & Various Witcher Netflix Site (Media Heavy) Witcher Jaskier TVTropes Page Wikipedia - "First they came..." Various Official Youtube & Tumblr Interviews with Joey & Lauren & Henry

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ofalamhigo · 3 years

Text

Layers upon Layers: Eynar

one: outside layer

[Name:] “Eynar...Wolfshowl.” [Hair Style & colour:] “Black, short. An’ blonde I guess.” [Eye Color:] “Green.” [Height:] “Not real tall. Five fulm, six or so ilms.” [Style:] “I dunno. Whatever’s handy.” [Best Physical Feature:] “Bein’ short has come in handy.”

two: inner layer

[Fears:] “Drownin’. You’d be scared of it too, if you thought about bein’ dragged down to the depths of some dark murky water an’ not able to breathe.” [Guilty Pleasure:] “I carve wood, y’know, little..statues I guess. Not real great at it though.” [Biggest Pet Peeve:] “Snobby folks.” [Ambition for the Future:] “Puttin’ down roots, though not sure where, when, or how.”

three: thoughts

[First Thought When Waking Up:] “Food for one, findin’ some before lookin’ for work.” [What You Think About the Most:] “...work I guess? Gettin’ by or some such.” [What You Think About Before Bed:] “Home, sometimes. Family too. Guess a load of things.” [Your Best Quality Is:] “Bein’ stubborn, though I don’t think anyone else’d agree.”

four: what’s better

[Single or Group Dates?] “I dunno, never been on a single one, let alone no group thing.” [To be Loved or to be Respected?] “Respected. Don’t get jobs by bein’ loved.” [Beauty or Brains?] “Brains. Need someone who’s learned around after all.” [Cats or Dogs?] “I guess dogs, kinda like lizards best."

four: do you…

[Lie?] “When I gotta, but I don’t make a habit of it.” [Believe in Yourself?] “My skills, my work, maybe. Guess it depends.” [Believe in Love?] “Seen it with others, so I guess yeah, its real enough.” [Want Someone?] “Want ‘em for what?”

six: have you ever…

[Been on Stage?] “No.” [Done Drugs?] “Once, didn’t much like it.” [Changed Yourself to Fit In Somewhere?] “Sure, if I have to. Infiltratin’ is made easier if you blend in an’ all.”

seven: favorite

[Favorite Color:] “...orange.” [Favorite Food:] “That bread stuffed with...stuff. Cheese’n meat an’ the like.” [Favorite Game:] “Guess that triple triad game ain’t to bad. Though I like watchin’ the chocobo races more.”

eight: age

[When Your Next Birthday Will Be:] “I dunno, soon maybe? I don’t keep track. Not like I celebrate or anythin’.” [ 28th Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon ] [How Old Will You Be?] “Thirty three.” [Age You Lost Your Virginity:] “Why’re you asking? I’m not gonna tell you that!” [Does Age Matter?] “Yeah. And no, depends I guess. Not anyone younger’n me and I guess not ancient either.”

nine: in a partner

[Best Personality:] “Strong, I suppose. Being themselves mostly.” [Best Eye Colour:] “Seen folk with silver eyes, I guess I like that. Little bit like the moon.” [Best Hair Colour:] “Not really something I care about, any color is nice.” [Best Thing to do With a Partner:] “Er well, guess uh. Time together and what not.”

ten: finish the sentence

[I Love…] “Sunsets an’ the quiet.” [I Feel…] “I dunno. Guess angry a lotta the time, not always.” [I Hide…] “What I need to.” [I Miss…] “...home, though I don’t remember it much.” [I Wish…] “For peace, I guess. ”

Tagged by: @eligos-venator

Tagging: Anyone who wants to, or someone who hasn’t yet I suppose!

#asks #layers meme #ffxiv rp #Eynar Wolfshowl

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theimperialnuisance · 3 years

Text

Layers upon layers//Kien Eilath

one: outside layer

[Name:] “Kien Eilath...And yes, it’s not the name I was born with but it’s the name I feel most happy and comfortable with.”

[Hair Style & colour:] "Black hair with purple highlights, mainly at the tips of my hair, and I like to keep it short and styled up though if I don’t style it, it’s just long enough to pull into a small half up half down.”

[Eye Color:] “My right eye is amber and my left eye is green.”

[Height:] “Five four. Not very tall, but also somewhere in the middle.”

[Style:] “I tend to stick to darker colors and things that are easy to move and fight in but on the days I can just relax, I like to wear looser fitting clothing.”

[Best Physical Feature:] “Well, uh, I’ve been told it’s my eyes but that’s wasn’t something I would’ve agreed with...at least not until recently...So yes, I think it would be my eyes.”

two: inner layer

[Fears:] “Losing those I hold close to me and losing my sense of self and freedom again. I’ve been there once before and I never want to go back.”

[Guilty Pleasure:] “I don’t really have anything I enjoy that could classify as a guilty pleasure. I’m pretty open about the things I enjoy and I’m not embarrassed to admit it.”

[Biggest Pet Peeve:] “Ignorance--people who can plainly see their causing someone to hurt or creating a bad situation but continue to do so.”

[Ambition for the Future:] “As of right now, I just want to protect the ones I care about and go from there. I’m happy with how things have turned out for me since leaving my homeland.”

three: thoughts

[First Thought When Waking Up:] “Awake before the sunrise again...old habits die hard I guess.”

[What You Think About the Most:] “So many things honestly...it depends on the day and what’s occurring.”

[What You Think About Before Bed:] “I suppose it depends on what happened during the day? I try not to think about too much before I go to sleep as it will keep me awake but sometimes my thoughts can run rampant.”

[Your Best Quality Is:] “I think it’s my ability to observe the situation around me and to listen to others when they just need to talk. I may not be able to provide the best advice for them but I know having someone to talk to helps alot and sometimes being observant can quickly change the tide in a fight or a tricky situation.”

four: what’s better

[Single or Group Dates?] “I guess it depends...I like them both but sometimes it’s nicer to have that one on one time.”

[To be Loved or to be Respected?] “To be loved is to be respected...but you can’t love someone until you respect them so I would rather be respected and the rest will fall into place.”

[Beauty or Brains?] “I don’t really have a preference on this...there’s always more than meets the eye so why not both?”

[Cats or Dogs?] “Mainly cats but I don’t mind dogs either....so both?”

four: do you…

[Lie?] “I rather not lie if I can help it but sometimes lying is useful to get out of tricky situations and I used to lie fairly often when I still lived with my tribe so I am quite good at it....though I don’t think that’s something to be proud of...”

[Believe in Yourself?] “At a time I couldn’t say I did with certainty and it took some time to get to this point where I can safely say that yes, I do believe in myself--my confidence can waiver at times but I don’t let it get to me as much anymore.”

[Believe in Love?] “Yes, I do.”

[Want Someone?] “We’re already together but for the longest time, I wanted to be with him but we couldn’t be because of circumstances but now we are, and I’m happy he’s in my life.”

six: have you ever…

[Been on Stage?] “Once for a ceremony I was asked to participate in and then I promptly passed out afterwards...Not from stage fright, I assure you!”

[Done Drugs?] “No and I never plan to.”

[Changed Yourself to Fit In Somewhere?] “Well, I can’t exactly say no but also not a yes either. It’s...complicated. I never physically changed myself to fit in unless you count hiding my odd eye but I tried to make myself more well liked by my tribe by being not myself so I could fit in with them better but I quickly realized I was more miserable that way than just living my own life my way. I don’t recommend it. There’s only one you, enjoy who you are and damn those who think you should change yourself to better fit in with what they think you should be.”

seven: favorite

[Favorite Color:] “Purple—but I also like blue and green.”

[Favorite Food:] “Hmm I really like coffee biscuits! Not too sweet and has a coffee flavour that I love. I also really like bitter apples and salmon too!”

[Favorite Game:] “Triple triad is pretty fun! And I think I’m pretty decent at it!”

eight: age

[When Your Next Birthday Will Be:] “It’s the 13th sun of the 6th Astral Moon so not until a little later.”

[How Old Will You Be?] “I’ll be twenty four.”

[Age You Lost Your Virginity:] “Uh...bit too personal of a question, don’t you think?”

[Does Age Matter?] “For certain things, yes.”

nine: in a partner

[Best Personality:] “I’ve never really thought about it before...hmm. Someone who is kind and caring, who understands and listens...someone I can laugh with and be myself around...someone who is honest and isn’t afraid of a little adventure from time to time!”

[Best Eye Colour:] “I don’t really have a preference.”

[Best Hair Colour:] “No preference.”

[Best Thing to do With a Partner:] “Anything! Travel, read, make food...so long as I get to be with them, I don’t care what we do or where we go.”

ten: finish the sentence

[I Love…] “him, with all my heart and I’m happy we can finally be together.”

[I Feel…] “happy that I’m finally living the life I’ve always yearned for since I was a child.”

[I Hide…] “my feelings of insecurity at times...I don’t want to burden my friends over silly thoughts.”

[I Miss…] “my guardian, I haven’t seen him in a while and so much has happened recently but we do write to each from time to time so there’s that at least.”

[I Wish…] “for things to settle a bit, if only to see my friends be at ease after everything we’ve been through recently.”

Tagged by: @sundered-souls and @bek-sc! (Thank you both very much!)

Tagging: This is late so I’ll for sure tag @circusredmage, @bastiandotes and @tokki-yue because I know they haven’t done this yet but if you’re seeing this and haven’t done it yet, feel free to take this are your tag!

#Kien Eilath #Thank you for the tag!#character feature

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dumb-hat · 3 years

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Character Sheet - Evander Winsome

—————- Link to blank template!

Rules: Things in brackets are meant only as guidelines, to be erased and your answers written in place of. Things separated by | are for bolding and italicising.

Tagged by: No one! I saw this reblogged by @mooglemeet, so I went ahead and grabbed it directly from @bluespiritfire. Link to the blank template is up above! Tagging: No one specific/anyone who wants to. Feel free to tag me back so I can see it!

Name: Evander Winsome Age: 26 Pronouns: He/him Birthdate: 12th Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon

~~PLACE OF ORIGIN~~ Race: Hyur From the First: Interracial heritage:

Hometown/city: Limsa Lominsa Current residence/popular haunt:Ul’dah

~~APPEARANCE~~

Favourite/commonly used clothes:

Any difficulties with magical/physical disciplines? Nothing in particular

~~RELATIONSHIPS~~ Parents/Legal Guardian/Parental Figure: mother | father | aunt and/or uncle | grandparents | adoptive | foster | mentor | family friend/godparents | other Siblings: One older brother; deceased Children: None that he knows of Romantic: single | unrequited | crushing | dating | engaged | married | divorced/separated | widow/widower | recently split | it’s complicated (I mean, not to him. To him, it makes total sense. Well, most of it does.) | other (…) Friends: Evander tends to befriend and trust people fairly easily, though it can take him a bit to really open up. Once you’ve hit that point, you’ve likely got a friend for life. Rivals/Enemies: To the best of his knowledge, he’s left these all behind somewhere or other, thanks largely to his restless need to wander. That said, there’s surely a few lurking in the past and there’s always room for more, of course!

Any special gestures of affection they have with people in their life? He’ll often make complaining noises about paying for drinks and dinner, but he’ll do it every time and would be slightly hurt if people didn’t let him.

How are they dealing with the most prominent of the above? How does it affect their in day-to-day life, if at all? Poorly, typically.

~~ODDS AND ENDS~~ Notable Weapons He doesn’t have any particular bond with any of his weapons, really. He sees them as tools, and ones that he uses only reluctantly. He sometimes enjoys tinkering with the ones he builds, but that’s more of a hobby than anything.

Notable Mounts He has various vehicles and machines he likes to fuss over and drive around, but he’s particularly fond of his SDS Fenrir.

In addition to his chocobo—a particularly stubborn beast named Doreen—he’s also fond of his battlesheep, Doctor One and a colossal crab he’s dubbed St. Barnabus.

Notable Minion/s Besides Doctor One and St. Barnabas, Evander is especially fond of various clockworks, automata, wind-ups and models that he’s put together. His favorite is a drone modeled after a Magitek bit that he’s named Valencia.

Keepsakes/Mementos

A pendant in the shape of a swan, a few too many flasks

Chronic Illnesses or Disabilities Evander lives with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I’ve written about it a few places, most notably at length here and in brief here. How do they deal with these? Depends on the day, really. This isn’t really a thing he has a name for, so it’s not a thing he can easily address. He’s got a sloppily slapped together set coping mechanisms that work about half the time, if he’s lucky. Other than that, he mostly hopes for good days full of things he can convince himself he’s interested in.

Education Level He likes it when people underestimate him, so he’s not always quick to admit to the formal Ishgardian education afforded to him by the family that took him in when he left Limsa Lominsa. He’ll often try to pass it off as eclectic, self-driven studies... Which, admittedly, also played a big part in shaping him.

Habits There’s a lot of excess in his life. He drinks too much. He eats too much. He stays up too late, too long, and then sleeps too late, too long. He’s almost always got a flask or four on his person, and he often finds that he’s picking up the dinner or drink tab wherever he goes.

Other Nothing immediately springs to mind, but I’m sure there’s like a dozen things I should put here. This thing has been sitting in my drafts for god-knows-how-long, so I’m just glad to finally get it out there.

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islandclosesttohell · 4 years

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Winter Festival 2020

❝Oh! Finally you’re here! ❞ You notice Balamb’s very own Selphie Tilmitt trots towards you, her expression jovial. Offering her hand as she bounced on her feet. Enthusiasm for the holidays wasn’t always present for some Garden students, but the Commander’s Left Hand Lady sure knew how to have it for the entire student body.

❝The Garden Festival Committee and I spent so much time creating this event for everyone to enjoy!❞ Selphie grabs your hand and tugs you in the direction of the heavily decorated quad. The smell of food wafts towards you as you observed the holiday banners, the tinsel and the modest Christmas tree that you could see having the finishing touches applied. You noticed there were junior cadets at the bottom hanging ornaments while veteran SeeDs were on ladders decorating the top. Full of elation, Selphie rushed ahead of you, twirling around in her festive sweater and leggings with her hands up high. The holiday spirit simply radiating off of her and you can’t help but smile.

Turning her full attention towards you, she nods, ❝Some of us don’t have homes to go back to or family to celebrate with but...❞ You notice her features transform to somberness.

❝The least we can do is live in this moment together with our comrades, friends, or our own chosen family. Otherwise, it’d be a total bummer!❞ A small smile appears as her emerald eyes glisten with joy and possibly some other emotion you couldn’t place. It wasn’t your place to get too personal with SeeD Tilmitt, so you didn’t press the issue.

Returning back to her initial fanfare, she tugs you further into the quad. You notice the stage fully repaired and spruced up in full holiday cheer with lights hanging around the banners up top. Returning your gaze to the brunette Selphie, her peppiness perseveres once again, ❝Let’s make sure this is the best first winter solstice festival any Garden has ever seen!❞ She boasts full of energy and confidence.

Welcome to the first annual Winter Festival hosted by Selphie Tilmitt The Island Closest to Hell server. Full of yuletide cheer, new years resolutions, and presents to bring. From the bitter coldness of Trabia to the relaxing waves of Balamb; the holidays is what you make of it!

Each week will have three prompts to select from, you are allowed to mix and match your prompts. Who’s going to stop you? Not us! We only suggest you fulfill at least one prompt for the week!

Have any questions? Check the Message Boards to see if they’re answered!

Prompt List

Week One: Sweater | One Bed | Triple Triad

Week Two: Beach | Blind Date | Festival

Week Three: Travel | Soulmates | Decorating | Bonus: Mistletoe

Week Four: Hot Chocolate | FREE (free to all) | Resolutions

Week Five: Vacation | Presents | Banquet

Week Six: Fake Dating/Engagement/Marriage | Shopping | Snow | Bonus: Reincarnation

Week Seven: Swap | Eggnog | Rescue

Week Eight: Birthday | FREE | Lost

Week Nine: Camping | Group Games | Warm Blanket | Bonus: Any unused past prompts

Guidelines

All pieces of transformative fiction, artwork, poetry, mood/aesthetic boards and fan mixes must be of your own creations. Plagiarism or using content without the permission of the creator will be removed.

Entries can be submitted on December 1st, 2020 and must be completed by January 31st, 2021 11:59 CST. The submissions will close after this time. Please fill out the typeform for each non-AO3 submission!

NSFW content should be tagged accordingly. All forms of pedophilia, incest and explicit depictions of sexual assault will not be allowed for submitting. This should go without saying but, no sexual depictions with underage characters—all must be 18 and older.

While game canon is available to be used, the participant is not limited to just that. Feel free to create AUs, crossovers (re: Dissidia), bend events in the game for interesting scenarios & outcomes. Your creativity knows no bounds. The only request we have is that you keep the cast in-character.

Submissions must have a clear expression of which prompt(s) are being selected. If posted on other sites (ie. Dreamwidth, Pillowfort, Fanfiction dot net, etc.) please specify that this is for the Winter Festival 2020. There is an Archive of Our Own collection that can be submitted to as well, which is open to everyone! Need help submitting? Here’s a tutorial for you!

Original characters are welcome! Even Main Character and original character pairings. Bring out your original character(s) from 20 years ago or one created from a year ago, you’re free to write/draw them in your entries. The only request is that OC/OC pairings cannot be the main focus, please have a main character alongside them.

This should also go without saying, but I am here to say it right now: Do not character bash. We understand that biases exist, but please, respect the game that you are creating work for.

Images by lunchador & vadistsart

#garden festival #winter festival 2020 #winter festival #holiday event #festival committee #final fantasy 8 #final fantasy viii #ff8 #ffviii

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ghost-pocky · 3 years

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@fayesdiary tagged me to talk about myself and I’m always up for talking about my favorite things so let’s goooo

Last Song: I listen to sooo much music but lately I’ve been on a real Coheed and Cambria kick. I love them so much, and the song Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant reminds me SO much of Dimitri that it’s seriously giving me drawing inspiration 💙

Last Movie: My fiancé and I have been rewatching the Saw movies. While the later Saw movies became a little gimmicky, first one was soooooooo good. The writer / director duo of Leigh Whannell and James Wan are my favorite. Not only are they fantastic at what they do but they’re huge dorks and their commentaries are hilarious. The fact that Leigh was in the first movie and gets to comment on his own acting and crappy budget is *chef kiss*

Currently Watching: I’m currently catching up on BNHA and Bob’s burgers. I haven’t even seen the BNHA movie yet, guys, it’s a travesty.

Currently Reading: The Diviner’s series by Libba Bray. It’s a great page-turning YA series that has more than it’s fair share of complex characters, romance, and horror. Jericho is my babe and deserves the world 🥺

Currently Playing: Fire Emblem Echoes, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Neir Replicant, and replaying FFVIII. Let me tell you: Neir Replicant is freaking heart breaking. I just want all these fools to be happy and there’s no way this is going to end well for anyone, including me 😭 So to sooth the pain, I’m gonna replay my favorite game of all time — FFVIII. Just like every time I play it, I’m telling myself that I will NOT give up triple triad after the foreign rules are introduced because I want to do the QOC side quests but ...

Currently craving: Onigiri 🍙 I’ve been meaning to make it for a few days so imma make a big batch this weekend. Also, just like general stormy summer vibes. Thunder, lightening, leaves weighed down with the burden of rain. I want a proper northern downpour.

#ask game #rambles

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revolverized · 5 years

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Munday Questionnaire

Copy and paste into your own post.

tagged by @bvrningstars

Name: west Gender: masc. he/him only Eye Color: brown! Hair Color: orange Relationship: single. Zodiac: libruh Favorite Color: blue and red Favorite Season: fall Favorite Place: oregon or chicago?? ironically ill be in one of those soon :eyes: Favorite Holiday: christmas or halloween Favorite Video Game: okami! Last show you watched: bungo stray dogs

What’s your honest opinion about your muse?: i love him. hes so important to me as a character for so so many reasons and he makes me very happy Would you date your muse?: ONLY IN THEORY OR IF IT WAS LEON LMAO squall is too baby and needs way too much therapy What are your favorite kinds of threads?: angst with me bi t c h Are you a selective roleplayer?: yeah. sometimes i wish i wasnt but i gotta be for my own sake, yknow Do you have a favorite muse (if you have more than one): probably rinoa and irvine? squall is the funnest and easiest to write but noa and irvine are very dear to me and i feel i can pour a lot more of my heart into those two What made you decide to join the fandom?: i got into FF a couple years back after seeing the characters in KH, started with 7 and kept going. joined the RPC cuz me and els couldnt keep it to discord lmao Do you see yourself staying with the fandom for a long time?: i hope so, tbh. i hop interests like crazy but FF has only made me feel warm and happy so far so id hope i stick around as long as i can

i tag: @cloudstriferp @omnistrifed @atlaslain @hyperionized @castholy @culturedconjurer @naukais @sweettifalockhart @sunny-explosions and everyone else who wants to. im sleepy i cant think more

#out of time / OOC #triple triad / tag games #( gonna try and sleep for my flights now.... rip )

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