My suddenly revised thoughts on Yennefer vs. Triss
There's probably been plenty of threads like this and it might be a bit arrogant to start my own just because I feel like talking about it, but hell, it's not like one more will hurt anybody and I really really need to share this with someone. Sorry.
Looking at some of the polls there seems to be a nearly even split between players who prefer each sorceress over the other as Geralt's LI, and having read the first and third books a long time ago I was in Yennefer's camp, mostly because I thought she was a deeper and more interesting character and that the genie promise and the substitute parents dynamic with Ciri were lovely. And I also happen to like brunettes. And who doesn't love epic, over-complicated romance?
Then I read the second book a few days ago, wherein we get a rare glimpse of how Geralt and Yennefer work as an actual couple instead of basically estranged divorcees passing their "daughter" between them with occasional, brief rekindling of their relationship. I'm not going to spoil it, but anyone who's read it knows that neither Geralt nor Yennefer come out of it very well, with the overall impression being that they both suck at relationships and excel at making each other absolutely miserable, an observation that Triss makes in the third book as well but which isn't really demonstrated anywhere else in the series because we never see them spending much time together.
This particular short story didn't just convince me that Geralt and Yennefer are actually horrible for each other, it changed my entire view on the whole epic romantic love-hate relationship both in fiction and in real life. Suddenly those kinds of connections seem more like curses than anything else, making people who consistently and profoundly hurt each other just keep trying because of infatuation instead of cutting their losses and looking for happier, healthier prospects.
From this point of view Geralt's amnesia is almost a blessing in disguise, at least when it comes to his romantic life, allowing him to experience a healthier, less complicated and more stable relationship with Triss without the self-destructive obsession with Yennefer interfering. An experience that can maybe inspire him to finally make a clean break when his memories do come back, so that if he gets nothing else out of the whole run of the franchise then at least he learns to let go and focus on his own long-term happiness to some extent. In any case, that's the mindset I intend to take into my next playthough of the series.
There's probably been plenty of threads like this and it might be a bit arrogant to start my own just because I feel like talking about it, but hell, it's not like one more will hurt anybody and I really really need to share this with someone. Sorry.
Looking at some of the polls there seems to be a nearly even split between players who prefer each sorceress over the other as Geralt's LI, and having read the first and third books a long time ago I was in Yennefer's camp, mostly because I thought she was a deeper and more interesting character and that the genie promise and the substitute parents dynamic with Ciri were lovely. And I also happen to like brunettes. And who doesn't love epic, over-complicated romance?
Then I read the second book a few days ago, wherein we get a rare glimpse of how Geralt and Yennefer work as an actual couple instead of basically estranged divorcees passing their "daughter" between them with occasional, brief rekindling of their relationship. I'm not going to spoil it, but anyone who's read it knows that neither Geralt nor Yennefer come out of it very well, with the overall impression being that they both suck at relationships and excel at making each other absolutely miserable, an observation that Triss makes in the third book as well but which isn't really demonstrated anywhere else in the series because we never see them spending much time together.
This particular short story didn't just convince me that Geralt and Yennefer are actually horrible for each other, it changed my entire view on the whole epic romantic love-hate relationship both in fiction and in real life. Suddenly those kinds of connections seem more like curses than anything else, making people who consistently and profoundly hurt each other just keep trying because of infatuation instead of cutting their losses and looking for happier, healthier prospects.
From this point of view Geralt's amnesia is almost a blessing in disguise, at least when it comes to his romantic life, allowing him to experience a healthier, less complicated and more stable relationship with Triss without the self-destructive obsession with Yennefer interfering. An experience that can maybe inspire him to finally make a clean break when his memories do come back, so that if he gets nothing else out of the whole run of the franchise then at least he learns to let go and focus on his own long-term happiness to some extent. In any case, that's the mindset I intend to take into my next playthough of the series.
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