The Underlying Themes of the Witcher

[Blothulfur]

The Underlying Themes of the Witcher

Introduction.

Over the last few years I have found myself to be more enamoured of video games than traditional forms of entertainment, not only are they extremely good value for money (especially the RPG genre) but they offer us an interactivity that should not be underestimated. In the better games of the medium we find ourselves offered choice and consequence, we are asked to answer questions and suffer the consequences, whatever they may be. It is in the answering of these questions that we find our own morality, worldview and reasoning being brought into the spotlight, and thus we scrutinise our own reactions and try to know ourselves.

There are few mainstream games that allow choice and consequence anymore, let alone present logical situations where there are no easy answers, in my opinion the games of CD Project RED stand at the forefront when it comes to such interactivity, specifically the Witcher and the Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. It is because of one key aspects that I hold them above other developers, they make each choice viable, we do not have to invent elaborate theories or philosophies to justify our motives, they are self evident and undeniably reasonable.

Thus whatever the situation presented to our white haired mutant avatar, we are not left feeling sheparded into illogical and pointless situations that only an idiot would find himself in, we are treated with respect, and our actions make sense both in regards to the setting and the narrative. True it does not offer a massive amount of choice, but every choice is viable rather than being there to please the lowest common denominator, and bears logical consequences that we see born out in the game itself. There is a pleasing linearity to this, the linearity of a reasonable mind, where the more moronic options are not even considered.

This is therefore a setting, a narrative and an approach that I find worthy of study and hopefully emulation and thus I come to the point of this rather over elaborate introduction. Herein I shall present a study of the underlying themes that run throughout the Witcher, and this work will be biased because of my personal views, but through interaction with my fellow sons and daughter of Kaer Morhen I hope to reach a deeper understanding and maybe even a consensus on the themes delivered.

We are all of us aware of the theme presented in the first Witcher game, What is a Monster? Throughout the game we are asked this question and left to make choices, but as to a definitive answer, I for one don't believe the game ever truly gives us one. Even when I slammed Aerondight through Alvin/Jacque DeAldersburgs breastplate, I was not sure of his monstrosity, he had gone too far and had to be brought down but I would not stand in moral judgement of him. I had not experienced all that he had, not been tormented by the visions that would not leave him in peace, not been forced to contend with a power that could alter time and space itself, and not been left as a child to make my own way in an all too real and harsh world.

In the desperate pursuit of the Kingslayers that defines the first game we do not have the time for introspection that the first game offers us, but I hold that we find the answer to that games main theme in the person of one man: Letho of Gulet. Standing before the Viper the White Wolf finds an equal, an opposite and maybe even a friend, a vision of himself but seen as if through a glass darkly. Where Geralt is lithe and quick, Letho is massive and strong. While the White Wolfs fame has spread into even Nilfgaard, the Viper remains an enigma wrappped inside a riddle. While the Witchers of the Wolf school accept their decline and go into the night with a grumble, the Viper school seeks to reinvent itself in a changing world. Where Geralt all too often charges headlong into danger, trusting to his superhuman reflexes and experience to save him, Letho plans and manipulates until by the time he strikes victory is assured. While the White Wolfs natural charisma, fame and sardonic wit might win him friends and allies, the Viper relies on a mask of self pity, brute simplicity and simple words to manipulate those all to eager to believe the cliches they hold too tightly.

In short the second game, by holding up the character of Letho, and making us examine his actions and perspective, asks us another simple question: What is a Witcher, is this what Geralt could become if his dabbling in the game of thrones continues? The power mongers and potentates of the Northern Kingdoms do not care for Witcher neutrality, they see only a valuable tool, that may give them an edge over their rivals, they would gladly welcome his sword. Is this service so onerous when compared to their current life, a few more scars every year, with one less witcher returning to Kaer Morhen every so often, and all for the handful of coins that a frugal peasent is willing to part with? Once again there is no easy answer, I refuse to judge the Viper just as I did with Berengar and Alvin, it is not my place.

In the next part I shall discuss the theme of vulnerability within the games, and make a study of certain characters specific interactions with said theme.

 

[goopit]

I wonder how Letho evolved into such a mastermind or was he just schooled by Vattier de Rideaux. He probably didn't have much contact with people except for other witchers so how could he manipulate them so successfully.

Oh and Letho's vulnerability: he sucks at killing elves.

 

[volsung]

Good read Bloth, thanks.

I also love from The Witcher series of games that we are required to think and consider before pursuing any particular path, and no combination of them is ever presented as wrong or right. They simply "are".

Both games question our human nature and the extent of our influence in the world, proposing we are more than simple spectators. We take sides and these decisions affect others.

I particularly liked what you said about every year one less witcher coming to Kaer Morhen.

 

[Blothulfur]

Vulnerability.

Geralt of Rivia.

There is no other character in the Witcher games who is so mercilessly proved to be at the mercy of circumstance than the White Wolf himself. To begin at the ending, we see the Witcher standing up for what is right, without reward or praise, a man unbowed by all the world has thrown at him, still making that stand for what he believes should be. The reward for this bravery, to be stabbed in the back by a lad called Rob, one of the greatest swordsman of his age brought low by an untrained boy. Utterly tragic, utterly typical and foretold by Yennefer long before his death. He dies as he lived, uncompromising.

Afforded happiness and contentment by his daughter he is taken to Avallach, the Isle of Apple Blossoms, to dwell for a time in bliss and peace while his mortal wounds heal. But even here cruel circumstance dogs him, the Wild Hunt, still seeking what they have always sought burst into that holy place and defile it with their spectral presence, ripping Yennefer from his side and carrying her away. His heaven is shattered by the violence they brought, and so he takes up the silver and steel swords again, to hunt the monstrous once more.

At the end of that hunt he is forced into a choice, and willingly makes it, his life for that of Yennefer, and as the Sorceress, Letho and his three brother Vipers look on Geralt is taken to ride with the Wild Hunt and dwell among the beautiful corpse fed gardens of their homeworld. Death or the doing the right thing, the choice was heads or tails and there was no edge to the coin, Geralt was once more a victim of circumstance.

He reappears years later, the Wild Hunt hounding his steps as he chases a vision of home, and finds himself at Kaer Morhen. Healed by the Sorceress Triss Merigold, his haunting memories of a Sorceress more dear than life itself to him, are used to snare him into her bed. He is saved and used in equally measures, all without his consent.

There is no rest, the sanctity of isolated Kaer Morhen is shattered. The secrets of Witcher mutation are stolen, and despite all his struggles the White Wolf can do nothing to prevent it. Thus he is driven to the hunt once again, and heads southwest to far Vizima. All manner of adventures overtake the Witcher, and whether it is facing down a Beast born of mans sins or bearding the Sorceror who stole Kaer Morhens secrets, Geralt proves himself equal to the test. The Sorceror brought to bay, his powers crippled by the White Wolfs cunning, our hero has victory snatched from his paws, and is left to die in a place where abominations roam and monsters are born.

Saved by Triss Merigold, the Witcher finds himself at her mercy once more, and despite overhearing her scheming with fellow Sorceresses, still lets her use him, both sexually and politically. For the moment their plans converge, and whether he does this because of those haunting memories of a Sorceress or for the thrill of a quick tumble and an ally in his quest we are left to decide. There is no doubting that he is once more rendered vulnerable, dropped into a game of intrigue he is not a master of, used as a pawn by powerbrokers who he really knows nothing of. He is openly disgusted by being forced to play at being such a dogsbody for these competitors, there is no part of this that he wants, and yet he forwards his own goals in pursuing this path.

And succeeds, Salamandra is brought low, but the price is high. He has involved himself once too often in the game, and the red queen moves to remove this knight, only for the white queen to whisk him off the board alltogether. Saved yet again, by a friend, a manipulator or both? Raising a sorcerous child in a rural idyll, the Witcher is shown a peaceful path he fears that he can never tread, and in providing answers to his young charges questions shapes a mans mind and methods. Only for that glimpse of hearth and home to be whisked away, he fails Alvin and thus is born a monster.

The game of thrones has poisoned this rural idyll, so he returns to Vizima, and finds that the fires of hatred have consumed it. Dancing the blade among rebels and zealots the Witcher is forced into a battle he fought long ago, to restore the red queen Adda, at the behest of her father the king. Used again, he yet prevails and drives on to beard the Salamandra in its den, passing the twisted corpses that Azar Javed is making from the secrets of Kaer Morhen.

The Sorceror falls, and his master is revealed, Jacque DeAldesburg, Grandmaster of the Knights of the Flaming Rose. His mad dream engulfs the White Wolf, and he reveals that all he has done has been for the betterment of mankind, that there is no answer to the white frost and the only question is how one faces it. Geralt ends his dream, he will not countenance that path. In the silent cloisters of the Flaming Rose, the Witcher finds a keepsake he gave to a son that never was, a lad who could bend time and space. The Witchers teachings bore a monster, better to have never even seen the lad, for all concerned.

A tale ends, a story of tragedy, but there is no end for the White Wolf. A Witcher assassin strikes at King Foltest, intrigued and compelled in equal measures Geralt stands at the monarchs side, he has no choice for such men do not accept answers they do not like. An answer comes in the shape of another assassin, who unknowingly frames his brother Witcher with regicide, and thus we find Geralt beaten and bruised in a dungeon, dreaming of the Wild Hunt and bitterly aware of his own vulnerability to circumstance once again.

The long hunt for the kingslayers winds through Flotsam where the Witcher is drawn into the games of a patriot, a bastard and a murderer, all too vulnerable and aware of it he must choose a side and ally with those who can lead him onwards. On a borderland battlefield the White Wolf finds himself at the heart of a conflict, and used by a Sorceresses' lackey or a King all too aware of his mortality, but he finds answers there and the next step in his chase. At Loc Muinne, in the shadows of many races genocide Geralt treads the Witchers path and makes choices that he hates, but must make. Here the pieces are lined up and the players revealed, the frowning young king who has checkmated the former champion of the game, and it is up to Geralt to prevent the last desperate play of that lady champion. He is a Witcher, his vulnerability stands between men and the monstrous.

Afterwards he sits down with a friend, and truths are told at last over a mouthful of vodka, and loose scabbards. No player won the match at Loc Muinne, for the Viper changed the board, and a new game has begun that will sweep all the players into an even more terrible conflict. Only now does Geralt hear what concerns him, only now is memory reforged and the pain of all that he has lost brought home to the Witcher, his lady lies to the south where the fires of total war rage uncontrolled.

All too vulnerable the Witcher must don his blades and venture forth again, and trust that this time circumstance does not use him too cruelly.

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

Great posts Bloth! Have you considered a blog or something to store your writings?

And you probably already know this, but for a theme I suggest that The Witcher's overall theme for both games is Change (systemic, social, economic, cultural..etc) and how people react to it.

 

[Blothulfur]

Triss Merigold.

Powerful sorceress and founding member of the Lodge Triss Merigold is a character who changes vastly between the two games, but one thing remains consistent, her feelings for the White Wolf. Whether this is a vulnerability or a strength we do not know, in the first game it certainly does not seem to hamper her pursuit of Salamandra, or her ability to aid the Witcher, indeed it could be argued that she manipulates Geralts residual feelings for Yennefer that he expresses to her at Kaer Morhen.

What cannot be denied in the first game is that she is a tower of strength. First healing the amnesiac White Wolf upon his escape from the Wild Hunt, then saving him after his first encounter with the Professor and Azar Javed at the swamp tower, essentially leading the fight back against Salamandra in Vizima, and then whisking the Witcher away from Adda's ambush. Behaviour such as this, which seems oddly reminiscent of Yennefer makes one wonder how Triss grew and changed in the years following the Sorceresses and Geralts death in Rivia, she seems far more self assured and capable.

The fact that throughout the first game Geralt plays the maiden in distress role, as well as the hound that Leuvaarden and Triss let loose to hunt down the Salamandra (a role he seems less than satisfied with,) seems to indicate that Triss has become strong and her vulnerabilities are few. She is more than willing to manipulate and use others vulnerabilities, whether that be Leuvaarden, Foltest or her beloved White Wolf, indeed at the beginning of Assassins of Kings we find Triss seemingly content, in some manner she has managed to snare everything she wants. Foltest values her as an advisor, her membership of the Lodge has made her strong, and she has bewitched the Witcher.

Of course just when you feel strong is when the world feels it is time to teach you humility, and with a single death the respected Sorceress advisor becomes a regicides whore, hated and reviled by the all good and loyal folk of Temeria. Another Lodge sorceress broght low By Letho of Gulet. Standing by her lovers side, Triss slowly sees her love vanishing, with the re-appearance of his memories, and though she pursues her own path in the game and mayhap even a quick fling with a certain drunken Elf seer, she is slowly rendered ever more powerless.

For all her mystical strength the lightning quick reactions of a Viper are all too effective, and from then on she is playing the role that Geralt played in the last game, that of a maiden in distress. She falls too quickly to the deception of Philippa and her traitorous assistant, and she should know better, to be united by hate is a fragile alliance, and no Lodge Sorceress should trust another. Thus she ends her time at Loc Muinne screaming confessions that an old sadist does not need and allready knows, to be saved by her love or a Viper who swore that she would come to no harm from his actions.

Here we see a character arc developing over two games, and not a particularly pleasant one. Triss has fallen from power along with the lodge she helped found, and faces the loss of her true love to the woman whom he was destined for. For this I salute CDPR, too often we are told in modern games media that a woman must only display strong qualities, and never be placed in a position where a man can save her. The developers had the strength of mind to not fall for such politically correct pandering, just as the Witchers life is saved numerous times during the first game by Triss, and he displays all too human weaknesses, so when circumstance knocks her down she finds a friend (or a friends friend) who will come to her aid and stand by her.

Triss Merigold had a dream however, and for a golden moment in northern Temeria she grasped that dream and made it real, what will she do to regain that I wonder? Is this obsession strength or vulnerability?

 

[Blothulfur]

Cheers Knight, I think i'll just post on here for the moment as it'll all be Witcher related.

 

[chopy]

I wonder how Letho evolved into such a mastermind or was he just schooled by Vattier de Rideaux. He probably didn't have much contact with people except for other witchers so how could he manipulate them so successfully.

Oh and Letho's vulnerability: he sucks at killing elves.

Witchers are well-known for being witty.Its part of their profession , also as a witcher he must have had a lot of contact with strangers.

 

[Blothulfur]

Conclusion.

In the world of the witcher man is mortal, this is all too evident and the power he may spend a life time scheming and fighting for may be lost in the blink of an eye, or the cut of a knife. Thus we learn that such power is an illusion, and anyone no matter how high they have risen may be slain.

The games are replete with such humbling moments: Alvin slain at the heart of the dreamworld that has tormented him his entire life, by a man who wanted only to protect the child. King Foltest triumphant in his moment of glory, his throne, kingdom and succession secured is struck down by a simple knife, the greatest monarch of the Northern Kingdoms reduced to so much dead meat. Philippa Eilhart, mistress of the Lodge of Sorceresses who made kings dance on a whim, is reduced to shambling through the ruins of Loc Muinne, eyeless and beaten, outplayed by a quiet child who put aside his toys to watch, wait and learn. The entire Northern Kingdoms, proud and free conquerors of great Nilfgaard, are brought to the edge of ruin by a Viper's poison.

Even the Aen Elle, who grind bones to dust beneath their armoured boots and enslave whole worlds, are cast down by a quirk of fate, an elf womans love for a simple human that leaves them trapped behind the Ard Gaethe. And lurking behind all these great struggles lies the white frost, an ice age that will engulf the Witchers world, and sweep away all the petty kingdoms of man, rendering their struggles, their wars, their imperial ambitions as meaningless as life itself. The uncaring universe changing as it always has.

It is all vulnerable and inconsequential, and so the wise Witcher takes comforts in his friends, his strength, his loved ones and the simplest of pleasures, for tomorrow he may well die. The causes he stands for, the morals he upholds, the lines that he will not cross, they may be meaningless in the larger picture, but he will still stand for them with strength, silver and steel, for they are what is right and to champion them means all the more when there are no rewards, no heavens, not even thanks offered or asked for.

 

[Revan1]

Well, that is some reading!

You seem to have read the books and while i agree with you on most things, i disagree with your interpretation of Triss Merigold.
No, i am no Triss lover, not in every play at least.

When Triss join the Lodge in the books, she is like every other characters, lost in a time of chaos and need something to hold on to. She truly believe that she and her so called friends can do good things, even if it fastly appear that most members have no real power and that Filipa run the show.

In the witcher 1, you made her sound like she is some sort of manipulative woman who's only interest is seduce Geralt and advance her own agenda. While in fact she really believe at that time in the good intentions of the Lodge and that getting rid of Salamandra is best for everyboby, not only her and the Lodge.

She is certainly using Geralt to a point but it is obvious that treating with Leuvardeen is what bother him most. He doesn't really mind Triss using him because he know that she means him no harm, quite the contrary.

During the famous opening of act 3 that drove some players to distrust Triss, when she say: "I have him wrap around my finger already", she isn't actually speaking of Geralt. Proof is that after, the woman who is probably Filipa ask: "And how is your witcher?" and the conversation goes on about him. It woudn't be built that way if Triss was speaking of him with her first sentence.

In the witcher 2, well she is certainly concern with the returning memories of her dear Geralt and who can really blame her for that? Or for not having speak of Yen in the first place?
She finally has a chance with him, and while i can understand Geralt's obsession for Yen, it would be not unlikely nor out of character that he report this obsession on Triss, even after starting to remember Yen. That is up to the player eventually and a valid choice, witch ever way you choose. The ending of TW2 is ambiguous because that what the Dev wanted but no door is closed for our lovers triangle.

About the lodge, Geralt is finding hard to blame her for the plans that was of Filipa and Sile, and she never told him about the Lodge because:
1 She took a oathe that include to not speak about it.
2 She did not see the point until it was too late.
3 I was thinking of the third reason but i can't seem to remember it.

Concerning her supposed flings in both games, i find it hard to believe, it is not because she actually speaks with mens that she flings with them, even if the said men woudn't mind i am sure. I believe that triss keep this kind of favors quite jealously in fact, unlike most others sorceress who see it as a way to use people.

To conclude, Triss has certainly her flaws but she has good intentions, who tend to turn bad, it is true, like most of the good intentions. She is not a power hungry like Filipa Eilhart. And hell, for those of you who don't know Yennefer de Venderberg, well you will certainly see that Geralt has quite a taste about women.

And for the players who ask themself if they can trust Triss, i believe that Triss is asking herself the very same question about Geralt.

 

[chlong7]

That's a nice read, Blothulfur. Good job! I agree with Revan1 about Triss, though. I don't read her the way you do.

 

[Blothulfur]

Well I think she's been using Geralts vague memories of Yennefer since he arrived at Kaer Morhen, admittedly it's the White Wolf who makes that mistake but she seems in no hurry to correct him at any point. The mirror scene does not particularly bother me, except for the last line, never let the Witcher know what you hide from him, that obviously raised my hackles, but we were using each other so thats moot. The biggest hint for me though is the last journal entry for the identity quest, where Geralt feels that his one great love was a sorceress, and naturally assumes it to be Triss.

As to her Lodge membership, I regard the Sorceresses much like any other power seeking group in the north, personally I find their aims laudable, but their methods despicable and not so noble as they make out, but then compared to feudalism anything is better. To my mind howeverv she's using Geralt, but then again he's using her, thus the relationship is equitable and we can even obfuscate our choices when she questions us over our decision between Siegfried and Yaevinn.

It's the scene at the Roses of Remembrance that really bothers me however, and the fact that she would try to seduce Geralt so soon after he's had a glance of the contentment he experienced with his true love on Avalon, that is not the action of a friend to either the White Wolf or the Lady of Vengerberg. Could it be that the Roses of Remembrance acted upon them both, beguiling them? Maybe, but Triss knows of the flowers and their properties, being the strong sorceress she is. I see this as her desperate last gambit, spooked by his returning memories, trying to make the Witcher her own before he remembers Yennefer.

However I will say that I don't hold this to be canon in any way shape or form, it's just personal supposition, as is everything I write in this thread.

 

[Revan1]

Well I think she's been using Geralts vague memories of Yennefer since he arrived at Kaer Morhen, admittedly it's the White Wolf who makes that mistake but she seems in no hurry to correct him at any point. The mirror scene does not particularly bother me, except for the last line, never let the Witcher know what you hide from him, that obviously raised my hackles, but we were using each other so thats moot.

Indeed, she is certainly in no hurry to correct him, witch is understandable, in my opinion. Beside, if before his amnesia he wasn't in love with her, he still felt something that was a little more that friendship and that never get to grow because of his Yen's obsession. The only thing that really grew before was guilt, and where there is guilt, well, there is something else. She is in title to think that Geralt might be interested by her and not some blur memory of Yen. I restarted reading the books those days and will quote the pertinent lines when i get there, if you want.
What she hide from him? Her belonging to the Lodge and their political shemes probably. Geralt know perfectly that his sorceress friends hide a lot of things from him and he simply doesn't mind. Yennefer hide a ton of things, that never kept him from madly loving her or change his opinion of her.

I quoted the mirror scene only because i saw some players writing that Triss was not trustworthy because of what she says there.

The biggest hint for me though is the last journal entry for the identity quest, where Geralt feels that his one great love was a sorceress, and naturally assumes it to be Triss.

Well as you know there is more than one last entry, according to your choices, in my last game, Geralt gave Alvin to Triss, didn't give a commitment's ring, wrote a friendly letter to Triss, said Foltest they are friends and got the entry you say, the one where no name is quote if i am not mistaken?
I saw that entry like a reference to Yen personnaly. For Geralt, it mean that Triss is not the woman he used to love.

As to her Lodge membership, I regard the Sorceresses much like any other power seeking group in the north, personally I find their aims laudable, but their methods despicable and not so noble as they make out, but then compared to feudalism anything is better. To my mind howeverv she's using Geralt, but then again he's using her, thus the relationship is equitable and we can even obfuscate our choices when she questions us over our decision between Siegfried and Yaevinn.

You are right about the lodge, but in Triss's mind it is probably a lesser evil to have powerfuls and ambitious sorceress who can keeps each other in check rather than let them wander in nature. if she knew that the lodge would one day start by killing a king in order to steal his realm, i don't think she would have join them or may have tried more actively to change things.

It's the scene at the Roses of Remembrance that really bothers me however, and the fact that she would try to seduce Geralt so soon after he's had a glance of the contentment he experienced with his true love on Avalon, that is not the action of a friend to either the White Wolf or the Lady of Vengerberg. Could it be that the Roses of Remembrance acted upon them both, beguiling them? Maybe, but Triss knows of the flowers and their properties, being the strong sorceress she is. I see this as her desperate last gambit, spooked by his returning memories, trying to make the Witcher her own before he remembers Yennefer.

However I will say that I don't hold this to be canon in any way shape or form, it's just personal supposition, as is everything I write in this thread.

The rose of Remembrance, i will have to check as my reading goes but so far i don't think we know everything about this flower's properties. It can be used to control a mind, that is for sure but we don't know if it can't restore memory as Triss said it.
All i can say is that if Triss really wanted to make Geralt her unconditional slave, she could have either in the elven bath, either when he return to give her the rose. And Triss speak the truth in the things she says. She isn't in the things she doesn't say, witch makes her quite easy to believe. Finally even if the ideas crossed her mind and even if she acted on it, i think he would forvive her, even understand in a way, providing that that he ever recover his free will of course.

For the seduction part, there is nothing new to that, in the books i remember that in every seduction attempt she make, she doesn't give much thought about Yennefer or trying not to at least. The love she feel woudn'be obsessional and woudn't have last all that time otherwise. Her speech is really touching however, everytime i roleplay Geralt in the way: "I don't want to give her false hope, i will run to Yen first chance i get, i must resist", he is having a hard time and feel guilty. Of course he didn't sleep with her before. Then if i roleplay Geralt in the way: "I am completely lost but that girl really grew on me" then he just fell for it and basically say yes to everything. Then he is feeling guilty again, not for Triss this time but for Yen.

Some people find this scene of the game irritating, i find it great and completely in books's spirit, this is a proof that if you can influence Geralt, you can't really change him because every possible answer leads to doubts.

When it come to the games, every players make his own canon, no wrong in that.

 

[Blothulfur]

Next part I think i'm going to take Knights suggestion and focus on change and stasis, Iorveth and Letho stand out as agents of change obviously, though i'd welcome other suggestions. I was initially thinking of mainly spotlighting Saesenthesis, but her nature makes giving her realistic human motivations a little bit of a stretch. For stasis i'm thinking of focusing on Henselt and Roche, opposite ends of the social scale yet trying to maintain the same institution, once again i'd welcome any suggestions.

Maybe I should save this quite large topic for later and focus on Selfishness and selflessness, as represented by Bernard Loredo and Cedric?

 

[ReptilePZ]

It's the scene at the Roses of Remembrance that really bothers me however, and the fact that she would try to seduce Geralt so soon after he's had a glance of the contentment he experienced with his true love on Avalon, that is not the action of a friend to either the White Wolf or the Lady of Vengerberg. Could it be that the Roses of Remembrance acted upon them both, beguiling them? Maybe, but Triss knows of the flowers and their properties, being the strong sorceress she is. I see this as her desperate last gambit, spooked by his returning memories, trying to make the Witcher her own before he remembers Yennefer.

It's Geralt who makes the first move in that scene. If you don't bring up the topic of her needing to take a bath, Triss does nothing to try and seduce you. So I don't see her as desperate to have him. If she was, she would have been the one initiating the conversation.

 

[Revan1]

Whatever you do in this part, take her to the ruin or not, take a bath or not, she will always end up making him the same speech, and this speech is a attempt to make Geralt say that he will not leave her, so there is seduction. I don't see what is wrong with it, Yennefer would do the same if not more.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Whatever you do in this part, take her to the ruin or not, take a bath or not, she will always end up making him the same speech, and this speech is a attempt to make Geralt say that he will not leave her, so there is seduction. I don't see what is wrong with it, Yennefer would do the same if not more.

I see that as a friend offering support to another friend without forcing it upon him, not as a way to seduce Geralt. She mentions Yennefer many times in that speech, so it's not like she's avoiding the subject, and she doesn't even try to convince Geralt not to go after her, Triss just offers her help and says she'd understand if he didn't want her to go with him - and she makes it perfectly clear it's hard for her to say this so she's not trying to deceive Geralt either.

 

[Revan1]

I see that as a friend offering support to another friend without forcing it upon him, not as a way to seduce Geralt. She mentions Yennefer many times in that speech, so it's not like she's avoiding the subject, and she doesn't even try to convince Geralt not to go after her, Triss just offers her help and says she'd understand if he didn't want her to go with him - and she makes it perfectly clear it's hard for her to say this so she's not trying to deceive Geralt either.

Well, maybe this is just me who is interpreting too much, comparing characters in books and in games and such, but it always seems that facial expressions during the scene, the fact that Triss add she is willing to live at Kaer Moren and her general ton of speech indicate that there is more that a offer of help in her words.
My opinion is that she mentions to go save Yen because she want Geralt to make a real choice, the matter settle one way or the other, once they will find her.
The possible answers that Geralt can give also indicate the ackwardeness (hope i wrote this word correctly) of the situation. Either he basically accept and his own ton let think he has more that frienship for Triss, or he is doing his best to avoid the subject. It is interesting to note that he doesn't mention Yennefer no matter what answer you choose.

Oh and, no she is not trying to deceive him, she is not trying to force her presence but she puts some preasure on Geralt, not to make him feel bad, just to make him understand that he will to have a choice to make at some point.

This is my humble opinion.

 

[Blothulfur]

Except you get a bonus to magic resistance if you gave Triss the old heave ho at the ruins, which says either she was using the Roses innate magic to snare him, or her own. Either way it's a pretty foul thing to do to both Geralt and Yen after the last time, Yennefer was furious as I recall, it almost ended their friendship. So soon after Geralt's vision of his true love as well, there's no coincedence there.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Well, maybe this is just me who is interpreting too much, comparing characters in books and in games and such, but it always seems that facial expressions during the scene, the fact that Triss add she is willing to live at Kaer Moren and her general ton of speech indicate that there is more that a offer of help in her words.
My opinion is that she mentions to go save Yen because she want Geralt to make a real choice, the matter settle one way or the other, once they will find her.
The possible answers that Geralt can give also indicate the ackwardeness (hope i wrote this word correctly) of the situation. Either he basically accept and his own ton let think he has more that frienship for Triss, or he is doing his best to avoid the subject. It is interesting to note that he doesn't mention Yennefer no matter what answer you choose.

Oh and, no she is not trying to deceive him, she is not trying to force her presence but she puts some preasure on Geralt, not to make him feel bad, just to make him understand that he will to have a choice to make at some point.

This is my humble opinion.

I agree with that. And it's obvious he has to choose betweem them, it's to be expected. I agree that it is her who put him in the difficult situation, not sayng she's innocent. I'm just arguing that putting pressure on him is not the same as trying to seduce him as a last, desperate move.