Triss Merigold

+
Triss Merigold

To the people who read the books, what is Triss like?

In the Witcher 1, I chose Shani, and made Triss somewhat hate Geralt. But in the Witcher 2, even if I import my save, Geralt and Triss are together. What confuses me, is that Triss changed in the Witcher 2. I disliked her in the Witcher 1 and liked her in the Witcher 2. That is why, I'm curious to know what is Triss like in the books? Is she more like the Triss in the W1 or W2? Is she sensitive? Is she mean? Is she trustworthy? I just want to know before having to make a decision in the W3 between Yennefer and Triss (If there was any) though I don't think it would be that simple.

Thanks :)
 
Slicedice808 said:
To the people who read the books, what is Triss like?

In the Witcher 1, I chose Shani, and made Triss somewhat hate Geralt. But in the Witcher 2, even if I import my save, Geralt and Triss are together. What confuses me, is that Triss changed in the Witcher 2. I disliked her in the Witcher 1 and liked her in the Witcher 2. That is why, I'm curious to know what is Triss like in the books? Is she more like the Triss in the W1 or W2? Is she sensitive? Is she mean? Is she trustworthy? I just want to know before having to make a decision in the W3 between Yennefer and Triss (If there was any) though I don't think it would be that simple.

Thanks :)/>

The best info and advice I can give is: READ THE BOOKS!!! ;)
Sorry if that does not satisfy you. )
 
I'll say they definitely got Triss' character better in TW2. In TW1, she felt ok in the prologue (aside from that ridiculous hooker outfit), but then turned into some weird mixture of just about all the sorceresses from the books, with a huge dose of Yennefer's femme fatale-ness in there.

Triss is sensitive and somewhat insecure, which she does sometimes try to cover up with snarkiness or coldness. She's not entirely trustworthy, but not because she's a schemer - she's just internally conflicted about her loyalties. She's often torn between her friends and the Lodge (which she treats in an idealistic way when at all possible) and of course, she's also torn between her friendship with Yennefer and her crush on Geralt.
 
Slicedice808 said:
Is she more like the Triss in the W1 or W2? Is she sensitive? Is she mean? Is she trustworthy? I just want to know before having to make a decision in the W3 between Yennefer and Triss (If there was any) though I don't think it would be that simple.
The best answer was already written - read the books, because with the best answer (based on book) you will not be probably satisfied .. Yennefer is quite obvious answer, because there is so clear that relation-ship between Triss and Geralt is past, but between Yen and Geralt is life-long (and maybe even longer :) ) love.

But if you still want it..
Triss is really good character, she is young (and that is important) and quite a lot affected by her relation-ship (short love affair) with Geralt and by wounds that she suffered during battle of Sodden.

Her first appearance is there when Geralt asks her for favour and she help him with Ciri. She is presented as quite good friend of Morhen witchers and she still loves Geralt. He considers their love affair as HIS mistake. She is presented as very kind and good character in that chapter. She tried to seduce him, but when he resisted, she simply give that up (for readers - during 2nd case she was very sick ;) ), even when she loved him so much. He told her, she is his very good friend and she always will be.

After that she goes through big decission. She bacame member of the Lodge, which is the best side for her, but after that Yennefer 'betrayed' Lodge and worked alone - some people blame her for being there ("hiding in Lodge") but there is not even mentioned that Yennefer gave her chance to cooperate with her. And she was quite young for the way of acting, which Yennefer chosed.

She regreted a lot that she couldn't help more to Ciri or Yennefer or at least fight during second war with Nilfgaard. There is clearly visible, what good charactrer she is. But as she said, other members of the Lodge explained her well, what is important to do and what is their role. They simply convicted her with rational arguments. So if you want to blame her, you can just blame her for being not so much emotional and strong as Yennefer.

She is very good friend of Ciri. She dressed witchers down for their mistakes about Ciri and she protected her there. She is like her older sister.

In the end she believed, Ciri would be safe in Lodge. Little bit later she is still arguing with Yen about Geralt (Yen never forget what was between them), but one moment after that Triss saved her life during that pogrom in Rivia. That is important moment, because there is expressly mentioned how she could chose between that hiding in the Lodge and helping to her friends and what she decided to do.

My conclusion - Triss is the best friend of Geralt. I would never blame her for being in Lodge, which was the best side (not only for her). And I cannot also blame her for not giving herself up to Vilgeforz just like Yen did.
In the most important moments, when she COULD decide what to do, she chosed the right things (she helped Geralt, when he needed, she helped Yen, she voted for Ciri, in game she saved Geralt's life - I almost forgot, she did that also after Thanedd dispute - and even when she had nice moments with Geralt - during W2 - she offered him help to search for Yennefer).
 
Kodaemon said:
Triss is sensitive and somewhat insecure, which she does sometimes try to cover up with snarkiness or coldness. She's not entirely trustworthy, but not because she's a schemer - she's just internally conflicted about her loyalties. She's often torn between her friends and the Lodge (which she treats in an idealistic way when at all possible) and of course, she's also torn between her friendship with Yennefer and her crush on Geralt.
This is short but very accurate description of Triss.
 
Kodaemon nailed it. In The Witcher 1 Triss is quite different from her character from the books. In TW2, however, she was represented rather closely to the books, both in character and in appearance.
 
Kodaemon said:
Triss is sensitive and somewhat insecure, which she does sometimes try to cover up with snarkiness or coldness. She's not entirely trustworthy, but not because she's a schemer - she's just internally conflicted about her loyalties. She's often torn between her friends and the Lodge (which she treats in an idealistic way when at all possible) and of course, she's also torn between her friendship with Yennefer and her crush on Geralt.

Very good writeup.
 
If I could buy the books I wouldn't hesitate a moment. But there's war in my country, so shipping is not available.

And thank you for the answers... I can completely understand Triss and her personality now :) I guess CDPR did a great job with Triss' personality in the W2. It is close to Triss' personality that you described from the books :)
 
Kodaemon said:
Triss is sensitive and somewhat insecure, which she does sometimes try to cover up with snarkiness or coldness. She's not entirely trustworthy, but not because she's a schemer - she's just internally conflicted about her loyalties. She's often torn between her friends and the Lodge (which she treats in an idealistic way when at all possible) and of course, she's also torn between her friendship with Yennefer and her crush on Geralt.

Well said.

Much of the reason for Triss's insecurity is that she is very young and inexperienced for a master sorceress. When she warns Geralt that he is walking into an abyss, she herself doesn't understand how deep and treacherous it is.
 
Kodaemon and sfinxCZ gave us a very accurate description of Triss, definitely agree with everything they said. I would add just a few more things:

Triss was known as a cheerful person she always giggled or at least smiled and had a girlish nature (mainly because of her youth). In Blood of Elves we finally got to know her better; she was a very friendly and open-minded sorceress (which is quite rare between her Colleagues) and the witchers liked her a lot. (Well, except Lambert although I have always had the feeling the he did like her as well but he was trying to cover it up with rudeness.)
By the way, Kodaemon is absolutely right, when Triss was insecure and/or disagreed with someone – she quickly became cold and sarcastic but in the next moment calmed down again. So I would say she was a bit short-tempered sometimes, but was generally a cheerful woman.

Also, Sapkowski mentioned that she had many lovers in the past but none of them made her really happy and she had never found what she was looking for. Actually, Geralt showed her something completely different, something she couldn’t forget and that’s how she fell in love with him.
As others have already said, she made some mistakes due to her insecurity but later regretted everything and helped her friends (risked her own life to save them).

All in all, despite all of her flaws she was indeed a likeable character with a good heart. :)
But she had to grow up to realize her flaws and mistakes.
 
I must say I have high hopes for Triss in TW3, hopefully she will join Geralt on some of his adventures.
 
Tasir said:
Also, Sapkowski mentioned that she had many lovers in the past but none of them made her really happy and she had never found what she was looking for.

About that specific part of your text... I'm pretty sure that's how Sapkowski described Yennefer's past, not Triss'. Well, maybe she had a similar past and I don't remember, but that line of text describes Yennefer pretty well. Just saying, maybe you made a mistake.
___

All in all, Kodaemon nailed it. Couldn't have described better myself.
 
GabeofRivia said:
About that specific part of your text... I'm pretty sure that's how Sapkowski described Yennefer's past, not Triss'. Well, maybe she had a similar past and I don't remember, but that line of text describes Yennefer pretty well. Just saying, maybe you made a mistake.

In Blood of Elves Sapkowski described Triss’ sexual life (when she lived in Kaer Morhen) and I was talking about that ominous scene in the book. :)

Edit: added a spoiler tag.
 
Slicedice808 said:
To the people who read the books, what is Triss like?

In the Witcher 1, I chose Shani, and made Triss somewhat hate Geralt. But in the Witcher 2, even if I import my save, Geralt and Triss are together. What confuses me, is that Triss changed in the Witcher 2. I disliked her in the Witcher 1 and liked her in the Witcher 2. That is why, I'm curious to know what is Triss like in the books? Is she more like the Triss in the W1 or W2? Is she sensitive? Is she mean? Is she trustworthy? I just want to know before having to make a decision in the W3 between Yennefer and Triss (If there was any) though I don't think it would be that simple.

Thanks :)/>

Shani was mostly given another (unavailable) character´s personality. Triss... in the books she had some severe backbone lack.
Not helping Yenn vs Vilgefortz is one thing, refusing to tell Geralt she had not betrayed him quite another.
By the time she finally grows it, well, it´s very fortunate they misscast the spell she was going for into an icestorm.

Booklore wise, it´s clearly stated Geralt wouldn´t want anymore of her once he knew the whole tale, fortunately for Triss he also doesn´t (usually) hold grudges.

Something I´ve been wondering for some time is why she was at the witcher fortress, and why she told the witchers to chase the Wild Hunt.

I also associate the Lodge too much with the Bene Gesserit to like any of them. Don´t get why magic would make anybody a better politician.
 
NicolasF said:
Shani was mostly given another (unavailable) character´s personality. Triss... in the books she had some severe backbone lack.
Not helping Yenn vs Vilgefortz is one thing, refusing to tell Geralt she had not betrayed him quite another.
I have to add few words to that - she practically didn't have any chance to do that.

1) Yen vs Vilgefortz - I don't know if she even wanted some help from her. They simply chosed different paths. Yen wanted to fight alone, head directly to Ciri, Triss wanted to work in that secret organization. I think, Yennefer also didn't trust her so much and that strategy, which she chosed wasn't something what wouldrequire help. If they would do that and if they both ended in prison (very likely) Vilgefortz would get rid of Triss or he would use her (Yen is sronger) to locate Ciri.

2) If she wanted to say him that Yennefer didn't betray anyone, she would have to leave lodge (but I think theywere keeping eye on her) and find Geralt and than tell him. I am not sure if this was presented somehow else in games, but in books,
Fringilla (also member of the Lodge was the one, who already told him the truth about Yen). So she didn't even meet him to tell him the truth, he already was with with Yennefer, so he knew it from her (and from Fringilla, as I said).

Don´t get why magic would make anybody a better politician.
Because they are clever, educated and they have actual Power. Not like that kings. Sorceresses and sorcerers have experience with doing politics - on the highest level. They can observe behaviour of king and peasants, consequences of decissions etc. Kings are quite stupid, and their arrogancy is based only on their royal blood, no matter if they are complete idiots, they can bacome kings and if they have good position and strong kingdom, they can hold it for some time. On the other side, only the best mages can be between those, who organize developing of whole world, who put royal families together and also affect results of world wars.
 
In witcher 1 she was basically trying to emulate yenefer to get geralt on her side. She is more natural in witcher2, control freak obsessed with geralt.
 
Triss is a sorceress desperately trying to be like Yennefer without succeeding. Specially in The Witcher 1. In the books is quite different as some users said already.

In fact, we still don't know what will happen in The Witcher 3 considering CD Projekt RED has given Triss lots of extra opportunities to gain Geralt's heart.

Anyway, I don't think that could make any difference because there is only one true love...
If CD Projekt RED is able to explain that in The Witcher 3 (for people who haven't read the books) and bring us Yennefer as she deserves it definitely will be a masterpiece. It is quite a difficult task but I believe they will succeed.

A necessary canon? Maybe... we'll see.
 
Top Bottom