What kind of man would Yen go for?

[Fateless0001]

What kind of man would Yen go for?

I see many threads about what woman is right for Geralt but none about what man is right for any of the ladies. So I'm curious, what kind of man do you think would appeal to Yen? What is she looking for? What does she want out of a relationship?

 

[zappy3]

Simple answer : Geralt
Yeah, ok that wasn't funny...

It's a tough question actually.
Yennefer definitely has some insecurities so I think she needs someone that can make her feel safe, a man with whom she can let go of her fears and be fully herself without any mask. So yeah someone she can trust, someone reliable (which was an issue at some point with Geralt in the books). Someone who, in return would trust her and love her for who she is. But it can't be someone "boring" either. Yennefer is very smart so she would need someone who can really challenge her on that point. Also someone who is not afraid of how strong she can be, someone who can respect that about her and yet someone who wouldn't be afraid to tell her what he thinks when it is needed.

Well truth is I can't really picture her with anyone else than Geralt, I ship these two way too much ^^ I'll keep thinking about it though.

 

[sv3672]

There is a thread for discussing Yennefer's character here, where this topic would probably be relevant.

 

[Mygogac]

So I'm curious, what kind of man do you think would appeal to Yen?

Well, certainly not me irl

 

[Fateless0001]

Hey thanks for the thoughtful answer, Zappy3! I romanced Yen and Triss (not in the same playthrough) and I can understand why Geralt fits the bill for the most part, but I'm curious to see what another man could offer her.
These qualities you listed would definitely be on her list and I like how the game sort of alludes to that as well. She is indeed insecure, it shows in how she tosses the bed out the window and how she'll bite the head of any woman who so much as looks his way. And she's been hurt in the past (her childhood, Geralt running away, being raised at Aretuza, etc) heck it'd be a miracle if anyone came out of that 100% whole. I think her projected confidence definitely weeds out the weak and challenges the powerful.

I'd like to pick your brains regarding outside of personality characteristics as well. Do you think Yen could love someone who is poor? Or would she want a man who could sustain himself? Would she trust someone who's breaking the law? Or would she seek someone ambivalent at best like Geralt? Heck, what is her own disposition regarding law and order?

I ask this because while I loved my Geralt and Yen ending, I didn't buy the part where:

Spoiler

She leaves politics

Did I misunderstand her character? I thought she loved that sort of thing and all the headaches it comes with.

---------- Updated at 11:45 PM ----------

Well, certainly not me irl

Lol, yes Yen is not for everybody. I remember my first play through practically grinding my teeth every time she ordered Geralt or someone else around. But over time she grew on me, I saw how nuanced she is as a woman and I wish we had more adventures to understand why. I'd love to read a book about her time being a prisoner.

 

[Mygogac]

Lol, yes Yen is not for everybody.

You misunderstood me.

A godess like her wood never notice someone like me

 

[zappy3]

Hey thanks for the thoughtful answer! I romanced Yen and Triss (not in the same playthrough) and I can understand why Geralt fits the bill for the most part, but I'm curious to see what another man could offer her.
These qualities you listed would definitely be on her list and I like how the game sort of alludes to that as well. She is indeed insecure, it shows in how she tosses the bed out the window and how she'll bite the head of any woman who so much as looks his way. And she's been hurt in the past (her childhood, Geralt running away, being raised at Aretuza, etc) heck it'd be a miracle if anyone came out of that 100% whole. I think her projected confidence definitely weeds out the weak and challenges the powerful.

I'd like to pick your brains regarding outside of personality characteristics as well. Do you think Yen could love someone who is poor? Or would she want a man who could sustain himself? Would she trust someone who's breaking the law? Or would she seek someone ambivalent at best like Geralt? Heck, what is her own disposition regarding law and order?

I ask this because while I loved my Geralt and Yen ending, I didn't buy the part where:

Spoiler

She leaves politics

Did I misunderstand her character? I thought she loved that sort of thing and all the headaches it comes with.

---------- Updated at 11:45 PM ----------



Lol, yes Yen is not for everybody. I remember my first play through practically grinding my teeth every time she ordered Geralt or someone else around. But over time she grew on me, I saw how nuanced she is as a woman and I wish we had more adventures to understand why. I'd love to read a book about her time being a prisoner.

Hmm I think that she would want a man who can sustain himself because I don't think she would like someone who depends entirely on her. However that does not mean she necessarily wants someone "rich", Geralt for once isn't.
Yennefer deeply respects the customs and beliefs of others (as long as it is not entirely stupid, she wouldn't accept I don't know human sacrifices for example). Regarding law and order though I think she would rather respect the spirit of the law than the law itself. She will do what she believes is right, while respecting others as best as she can but I think she wouldn't hesitate to break the law herself if she thought it was the right thing to do. So I think she needs someone she can respect, someone who does not hesitate to do what he believes is right, not necessarily someone who does everything by the book.
Regarding politics, well she was never really involved in politics in the books! She is good at it surely, she understands it can be necessary sometimes but I don't think it is something she really cares about. She'd rather tend to her own business actually. And the way the game ends when you romance her, well it is actually something she had already discussed with Geralt in the books.
By the way if you want to understand the character better, you should read all the amazing work that @Kallelinski has done in the Yennefer thread.

Samples from the books when Yen was a prisoner (from the document made by @Kallelinski and that you can find at the beginning of that thread) :

"Immediately a hail of punches and kicks rained down on her. She howled as a heavy boot stomped the dagger from her hand and pressed down, crushing her thumb. Another boot stomped onto her abdomen. The sorceress was writhing and gasping. She was torn from the ground and her arms were twisted behind her back. She saw a fist flying towards her and the world suddenly flared up insparks as her face exploded in pain. It ran down her spine into her abdomen and womb. Her knees turned to soft jelly. She hung powerlessly in the hands that held her. Someone grabbed her by the hair, yanking her head up. She took another blow to the eye, and everything blurred and disappeared in a blinding flash.She did not faint. She felt. She was being beaten. Violently beaten, cruelly,beaten like a man. With blows that were not only painful, but also drained you of energy, beat out any will to resist. She was beaten and twitched in the steely grip of many hands.She wanted to faint, but could not. She felt." The Tower of the Swallow

"The sorceress gritted her teeth, gasped, and made deep, muffled groans.‘I know.’ Vilgefortz nodded. He drew a large, professional megascope closer and monitored a large crystal ball on a tripod, surrounded by a silver cobweb of wires. ‘I know, but this is very regrettably required. And very painful. The sooner you start with the locations, the sooner it’s over. Well, Yennefer. Here on this screen, I want to see Ciri. Where she is, whom she is with and what she is doing, along with where and with whom she is sleeping.’Yennefer screamed piercingly, wildly, desperately.‘It hurts,’ Vilgefortz fixed both his living eye the dead crystal eye on her.‘Certainly, it hurts. Locations Yennefer. Do not block yourself. Do not play the heroine. You know that you cannot stand it. The result of the resistance can be distressing, it can lead to a cerebral haemorrhage, you could get a double-sided paralysis, or enter a vegetable state for the rest of your life. Locations!’ She clenched her jaw until her teeth began to crack.‘Well, Yennefer’ the magician said gently. ‘At least out of curiosity! You must be curious about how your student is coping. Perhaps she faces a threat?Maybe she is in trouble? You know how many people want Ciri’s death.Locations. If I know where the girl is, I’ll get it there. She will be safe… no one will find her here. No one.’His voice was velvety and warm.‘Locations Yennefer. Locations. I beg you. I give you my word: I will only take from Ciri what I need. And then I’ll give you both your freedom. I swear it.’Yennefer gritted her teeth even more. A trail of blood flowed over her chin.Vilgefortz abruptly stood up and waved his hand. ‘Rience!’Yennefer felt a device being attached to her hands and fingers.‘Sometimes,’ said Vilgefortz bent over her, ‘there are stubborn situations in which magic, potions, and narcotics simply cannot substitute, good old, classic pain. Do not make me do so. Locations.’‘Go to hell, Vilgefortz!’‘Pull the screws, Rience. Slowly.’
Vilgefortz looked at the unconscious body being dragged across the floortowards the stairs that led into the dungeon. Then he looked up at Rience and Schirru.‘There is always a risk,’ he said, ‘that one of you falls into the hands of my enemies and is interrogated. I would like to believe that you would be as strongminded as her under the screws. Yes, I would like to believe that. But I do not.’Rience and Schirru remained silent. Vilgefortz turned again to the megascope,where an image appeared on the screen, produced by the giant crystal.‘That’s all she located,’ he said, pointing at the screen. ‘I wanted Cirilla and she has given me the witcher. She did not have the empathic matrix of the girl, but when she became weak she gave me Geralt’s. I would not have believed she had such deep feelings for him…" The Tower of the Swallow

 

[StandardEpiphany]

Holy shit, this thread... Questions with no answers! Self-deprecation! Torture porn! I think you guys are exactly what Yennefer wants.

But seriously, there is another Yen thread that would probably welcome this discussion with glee.

 

[Fateless0001]

Holy shit, this thread... Questions with no answers! Self-deprecation! Torture porn! I think you guys are exactly what Yennefer wants.

LOL

But seriously, there is another Yen thread that would probably welcome this discussion with glee.

I'm well aware there's another thread and it's full of amazing posts but its 151 pages long and examining Yen from a completely different viewpoint. It's going to take some time for me to read through it. Also my questions here are a bit more specific to what she's looking for rather than mainly analyzing the relationship between her and Geralt. Though having said that, I'll most definitley be spending a weekend sifting through the pages, there's some real good posts in there like:

[h=2]I like this epxlanation by CDPR's forum member StandardEpiphany: The main idea here is that Yennefer has been off and on in a relationship with two men, Geralt and Istredd, for a while. During her breaks from Geralt she went to Istredd, and vice versa. She has known Istredd for longer than she had known Geralt and while she doesn't truly love Istredd, he offers her stability and support. Istredd is a mature and well adjusted man, and as we see later on, he is not afraid of commiting to Yennefer, unlike Geralt. Despite this, Yennefer goes to Aedd Gynvael in order to leave Istredd. She had a kestrel prepared for him already.However, her plan backfires when Istredd asks her to marry him during their tryst. When she is confronted by Geralt she admits that she considers Istredd's proposal because he is a dependable man who understands her and can support her should she ever need that. Geralt's unwillingness/incapacity to admit his feelings for her doesn't help the situation either. Yennefer loves Geralt and she knows that he loves her back (she can read his thoughts), but she also becomes aware of all the things that prevent them from having a normal relationship. Geralt doesn't know how to express his emotions properly while Yennefer craves love, warmth and security. She is demanding and selfish with a man who needs a caring and empathetic woman. They love each other but they are too emotionally damaged to function as a couple. Both of them feel unworthy of being loved, and that is a pretty terrible state of mind to have.
Yennefer has a revelation about her own difficult nature, her coldness, her self-absorption. She leaves both men in the end because she knows she cannot return their gifts, their love, their devotion. It would be unfair of her to continue to drag them into a relationship. She is a broken woman inside her fascinating armour of beauty and power and sophistication, a woman who has suffered a lot and has built a wall around herself. You have to give something to receive something, and she couldn't. She didn't even know if she ever could, if she even had it in her. She was deeply messed up emotionally at the time. And that's what she understands in A Shard of Ice.

By: Star1173[/h]

---------- Updated at 01:41 AM ----------

Regarding politics, well she was never really involved in politics in the books! She is good at it surely, she understands it can be necessary sometimes but I don't think it is something she really cares about. She'd rather tend to her own business actually. And the way the game ends when you romance her, well it is actually something she had already discussed with Geralt in the books.

I'm only on time of contempt but from I understand they tried living together for a year then Geralt bailed. That's not to say just because it happened once it'll happen again, but still...I'd be wary if I were Yen. I just think she'd eventually get bored without something to command/control, that's why I had a hard time accepting it.

And damn the woman can take a beating! But what I meant was a prisoner in Emhyr's court/dungeon. In-game she alludes to some complicated situations while she was a prisoner there, it'd be interesting to see what she means.

 

[sidv88]

The books also allude to a past affair between Yen and Crach an Craite...

The whole Istredd business soured me on Yen and the rest of the books never really fixed it for me. It always felt that Yen and Geralt only got along when they were threatened by Vilgefortz or when Ciri was in trouble, which didn't seem like a good match for Geralt in my opinion...

So I guess it's fun to discuss who would be best for Yen, if not Geralt

 

[Sunsibar]

I haven't read all the books yet, so I hope I'm very wrong with my opinion.

I think Yen needs someone who she can treat like a boot. I can't understand what Geralt sees in her. Yes, she is very pretty and sex has to be really good, but I can't understand how Geralt can stand her outside the bedroom. Geralt isn't stupid. If I were a guy, I kicked that bossy damsel out of my life right now. No sex is worth such a trouble. I can see them being co workers or friends, but not in a relationship.

If Yen is unsure about herself, she needs someone not good looking. She doesn't want a handsome traveler with charisma and strong mind. She wants someone who treats her like a princess without a mind or opinions of his own. Although Yen isn't stupid either, so in the long run she gets bored with a "puppet guy".

At this moment Yen is impossible to live with, so I think there is not a right man for her. At first she needs to find herself. After that she knows what she wants.

 

[Fateless0001]

The books also allude to a past affair between Yen and Crach an Craite...

No way! Ah man, that mental image won't go away now XD.

The whole Istredd business soured me on Yen and the rest of the books never really fixed it for me. It always felt that Yen and Geralt only got along when they were threatened by Vilgefortz or when Ciri was in trouble, which didn't seem like a good match for Geralt in my opinion...

That bad, huh? I'm just happy that Sapkowski gave her other options and chose to explore a more realistic side of romance. Don't get me wrong, Geralt's my bro and all but it would've been a little weird if one of the most powerful and beautiful sorceresses of all time only had eyes for him 100% of the time.

So I guess it's fun to discuss who would be best for Yen, if not Geralt

 

[StandardEpiphany]

No way! Ah man, that mental image won't go away now XD.

In her defence, he was much younger then...

 

[sidv88]

You know, nonbook readers don't deserve this flak. Years ago, I hurriedly read all the books because people said I would love Yen and hate Triss after reading them. There's a strange "rule" among some that supposedly if you dislike Yen you didn't read the books.

Well, you know, I read them all to the letter, and disliked Yen even more. (I'm not even getting started on how her arrogance in bringing Ciri to Thanedd caused half her problems). Even after I read the books, I said something sympathetic about Triss on the Steam forums and someone accused me of not reading the books. I immediately corrected him.

There's this strange idea that if you dislike Yen, supposedly you didn’t read the books. I don't get it.

 

[Mygogac]

At this moment Yen is impossible to live with

I think people are just overreacting, she's not that bad at all.

So she doesn't explain everything immediately and she ordered a few people around, so what? The Witchers got ordered around their whole lives for menial pointless things (like in an army) and are whining about a Sorceress that is smarter and knows way more than them and Ciri is in danger and the end of the world is coming not telling them every detail and not saying please? Please....

I find Geralt sleeping with everything that moves and resembles a woman way worse attitude, I didn't even like Yennefer getting flattered by Lambert liking her, let alone her sleeping with every man in the realms.

 

[zappy3]

You know, nonbook readers don't deserve this flak. Years ago, I hurriedly read all the books because people said I would love Yen and hate Triss after reading them. There's a strange "rule" among some that supposedly if you dislike Yen you didn't read the books.

Well, you know, I read them all to the letter, and disliked Yen even more. (I'm not even getting started on how her arrogance in bringing Ciri to Thanedd caused half her problems). Even after I read the books, I said something sympathetic about Triss on the Steam forums and someone accused me of not reading the books. I immediately corrected him.

There's this strange idea that if you dislike Yen, supposedly you didn’t read the books. I don't get it.

Unfortunately there is a lot of Yennefer bashing out there coming from Triss fans who have not read the books, which can be annoying for Yennefer fans who have read the books and leads sometimes to that kind of thing. I know I have made that mistake a few times myself so you are not wrong in what you're saying here. Shipping wars and all that, that's really too bad I think. (important thing to be said by the way I am NOT saying that non readers have no right to love Triss and/or hate Yennefer!)

Of course there are book readers that hate Yennefer. And it is a good thing! I've seen book fans that love Yen, I've seen book fans that hate her. I've almost never seen a book fan that just don't care about Yennefer. And that, in my opinion proves that the character is very well written.

 

[sidv88]

In her defence, he was much younger then...

Crach looked like this:
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net...ch_film.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130722174047


Edit: Sorry, thought photo would be posted directly--link shows Crach in the Witcher tv show.

 

[Raven-beauty]

Of course there are book readers that hate Yennefer. And it is a good thing! I've seen book fans that love Yen, I've seen book fans that hate her. I've almost never seen a book fan that just don't care about Yennefer.

Hate is kinda a big word in my opinion, dislike is more appropriate. It's often the case that people who hate a certain character keep bashing that hate on such threads related to that character. This is rather unsettling and sad.

:areukiddingme:

 

[Sunsibar]

This thread is indeed getting very strange forms. At the beginning there was a question "what kind of a man do you think...?".

It's a matter of opinion. There isn't one right answer. The right answer can be the dwarf next door as well as Geralt.

Even if everyone in here doesn't love Yen, that doesn't mean that she isn't important and/or great character otherwise.

 

[Riven-Twain]

Greetings, all. Guess what. Somebody called the Guards, and a few posts have been deleted. Please keep the conversation on-topic, and respectful, otherwise the thread will be closed. Thank you. Carry on.