This is what makes me truly descend into madness! I’ve never watched an analysis, but to me it looks like he gives her
She stabs him several times throughout and he still stays his hand wherever possible, although he does land several blows.
Each time, he gives her a chance to disengage, but she advances again. the fifth and final time, he even lowers his blade completely. She advances again, and he kills her.
It is interesting to me that people debate whether Geralt was in the “right” here, because the intention of this story and its place as the first episode was very literally written to punish Geralt’s neutral stance. He adamantly refused to take a side and in the end is told he did choose, and he’ll “never know” if it was the right choice.
But it’s made clear that he does know. All of his actions in the story are determined by his regrets from that day. He should have chosen Renfri. Which is why he’s so determined to save the Striga Princess. Which is why Jaskier teases him for pretending to avoid conflict when in reality he always gets involved. He didn’t used to. Now he cannot walk away from anything. Renfri haunts his entire narrative.
I also love the line where Geralt says, “if we cross swords—“ and Renfri says, “I won’t be able to stop.” She could absolutely mean that she’s simply so determined that she refuses to give up until one of them is dead.
But immediately before that line, she tells Geralt magic doesnt work on her, whereas silver does, and Geralt actually balks because “silver is for monsters.”
We know Renfri has been mutated by some form of magic—whether completely by birth or even further by Stregabor’s experiments—and that she’s a ruthless combatant.
Although there is no actual proof of it in the show canon or the books, people have considered that Renfri literally cannot stop fighting once she starts—that her body is compelled and bound by her magic to see it through to the death.
Again, no “proof” of that, but it’s compelling! It would also mean that she doesn’t actually make her final choice the fifth time Geralt attempts to disengage. She would have made her final, fatal decision to fight to one of their deaths the minute the fight began, because she knew there would be no stopping.
And the scene really carried every ounce of that weight & the gravity of the consequences for Geralt.
That said, it is actually usually far more difficult to disarm and neutralize someone than to kill them. If you join a dojo, you usually won’t be placed with another beginner to spar right off the bat, because beginners are dangerous in that they don’t know how to hold blows. Two beginner combatants are more likely to hurt each other, whereas someone experienced will moreso “handle” you than actually fight you.
So that speaks to Geralt’s skill as a swordsman over Renfri, as well as—like you said—Renfri’s skill because it was so difficult for Geralt to “handle” her.
It’s the most poignant combat choreography I’ve seen in Western media in a decade. I’m Deeply
