With S3 of The Witcher rapidly approaching, I find myself consumed with questions of….fucking RADOVID? WHY? Why him, of all people? I do not trust the Netflix Witcher writers one iota, but especially not when they go looking for a male love interest for Jaskier, they end up choosing Radovid. And have to radically age him up just to be a love interest
Of all the characters, why choose Radovid? It’s like sand in my earball. It makes no fucking sense. They must have a reason, a motivation, for him over any other male character (unless they literally just yoinked his name out of a hat). So what made them, what is unique about Radovid that they want to add to the series and yeet into Jaskier’s bed? He’s the prince, then the King, of Redania, and Jaskier has connections to Redanian government with Dijkstra. He was briefly betrothed to Ciri as a child, but that was broken by his father (I believe this will be cut from the show, given he’s much older and a second son). He and his father (now brother) were manipulated by Phillipa, with it starting when he was child (still possible even with his aging up). And Radovid becomes a genocidal fascist who persecutes and slaughters elves, sorceresses, and other non-humans and magical folk, inspired by his hatred of Phillipa’s manipulation and influence (this is from the games, but is hinted at at the end of the books, though he’s still a child then). They could radically alter Radovid, sure, but A.) why call him Radovid at all, and B.) they still had to choose him from all their canon male characters to chose from, so what made them choose HIM above all others?
There are plenty of nobles Jaskier could get with, if the goal was to have a noble with some power on their side. So Radovid isn’t singular in that regard.
So, was their reasoning behind Radovid being Jaskier’s lover because he’s Redanian nobility and Jaskier works for the Redanian Intelligence Network? Is Jaskier being sent to honeypot Radovid, keep an eye on him and/or spy on him? Although Phillipa does seem to confront Jaskier at one point, it doesn’t immediately appear that way, they seem to be framing the romance as genuine, but they could be misleading us and it is a possibility. Which would be…christ like maybe a very competent team of writers could pull of this storyline, but not from the people who brought us Tree-Eskel and Yenn trying to sacrifice Ciri for her own gain and drunk hooker party at Kaer Morhen the super secret Witcher fortress lol let’s laught about how they’re too drunk to remember where they are…which is too drunk to consent…lol tits!
Or is it that they want to connect Radovid to Jaskier because of what Radovid will become in the near future, to his brutal suppression of non-humans and magical humans, his bloody campaign against them? That is Radovid’s most prominent feature, what he is most known for, what makes him stand out from other potential candidates. Is this why? Is it supposed to be irony, since Jaskier is the Sandpiper, and rescues persecuted non-humans? Do they want Jaskier’s relationship to put Ciri and Geralt at risk, will his choice of bedmate endanger them, for added cheap drama? Will Radovid be seducing Jaskier under false pretenses, attempting to get close to Ciri or Geralt to hurt them, as hinted at in the leaked audition scene where Radovid mentions Ciri to Jaskier, tells him to bring her to Redania she’ll be safe here, while Jaskier lies and says he hasn’t seen her for years. Will Jaskier end up trusting him, bringing Ciri to him only for it to all go pear-shaped? Will the narrative blame Jaskier for what Radovid does to his friends, was it even necessary to drag him into it, as Radovid probably would have targeted them anyway? Or will Jaskier leave Radovid for his Gang of Non-Human and Magical Friends, thus spurning on Radovid’s genocide in the first place, cause Jaskier ‘betrayed’ him in his eyes? Which has got to be the most garbage option and I sure hope this isn’t it, this is below even what I think the Netflix Witcher writers are capable of.
And there is always the possibility that there is no reason, they literally just picked a name and ran with it, who gives a shit what it means, they don’t have time to think things through and write and rewrite, not when there are slow-mo action shots to shoot and tits to shoehorn in and rapey fathers to give Father of the Year awards to. Things just happen in this show, with little rhyme or reason. The S3 trailers look even worse, a sad desperately flashy spectacle that fails to be spectacular.
I don’t trust these writers to do anything good with this romance, I honestly don’t expect anything from this plotline other than to marvel at their ability to make bisexual rep feel a bit like a hate crime.
