Hey, may I ask a quick question regarding character building in my fics? - Do you think Geralt’s comments about Anna Henrietta is just? Like he told Dandelion “your duchess is no more than an innocent child” or something like that? I mean, yeah, she’s kinda spoiled and perverse, believing she could stop the war with a letter to Emhyr, issuing a death sentence to Dandelion because she caught him cheating on her, etc, etc. But how could she be so widely respected and loved if she’s just a spoiled child? Yes she’s generous (offer the Hansa her protection) but I think only generous and kind won’t win you so much love and support?? Is there anything else about her that make her survived the crude game of throne and win everybody’s love? Is there something I’ve missed? 🤔
Ps. If you’re interested in the fic I’m talking about… https://archiveofourown.org/series/2783617 it’s 100% book Gerlion. I haven’t watched twn.
hi hi thank you for the ask!
although geralt's comments were motivated by jealousy, he was accurate in his observations that anna henrietta is a spoiled princess duchess. his comment that she is fickle is spot-on:
A znacz ty – przerwał Geralt – takie powiedzenie: łaska księżnych na pstrym koniu jeździ? Nawet jeśli ta twoja Anarietta nie jest płocha, a na płochą mi ona, wybacz szczerość, wygląda, to…
And have you heard, interrupted Geralt, such a saying: the favour of duchesses rides on a motley horse. Even if your Anarietta isn't fickle, and fickle she, forgive [my honesty, looks, then...
(thank you @karanfile for the translation help, because the offical translaions changed it to “the favors of duchesses are uncertain” and the fan translation, which i remembered, was “princesses leap after love like hares”)
he’s absolutely correct about this, because anna henrietta’s help is defined by whims and desires, initially her love for dandelion, goodwill towards ciri who she knew, and sympathy for the company (and later, as you noted, executing kicking dandelion out due to his offense). she has the capacity for real goodwill towards people, but is, at the end of the day, unpredictable in her favor, which she might take away.
she does this a couple of times, first when geralt meets her, as you noted about the letter:
"What?” The duchess’s nose, it appeared, became even pointier, and a nasty,
grindingly snarling note sounded in her voice. “Did I hear right? The war is still raging? Why wasn’t I informed of this? Minister Tremblay?”
“Your Grace, I …” mumbled one of the golden chains, genuflecting. “I didn’t
want to … concern … worry … Your Grace …”
“Guard!” Her Majesty howled. “To the tower with him! You are in disfavour,
Lord Tremblay! In disfavour! Lord Chamberlain! Mister Secretary!”
"At your service, Your Enlightened Ladyship …”
“Have the chancellery immediately issue a severe note to our cousin, the
Emperor of Nilfgaard. We demand that he immediately, and I mean
immediately, stops warring and makes peace. For war and discord are evil
things! Discord ruins and accord builds!”
“Your Grace,” mumbled the chamberlain-confectioner, as white as castor
sugar, ‘is absolutely right.”
and a second time at the banquet:
The pointy-nosed duchess suddenly fell into a fury, and one of the barons fell
out of favour and was escorted to the tower for some imprudent word. Few–apart from those directly involved–seemed bothered by the matter.
similarities with dandelion
i think a really defining feature of anna henrietta is how geralt describes her:
"The duchess listened to my tale, seldom interrupting, fortunately. When,
however, I briefly related the results of the conversations with the druidesses,
she wrung her hands, in a gesture suggesting worry as sincere as it was
exaggerated. I know that sounds like some sort of bloody oxymoron, but believe me, Reynart, in her case that’s how it was.”
i think the widespread public support for anna henrietta is a different kettle of fish, because public figures often have different external lives than internal lives. anna henrietta is comparable to dandelion - who is famous and renowed as a brilliant poet (more or less), and one who doesn’t know him might think him a romantic soul, but those who know him (including us as the readers, seeing him from geralt’s pov) know that he’s pretty... hmmm ... good-for-nothing philanderer, who, similarly to geralt’s statement above concerning anna henrietta, plays with love, and in doing so, people.
she is known as kind and golden-hearted, but has the capacity for selfishness and acting spoiled in her personal life. which, like dandelion, doesn’t immediately make her a rotten person, it’s just that appearances deceive, and she has an external persona that represents only half of her entire personhood and truth.
it is interesting because they are similar - one might even compare them to how geralt and yennefer are similar- but - unlike geralt and yennefer, who fell in love with each other’s depth - are doomed to fail because they both fell in love with each other’s external personas instead of the depth of who they really, truly are - which is also how geralt knows dandelion, which is why he’s upset that dandelion thinks anna henrietta loves him fully, he knows it will end poorly because she doesn’t know him like geralt knows him.
(and as an unrelated point i don’t have anywhere else to put, i think she is beloved throughout toussaint because everyone loathed her late husband duke rajmund, so she was pretty lovely in comparison!)
representation of toussaint
“There’s something bewitched about this place, this fucking Toussaint. Some kind of charm hangs over the whole valley. Especially over the palace. I was surprised at Dandelion, I was surprised at the Witcher, but now I’m nauseous and I’ve got a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Shit, I even caught myself … Eh, I’m not going to tell you that. Seriously, let’s get out of here. Let’s get out of here as fast as possible.”
“(...) But the Witcher shall stay here. In Toussaint! With me!”
“I think,” the vampire said calmly, ‘that you are wrong, Madam Vigo. The
dream that the Witcher is dreaming, I humbly submit with respect, is an
enchanting and beautiful one. But every dream, if dreamed too long, turns into a nightmare. And we awake from such dreams screaming.”
“(...) Why do the merchants stay here, in the middle of nowhere, and not in Beauclair? Isn’t the duchess keen on putting them up? Perhaps she disdains merchants?”
“Not at all,” answered Fierabras. “The Lady Duchess always invites them, while they graciously decline. And stay among the vineyards.”
“Beauclair, they say, is naught but feasts, balls, junkets, boozing and amour. A fellow, they say, only grows idle and stupid, and wastes time, instead of thinking about trade. And one should think about what’s really important. About the goal guiding us. Without let up. Not distract your thinking on mere bagatelles. Then, and only then, is the intended goal achieved.”
apologies for quote spam, but from these excerpts we can glean that toussaint is a fairytale valley amidst a war-torn continent, an island of the lotus-eaters, a pleasant dream that one never wants to wake up from. (no wonder it’s a wine valley, because there’s something to be said about blissful drunken stupor and pleasant dreams being the same thing... it is no wonder that regis is the one to deny to fringilla that the dream can last forever)
as the monarch of toussaint, anna henrietta perfectly represents it. she, unlike most of the rulers of the continent, is NOT strategic or war-minded, because she does not have to be, is honestly kind of empty-headed, she has no dark secrets, she’s just... a blissful dream. just like toussaint. and of course, as it would be in perfect toussaint, just like in a storybook with a wonderful beloved princess, everybody loves their duchess.
however, as regis notes, a dream dreamed too long turns into a nightmare, from which we awake screaming. the dream is toussaint, anna henrietta is toussaint. the concept of a benevolent and goodhearted ruler ruling in a perfect land happily ever after is wonderful - but to outsiders from beyond toussaint, that is, our company, who are imperfect and do not belong in this fairytale land - she cannot be “dreamed for too long” because the dream will begin to turn in on itself, and that benevolent goodwill is now fickle favor...
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