[bloodsmile-deactivated20210416]

Mizumono: Whose side was Will on?

It is somewhat of a question still whether Will was on Hannibal or Jack’s side at the beginning of Mizumono or if he was simply undecided. We actually get the answer to the question right at the very beginning of the episode. Two facts show us definitively that Will was on Hannibal’s side from the start. 

1. Will tells Jack that Hannibal is planning to kill Jack in the kitchen.

Will: He’ll try to kill you in the kitchen. For convenience. Make it easier to prepare the tartar.

We know this is a lie because when Will thinks about what would have happened at the dinner in Aperitivo, they kill him in the dining room, not the kitchen. The only reason Will would lie about this to Jack at this point is because he is planning to kill him with Hannibal and he wants to catch Jack off guard.

Will: Jack won’t be easy to kill. He’ll be armed. He’s strong. Well trained. We can’t hesitate.

Jack: I’m wearing a wire. I have sharp shooters on the roofs of neighboring houses with lines of site to all the windows. 

They slit his throat to prevent him from making him a sound and they kill him in the dining room because the only window is covered. This is what Will was planning and he lies to Jack about it. In this same scene, he doesn’t lie to Hannibal. He’s chosen Hannibal. 

2. The scene directly after Jack and Hannibal are both talking to Will about their plans and whose side he is on is Will “shooting” the Ravenstag. But he did not shoot the Ravenstag.

We know at the end of the episode, this was a misdirect. It’s to make us think he’s chosen Jack because he supposedly shot the Ravenstag. But he didn’t. He left it alive and it’s only “dying” at the end when Hannibal guts Will. He’s chosen to keep his connection to Hannibal alive. He’s chosen Hannibal.

We have to watch the rest of the episode with this fact in mind. He chose Hannibal at the beginning. So, why does Will make sure that their dinner plans were still on? Was it to capture Hannibal? No. It was to kill Jack with Hannibal. 

The reason that Will was so intent on killing Jack was to prove himself after he couldn’t back out of his lie about Freddie. He needed some way to prove to Hannibal he was his man and show Jack what he is, beyond a shadow of a doubt. That’s why he was so insistent about killing Jack even when Hannibal didn’t want to. If Will wanted Hannibal simply to escape by himself, he could have told Hannibal much earlier to get away before Hannibal was close to being put into danger. Furthermore, if his goal was to capture Hannibal, he could have arrested him when he mutilated Mason. He told Jack that’s what he would do and he didn’t do it. Neither capturing Hannibal nor simply telling him to run away without him was on Will’s agenda.

This is further confirmed in Season 3 when Will tells Jack, “I wanted to run away with him” and when he thinks of his perfect world he thinks of his missed opportunity of killing Jack with Hannibal at the dinner. When he talks to “Abigail” who is really himself, he tells himself, “Yes, I still want to go with him,” he says, “We were supposed to go with him.” It was clearly his plan.

The real tragedy of Mizumono is that Will was planning to run away with Hannibal. But since he didn’t get the chance to prove himself, and he kept lying and relying on the act of killing Jack to cement his and Hannibal’s relationship, Hannibal gave up on him and gutted him thinking that Will really was going to turn him over to the FBI. It was a miscommunication pure and simple.  

There are only a couple of things that I can think of that would undermine this reading of the episode. 

1. Will tells Jack that he “wasn’t decided” when he called Hannibal and only decided to tell him to run when he heard his voice.

It’s possible that Will is simply lying to Jack, as he’s done before, because he didn’t want Jack to know he was going to kill him with Hannibal. It’s also possible that Will was indeed undecided at that particular moment because his plan had fallen through. The dinner wasn’t going to happen and there was a warrant out for him and cops at his door. He had to decide what to do when his plan had entirely changed. Should he call Hannibal to warn him even if that meant he couldn’t go with him? Should he protect himself from any further involvement with Hannibal since he might be caught? He had to decide and he decided when he heard his voice that he would warn him to get away even if he couldn’t go with him. Either way, it’s not a problem to this reading of the episode.

2. When Will talks to himself as Abigail in S3

Aperitivo

Ghost!Abigail: Why did you lie to him?

Will: The wrong thing being the right thing to do was too ugly a thought.

The first thing we think of is that Will is saying here that he lied about working with Jack. But that’s not what he’s saying. What did he lie to Hannibal about? Killing Freddie. That was his initial lie. We know he’s talking about the initial lie because he follows that up with “you just kept lying”. So, what he’s saying here is that he lied about killing Freddie because even though he thought killing her (the wrong thing) was actually the “right thing” it was too ugly a thought. So he didn’t kill her and he lied about it. Will had described killing as “ugly” before multiple times so I think we can safely say that killing Freddie is what he’s talking about here. He’s not talking about warning Hannibal to get away or failing to do so at the last supper and he’s not talking about lying about working with Jack.

Aperitivo

Will: He gave you a chance to take it all back and you just kept lying. No one had to die.

So what does “No one had to die” mean, then? It doesn’t make sense in context unless you realize what emphasis we should understand. If Will had stopped lying to Hannibal at the last supper, that doesn’t mean no one would have died. Hannibal and Will would have run away together. Does that mean no one else would die? Of course not. If they’d run away together, or if Hannibal had run away on his own, Hannibal would still keep killing people. No, what he is saying to himself is that he didn’t need to kill Jack like he thought he did.

It isn’t “no one had to die”. It’s “no one had to die”. What you emphasize and pay attention to in that sentence is key.

Mizumono

Hannibal: Is it ideal that Jack die?

Will: It’s necessary. What happens to Jack has been preordained.

Hannibal: I don’t need a sacrifice. Do you?

Will: I need him to know. He wants to see you, see who you are. See what I’ve become. 

Will thought that Jack’s death was necessary, that it HAD TO happen. When he’s talking to himself in the hospital, he is saying that was wrong. Jack didn’t have to die. They could have run away together and left him alive. Just like Hannibal said.

Hannibal didn’t want to kill Jack, but Will insisted. Why would Will insist so much on that night that they had to kill Jack supposedly to catch Hannibal and then turn completely around the next day and tell Hannibal to run away? Nothing had changed between them in that time. Nothing at all. In fact, he never spoke to Hannibal in that time. The next time he spoke to him was to tell him to run away. The only thing that had changed was that their plans to go to dinner with Jack were ruined. Will’s plan to kill Jack with Hannibal was ruined. That’s why he insisted they kill Jack one night and then told Hannibal to run away the next night.

And one last thing. What about when they show him as “two” in Mizumono? Does that mean he was still undecided or of two minds in the beginning of Mizumono? No. We have to remember the other time he is shown as “two” and what happened.

Mizumono

Hannibal describes it in S3 as not being of two minds, or undecided, but as an “active and deliberate” splitting of his personality.

Aperitivo

In each of these cases when Will is shown as “two” it means he is actively and deliberately splitting his personality. It means he’s ready to kill Jack. There’s no question about it since the first time it’s shown, he’s on Hannibal’s side and is planning to kill Jack. That’s confirmed when the 2nd time it is shown he immediately does help Hannibal kill Jack in his fantasy. 

In summary, what happened in Mizumono was that Will was planning to kill Jack with Hannibal in order to prove himself. He had lied about killing Freddie and he needed a way to “undo” that. Once the FBI interfered and the dinner was ruined, Will’s plans were also ruined. He had to decide what to do after that. He decided to help Hannibal even if it meant they would be separated (which Will did not want). But Will didn’t know that Hannibal had smelled Freddie and thought that Will had betrayed him. He goes to Hannibal’s house, he gets gutted and does nothing to stop it. He never wavers from his decision to be on Hannibal’s side and help him escape. When Hannibal says he didn’t want his “gift” Will counters that he did. Their misunderstanding was the tragedy. 

[connorshitposts]

Holy shit

[pragnificent]

This is one of the most brilliant bits of meta that I have ever seen.

[bloodsmile-deactivated20210416]

<3 <3

[k-s-morgan]

I’ve been planning to write something about this for ages, so it’s such a wonderful surprise to see it already written - and in such beautiful, insightful way! I totally missed the fact that Will pretended to kill the Ravenstag and didn’t actually do it. Wow.

[sheehan-sidhe]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion Characters: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Jaskier | Dandelion Additional Tags: Episode: s02e07 Voleth Meir (The Witcher TV), Character Study, Jaskier | Dandelion Loves Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Hurt Jaskier | Dandelion, Jaskier | Dandelion Whump, Jaskier | Dandelion Has Feelings, POV Jaskier | Dandelion, Unrequited Love, Pining, Pining Jaskier | Dandelion, Canon Compliant, Season/Series 02, Whoreson Prison Blues, Light Angst, Emotional Summary:

It’s been a long time travelling On roads that lead to nowhere.

With his head tilted back, not shielding his eyes from the light that filters from the tiny window, he sings. There is no accompaniment to go with it – since he doesn’t even have his fucking lute anymore. Lost. Probably broken, like everything else in his life. It’s not like he never expected to end locked up somewhere at some point, but – He always thought he wouldn’t be alone. He thought –

  Or, Jaskier and Geralt reunion in episode 7, told through Jaskier’s pov.

[grison-in-space]

idle Jaskier-related notion:

Joey Batey is really approximately the same size and shape as Henry Cavill, and there are a number of clever techniques in pretty much all Jaskier's costumes to hide this fact and make him look about three or four inches narrower than he actually is. The costumers work really really hard to make him look that twinky, often with cleverly cut shoulder decorations that pretend he's trying to look bigger than he is and have the actual effect of making him look a lot lighter.

On a Doylistic level this makes sense, because it's hard to make Geralt look Huge and Imposing next to your non-combatant harmless sidekick if said sidekick is a jacked six foot burly man.

On a Watsonian level, however, the notion of Jaskier as this big meaty dude aggressively arguing with all his tailors to ensure that he looks as non threatening and foppish and entertaining as possible while also looking as sexy as he can (for a Jaskier definition of sexy, at least) is generating considerable entertainment for me this fine morning.

[grison-in-space]

"No! My shoulders must look slender!"

"But, sir, you could look ripped!"

"Absolutely not! I must look slim and gentle and unassuming!"

"As you wish, sir... So do you wish it to be cut with much excess fabric, so that you look small and also very wealthy to afford so much?"

[howling] "No! I must look slender and gentle and also above else very attractive!"

[grison-in-space]

Geralt doesn't notice any of this until they try to share a tiny hostel bed on the road and Jaskier cuddles up to him and abruptly there is no more room in that bed

[gossip-girl-of-middleearth]

I need a full picture costume run down of this by someone in the fashion field stat

[redhorsedawn]

Ask and ye shall receive! I may not work in the fashion field but I do work in the costume production industry for theatre/film so this is totally my area. Using clothes to change someone’s appearance is super common, and Tim Aslam’s costume design for The Witcher is actually a really good example of this, so buckle up because this is a long ride!

Creating an illusion like this has two main components: shape (the style lines created by the clothes), and fit (the way the clothes hang on the person’s body), and is the result of close collaboration between the designer and the production team. 

We’re going to talk about season one, because that’s where the difference is the most obvious. Take a look at Geralt:

First, let’s talk about shape. The goal here is to make Geralt look strong and imposing, and the best way to do that is to exaggerate the triangle of his upper torso. See how much broader his shoulders look than his waist in both images? A loose shirt over tight pants is a classic way to establish this, because the shirt blousing at the waist (note that the pants sit high up at the natural waist) makes the hips looks narrower in comparison. Note also that his shirt has an asymmetrical closure - a centered vertical line down the shirt would make him looks slimmer, while the off-center one adds width.

His armor does this by giving him those massive shoulder pieces, which both lengthen and raise his shoulder line. I would estimate that they raise Henry Cavill’s shoulder line by a good two inches just from the bulk of the leather alone. His torso armor also does a really clever thing by having a very subtle V shape to the vertical lines, making his waist look smaller. If you count the number of stripes above and below his belt (again, sitting high at the natural waist), you’ll notice that the narrow stripe at the front edge of the armscye disappears, which allows the side stripes to make that V shape.

Now let’s talk about fit. The fit of Geralt’s shirt looks simple but is actually super specific. It’s very easy for an actor to get lost in a shirt that is too loose - if there’s too much extra fabric then it will just make the actor look smaller by drawing attention to how baggy it is. This shirt fits just right: the sleeves are full enough to allow for movement but still relatively fitted (and rolling up the sleeves actually also helps add breadth to Geralt’s torso by continuing the horizontal line at his waist). The body of the shirt fits smoothly across the shoulders and chest, and has just enough fullness to drape at the waist without feeling baggy.

Now let’s look at Jaskier.

We’ll start with this look. Shape and fit are very interconnected here so it’s just gonna be a jumble. First thing I notice: the jacket. Unlike your traditional fantasy/historical doublet, all of Jaskier’s jackets end at the waist, rather than continuing into a peplum/skirt like Geralt’s armor does. This cropped jacket is evocative of childhood/immaturity, an association that is generally considered to have its roots in schoolboy uniforms of the 19th and early 20th century (see the image of schoolboys wearing “Eton Jackets” below)

Jaskier also tends to wear his jackets open. This creates a vertical line down his torso, which is generally slimming, but it also totally obscures the shape of his torso. The brain is going to take the line of his hip, which we can see, and the armscye of his jacket, (which actually looks to be cut ever so slightly artificially narrow but it’s hard to tell) and fill in a line between them, which is likely going to end up being slightly narrower than his actual ribcage. He does have poofs at the top of his sleeves, which can be a technique used to add width, but if they’re cut and fit carefully you can actually hide some of the breadth of the shoulders inside the poof and make it look like the fullness comes from the poof and not the body.

Note: the “armscye” is the technical name for the armhole, but specifically the torso part. The corresponding sleeve part is the “sleevehead.”

Again, we have another open jacket, this one with strong vertical lines. See how the line of Jaskier’s hip flows up through the edge of the doublet all the way up through the armscye? This makes his torso look narrower despite the jacket’s shoulder tabs. In contrast, this line is always broken on Geralt’s outfits, whether at the waist with his shirt or with the giant shoulder pieces with his armor. Jaskier’s pants also tend to fit more loosely, which de-emphasizes the triangle of his shoulders to waist.

Okay this is my favorite image to illustrate everything we have going on here. Look at Jaskier’s jacket. What’s the first thing you notice? The bright yellow inset slashes in his chest. The high contrast in color draws the eye inwards and distracts from the breadth of his shoulders, where we have another cleverly cut poof. His jacket is again cropped, with strong vertical lines, over the baggiest pants he wears in the season.

Now look at Jaskier and Geralt together. Jaskier is all about long vertical lines, while Geralt’s predominate lines are either horizontal or diagonal. Additionally, Jaskier’s hips look even to his shoulders, even if they’re not, and Geralt’s shoulders are exaggerated. The two characters have a very different presence, even if the actors underneath are similar.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this introduction to costume design! Creating the illusory effects like this is one of my favorite things and I am excited to share!!

[gossip-girl-of-middleearth]

I… I did not expect anyone to respond, let alone respond with a fucking screenshot-worthy answer. I love you. I literally love you. Can I marry you? Wait, can you be my tailor? Do you have an Etsy shop? I’m gonna be an archaeologist one day, I’ll need OUTFITS PLEASE I WANNA INDEFINITELY HIRE YOU

[porphyriosao3]

This is not my ship.  This is not my subject.  This is really not anything I ever anythinged about.  I just have to reblog this because of the utter BALLER response this person gave, which revolutionized my perception of costume design without me even knowing I wanted said perception revolutionized.  This comment is everything good about tumblr in one place, and @redhorsedawn, I salute you.  Magnificent.

[poisonousbuttercup]

#and jaskier being consistently so much smaller in fic#is proof that all these tricks WORKED#and worked so well that people didn't even notice or question them#just accepted them and quickly incorporated it into their fanon

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

I even knew something clever was going on to make Joey Batey’s six feet look small and dainty and yet still the costuming was so impressive that I was genuinely astonished when this happened:

[valdomarx]

Julian Alfred Pankratz, master of the seven liberal arts

The seven liberal arts: seven subjects from classical antiquity believed to be the foundation of wisdom and moral excellence.

Grammar, or the structural constraints of language

“And so cried the witcher, he can’t be bleat?” Geralt’s nose scrunches up. “What is that even supposed to mean?”

“It’s evocative,” Jaskier objects, pouting.

“It’s bloody nonsense,” Geralt grouses.

Jaskier scoffs. Geralt never did understand imagery.

Rhetoric, or the art of persuasion through words

“Toss a coin to your witcher, o valley of plenty!”

Jaskier is bored to tears with this gods-forsaken song and Geralt has always hated it. All the same, Jaskier makes a point of singing it at every tavern he stops in because by the end of the chorus his lute case is always heavy with coin.

And gods know they could both use a hot bath and a good meal.

Logic, or reasoned argumentation between opposing viewpoints

The barkeep’s face pulls into a sneer the moment he catches sight of Geralt. “We don’t want your type in here,” he snarls.

“Your type?” Jaskier’s eyes narrow to angry slits. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“You know what I mean,” the barkeep spits. “He’s barely human.”

“Why don’t you go fuck yourself?” Jaskier bellows, launching himself bodily over the bar.

Before his hands can close satisfyingly around the smug arsehole’s throat, however, he is brought up short by a firm grip around the back of his neck.

“Not now, Jaskier,” Geralt grumbles, hauling him away from the bar and out into the street.

Arithmetic, or the study of numbers

“Well.” Jaskier empties his coin purse onto the inn table. “I’ve got five Orens, a lot of fluff and, for some reason, a single Mariborian crown.”

Geralt grimaces. “I’ve got seven Orens from that drowner contract last week.”

“Looks like we’ll be sharing a bed tonight then.” Jaskier shrugs. It’s a simple matter of economy. And if he isn’t exactly opposed to the idea, no one needs to know.

Geralt’s face does something which isn’t strictly a smile. “Fine. But if you get fidgety in the night, I’m lying on you.”

Jaskier isn’t exactly opposed to that, either.

Geometry, or the properties of shape, size, and distance

“Love is like a pear,” Jaskier muses, tapping his quill against his lips.

Geralt doesn’t look up from sharpening his swords.

“A pear is sweet and has a distinct shape,” Jaskier expounds, warming up to his theme. And then the flourish of genius: “Try to define the shape of a pear.”

Geralt grunts. “It’s fucking pear shaped, Jaskier.”

Alas, the depths of Jaskier’s artistic musings are entirely lost on his current audience.

Music, or the arrangement of sounds into pleasing forms

Geralt twitches, his skin sickly white, his eyes blown wide and surrounded by black veins but seeing nothing. Jaskier has cleaned his wounds as best he can, and now there is nothing left for either of them to do but wait for the potions’ effects to run their course.

It’s always like this after a difficult hunt, and Jaskier has learned both how he can assist and the limitations of what help he can provide. He settles Geralt on a bedroll and draws a blanket over him, then grabs his lute and perches on a nearby tree stump.

He plays quietly, barely more than tapping against the strings, creating a gentle melody which undulates back and forth like the swell of waves onto a calm shore.

The lullaby drifts through the night, soft and soothing, and some of the tension seems to seep from Geralt’s jaw as he drifts off to sleep.

Astronomy, or the study of heavenly bodies

“That’s the Hunter, right there.” Jaskier points to the seven-star constellation visible to the east. “And there,” he moves his hand across the sky toward the west, “there’s his prey, the Stag.”

“An endless pursuit,” Geralt says, voice softened by the impressive quantity of mead they’d worked through. He shuffles closer, resting his head on Jaskier’s thigh as they stare up at the clear sky and its blanket of stars above. “Always linked yet forever held at a distance.”

Jaskier unthinkingly cards his fingers through Geralt’s hair. It must be the warmth of the summer evening, or maybe all that mead, but Geralt doesn’t pull away. Instead he hums, quiet and relaxed.

“I like to think they’ll meet one day,” Jaskier says, hovering perilously close to veracity. “They’ll be together eventually.” Geralt’s hair weaves silver bands around his fingers. “When the stars align.”

[sheehan-sidhe]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion Characters: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Jaskier | Dandelion Additional Tags: Episode: s02e07 Voleth Meir (The Witcher TV), Character Study, Jaskier | Dandelion Loves Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Hurt Jaskier | Dandelion, Jaskier | Dandelion Whump, Jaskier | Dandelion Has Feelings, POV Jaskier | Dandelion, Unrequited Love, Pining, Pining Jaskier | Dandelion, Canon Compliant, Season/Series 02, Whoreson Prison Blues, Light Angst, Emotional Summary:

It’s been a long time travelling On roads that lead to nowhere.

With his head tilted back, not shielding his eyes from the light that filters from the tiny window, he sings. There is no accompaniment to go with it – since he doesn’t even have his fucking lute anymore. Lost. Probably broken, like everything else in his life. It’s not like he never expected to end locked up somewhere at some point, but – He always thought he wouldn’t be alone. He thought –

  Or, Jaskier and Geralt reunion in episode 7, told through Jaskier's pov.

[sheehan-sidhe]

I am having… a THOUGHT regarding Jaskier and Geralt’s reunion in the prison cell. It is not a fully formed thought, so forgive me if I’m going to ramble here for a moment.

Geralt says to Jaskier, “I missed you too.” 

On one hand, yes! Love to see it. Geralt finally openly acknowledges that he missed Jaskier (which is a big step forward from season one and his refusal to call him his friend).

What kinda BOTHERS me though, it’s that “too” at the end of that sentence. 

Like, WE know that Jaskier missed Geralt, of course: it is quite obvious that he spent quite a long time thinking about him (since, you know, he wrote a break up song about him and sings it in inns and taverns so often that the audience joins in the singing), and that “too” suggests that Geralt knows it too. 

At the same time, though, I think that “too” could also mean one of two things (or both, I guess):

1) That every time Jaskier and Geralt reunited in the past, Jaskier would immediately greet Geralt by telling him that he missed him. If we accept this headcanon as true, here Geralt is simply replying in advance to something he knows Jaskier will say in a second (or that would say if their relationship wasn’t strained, and so it could be seen as his way to start trying to mend it). I like this reading, I quite love it actually, but unfortunately it doesn’t hold water because we never SEE Jaskier doing this. It would have worked spectacularly actually, if this was the result of a three-beat. Imagine, seeing Jaskier and Jaskier reunite twice in the past (this should have been done in s01, so i understand how it wasn’t done, but…). Each of those times, Jaskier tells Geralt that he missed him, Geralt grunts in reply. NOW though, Jaskier doesn’t say anything… but we still hear that unspoken greeting, because we heard it twice in the past, and Geralt hears it too. And so that “I missed you too,” it’s an answer to that. Lovely. Just a headcanon though. 

Or, 2) Geralt is still very emotionally constipated. He is still extremely guarded with his feelings and the maturing he had in this season still doesn’t apply to Jaskier (because it’s hard to change your behaviour around someone that has known the old you and for so long, yada yada). Still. He doesn’t feel like he can “admit to weakness”. He won’t admit missing Jaskier first, but he needs to say something. “I missed you too,” he ends up saying, forcing the words “I missed you” in Jaskier’s mouth, implying that Jaskier missed him too (and probably missed him first). 

Just a thought. I don’t have an answer. I just find that casually thrown-in “too” weird. KINDA SUS.

[valdomarx]

I like that if Geralt had done this growth like 5 or 10 years before. It WOULD have been enough for Jaskier, but so much shit has happened to him lately that it just. Isn't.

Specially bc from Jaskier's pov it took Jaskier being out of Geralt's life for Geralt to change into this version of himself where he's happier and more open and shows it. Like obviously that's not the real cause but THE MESS it could make of his mental state if he gets it into his drunk, tortured, heartbroken little brain that maybe not only did Geralt telling him to fuck off and then abandoning him on the mountain break Jaskier's heart, it also was a good decision on Geralt's part bc Geralt's doing much better without him. Or maybe that Geralt was always like this and it was just Jaskier that was getting treated like that?

I love how complex the feelings here are for Jaskier contrasted with Geralt's view of things, where he genuinely doesn't seem to think it's a huge deal since he's lacking information and awareness about a lot of things on Jaskier's end, and he's taking it at face value that 1) Jaskier is always Jaskier and always fine no matter what trouble he gets into, and when he gets in real trouble he relies on Geralt, and 2) Jaskier accepted the apology and hasnt said anything so things are fine between them, obviously, Geralt's fixed this thing he broke betwen them, when hasn't Jaskier expressed every single complaint he has before? Never

Yeah!!! Love this angst. Love that they are both genuinely trying to do their best for each other and are still hurting each other. Sometimes life is like that! You go in with your best intentions but you wound another person anyway.

And sure, from the outside it's obvious that Jaskier is in pain, but he's also making an effort to hide that from Geralt (for what he thinks are good reasons). And Geralt, who I think would be genuinely devastated if he knew what Jaskier had been/was going through, does also have good reasons for not being 100% focused on Jaskier at that time.

This is the nature of tragedy, right? Everyone is behaving in what they think is a reasonable and fair manner but the outcome is still brutal.

[asweetprologue]

I also feel like there's a good sense of irony to the whole situation too, in that we as the audience know how hurt Jaskier was over the mountain Incident but geralt probably just... doesn't even realize. For most of their acquaintanceship Jaskier has been pretty blatant about the fact that he considers Geralt to be kind of a coworker, and that he wants to travel with him because the songs are making him famous. For Jaskier, it’s pretty much implied that he cares about geralt a great deal; he wouldn’t hang out with him if it wasn’t the case, even if it was making him money. This is part of the reason I wish we got to see more of their relationship over the first twenty years, because I feel like despite the tension in the bath scene(tm), Jaskier acts pretty distant. there’s clearly some fun flirtation going on for him, and he seems interested in geralt, but it doesn’t feel emotionally charged on his part. Even the djinn episode where they’re arguing it seems like Jaskier cares and he wants geralt to open up to him - they’re clearly friends by this point and jaskier sees it that way - but it’s a far step from the jealous, pining jaskier was see in episode 6. Something changes after Yen enters the picture and makes Jaskier really lean into the relationship, and clearly develop some Big Feelings.

Meanwhile, Geralt doesn’t seem to pick up on this - his relationship with Jaskier has always been one of kind of mutual gain and casual comradery. And he’s too distracted by Yen to recognize when Jaskier really starts acting different towards him. I think Geralt wouldn’t even recognize, at this point, that he even had the kind of power he does over Jaskier, to break his heart like that. he doesn’t know the full emotional weight of his actions and how they’ve impacted jaskier. he’s always wrapped up in his own shit and he can’t see what other’s are feeling easily, and jaskier’s always just been someone who took care of himself when geralt wasn’t around. when he says he’s sorry it’s as a friend saying sorry for being a dick, not as a lifelong companion apologizing for throwing away a twenty year relationship and laying the blame of all his problems at jaskier’s feet. jaskier’s not going to be able to really forgive him until geralt understands what he actually did, which at this point I don’t think he does.

[izzy-hands]

Geraskier Incorrect Quotes [7/∞] (Ciri has all the brain cells edition)

[mymycorrhizae]

Remember? And you left me ON A MOUNTAIN.

[petitbutcher]

jaskier: well, who knows? maybe someone out there will want you.

also jaskier: i’m weak my love and i am wanting

[mymycorrhizae]

Burn Butcher Burn is a breakup song Jaskier wrote about Geralt

[crowley-anthony]

- Rupi Kaur

[izzy-hands]

Geraskier Incorrect Quotes [5/∞] (gay dads raising a teenager and a horse edition)

[candied-cae]

Can we talk about the difference between The Golden One and Burn, Butcher, Burn? And the importance of those context clues on how Jaskier felt after S1E6? Please? 

The fact that The Golden One is still a tale about the magnificence of the journey of the Dragon Hunt turned Geralt’s Soap Opera. It had to have been written after Geralt blew up at him, but it’s still a fun, rousing tavern song to add to the collection of Geralt’s Adventures. 

And we now have canon confirmation that Jaskier stayed on the mountain top for who knows how long before realizing that Geralt abandoned him and left… to me it really feels like it’s spelling out that Jaskier understood that Geralt was overwhelmed and needed space and was going to forgive him without a second thought, so while he waited, trusting that Geralt would come back when he felt better, he wrote that song just as he always did.

It was only after he had to accept that his best friend crossed that line of leaving him alone and in unsafe, unfamiliar land… that’s when he got mad. That’s when he was steaming with hurt and fury while trying to maneuver down the dangerous mountain side alone, and that’s when he crossed the line and brought up the “Butcher”.

It wasn’t a table he suddenly flipped after being rejected. It was pain that had to build up to be written. And being alone and mad, you don’t always think straight, and sometimes you push boundaries you usually respected.  

[patroclusdefencesquad]

no thoughts head empty just jaskier's teary eyes and geralt's little forehead crease

[zoya-nazyalenskys-archive]

Yennefer & Jaskier have a heart-to-heart about Geralt. The Witcher │2.04 “Redanian Intelligence”

[deus-ex-moshina]

Losing my mind whenever I think about Burn Butcher Burn canonically being a breakup song that “came from a broken heart” because like….. Almost all the songs in the “post-heartbreak/post-breakup venting” category have more or less the same formula, you know, in which a significant amount of “how could I have been so stupid” is pretty much a prerequisite. Like…. No matter how the breakup/heartbreak happened, the song needs an opening that goes like “I can’t believe I fell in love with someone who would do this to me, this is so embarrassing/stupid on my part”

and then there was Jaskier. Who didn’t waste so much as a breath on the self-loathing theatrics, and just went RIGHT in like “I WANT THAT MOTHERFUCKER DEAD! NOW SING IT WITH ME–” it’s just. SUCH an in-character move, and it was incredible. A complete game changer. NO one is doing it like him

[capricornyus]

I mean he also wanted to kill Valdo Marx so it‘s actually kinda in character

[deus-ex-moshina]

I mean I literally wrote the exact words “it’s such an in-character move” in the original post so. Yeah