When Jaskier was a young student at Oxenfurt, on the brink of graduating with top honors, a jealous fellow student cursed him, leaving him blind.
Despite his blindness, Jaskier pursued his passion as a bard and accompanied Geralt on travels. He appreciated Geralt treating him equally, though being abandoned on a mountain wasn't his favorite experience; fortunately, dwarfs guided him down.
Over time, Jaskier reunited with Geralt, who apologized, and met Ciri. Geralt then brought him to Kaer Morhen, where Yennefer hinted at a possible cure for his blindness.
This concerned Geralt deeply—not because he wouldn't be glad for Jaskier, but because he feared Jaskier might see him as a monster when he could finally see again.
Jaskier who is losing his eye sight because someone cursed him to stop eyeing their wife and ope guess he can’t see anybody now, and wants a sight hound but he kept putting it off because acknowledging it would make it real but he’s reached the point of no return and for all that he is a rising star at Oxenfurt University he is from a rich family, naive, and easy to trick so a mage sells him a straight up barghest they bred like noble ladies breed lapdogs except this is a chaos beast. a post-conjunction freak. a vaguely dog shaped crime against nature.
and it LOVES Jaskier. just LOVES all the smooches and scritches from this man who does not smell of fear or intent to harm. LOVES roasted mutton bone dinner treats for being a “good girl”. LOVES snuggling with a guy who can’t tell its not a hairless dog but actually A Problem For City Living. and all it has to do is keep the hand that feeds it happy, by doing tasks, and safe, mostly from himself.
it is smarter than any actual dog due to mage intervention in its domestication so it understands this trade off is pretty sweet. cats have got this “adopt a two-leg idiot thing” right.
and the University keeps trying to hire Witchers to deal with it, but they have to meet Jaskier, and Jaskier LOVES his big cuddly dog and LOVES the idea of Big Strong Monster Hunters coming to talk. and the Witchers are just like “That’s a monster, young man.“ and Jaskier says, “She’s my puppy and I have enough money to make you go away.”
and the Witchers initially think this is a threat, but Jaskier just writes them a bank note for REDONKULOUS amounts of coin to fuck off and let me live please and since it hasn’t hurt anyone or even growled at the Witchers themselves and with Witchers being so dirt fucking poor most of them just fuck right off and live it up a little bit, only noting in their journals to keep an ear out for this kid in the future with no idea how that’s going to come to pass
some Witchers even try the old come-back-in-a-different-get-up-trick to try and get more money off this clearly rich sucker, but Jaskier remembers the sound of their voices and, as fascinated by Witchers as he is, brings up things they’ve told him and is just generally a good host and kind person to them so they feel bad trying to scam the blind kid and leave before having an existential crisis about it
until the Wolves hear about it. and they have too much moral backbone to just let it go. this college idiot may think that throwing around his family money is enough to get his way but they are going to disabuse him of this notion before people start dying or the beast begins spreading its’ affliction to actual dogs.
they send Geralt. which is a mistake. because he agrees to allow Jaskier to come with him to find and identify the mage that sold him the barghest and just leads to twenty years of shenaniganry because they. can. not. find. this snakeoil sales man.
except Jaskier thinks he’s just been traveling with his two very best friends in the whole wide world, writing songs depicting Witchers as heroes and the best of men, being guided by a post-Conjunction monster the entire time.
it isn’t until someone points out the obvious solution of trying to cure Jaskier’s curse instead, rendering the need for a sight hound moot to begin with, that things begin to fall to pieces.
Jaskier begins to feel like he’s losing Geralt. wonders if Geralt ever saw him as the friend that Jaskier felt they had become or if he’s just been a contract the Witcher has humored the entire time. which is not helped by the events of the King Niedamir’s Mountain.
and then someone commits the cardinal sin of pointing out that Jaskier’s “Seeing Eye Dog“ has no eyes itself. it’s been “seeing” for him and his non-functioning eyes out of its non-existent eyes for their entire acquaintance.
Jaskier remains in complete denial about it even after being granted his sight again. “Her eyes are just closed. You wouldn’t get it, she’s pedigree, Geralt. Of course she doesn’t resemble any mutt off the street. She has papers.”
If you’re coming to this list from a reblog, please click through to the original post as it’s likely been updated with more content!
Please note I haven’t read everything on these lists, so I can’t speak to all they contain, ya dig?
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Bouncey’s Deaf Jaskier fics - On the path - Jaskier whump & a love confession - Cute love confession - by @bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher
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Blind Jaskier - Jaskier is born blind and navigates the world with a cane and dog, he finds Geralt and starts following him on the path - by @girl-in-red-crossing
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--> I’ll note I’m being careful with this list. If a character loses their hearing or something strictly for whump purposes and/or the author doesn’t seem to have experience/have researched what they’re writing/etc, I won’t include the fic on the list. I may not add to it, which is why it’s sat in my drafts so long, but I think it shouldn’t die there haha.
I’m not really updating this anymore, I’m tired y’all. Please feel free to reblog with your own additions, or make your own list and link this one on it <3
I don’t think I’m going to write a proper fic about this but the idea just had to come out. If anyone feels inspired and wants to write it? Please be my guest!!! Otherwise, hope you enjoy my excited rambling.
So, Jaskier is born blind. His eyes are still blue, but they’re clouded and blank. His parents, being wealthy nobles, want to fix this and go in search of a mage, paying anything they can to find a fix for this.
Unfortunately, this is destiny’s will and no magic can fix the baby’s eyes.
Though, one mage, a bit eccentric, and very creative, offers a spell that will permanently enhance little Jaskier’s other senses. His parents accept, because it might be the best they can do, and the spell is cast.
And it works far better than anyone could ever imagine.
Jaskier’s hearing rivals that of a bat, his scent like a hounds, taste like a snake’s, and, if he focuses really hard, he can FEEL changes in the air.
At first he screams as a baby, the new senses like torture, but he is young and adaptable and soon he becomes used to it and grows up extra sensitive to the world around him.
He learns how to ignore stimuli that hurt and how to focus until he can taste a fresh-baked pie in the air one town over. He wears silks and soft clothing, anything scratchy too painful on his skin, and wears perfumes that gently ease his scent.
And he falls in love with the sweet, sweet sound of music and cannot get enough of it! Learns how to play many, many instruments through touch and sound alone because a lute isn’t enough to sate how the music makes his sensitive ears feel. Give him a drum. Give him a piano. Give him a harp. Give him a flute. The list goes on and on, but lute is definitely a favorite.
His journey takes him on a very similar one as canon (I’m basing it off Netflix btw) and he meets Geralt, can tell he is different by his scent, and that he doesn’t comment on his singing in Posada.
He follows Geralt like usual and it takes the Witcher a far longer time than he’d like to admit to realize the bard is blind.
(”There’s no such thing as devils.”
“Right, well, whatever it is I can hear it’s heartbeat just around that rock, behind the two rows of bushes, and 40 degrees up.”
“...How...?”
Jaskier proceeds to push his low-hanging bangs out of the way and wave his hand in front of his sightless eyes.)
Jaskier spots things before even Geralt does. Things that can be helpful. Things that aren’t at all. He knows when an attack is coming... but that doesn’t mean he knows how to dodge or fight back. He’s still pretty useless in that regard. And just because he can smell a kikimora from a mile away doesn’t mean he knows how to track it across the land in between.
Still, he turns out to be far more helpful in everyday endeavors than Geralt expected.
And Jaskier has the easiest time reading Geralt’s emotions.
Witchers have feelings, everything does, it is a reaction of the brain when presented with particular stimuli that will hopefully lead to a longer, happier life. It is survival. Witchers, however, learn how not to EXPRESS their feelings. Namely through facial features.
But Jaskier can’t see facial features. He listens to people’s hearts. Their breathing. The shift of their muscles. Readjusting feet on the ground. Smell of particularly powerful emotions on the air.
Geralt can’t hide those. He’s an open book to Jaskier. Even his fainter scents are loud and clear to Jaskier.
(Jaskier is also incredibly talented at telling when people are lying, thanks to these things.)
Geralt and Jaskier also, as they become closer through the years, use Jaskier’s blindness to their advantage in other ways.
Jaskier is 100% down with making people feel bad for him so he can get things. He’ll milk the fact he can’t see, pretend he’s constantly struggling, hold Geralt so he can “lead” him where he needs to go, and even when the Witcher is around people are still more willing to lessen the price of rooms or food or get Geralt paid more for his contracts.
Geralt, at first, hadn’t been sure about it, but then Jaskier began claiming Roach was emotional support for him to the stablehands, which ended up getting the horse even more spoiled than before.
Geralt changed his tune after that.
And Jaskier will joke about being blind. He’s comfortable with it. Think this kind of attitude.
(Geralt, without Cat, dead of night: Careful. It’s gotten dark out. Can’t see a thing.
Jaskier: Oh no. What a nightmare.
Geralt: ...Sorry...)
Jaskier is GREAT with memorization, too! He’s educated and a singer, but he can’t write or read and braille hasn’t been invented, so he has to memorize EVERYTHING. It’s great for studies, for working on songs, and for winning arguments!
He’ll memorize the shapes of things, too, for later. Memorize the layout of a room for if he feels like not paying too close attention. Memorize the shapes of people’s faces when they allow him to touch and feel and understand.
It takes a while for him to convince Geralt to let him feel his face, but eventually the Witcher relents. Jaskier is soft and gentle and reverent when he feels out Geralt’s features, marveling at his beauty, coming through his hair that he knows is “white” only because people have told him so.
(Edit: I did not realize this was not, actually, a thing, but instead imagine Jaskier pretending it is, because he totally would. “Oh, you sound so beautiful, may I map out your face? It is a common thing for those like myself to request.” “Sounds legit.”)
And that’s the only thing... He doesn’t know what colors are. And the only time he cares to look good is when he’s performing since it’s a pain to correct his hair when he can’t actually see it, or feel through his clothes for the doublet and trousers that have a veeeeeery particular threading on the sleeves and pant legs that tell him they are the same color because the person that sold them told him so.
So, usually, he still looks great because he’s Jaskier, but when he’s relaxing or in the wild his clothes don’t match and his hair is tussled and messy. (until Geralt begins fixing it, since Jaskier WILL take the time to comb out his white, long hair, make it perfect, and feel out how it should look while not doing it for himself.
“You deserve nice things, Geralt! I can’t even see my hair and nobody’s around, so who cares?”
“Hmm...” and he continues to fix the bard’s hair until he’s nearly purring.)
He still wants to know about colors, though, but no one can define them to him the way he needs.
Until Geralt, who realizes if a color is to be described to the bard, it has to be done using the other senses.
At first, all he can manage is “Red feels... hot. Yellow is... happy.” but Jaskier is still pleased by it and keeps asking, sightless eyes sparkling with excitement And Geralt vows to try a bit harder.
It’s the most he ever talks, explaining the part of the world that his bard can never experience, loving the way Jaskier leans towards him, even more than when he’s talking about a hunt, and memorizes every word.
It’s the most Geralt ever smiles, too, but Jaskier can’t see that.
Ok, im looking for a fic so if anyone remembers it and knows the name/ could link it to me please hit me up!
The premise of the fic was that jaskier was q masseuse and had like a massage parlor in either novigrad or oxenfurt, and geralt came in for a massage (that was how they met). Geralt had been recommended this place by someone(?) And it was know for serving non humans. Geralt had some reaaaaallly bad knots etc in his shoulders and back, jask describes him like a statue, calls him beautiful etc. After a few session geralt gets mad about because /self hate etc/ and jumps up off the table to confront jaskier about it. Asking hiw could he think he is beautiful etc doesn'the know he'sq witcher. And jask just tells him to look at him.... jaskier didn't know he was a witcher BECAUSE HE'S BLIND.
Anyway thats the premise. I cant remember if i read this fic on tumblr or ao3 and would really appreciate the help in hunting it down.
The Pankratz family was cursed, despite their talent as some of the greatest artists who ever lived.
They would all Eveunally go blind.
Jaskier had Never told Geralt about his family's curse. Although Before climbing the mountain, Jaskier really should have since his vision had started to blur.
Afterwards, Jaskier isn't sure how he got down the mountain since his vision was nearly gone.
A few months later, Jaskier went completely blind. Interestingly, he began having strange dreams around the same time.
Resuming their journeys after the mountain marks a distinct change for both Jaskier and Geralt. It's awkward, and as much as they may wish otherwise, returning to their previous dynamic seems impossible.
Recognizing the need to regain Jaskier's trust, Geralt understands it's a process that might take time.
However, this process accelerates unexpectedly when a mysterious curse renders Jaskier blind. In their quest for a cure, with Jaskier unable to see, he must now place complete trust in Geralt to navigate their path.
