—and how they reflect the narrative events and Jaskier's character arc through the show. I'm trying to keep this as canon as possible and not look at it through shipping goggles, but there is textual stuff about Jaskier's relationship with and love for Geralt that's impossible to ignore.
Toss a Coin to Your Witcher: Jaskier’s first big break, the famous and famously annoying Toss a Coin. He wrote this when he was around eighteen and it definitely feels immature. He’s cracking bad jokes like “elf on a shelf” (god I hate that one, it grates me every time) and substituting “bleat” for “beat.” He’s taking enormous creative liberties with facts. And he’s being a little thoughtless; in his enthusiasm to hero-wash Geralt, he’s throwing elves under the bus, calling them devils and pests while he’s talking about Geralt as a friend to “humanity.” (more about this when we get into some of his later songs and his time as the Sandpiper)
This is an upbeat, catchy (and kind of shallow) song that I mentally classify as one of his “narrative” songs. It tells a story. It feels optimistic, much like Jaskier himself at this point in his life. After all, this is the kid who saw a big scary witcher brooding in a corner and decided that nothing could go wrong by following him around. He’s got a head full of heroics and heartbreak and nothing is going to dissuade him, not even being nearly killed. This song is a perfect time capsule of the beginning of Jaskier’s career and also the beginning of his long-running relationship with Geralt.
The Fishmonger’s Daughter: Jaskier plays this at Calanthe’s court when she orders him to play “a jig.” It seems like a pretty typical bawdy tavern song, the kind where you try to drum up audience participation. Most of the court seems to know it and sing along with it. No idea if Jaskier wrote this himself. He probably didn’t. It seems like one of those songs that everyone just knows.
Her Sweet Kiss: This song makes me feel deranged. This is definitely a Jaskier original. We see him writing and noodling with it at the beginning of The Mountain (tm) and asking other people if his lyrics are scanning well. He’s been traveling with Geralt on and off for about twenty years now, so he’s forty years old or close to it. He’s seen some shit, and part of the shit he’s seen has been Geralt and Yennefer’s relationship. He is not a fan. He is so deeply not a fan that he’s writing a whole song about it. But also? He’s putting himself in the song too, and he’s putting his heart on his sleeve, the same way that he tries to do when he talks to Geralt about going to the coast. The lyrics of this song are about three people—a man (Geralt), a woman (Yennefer), and the singer (Jaskier). It’s about how the woman is bad for the man, and how much the singer loves the man.
Whether you see Jaskier’s feelings for Geralt as romantic or not, these are the facts:
He doesn’t like Yennefer or think that she’s good for Geralt, and says so, repeatedly, both in casual conversation and in his music. In the song, he writes, “She’s always bad news, it’s always lose-lose” and that, “She’ll destroy with her sweet kiss.”
In the song, Jaskier calls Geralt “my love” and says, “I’m weak, my love, and I am wanting.”
He asks Geralt to go to the coast with him, so they can “work out what pleases” them. He wants them to stay together and not go their separate ways like they often do.
Immediately after this plea, Geralt goes straight to Yennefer and (just in case anyone was doubting that Her Sweet Kiss was about the three of them) Geralt and Yennefer fuck while an instrumental version of Her Sweet Kiss plays over the sex. I still can’t believe the showrunners did that. That was A Damn Choice. (deranged, I am deranged about everything about this)
The kicker is that the song wasn’t even finished when Geralt flipped his lid and shouted Jaskier off The Mountain (tm) and out of his life. Which means that Jaskier, alone and heartbroken (his own words from s2), finished this song and published it afterwards, even knowing that the entire situation had gone tits up and that he might not even see Geralt or Yennefer again. Maybe it gave him some catharsis to sing it, who knows.
This isn’t a shallow catchy tune like Toss a Coin or even Fishmonger’s Daughter. It’s deeply personal and a tonal shift from his previous music.
Don't get me wrong, I love all the 'immortal Jaskier' theories but honestly credit to Joey Batey because even thought Jaskier doesn't appear to physically age, there's so much about his behaviour in every scene that makes me feel how old he's meant to be.
He's energetic and naive and cocky when he first meets Geralt. All of that energy and curiosity is still with him at the betrothal feast but it's more controlled, deliberate and self-aware in a way he wasn't before. Then, when we see him just before Geralt finds the djinn, he's not only more reserved (which, sure, he's had his heart broken so that makes sense) but he's also more mature in how he interacts with Geralt. His "talk to me" shows genuine concern and there's nothing teasing about it. It's only afterwards, once he knows what Geralt is doing and realises/decides the witcher is being ridiculous, that he returns to that sort of behaviour. And even after he's been cursed and cured, his interactions with Yennefer and Geralt are still tempered by that maturity.
And then the dragon quest.
Yennefer's comment about Jaskier's "crow's feet" might a be intended to convey his aging but the way Joey plays his reaction to the comment is far more effective. Think of the difference between "Yeah, well, you're jokes are...old" and "You don't want to keep a man with...bread in his pants waiting". In both cases he’s trying to be witty in an attempt to break the tension. And while in the first instance Geralt hadn’t insulted him, the sense of discomfort is comparable. In response to Yennefer’s comment, a younger Jaskier would have been annoyed by his own inability to come up with a witty reply. But that’s not how it plays out. Instead his tone is sad, deflated. His joke doesn’t land but he doesn’t care. That’s not what it’s about.
Then, there’s his asking Geralt to go to the coast. When they first met, Jaskier was drawn to Geralt by his desire for adventure. That man wouldn’t have tried to convince the witcher to “get away for a while,” he would said something about how there are other monsters to slay, more people to help, other adventures to be had. And, true, this also speaks to how their relationship has changed and Jaskier has come to see Geralt as more than just his abilities. But it also speaks of growth - the kind that only comes with experience. The desire for peace and the understanding that life can’t always be danger and adventure and excitement.
And then, when Geralt turns on him, blames him for everything and tell him he wants him gone, Jaskier doesn’t engage. He says “that’s not fair” (soft and heartbroken) but that’s it. There’s no fighting, no yelling, no accusations or corrections. He takes it and he walks away. That energy, the one that used to bleed into every word and movement, the one he learned to control and channel where he wanted it, disappears. When he says his goodbye and leaves he’s deflated and heartbroken but, notably, not exhausted. He’s learned when there’s nothing words can do, when something isn’t worth the effort, and (most importantly) when he deserves more than what he’s given. And walking away hurts like hell, we see that so clearly in Joey’s performance (here and in season 2), but it’s also such an important show of his strength and maturity. No argument, no begging to be taken along, no jokes or snark, just acknowledgement and retreat.
This got longer than I expected and there’s still so many other things I could point out but you get the idea. Despite his lack of ‘aging,’ it’s so clear that we really are seeing Jaskier over years, decades even, of his life and that’s not an easy thing to show. So shout out to Joey Batey and his excellent performance.
You know, I found it funny at first that Jaskier would take the time to put his jacket back on after Rience tortures him, but I just realized, Jaskier was wearing his jacket when he was on the boat with Yennefer.
Jaskier wasn't wearing his jacket when he was tied up in the chair. That means that it was Rience who initially took the jacket off. Making Jaskier both more vulnerable and physically colder.
Jaskier putting his jacket back on right after Rience gets his face burned up is a very big "hey, fuck you, I'm going to take my time, you aint worth shit" moment for Jaskier. Gaining a little bit of his agency back.
Im soRRY BUT ARE JUST GONNA IGNORE THE FACT THAT JASKIER KNOWS AND CAN SPEAK ELDER?? Where did he learn it? How does he speak it fluently? Where was he taught??
I really wish Netflix!Jaskier was more like book!Jaskier in his ability to call Geralt on his shit.
Like at the end of A Little Sacrifice where there's this unrequited but not unrequited thing between Geralt and Essi and Jaskier goes, "Okay guys (gender neutral) I've had enough. Geralt she isn't Yennefer, she can't read your mind. So be a big boy, use your big boy words and. Talk. To. Her. Now I'm going to make myself a fishing rod and then I'm going fishing, and by the time I get back you two have better gotten whatever this is out of your system, because it's getting intolerable."
I really miss this quality in Netflix!Jaskier because let's be honest, Netflix!Geralt needs someone to call him on his crap even more than book!Geralt does. I think that's why their relationship feels so uneven.
I think I’m also liking the idea of human!Jaskier also. 🤔 Like the elf thing is fun, especially when he doesn’t know about it and for the purpose of lengthening his life, but the idea of simply human Jaskier helping elves despite being only human is just beautiful. He’s not doing it because of direct kinship, he’s doing it because it’s the right thing to do.
And not only out of moral duty. But because it hurts him to see innocent people hurt.* Because no one deserves what the north is doing to the elves.
That and the idea of the elves coming to love Jaskier for his part in their protection, despite him being only human. Especially since the elves of the books tend to lean towards ethnic supremacy. Jaskier’s involvement complicates that idea from the beginning for a newer generation of elves.
Jaskier finds himself in the middle. A part of nowhere exactly, but also everywhere. Not elf, but while he’s human he doesn’t belong to the Northern kingdom’s, certainly doesn’t belong to Nilfgard. But despite being of nowhere, he’s also a part of everywhere. Making dealings with anyone who needs it. Helping Geralt change his image. Helping Ciri, or yen, or the elves.
Jaskier truly makes an effort to help anyone who he simply likes, who he sees as good and just. And it’s so easy to see why he’d fall for someone like Geralt, or Yen, who he sees as heroes, because in many ways he’s trying to be just like them, despite not having their powers.
*Arguably it hurts him to see anyone hurt, he’s always seemed to have an adverse reaction to death and killing - despite making jokes and claims in favor of it.
Okay, but what if Jaskier was lying about being a Viscount and even his name?
AU where Jaskier is actually from a long dead poor family, adopted by the local area’s charitable school and then from there excelled enough to be sent to Oxenfurt. Where he chose (much like Geralt tried to) a ridiculous noble name that he uses on a whim.
Then once he realizes how little he fits in with the noble crowd, but how much he loves music. He sets off with a new identity and a new life style. That works for him more.
He loves the finer things. He loves smelling good and looking good. But just as much as he loves traveling and hanging out with people seemingly of lower status then him.
Jaskier grew up with stories of Witchers and monsters. Adventure and danger through songs played in song. Now he follows Geralt, Yen, Ciri, all sorts of dangerous creatures. He’s found his place amongst the legends, fluttering famous but unnoticed.
thinking about how quickly jaskier's color palette goes from blue to red from ep 5 to 6 and thinking about the bloodstains on his shirt in ep 5 while he's begging geralt not to go to yen and thinking about how after jaskier's switch to red everything starts going to shit and thinking about "the red sky at dawn/is giving a warning"
