Geralt always found it odd when Jaskier mentioned Lettenhove. It was clear the bard came from nobility, leading Geralt to suspect Jaskier might hide his true status to maintain his freedom to travel.
However, Geralt couldn't help but wonder why Jaskier chose Lettenhove specifically.
After all, why claim to be from a place that had been destroyed centuries before Jaskier's birth?
Lettenhove has been independent from Kerack for several years at this point, long enough that when the kingdom itself fizzled out Lettenhove kept its independency.
The King and the Queen were genuinely loved by their people, and they made sure that their domain was a safe haven for anybody who needed it. As the years passed, and the lineage continued, the kingdom grew a bit, but not by much.
The city's traditions are simple. Children tie their hair back with embroidered ribbons, and match them to their trousers or skirts. Teenagers trade their ribbons as signs of friendship or infatuation. Courting gifts are commonly personalised ribbons and bouquets or flowers.
The reason the small kingdom is so bright, so colourful, is something quite weird for this certain world. While most of the world frowns upon anything, ehm, queer, Lettenhove celebrates it.
It celebrates everything that people have to offer. It celebrates all the kinds of love that creatures experience. It celebrates the joys that people find after hard times, and celebrates the hard times people go through.
They welcome all and any creatures who won't harm others into their kingdom, and celebrate the diversity of their kingdom throughout festivals.
So, all in all, Lettenhove is a good place to call home, and Jaskier is more than happy that he grew up here.
okay so as anybody who looks at my page has noticed, ive fallen back into my witcher fixation.
now, if youre @nachtwaechterin or @atwerrundo you know about the au ive been brewing up.
so heres the formal introduction to (what is hopefully going to become a full fanfic) the extended pankartz family!
(i know that kerack stopped existing as a kingdom a few centuries post canon please ignore this thank you)
(as much as i like being lore accurate this is an au)
Just another thing that lives in my head rent free that is half a fic, half an idea, that begs to be written, so here is the mix of it.
And because who I am as a person, I slapped it on Ao3 as well.
(cw, lettenhove has fallen, sad stuff in general, loss of family, their spirits)
Because....
Cursed Jaskier.
I mean, he is immortal, and his home, Lettenhove, is but crumbled rock by now, and jaskier is tied to their ruins.
And maybe madness is threatening in the corner of his eye, maybe the past is talking to him, maybe the stones remembered what they looked like in ages past.
And Jaskier cannot leave.
Maybe this is where jaskier goes after the mountain, because when he last was home, it was still standing.
But the land is fallen, burned, ash on his tongue.
Maybe there was a curse put on the stones rather than him, keeping what remains of the family bound to the ground, for the dynasty to defend against an army should they return.
And Jaskier is caught in the ruins, and the remains of his family and his childhood.
Geralt finds Ciri, and she dreams of Yennefer, yes, but she cant' stop dreaming of a land that was, and she feels herself pulled there, but it is too dangerous, because it is on the other side of the army following her.
When they finally go, the survivors in the gathering of houses on the outskirts of Lettenhove speak of a ghost, of lights as the darkness is falling, of the sound of crying, and singing, sometimes laughing.
It takes time for them to make it up there, the magic fighting them every step of the way, making it treacherous and dangerous.
Jaskier can hear them coming, but they are not the first ones attempting to seek the treasures of what once was, and he hides.
They find a lute, broken in what seems in a fit of rage against the stones. some of the strings are still connecting the neck to the body, and Geralt feels a pang of fear when he recognizes it.
Jaskier has had time to make many hiding spots, a routa of sorts, of small camps. There are weeds growing around the cracked stones, sticking up defiantly, baring their necks to see the sun.
Eventually Geralt finds Jaskier, hiding in one of the crumbled rooms, a half burned painting propped up against the wall, a little girl with one eye covered with yellow locks looking out, holding the hand of her older brother.
Jaskier holds his dagger out, until he realizes who it is.
Geralt doesn’t know how to break the curse, and it hurts Jaskier to leave. They can’t stay with him, and to not raise suspicion they have to leave him behind.
Jaskier watches them leave, and he knows that he won’t see them again. Why would Geralt come back after all, now that Jaskier finally can’t follow.
He waits until he can’t see them anymore, until he believes they can’t hear him anymore, and he screams out his frustrations, voice echoing against the stones.
Eventually Yennefer finds him, and she has the solution. Not a pleasant one, but one that allows him to leave.
His bloodline is tied to this place, imprinted on him when his fathers father brought him underground and a small child, and put his blood among his ancestors.
What Jaskier thought was madness was instead shattered remains of a spirit.
With the witch’s help, Jaskier’s mother’s spirit wakes, and she cries when she sees her son.
“Where were you?” She asks, she grieves, she screams, until her rage has run its course.
More spirits rise, and Yennefer keeps them safe in the middle of the courtyard.
The curse can’t be lifted, but they learn that Jaskier can be freed, can move on from his past if he lifts his imprint away from the stone.
A grave hag has taken residence below, her cackling and grunting traveling up the stairs, and Yennefer too must leave Jaskier, to bring a witcher to help.
Her magic is still fragile, and she places her hand on Jaskier’s cheek as he takes her goodbye, leaving him with the spirits of his family.
Eventually it is Eskel who kills the hag, keeping Jaskier company when he laughs a little too loudly, his eyes a little too wide with unrest and grief.
When Yennefer finally returns, she brings Geralt and Ciri once more, and they are surprised to see Eskel by Jaskier’s side, the hag dealt with.
Yennefer presses Jaskier’s cut palm against the cold stone of his ancestors, chanting as she recalls his blood, distangles his past from the stone.
Above, the ruins creak and groan, the spirits growing agitated. They shriek and they trash and they try to protect their home from the intruders.
When they emerge, Jaskier is quiet. He is quiet as he tests his first steps outside the ruin grounds, and he is quiet when he looks back to what was his home, and then his prison.
The ground is covered in weeds, slowly dancing in the wind, the spirits keeping their own company.
Lettenhove is no more, and the ruins remain unbothered.
Sometimes Jaskier returns, just to speak with his sister. Sometimes he sings to his mother, and talks about the worldly affairs with his father.
Jaskier is not tied to the stone anymore, but his spirit will not rest until his family does.
Ciri doesn’t dream of the ruins anymore, but sometimes she gets a faraway look, takes Jaskier’s hand, and asks if he would take her to the coast.
Geralt and Yennefer never reconnected after the djinn. and eventually finds another djinn to break the wish.
She finds her own way, even if it is connected to Ciri’s, and she finds her own destiny in the shape of a Merigold.
It takes time for Geralt to build up what he broke. Takes time to figure out how friendship works, and even more so when Geralt figures out his own feelings towards the bard.
The bard is not the same man, how could he be, but he grows anyway. Grows like a defiant weed in the cracks of a stone, baring their neck to see the sun.
Do you have any notion of where Lettenhove is supposed to be? I’ve heard people say it’s anywhere from Redania to Touissaint! And if there is no canon location for it, where do you headcanon / prefer it to be?
Hi Nonny! Thanks for the Jaskier ask :D
I have gotten that ask, here is that post.
There is no explicit canon for it, but fans make good cases for Redania, Kerack, and Touissaint, all using the text for support.
My linked answer lays out the case for Redania and Kerak and in the rbs, someone give their case for Touissaint! So definitely go into the reblogs for that.
I usually place it in Redania, but much like everything else, I play with it. I think in my last fic I placed it in Kerack. Basically, I don't have a hard preference, so whatever feeds the plot at any particular moment.
I understand that characters who never discuss going home, and we never really see or hear about their family, are really easy to have put in a bad homelife view.
however, nothing is funnier than it actually being they are so sweet but want to give their child room to grow in their own way, but fo check up on eachother enough to show care and the character just never thinks its important to share
A little history lesson about Kerack, the state where many writers place the mysterious Lettenhove.
The area was originally inhabited by the elves, who built a lightower at the mouth of the Adalatte. After they abandoned this region, humans started to settle. They founded the port city of Kerack near the abandoned lighthouse and soon it became a den of pirates, free traders and similar free-minded people.
At the beginning of the 13th century, the city and its vicinities became a base of operations for the merchant and pirate Osmyk. After monopolizing the sea trade in the area, finishing off the concurention and winning a few petty wars with Verden and Cidaris, he crowned himself as the first King of Kerack. The coronation was seen as just formalizing the status quo since Osmyk basically controlled the whole region before the ceremony.
You may be thinking: Rawr, that's all very well... but why is it important?
Well, what if, when formalising his new state and gathering allies, Osmyk granted other pirate clans/families honourary titles to gain their support. It would make sense. Even with a formidable reputation, Osmyk would need alliances and loyal vassals.
What if, Julian "Jaskier" Alfred Pankratz was actually the son of an infamous pirate captain, who settled on land only with the promise of riches and power.
Jaskier was the product of a political marriage between his infamous cut-throat of a father and a petite debutante from the surrounding freelands. Once his seed was sown, his father spent most of his time at sea in the king's "navy" and Jaskier scuttled off to Oxenfurt to delay the same fate.
TLDR: Lettenhove doesn't exist because it was an honourary title bestowed on Jaskier's family by an infamous pirate king. You're welcome.
logically dandelion ought to be from toussaint, right? that’s the place where people call him by his actual name. and when he’s having the argument with geralt about duchesses not marrying poets, being the Vicount de Lettenhove does really seem like something he’s inherited, not something bestowed upon him as henrietta’s consort (not that that would make sense given her husband at the time anyway).
anyway, i like the idea of our ridiculous poet being from fairytale land. a lot of his *waves hand* is clearly just innately him, but it’s an interesting explanation for the rest of it.
kindly bear with me while i attempt to distract myself from the end of lady of the lake by pondering other witcher things.
