I love your analysis on syanna and I was wondering If I can hear your honest thoughts on regis and dettlaff. Your content brightens up my work
Thank you for the kind words! I'd love to infodump about the boys.
I don't remember a lot of him from the books because I haven't read them in years, but I really do love his character. A gentle barber-surgeon vampire who is also a recovering blood addict? Sounds kinda like something out of a Terry Pratchett novel and I'm here for it. I love the subversion of your classic bloodsucker and just thinking about the guy makes me feel warm inside.
(I thank you for this ask because I got really upset about another book series I love which is currently being violently fucked over by its writer, and this is a welcome distraction from the heartbreak.)
I love his bad boy backstory and subsequent redemption - it shows that nobody is beyond saving, and makes his trade as a healer all the more touching. He has his inner demons, yes, but he's such a comfort character to me that I just want to hug him. Precious bastard bloodsucker. He loves humans so much! It's such a wonderful part of his character! I really want to hug him!
I was so, so devastated when he died in the books because I thought that he deserved a better life, full of peace and recovery, so seeing him again in the games was like the gods descending from the heavens and gently kissing me on the forehead. My precious boy. Iused to be eh about his game character design but it grew on me - his hairline will, too, after some more regeneration.
Seeing his friendship and banter with Geralt almost made me cry from joy at how close the two are with each other and how comfortable Geralt is around him. Listening to Regis's rants and lectures made me so so happy because by the GODS I missed it. He's such a bean. I love him. I could never make him sad, so I had already decided that I wanted to spare Dettlaff even before meeting the dude and subsequently falling heads over feels for his character. It sucks thst he has to leave at the end of the DLC because we've only had him back for a couple of days! After what, seven years? Give us back our vampire!
(I wanted to type heels instead of feels, but that typo kinda fits because I have so many fucking emotions about the man so I'm leaving it as it is.)
In short, a bastard sweetheart I love more than life itself.
Ah yes. My boy. The fucker who fucking ripped my heart out of my chest and won't give it back no matter how politely I beg him or try to bribe him with hot cocoa.
I've already spoken about him at length in my other posts - about how much my heart aches for him, how he never wanted to hurt anyone until he was pushed over the edge, what a good and caring bf he would be, about how scared and hurt he must've been in his final minutes as Regis was forced to kill him etc. Look, I love the man like my own OC so I can't talk about how violently he was fucked over without getting emotional.
He's more naive than Regis when it comes to dealing with humans, more inexperienced and awkward and oblivious to social norms and cues. This, combined with his emotional sensitivity and pack instinct, makes him easy to manipulate once he warms up to you. This dude might be uncomfortable around humans and prefer to hang out with other vampires or on his own, but when he falls in love? He goes in all the way.
Like Syanna said, he doesn't love like a man - no shit, he isn't one. Deeply, ferociously, unconditionally, like a beast. Not to compare him to a dog, but kinda like that. He's loyal and devoted, would do anything for his beloved, even kill. Shit, sounds great! Where can my lovestarved ass get one?
But also, he seems to be good with kids, judging from the bootblack's high opinion of him and the fact that they tend to be less complicated than adults. Plus, that story about the kid who gave him an apple and the fact that he's a toymaker? I bet thst he likes kids, that he's good with them, and likely would never raise his hand at one.
This makes his behaviour towards the end of the game so sad - this gentle, quiet guy who would be more than happy to just mind his own business and make toys in peace, to just live his life with the person he loved, to never raise his hand at anyone... reduced to a mindless killing machine wanting only to destroy and to be destroyed - anything for the pain to end.
Can I run through the shit he was put through real quick?
Fell in love with a woman who completely ghosted him, which must've been a blow to the heart
Probably looked for her for a long time, worried out of his mind
Received a message years later that she was in danger - worry!!!!
Was forced to go against his principles and brutally kill people in order to keep her safe - fear, disgust with himself, trauma
Befriended a nice guy - a big accomplishment for someone like him! - only to have to kill him and chip his body to pieces. He had to kill and then dismember quite possibly his only non-vampire friend in Toussaint. That's... that's really fucked up. It fucked him up so badly that he cut off his own hand
After that, he accidentally hurt Regis while trying to put down Geralt, someone he perceived as a threat after he killed a bruxa who was dear to him - another friend lost, by the way
Finally found out where his be lived was being kept and raced over there despite being told not to... Only to find out that Rhena, the woman he loved, never existed in the first place. There was never a Rhena, only a disgraced heiress who played with his feelings, ghosted him, and manipulated him to her own ends
Let that sink in. He was so worried about her, so eager to see the woman he loved safe and sound. All that pain and worry, all the blood on his hands, and for what? For nothing. Rhena wasn't real. Syanna never loved him in the first place. His entire love was one big lie.
Now, something like that would've been a devastating fucking blow for a regular human's psyche, but remember that Dettlaff experiences emotions more intensely and has never gotten to build up a thicker skin when it comes to dealing with people.
So this? I have no words to express how horrible this must've been to him. His entire world was turned upside down, his heart torn out of his chest and shattered on the floor. I cannot imagine how hurt he must've felt.
And yet? He didn't kill Syanna right away, even though we know he could've. Instead, he gave her three days to explain herself and left to cool down. That's some formidable composure from a guy like him in a situation like that. Respect.
And then, after she didn't show up (though he had no way to know that she was being held in the Land of a Thousand Fables against her will), dude snapped. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. I think that he actually gave them a few extra days because I remember Anna telling Geralt that he had a week and the aid of her finest knights to track the Beast of Beauclair. This either implies that the events of the DLC prior to that lasted four days (plus three preceding the vampire attack), or Dettlaff gave them four extra days before snapping. Not sure which one.
I firmly believe that, had Anna allowed Syanna to sort out her bullshit on time, the bloodshed would've been avoided. Perhaps she would've avoided being killed, too? Guess we'll never know.
So after that, if Geralt decides to fight Dettlaff, he just loses himself completely in the pain and turns into that bat monster. I've written about the symbolism of it already, but I'll recap it anyway.
That creature? That's not Dettlaff, not anymore. He's completely lost himself in the pain and anger, literally blinded by it - his monster form doesn't have eyes, which are said to be the windows to the soul. Furthermore, having your eyes tied/covered can symbolise lack of individuality or a sense of captivity/isolation. The person we knew as Dettlaff is no more, and it breaks my heart.
That man made toys, for gods's sake! He regularly sat down and sewed teddy bears or painted dolls or carved toy boats! He never wanted to hurt anyone! He didn't deserve any of this!
Geralt's journal says that it's possithat Dettlaff wanted to die, wanted the pain to be over, perhaps because he didn't want to live with himself because of all the hurt he's caused. He harboured no ill will towards Geralt or Regis.
He was killed. By his blood brother and close friend. As he was dying, he tried to reach out towards Geralt as his monstrous form slowly turned human once more.
He was scared. He was in pain. Deep down, he still wanted to live. I'm... Don't fucking talk to me. I fucking refuse to discuss his death any further. Fuck. He didn't fucking deserve this.
If he did not die, he killed the woman he loved and who he had thought loved him too. Despite Syanna's manipulations, it must've hurt him too. And then he just left, feeling that he was no longer welcome in the place he used to consider his home. That's a fair bit less emotionally devastating than the alternative, but still made me sad.
Do i approve of sending an army of vampires to attack innocents who had nothing to do with the shit he was put through? No. But the guy was put through a fucking emotional meat grinder to put it mildly. He was mentally and emotionally fragile and made a rash and horrible decision he probably regretted in the end once he cooled down. He didn't deserve to be killed over it. Fuck, even if he killed Syanna, he didn't deserve to be killed for it because the bitch was plotting regicide and was responsible for four murders so she likely would've been executed later on if Annarietta weren't blind and deaf and devoid of braincells.
I'm so sorry for him. He's such a gentle soul with some issues, yeah, but absolutely deserving of love and redemption. Unlike Syanna, he didn't want to hurt anyone at first (and when he did, he was probably already beginning to lose himself.)
Dettlaff was not the antagonist of Blood and Wine. I could argue that Syanna wasn't, either, but I cannot deny the fact that this would've been avoided if she stopped for a moment and realised that emotionally blackmaiing a higher vampire was a terrible fucking idea. I am beyond salty that she had the option to get her happy ending - reconciliation with her sister and presence in Corvo Bianco during the anniversary vid (she and Annarietta are in for a split second and it pisses me the fuck off because why does she get to have her happy ending and not Dettlaff?! Like I'd ever let the bitch into my house after all the shit she pulled off. No, I'm not doing double standards - I know that she had a bad childhood due to the curse bullshit but you've read my thoughts on her and know why I don't think that her actions are justified. Neither are Dettlaff's, but he was a victim, while she planned that shit from the beginning.)
Tl;dr? I'd send this man to some hardcore therapy and protect him with my own blade because I want him to be nothing but happy and loved because that's what he fucking deserves.