I’ve seen a few people in the fandom puzzle over why Eskel has such a passionate following, given the fact that there is so little information about him.
I’ve seen fic writers afraid to write him because there is so little screen/book time, yet the fandom seems to have VERY PASSIONATE and VERY DEVELOPED opinions on him. It feels like a minefield!
Never fear, *pats seat* sit down and let's discuss my darling Eskel. I am not the first person to do a character breakdown of Eskel, but this will be my personal feelings and how I approach him in my fics. I will break down:
EVERYTHING! IT’S AN ESKEL CHARACTER DISCUSSION BONANZA!! (long, involved, extremely nerdy)
Book Canon
Game Canon
Headcanons, ie, how I develop him for fics
Popular Fanon
What I think of the Season Two trailer with Eskel
Who I ship him with
Feel free to reply, send asks, messages, whatever if you have feedback or questions. Also fandom should be fun. All headcanons are valid. These are just mine.
So who is Eskel? Eskel is a wolf witcher from Kaer Morhen. Geralt and he are the same age and went through The Trials (the experiments that killed most of the boys and made the surviving ones witchers) together.
Why I love Eskel
Eskel is important to me because he is physically "monstrous" to the point where Ciri has to stifle a scream when she sees him. The world sees Eskel’s body and relentlessly projects the expectation of cruelty and violence onto him. That is brutal, grueling, emotional warfare on a person’s spirit.
Add to that, the horrific trauma of the trials that all of the witchers endured and his life has been hell in every way imaginable.
And yet! Eskel is kind, polite, a little awkward sometimes, and extremely respectful of women. He is also very protective of those he loves. And while he is powerful (magically gifted) and rough around the edges (he kills monsters extremely efficiently, ribs his brothers, drinks white gull, and trains Ciri hard) he is also humble and soft.
The resilience of his spirit...the kindness that has persevered in spite of it all, is inspiring. (Yes, I’m inspired by fictional characters.)
Also, it is important that heavily scarred and ‘disfigured’ people are shown to be kind and gentle. Most movies, shows, and books portray scarred people as evil. Want to make someone seem like a villain? Throw in a scar. Call them Scar. It’s a feature of our culture that associates ‘perfection’ with goodness and good looks with virtue. It is often flat out ableist. I like that he subverts that.
You might be saying....but Geralt is scarred and stigmatized, all the witchers are. Yes. And I love them all. But if you read further, you’ll see how it’s a particularly extreme case for Eskel.
That is all book canon.
I also borrow some game canon when I build his character. According to TW3, he is hillfolk. In the game, he sings an Appalachian lullaby. I grew up in the foothills of the Appalachia, and my father’s family is from the Ozarks. (for non Americans, this is as remote and ‘hillfolk’ as one can be.) So there are cultural and emotional aspects I build onto him as a result of my knowledge of growing up in this region and coming from an isolated community. That makes him mean even more to me.
Alright, do you want to know where I got all of that? (I.e. Are you a big nerd?) Well, read on. I’m starting with book canon, and I’ll tell you when we get to game canon.
(TW: menstruation)
Eskel’s Appearance/Book Canon (Blood of Elves)
Alright, so full disclosure, Sapko doesn’t include very many physical descriptions of the men. (We do know all the women’s breast sizes though. That’s Sapko for you.)
So here’s what we know about Eskel physically from when he meets Ciri, as Geralt brings her to Kaer Morhen for the first time:
A black figure stood framed in the door, blurred by brightness.
"Who comes?" Ciri heard a menacing, metallic voice that sounded like a dog's bark. "Geralt?"
"Yes, Eskel, it's me."
"Come in."
Alright, so we know that Eskel’s voice is metallic and sounds like a dog’s bark. What else?
Ciri looked up into his face and barely restrained her frightened scream. He wasn't human. Although he stood on two legs, although he smelled of sweat and smoke, although he wore ordinary human clothes, he was not human. No human can have a face like that, she though.
From this we know that Eskel is so frightening to Ciri, that she thinks he is inhuman and barely stifles a scream. Let’s note that, because I’m coming back to it. Ok what else.
She saw that he was human after all, that he had and entirely human face, deformed by a long, ugly, semi-circular scar from the corner of his mouth, across the length of his cheek, to his ear.
Alright, so we know that he has a scar that Ciri perceives as deforming, from his cheek to his ear. Then the last thing we know about his physicality is that when Triss arrives, this is how she perceives him:
Eskel stood next to Geralt, resembling the wolf like a brother, apart from the color of his hair and the long scar that disfigured his cheek.
So Triss also perceives his scar as "disfiguring".
But here’s what I think is important. Geralt has scars, yet Ciri was never afraid of him. Also, Triss is covered with scars on her chest, and yet she also notes Eskel’s scars before his eyes or expression or anything.
So he must be extremely scarred for this to be of note. I think we can assume that they actually affect the shape of his face. Like, they probably pull at his lips or his eye.
Triss also notes that he looks like Geralt apart from his hair color and scar.
But we don’t actually know that much about what Geralt looks like! He has white hair and cat-like eyes. He’s sinewy and striking and his smile scares people sometimes. That’s about it! And we don’t know in what way Eskel resembles him. Face shape? Eye shape? Build? Who knows! We don’t know Eskel’s hair color either, just that it isn't white. So that doesn’t help a whole lot.
We just know that Eskel has a metallic voice, he terrifies Ciri, and his scars are notable even to Triss.
Eskel’s Personality/Book canon
He is affectionate. Here is how he greets Geralt in the same scene.
Eskel turned around. Suddenly, quickly, wordlessly, the witchers fell into each other's arms, and wound their shoulders around each other tight and hard. For one brief moment.
"Wolf, you're alive."
"I am."
So he is physically affectionate, and uses a nickname. Now, he may be standoffish to others, since he is used to them freaking out and being afraid of him (we don’t know). But when he cares about someone, he goes straight for the hug.
We can also see that his relationship with Geralt is comfortable, close, and doesn’t need any words.
He takes his role protecting Ciri very seriously. When Geralt introduces Ciri, he is very clear that this child isn't just his destiny.
Geralt clenched his hands over her shoulders.
"She is our destiny."
Eskel doesn’t think they can take care of a girl at first, but he still smiles and welcomes her. His reticence lasts about five minutes, and he does his part to train and boss around Ciri. And, when Triss comes to visit, he is very suspicious of Triss turning Ciri in to the Brotherhood.
"Have no fear," she interrupted coldly. "I will not tell anyone about Ciri. Not even the chapter. Why are you looking at me like that?"
"We are amazed by the ease with which you pledge to keep this secret," said Eskel calmly. "Forgive me Triss, I do not mean to offend you, but what has happened to your legendary loyalty to the council and chapter?"
So even though he hates conflict and rudeness (you’ll see soon) he ‘calmly’ challenges her because he is very protective of Ciri.
Eskel is incredibly polite.
He is embarrassed when Lambert is rude to Triss. (so is Geralt, who corrects Lambert to no avail from time to time)
Eskel does his best to listen to Triss talk about politics, even when none of the other witchers make any effort to hide their boredom.
In that passage, we also get one of Eskel’s physical gestures. When he is trying to be polite, but perhaps not genuinely interested, he avoids eye contact. Maybe he is worried his true feelings of boredom will be found out, and he’ll hurt her feelings or be embarrassed. (Who knows? You can headcanon whatever you want!)
Eskel is humble.
So Triss becomes furious when she finds out that Ciri has gotten her period and none of the wolves knew or helped her with it. She’s furious that they’re making Ciri train while menstruating. They are all pretty embarrassed and angry. But Eskel is humble about it immediately.
So we learn a few things from this. He is humble. He bows, and kisses her hand with respect. He asks for help.
We learn a few more things from that passage though.
Once again, his scar is called hideous, so that reinforces that it must be an extreme ‘disfiguration’. They all have scars, and the book doesn’t harp on about it.
Eskel vibrates with magic, even more so than Geralt.
What does that mean? It can mean anything you want it to in a fic. You can play with his magical properties however you want. I’ve made them smutty. I’ve made them impressive. You can play with his backstory. Whatever you want!
We also got more physical gesture in that passage: Eskel rubs his cheek when he’s nervous.
We also get more evidence of Geralt and Eskel’s bond. Eskel looks to Geralt when he’s nervous. *sobs* I love that.
Eskel is a gentleman.
Triss comes up with a plan. When Ciri comes down from her room in a dress, that means she’s on her period and doesn’t want to train. So Ciri comes down in a dress and states that she won’t be training.
“Dear” Eskel again, behaves “as fitting”. So Triss thinks of him as “dear” and admires his manners. Not bad for a witcher, who was probably never taught to be around women.
Eskel also shoots Lambert daggers when he looks at Triss’s breasts.
There’s a lot of casual sexual harassment in the witcher books that I tend to erase completely in fics simply because I don’t like it. Geralt gapes constantly at women’s breasts. Constantly. I erase all of it in my fics. BUT it is still nice to see that even in Sapko’s world of constant leering, Eskel is a gentleman.
He keeps his political opinions close to the vest.
He will talk about the war. But when the rest of them start arguing about neutrality, he's silent.
Eskel drinks in the evenings. (all of them do)
Ok, so just from those passages, we get physical characteristics, gestures, voice, ways that he shows affection, and personality traits. I made a list of them and kept them next to my laptop when I wrote my fics, until I had them all down. When he is nervous, I have him rub his cheek. When he’s lying, he loses eye contact. I have him give great hugs. I have him be a gentleman. I have him care what others think, and be humble. I have him show protectiveness.
That is where I start.
Now, what about the games?
Game canon I always keep:
Dark hair and amber eyes. I keep that. I like it.
Eskel is hillfolk. I LOVE that. I’ll talk about that more in my headcanons section.
The basilisk rescue. Eskel rescued a child once by cutting it from a basilisk’s stomach. I LOVE that one. In fact, I have a whole fic where the girl he rescued was a teenaged Jaskier’s niece and that’s when Jaskier’s fascination and love of witchers starts. (It’s called Uncommon, and it's in my pinned post)
His fighting style. Whenever I write him in a fight, I watch TW3 to get a feel for how he fights.
Fucking a succubus. I keep that. I love the idea of Eskel having sexual experiences where he doesn’t have to feel like a monster. And I love monsterfuckery as well.
Doing fisstech. He does drink white gull and is very blase about drugs. So I don’t see any reason he wouldn’t do fisstech. In the books Geralt rejects it when it is offered to him, and seems to see it as a bad thing. But I always headcanon Geralt as a bit more conservative in some ways. I mean, Geralt is canonically pretty vanilla sexually, and he corrects Angoulemes language when she curses. So compared to him, I’m willing to believe that Eskel is a bit more wild.
Game canon I sometimes I keep:
He has a goat. I sometimes keep that. Fandom likes it. We all think that treating animals well is the sign of a good heart (I certainly do think that), and he does have a good heart. So that’s a great way to show/not tell. I have a whole fic where Jaskier meets him when he needs help delivering Lil Bleater’s first foal. (Eskel is Magic) But he does use his goat as forktail bait in the games, which isn’t very protective. And if you’re talking about a rustic or rural existence, animals are work creatures and you tend to eventually slaughter and eat them. So you can go either way with it.
The way he got his scars. In the games, Eskel invokes the law of surprise and ends up with a daughter. She ends up giving him the scars. You can look up the story if you like. Her name is Deidre. I refer to it sometimes in my fics, because I haven’t head canoned anything different. But I’m not wed to it and I like to hear other people’s theories.
Game Canon I Ignore:
His general personality. Watching the videos of him interacting with Geralt, I don’t see much of the awkwardness or softness I read in the books. I love that he sings his mother’s lullaby. That’s about it.
Summon the bitches. I get that he’s drunk and it's funny. Someone else could absolutely say that when a man is alone, no women around, and drunk, it’s totally believable for him to be less of a gentleman. And that’s fine. It’s just something I filter out because it doesn’t really fit for me, personally. Each to their own!
Physical headcanon
I head canon him as big and hulking. I just don’t see Ciri, a girl who has seen war, monsters, and whose adopted dad is a scarred witcher, scaring that easily. So in addition to the scars and voice, I think an imposing physical figure is a reasonable guess.
Hillfolks Headcanons (I firmly believe that each to their own. You don't have to like or use these. You can hate them! That's why they're mine.)
The main thing I do for headcanons is just extrapolate on what is there. Since he is hillfolk, he grew up in a tiny isolated mountain community. So, judging from my own experiences, when he came to Kaer Morhen he probably:
Didn’t own shoes
Wore hand me down clothes
Didn’t understand the language, and definitely didn’t understand the dialect of the other other boys
He felt incredibly isolated
Possibly had less formal education
Possibly had more agricultural and household skill
Because of the connection to Appalachia, I also like to headcanon him as indigenous, or at least mixed. There is a faceclaim going around of Manu Bennett as Eskel. He is of Maori descent, which is a different country obviously, but is indigenous. So I like that. Also, Jason Momoa is 6’4” and is Native Hawaiian. So that works for me too physically.
Other headcanons
He is practical and responsible, and Kaer Morhen is a big place to upkeep. It’s not like they have staff. So I think he’s learned a ton of skills. Yes, fixing things. But that’s not the only thing that goes into a home.
You have to decorate it. I bet they don’t want the old paintings of the shithead kings and such up anymore. So perhaps he knows how to paint or cross stitch.
You have to earn money for upkeep. So maybe he spins wool and knits. (I have that in a fic).
I love the idea of him baking for his loved ones. I just know he bakes for them.
I bet he knows how to whittle and he makes things for the other wolves.
But those things may or may not come up in every fic. Mostly what I do, is start writing. When a situation comes up, I reference my list of his traits, and I imagine how someone with those traits and the kind of physical and emotional trauma he has, might respond. There are no rules. In fact, I ask the same question and answer it differently in different fics. You can write it so that Eskel is angry inside. Or placid. Or just really horny. Or asexual. We never know his inner life. So have fun. Switch it up.
Popular fanon
Eskel is chubby, thicc, or has dad bod.
Eskel is dominant.
Eskel is a top.
Eskel has a big dick.
Eskel is hairy.
There are small dick, no dick, and sub Eskel fics. (all completely valid). But those I listed above are the popular ones with the fandom in general.
The dominant and big dick thing I THINK comes from the idea that sometimes it's the quiet, humble ones that have unexpected layers. People like subversion of stereotype. And as far as the dom thing, you want a dom who is extremely respectful of boundaries and kind. You want to be dicked down by someone who is a gentleman in the streets and filthy in the sheets.
As for his thiccness, my theory (I could be way off base) is that people like the idea that his big body, the one that is stigmatized and scares people, is actually soft, the way his heart is. The gentle giant. Also, we think he gives good hugs, and people associate good hugs with chubby people. (I hope so, seeing as I’m chubby). Also, people like to have at least one witcher that isn’t 2% body fat.
That’s where the hairy comes from too. People associate hairlessness with Hollywood.
However, lots of ethnicities (my particular native american ancestry in particular) are not hairy. So I also don’t like when people enforce that on fan artists and fic writers. You don’t have to be a waxed movie star to have little to no hair. Let people live. Let them envision him however they want.
These are just my theories. My guesses. I might be totally off base. Feel free to correct me on why you think Eskel is chubby or has a big dick.
What I think of the S2 trailer.
Ehhhh. Look. I’m willing to go in and enjoy the Eskel they’ve created.
But he will be a very new, very different Eskel. He will be unique to the show.
For one, the scars are light. They could be on the other side of his face, (we’ve only seen one) but the ones I can see are pretty light. He isn’t even close to ‘disfigured’.
He’s significantly younger (over ten years) than Henry, so their dynamic will be completely different. Geralt tells stories in the books of them running pranks together and being disciplined by Vesemir. They went through the trials together in the same year, so they went through the utter hell of all of their shared friends dying around them. So the age thing will automatically wipe that out. It will be an entirely different dynamic between them.
He is slim, and that’s ok. He doesn’t have to be tall or thicc. The book doesn’t say. But if he doesn't have a lot of scarring and his voice is normal, AND if he isn't large, there is nothing frightening at all about him. So that’s a huge part of who he is in the book that is gone.
It’s a different Eskel altogether.
Again, I’m going to watch, and I may love him for who he is. But he isn’t going to be book Eskel, and he isn’t going to be fanon Eskel. He’ll be a new Eskel.
I hope people love him and I will hype their art and read their fics. This is the nature of adaptations. They are all different.
But I’ll keep writing him the way I’m writing him, because that’s who I fell in love with. And hopefully the readers will stick around when they watch the show, then come find my fics with thicc dark haired, heavily scarred, brown Eskel.
This is not to be pissy about the show. I watched Henry’s Witchercon interview and I absolutely loved everything he had to say about the direction of Geralt in S2. But I’m one of those weirdos that latched onto a very minor side character, so here we are lmao.
And again, I may love this Eskel. But it will be a different Eskel.
Who I ship him with.
Happiness.
Basically, anyone who will respect his autonomy and consent and worship the ground he walks on. And since we do whatever we want in our fics with characters, that can be anyone. It’s all in how you write it.
I have written about 200k words of him with Jaskier. I have written him with Geralt. I have read him with Coen, Lambert, and Letho. Rawr suggested Milva once and I LOVE IT. I may write that. So as long as the person you're writing him with is adoring him, I’m in.
Of cux im gonna hafta paint this gorgeous skin! Been seeing all the wonderful art of this skin and got tempted so I made a quick one. >w<
This skin is holy moly fuckin beautiful… Thank you Blizz for making this happen. <333
The trees would whine and cry, begging for the body to be taken away. The Witch slowly recovering the pieces, leaving parts of his soul in return.
💖 Artist support 💖
