(aka, can we give Geralt a break please?)
Okay, Iâm going to preface this by saying that while I do love and adore Jaskier, I identify fairly heavily with Netflix!Geralt in a lot of ways, and tbh heâs probably my favorite character in any version of the media. If you hate him, this probably isnât the blog for you, but I say this so that if I seem biased in his favor over Jaskierâs, or if this post seems excessively Jaskier-critical, you know where Iâm coming from.
(I have also not yet seen much of s2, so this will have absolutely no references to anything shown in s2.)
So, without further ado, letâs talk about the Mountain Scene, and why my main reaction to it is âoh my god please give every single person here a hug, a blanket, and like three years of therapyâ.
One: Jaskier and Boundaries
Over the course of the show, Jaskier, extremely consistently, ignores Geraltâs boundaries.
That sounds harsh, but⊠he really kind of does. There are multiple scenes where Geralt will request that Jaskier leave him alone (the scene in the Posada tavern in ep. 2, getting punched in ep. 2, the scene in the Cintran tavern in ep.4, âI just want some damn peaceâ in ep. 5) and then Jaskier does not.Â
I would ABSOLUTELY NOT say that this is to toxic levels (and considering Geraltâs self-isolating tendencies is probably good for him), but taken at face value, thereâs a very consistent pattern of Jaskier not leaving Geralt alone when he requests to be left alone, or indicates that he doesnât want to be talked to. And Geraltâs not subtle about it, either, âfuck offâ is about as blunt as it gets.
So you get to the mountain scene, and Geralt is, once again, attempting to indicate that he wishes to be left alone, and Jaskier, again, ignores that.
This isnât to say heâs unsympathetic, or self-centered, but itâs a kind of sympathy that goes counter to what Geralt needs in that moment.
One and a Half: Geralt and Boundaries
Another relevant thing here is that Geralt has a history that has essentially worn away at his ability to enforce those boundaries. Heâs clearly willing and able to state them, and state them loudly, but if you look at the scene after Renfriâs death in ep.1 where he just lets them stone him, or the âthen Iâll dieâ phrase from ep.3, it reads to me as someone whoâs been told his entire life that his wants and needs and even life donât matter. Which is, you know, not great. And the thing about this is that itâs pretty common if that someone pushes at your boundaries one time too many, you end up pushing back.
Two: Sympathy and Flippancy
Okay, now hereâs where we get into what that means.Â
Jaskier is shown, over the course of the show, to care about Geralt a great deal, a care that Geralt is only shown as reciprocating in certain moments. That being said, Jaskierâs approach to Geraltâs problems is very⊠shall we say, careless. What comes to mind the most is their first scene in ep.5, where Geralt is clearly upset about being unable to sleep and Jaskier, while he has an initial moment of clear and obvious concern, as soon as itâs revealed that itâs insomnia he starts laughing. Many of his interactions with Geralt have a self-centered undertone to them â his lamenting about the Countess de Stael, his pushing about Ciri despite Geraltâs lack of interest in talking about it, even the âwe could go to the coastâ speech can read as him expressing his own wants, rather than trying to figure out Geraltâs.
And, specifically, when you get to the mountain scene, thatâs there too.
After all of the bullshit that Geraltâs been through in the past twenty-four hours (see below), Jaskier approaches him in what is clearly an attempt to cheer him up or reassure him, but in a way that doesnât make his care or his intentions particularly obvious. Specifically, itâs a lighthearted âwhoof, what a dayââ, which..
If I were in Geraltâs position, again, and someone approached me during an emotional breakdown with that, I would absolutely read it as flippant and uncaring. (Which is NOT to say that it is, or that thatâs what Jaskier intended, just that thatâs what it sounded like.)
Three: Dragon Huntingâs Stressful as Fuck
The thing I see the most ignored about the dragon hunt is that Geralt has been through just ridiculous amounts of shit in under 24 hours. Letâs sum up, shall we?
1.) First, there are a bunch of background stressors, like the fact that the Reavers could just decide to kill them all in their sleep, and Geralt clearly doesnât quite trust Yenneferâs presence in the group (see his conversation with Borch).
2.) Borch, Tea, and Vea die in front of him because he couldnât pull them back up. Like, I know weâre all accustomed to stuff like that because of movies and TV but that is going to fuck you up pretty bad.
3.) Geralt, an extremely guarded person, gets very vulnerable with Yennefer in her tent, which is definitely going to leave him with some Stuff to Process
4.) Borch, Tea, and Vea are alive and Borch is a dragon oh and also now they have to fight and kill a bunch of Reavers too, which would be a shock to anyoneâs system
5.) Borch reveals one of Geraltâs secrets without any prior warning and without his consent.
6.) Yennefer breaks up with him, explosively, and he retreats from everyone else.
For Geralt, who presumably has a lot of trouble dealing with emotions and interpersonal stuff, thatâs just. thatâs so much emotional turmoil all in one go. Heâs probably absolutely reeling from everything and attempting to process on his own.
So letâs sum all this up.
Jaskier has a history of ignoring Geraltâs requests for space, no matter how blunt of forward, and a history of not appearing to care about Geraltâs problems or issues, in favor of his own ideas or his own problems. Whether or not the latter is true, from Geraltâs perspective itâs definitely there.
Geraltâs been through just so much shit and is most likely in a really fragile emotional state when Jaskier approaches him, and approaches him in a way where itâs easy to miss the fact that heâs trying to help.
So he snaps. Which is a perfectly understandable reaction to the situation.
Like. It is absolutely the wrong reaction to the situation. Jaskier doesnât deserve what Geralt said for what heâs done.Â
But given everything thatâs gone down, how consistently Jaskier ignores Geraltâs requests for space, how much stress Geraltâs been under, I can totally see whatâs going through Geraltâs head, and itâs, essentially, âoh my god I just want to be left alone to deal GO AWAYâ and then you get the mountain scene.
Itâs not a good scene, and no one is perfectly flawless, but itâs a very very human scene. And from my place behind the fourth wall where no living human was actually hurt and I can see all sides equally, I just want to give everyone there a hug and some therapy.
(Disclaimer: I do actually love Jaskier and I love him very much, but I did want to address all of the shit he does in canon thatâs never mentioned in the fandom)
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