#witcher meta

THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THE RUMORS ARE TRUE.

first of all i love that you came to me with this lets discuss all things radovid hehe

they actually never referred to him as the 5th, and for the stern it would be too soon, it just makes sense with him being the successor of vizimir and hedwig. and actually i kinda want him to be the stern, but not like in the games, obviously.

i just think the radovid the stern that is hinted in the books is a great trope. the kid that was thrown into all of this, having had nothing to do with any of it, having been told his father had been murdered over his noble actions (he says in LotL that his father was killed for working towards a northern alliance) and watching his mother, crippled by grief, be disrespected and manipulated, and feeling himself disrespected in a state where he can do nothing about it because he is a kid. being stern is not a bad thing, he just takes back the power that the council had taken from his family and distributed among themselves. for example, the great might sound like a nice title but is usually given to rulers who conquered a lot of land which usually goes hand in hand with some things that arent exactly nice. i feel like being called the stern is perfectly fine.

the tragedy is really what the games made of it. i don‘t have a source for it but i have read several times that netflix does not own the rights for plot made up by CDPR and it makes sense with what we have seen up to now.

so we should assume they stick to the two paragraphs in the books and i can in fact see it unfold, so it would make sense to me that he is actually Radovid V the Stern, mixed with book!Hedwig.

during vizimir’s rule, rather than being a kid and disrespected for that, he is behaving like a child. after vizimir‘s assassination, he is crippled by grief over vizimir and his own freedom. at the same time, he gets angry over disrespect against himself and his family (when meve tells him he will meet the same fate as his foolish brother, he really didnt like that). when he decides to take things in his own hands he demands respect from his general. he tells dijkstra he will not be his fool. it‘s basically the „i‘m no little child anymore“ moment one would assume in book canon, adapted to this plot.

in the books, after vizimir‘s assassination, dijkstra goes on a „witch hunt“ for nilfgaardian spies. this is, while it is not explained whatsoever to needlessly give the evil vibe and probably cater to the game stans, what is happening in the scene in tretogor. like im not gonna start a debate on death sentences lol but given the context, purging the kingdom of enemy forces taking it apart from within is not exactly an irrationally evil thing to do. (one could compare it to the books, where foltest has people hanged for expressing war weariness, which is objectively worse, and still considered normal king behavior.) we also don’t see any targeting of elves in particular, which as far as i remember is happening in the books. ive said it before but compared to what dijkstra is doing in the books, that little interrogation was surprisingly tame, plus, seeing how surprised eva was that radovid showed up, that looks more like eva‘s doing. and again, considering eva‘s ties to philippa that we can only assume are still existing, that would be another aspect of the mixture with book!hedwig, who was manipulated by philippa. (we can also assume that philippa had her hands in getting rid of dijkstra, so there‘s some endgame there)

so, while i understand why people theorize otherwise, especially given the game brainrot, i do think he is in fact the stern, but that‘s not a bad thing (i like it actually). because when radovid takes things into his own hands, he doesn‘t turn, as some people say.

Rewatching that scene where Philippa and Dijkstra have the mages from the Conclave all lined up, what occurs to me is how much of a goddamn unsatisfactory bitch of a situation that was.

Philippa saw what was coming. She saw it before anyone else did. And she tried everything in her considerable power to stop it. But she needed Tissaia's help to do it.

I get the impression that Phillipa and Tissaia were close beyond close before Vilgefortz came along. The dynamo whose magnetism powered the entire Continent. But where Philippa saw it, saw Vilgefortz for what he was and what he was capable of... Tissaia didn't. I feel like Philippa tried to reach her first as confidant, lover, friend, ally. She spoke in the language of the heart.

But when Tissaia wouldn't listen to heartfelt warnings from the heart, Philippa had the courage to break up with her. However you read their relationship, that is a huge statement for her to make. She spoke in the language of dignity, of not allowing even the person who is closest to her to shake her from what she knows is the truth.

When that didn't work, Philppa tried one last time. She manipulated Redania into such a position of power and influence that she had the power to collar the great and the powerful of the entire northern Continent. (What an incredible flex btw, RESPECT.) She was screaming now, speaking to Tissaia in the language of Power.

And even in this moment, look at her character design!!! This woman's heart is so open to Tissaia. Her hair is heart-shaped, the popped collar mimicking the theme, ruffles spilling out just like her love and her yearning to be heard. (Screams in theater kid.)

(via A. Sapkowski Q&A on Reddit [link])

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Not that he's likely to ever expand on the process, but now I'm very interested to how each witcher arrives at their medallion's shape.

Do they pick either by preference or resonation? Is it complete RNG pull from this bucket??

Book canon gives us wolf, cat, eagle/gryphon, and viper; however, if they're all individual, oho this opens up a lot of fun possibilities doesn't it?

With other people he just acts reserved and keeps himself in check. He never let's them know how he's feeling.

This way people can "protect themselves from witchers, and banish them". And since the witcher can't taste the honey, the human is safe from retaliation! The monster hunter won't know who harmed them!

Winters are so loud he can't hear himself think. But his heart is full as he watches his pups and their antics. He's delighted to feed them, and listen to their adventures of the year.

Spring is filled with pride tinged with sorrow at his boys going down the path. He's both proud of his heros, and is heartbroken at seeing them go.

Summers are lonely. The keep is too quiet, the hallways echo with his own footsteps. He spends the summer gardening, hunting, and gathering. He's determined to feed his boys if when they come home