It's MothersDay. There isn't enough appreciation for this relationship in most media, which is quite sad to be honest.
Posted May 8, 2022, 10:59 AM UTC
6.8K212
Tbh when i first played the game, i didn't romance anyone (note that i never read the books or played the previous two games - i just picked up the witcher 3 on sale) and then half way through the game i saw yen's interactions with ciri and decided to romance yen, because damn she's a good mom. Then i learned i'd already missed the chance to romance yen, so i restarted the game.
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Ah, a person of culture lol
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Then i learned i'd already missed the chance to romance yen, so i restarted the game.
This is the only reasonable course of action, bravo 🙂 👏
Edit: Added smiley emoji to convey tone.
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Tbh it's been 3 days and i'm still not sure which tone you're trying to convey. I'm gonna assume sarcasm?
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Haha no, but I suppose I can see why you still might think so. To clarify, I was being sincere.
I do appreciate you taking a bit of time to think it over though, and then asking, rather than just jumping straight to a conclusion. Rare thing on the internet. Cheers 🙂
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Netflix should do the same and reload the save from right before season 2 🤣
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Maybe from season 1 just in case. And fire the show director
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What happened to me was that I thought that I had romanced yen but when I ended i realized that i did not actually do the quest to lock yens romance, so instead of going to ng+ just restarted the game normally
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Yen loves her ugly duck
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"I love you, my daughter"
Fucking breaks me every time
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“Now run.”
Just me, doubled over in tears reading the books
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I read the audio books, listen, whatever. And holy fuck LotL is so fucking rough.
I am a fairly emotional human who can't control her tears, so, obviously, that book wrecks me.
And bro, Essie Daven. Little Eye and her blue pearl and I'm like WTF Andrej!
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Same. Yen and Geralt did and would do anything to keep their daughter safe. Ciri is their greatest pride and joy, their greatest worry, and the duty of their lives to care for and raise her so she can protect herself alone when the time comes. Yen did more for her adopted daughter than her own mother did for her.
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I mean, her biological mother didn't really have much chance.
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I just love how Sapkowski manages to move us with so many flawed, usually immoral, questionable characters. Yen is the most prolific of them
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Well flawed characters are much more relatable to us than perfect untouchable people so it’s normal we are more emotionally attracted to them.
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in recent times he gets so much shit for characters and stories being sexist, rapey, racist, and so on.
And while I agree that he is personally not the best fella I think a book should be viewed independently of the author.
those dirty aspects make it realistic, and give it tension.
I also think d&d is making a huge mistake in not enforcing flaws in character creation as much as other RPGs. Flaws are basically half of any character.
Ignoring flaws is more dystopic than a world full of rape and death. Always reminds me of stuff like Fahrenheit 451, brave new world, 1984 and so on where people are forced to ignore reality and try to only see the good things.
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Honestly, I've found Sapkowski really refreshing in terms of female fantasy characters. I'd been burned so many times by sexism in fantasy books (male- and female-authored), but I was honestly taken aback by how equally empowered and flawed the female characters are relative to the males.
Yen is written as no less powerful or intelligent or sympathetic than Geralt. I cried over their broken relationship in Sword of Destiny because, god, I've been there, and I honestly hadn't seen a damaged romance that was so emotionally fair to both characters. And I had my guard up when Essi Daven is introduced as 18 and hot but she saw past Geralt's bullshit. It was a lame ending for her but she had impressive scenes. I really felt that all the female characters were as distinct as the males.
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It's interesting that Ciri is called "ugly one" even when she's anything/everything but ugly.
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She's supposed to be less attractive in the books
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Books are poor descriptors of attractiveness, Sapkowsky especially so.
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Not really true or stated anywhere in any book.
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Does her being called ugly duck by yennifer not count as being stated in the book?
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I really didn't know that. (I haven't read the books either.)
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she was kinda ugly on the picture of her as a kid.
she could have become a beauty later and Yen being Yen just stuck with the mean nickname
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My favourite thing is early on in the books whenever Ciri is talking about Yen she's just like 'omg, so hot' and then a book or two later people are surprised that she isn't straight.
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True, though that only reminds me that when Yen first looked at Ciri she saw competition for Geralt which was... uncomfortable to read about considering Ciri was about 14 at that time.
One of my favourite moments in the book was when Geralt and Yen chase down Ciri in the woods and she can't decide which one to run to, so she pretends to faint in the middle of the road. :))) I freakin' loved Ciri for that!
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Which book was that part in?
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The books in general have a much lower view of appropriate age of consent, or however you'd phrase it. Little Eye, the very young female bard is like barely eighteen? I swear she's even younger. And a very young college student Dandelion sends to Geralt with a message he sleeps with. I chalk it up to the times (books were made in the 80s or so?) and Sapkowski being kind of a pervert. And maybe Poland is perverts back then. It's not great.
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yea i think shani was like 17 when geralt and her first did the deed lol
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As a polish person, those old polish men are just straight up effing pervs. Growing up, the age of consent they (old men) were ok with was 15/16 year old high school girls 🤮🤮🤮 numerous times, me and my friends were told (at 11, 12) that there is nothing better than 15 year old pussy and they cant wait till we are of age. Bless my mama for getting me out of that shit hole
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10000000% I found this to be SO UNCOMFORTABLE
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Thanks for the explanation but I know. I read the books, was just asking from which book is that specific part? I phrased it poorly.
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Book 2
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Yen's first meeting with Ciri was in Blood of Elves. The chase through the woods is just before Thanedd, so I think it's in Time of Contempt.
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Ooh I see. Appreciate it!
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The world of Witcher is pretty medieval, so 14 would typically be seen as the age where most girls would start being courted for marriage.
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I'm aware that it's historically accurate given the short lifespans and customs of medieval times. Still... uncomfortable, but I love the books regardless.
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Oh… honey…
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Those are some serious mental gymnastics, my dude
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Why does this comment have so many upvotes?
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It's amazing how far some people can shove themselves into a closet and not realize it...
I do believe that you have a VAST preference towards men. Perhaps you're completely heteroromantic as well.
But what you just described definitely sounds like there is some sexual pull towards women. Nothing wrong with that.
We could give you the benefit of the doubt and say "oh she meant aesthetic attraction " but that's not the kind of attraction where... the words "She's hot" would get used sooooo....
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I look at women way in the ‘oh she’s hot’ way probably more than I look at men and I’m straight
I'm straight
Uh, no you aren't.
Actual 100% straight women experience zero "she's hot" feelings about other women.
Women have a much higher biological pull to form sisterhood/prides/troops (see lionesses, elephant troops, etc) as they have evolved in most species, including humans, to be left without males for long periods of time as they reared young and tended to homesteads.
This is completely false, dear. It sounds nice because you grew up being taught a wildly oversimplified version of hunter-gatherer society in grade school, but you will not find any actual credible academic sources for anything like a claim of this nature. Female-female sexual actions have also been observed in both lionesses and elephants (and many, many other species).
He was able to appeal to men with a bit of sexual fantasy yet also write in a way that a woman wouldn’t even see it that way.
Women who fuck women don't do it for guys, sweetheart. You watch too much porn if you think that's the case. The married lesbians at home alone with eachother aren't trying to give visual pleasure to the frat boy down the street.
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Congratulations, you made it big on r/sapphoandherfriend
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Truly and unbelievably based take
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Yeah haha remember how "not straight" she is because she got raped by a woman in a band of outlaws and had to stay in a relationship with her based on the need for protection haha what a wholesome totally bisexual thing and then in the aftermath she was only interested in men for the remainder of her story woah how queer of her
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It is kinda upsetting how many people read Mistle and Ciri’s relationship as wholesome consenting lesbians. It was anything but. Like, Mistle straight up preys on Ciri right after stopping another boy from raping her. Right after.
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Yeah, there's actually a thread in one of the lgbt subs right now specifically about this comment thread and they're claiming ciri is "clearly not straight" and calling her relationship that started off with a rape "not the healthiest but still valid"
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What are you talking about? She was just a teen who was admiring their beauty while being jealous. Imagine thinking that their relation would end up as mother and daughter if Ciri actually thought that she’s hot, ugghh
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In this scene, she calls her daughter in polish dub which was for some reason cut from translation
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I think in every language except English she says my daughter
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One up for lilac and gooseberries
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Wtf are you talking about? There's a ton of it
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The Ciri & Yen relationship, in particular. I don’t think you understood the context of this post.
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There is tonnes of it on pornhub
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God dammit 😂
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Take my free award and leave
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I'm here to help. Thank me for my service.
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No I got it.
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No, sadly it's not. Almost everybody talks about Geralt and Ciri, but barely anyone talks about Yennefer and Ciri.
For instance Ciri never called Geralt "father" in the books, but she did call Yen "mother". In the games it is the opposite.
In the community Ciri is not rarely called "of Rivia", even though she wanted to be called "of Vengerberg" in the books.
I don't want to say one relation is more important than the other, but Ciri and Yen's relationship is heavily undermined in any media but the books, which is truly a shame.
Go to any official witcher account, be it instagram or twitter or w/e, nobody even mentioned it today, which is just sad.
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I feel like it's constantly talked about on here so it never seems unnoticed or forgotten about.
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Yes there is litteraly commercials everywhere, and every store makes sure to remind you to buy stuff for your mother. It is nothing but a disgusting commercial stunt.
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How come "disgusting"?
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Agree OP... they had such a special bond in the (canon) books. Amazing how one little girl could change the course of two broken people and lead them to find love and create a family unit they never knew they so desperately wanted.
(And so sad that NF and LH completely f*cked up this series that could have been so grand had they just stuck by the books).
** Sidebar: Happy Mother's day to all you moms that make life special.
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Y'all remember that time when yen wanted to kill ciri to get her magic back?!?!
Great mother/daughter relationship!!!!
/s
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The moment >! They killed Eskel !< was an indication of where they were going with the Netflix show.
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The moment >! Yen was de-powered again !< was where I knew this wasn't going to be a good time, but my partner lost it at >! Eskel's characterization !<
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People seem to be forgetting that at that point in the show she didn't even know Ciri, like af all. She had just met her. Why would she be protective and maternal to a child she didn't even know yet.
Eventually she gets to know Ciri and changes her mind, deciding to be a protector, growing as a person and getting her magic back in the process. That shows growth and change.
If she had just done the right thing from the start it would be boring.
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I’ve watched to much porn for this to be wholesome
I’m gonna go outside
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touch grass my friend and live with no regrets. it’s a beautiful day.
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There isn't enough appreciation for it since their relationship was butchered in the games and show.
The book one is the true best.
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The Witcher 3 does a bad job displaying the mother daughter relationship between them imo.
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Yeah because she don’t call her daughter, besides, Yen is no where near books Yen. In the books, Yen was really good especially in the later parts.
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Team Roach, attack!!!
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I chose to romance with yen because if this scene. Yen could be a lot of thing to Geralt, but she tremendously love Ciri. So is Geralt.
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We all know that Yen broke Mother's code when she didn't teach Ciri how to do makeup properly
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What the show did to their relationship was a travesty
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Whatthe showdid to their relationshipwas a travesty
FTFY :P I am reading the books again at the moment, and pretending the show does not exist.
Just like I pretend Game of Thrones was an excellent 5 year series, and there were only three Star Wars movies.
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Lmao fair
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As I said before, even if they didn’t write it poorly, the cast are no where near the ages required to be sold on that relation. She was literally 12 and Yen was 92 when they met
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Jak dzień matki jest 26 maja
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Amerykanie być jak
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It's Mothers' Day? Wasn't that 25. 3.?
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Today is Mother's Day in the US...And, of course, Americans tend to forget that other countries exist.
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Today is Mother’s Day in the Netherlands and in Brazil as well. Not only in the USA
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Australia too
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And in some countries like Mexico is until May 10. Mother's and Father's Day should be an international day.
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Lol, we're not saying that you can't have a different Mother's Day, nothing is stopping you from making posts on that day.
It's a bit ridiculous to imply that celebrating a Holidary differently is exclusionary or prideful.
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It's not that we forget, we just don't understand why all of you Future Americans aren't patriotic and do things the American way.
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Today is also Mother’s Day in Germany, which is where OP seems to be from.
But, of course, Redditors tend to forget that not only Americans post on Reddit.
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It’s Mother’s Day in plenty of other countries as well. Did you forget those counties existed?
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Tbh Ciri and Pavetta are even worse off 😔
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Whadya mean? All the Rule 34 stuff implies there's alot of appreciation
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Lol!
Well played
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I know this is a nice wholesome post, but it just makes me mad as all I'm thinking is how they've butchered this relationship on the TV series. Take my angry upvote.
Edit: This comment was salty AF, so I just wanted to add that YES this is a beautiful mother-daughter relationship, and I loved seeing this odd family come together. As a woman navigating infertility, I know for sure that canon Yennefer would gladly give her magic mojo away for a chance to be a mother.
They didn’t just butcher their relationship. They completely destroyed it even before they had a chance to form a relationship. No way Ciri is going to call mother a woman who nearly sold her to some creepy demon. And no way Geralt is going to forgive her for that.
A clever and skilled writer could create something unique and complicated out of it, but it’s Netflix we are talking about… I’m sure this whole thing will be forgotten by the second episode in the new season.
I think Ciri and Yennefer will get to that point in the show, and it's going to be lazy and awful.
Oh, absolutely. They need to make them a family because it’s the main point, but they failed at the very beginning. This “family” is a joke and it can only get worse and worse.
Yes. If they are even a tiny bit truthful to book Geralt, he will resent Yennefer forever. And Ciri would resent her too. What a 'lovely' family.
I only played the 3rd game since reading the book was very boring and it never seamed like the "family" part was the point it felt to me like there was definitely a father daughter thing with geralt and Ciri but yen always sounded like she was ready to dip at any time and only there because she was cursed.
Well despite butchering Geralt/Ciri's relationship they still didn't bother giving them meaningful moments to develop a father/daughter bond. The show just has Geralt say she's something more and Ciri say he's like a father to her even though they had very little in the way of actual development together.
So fucking frustrating. I can get changing the plot but butchering the characters and the potential of their different bonds is a pisstake.
🎵 If anyone needs me, I'll be at the bar. 🎵
It's gonna be one of those "we kind of forgot" about previous episodes.
I remember once upon a time, netflix had good writers. Hell sometimes, albeit increasingly rarely, they still do.
Yep, if they find someone who actually cares about the quality
That's what gets me, the pieces were there for them to do it justice. Had they given the relationship between the two time to breathe, with Yen slowly showing through her actions and eventually words that she has come to care for this kid, then when we as the audience think she ready to sell her to the Demon it turns out she changed her mind a while back, and instead planned to simply get rid of her since she's a threat to Ciri. Then the cherry on top would be her choosing to leave Ciri be as she feels like shit about it, but Ciri chooses to have her stick around. This would have made the whole thing work, emphasizing the theme the show was trying to with her character while also setting up their relationships from the books, but no we get some next nonsense that doesn't even make full sense. They really should have just kept things accurate if they didn't know what they were doing.
The writers just really doubled down simultaneously on Ciri's maturity and Yennifer's immaturity. And it doesn't help that the actresses were already way too close in age.
🎵 Remember to toss a coin if you can! 🎵
Ah, I take it you've not read the books? Because Yen is a stuck up bitch, a grade a egoistic sociopath manipulating everything and everyone to get what she wants. She doesn't care for Geralt, she uses him when it's convinient and drops him the next second. Same for this "daughter" relationship, it's good in the games but in the books it's clear Ciri is merely another doll for Yen to play family with, and disregard the second folly dares to have feelings or own thoughts and ideas.
Yen is abusive, her trestement of Geralt is classic psychological abuse by a woman against a man. Its textbook example of it. She spends more time talking about his flaws and trashing him then she ever does saying something good, and if she (by a chance) says something positive it's always good for her. Her "man is handsome" but he's never smart, intelligent or right. He's a tool, nothing more.
Game Yen is a toned down and more emotionally functional character, book Yen is a walking red flag.
silently downvotes
These were my same thoughts almost exactly when I saw this post. I don’t know if they even CAN unfuck the Netflix show to make such a reunion meaningful at this point.
But cannon yen and ciri makes this moment so special.
Series Yen is scuffed and could never see her take a plausible mother's hip role. I see her nor as a thirteen year old.
Now ingame Yen is childish as well, but not like series Yen
🎵 If anyone needs me, I'll be at the bar. 🎵
Bad bot
Even if it was not butchered by the writing, Yen actress is way too young for us to buy it. Ever since Ciri stopped bleaching her eyebrows, her whole story became so much different from the books. The difference for a viewer between a helpless child of 10 and a helpless 18 yo girl is much different, including her wit expectation.
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I think they miscast Ciri too. It had to be a younger actress.
I like both actresses but I agree with you, not sure they are right for the parts.
Tbh if Ciri can bleach her brows again, I’d be sold, but rn the whole thing is weird. Do you imagine how much more sympathetic we’d be if Freya was 11-12 when she met Geralt? I’d probably sob hard just because of how helpless this orphan is, and that would’ve continued with Yen. But now it feels like they’re classmates with Yen being the goofy one at fucking 90+ of age lol
Yes, she had to be a little kid. It would make her character development and even the father-daughter relationship with Geralt to be much more relatable.
I also HATE that the 'something more' scene was completely wiped from the show. That was one of the most brilliant things ever written and it got replaced with Who's Yennefer?
BARF
Maybe they'll go full team Triss.
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She's with Yen for roughly a year with non stop training and teachings about everything
I'm so sorry you are struggling with infertility. I hope one day you get the chance to be a mother. However, not all women are absolutely desperate to become a mother. Some don't even want to be a mother at all, like me. In the TV series, I had hope that they were actually going to show a woman who was happy with her life choices and wasn't controlled by the desperation to have a child. Just a friendly reminder that not all women want children and we aren't all controlled by an imaginary baby clock. I wouldn't mind some representation every once in a while.
I totally get that, the problem is that book Yennefer and even game Yennefer DOES want to be a mother. It's very out of character for her to sell Ciri, for any reason.
I always got the impression that she just wanted to have the choice back, another form of gaining power. I think the show is putting more emphasis on the having of a physical child, and less on the fact that the power to make that decision herself was lost to her. That was always my interpretation of Yenn though, and I get that people will always see characters differently. I just always align Yenn’s key motivations as defiance, power, and control.
This is how I interpreted it, too. She wants it all. She wants to control everything she possibly can and wants opportunities, no matter what they are.
Yeah, I guess I'm just not a stickler for TV/movies exactly following books like most people on this sub are. I don't have a problem with different interpretations. It's all art, after all.
Netflix is adapting books. The books that have characters with specific desires and motivations. Yennefer’s desire to become a mother is one of the main points of her character arc as a whole. If a writer disregards this, then a writer isn’t writing Yennefer, they’re writing somebody else.
If you want to see a character that doesn’t want to become a mother because not all women are programmed that way (and Yennefer isn’t, it would be ridiculous to think she is), I’m sure there are plenty of them.