Ep. 13 — "A Little Sacrifice" with Luisa (Part 2)
Luisa from Germany joins Alyssa from GoodMorhen to discuss the second half of “A Little Sacrifice” from Andrzej Sapkowski’s Sword of Destiny. Very important bits include: the complex and often confused nature of Geralt’s trademark romances, the vastness of the Continent, and the controversial end of the story, all set to the soundtrack of our heavy, intermittent sighs that convey our responses to literally everything—just like Henry Cavill’s signature Hmm…’s.
This episode is available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.
iN THIS EPISODE
[00:00] Cold Open
[00:00] Introduction
[00:00] Discussion
[00:00] “Tidings from Toussaint”
[00:00] Discussion
[00:00] Outro & Credits
Relevant Links
Link
Transcript
COld open
LUISA: Oh. And I'm very interested into fanfiction endings about the relationship with Agloval and Sh’eenaz. So, please send them to me if you have any. I'd love to read them.
Introduction
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]
ALYSSA: Welcome to Breakfast in Beauclair, a global Witcher Podcast. My name is Alyssa from GoodMorhen, and I’ll be your host as you, I, and our international hanza accompany Geralt of Rivia and his destiny, Cirilla of Cintra, across The Continent.
[Season 1 Announcement]
We’re quickly coming to the end of the short story compilations, The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny. These 15 episodes covering the short stories will comprise the Season 1 of Breakfast in Beauclair, the last of which will release on Thursday, February 27th right before my birthday on February 29th! Following Episode 15, the podcast will take a seasonal break before kicking off Season 2 of the podcast, which will cover Season 1 of Netflix’s The Witcher.
During this break, I’ll be doing pre-production, recording, and editing for Seasons 2 and 3 of the podcast, compiling and shipping new patron merchandise, which I’m so excited to reveal to you all, and giving myself some breathing room to build a more sustainable production schedule and create the best possible show for you all.
I’ll have more details for you about the break in the intro of Episode 15 — “Something More”.
[Patron Announcements]
We have new friends in the company to introduce in this episode! I’m excited to introduce Morgan, Jennidy Mundilovitch, and Tanner the Fisstech dealer who have become our newest patrons of the show.
Shout out to Bee Haven of the Edge of the World, Jacob Meeks, and Sebastian von Novigrad who join our producer-level patrons: Luis of Kovir, The Owner of The Churlish Porpoise, Coolguyhenry, Arix the Godling, Katie (The Redhead of Toussaint), Jacob, Mahakam Elder Joe, Julie, Sylvia of Skellige, Will P., Brandon, Jamison, Ayvo of Gulet, and Eric, The Bear of Beauclair.
As Producer-level patrons, they receive an introduction shoutout, a spot on the website, monthly bonus content, stickers, a tee-shirt, an exclusive Producer gift, and producer credits in each and every episode.
If you’d like to explore becoming a patron of the show, head over to patreon.com/breakfastinbeauclair.
[Episode Details]
As for this episode, Luisa returns to discuss the second half of “A Little Sacrifice” from Andrzej Sapkowski’s Sword of Destiny. Join us as we discuss the complex and often confused nature of Geralt’s trademark romances, the vastness of the Continent, and the controversial end of the story, all set to the soundtrack of our heavy, intermittent sighs that convey our responses to literally everything—just like Henry Cavill’s Hmm…’s and Fuck’s.
In “Tidings from Toussaint,” Lars from WitcherFlix shares a ton of exciting news about Season 2 of Netflix’s The Witcher.
After the episode, head over to r/thehanza and jump into our community discussion of Episodes 12 and 13, which cover “A Little Sacrifice” with your thoughts, reactions to the episode, or bring up new themes and ideas that we didn’t cover.
Without further ado, let’s get to this episode’s short story, “A Little Sacrifice.”
Discussion
[Breakfast in Beauclair stinger by MojoFilter Media]
ALYSSA: Hey everyone! Welcome back from the mid-episode break. When we left off with “A Little Sacrifice”, Duke Agloval of Bremervoord had contracted the witcher to help him with his mermaid lover, Sh’eenaz. Meanwhile, Geralt struggles with his confused feelings toward the young troubadour, Essi Daven.
ALYSSA: In Part V, Little Eye comes to the harbor where Geralt has been searching for a sailor to take him to the Dragon’s Fangs with no avail. As they converse, Geralt realizes that he may be able to reach the Dragon’s Fangs on his own at low tide. Sh’eenaz swims to the shore asking for Agloval. Geralt speaks with her and both the mermaid and witcher are surprised when Essi can also speak the mermaid’s language. Geralt takes the opportunity to ask Sh’eenaz what killed the pearl divers, and she angrily tells him not to pursue the threat, that the threat “is not for you.” Dun, dun, dun!
LUISA: It's so dramatic. It's so dramatic.
ALYSSA: We open with Little Eye coming to this harbor where Geralt is kind of on his own. At this point, no sailor wants to take him out there, because they're all terrified of whatever mysterious thing is happening. I think, despite, you know, our conversation of the last part and Geralt kind of having conflicting feelings about what to do with Essi, there is a note. Geralt unexpectedly found that the poet’s company did not bother him at all. It was not wearisome or intrusive. Apart from that, he hoped that a calm and matter-of-fact conversation would erase the results of that stupid kiss on the terrace. The fact that Essi had come to the jetty filled him with the hope that she did not bear him a grudge. He was content. Haaa.
LUISA: Haaa. After this night, Geralt has also probably realized that it was maybe not a good idea to kiss her. Do you know this weird feeling when, when you did something stupid at a party? And you see these people the day after and you're like, “Aaah. All right. Yeah.”
ALYSSA: It's like, “Aaah, young love.” No, but he's so old and can be so—
LUISA: Childish? Yeah.
ALYSSA: —so inept in like relationships and romance. And the fact that this 18-year-old woman, he is a little, like, flustered and regretful or embarrassed about his actions the previous night. Ooh, he’s so silly.
LUISA: But I think that it's also a cool characterization for Essi, that she's not, like, making, making a fuss about it, or is not, like, holding a grudge or anything. But she's just, like, another day, another situation and not, yeah, mean or anything. Yeah. She's lovely.
ALYSSA: Another day, another awkward experience with someone who's super old, but doesn't know how to handle a relationship. That's fine.
LUISA: Awww.
ALYSSA: Oh, man. But we do learn a lot from Essi here. Similarly, to Dandelion, you know, she's a troubadour. She seems to be well-traveled, quite knowledgeable, and scholarly. There's something that she says that causes Geralt to just say, “‘Get at the monster,’” he muttered, repeating her words. “If only I knew how. I know very little about sea monsters.” Essi response, “Interesting. From what I know, there are many more monsters in the sea than there are on land, both in terms of number and variety of species. It would seem, thus, that the sea ought to be a great opportunity for witchers to show what they can do.” “Well, it isn’t.” Geralt replies. And she says, “‘Why?” And he says, “The expansion of people onto the sea hasn’t lasted very long. Witchers were needed long ago, on the land, during the first phase of colonization. We aren’t cut out to fight sea-dwelling creatures, although you are right, the sea is full of all sorts of aggressive filth. But our witcher abilities are insufficient against sea monsters. Those creatures are either too big for us, or are too well armored, or are too sure in their element. Or all three.”
LUISA: That's another cool thing about the universe that it's so logical. I never thought about, like, the sea, and Geralt, and monsters of the sea. And, so, it’s so logical that they are, because of the illusion and both that monsters can because of the conjunction of spheres, right?
ALYSSA: I believe so. Although I guess we don't know what could have happened in the sea. Like, it doesn't seem that anything would predate the conjunction of spheres. But we have no idea. Like, this is the first time that we're even hearing about this idea.
LUISA: Yeah. But I still think it's so cool that there are monsters of the sea.
ALYSSA: Yeah. I think it says a lot more about the world or about, at least, the possibility of it. Even what we know about the worlds from what Sapkowski tells us, it's huge.
LUISA: Yes.
ALYSSA: The possibilities that are on land. So, even the thought that there's more in the sea – and this is the idea that Essi proposes. Like, it just doubles or triples the size of what's possible in the Witcher universe. And there's so much that Geralt doesn't know or the narrator doesn't know, or the other characters don't know that we, as readers, just can't even fathom or, or understand.
LUISA: Kind of opens a new dimension, kind of.
ALYSSA: Speaking of the conjunction of the spheres—
LUISA: Oh, no.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
LUISA: Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's true. Yeah.
ALYSSA: But, as you were saying, it does open a new dimension.
LUISA: I just find it interesting that Essi is quiet. She knows a lot about the sea monsters, right?
ALYSSA: Mhmm.
LUISA: And I remember I listened to your – I think it was the pilot podcast.
ALYSSA: Okay.
LUISA: Where you, you were talking to Ed. Is that right?
ALYSSA: Yeah. That's the pilot.
LUISA: Yeah. But, yeah. And she was, like, pointing out that, actually, Geralt doesn't even do another work. And I thought it was funny that, in this chapter, it again felt like Essi was doing a lot of the investigation thing. I was like, “Mhmm. Maybe it was right.”
ALYSSA: So, Geralt has since upgraded. So, now, it's not Roach, a horse.
LUISA: At least, now, he's getting ready to get information from a human being. That's progress. Yeah. You can – you can tell that.
ALYSSA: I think she mentioned that she herself grew up by the sea. She brings a lot more information to Geralt and to the reader in her analysis of the world as a whole.
LUISA: I think that's quite cool that she knows all those things because it characterizes that she's not just a dumb, little 18-year-old girl, that she can, like, talk to a witcher about monster things. At some point, I think she even knows more, right? And that's a cool thing to her character that she knows a lot about that and can help him.
ALYSSA: Yeah. She definitely holds her own as we'll see against Geralt and against some of the other characters throughout the short story. Aaah. She's so good. She's so good.
LUISA: I love her. Gosh.
ALYSSA: So, at this point, Essi and Geralt have talked about the sea monsters. Agloval arrives, and he's very upset. He was like, “I waited for three hours for this mermaid. And she didn't show up. What the hell did you do yesterday? Dah dah dah dah dah dah. This is all your fault. Agloval is the duke who is now dealing with, one; his mermaid lover is gone, and, two, he's got this whole attack on the locals in his town and on the economy as a result.
LUISA: Not a good day for him.
ALYSSA: No, it is – but we see he has kind of the same brashness toward the people in this town as he did with Geralt. And he says, “The pearl divers who died had wives and children. When hunger afflicts the remaining ones, they will put to sea again. Pearl, sponge and oyster divers, lobster fishers, fishermen; all of them. Now they are afraid, but hunger will overcome their fear. They will go to sea. But will they return? What do you say to that, Geralt? Miss Daven? I’d be interested to hear the ballad which we’ll sing of that. A ballad about a witcher standing idly on the shore looking at the blood-spattered decks of boats and weeping children.”
LUISA: What's this thing with Agloval and, and hunger? It seems like hunger is always a superweapon.
ALYSSA: I know.
LUISA: Like, something is not going how he wants it. Hunger. How we will handle? Always hunger.
ALYSSA: He's not wrong in that it's definitely a motivator for people in order to, like, go back to their livelihood. And that it's a very basic human need that people have to fulfill in order to just like not die.
LUISA: When I talk with myself, I can – I can say, “Yes. I think hunger is my biggest motivation to stand up in the world and survive.”
ALYSSA: It's not very good juju that he's exploiting this as you were kind of alluding to. That this is something that he's leveraging in order to get an outcome that he wants, either from the Witcher or from, you know, the people in town.
LUISA: He's a ruler, right? Isn't the, like, responsibility of a ruler to prevent these people from hunger and stop them from – like, protect them from starving and all of that? Isn't that what he’s actually supposed to do? And he's doing quite the opposite, right?
ALYSSA: Yeah in theory. So, after Agloval leaves very upset, Geralt is then kind of doubled down on his reserve to take care of this problem. And Essi says, “It’s easy to make you take a risk. All it takes is a few words about women and children. And so much is said about how unfeeling you witchers are. Geralt, Agloval doesn’t give a hoot about women, children or the elderly. He wants the pearl fishing to begin again because he’s losing money every day they don’t come back with a catch. He’s taking you for a ride with those starving children, and you’re ready to risk your life.” “Essi,” Geralt interrupts. “I’m a witcher. It’s my trade to risk my life. Children have nothing to do with it.”
LUISA: I don't know what to think about this conversation because, at first, when Essi said that, I was like, “Yeah. Yeah. She's right. She's right.” But then I had to think. I don't think that Geralt wants to be really heroic or anything. Because I think, at one point, he describes the experience. When he was a young witcher, he saved a young lady who was traveling from bandits or anything, but she was not thankful at all. She was just screaming, because Geralt had, like, killed the bandits in a very brutal way. And I think that's kind of when he stopped like – when he became professional, maybe. And I'm not sure if Essi is right with that at this point.
ALYSSA: I think it's a combination of things. The conversation that you're referencing, I believe it's in The Voice of Reason, which we covered in Episode 7. At the time of recording, i's not out yet, but it's also been recorded. So, I think it's a conversation that he has with Iola in the one that he's monologuing to her. And I think that it comes between The Lesser Evil and A Question of Price if I'm remembering correctly. He becomes really, really jaded. And you kind of see his idealism as the young witcher just dissolved. But, in terms of the actual conversation here between Geralt and Essi, it's really interesting because we do hear a lot of the time that witchers, as she says here, are very unfeeling. And that's a common misconception and preconception in the Witcher universe about witchers. I don't know how much Geralt is putting on a front to Essi though. Yes, it's his job, but he does, you know, throughout the short stories, have a lot of empathy for other races, for helpless people. And you saw that in the idealism that you mentioned. And you continue to see that in the short stories, you know, no matter how much he kind of kicks up a fuss over, like, being a bit of a tough guy, we know that he's quite soft on the inside. So, she might not be completely wrong here in saying all of this.
LUISA: Yeah. You're probably right. It’s probably a combination. While I read the books, I remembered many times, Geralt – like, I think that he knows that he can't save the world. So, it’s not like, whenever someone is in danger, that he, like, jumps up and runs there and tries to save everyone. Yeah. It's definitely a combination of both. S, do you know this feeling when you know someone not that well, but you really like that person and you kind of think about them, like, you want them to be? Because sometimes I feel like Essi is making Geralt way more heroic, yeah, how she wants.
ALYSSA: Mhmm.
LUISA: She's a poet, right? Maybe she has, sometimes, a bit bizarre picture of Geralt. Not bizarre, but maybe she's a bit, like, into all these feelings.
ALYSSA: You're probably right that she's romanticizing him a little bit or that she's got, like, as he would say, like, rose-colored glasses on when she looks at him. Because of her poet nature, it seems that she sees directly toward his humanity and his human nature and the complexities of his, like, morality or internal struggles. It could potentially be that it's kind of, like, packaged and pre-boxed, as you said, like, in a way that glazes over some complex parts of him maybe.
LUISA: Yeah, but I really like the contrast. So, I feel like she's portraying all the emotional and romantic things. And, at this point Geralt is, like, acting, like, he's very logical and just professional. And I think they kind of portray both to extremes, but actually it's somewhere in the middle, probably.
ALYSSA: It's an interesting dynamic. And I wonder how much of it is their age too. Like, to talk about that, again, she might be well-traveled. But I think she does say somewhere that she doesn't have as much experience with love, but she writes about it quite a lot. And I might be jumping ahead a bit. You know, she's very young. I don't think she's experienced love in such a profound way. Meanwhile, Geralt had superficial love or superficial exploits. He's also had like love, which just completely shook him. The level of experience and the disparity of it might also contribute to how they view each other.
LUISA: Yeah, probably.
ALYSSA: The Part continues, and Sh’eenaz swims to the shore asking for Agloval. And he's already left. They tell her this, and she was like, “He couldn't even wait? What's three hours?” Meanwhile, we already knew that he was angry about her, not showing up after three hours. Geralt talks to her. It turns out that Essi Daven understands and can speak the elder speech much better than Geralt can.
LUISA: Well, that’s very hard, right? I think almost everyone can except for Agloval maybe.
ALYSSA: So, this is where we get a little bit more context that I alluded to earlier about the elder speech and the version that the mermaids use. So, it says, “The Witcher was no less astonished than the mermaid, although he might have guessed that the educated and well-read Essi would know the Elder Speech better than him. It was the language of the elves, a euphonious version of which was used by mermaids, sea witches, and nereids. It also ought to have been clear to him that the melodiousness and complicated intonation pattern of the mermaids’ speech, which for him was a handicap, made it easier for Little Eye.” At some point in the section, Sh’eenaz tells Geralt that he and the poet make a lovely couple. To which the witcher responds, “She is not my beloved. We barely know each other.”
LUISA: Ouch.
ALYSSA: And this is where Essi cuts in and responds to the Witcher and to the mermaid in her speech, “Oh, it's this fortunate, unfortunate event.” The mermaid says, “You guys would be a lovely couple. Is she your beloved?” And Geralt says, “She's not my beloved. We barely know each other.” And they're speaking in a different language. And then Geralt essentially gets caught saying that because Essi knows it. And it just becomes such a sore point for both him and Essi.
LUISA: Oh.
ALYSSA: Oh, it's super awkward. Yeah.
LUISA: It's super, super awkward. This whole kind of dialogue. I think, in my opinion, it's like being awkward when Sh’eenaz came in and said that like, “You would be a lovely couple.” I don't know. I really don't like it when people are, like, trying to ship someone in front of you. Like, I don't mind when they are talking, like, when you're not there. Like, I think they'll make a cute couple, but it always brings you into the kind of this super awkward and uncomfortable situation. When someone's like, “Oh, I think you'll make a good couple.” And you're like, “No.” And it's even – it’s even worse if the other person is with you at that point. So, it's super awkward. Yes.
ALYSSA: Yeah. It is very presumptuous on Sh’eenaz’ part. To be fair, they did think they were having a private conversation. She's just making an observation or what she probably believes is an observation. At the close of the chapter, Geralt says, “I didn’t know,” clearing his throat, “that you knew the Elder Speech so well, Essi.” And she bites back at him saying, “You couldn’t have known,” she said with a distinct bitterness in her voice. “After all… after all, you barely know me.” Oh, which is like Geralt said to Sh’eenaz. He’s like, “I barely know her.” Aaah. And it's, it's super, super awkward and unfortunate and uncomfortable.
LUISA: He needs another day, another situation. It’s too much. It's awkward. Awkward. Awkward.
ALYSSA: Yeah. He's constantly kind of, like, putting his foot in his mouth the whole chapter. Just bumbling completely in front of this 18-year-olds woman. Yep. So, on that note—
LUISA: This is the first time that Essi really likes Geralt. She's so bitter about this.
ALYSSA: And we'll definitely unpack, I think, a lot more of that explicitly, actually, when they finally have a conversation about it. But, before we learn about this mysterious threat lurking in the sea, aah, and how their relationship unfolds after this really awkward moment, we're going to hand it over to Lars from WitcherFlix for recent news on the upcoming Netflix show. When we come back, Luisa and I will continue our discussion of “A Little Sacrifice.”
“Tidings from Toussaint”
[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by Bettina Campomanes]
LARS FROM WITCHERFLIX: Hey, it's Lars from Witcherflix and this is “Tidings from Toussaint.” There is a lot to report this week, so let's jump right into it.
Let's start with the biggest and most awesome piece of news from the last 2 weeks: Netflix has confirmed a new animated film set in the Witcher world which will be released in between Season 1 and 2. It is called "The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf" and will be brought to screen by showrunner Lauren Hissrich and Witcher writer Beau DeMayo as well as Studio Mir who are famous for the anime show "Legend of Korra". Regarding the plot of the new animated movie Netflix writes on Twitter: "The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf will take us back to a new threat facing the Continent." It's hard to say at this point what this means. The fact that the wolf is mentioned in the movie title could hint at the involvement of Geralt himself or some other witchers from the School of the Wolf and Kaer Morhen. We will see, but this news is awesome and will make the wait for season 2 feel a little bit less cruel.
The officials at Netflix must be very pleased with the Witcher main show anyway: Netflix chairman and CEO Reed Hastings said on the company's Q4 earnings press release: "(The popularity of The Witcher) ended the year on a high note of a massive new franchise that we'll develop season after season". If you ask me this is more than only an indication that Netflix already has plans for The Witcher that go well beyond the already confirmed Season 2!
In several interviews Lauren Hissrich has also talked about the future of the Witcher and what we can expect in season 2. In an interview with Vulture, she talked about the timelines of Season 1 and what we can expect in Season 2. She said, “All three characters [Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer] are on the same timeline now. That’s where we ended season one. That’s absolutely where we will pick up in season two. The stories will be told in a much more linear fashion. They won’t all be one story. It’s not like all three are together and happy all the time. But, I do want to employ some different ways to look at time series-wide. I think that there is a lot that we couldn’t fit into season one. There are different short stories that I would love to highlight and focus on. We may end up doing those in the future, via flashback, for instance. But no, we won’t have things happening across 100 years at the same time anymore.” In the Vulture interview, Lauren also talked about two removed scenes which had to be cut from the show: "We had a lovely scene in Episode 103 where Yennefer, Fringilla, and Sabrina all discussed how they felt about their transformations, and looking back, I wish we could have kept it. It was such a gorgeous example of female friendship, and it also would have served to ground Fringilla a bit more before she joined Nilfgaard. We also filmed a scene of Yen meeting a very young Triss, who’d just arrived at Aretuza; it served to show how far Yennefer had come in her years at Aretuza, and created a sense of mentorship between these two sorceresses. Looking ahead at some stories unfolding in season two, I wish we still had those scenes! But I’m proud of what we accomplished in the time we had.”
Thanks to RedanianIntelligence we even know more about the shooting locations for Season 2. The Witcher production crew has built a giant town set at Arborfield Studios near London. They intend to use Arborfield as its Witcher base for many years to come. The filming for Season 2 should last for 5 months and is about to start very soon. Unfortunately we don't know yet what town this set could be. We know that in Season 2 the show will adapt the books Blood of Elves or even parts of Time of Contempt, the first two books in the main saga. This is why it's possible the town set could be Oxenfurt or even Gors Velen—or, of course, both. Moreover, the Witcher will shoot scenes on the Isle of Skye in Scotland and in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This wouldn't be the first time for the Witcher in Slovakia: in Season 1 the fortresses of Komarom and Komarno at the Hungarian-Slovakian border were used for various scenes in Cintra.
Let's continue with the biggest rumor of the last 2 weeks. According to RedanianIntelligence, actor Kristofer Hivju could have been cast for season 2 of The Witcher. Is known as Tormund Giantsbane in "Game of Thrones". This report is based on recent social media follows and members of the Witcher production crew tagging him on Witcher related posts. This is quite the rumor. But who could Kristofer play? RedanianIntelligence speculates based on his physique and vibe he could be a perfect Nivellen from the short story "A Grain of Truth" which will almost certainly be adapted in season 2. Of course his looks could also suggest that Kristofer will play a slightly older version of Crach an Craite or another warrior from Skellige.
RedanianIntelligence has also learned that another well-known actor has been auditioning for a role on the Witcher show. They found an audition tape on Vimeo of Hobbit and Outlander actor Graham McTavish auditioning for Sigismund Dijkstra, the Redanian spy master. In his audition script Graham McTavish talks as a character named "David" (which is definitely a code name for "Dijkstra") having a conversation with King Vizimir of Redania. In other news the show has added two new directors for Season 2: The first one is Edward Bazalgette, an experienced director who has worked on shows such as The Last Kingdom, Doctor Who and Versailles. The second director is Sarah O’Gorman, known for working on British TV shows like No Offence, Death in Paradise and Jamestown.
And last but not least: On January 24th the official soundtrack for the show was finally released. It was written by Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli, consists of 55 tracks and is more than 3 hours long. If you haven't already, make sure to give it a listen. It's available on all the important music streaming sites and it's simply awesome!
Anyway guys, that's it for me. We'll talk again in the next episode of Breakfast in Beauclair. Until then, thanks again for listening and good luck on the path!
[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by Bettina Campomanes]
Discussion
ALYSSA: Hey everyone! Welcome back from the break. I’m here with Luisa discussing “A Little Sacrifice” from Andrzej Sapkowski’s Sword of Destiny. When we left off, Geralt and Dandelion had come to Bremervoord, a town near the sea, where the local Duke Agloval had contracted the witcher to help him communicate with his mermaid lover, Sh’eenaz. It’s discovered that the locals have a mysterious imminent threat in the sea, which Geralt is now tasked with eliminating. Meanwhile, through Dandelion, Geralt met another troubadour, Essi Daven, and the pair are innately drawn to each other. In Part VI, Dandelion and Geralt return to the shore at low tide, the witcher attempting to reach the Dragons Fangs. Dandelion has come along for ballad material and to look for a present for Essi’s birthday. They discover sculpted steps at the edge of the sea shelf. While attempting to get Dandelion out of the water, a bell rings. The water explodes and armored monsters emerge from the sea. Geralt fights them. The tide turns and many more monsters arrive before they’re sent away by Sh’eenaz. This is the huge action sequence of the chapter, Part VI. Dandelion and Geralt tried to go to the Dragons Fangs at low tide. And Geralt says they're obviously for work to investigate what's going on here. Dandelion, as he does, comes along for two reasons. He says he's there for ballad material, which I think, as you mentioned earlier, like, he just kind of follows Geralt around and uses him as his bodyguard. And then he's, also, there to look for a present for Essi's birthday.
LUISA: That's so cute.
ALYSSA: Yeah, which is very nice. They're kind of wandering around. And it's funny because there's all sorts of little sea creatures. And then Geralt kind of nudges Dandelion along before he could see like a corpse kind of floating around in the sea and just kind of protects him from a whole bunch of, like, stuff.
LUISA: I would really like – you mentioned before that they're planning to do an animated version of The Witcher show. I think this would be so cool in a comic version or anything.
ALYSSA: So, we actually don't know, at least not in October, the contents of what that animated show might be. I think Redanian Intelligence said something about side characters or something not necessarily having to do with the main story, which I guess, if it's an animated almost supplemental to this series between live-action seasons, then maybe it makes sense. There's like a funny little illustration that I've come across and I'm kind of holding on to for GoodMorhen or maybe I'll, I'll use it for the artwork for this episode. It's of someone that looks very much like Dandelion, poking around, like, looking for seashells or something on the beach. And I was like, “This is weirdly specific and useful.”
LUISA: I would really like to see that.
ALYSSA: But it was, like, a little too perfect.
LUISA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: So, they're wandering around on the beach. Dandelion is kind of doing something nonsensical or not really useful for Geralt. There's this really beautiful excerpt where they're kind of wandering along on this low shelf that's in the ocean. And it says, "The jagged, cracked shelf suddenly ended in a level, sharp edge, which fell downwards at an acute angle. Immense, angular, regular blocks of white marble, overgrown with seaweed, molluscs and sea anemones swaying in the water like flowers in the breeze, could clearly be seen beneath the surface of the water." Geralt and Dandelion come across something that is clearly not natural in the environment. So, they – there are these huge steps leading down into the depths of the ocean. Dandelion kind of insists on going down them, despite Geralt’s pleas that he just stop. Dandelion just falls into the water. “I tripped on that shit,” Dandelion said, gasping for air, recovering himself and lifting a large, flat mollusc dripping water from its cobalt blue shell, overgrown with threads of algae. “There’s loads of these on the steps. It’s a pretty color, don’t you think? Grab it and shove it into your bag; mine’s already full.” So, Dandelion has like filled his bag with crap from around the ocean. So, he sticks this cobalt blue shell into Geralt’s. But, while attempting to get Dandelion out of the water, a bell rings. Like, from somewhere in the depths of the ocean, they hear this bell. And this sounds super freaking creepy.
LUISA: I would like to know how that sounds. How the bell sounds? And, and I love how Dandelion changes Geralt’s mission from sea and kill monsters to help me – help me collect some shells.
ALYSSA: I know it's very, like, simple. And Dandelion definitely tagging along for, like, base reason, almost. Like, I'm looking for a birthday present. Let me tag on to, like, your death mission.
LUISA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: It's, like, definitely inappropriate. And he becomes much more of a hindrance than a help. One of them says, "Did you hear that? What was it?” Geralt heard it. The sound was coming from below, from under the water. Dull and deep, although simultaneously faint, soft, brief, broken off. The sound of a bell. [...] The sound repeated. Considerably closer.
LUISA: Ooh.
ALYSSA: The Witcher stopped – I know.
LUISA: It was a trombone.
ALYSSA: The Witcher stopped paying attention to Dandelion’s voice and concentrated on his other senses. He sensed. He sensed something. I don't think they're adopting this for the Netflix series. I don't think they've cast anyone as Essi Daven, but, oh, my god, if I was watching this in a cinematic format, I would be watching from between my fingers. And I know the music, and the visuals are gonna get to me. And it's just gonna be a jump scare.
LUISA: Aaah.
ALYSSA: 100 percent.
LUISA: Yeah, definitely. It's so horrible. It's so scary with like – and he’s sensing like, “What? What is his sense? What? What is he sensing?” He's like, “He sensed something.” I'm like, “Oh, just tell me. I'm dying. I'm dying. Just tell me what did he sense?” It's like a good halloween chapter actually.
ALYSSA: Which is appropriate for us at this time.
LUISA: Yeah. This year, I will go as a – as a monster from the sea.
ALYSSA: And that's absolutely terrifying.
LUISA: Yes.
ALYSSA: So, the water explodes just very suddenly, and armored monsters emerge from the sea. And Geralt begins to fight them off.
LUISA: I have a question.
ALYSSA: Yeah. Let's get into it.
LUISA: How does the armor look in your – is it described?
ALYSSA: It is described in the English translation. This is already like a little bit into the fight, but it says
[Reading] "Another creature emerged from the water, the curved sword whistling in its rough green hands. The Witcher thrust his back against the edge of the shellfish-covered rock, assumed a fighting position, but the fish-eyed creature did not approach. It was the same height as Geralt. The water also reached to its waist, but the impressively puffed-up comb on its head and its dilated gills gave the impression of greater size. The grimace distorting the broad maw armed with teeth was deceptively similar to a cruel smile. The creature, paying no attention to the two twitching bodies floating in the red water, raised its sword, gripping the long hilt without a crossguard in both hands. Puffing up its comb and gills, even more, it deftly spun the blade in the air. Geralt heard the light blade hiss and whirr. The creature took a pace forward, sending a wave towards the Witcher. Geralt took a swing and whirled his sword in response. And also took a step, taking up the challenge. He looked into the monster’s eyes, but they were the iridescent eyes of a fish, eyes with spherical irises, glistening coldly and metallically. Eyes which neither expressed nor betrayed anything. Nothing that might warn of an attack."
ALYSSA: So, that's kind of the description that we get in that they're humanoid and that they're sea creatures. It's escaping my mind the movie that came out quite recently, The Shape of Water, I think, it might have been with a woman who develops a relationship with a sea monster. So, Sally Hawkins plays Eliza and then Doug Jones plays that Sea Monster. How he looks in The Shape of Water is how I kind of imagined these monsters looking.
ALYSSA: Oh, wait. Let me google it. The Shape – The Shape of the Water?
ALYSSA: The Shape of Water. Yeah. It came out, I think, last year or maybe two years ago. No, it came out in 2017. So, two years ago. Yeah.
LUISA: You're right. Yeah. Oh, that looked wild. Whoa. Whoa. It's a bit like a drowner.
ALYSSA: A little bit, yeah. But this is like a romance movie. It's like an—
LUISA: What?
ALYSSA: —interspecies romance.
LUISA: No. All right.
ALYSSA: It's actually quite beautiful.
LUISA: Wow. I will watch that. At first, when I heard that they were sea monsters wearing armor, I was a bit frustrated, because I always like when it's logical here. And, at first, when I heard armor, I thought, like, armor that a knight would wear. We all know how that armor is done, right? You have to, like, forge hot steel or anything. And that's just not possible underwater. And, so, I thought, “Hmmm.” But I think it's more like made of shell, right? So, it's more natural.
ALYSSA: Yeah, I think so. But I think that they are made of materials that would make sense. Although, I think the sword itself might be metal. So, it mentions it was wearing a bizarre helmet and something resembling a suit of armor made of tarnish copper. There is still metalworking here.
LUISA: Is that even possible underwater?
ALYSSA: I'm not sure. Maybe it's also found material.
LUISA: Yeah. Yeah.
ALYSSA: Or just like things that could be in the sea. Or maybe there is some way of like metalworking underwater.
LUISA: So, whoever just knows that, please tell me. I'm really interested.
ALYSSA: I mean I'm really curious too. There is like a detail here. It mentions that one of them has a curved sword, and that the curved sword doesn't have a crossguard. It seems like it would be able to slice through water, because of its shape and also the fact that it lacks, like, any sort of resistance like across guard. I found, like, a detail like that quite interesting.
LUISA: Definitely.
ALYSSA: As this fight goes on, we get a little bit of Geralt inner monologue. You know, despite everything that happens with Essi, we've kind of seen him throughout the chapter struggle with his relationship with Yen. And, in this life or death moment, he's thinking, you know, if I get out of this – he thought, “If I get out of this, I’ll ride to Yen in Vengerberg. And I’ll try again if I get out of this.”
LUISA: If you want to, you could take this as a kind of proof that he loves Yen over everything. Maybe, until this point, maybe he had tried to, like, forget her anything or maybe cope with the fact that he, like, won't be together with her. But maybe this near-death experience, I'm close to dying and I think about her. I have to try it again. It just breaks my heart.
ALYSSA: It's the kind of thing like who knows if he will or won't.
LUISA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: Like, if he actually will when everything settles down. But the fact that he even had this thought at all says a lot about what he values and what's important to him or who's important to him.
LUISA: Definitely. Yeah. I think they have much to discuss about that. The dry effect or wet effect in his situation, but a salty-wet effect.
ALYSSA: Geralt and Dandelion kind of had to cheat out of this. And Geralt is injured in this fight. Sh’eenaz arrived, like, on the back of a dolphin, like, with her boobs hanging out. That's, that's, like, the detail that we get. We're just like, despite, like, how injured Geralt is, we still hear about how perfect her breasts are and even more perfect on the back of this dolphin.
LUISA: Wait. Didn't – didn't the, the love from Nivellen also like I sat on the back of a dolphin. I don’t know. A sculptured dolphin.
ALYSSA: Yep, you're right. You're right. She did.
LUISA: Uh-huh. Weren’t she also naked or anything?
ALYSSA: Umm, she had a white dress on.
LUISA: Yeah, right.
ALYSSA: She was, like, super creepy. Yeah,
LUISA: I, I prefer Sh’eenaz on a dolphin, definitely.
ALYSSA: For sure. She sings to Geralt like, “I’ve held them back!” and then sounds a conch, “But not for long! Flee and return here no more, White Hair! The sea is not for you!” And he shouts back, “I know! I know! Thank you, Sh’eenaz!” By just grace and plot, they get out of the situation. Thanks to Sh’eenaz.
LUISA: Saving them the last second. I have this kind of Lord of the Rings feeling when the, the super huge eagles are coming always in the – in the very, very last moment. Yeah. It's really – what I really like about that is that Geralt is not escaping this because of his good fighting skills or anything. I think it makes those creatures more interesting that you can't really fight them.
ALYSSA: Mhmm.
LUISA: Geralt is an incredibly good fighter, and he can't defeat them. Makes them even more creepy and even more dangerous. Puts them on one level with the human species if you know what I mean.
ALYSSA: Yeah, for sure. They are an intelligent race definitely, especially because, as we've mentioned, they know crafting. And they're able to have their own weapons and armor and to organize as some sort of military unit. I'm also actually curious – and I haven't thought about this before at least on detail what the relationship might be like with different races in the sea. Like, if they have their own history and wars and battles in the way that we see race relations on land between, you know, the humans and nonhumans. Like elves, dwarves, dryads, et cetera. Or if they really have some sort of alliance. Sh’eenaz has mentioned she's able to hold them off, but, like, how do they communicate in a shared language? Or is it really just the conch, let's say? I don't know. We – and we have no idea what the concepts of the greater relations in terms of the underwater society might be.
LUISA: That's just what I am thinking about right now. It's really – it’s really interesting. And I liked it that Sapkowski is not covering everything. So, that you can still, like, make something up by your own. I think that's quite cool.
ALYSSA: Yeah. The opportunity for imagination is really nice.
LUISA: Yeah, definitely.
ALYSSA: Like, when you – when you have holes and you just got to fill them in yourself. In Part VII, we get a private moment between Essi and Geralt as she dresses his wounds in the attic room. She confesses her love for the witcher and he mentally grapples with his overwhelming feelings for Yennefer. We covered the fight very quickly, but this, this excerpt between, umm, you know, Essi and Geralt, it's so dense in the conversation that they have. Essi is fixing up Geralt bandages after like their hasty just covering of his arm on the beach. Essi asked them, like, what is all this stinking crap that's, like, around the house? Like, Drouhard's wife is very upset that, like, all this stuff is everywhere. And, so, it turns out Dandelion spent the afternoon trying to open up all these mollusks to look for like a pearl or present for Essi. And all of them stank. And they originally thought about making soup, but it was so bad that they abandoned the idea. But Dandelion has gone through his whole bag of crap, and there was nothing. You know, Essi finds the cobalt blue shell that's in Geralt's bag. And Geralt and Dandelion see that she's having it, and they forgot about it. And the mollusk was slightly open and clearly reeked. And Dandelion says, "It's a present. It’s your birthday tomorrow, isn’t it, Poppet? Well, that’s a present for you.” Umm. And she's like, “This?” And Dandelion says, “Pretty, isn’t it? It’s from Geralt. He chose it for you. Oh, is that the time? Bye.”
LUISA: He’s so sneaky.
ALYSSA: Yeah. And he's just kind of trying to get out of something that might be a little bad. The actual line here says, “Little Eye was quiet for a moment after he had gone. The witcher looked at the stinking shellfish and felt ashamed. Of Dandelion and of himself.” Oh, again, like, with him being so awkward about this whole relationship with her as he says, “Did you remember my birthday? Really?" Geralt is again very embarrassed and tries to take it back. And she says, “No. It really is very pretty. I'll keep it. It only needs a cleaning." And she goes to open it. And something clattered on the floor and rolled away. Geralt widened his pupils and saw what it was long before Essi. And it says, “It was a pearl. An exquisitely iridescent and shimmering pearl of faintly blue color, as big as a swollen pea.” Geralt – like, after they realize what it is, Geralt says, "It's yours. Dandelion, though he plays the fool, really did remember your birthday. He really wanted to please you. He talked about it, talked aloud about it. Well, fate heard him and did what had to be done.” “And you, Geralt?” “Me?” “Did you… also want to please me? That pearl is so beautiful… must be hugely valuable—don’t you regret it?” Geralt says, “I’m pleased you like it. And if I regret anything, it’s that there was only one. And that…that I haven’t known you as long as Dandelion, long enough to be able to know and remember your birthday. To be able to give you presents and please you. To be able to call you Poppet.” Oooh.
LUISA: So, this is kind of like a huge friend-zoning, right?
ALYSSA: It’s—
LUISA: So, actually what he's – what he's saying is I wish she would be my little sister, right? Or how do you understand that?
ALYSSA: Aah. I mean, for me, it almost comes across as Geralt being a little two-faced. I – I'm actually not sure if I read it as friend-zoning or not. It almost seems like he's giving Essi mixed signals, but, like, you know, deep down, he knows that Yennefer is the person for him. I think it could be interpreted in either way as, like, she might see it as love or he might say this as friendship, but it's definitely not being communicated well.
LUISA: Yeah, that's right. Especially when you're in this mindset that someone might love you, you know? And, oh, well, he gave her all. He kissed her. So, yeah, it's not quite fair, frankly. It's—
ALYSSA: I think it's definitely on both sides. This idea that you're definitely gonna look for evidence for what you, yourself, believe. If Essi loves him, if she wants to believe that he loves her too, or that they have a chance, she'll look for evidence that will prove that or that will support that.
LUISA: Definitely.
ALYSSA: You know, as we're talking about Essi and Geralt, despite Essi’s admittance of love for him, he's still constantly thinking about Yennefer. His inner monologue extends throughout the part, but I'll pull a few parts of it together into one. “Dammit,” he thought, “if Yennefer feels like I do now when she’s with me, I feel sorry for her. And I shall never be astonished again. I will never hate her again… Never again. Because perhaps Yennefer feels what I’m feeling now, feels a profound certainty that I ought to fulfill what is impossible to fulfill, even more impossible to fulfill than the relationship between Agloval and Sh’eenaz. Certainly that a little sacrifice isn’t enough here; you’d have to sacrifice everything, and there’d still be no way of knowing if that would be enough. No, I won’t continue to hate Yennefer for not being able and not wanting to give me more than a little sacrifice. Now I know that a little sacrifice is a hell of a lot.” You know, as they're talking Essi starts crying, “I don’t feel anything,” he noticed with horror, “nothing, not the smallest emotion. The fact that I will embrace her is a deliberate, measured response, not a spontaneous one. I’ll hug her, for I feel as though I ought to, not because I want to. I feel nothing. A little sacrifice,” he thought, “just a little sacrifice. For this will calm her, a hug, a kiss, calm caresses. She doesn’t want anything more. And even if she did, what of it? For a little sacrifice, a very little sacrifice, is beautiful and worth… were she to want more… it would calm her. A quiet, calm, gentle act of love. And I… Why, it doesn’t matter, because Essi smells of verbena, not lilac and gooseberry, doesn’t have cool, electrifying skin. Essi’s hair is not a black tornado of gleaming curls, Essi’s eyes are gorgeous, soft, warm, and cornflower blue; they don’t blase with a cold, unemotional, deep violet. Essi will fall asleep afterward, turn her head away, open her mouth slightly, Essi will not smile in triumph. For Essi… Essi is not Yennefer. And that is why I cannot. I cannot find that little sacrifice inside myself.”
LUISA: Whoa. I'm not sure if my interpretation was right. But, like, oh, well, on one hand, she doesn't want to be disappointing to her. He does not want her to be sad because of him. But, on the other hand, he knows that he can't act against his feelings. That it's impossible to, like, give love to someone if it feels untrue to you, if you know what I mean, right?
ALYSSA: Yeah.
LUISA: Aah, I can't wait until we get to the next chapter, because that confused me completely.
ALYSSA: I feel like the challenging thing here is that he's almost martyring himself.
LUISA: Martyring. What's martyring?
ALYSSA: Martyring is to, like, sacrifice yourself for a religious cause.
LUISA: Oh, yeah. I know what you mean.
ALYSSA: I'm using the word slightly differently here, but it's, like, it's not quite victimizing himself. He's saying – he's like, “Can I do what's necessary? What might be asked of me if I need to? Can I do it? No, I can't. Why? Because you know emotionally, it wouldn't be, you know, authentic or true to how I feel. But, you know, what does it matter? You know, it's just a little act for me that'll benefit her a lot. Should I just do it? I can't.” So, he's going back and forth.
LUISA: So, it would be unnatural if you would do those things to her, right? Without loving her.
ALYSSA: Yeah. For me, it's like this idea of, like, a little sacrifice is very interesting. Like, especially in the context of relationships. And this theme, you know, came up in the very beginning with Sh’eenaz telling Geralt that like, “You need a little sacrifice in order to make relationship work." You know, that's something that I personally would agree with. Like, in that, relationships are work between people. And then you see a very different interpretation of this theme of a little sacrifice here, where it's not just about making a relationship work. It's about like, “What service can I provide to someone right now? Or how much can I give of myself in order to do something that might benefit others or benefit the world at large?” And that's I think a question that we should be asking ourselves. Like, one, have an understanding of, like, how can we be of service to others, but also, where do our boundaries lie. But you were gonna say something else.
LUISA: Yes, I was thinking – I was thinking a bit closer about the word, sacrifice.
ALYSSA: Mhmm. Yeah.
LUISA: So, sacrificing is always a bit like giving something up. And I think that the most important thing is that it's important to make sacrifices, but you have to know, like, how much you can sacrifice without sacrificing yourself.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
LUISA: All right. So, so, you agree with me that the thing we get to know what Geralt is that he can't act against his feelings, because he does not love her. He can't. like, give her what, what she would like to have from him, because then he would act against his feelings and he would act against himself.
ALYSSA: I think you nailed that spot on.
LUISA: Good. Let's keep that in mind for other chapters, because I'm very confused about things that happened afterwards.
ALYSSA: Interesting. Okay.
LUISA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: At the end of the section, we've seen that there was a pearl that came out of that blue shell. They sat in the bed, Geralt and Essi. And they had this conversation. Essi suddenly says, “Geralt, perhaps…perhaps it would be like it was with that shell, with that curious gift? Perhaps we could find a pearl? Later? When some time has passed?” And it says, “I can see that pearl,” he said with effort, “set in silver, set in a little silver flower with intricate petals. I can see it around your neck, on a delicate silver chain, worn like I wear my medallion. That will be your talisman, Essi. A talisman, which will protect you from all evil.” “My talisman,” she repeated, lowering her head. “My pearl, which I shall set in silver, and from which I shall never part. My jewel, which I was given instead of… Can a talisman-like that bring me luck?” “Yes, Essi. Be sure of it.” “Can I stay here a little longer? With you?” “You may.” And they basically just sit in silence for a very long time until Dandelion walks in and Essi leaves without saying anything. I think this section brings out more explicitly a lot of the undertones that we see in Geralt’s internal struggle for morality and about Essi. She effectively asks like, “Well, if not now, what about later?” Or at least from my understanding of her – of her dialogue.
LUISA: Yeah, mine too.
ALYSSA: He completely ignores it and just goes back to the pearl. Like, you can wear it. Supposedly, it takes a lot out of him to even say that much and to try to gently nudge her aside.
LUISA: Yeah. And maybe he is answering a question, but more in a way, like, we can’t take this as a symbol for love that we may develop in the future. But I want you to have to wear it as a kind of memory, because what we had was – it wasn't fake. It was real. But, now, I've come to realize that I love another person.
ALYSSA: Mhmm. Yeah.
LUISA: We have to value those moments we had with each other even though it won't be forever, you know. But still only because we won't have a future together. It doesn't mean that what we had was like without value, you know.
ALYSSA: That's a really beautiful reading of it and also a very valid concept. I think there's a lot to be said about crossing paths with people, either once or repeatedly, but just being able to, I think, appreciate that specific moment in which you met. You shared an experience. And then that's it. There's something very beautiful about that as well. And I think from what you were saying, there's also that brief line where Essi says, "My jewel, which I was given instead of..." And then she just kind of trails off in the dialogue, but you can presume that it's – you know, it has something to do with either an intimate relationship or with, like, real emotional love in that this pearl is kind of her – I don't know – like consolation prize in that he can't give her everything. He can't give her what she wants, but he gives her this.
LUISA: Aah. It's too much for me.
ALYSSA: It's very challenging and very heartbreaking for sure.
LUISA: How should I ever be happy with my romance life when this is what I – what I know, you know? I also want – I also want to meet a guy who says, “Take this pearl as a sign of our love. No, I’m just kidding. It’s [Inaudible 50:16].
ALYSSA: As we continue through the chapter. In Part VIII, the group argue with Agloval about his threats to wage war against the intelligent races in the sea with force and blood. And, unexpectedly, Sh’eenaz arrives, with human legs and speaking in the common tongue thanks to the sea witch. This – I mean, listen, I've got my own thoughts on this and the relationship between Agloval and Sh’eenaz. We come into this part where the group is kind of arguing with Agloval. And they're telling him about what happened at the sea shelf where Geralt was fighting with these monsters. They're telling him, “This is what's there. Please don't pursue it. Leave the whole thing alone.” And Agloval says like, “No, it's our right. We're entitled to this. This is our livelihood. We're gonna take over the sea just like we took over the forest from the elves and the dryads.” His mentality is very much one of aggression, war, and colonization.
LUISA: So, what I think is very interesting about this little dialogue is that he's saying all those racist and fascist things. And, like, things like, “Oh, nothing can stop us. Nothing will ever stop us.” And then Sh’eenaz comes in, and he suddenly is, like, melting.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
LUISA: And I felt maybe, like – I feel like maybe it was a little bit, like, that only love can stop racism and all of that. Yeah. I found it was really deep. But, in general, to be honest, I would like to find out more about the mermaid and the lore, because, to me, it's not quite organic or logical why she loves him, you know. Because, well, he was willing to stick her into a barrel as a trophy. Why? So, I feel like maybe, maybe something was lost in the translation that we don't know everything. But, to me, it's a bit like, “Mhmm. I don't know. I don't know.” What do you think about that?
ALYSSA: This kind of whole thing made me really uncomfortable. And the reason why I say that is because, throughout the chapter, we've seen Agloval basically exploit people. And, as you said, we kind of see all of that just kind of melts away. But we don't really know the aftermath of that. Again, as they're arguing with Agloval, it kind of reaches a stalemate, where the group just decides that nothing's going to happen. They're not going to agree. Geralt says, “Well, I'm left with no choice but to say farewell.” And the Duke says:
[Reading] "You're mistaken. Something does remain. Permanent work for quite decent coin and lodgings. The position and ticket of skipper of my armed guard, which from now on will accompany the divers. It does not have to be forever, but only until your reputed intelligent race gains enough good sense to keep well away from my boats, to avoid them like the plague. What do you say?” “No, thank you. I decline. A job like that doesn’t suit me. I consider waging wars against other races idiocy. Perhaps it’s excellent sport for bored and jaded dukes, but not for me.”
ALYSSA: At the climax of the argument, Essi and Agloval go head to head. And this is kind of what we were talking about with how she can stand her own against a lot of the other major players in this – in this chapter despite her, you know, age and, like, stature. Essi says:
[Reading] “Farewell, duke. And, on parting accept some good advice. Advice which the Witcher ought to be giving you; but I don’t want him to stoop to giving you advice. So I’ll do it for him. The ocean is immense, Agloval. No one has explored what lies beyond the horizon if anything is there at all. The ocean is bigger than any wilderness, deep into which you have driven the elves. It is less accessible than any mountains of ravines where you had massacred werelynxes. And on the floor of the ocean dwells a race which uses weapons and knows the arcana of metalworking. Beware, Agloval. If archers begin to sail with the pearl divers, you will begin a war with something you don’t understand. What you mean to disturb may turn out to be a hornet’s nest. I advise you, leave them the sea, for the sea is not for you. You don’t know and will never know whither lead those steps, which go down to the bottom of the Dragons Fangs.”
ALYSSA: And Agloval responds calmly, it notes:
[Reading] “You are mistaken, Miss Daven. We shall learn whither lead those steps. Further, we shall descend those steps. We shall find out what is on that side of the ocean if there is anything there at all. And we shall draw from the ocean everything we can. And if not we, then our grandsons will do it, or our grandson’s grandsons. It’s just a matter of time. Yes, we shall do it, though the ocean will run red with blood. And you know it, Essi. O wise Essi, who writes the chronicles of humanity in your ballads. Life is not a ballad, O poor, little, gorgeous-eyed poet, lost among her fine words. Life is a battle. And we were taught that struggle by these witchers, whose worth is greater than ours. It was they who showed us the way, who paved the way for us. They strewed the path with the corpses of those who stood in the way of humans, and defended that world from us. We, Essi, are only continuing that battle. It is we, not your ballads, who create the chronicles of humanity. And we no longer need witchers, and now nothing will stop us. Nothing.”
ALYSSA: Essi replies, “Nothing, Agloval?” And he says “Nothing, Essi.” And the poet smiles and this is when, as you said, Sh’eenaz arrives. I mean it's very nice, but it's also a little weird. But, so, it says:
[Reading] A sudden noise, shouts and stamping, came from the anterooms. Pages and guards rushed into the chamber. They knelt or bowed by the door in two rows. Sh’eenaz stood in the doorway. [...] “Sh’eenaz…” Agloval groaned heartrendingly, moving towards her on his knees. “My love! My beloved… my only… And so, at last. At last, Sh’eenaz!” With a graceful movement, the mermaid proffered her hand to be kissed. “Indeed. Because I love you too, you loon. And what kind of love would it be if the one who loves were not capable of a little sacrifice?”
ALYSSA: It's a little strange to see him kind of turn on the dime like that and just go from being very angry. He's threatening war and colonization and then to just have this mermaid walk in on these gorgeous, you know, new legs from the switch. He just completely drops everything and just melts as you said.
LUISA: Yeah. She's not only a person he really loves, she's like a person from the sea. So, so, she is actually one of the – one of the people he wants to kill. So, I think it's like, “Mmm.”
ALYSSA: Yeah. I think, as you were kind of alluding to, you know, much earlier in our discussion, we have no idea what kind of happens to them after this. Like, if he just reverts to his old ways and if, now that they communicate, is suddenly disillusioned by him.
LUISA: Whoops.
ALYSSA: Like, we have no idea or maybe it's the kind of thing where, because they're from two different worlds, they're able to live in harmony because of their ability to communicate with others. And that it just thrives because you now have a couple that's in power that happens to bridge the gap between both worlds. We don't know.
LUISA: Yeah. This is how I interpreted it. That's like, yeah, as you said, I think I have nothing to add to that anymore. You nailed it. Much detail is left open to the reader. Aah, do you know those tasks in school where there was a – where there was a story, and it was like, “You’re tasked to end up – like, end the story in the way you think it will end or anything like that?”
ALYSSA: So, how would you end this one?
LUISA: I don't know. But I would love to hear other ideas. So, if anyone feels inspired to write an ending to this love relationship, please feel free and send it to me.
ALYSSA: It could either be the Disney version where everything is gravy and like everything is fine or you have like – if you're familiar with the musical, Into The Woods.
LUISA: Yeah. Into the woods, it's time to go. Du, dut, du, dut, du dut, du, dut.
ALYSSA: Act I closes and then just Act II is utter. Everyone is blind and—
LUISA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: —loses their cow. But we do, at least in this moment, get like a nice wrap up of their little story. And we have two more parts left of this chapter with just the two bards and the Witcher. In Part IX, the trio leave Bremervoord, Dandelion chattering incessantly and the poet and witcher struggling to connect as their time together runs out. Dandelion confronts the pair, saying that he’ll leave the two alone for the day and begs them to speak to each other and to just make love—and they do.
LUISA: Aah, do you want to read, read the scene first or will we speak now about it?
ALYSSA: Yeah. Yeah. I mean I can read, like, a couple of little bits about it. As he says:
[Reading] “Geralt… We have to do something about this, don’t we?”
She waited for his answer. For some words. For a little sacrifice. But the Witcher had nothing he could sacrifice and he knew it. He did not want to lie. And he truly did not have it in him, because he could not find the courage to cause her pain.
ALYSSA: So, that's, like, one – that's one little excerpt. And, again, it goes back to the struggle that Geralt has been having this whole chapter of what is he capable of giving her. And then Dandelion comes in as he does. And he says:
[Reading] “Of course you have to do something about it, it’s high time! I have no wish to watch what is going on between you any longer! What do you expect from him, Poppet? The impossible? And you, Geralt, what are you hoping for? That Little Eye will read your thoughts like… like the other one? And she will settle for that, and you will conveniently stay quiet, not having to explain, declare or deny anything? And not have to reveal yourself? How much time, how many facts do you both need, to understand? And when you’ll want to recall it in a few years, in your memories? I mean we have to part tomorrow, dammit!
“I’ve had enough, by the Gods, I’m up to here with you, up to here! Very well, listen: I’m going to break myself off a hazel rod and go fishing, and you will have some time to yourselves, you’ll be able to tell each other everything. Tell each other everything, try to understand each other. It is not as difficult as you think. And after that, by the Gods, do it. Do it with him, Poppet. Do it with her, Geralt, and be good to her. And then, you’ll either bloody get over it, or…”
Dandelion turned around rapidly and walked away, breaking reeds and cursing. He made a rod from a hazel branch and horsehair and fished until dusk fell.
After he had walked off, Geralt and Essi stood for a long time, leaning against a misshapen willow tree bent over the water. They stood, holding hands. Then the Witcher spoke, spoke softly for a long time, and Little Eye’s little eye was full of tears.
And then, by the Gods, they did it, she and he.
And everything was all right.
LUISA: What? I’m so frustrated with this solution, because, all the time, I was – I was feeling like Sapkowski was totally understanding the struggle of, like, when someone's loving you and you can't love the person back even though you want to let him know. And, if you would like to give them what they want, you would betray yourself.
ALYSSA: Mhmm.
LUISA: And then he has the solution is sex. What? Is that what I was supposed to do? Sleep with everyone I don't love? Like, what? I'm, I'm super not happy with that. How do you interpret it?
ALYSSA: Okay. Yes. When it's put that way, like, that's not a fix-all for every situation that's like this. I would not advocate for being like, “Nah. What’s sleeping with someone for a little sacrifice?” It's not a band-aid for sure. Sex is not a band-aid for every situation. It's not gonna fix it if you have underlying issues. Let's, like, blanket that over the rest of the conversation. But I think, when we look at this, at least from my interpretation and how I read it, it seems to be more of I think them kind of resolving their emotions, like, physically afterwards. I mean it does seem like Geralt finally gets out whatever he's been struggling with throughout this whole chapter. He finally tells her some sort of authentic truth. We don't really hear what that is, but we do know that he's finally able to talk explicitly for a long time maybe about what's going on with him internally, maybe the honest truth about Yennefer. We're not sure. They kind of get it out and get it on physically.
LUISA: But I think Geralt was in the – in the chapter before, Geralt is considering that, right? He’s like, “Maybe, maybe a kiss, maybe a hug, but I can't do that. That would be betrayal.” And, now, it was like the super solution – what? That's – Whoa. I know what you mean. But still, it confused me.
ALYSSA: He's definitely spent the whole chapter turning the idea over in his mind. Yeah. As you mentioned, like, in the other excerpt, he did say like, you know, “If she asked the stuff me, you know, would that be so bad? Can I do it? It's just a little – it's like this little act of it's gonna soothe her.” And then, at the time, he decides, “Well, she's not Yennefer. So, I can't.” But maybe, you know, at this end, where he's finally able to be honest with her.
LUISA: I'm missing the point – what changes his mind?
ALYSSA: I think that's a good point. Like, it seems very disconnected to, you know, how some of his views might have been earlier in the chapter. I, I think it might just come down to him finally getting out his emotions. And the thing is, for me, it's like I've been in situations that remind me of this. Having that, like, kind of physical reinforcement and not as a band-aid, not in that you're trying to fix something with physical love. It's almost like an affirmation or there's some sort of closure in the act that you can't say in words. I don't necessarily agree with that. But it has its time in place when it comes to things like this. And, ultimately, it's not the dynamic of the couple itself. Maybe it works for them. Maybe it wouldn't work for Yennefer and Geralt, but maybe it works for Essi and Geralt.
LUISA: Maybe they know that their time has come to an end, that they will part. Maybe they want to give it a valuing ending or anything like that. I don't know. Okay. I know what you mean. Yeah. In that way, it makes sense.
ALYSSA: Yeah. Like, I can empathize with them, at least, in a very – I think in a very sad, heartbreaking way.
LUISA: Mmm. Aaaah.
ALYSSA: I feel like there's a lot in both of us being like. Mmm.
LUISA: Yeah. It's like haaaa!
ALYSSA: It’s very, like, melancholy and very heavy stuff. After all of this, in Part X, the trio make dinner and camp on their last night together. The excerpt here, it's, it's very beautiful at least in a translation. It's probably even better in other translations, but it says:
[Reading] “It was a ceremonial supper. For they were going to part in the morning. In the morning each of them was going to go their own way; in search of something they already had. But they did not know they had it, they could not even imagine it. They could not imagine where the roads they were meant to set off on the next morning would lead. Each of them traveling separately.”
ALYSSA: This – just the phrasing of this, I'm not gonna give any spoilers. But there's some very interesting things, if you're familiar with the books and with Sapkowski writing, that you can just pull directly from this excerpt. So, it's like really – it's a really exciting thing to set us up for. Even though when you're reading out in your first read, it doesn't really seem like quite a lot. There's this huge excerpt that follows. Honestly, I'm probably just going to read it. But it's the whole end of the section and of the chapter as a whole, and it's incredibly, incredibly beautiful and other things as we'll see. So, after they eat:
[Reading] Then Little Eye, smelling of verbena, lay down beside him, squeezed in under his arm, wriggled her head onto his chest, sighed maybe once or twice, and fell peacefully asleep. The Witcher fell asleep, much, much later.
Dandelion, staring into the dying embers, sat much longer, alone, quietly strumming his lute.
It began with a few bars, from which an elegant, soothing melody emerged. The lyric suited the melody, and came into being simultaneously with it, the words blending into the music, becoming set in it like insects in translucent, golden lumps of amber.
The ballad told of a certain witcher and a certain poet. About how the witcher and the poet met on the seashore, among the crying of seagulls, and how they fell in love at first sight. About how beautiful and powerful was their love. About how nothing—not even death—was able to destroy that love and part them.
Dandelion knew that few would believe the story told by the ballad, but he was not concerned. He knew ballads were not written to be believed, but to move their audience.
Several years later, Dandelion could have changed the contents of the ballad and written about what had really occurred. He did not. For the true story would not have moved anyone. Who would have wanted to hear that the Witcher and Little Eye parted and never, ever, saw each other again? About how four years later Little Eye died of the smallpox during an epidemic raging in Vizima? About how he, Dandelion, had carried her out in his arms between corpses being cremated on funeral pyres and had buried her far from the city, in the forest, alone and peaceful, and, as she had asked, buried two things with her: her lute and her sky blue pearl. The pearl from which she was never parted.
No, Dandelion stuck with his first version. And he never sang it. Never. To no one.
Right before the dawn, while it was still dark, a hungry, vicious werewolf crept up to their camp but saw that it was Dandelion, so he listened for a moment and then went on his way.
LUISA: Aaah. When I was listening to that, I was sitting in the bathtub. And I turned my bubble bath, rose bath into a salt bath, if you know what I mean.
ALYSSA: Oh, no.
LUISA: I started crying so hard, because I fell it was so horrible. Aaah.
ALYSSA: It's, it's absolutely heartbreaking. Even like, for me, reading this out loud, it's very – like, it's very sad. When I was rereading the chapter to prepare all the way back in Part VII, when Essi and Geralt are, you know, dressing his wounds after he's already fought the sea creatures and she confessed is her love for him. And he's, you know, mentally busy with Yennefer. There's this paragraph here where, you know, Essi kind of monologuing at Geralt. It seems like she's kind of talking to fill the silence. She says, “Yes. I feel humiliated, humiliated by having confessed everything to you, disregarding the dignity that demands one suffers in silence. By the fact that my confession caused you embarrassment. I feel humiliated by the fact that you’re embarrassed. But I couldn’t have behaved any differently. I’m powerless. At your mercy, like someone who’s bedridden.” And this is the line that captured me based on having read the end of this section again. Halfway through the story, she says, “I’ve always been afraid of illness, of being weak, helpless, hopeless and alone. I’ve always been afraid of sickness, always believing it the worst thing that could befall me…” And in Part VII, she's specifically talking about this in that love is like a weakness. And love is like an illness that she's completely powerless against the overwhelming emotion and love that she's feeling for Geralt. But, when you reread the chapter and you hear this line from her and you learn her fate, that that's how she died. It was helpless, sick, alone. It's, it's incredibly heartbreaking.
LUISA: Yeah. It really – it makes it even more horrible. And it is very horrible and cruel that its health. It reminded me a bit of – I had this kind of shock Game of Thrones moment where suddenly characters I hold really dear were dying kind of like suddenly. I had to argue with a friend of mine. He felt like it was a bit tagged on at the end, and he found it unnecessarily horrible and horrible. And it frustrates him reader wise because you've had – like, so far, it was all about like valuing those little moments. He felt like it would have been enough if Sapkowski had only said maybe that they parted and never, never saw each other again. And that she married someone else and named her child, Geralt, or anything. Do you think it was necessary to make this ending so extreme? Like, do you think it will also have worked if it wasn't that?
ALYSSA: I do like the way that this ends as heartbreaking as it is. Is it, let's say, necessary? No. I think especially in the context of Dandelion’s framing of the story at the very end specifically the lines about like several years later. Dandelion could have changed the contents, but he didn't. Dandelion stuck with this first version. And he never sang it to anybody. I feel like there's a lot not just between Geralt and Essi stuff, but for Dandelion, who's really the connection between the two of them. I do find this incredibly beautiful and poetic how this chapter closed it out. But, yeah, I think I still think it's absolutely heartbreaking.
LUISA: Yeah. I'm with you there, because I, I really like how it ended as well. Maybe it sounds a little weird, but I really like to suffer with fictional characters.
ALYSSA: Mhmm. Okay.
LUISA: Maybe because there's not enough drama in my life or anything, but I really – I really enjoy it. Well, I – obviously, I don't enjoy it. But I feel like it's a good kind of sadness. I like to suffer. You know, what they suffer in that – in that situation. It gave me heartbreak, but, at the same time, it felt, aah, I don't know. It's hard to describe. I really see what you mean with, with Dandelion. There are not many serious things going on with Dandelion, right? It adds another level to this character. But you what? He’s also carrying his package. I’ve heard a saying in English. It's a saying in Germany that's, like, that everyone has to cope with their problems.
ALYSSA: In English, there's phrases like everyone has their own cross to bear.
LUISA: Yeah, definitely.
ALYSSA: Which is very religious. Yeah.
LUISA: It makes Dandelion a bit more – yeah, he's not just a happy little – the sidekick of Geralt. He's also coping with his own problems, even though you never really get to know more about that probably. Maybe that's a good explanation. Because, if only it wouldn’t have been sad, it wouldn't have affected Dandelion anyway.
ALYSSA: Or the readers even. I mean, when you see people go on the internet on social and stuff talking about Essi Daven, on the internet, you'll see people would be like, “Aaah.” And they’re like, broken heart emoji, broken heart emoji, and tears. It was very unexpected. I think, as you – as you’ve kind of alluded to already, you go through this whole story. You learn about this woman who's absolutely incredible. And it's the nice foil to Geralt, and then she dies. And then this is the last that we hear of her throughout the saga, unfortunately.
LUISA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: Her chapter here is just so beautiful and so powerful.
LUISA: I don't know. Essi was not a character I expected to die. She was so vital and, and happy and, like, just alive, you know. It's very authentic in this world, because, of course, there's illness, there's sickness. And, and just because you're the – you're the friend of the main character, you don't get to live forever.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
LUISA: And I think the, the logic world dominates at this point. And I like that about that.
ALYSSA: Yeah, very unexpected. This is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful short stories that exists. And we get so many wonderful ones. This is definitely one of the ones that is consistently people's favorites because it's so powerful and so beautiful. And its message and then this language.
LUISA: Definitely. I was emotionally very attached. And I – and I also liked – so, I felt like the whole chapter was very fairytale-ish and very magical. Maybe even a bit too magical. And, and, all of a sudden, on the last page, everything is taken away from you. Like, oh, this – oh, this fairytale was beautiful. It kind of brought me back to reality.
ALYSSA: I know. Even just sitting here talking about it, I – like, my heart has just like found its way to my stomach. And I just like, Aaaah.
LUISA: Yeah. Yeah. It’s sad we have to – we have to do that. This last chapter we discussed. It's a bit like Haaaa.
ALYSSA: There is – there is a lot of, like, incredible beautiful, like, moments and characters more to come. And I think Essi is just like a precursor for so much more that I think we have to discover in the saga and in the last two shorts stories --
LUISA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: —which is really exciting.
LUISA: And what we've learned from the – or what I think the moral is also that it does not – it's not important how long you live together or anything. You don't have to live forever. Just – you just have to value those little moments. Oh, at the pearl, aaah, that breaks my heart even harder.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
LUISA: Like do you – do you still remember that they were saying, like, this will protect you from all evil? Yes, it can protect you from all evil. And then she dies because of sickness or illness wearing this pearl. I don't know what to think of that. It's just horrible. It's so logical and so realistic. And, so, aaah.
ALYSSA: Yeah. I, I think, as you said before, it definitely grounds you back in reality in that this idea that – I mean, again, I've talked throughout the podcast just about having very matter of fact views on death. Like, just me personally, death is a very natural part of living. It's usually just a matter of kind of when and how. You know, we do learn in this chapter when and how for Essi. But, yeah, it's, it's the kind of thing that I think we don't really think about or we choose not to think about especially in the context of something as heartwarming and fulfilling as a story like this. You know, it obviously has its tension, and it has its conflicts. To end it with a note like this and to kind of bring everyone back to the realities of living, I think is a very interesting and specific choice by the author. But I think makes the story, you know, that much more impactful.
LUISA: Definitely. Yeah. I have nothing to add on that. That's exactly what I feel like as well.
ALYSSA: Did you have anything to add for like the rest of the episode? Are you ready to like, close out the other fact?
LUISA: No, I'm ready to close.
ALYSSA: Okay. That’s it for our show today. Luisa, thanks you so much for joining us for this episode, and thank you to our Hanza for listening. So, where can people find you? And is there anything that our community can help you with or anything you’d like to share with them?
LUISA: And, as I said, I'm really open to people who are interested into LARPing or just want to chat about maybe something we said on the episode today. Maybe you can tag me in our post on this episode. That’d be cool. I'll be very – I'll be very happy to help people who are maybe a bit conscious still with LARPing or anything. Yeah.
ALYSSA: Yeah, absolutely.
LUISA: Oh. And I'm very interested into, into fanfiction endings about the relationship with Agloval and Sh'eenaz. So, please send them to me if you write any. I'd love to read them.
ALYSSA: Oh, man. Oh, I – okay. That's what I should do for that immediate post right after. Listen, I love leveraging the community and, like, starting conversation. That's why I wanted to start a podcast, you know, beyond GoodMorhen. It’s to really, you know, engage people and see, like, what are their opinions on this? Like – and that's the perfect prompt.
LUISA: Nice. Perfect.
ALYSSA: I'll tag Luisa. She'll be around. So, we’ve got a really exciting two whole episodes coming up. We are heading to Berlin for two whole episodes with the man, the myth, and the legend; Lars from Witcherflix to wrap up The Sword of Destiny with the title story, “Sword of Destiny,” and, finally, “Something More.”
Outro & Credits
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]
ALYSSA: Thanks for joining us at the breakfast table! For show notes, transcripts of each episode, and a complete list of our social platforms and listening services, head over to breakfastinbeauclair.com.
Breakfast in Beauclair is created by Alyssa from GoodMorhen. It’s hosted by Alyssa with the “Tidings from Toussaint” News Segment by Lars from WitcherFlix. The show is edited by Alyssa with the Breakfast in Beauclair theme by MojoFilter Media and the “Tidings from Toussaint” theme by Bettina Campomanes.
Breakfast in Beauclair is produced by Alyssa in New York City with Luis of Kovir, The Owner of The Churlish Porpoise, Coolguyhenry, Arix the Godling, Katie, Jacob, Mahakam Elder Joe, Julie, Sylvia of Skellige, Brandon, Jamison, Ayvo of Gulet, Eric, Bee Haven, Jacob Meeks, and Sebastian von Novigrad.
Special thanks to Luisa for joining us for this episode and our international hanza for their support.
Transcriptionist: Rachelle Rose Bacharo
Editor: Krizia Casil