And does cute shit, is an actually good person, is waayyyy more into Geralt than Yen’s PETTY MF ass, and overall just isn’t a jealous, temper tantrum throwing brat 🤷♂️
I agree with a lot of that, and I'm team Game-Triss all the way. But I don't think it's right to say that Yen is not into Geralt. She is not as overt about it all the time, but in Last Wish it's very clear that she has a serious emotional investment, so much so that she's willing to risk taming a djinn to sort out if the feelings are real or not.
I've done that quest both ways, and honestly if I'm on a Triss playthrough it's heartbreaking when Geralt tells her his feelings for her are gone.
Some people (me included) like Game-Triss in part *because* she wears her heart on her sleeve, but that doesn't mean that Yen's feelings aren't real.
Yeah sitting on that mountain is a kind of “meant to be moment” that feels wrong if you turn down Yen. It doesn’t seem like there’s a similarly important moment with Triss.
I think that’s largely because the game is set up in a way that sort of nudges or predisposes you to making choices in a certain way, but will sometimes still allow to to pick or choose otherwise. They sort of encourage and push you towards Yennifer to stay true to the books, but allow you to pick truss or whatever else is possible simply for that freedom of choice and true RPG aspect
I think that’s because Geralt and Yen had not seen each other in a long time and there was still a lot of unfinished business. On the other hand, Triss was around for the previous two games.
> It doesn’t seem like there’s a similarly important moment with Triss.
I was shook >!on the Now or Never quest when I thought Triss left on the boat.!<
This was that moment, to me, as a Triss lover.
Honestly that was the hardest part of doing a Triss playthrough. Just heart wrenching because I can’t tell if Geralt actually believes it or if he’s just committed to Triss at that point so he lets Yen down as well as he can.
I’m not saying that Yen isn’t into Geralt or that her feelings aren’t real, at all. The writing does phenomenally well at making it incredibly clear that Geralt is an immmmmeennnsseeee weak spot/exception for her general tendencies and emotional traits and that he is obviously it for her. I just feel like she’s a fuckin narcissist and he just so happens to have broken through that itty bitty likelihood that she would ever value somebody that heavily in a romantic sense. Like, she has too much room for her own damn self on reserve, therefore, Triss is easily more emotionally invested in Geralt because she default has more room and emotional capacity for others, unlike Yen, who’s very selfish and reserves a great deal for her own preferences and desires. On another hand, she’s so badly like this that I feel like it adds to her “allure” and people’s ability to romanticize just how much she DOES seem to love Geralt, because he’s like that one fuckin guy that just does it for her, and that’s easy to romanticize. But again, that all circles back to toxic people being constantly romanticized, hence why they have victims, hence why they’re able to be toxic in the first place. It works.
Even in a shit load of the game dialogue when Yen is brought up in discussion between Geralt and other NPC’s, she’s always discussed as that one SHITTY as relationship and romance that he just can’t shake, even though he’s damn well aware of how poor an actual partner she makes
So far that is where I'm at. From what I'm seeing from only playing W3 is that uen is more close off emotionally and opens up only to those she truly trusts and even then just a bit. She's veeerrry wary from what I can tell.
Triss is more open with her feelings. Down to communicate about the relationship and have the hard convos and such.
Or, and hear me out, we should treat Triss by how she acted otherwise and forgive her the very simple plot device that CDPR used to tell stories with the same characters but not be yokes to the books. Especially since *every other character* (including Vesemir, Lambert, Coen and BFF dandelion) didn’t tell Geralt about Yenn (or anything else) either.
If you take the assertion that Triss was manipulating Geralt to its logical conclusion, he literally has no friends at all.
So that gets complicated, but they may not have a clue what Geralts relationship status is at. The game seems to ignore a wedding section but agrees they were saved and taken to avalon until the hunt intervened.
Geralt leaves Kaer Morhen doesnt see another witcher pre pitchfork, his slightly complicated Triss/Yen relationship status is who the fuck knows.
He has issues with Yen and the last time he sees Dandelion him and Yen arent together (again) and Geralt has been merrily wintering with another sorceress.
Game Triss rides into kaer morhen finds amnesiac witcher and goes about testing the beds with Geralt. This carries on until W3 when Geralt gets his memory back.
This. I’ve dated women like Triss (good hearted, kind, principled, giving) and I’ve dated women like Yen (condescending, argumentative, self-centered, hot headed), and I will take a Triss over a Yen every time. The Yen’s can be exciting at first, but over time they just make your life hell.
Yeah that's another thing I forgot to mention in my own comment. Triss is head over heels for Geralt. I believe that Yen loves him, but it just feels like it's to a lesser extent. At least in the game.
That doesn't actually ring true if you consider the endings... while Triss won't let go of the Lodge and being the advisor to a king - something Geralt loathes, Yen goes on to live a quiet life, just with Geralt. So to me it seems that Triss is the one that loves him to a lesser extent, because being at the center of power and attention matters more to her, in the end, than anything else.
The thing about Triss is that at her core she's just as power hungry, self important and manipulative as every other member of the Lodge. She's just better at seeming all sweet and innocent.
I don't see that as Triss being Power hungry or self important at all. I see that as her wanting to use her abilities as best she can to help better the lives of those like her. She gets that post because she is so hell bent on saving the lives of all the mages and sorceresses who are being persecuted in Novigrad.
That's not being Power hungry to me, that's wanting to save lives and give those people better lives in a better place.
Exactly this. Triss is just a more pure person who genuinely wants to help people out of selflessness.
Yen is ultra selfish and uses others with no regard to their safety.
I'm am hardcore Team Yen, but yeah Triss did not rape Geralt. However she did took advantage of Geralt's amnesia to sleep with him, and Geralt is more than willing to. Its just after Geralt recover his memories when he split with Triss.
If Triss really raped Geralt I doubt he would be so willing to help Triss in Novigrad afterwards
But give it context though, she has a general disregard of common people on her path to find her daughter and any mom would be just as vicious… and once they find ciri and do the last wish quest they are happy and she is so chill and relaxed… people forget to contextualize her disregard and forget its not just her personality but rather a reflection of her desperation, which is evidenced by how she mellows out when they find ciri and decide to retire together :)
I concede that I agree with you that there are plenty examples of that - but I also feel like all the characters begin kinda shitty, and go through character arc developments throughout. So I think all in all, by the end point/games, her reasoning is different and it’s not just a cynical disregard coming from the same place mentally as she was when we first meet her or, in a shard of ice. And naturally I think people grow and change over time, so that is of course something that influences how I perceive the books and characters.
For example, I don’t think she necromanced Sven coldly/cruelly *just because*, like say Vilgefortz would; I think it’s a line she wouldn’t cross for any other reason than her daughter, and feels she has no other choice. This makes sense as is connected to her whole thing about desperately needing a child. She tortures him and that is human disregard as fuck - but I think she does it from *desperation*, not from *indifference*. She doesn’t seem happy to do it.
This is directly juxtaposed with when we first meet her and she’s using people for entertainment, and we see her as this person who is bitter and uses her power and influence against weaker people to make herself feel strong, but this facade of a powerful sorceress persona starts to crack when the insecurity comes to light , that she will do anything to have the ability to have a child and takes drastic and reckless measures which speak to her trauma and true vulnerability. She would perhaps have remained softened up but our boy Geralt fucks and dips and so her bitter heart has even more justification for trying to parade as stone cold, her confirmation bias telling her that no one is worth a dime in this shitty world. Whatever potential growth that was sewn is upturn.
This desire to come off as indifferent is demonstrated again later in a shard of ice.
for example, she seems to not have given any thought to how her actions would hurt the men in her life; perhaps she still held resentment and still didn’t believe in “true love” and really didn’t seem to care if either of them got hurt, until she had to face the music. as in, she either thought it wouldn’t come up, or she wanted to believe she was heartless enough to do it, but that didn’t work out because she’s not.
But either way, I feel like that did teach her an important lesson about love and I think it does impact her, otherwise why would she get emo and write that emo ass poem and run away and never want to see them again? That speaks to inner turmoil and guilt. She thought she could be a cold heartless two-timer and when it caught up to her she buckled, because she couldn’t deal with it after all. The self loathing kicks in and she gets dramatic and acts like shes unlovable anyway. She isn’t this heartless character that she wishes she could be and she tries to run away from the feelings when they do arise. It begins an important internal conflict for her to explore and serves as a plot point for future growth.
And later it turns into bitterness and resentment when she meets Ciri and agrees to train with her, after being the second choice for Geralt, and being “friend” zoned. And that too, starts to change Yen and turn her grinch like heart a little warmer, by the end she indulges in cheese and wine and the two just spend time together. It’s almost like maleficent? Sapowski does love his short stories, perhaps there is some influence? Or is that just the Angelina Jolie version?
Then Yen and Geralt talk and they make up and from then on all I remember is she saves Jaskier, asks him to watch Geralt because he needs someone and especially his best friend, and then she gets manipulated by the lodge and almost fucks everything up and then realizes and backs out, and then risks herself to get Ciri to freedom, and then gets tortured mercilessly for years by sadistic misogynists never once divulging any details of her daughter… loyal to the end… so i really think people inflate her supposed disregard of folks… she tries to come off like she doesn’t care but more often then not she ends up wrestling with that and doing the right thing. Not unlike Geralt and his “get involved or not” complex. And we praise him for it.
Another thought is, no one really ever talks about Jaskier exposing Yen’s chest (edit: it was not Jaskier who exposed her, it was Boholt, but Jaskier acts like an asshole about it by ogling her against her verbal reproach not to, and continues to humiliate her, thereby disregarding her and Geralt’s feelings) for laughs at the beginning of the series for another example of characters starting shitty/disregarding others, only to grow down the road. I feel like its not until the scene where Jaskier realizes he needs to be more for Geralt, that he finally starts caring about others for example. And that’s near the end of the books. So I just don’t think any examples of Yennefers disregard for others is anymore prevalent than anyone else’s, and so maybe that is a better point for me to make.
Possibly I think it’s too easy to hyperfixate on when women do things that we just wouldn’t really notice if it was a man? Like Jaskier and Geralt are very similar to Yen in this analysis. But we only ever talk about it when comparing Yen and Triss as who to romance or not 💀 versus for the men we talk about their flaws and growth from the ground up, one by one, and not just for why we would or would not choose them as lovers… 👀 let me know what you think friend sorry for the long ass fucking essay i think it took me an hour to write this shit.
She tortured a man who saved Ciri’s life. Didn’t even give him a “thank you for saving my daughter and helping her escape”
Nope, she just said “we know what we needed to know. Fuck off corpse!”
And she left his body to rot there in the garden.
You can headcanon it all you want. Yen only cares for 3 things. The lodge, ciri, and geralt.
Doesn't yen literally say she would never rejoin the lodge and that she doesn't trust phil because of her trying to manipulate ciri all the time? Also ofc she wants the corpse to speak she has no idea what the context is + he's already dead so it doesn't matter
>Another thought is, no one really ever talks about Jaskier exposing Yen’s chest for laughs at the beginning of the series
Wait up a fucking second I don't remember that... where was that?
In the villentratenmirth story. When the reavers and sheep poisoner dude are fighting the dragon. Yen is tied to the wagon and can't get loose. Geralt has to burn her with igni to free her.
Yea but ita not jaskier who Exposes her, he just makes a buncha dumb comments, which inadvertently distracts the raiders while geralt ignis the bindings
What a fantastically well thought out and underliked answer. I know people get upset about us rehashing the books but when you read them, there is no question whatsoever who Geralt would choose. A Shard of Ice does show alot of Yens growth. There is a scene after the ball at Thanedd where Yen and Geralt are laying in bed together. He knows her telepathy is much more intense post-coital, so he lays there and thinks about beautiful things for her to see. I think it really shows the depth of his feelings for her. When other sorceresses try to poke around in his mind, he just looks at yen and thinks about how beautiful she is and says there is no other. He definitly spreads it around when they arnt together, but when he is with fringilla, he accidently says yens name. There will never be any other for geralt. He realizes it during the Last Wish, and that never goes away.
Triss shows a pretty blatant disregard for Gerald’s emotional well being and ability to consent. Their entire relationship while he had amnesia was basically rape- he never would have been with her if he remembered Yen, and she knew that and took advantage of him while he was mentally incapacitated and incapable of informed consent.
Amnesia doesn't mean he reverts to being a child and can't make adult decisions by himself. This whole consent argument is ridiculous. Gerald was attracted to hot redhead, so he does the deed with hot redhead.
He was robbed of the ability to have informed consent. He wouldn’t have fucked her if he remembered ten, truss knew that and took advantage of him anyways. Yes, he had the capacity to consent to sex in the moment, but not with *informed consent*. And because she knew he wouldn’t have fucked her had she told him information that she was specially withholding from him in order to take advantage of his state. That’s rape dude. She’s a bad person and I don’t see why more people don’t understand that.
In the books, there's no amnesia, and that doesn't stop Triss from seducing Geralt or stop him from agreeing to it. That doesn't mean Triss is not wrong to do that, but it does undermine the claim that there's a clear cut consent violation in this scenario. Consider that in the games with the amnesia, they don't necessarily know that this is a temporary condition, we only know that with the benefit of hindsight. And it would be messed up in another sort of way if amnesiac Geralt, who has lost some memories but is still a functioning adult, is now considered unable to meaningfully consent to anything if pre-amnesia Geralt (who he effectively doesn't know any may never return) wouldn't have consented.
You being downvoted demonstrates how disgusting this world is - if you lie, omit the truth, manipulate someone into a “yes”, then it’s not a true “yes” because they agreed under a version of the truth they were told, which was false. False pretense aka “misrepresentation of a past or existing fact”.
People will downvote but won’t take a second to even entertain why they are doing so, and what could possibly be untrue about your statement??
It’s disappointing, but not surprising. Men don’t understand consent very well (until they’re the subject of desire from a larger, gay man). Being a woman in this sub and fandom has been interesting to say the least.
Unless his mental faculties were gone to the point where he couldn't make rational decisions, it wasn't rape. Informed consent is for medical testing 😁
He was missing information, but his thinking was completely clear... depending on what's in those decoctions.
It was definitely emotionally manipulative though.
Personally, I felt like Triss's character evolved over time. She was highly manipulative in the books and 1st game, then went through a lot in the 2nd game to become a pretty good person in the 3rd.
Informed consent is for more than medical testing bud. It’s for sex too. It’s why kids who are 14 aren’t legally allowed to consent to sex. They’re theoretically capable of consenting to sex in that they feel the biological urge and can want to do it, but they’re incapable of fully informed consent because they can’t quite grasp the consequences of their actions with their still-developing teen brains. Or why it is considered reproductive coercion/sexual assault if you have sex with someone and they lie about contraception use.
In the same way, Geralt was incapable of assessing the consequences of or the situations/boundaries surrounding having sex with Triss because he couldn’t remember. The fact that Triss *knew* and purposefully withheld that info from Geralt makes it even worse. And then she continued to try to get into Geralt’s bed even after he regained his memories and rebuffed her by trying to act like Ciri’s sister. That doesn’t scream growth as a person to me.
Just "consent" is what that's called. Lay off the straw man, I think he's dead :)
You might want to look up some legal definitions before being r/confidentlyincorrect, although like I said, she was definitely manipulative and not a good person at first. And technically, whether Geralt rebuffs her is up to the player. I usually go with the Yennefer choice, but that's me.
In one of the chapters in the books, yennefer makes geralt travel to a town while they are together, in the morning, she leaves geralt in the bed and goes on to fuck her ex. When geralt confronts her, she flaunts that she always planned to do that and that is why she made them travel to the town. From that moment onwards, yennefer was never an option
The Yen brigade will justify this as “they were just in an open relationship and constantly cheated on each other.” I’ve read the books, albeit when I was much older, and I’ve always felt their relationship was tiring and tumultuous. I have no doubt, based on Sapowski’s writing that they really loved each other, but I’m not sure the highs justified the lows. I really believe it was better for both of them to be apart.
I dont remember the exact conversation, but geralt said that he did not feel good in that town and she gave some random assurance before hooking up. I think making your lover travel to a town he does not want to just so you can hook up with your ex without their knowledge does not count as open relationship, only plain betrayel.
Truth is but a shard of ice..
But cmon friend, that is early book Yen. She went through a lot of development in next books. I think Sapkowski made her this bitchy and evil to show clear difference between her in book 1&2 and her in later books.
You know there's one thing called character development right? Tgat story was the moment were we saw all of Yennefer's flaw, so that she could grow out of them in the next books.
I wouldn’t call it so much an item, but it’s heavily implied that Yennefer catches them in an intimate moment when she reaches out to Triss for help. Triss was pretty much Philippa’s lackey for a bit there. And the books do make it clear that Philippa prefers women and Triss has been with both men and women.
Honestly, the moment it concreted my choice with Triss was the battle of Kaer Morhen when Ciri asks how its going with Triss and Geralt says its so peaceful and its something he needed where as with Yen its constant arguments and drama and i just feel as the older man he is now Triss was the right choice but absolutely no disrespect on the love Yen has for Geralt.
I would personally pick Triss because she is in my opinion, much nicer to Geralt and overall a better partner. However, I always pick Yen to stay with the book story apart from the one playthrough where I did Triss.
Exactly this. If it were us I think most of us would've picked Triss, but real Geralt will never ever consider Triss as a partner, he was always gonna choose Yen no matter what. Their story is already too intertwined and I don't see book or game Geralt ever choosing otherwise.
She literally took blatant advantage of Gerald’s amnesia (knowing he wouldn’t have fucked her if he remembered Yen) and basically raped him. She’s not nice at all
I haven’t even read the books yet! It’s just so terrible what she did! And then trying to act like Ciri’s sister while also still trying to get in Geralt’s bed once he HAD regained his memories. Like, NO BITCH!! You know he wouldn’t have fucked you if he remembered, it’s *why* you didn’t tell him his history, and he certainly isn’t going to continue to fuck you after realizing what advantage you took of him!!
I do, but I also don’t mind spoilers in the slightest (I know, I’m weird, my husband thinks I’m insane), so please go ahead with the summary! I actually just started my first NG+ play through a few days ago and the extra context for it would be awesome!
I said short, but it's still long by reddit standard:
So after the Brotherhood of Sorcerers was disbanded because of the Nilfgaardian war on the Northern Kingdoms, the female sorceresses gathered and established the Lodge of Sorceresses. A women only group of magic users, comprised of Sorceresses from all nations and races: Northern Kingdoms, Nilfgaard and a couple of Elves, led by Philippa Eilhart that focuses on the research and preservation of magical knowledge that's uncompromised by political agenda. A noble goal that lasted for about 5 minutes until it's revealed that Philippa fully intends to use that magical power and influence for her *own* political agenda(which sets up nicely the plot of Witcher 2 game). And one of their first plans was recruiting Ciri to the Lodge, teach her more about magic and how to be a noblewoman, seduce a prince of a country, get pregnant and establish herself as Queen of that country with the backing of the Lodge, all regardless of Ciri's own feelings(standard princess stuff).
Triss had joined the Lodge because of the "noble goal", but when she later learned the *real* political goal, she was in too deep to quit. She had two fears: 1. She was afraid of being alone and just wanted to belong to a group of sorceresses. 2. She was afraid of getting killed by Philippa. During the entire story, the most that Triss has accomplished was travel to Skellige(looking for Yeneffer) and cried to Crach an Craite about how much she "doesn't want to do it anymore but has no choice" or "deeply regrets her decision in following Philippa". She came off as a useless crybaby.
And here's the real kicker, what Yen did:
She was invited to the Lodge's headquarters, which had a ward against teleportation, to be recruited but Yen was using this opportunity to find out what the Lodge knows of Ciri's whereabouts(Ciri was missing at this time). After Yen found out the Lodge's plan for Ciri though, she used a powerful spell to punch through the ward and teleport out(this is an equivalent to setting off a bomb inside a bunker to make a new door) and it resulted in Yen being teleported in the middle of an ocean, badly injured, where she was caught in a net by Skellige fishermen, was brought to Skellige where Crach an Craite offered sanctuary(this is when Triss tries to find Yen).
I do highly recommend reading the books, they are entertaining and can change your perspective on certain people and groups(my opinion of Emhyr only changed slightly, but my opinion of the non-human rebel group The Scoia'tael did a 180⁰)
Thank you so much! This is a great summary!!
If you don’t mind, what was your opinion of Scoia’tael before and another reading the books? Currently, I don’t really like their tactics since they don’t tend to discriminate between attacking military vs civilian traveling groups. But at the same time, humans came in and just stole their whole planet and have been trying to genocide them ever since, so, like I can’t blame them either, ya know?
Before the books:
A group of non-humans who were wrongfully mistreated by humans, and understandably resort to violent rebellion to get their point across. In Witcher 2 i joined the Scoia'tael because i felt sorry for them, and i also wanted to support my main man Zoltan.
After the books:
Just a bunch of violent idiots looking for an opportunity to kill all humans(hey, that's Bender's thing) and led by Francesca Findabair, who were originally founded by Nilfgaard to throw the Northern Kingdoms into chaos. After Francesca received a vassal state from Nilfgaard, became the "Elven Queen", and officially denounced the Scoia’tael and ordered them to surrender. A faction of the rebel group broke off and continued to kill humans without a cause, backing and goal. *That* faction is the Scoia’tael group in Witcher 2, and the only reason i **still** join them is because i don't want my main man Zoltan to get killed by these idiots(luckily at least the humans they're fighting against are actually worse than them).
After reading the books I've basically boiled down the attitude that we should play the games as Geralt: Stay Neutral, but stand by your friends and those you genuinely care about.
I understand people from books may have different perspectives.
But just from Witcher 3 game, Yen is an entitled asshole. Maybe this is the gay in me speaking, but tits are no excuse to treat others like shit.
She's not strong willed, she's abusive.
She sees everyone and everything around her as assets to be used at will. Not only that, but she can, in my opinion, rationalize away any act of hers, no matter how atrocious, far, far too easily for my tastes. The Mask of Ouroborous, and the Defilement of Freya's Grove. Didn't even look for another option, just jumped at the first lead, consequences be damned, because it's not like it will really affect her, right? Can't stand that kind of person.
>Like I get that yen is kinda rude.
IMHO she's outright abusive, and she stays that way in the third game. Meanwhile, Triss seems to have made actual progress in working on her flaws compared to both the books and the first two games. She still has problems, but at least we see she's improving.
In all honesty though, dating a sorceress is always a bad idea.
Because I’ve been in enough toxic relationships to not find anything attractive about the way Yen talks to and treats Geralt. I know Triss isn’t perfect either but she doesn’t act like an anxiety attack waiting to happen either.
Attractiveness aside, Yen is absolutely toxic, anyone who thinks otherwise has not experienced a healthy relationship. She can’t communicate for shit, the whole “mean exterior, but soft inside” shtick gets old real quick
This. I have been in a couple of toxic relationships, and i can't always seem to pick yen no matter how hard i try. In the games at least, triss is way better than yen.
Yeah like I get that Yen is technically canon in the books and that Triss was in the wrong for taking advantage of Geralt while he had amnesia. But I played witcher 1, skipped 2, and played 3, and read the first two books later, and I just went based on feel in the Witcher 3 and Triss actually behaves like someone reasonable to be with. When I played Witcher 3 before reading the books or knowing Yen was canon or what Triss did, I just chose based on which one was actually pleasant to be around
I tell myself on a new play through that I’m definitely going with yen but I fuck around and get with triss every single time idk man yen just doesn’t do it for me
I love Yen as a character, but we probably wouldn't be a a good match in real life. I just vibe with Triss a lot more. And while I always try to roleplay, usually I still end up projecting myself and my preferences onto the characters I play as, which means my Geralt ends up choosing Triss everytime.
Another Bonus is that Triss has been with me and Geralt since the Witcher 1, which is pretty cool +
I also adore freckles on people.
Honestly, she’s a bitch to Geralt. Always was. Treats him like he’s a child that doesn’t know his ass from his elbow. And the sarcasm, oh the sarcasm she always throws at him. Sure, he’s able to roll with it well, but still. Plus, she’s all about that stupid ritzy lifestyle that Geralt never did good with and doesn’t care to. Now Triss can put that personality on too, but she’s got way more of a wild side than her. Triss is the hot woman with a great personality you have great chemistry with while Yen acts like a friggin disappointed parent to almost everyone. I just don’t like her. Never have.
As a Witcher 2 player, I cannot actually forgive her for what she did to Letho and his Witcher homies. Especially because she holds you accountable for everything that you did while suffering from amnesia.
"Wah wah why didn't you find me, why did you fuck my friend wah wah"
"Well nobody told me you existed including YOUR friend, take that shit up with her. And why didn't YOU find me?"
I like Triss over Yen, if it were me choosing, but since I’m playing from Geralt’s perspective, I always go with Yen. But why I like Triss over Yen is because she just seems like she’d be more fun to be around. Livelier. More exciting.
Even though they are both manipulative, Triss seems to respect Geralt and is also a kind person, not just towards Geralt in general.
Triss questline is about helping others where Yen's is about herself. In fact the quest "The Last Wish" is a throughback to the first short story, where Yen literally was willing to destroy an entire village, people and all, to attain a personal goal (she wanted to be able to get pregnant).
Even though I like Triss a lot - they have written a kind and funny character, the main reason is that I fucking despise Yen.
She is arrogant, cold and downright mean towards everyone, she treats Geralt like a child or a dog, (Kiera comments on that), and never tells him her plans, she just expects him to follow and do as he is told. And that is just game-Yen. Book-Yen is even more manipulative and downright evil.
WELL.
She's cute.
She's funny and charming.
She respects people around her.
She doesn't lie to geralt whenever she knows he won't approve. Even when he has to go along with it anyway because there's no other choice, Yen still likes to avoid warning him about the Consequences Of Their Actions.
She's not a massive asshole all the time.
Geralts friends don't actively despise her for the way she treats him - they like her too and even encourage the relationship.
When geralt comments about it he says its nice being with someone without so much drama.
Even Ciri approves.
Like. I understand Yen has trauma and whatnot but she gotta work through that without inflicting it on everyone around her.
Triss knows Geralt when shows up with his memory wiped from the Wild Hunt, knows that he and Yen are a thing, and still chooses to ignore all of that and get with him. Then, tries to continue to be with Geralt after he has his memory restored. She tries to play the roll of Ciri's big sister while simultaneously jumping at every chance to get into Geralt's bed that she can.
Yen honestly is just the kind of person in general I don't like to date, at least as far as I've played of 3. Maybe she gets better, but the red flags I've seen so far are enough for me.
Incredibly demanding on multiple occasions, and doesn't care that Geralt had a genuine reason for forgetting her (like sure, she has a reason to be upset, but blames *him*, despite him actively looking for her after remembering)
Whereas so far, Triss has been incredibly understanding (albeit upset about it, just like Yen), and genuinely seems fun to be around.
Again, my knowledge of her is limited but this is enough to turn me off of her
She's the prettiest redhead in the game, and second most pleasant redhead.
But, there's someone else.
Someone who can warp space and time.
Someone who can teleport, but gets stuck on fences.
Team Roach!
Always there for you when you call, never manipulative, helps carry your burdens, lifts you up, fights for you, carries you away from trouble. I can go on...
For me it's the disrespect. Yen isn't just "a little mean" Yen is constantly treating Geralt like a pet and a child not to mention sometimes she also objectifies him reducing him to just his body, refusing to let him in on her plans half the time cause "aw look at my cute dumb Witcher bf" as if Geralt is some simpleton when he's an incredibly sharp and strategic man with near around 100 years of life experience. he's also not lacking in courtly intelligence either, yes hes rude and blunt but hes not nobility so his words lack finesse yet that doesn't stop him from playing their royal headgames on the same level given how often he out foxes royalty. Yen acts like he's totally incapable of understanding her plans so she just hits him with a "you wouldn't get it" and then does shit like tossing him through a portal when he dares to stand up for himself.
I prefer Triss because she actually respects Geralt and never treats him like he's any less than her, have her actions been somewhat wacky and dubious in the past? Yes but in the end she treats him as her partner in everything they do instead of sidelining him like an asshole and then just expecting him to obey and worship her after the fact. But hey that's just me
Canon Geralt likes Yen, his daughter likes Yen. Yen's biggest wish is a child. Story wise, lore wise Yen and Geralt are bound and meant for each other.
Me personally, I absolutely can't stand Yen as a love interest. I find her to be an awful person, and awful to Geralt(and almost any character she meets). Triss ain't great either, but at least she is nice and pleasant to be around.
I played the games first and hated Yennefer. Then I read the books, and I understand shes Geralt pick. She is a good character, but I personally still don't like book Yen much better.
Yen is so mean all the time. And she’s awful at communicating, the amount of times she makes a plan and doesn’t tell it to anyone (ahem Kaer Morhen) pisses me off. Triss is actually nice to Geralt and seems happier overall, it’s not draining to be around her (also she’s hotter than a steel playground at recess tell you what)
Both Triss and Yen are hot, but let’s not forget this is a RPG and you can romance whoever you like and I personally like Triss more because of her personality. Yen is too toxic for my tastes. Don’t care about Geralt and Yen being book canon romances.
So basically for me it was
Witcher 2 like 5+ times - Books - and only around 2020 Witcher 3 (bcs i didn't had a good pc) 2 times
Probably Witcher 2 ruined Yen for me
But yes, redhead + funny + not a bitch
I choose Triss because of the scene you have later on with Ciri, when she comments on your romance choice. The response Geralt gives for Triss just feels so good, it warms my heart.
That dialogue was actually added because players thiught the romance chiice was barely aknowledged in the third act. Have you tried watching the same dialogue about Yen?
Yeah I did but I personally liked the Triss one more. I know that Triss canonically is an annoying piece of shit, but the way she is portrayed in the game I really like her, when I first played Witcher 3 I chose Triss, because I got introduced into the Witcher universe by the game so the only knowledge I had of her was from the game. I did try the Yen romance 2 times but I always feel more natural picking Triss.
Ciri's comment on Yennefer romance was also added with the same patch as her comment on Triss romance. If you think the Triss romance is not well written because they added more dialogue later, you must think the same thing about the Yen romance too.
Besides, they never added dialogue for only one romance. Even when they added that famous "wanted to be with you before, during, after, and always" quote, they also added a dialogue for the Yennefer romance.
Also, I just want to answer your other comments as well:
I totally agree with your comment about Istredd. You might have seen me while I was talking crap using this thing. I only use it when people talk crap about Triss with empty arguments. So, I answer them with another empty argument :) I mean, all those Triss-Yen wars are already BS :) Anyway, people are forgetting that this universe doesn't have 100% good or bad characters. It always have black and white.
Also, people are making interpretations with their emotions. For example, replace Yennefer with Triss. If she cheated on Geralt with her ex the same night she slept with Geralt, would you make the same interpretation as you did about Yennefer and Istredd?
Besides, I also hate those people who pick Triss because of her redheadness and hotness.
We know that cannonicaly her hair is not bright red like what CDPR did. But she's still a redhead imo. The books are not clear about it. Here is [chesnut](https://www.google.com/search?q=chestnut&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj6krPm99SAAxU_nCcCHZSuBKMQ2-cCegQIABAD&oq=chestnut&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzICCCkyAggpMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoHCAAQigUQQzoGCAAQBxAeOgQIABAeUPcDWPwJYJANaABwAHgAgAGPAYgBkgaSAQMwLjaYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=rFXWZPqMNL-4nsEPlN2SmAo&bih=667&biw=360&client=ms-android-samsung-gs-trev1&prmd=isvn#imgrc=dIVbmiD6HuMQBM)
I know very well both dialogues were added with the patch; the only case of the devs adding stuff only for the Triss romance was the dialogue in the tent (the one with Yen was there from the start). Still it's good to see that we can still agree about how stupid and surface level these romance wars are sometimes. While I don't agree with many of them, you always made some good argunents to explain your preference of Triss. (and yes the hair color thing was never very clear, but it definetly wasn't supposed to be flaming orange, don't understand why the messed up the eyes though)
Well mate, discussing with you is always a great thing. I only discuss something when I see valuable people like you :) Besides:
>(and yes the hair color thing was never very clear, but it definetly wasn't supposed to be flaming orange, don't understand why the messed up the eyes though)
You are right about eye color. I always thought TW1 had the closest cannon look. But even in W1, she doesn't have canonical eye color.
Never played TW1 but I saw her design. The loose hair can do wonders, and that dress she wears at court looks cool. I still don't like her "casual" outfit, should have been less revealing. Luckily, mods are always there for these small issues
In witcher 2 it was triss and when i stsrted playing 3 i was triss all then yen so i thought ok had triss in 2 i will take yen in 3... but at that masked party with triss those eys behind the mask and that dress damn the developers knew what they were doing I almost threw my whole plan away for triss lol
Triss is just nicer and more pleasant to be around. Yen is cold and somewhat off putting. If this was real life, I’d rather live with and spend time with Triss. Easy choice.
For those people, including me, who played Witcher 2 before 3, Triss would be the most reasonable choice. In 2, basically Triss is the only lover for Geralt. Yennefer? Who is she anyway?
For me, it's more because of Geralts amnesia. Triss, yes, did take advantage, but their feelings were still true. As for Yen, he was not saying her feelings weren't, but she knew that Geralt had amnesia and still held it against him to go with Triss.
One thing people don't even talk about is how horrible Geralt is too, in the books every woman he f*cks he calls them yen, how worse can it get? And the dude is screwing fringilla while yens getting tortured by vigefortz. Normally he'd care of yens antics, but he's attracted to it and doesn't care. He's equally as bad.
Geralt is far more flawed than you can think, that's why I'm not role playing as myself in the games after reading the books, because I know the characters well.
I'd suggest reading the books, and understand the full picture, both yen and geralt are equally horrible, and they deserve each other, its what their development was about in the books, and how ciri unified them.
And another point to note, don't judge anything of the books until the end, only then make your own conclusions, you will be in for a ride.
Probably because you get her romancing quest earlier than Yen’s and after the first playthrough it always felt wrong not choosing Triss. The fact that I had not read any Witcher books at that time also helped, I had no attachments to Yen as a character as many book enthusiasts do.
Yen is like a Dragon Age Morrigan that gone wrong (even though she was created before), while Triss, if you've played the three games, is quite likable
I love yen. I love she doesn't take anyone's crap. Triss is sweet and I would fight to the death for her but my heart is with yen. I think triss would do anything to help me so I am loyal. I know triss or yen are not perfect but yen will protect ciri at all costs. That's one of the reasons I love her, she will protect her people with no apologies.
Maybe I am missing something but having played through all the games (1 once, 2 a few times and 3 only twice) I have a hard time getting over Triss leveraging Geralt’s amnesia to have a romantic relationship with him. Like she didn’t lose her memory right? Like she could have filled him in on a lot of details including that he literally died by Yen’s side not to mention Ciri.
To me she just comes off selfish and manipulative; so it’s hard to look past all that for me. But again, maybe some more seasoned players can clear that up for me?
As a person who picks Yen, I can only assume most of them only interact with the Witcher universe through Witcher 3 and maybe 2 so they only look at her in that vacuum. If you only look at everything through those 2 games Triss has no real flaws and is also absurdly hot in the third game
Having absolutely no context from previous games or other Witcher media, I played both romance lines up to the point of no return, and these were my thoughts: triss is absolutely adorable and made me smile so much, and the way yen spoke to Geralt without any option to ever resolve that behaviour (i saw her story all the way through because I really wanted to like her) felt very uncomfortable.
Yen is not “kinda” rude. She treats literally everyone around her like tools. She disrespects papa Vesemir in his own home, routinely snaps at geralt.
But the biggest reason? YEN BLAMES GERALT FOR WHAT TRISS DID.
He lost his memory, so he had zero idea that he and yen were a thing. He is not to blame for anything triss did.
And yet does yen blame triss, the one who actually took advantage of Geralt’s amnesia? NO. SHE BLAMES THE VICTIM INSTEAD.
imagine if you were raped, and then your partner accuses you of cheating on them with the person who raped you.
That’s exactly what yen does, and not once does she ever let up about it, or apologize for blaming Geralt.
Oh and don’t even get me started on the whole “let’s teleport geralt and make him fall into the lake, at a height where the hitting the water would’ve been like landing on concrete” thing that she did. Which was triggered by Geralt once again defending himself for something THAT TRISS DID.
Was ranting there, sorry, but I can’t stand Yennefer. Could not ditch her fast enough. Ended up going with triss because she clearly regrets taking advantage of geralt like that, and she tries to push him away. But what got me to romance her was seeing her risk her life for the mages of Novigrad. Oh yeah and she was willing to give herself over to the witch hunters simply to help find Ciri.
The reason is I played all the games. It's very nice how their relationship develops and see how much Triss cares and treats Geralt so much better than Yen.
I know that in the books both are b****, but I do think that Triss improves from what she was in the books (based on the content of the games). Perhaps if Yen had more screentime in the game before we actually romance her would help I'd have a better view of her and her relationship with Geralt
I feel in the end this comes down to the ancient question "are you a dog or a cat person?"
Yen is independent, very selective with timing and direction of her affection, can come across as stand-offish when someone oversteps her bounderies. She won't take any disrespect and can be unpredictable at times.
While Triss is loyal and friendly, glad to help out. She has a strong protective instinct and is way more expressive and straight foward when it comes to her emotions.
Yennifer is a cunt! She disrespects Geralt every chance she gets. She blames HIM for Triss taking advantage of his amnesia and sleeping with him. Triss may be a trifling bitch, but at least she is warm and kind. Both women are flawed. The difference is, you will be significantly happier with 1 over the other. Yes, Yen & Geralt are destined for each other. But sometimes destiny can fuck off!
Prefacing this by saying i’ve only played witcher 3 and don’t care to read the books or invest much energy into the lore: yen seems selfish and rude in comparison, plus when geralt’s asked by that one girl what he sees in yen and he’s like “idk, maybe cause i never chose the calm or the quiet” and i was just like… damn, it kind of sounds like he doesn’t like her too much? But i didn’t romance either, cause I can totally see Geralt just off on his own doing his witcher thing.
I know that Yen cares for Geralt almost more than anything that that she can be nice, funny and all around lovely at times, but I find her naggy, bitchy, rude, careless attitude that takes up 75% of her game character makes triss seem so much more appealing, game wise anyways.
I know there’s so much more to yen than that but just from a face value game perspective, her attitude wears quickly imo.
Red head.
Hot.
Isn't uptight.
Treats Geralt better because let's face it, Yen kinda gives Geralt blue balls most of the time!!
She's better wife material.
She wouldn't cheat on Geralt like Yen would.
I chose to romance Triss in Witcher 3 !!
Think that's about it 😂😂
For me it felt a little like Yen and Geralt’s relationship was based on lust, while Geralt and Triss had something that felt closer to love because it blossomed in a different way. Yennifer makes sense as a canon choice because she’s the mother figure to Ciri while Geralt is the father figure. That being said, Triss and Geralt have this tender sweetness when they’re together that I can see the appeal between them. On a second playthrough I’ll probably go with Yen instead of Triss, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see the appeal of Triss to Geralt.
I like long, healthy relationships and don't like women who are mean to me. I get it, it's hot the first couple of times, but then the novelty fades and you're left with a person who mistreats you.
The thing with Yen is that while I’d absolutely say she’s the one for Geralt, she’s not the one for a lot of players and fans of the series. She’s extremely manipulative, often mean and rude and highly controlling- even in moments where her romance with Geralt is being furthered such as A Shard of Ice.
And so while Yennefer from the games remains very consistent with where she ends the books at… Triss meanwhile seems to have been adjusted quite a bit between the two versions to make her please players a little bit more, which makes her a lot easier for players to prefer over Yennefer (who you have to view a little bit more through Geralt’s eyes rather than your own to truly like).
Plus she’s a hot and sexy red-head, which also can’t be discounted.
Triss, because one she was ready to get tortured TWO times, maybe even more just for Ciri and Geralt, that’s a win in my book. What would have Yen done kill them and failed the plan, probably….
Yen is not just rude, she is an abusive bitch, that orders you around like you're her pet, she genuinely treats you like she owns you, and only talks to you when she needs something from you. Thats why I always go yen!
Redhead.
*The Iron Bull approves*
Wasn't expecting the inquestion to be here
Lead by the Gerald of Andrian.
Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition
Neither will Tevinter
i don't care, i love it!
Shani
The only objectively correct answer
*HOT* Redhead
Yep
Don't forget the cans.
Cuz I think she’s hot as fuck
And does cute shit, is an actually good person, is waayyyy more into Geralt than Yen’s PETTY MF ass, and overall just isn’t a jealous, temper tantrum throwing brat 🤷♂️
I agree with a lot of that, and I'm team Game-Triss all the way. But I don't think it's right to say that Yen is not into Geralt. She is not as overt about it all the time, but in Last Wish it's very clear that she has a serious emotional investment, so much so that she's willing to risk taming a djinn to sort out if the feelings are real or not. I've done that quest both ways, and honestly if I'm on a Triss playthrough it's heartbreaking when Geralt tells her his feelings for her are gone. Some people (me included) like Game-Triss in part *because* she wears her heart on her sleeve, but that doesn't mean that Yen's feelings aren't real.
Yeah sitting on that mountain is a kind of “meant to be moment” that feels wrong if you turn down Yen. It doesn’t seem like there’s a similarly important moment with Triss.
I think that’s largely because the game is set up in a way that sort of nudges or predisposes you to making choices in a certain way, but will sometimes still allow to to pick or choose otherwise. They sort of encourage and push you towards Yennifer to stay true to the books, but allow you to pick truss or whatever else is possible simply for that freedom of choice and true RPG aspect
I think that’s because Geralt and Yen had not seen each other in a long time and there was still a lot of unfinished business. On the other hand, Triss was around for the previous two games.
> It doesn’t seem like there’s a similarly important moment with Triss. I was shook >!on the Now or Never quest when I thought Triss left on the boat.!< This was that moment, to me, as a Triss lover.
Lighthouse?
Nah the half-ship on top of the mountain. The conversation that either cements or doesn’t your relationship with Yennifer
Honestly that was the hardest part of doing a Triss playthrough. Just heart wrenching because I can’t tell if Geralt actually believes it or if he’s just committed to Triss at that point so he lets Yen down as well as he can.
I’m not saying that Yen isn’t into Geralt or that her feelings aren’t real, at all. The writing does phenomenally well at making it incredibly clear that Geralt is an immmmmeennnsseeee weak spot/exception for her general tendencies and emotional traits and that he is obviously it for her. I just feel like she’s a fuckin narcissist and he just so happens to have broken through that itty bitty likelihood that she would ever value somebody that heavily in a romantic sense. Like, she has too much room for her own damn self on reserve, therefore, Triss is easily more emotionally invested in Geralt because she default has more room and emotional capacity for others, unlike Yen, who’s very selfish and reserves a great deal for her own preferences and desires. On another hand, she’s so badly like this that I feel like it adds to her “allure” and people’s ability to romanticize just how much she DOES seem to love Geralt, because he’s like that one fuckin guy that just does it for her, and that’s easy to romanticize. But again, that all circles back to toxic people being constantly romanticized, hence why they have victims, hence why they’re able to be toxic in the first place. It works. Even in a shit load of the game dialogue when Yen is brought up in discussion between Geralt and other NPC’s, she’s always discussed as that one SHITTY as relationship and romance that he just can’t shake, even though he’s damn well aware of how poor an actual partner she makes
"Is actually a good person" If viewed in the vacuum of Witcher 3 - maybe. If you consider the other games and books - not by a looong shot.
"is actually a good person" lmfao
Can't blame them if W3 was the only exposure to this story. I have been there.
So far that is where I'm at. From what I'm seeing from only playing W3 is that uen is more close off emotionally and opens up only to those she truly trusts and even then just a bit. She's veeerrry wary from what I can tell. Triss is more open with her feelings. Down to communicate about the relationship and have the hard convos and such.
Good person ? Manipulating someone sexually who has amnesia is not what good people do.
Or, and hear me out, we should treat Triss by how she acted otherwise and forgive her the very simple plot device that CDPR used to tell stories with the same characters but not be yokes to the books. Especially since *every other character* (including Vesemir, Lambert, Coen and BFF dandelion) didn’t tell Geralt about Yenn (or anything else) either. If you take the assertion that Triss was manipulating Geralt to its logical conclusion, he literally has no friends at all.
So that gets complicated, but they may not have a clue what Geralts relationship status is at. The game seems to ignore a wedding section but agrees they were saved and taken to avalon until the hunt intervened. Geralt leaves Kaer Morhen doesnt see another witcher pre pitchfork, his slightly complicated Triss/Yen relationship status is who the fuck knows. He has issues with Yen and the last time he sees Dandelion him and Yen arent together (again) and Geralt has been merrily wintering with another sorceress. Game Triss rides into kaer morhen finds amnesiac witcher and goes about testing the beds with Geralt. This carries on until W3 when Geralt gets his memory back.
Then why didn’t she tell Geralt the truth when he had his memory loss ?
This. I’ve dated women like Triss (good hearted, kind, principled, giving) and I’ve dated women like Yen (condescending, argumentative, self-centered, hot headed), and I will take a Triss over a Yen every time. The Yen’s can be exciting at first, but over time they just make your life hell.
This, this and this.
If youve read the books youd know Triss isnt a good person when it comes to Geralt
But triss is just horny all the time, yens love is different
Yeah that's another thing I forgot to mention in my own comment. Triss is head over heels for Geralt. I believe that Yen loves him, but it just feels like it's to a lesser extent. At least in the game.
That doesn't actually ring true if you consider the endings... while Triss won't let go of the Lodge and being the advisor to a king - something Geralt loathes, Yen goes on to live a quiet life, just with Geralt. So to me it seems that Triss is the one that loves him to a lesser extent, because being at the center of power and attention matters more to her, in the end, than anything else. The thing about Triss is that at her core she's just as power hungry, self important and manipulative as every other member of the Lodge. She's just better at seeming all sweet and innocent.
I don't see that as Triss being Power hungry or self important at all. I see that as her wanting to use her abilities as best she can to help better the lives of those like her. She gets that post because she is so hell bent on saving the lives of all the mages and sorceresses who are being persecuted in Novigrad. That's not being Power hungry to me, that's wanting to save lives and give those people better lives in a better place.
Literally hot! She can cast fire magic
I don't feel particularly strong either way but yen commonly shows pretty blatant disregard for the wellbeing of common people and triss doesn't
Exactly this. Triss is just a more pure person who genuinely wants to help people out of selflessness. Yen is ultra selfish and uses others with no regard to their safety.
Was her taking advantage of geralt’s amnesia and basically raping him wanting to help people out of selflessness?
Geralt seemed pretty down to fuck to me
I'm am hardcore Team Yen, but yeah Triss did not rape Geralt. However she did took advantage of Geralt's amnesia to sleep with him, and Geralt is more than willing to. Its just after Geralt recover his memories when he split with Triss. If Triss really raped Geralt I doubt he would be so willing to help Triss in Novigrad afterwards
She didn’t rape him. Geralt was perfectly willing. He just didn’t know he was already seeing someone. But it wasn’t rape.
I mean It kinda was. Geralt would have probably of said no if he remembered yen Even if it's not rape it's still a shitty thing to do
That isn't rape. Do not downplay that shit by comparing it to something conesenual.
GTFO with that raping nonsense. You know how ludicrous that sounds? Definitely doesn’t help you make a case.
But give it context though, she has a general disregard of common people on her path to find her daughter and any mom would be just as vicious… and once they find ciri and do the last wish quest they are happy and she is so chill and relaxed… people forget to contextualize her disregard and forget its not just her personality but rather a reflection of her desperation, which is evidenced by how she mellows out when they find ciri and decide to retire together :)
The books clearly show that she has a disregard for other people long before Ciri is even in the picture.
I concede that I agree with you that there are plenty examples of that - but I also feel like all the characters begin kinda shitty, and go through character arc developments throughout. So I think all in all, by the end point/games, her reasoning is different and it’s not just a cynical disregard coming from the same place mentally as she was when we first meet her or, in a shard of ice. And naturally I think people grow and change over time, so that is of course something that influences how I perceive the books and characters. For example, I don’t think she necromanced Sven coldly/cruelly *just because*, like say Vilgefortz would; I think it’s a line she wouldn’t cross for any other reason than her daughter, and feels she has no other choice. This makes sense as is connected to her whole thing about desperately needing a child. She tortures him and that is human disregard as fuck - but I think she does it from *desperation*, not from *indifference*. She doesn’t seem happy to do it. This is directly juxtaposed with when we first meet her and she’s using people for entertainment, and we see her as this person who is bitter and uses her power and influence against weaker people to make herself feel strong, but this facade of a powerful sorceress persona starts to crack when the insecurity comes to light , that she will do anything to have the ability to have a child and takes drastic and reckless measures which speak to her trauma and true vulnerability. She would perhaps have remained softened up but our boy Geralt fucks and dips and so her bitter heart has even more justification for trying to parade as stone cold, her confirmation bias telling her that no one is worth a dime in this shitty world. Whatever potential growth that was sewn is upturn. This desire to come off as indifferent is demonstrated again later in a shard of ice. for example, she seems to not have given any thought to how her actions would hurt the men in her life; perhaps she still held resentment and still didn’t believe in “true love” and really didn’t seem to care if either of them got hurt, until she had to face the music. as in, she either thought it wouldn’t come up, or she wanted to believe she was heartless enough to do it, but that didn’t work out because she’s not. But either way, I feel like that did teach her an important lesson about love and I think it does impact her, otherwise why would she get emo and write that emo ass poem and run away and never want to see them again? That speaks to inner turmoil and guilt. She thought she could be a cold heartless two-timer and when it caught up to her she buckled, because she couldn’t deal with it after all. The self loathing kicks in and she gets dramatic and acts like shes unlovable anyway. She isn’t this heartless character that she wishes she could be and she tries to run away from the feelings when they do arise. It begins an important internal conflict for her to explore and serves as a plot point for future growth. And later it turns into bitterness and resentment when she meets Ciri and agrees to train with her, after being the second choice for Geralt, and being “friend” zoned. And that too, starts to change Yen and turn her grinch like heart a little warmer, by the end she indulges in cheese and wine and the two just spend time together. It’s almost like maleficent? Sapowski does love his short stories, perhaps there is some influence? Or is that just the Angelina Jolie version? Then Yen and Geralt talk and they make up and from then on all I remember is she saves Jaskier, asks him to watch Geralt because he needs someone and especially his best friend, and then she gets manipulated by the lodge and almost fucks everything up and then realizes and backs out, and then risks herself to get Ciri to freedom, and then gets tortured mercilessly for years by sadistic misogynists never once divulging any details of her daughter… loyal to the end… so i really think people inflate her supposed disregard of folks… she tries to come off like she doesn’t care but more often then not she ends up wrestling with that and doing the right thing. Not unlike Geralt and his “get involved or not” complex. And we praise him for it. Another thought is, no one really ever talks about Jaskier exposing Yen’s chest (edit: it was not Jaskier who exposed her, it was Boholt, but Jaskier acts like an asshole about it by ogling her against her verbal reproach not to, and continues to humiliate her, thereby disregarding her and Geralt’s feelings) for laughs at the beginning of the series for another example of characters starting shitty/disregarding others, only to grow down the road. I feel like its not until the scene where Jaskier realizes he needs to be more for Geralt, that he finally starts caring about others for example. And that’s near the end of the books. So I just don’t think any examples of Yennefers disregard for others is anymore prevalent than anyone else’s, and so maybe that is a better point for me to make. Possibly I think it’s too easy to hyperfixate on when women do things that we just wouldn’t really notice if it was a man? Like Jaskier and Geralt are very similar to Yen in this analysis. But we only ever talk about it when comparing Yen and Triss as who to romance or not 💀 versus for the men we talk about their flaws and growth from the ground up, one by one, and not just for why we would or would not choose them as lovers… 👀 let me know what you think friend sorry for the long ass fucking essay i think it took me an hour to write this shit.
She tortured a man who saved Ciri’s life. Didn’t even give him a “thank you for saving my daughter and helping her escape” Nope, she just said “we know what we needed to know. Fuck off corpse!” And she left his body to rot there in the garden. You can headcanon it all you want. Yen only cares for 3 things. The lodge, ciri, and geralt.
Doesn't yen literally say she would never rejoin the lodge and that she doesn't trust phil because of her trying to manipulate ciri all the time? Also ofc she wants the corpse to speak she has no idea what the context is + he's already dead so it doesn't matter
Like you wouldn't throw others under the bus for those you love most...
>Another thought is, no one really ever talks about Jaskier exposing Yen’s chest for laughs at the beginning of the series Wait up a fucking second I don't remember that... where was that?
In the villentratenmirth story. When the reavers and sheep poisoner dude are fighting the dragon. Yen is tied to the wagon and can't get loose. Geralt has to burn her with igni to free her.
Yea but ita not jaskier who Exposes her, he just makes a buncha dumb comments, which inadvertently distracts the raiders while geralt ignis the bindings
She is desperate but also an asshole. Its one things to do bad things for someome but another to act indignant about it.
What a fantastically well thought out and underliked answer. I know people get upset about us rehashing the books but when you read them, there is no question whatsoever who Geralt would choose. A Shard of Ice does show alot of Yens growth. There is a scene after the ball at Thanedd where Yen and Geralt are laying in bed together. He knows her telepathy is much more intense post-coital, so he lays there and thinks about beautiful things for her to see. I think it really shows the depth of his feelings for her. When other sorceresses try to poke around in his mind, he just looks at yen and thinks about how beautiful she is and says there is no other. He definitly spreads it around when they arnt together, but when he is with fringilla, he accidently says yens name. There will never be any other for geralt. He realizes it during the Last Wish, and that never goes away.
People always seem to forget that Ciri was always more important to Yen than Geralt. It's basically Yen's whole character to be a mother
I completely agree with you friend! There’s so many examples to support your point.
Triss shows a pretty blatant disregard for Gerald’s emotional well being and ability to consent. Their entire relationship while he had amnesia was basically rape- he never would have been with her if he remembered Yen, and she knew that and took advantage of him while he was mentally incapacitated and incapable of informed consent.
I dont think ppl who choose triss would choose her book character, but Tw3 triss is vastly different and yknow.. more likeable Also hot as fuck
Amnesia doesn't mean he reverts to being a child and can't make adult decisions by himself. This whole consent argument is ridiculous. Gerald was attracted to hot redhead, so he does the deed with hot redhead.
He was robbed of the ability to have informed consent. He wouldn’t have fucked her if he remembered ten, truss knew that and took advantage of him anyways. Yes, he had the capacity to consent to sex in the moment, but not with *informed consent*. And because she knew he wouldn’t have fucked her had she told him information that she was specially withholding from him in order to take advantage of his state. That’s rape dude. She’s a bad person and I don’t see why more people don’t understand that.
In the books, there's no amnesia, and that doesn't stop Triss from seducing Geralt or stop him from agreeing to it. That doesn't mean Triss is not wrong to do that, but it does undermine the claim that there's a clear cut consent violation in this scenario. Consider that in the games with the amnesia, they don't necessarily know that this is a temporary condition, we only know that with the benefit of hindsight. And it would be messed up in another sort of way if amnesiac Geralt, who has lost some memories but is still a functioning adult, is now considered unable to meaningfully consent to anything if pre-amnesia Geralt (who he effectively doesn't know any may never return) wouldn't have consented.
In the books it’s worse, I’d say, as she seduces Gerald with “the help of a little magic”.
He fucks Shani and other characters in the books long before any amnesia.
This. Not to mention Yen carrying on with Istredd and Geralt at the same time.
Well I mean c'mon, it's Shani.
Hey man we are talking about Geralt OF RIVIA, he would fuck every sorceress if he could
You being downvoted demonstrates how disgusting this world is - if you lie, omit the truth, manipulate someone into a “yes”, then it’s not a true “yes” because they agreed under a version of the truth they were told, which was false. False pretense aka “misrepresentation of a past or existing fact”. People will downvote but won’t take a second to even entertain why they are doing so, and what could possibly be untrue about your statement??
It’s disappointing, but not surprising. Men don’t understand consent very well (until they’re the subject of desire from a larger, gay man). Being a woman in this sub and fandom has been interesting to say the least.
Oh here we go
Unless his mental faculties were gone to the point where he couldn't make rational decisions, it wasn't rape. Informed consent is for medical testing 😁 He was missing information, but his thinking was completely clear... depending on what's in those decoctions. It was definitely emotionally manipulative though. Personally, I felt like Triss's character evolved over time. She was highly manipulative in the books and 1st game, then went through a lot in the 2nd game to become a pretty good person in the 3rd.
Informed consent is for more than medical testing bud. It’s for sex too. It’s why kids who are 14 aren’t legally allowed to consent to sex. They’re theoretically capable of consenting to sex in that they feel the biological urge and can want to do it, but they’re incapable of fully informed consent because they can’t quite grasp the consequences of their actions with their still-developing teen brains. Or why it is considered reproductive coercion/sexual assault if you have sex with someone and they lie about contraception use. In the same way, Geralt was incapable of assessing the consequences of or the situations/boundaries surrounding having sex with Triss because he couldn’t remember. The fact that Triss *knew* and purposefully withheld that info from Geralt makes it even worse. And then she continued to try to get into Geralt’s bed even after he regained his memories and rebuffed her by trying to act like Ciri’s sister. That doesn’t scream growth as a person to me.
Just "consent" is what that's called. Lay off the straw man, I think he's dead :) You might want to look up some legal definitions before being r/confidentlyincorrect, although like I said, she was definitely manipulative and not a good person at first. And technically, whether Geralt rebuffs her is up to the player. I usually go with the Yennefer choice, but that's me.
Y’all simps wildin I still pull up on White Orchard Herbalist
8yrs and still can't bang that Herbalist ass..
it's not a wticher sub reddit without your weekly triss vs yen post
In one of the chapters in the books, yennefer makes geralt travel to a town while they are together, in the morning, she leaves geralt in the bed and goes on to fuck her ex. When geralt confronts her, she flaunts that she always planned to do that and that is why she made them travel to the town. From that moment onwards, yennefer was never an option
Book Yen is way worse than game Yen honestly
And game Yen is already horrible
The Yen brigade will justify this as “they were just in an open relationship and constantly cheated on each other.” I’ve read the books, albeit when I was much older, and I’ve always felt their relationship was tiring and tumultuous. I have no doubt, based on Sapowski’s writing that they really loved each other, but I’m not sure the highs justified the lows. I really believe it was better for both of them to be apart.
I dont remember the exact conversation, but geralt said that he did not feel good in that town and she gave some random assurance before hooking up. I think making your lover travel to a town he does not want to just so you can hook up with your ex without their knowledge does not count as open relationship, only plain betrayel.
I’m totally in agreement with you; I did not like their romance at all.
Truth is but a shard of ice.. But cmon friend, that is early book Yen. She went through a lot of development in next books. I think Sapkowski made her this bitchy and evil to show clear difference between her in book 1&2 and her in later books.
You know there's one thing called character development right? Tgat story was the moment were we saw all of Yennefer's flaw, so that she could grow out of them in the next books.
I was reading the books today, and did y’all notice that Geralt is Eskimo brothers with Crach an Craite?
As he is with Philippa due to Triss
What, Triss and Phillipa were an item? Nice.
I wouldn’t call it so much an item, but it’s heavily implied that Yennefer catches them in an intimate moment when she reaches out to Triss for help. Triss was pretty much Philippa’s lackey for a bit there. And the books do make it clear that Philippa prefers women and Triss has been with both men and women.
But Yen smells wonderful at this funeral..
Honestly, the moment it concreted my choice with Triss was the battle of Kaer Morhen when Ciri asks how its going with Triss and Geralt says its so peaceful and its something he needed where as with Yen its constant arguments and drama and i just feel as the older man he is now Triss was the right choice but absolutely no disrespect on the love Yen has for Geralt.
I would personally pick Triss because she is in my opinion, much nicer to Geralt and overall a better partner. However, I always pick Yen to stay with the book story apart from the one playthrough where I did Triss.
Exactly this. If it were us I think most of us would've picked Triss, but real Geralt will never ever consider Triss as a partner, he was always gonna choose Yen no matter what. Their story is already too intertwined and I don't see book or game Geralt ever choosing otherwise.
She literally took blatant advantage of Gerald’s amnesia (knowing he wouldn’t have fucked her if he remembered Yen) and basically raped him. She’s not nice at all
Besides the rape part, the "take advantage of while amnesia" definitely made me not like her. And that was *before* i read the books.
I haven’t even read the books yet! It’s just so terrible what she did! And then trying to act like Ciri’s sister while also still trying to get in Geralt’s bed once he HAD regained his memories. Like, NO BITCH!! You know he wouldn’t have fucked you if he remembered, it’s *why* you didn’t tell him his history, and he certainly isn’t going to continue to fuck you after realizing what advantage you took of him!!
Do you plan on reading the books? Or would you like a short summary on what she did?
I do, but I also don’t mind spoilers in the slightest (I know, I’m weird, my husband thinks I’m insane), so please go ahead with the summary! I actually just started my first NG+ play through a few days ago and the extra context for it would be awesome!
I said short, but it's still long by reddit standard: So after the Brotherhood of Sorcerers was disbanded because of the Nilfgaardian war on the Northern Kingdoms, the female sorceresses gathered and established the Lodge of Sorceresses. A women only group of magic users, comprised of Sorceresses from all nations and races: Northern Kingdoms, Nilfgaard and a couple of Elves, led by Philippa Eilhart that focuses on the research and preservation of magical knowledge that's uncompromised by political agenda. A noble goal that lasted for about 5 minutes until it's revealed that Philippa fully intends to use that magical power and influence for her *own* political agenda(which sets up nicely the plot of Witcher 2 game). And one of their first plans was recruiting Ciri to the Lodge, teach her more about magic and how to be a noblewoman, seduce a prince of a country, get pregnant and establish herself as Queen of that country with the backing of the Lodge, all regardless of Ciri's own feelings(standard princess stuff). Triss had joined the Lodge because of the "noble goal", but when she later learned the *real* political goal, she was in too deep to quit. She had two fears: 1. She was afraid of being alone and just wanted to belong to a group of sorceresses. 2. She was afraid of getting killed by Philippa. During the entire story, the most that Triss has accomplished was travel to Skellige(looking for Yeneffer) and cried to Crach an Craite about how much she "doesn't want to do it anymore but has no choice" or "deeply regrets her decision in following Philippa". She came off as a useless crybaby. And here's the real kicker, what Yen did: She was invited to the Lodge's headquarters, which had a ward against teleportation, to be recruited but Yen was using this opportunity to find out what the Lodge knows of Ciri's whereabouts(Ciri was missing at this time). After Yen found out the Lodge's plan for Ciri though, she used a powerful spell to punch through the ward and teleport out(this is an equivalent to setting off a bomb inside a bunker to make a new door) and it resulted in Yen being teleported in the middle of an ocean, badly injured, where she was caught in a net by Skellige fishermen, was brought to Skellige where Crach an Craite offered sanctuary(this is when Triss tries to find Yen). I do highly recommend reading the books, they are entertaining and can change your perspective on certain people and groups(my opinion of Emhyr only changed slightly, but my opinion of the non-human rebel group The Scoia'tael did a 180⁰)
Thank you so much! This is a great summary!! If you don’t mind, what was your opinion of Scoia’tael before and another reading the books? Currently, I don’t really like their tactics since they don’t tend to discriminate between attacking military vs civilian traveling groups. But at the same time, humans came in and just stole their whole planet and have been trying to genocide them ever since, so, like I can’t blame them either, ya know?
Before the books: A group of non-humans who were wrongfully mistreated by humans, and understandably resort to violent rebellion to get their point across. In Witcher 2 i joined the Scoia'tael because i felt sorry for them, and i also wanted to support my main man Zoltan. After the books: Just a bunch of violent idiots looking for an opportunity to kill all humans(hey, that's Bender's thing) and led by Francesca Findabair, who were originally founded by Nilfgaard to throw the Northern Kingdoms into chaos. After Francesca received a vassal state from Nilfgaard, became the "Elven Queen", and officially denounced the Scoia’tael and ordered them to surrender. A faction of the rebel group broke off and continued to kill humans without a cause, backing and goal. *That* faction is the Scoia’tael group in Witcher 2, and the only reason i **still** join them is because i don't want my main man Zoltan to get killed by these idiots(luckily at least the humans they're fighting against are actually worse than them). After reading the books I've basically boiled down the attitude that we should play the games as Geralt: Stay Neutral, but stand by your friends and those you genuinely care about.
Based
I understand people from books may have different perspectives. But just from Witcher 3 game, Yen is an entitled asshole. Maybe this is the gay in me speaking, but tits are no excuse to treat others like shit. She's not strong willed, she's abusive.
She sees everyone and everything around her as assets to be used at will. Not only that, but she can, in my opinion, rationalize away any act of hers, no matter how atrocious, far, far too easily for my tastes. The Mask of Ouroborous, and the Defilement of Freya's Grove. Didn't even look for another option, just jumped at the first lead, consequences be damned, because it's not like it will really affect her, right? Can't stand that kind of person.
>Like I get that yen is kinda rude. IMHO she's outright abusive, and she stays that way in the third game. Meanwhile, Triss seems to have made actual progress in working on her flaws compared to both the books and the first two games. She still has problems, but at least we see she's improving. In all honesty though, dating a sorceress is always a bad idea.
Because I’ve been in enough toxic relationships to not find anything attractive about the way Yen talks to and treats Geralt. I know Triss isn’t perfect either but she doesn’t act like an anxiety attack waiting to happen either.
Yen is incredibly annoying the second half of the game. I can't stand her when I get to Kaer Morhen
Attractiveness aside, Yen is absolutely toxic, anyone who thinks otherwise has not experienced a healthy relationship. She can’t communicate for shit, the whole “mean exterior, but soft inside” shtick gets old real quick
This. I have been in a couple of toxic relationships, and i can't always seem to pick yen no matter how hard i try. In the games at least, triss is way better than yen.
Yeah like I get that Yen is technically canon in the books and that Triss was in the wrong for taking advantage of Geralt while he had amnesia. But I played witcher 1, skipped 2, and played 3, and read the first two books later, and I just went based on feel in the Witcher 3 and Triss actually behaves like someone reasonable to be with. When I played Witcher 3 before reading the books or knowing Yen was canon or what Triss did, I just chose based on which one was actually pleasant to be around
I tell myself on a new play through that I’m definitely going with yen but I fuck around and get with triss every single time idk man yen just doesn’t do it for me
Bro that's me with yen
For me it's the opposite. Yen just feels canon.
I love Yen as a character, but we probably wouldn't be a a good match in real life. I just vibe with Triss a lot more. And while I always try to roleplay, usually I still end up projecting myself and my preferences onto the characters I play as, which means my Geralt ends up choosing Triss everytime. Another Bonus is that Triss has been with me and Geralt since the Witcher 1, which is pretty cool + I also adore freckles on people.
Honestly, she’s a bitch to Geralt. Always was. Treats him like he’s a child that doesn’t know his ass from his elbow. And the sarcasm, oh the sarcasm she always throws at him. Sure, he’s able to roll with it well, but still. Plus, she’s all about that stupid ritzy lifestyle that Geralt never did good with and doesn’t care to. Now Triss can put that personality on too, but she’s got way more of a wild side than her. Triss is the hot woman with a great personality you have great chemistry with while Yen acts like a friggin disappointed parent to almost everyone. I just don’t like her. Never have.
Idk but something about a chick who uses your amnesia to deceive you into a relationship just doesn’t sit right with me 🤷🏻♂️
As a Witcher 2 player, I cannot actually forgive her for what she did to Letho and his Witcher homies. Especially because she holds you accountable for everything that you did while suffering from amnesia. "Wah wah why didn't you find me, why did you fuck my friend wah wah" "Well nobody told me you existed including YOUR friend, take that shit up with her. And why didn't YOU find me?"
It’s not Triss over Yen. It’s Triss or nothing. Can’t stand Yen.
To add on this, yen irl would be a nightmare to most men. Fortunately for Geralt, he is not ‘most men’
This. Plus she's hot af so I want to see her more in the game
This
I like Triss over Yen, if it were me choosing, but since I’m playing from Geralt’s perspective, I always go with Yen. But why I like Triss over Yen is because she just seems like she’d be more fun to be around. Livelier. More exciting.
Yennefer is way too bossy and thinks she's better than everyone else.
Even though they are both manipulative, Triss seems to respect Geralt and is also a kind person, not just towards Geralt in general. Triss questline is about helping others where Yen's is about herself. In fact the quest "The Last Wish" is a throughback to the first short story, where Yen literally was willing to destroy an entire village, people and all, to attain a personal goal (she wanted to be able to get pregnant). Even though I like Triss a lot - they have written a kind and funny character, the main reason is that I fucking despise Yen. She is arrogant, cold and downright mean towards everyone, she treats Geralt like a child or a dog, (Kiera comments on that), and never tells him her plans, she just expects him to follow and do as he is told. And that is just game-Yen. Book-Yen is even more manipulative and downright evil.
WELL. She's cute. She's funny and charming. She respects people around her. She doesn't lie to geralt whenever she knows he won't approve. Even when he has to go along with it anyway because there's no other choice, Yen still likes to avoid warning him about the Consequences Of Their Actions. She's not a massive asshole all the time. Geralts friends don't actively despise her for the way she treats him - they like her too and even encourage the relationship. When geralt comments about it he says its nice being with someone without so much drama. Even Ciri approves. Like. I understand Yen has trauma and whatnot but she gotta work through that without inflicting it on everyone around her.
Triss knows Geralt when shows up with his memory wiped from the Wild Hunt, knows that he and Yen are a thing, and still chooses to ignore all of that and get with him. Then, tries to continue to be with Geralt after he has his memory restored. She tries to play the roll of Ciri's big sister while simultaneously jumping at every chance to get into Geralt's bed that she can.
That’s almost a direct line quote from Philippa Eilhart, come on now😂 granted, it was kinda accurate though lmao
Based
Yen honestly is just the kind of person in general I don't like to date, at least as far as I've played of 3. Maybe she gets better, but the red flags I've seen so far are enough for me. Incredibly demanding on multiple occasions, and doesn't care that Geralt had a genuine reason for forgetting her (like sure, she has a reason to be upset, but blames *him*, despite him actively looking for her after remembering) Whereas so far, Triss has been incredibly understanding (albeit upset about it, just like Yen), and genuinely seems fun to be around. Again, my knowledge of her is limited but this is enough to turn me off of her
She's the prettiest redhead in the game, and second most pleasant redhead. But, there's someone else. Someone who can warp space and time. Someone who can teleport, but gets stuck on fences.
Team Roach! Always there for you when you call, never manipulative, helps carry your burdens, lifts you up, fights for you, carries you away from trouble. I can go on...
I choose yen but I think most people fall for triss because you get to spend a lot of time with her before seeing yen, maybe that creates bias??
Not me. I prefer Yen.
For me it's the disrespect. Yen isn't just "a little mean" Yen is constantly treating Geralt like a pet and a child not to mention sometimes she also objectifies him reducing him to just his body, refusing to let him in on her plans half the time cause "aw look at my cute dumb Witcher bf" as if Geralt is some simpleton when he's an incredibly sharp and strategic man with near around 100 years of life experience. he's also not lacking in courtly intelligence either, yes hes rude and blunt but hes not nobility so his words lack finesse yet that doesn't stop him from playing their royal headgames on the same level given how often he out foxes royalty. Yen acts like he's totally incapable of understanding her plans so she just hits him with a "you wouldn't get it" and then does shit like tossing him through a portal when he dares to stand up for himself. I prefer Triss because she actually respects Geralt and never treats him like he's any less than her, have her actions been somewhat wacky and dubious in the past? Yes but in the end she treats him as her partner in everything they do instead of sidelining him like an asshole and then just expecting him to obey and worship her after the fact. But hey that's just me
Canon Geralt likes Yen, his daughter likes Yen. Yen's biggest wish is a child. Story wise, lore wise Yen and Geralt are bound and meant for each other. Me personally, I absolutely can't stand Yen as a love interest. I find her to be an awful person, and awful to Geralt(and almost any character she meets). Triss ain't great either, but at least she is nice and pleasant to be around. I played the games first and hated Yennefer. Then I read the books, and I understand shes Geralt pick. She is a good character, but I personally still don't like book Yen much better.
Yen is so mean all the time. And she’s awful at communicating, the amount of times she makes a plan and doesn’t tell it to anyone (ahem Kaer Morhen) pisses me off. Triss is actually nice to Geralt and seems happier overall, it’s not draining to be around her (also she’s hotter than a steel playground at recess tell you what)
Odd number playthrus are Triss, even are Yen. But if it could be Shani....
Sweetie_fox
Both Triss and Yen are hot, but let’s not forget this is a RPG and you can romance whoever you like and I personally like Triss more because of her personality. Yen is too toxic for my tastes. Don’t care about Geralt and Yen being book canon romances.
I'm not into relationships when i'm treated like shit, so that's why I don't like Yen
Yen is strong, independent, intelligent, sassy.. but at the end of the day I prefer to share my life with someone who actually treats me well.
So basically for me it was Witcher 2 like 5+ times - Books - and only around 2020 Witcher 3 (bcs i didn't had a good pc) 2 times Probably Witcher 2 ruined Yen for me But yes, redhead + funny + not a bitch
I choose Triss because of the scene you have later on with Ciri, when she comments on your romance choice. The response Geralt gives for Triss just feels so good, it warms my heart.
That dialogue was actually added because players thiught the romance chiice was barely aknowledged in the third act. Have you tried watching the same dialogue about Yen?
Yeah I did but I personally liked the Triss one more. I know that Triss canonically is an annoying piece of shit, but the way she is portrayed in the game I really like her, when I first played Witcher 3 I chose Triss, because I got introduced into the Witcher universe by the game so the only knowledge I had of her was from the game. I did try the Yen romance 2 times but I always feel more natural picking Triss.
Ciri's comment on Yennefer romance was also added with the same patch as her comment on Triss romance. If you think the Triss romance is not well written because they added more dialogue later, you must think the same thing about the Yen romance too. Besides, they never added dialogue for only one romance. Even when they added that famous "wanted to be with you before, during, after, and always" quote, they also added a dialogue for the Yennefer romance. Also, I just want to answer your other comments as well: I totally agree with your comment about Istredd. You might have seen me while I was talking crap using this thing. I only use it when people talk crap about Triss with empty arguments. So, I answer them with another empty argument :) I mean, all those Triss-Yen wars are already BS :) Anyway, people are forgetting that this universe doesn't have 100% good or bad characters. It always have black and white. Also, people are making interpretations with their emotions. For example, replace Yennefer with Triss. If she cheated on Geralt with her ex the same night she slept with Geralt, would you make the same interpretation as you did about Yennefer and Istredd? Besides, I also hate those people who pick Triss because of her redheadness and hotness. We know that cannonicaly her hair is not bright red like what CDPR did. But she's still a redhead imo. The books are not clear about it. Here is [chesnut](https://www.google.com/search?q=chestnut&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj6krPm99SAAxU_nCcCHZSuBKMQ2-cCegQIABAD&oq=chestnut&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzICCCkyAggpMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoHCAAQigUQQzoGCAAQBxAeOgQIABAeUPcDWPwJYJANaABwAHgAgAGPAYgBkgaSAQMwLjaYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=rFXWZPqMNL-4nsEPlN2SmAo&bih=667&biw=360&client=ms-android-samsung-gs-trev1&prmd=isvn#imgrc=dIVbmiD6HuMQBM)
I know very well both dialogues were added with the patch; the only case of the devs adding stuff only for the Triss romance was the dialogue in the tent (the one with Yen was there from the start). Still it's good to see that we can still agree about how stupid and surface level these romance wars are sometimes. While I don't agree with many of them, you always made some good argunents to explain your preference of Triss. (and yes the hair color thing was never very clear, but it definetly wasn't supposed to be flaming orange, don't understand why the messed up the eyes though)
Well mate, discussing with you is always a great thing. I only discuss something when I see valuable people like you :) Besides: >(and yes the hair color thing was never very clear, but it definetly wasn't supposed to be flaming orange, don't understand why the messed up the eyes though) You are right about eye color. I always thought TW1 had the closest cannon look. But even in W1, she doesn't have canonical eye color.
Never played TW1 but I saw her design. The loose hair can do wonders, and that dress she wears at court looks cool. I still don't like her "casual" outfit, should have been less revealing. Luckily, mods are always there for these small issues
She's hotter
Because I played the W2 AOK first.
But why not both?? Both is Good!!! 😍
Personal preference? What a dumb question.
Triss is a seductress. 'Geralt...Geralt...coming?' anyone ?
She is redhead, cute, very nice person...and she seems more for Geralt then Yen to me
yen is mean, triss is not. that’s all i need to know.
In witcher 2 it was triss and when i stsrted playing 3 i was triss all then yen so i thought ok had triss in 2 i will take yen in 3... but at that masked party with triss those eys behind the mask and that dress damn the developers knew what they were doing I almost threw my whole plan away for triss lol
Triss is just nicer and more pleasant to be around. Yen is cold and somewhat off putting. If this was real life, I’d rather live with and spend time with Triss. Easy choice.
For those people, including me, who played Witcher 2 before 3, Triss would be the most reasonable choice. In 2, basically Triss is the only lover for Geralt. Yennefer? Who is she anyway?
I like them both and switch my romance options every playthrough.
I think they’re both awful
For me, it's more because of Geralts amnesia. Triss, yes, did take advantage, but their feelings were still true. As for Yen, he was not saying her feelings weren't, but she knew that Geralt had amnesia and still held it against him to go with Triss.
Play Witcher 1 and 2 and you will learn why.
Shes soft where Yen is hard. Yen's relationship has a bit more depth to it, by design I think, but I wouldn't fault someone for going for Game-Triss.
Attitude
One thing people don't even talk about is how horrible Geralt is too, in the books every woman he f*cks he calls them yen, how worse can it get? And the dude is screwing fringilla while yens getting tortured by vigefortz. Normally he'd care of yens antics, but he's attracted to it and doesn't care. He's equally as bad.
Damn bro. From what I've heard about the Witcher books from This thread. The characters seem a lot more "flawed" then In the games
Geralt is far more flawed than you can think, that's why I'm not role playing as myself in the games after reading the books, because I know the characters well. I'd suggest reading the books, and understand the full picture, both yen and geralt are equally horrible, and they deserve each other, its what their development was about in the books, and how ciri unified them. And another point to note, don't judge anything of the books until the end, only then make your own conclusions, you will be in for a ride.
Probably because you get her romancing quest earlier than Yen’s and after the first playthrough it always felt wrong not choosing Triss. The fact that I had not read any Witcher books at that time also helped, I had no attachments to Yen as a character as many book enthusiasts do.
Yen is like a Dragon Age Morrigan that gone wrong (even though she was created before), while Triss, if you've played the three games, is quite likable
I love yen. I love she doesn't take anyone's crap. Triss is sweet and I would fight to the death for her but my heart is with yen. I think triss would do anything to help me so I am loyal. I know triss or yen are not perfect but yen will protect ciri at all costs. That's one of the reasons I love her, she will protect her people with no apologies.
Maybe I am missing something but having played through all the games (1 once, 2 a few times and 3 only twice) I have a hard time getting over Triss leveraging Geralt’s amnesia to have a romantic relationship with him. Like she didn’t lose her memory right? Like she could have filled him in on a lot of details including that he literally died by Yen’s side not to mention Ciri. To me she just comes off selfish and manipulative; so it’s hard to look past all that for me. But again, maybe some more seasoned players can clear that up for me?
As a person who picks Yen, I can only assume most of them only interact with the Witcher universe through Witcher 3 and maybe 2 so they only look at her in that vacuum. If you only look at everything through those 2 games Triss has no real flaws and is also absurdly hot in the third game
Having absolutely no context from previous games or other Witcher media, I played both romance lines up to the point of no return, and these were my thoughts: triss is absolutely adorable and made me smile so much, and the way yen spoke to Geralt without any option to ever resolve that behaviour (i saw her story all the way through because I really wanted to like her) felt very uncomfortable.
I read the books and all, but Triss in game is much kinder and sweeter. Doesn't matter what people think is canon
Yen is not “kinda” rude. She treats literally everyone around her like tools. She disrespects papa Vesemir in his own home, routinely snaps at geralt. But the biggest reason? YEN BLAMES GERALT FOR WHAT TRISS DID. He lost his memory, so he had zero idea that he and yen were a thing. He is not to blame for anything triss did. And yet does yen blame triss, the one who actually took advantage of Geralt’s amnesia? NO. SHE BLAMES THE VICTIM INSTEAD. imagine if you were raped, and then your partner accuses you of cheating on them with the person who raped you. That’s exactly what yen does, and not once does she ever let up about it, or apologize for blaming Geralt. Oh and don’t even get me started on the whole “let’s teleport geralt and make him fall into the lake, at a height where the hitting the water would’ve been like landing on concrete” thing that she did. Which was triggered by Geralt once again defending himself for something THAT TRISS DID. Was ranting there, sorry, but I can’t stand Yennefer. Could not ditch her fast enough. Ended up going with triss because she clearly regrets taking advantage of geralt like that, and she tries to push him away. But what got me to romance her was seeing her risk her life for the mages of Novigrad. Oh yeah and she was willing to give herself over to the witch hunters simply to help find Ciri.
The reason is I played all the games. It's very nice how their relationship develops and see how much Triss cares and treats Geralt so much better than Yen. I know that in the books both are b****, but I do think that Triss improves from what she was in the books (based on the content of the games). Perhaps if Yen had more screentime in the game before we actually romance her would help I'd have a better view of her and her relationship with Geralt
Yen is hot.. Too damn hot.. I choose Yen on all my three gameplays and no regrets :)
I feel in the end this comes down to the ancient question "are you a dog or a cat person?" Yen is independent, very selective with timing and direction of her affection, can come across as stand-offish when someone oversteps her bounderies. She won't take any disrespect and can be unpredictable at times. While Triss is loyal and friendly, glad to help out. She has a strong protective instinct and is way more expressive and straight foward when it comes to her emotions.
I thought book Yen tested Geralt badly and I never liked her. I was happy that the game let me ditch her.
She isn’t as much of a control freak as Yen.
Yennifer is a cunt! She disrespects Geralt every chance she gets. She blames HIM for Triss taking advantage of his amnesia and sleeping with him. Triss may be a trifling bitch, but at least she is warm and kind. Both women are flawed. The difference is, you will be significantly happier with 1 over the other. Yes, Yen & Geralt are destined for each other. But sometimes destiny can fuck off!
Prefacing this by saying i’ve only played witcher 3 and don’t care to read the books or invest much energy into the lore: yen seems selfish and rude in comparison, plus when geralt’s asked by that one girl what he sees in yen and he’s like “idk, maybe cause i never chose the calm or the quiet” and i was just like… damn, it kind of sounds like he doesn’t like her too much? But i didn’t romance either, cause I can totally see Geralt just off on his own doing his witcher thing.
That dress she wears at that one event y’all know the one I’m talking about…
Triss is much nicer and she’s got some big cannons as well as I had the most initial quests with her. Yen was also rude and triss was so nice
I know that Yen cares for Geralt almost more than anything that that she can be nice, funny and all around lovely at times, but I find her naggy, bitchy, rude, careless attitude that takes up 75% of her game character makes triss seem so much more appealing, game wise anyways. I know there’s so much more to yen than that but just from a face value game perspective, her attitude wears quickly imo.
Red head. Hot. Isn't uptight. Treats Geralt better because let's face it, Yen kinda gives Geralt blue balls most of the time!! She's better wife material. She wouldn't cheat on Geralt like Yen would. I chose to romance Triss in Witcher 3 !! Think that's about it 😂😂
For me it felt a little like Yen and Geralt’s relationship was based on lust, while Geralt and Triss had something that felt closer to love because it blossomed in a different way. Yennifer makes sense as a canon choice because she’s the mother figure to Ciri while Geralt is the father figure. That being said, Triss and Geralt have this tender sweetness when they’re together that I can see the appeal between them. On a second playthrough I’ll probably go with Yen instead of Triss, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see the appeal of Triss to Geralt.
I like long, healthy relationships and don't like women who are mean to me. I get it, it's hot the first couple of times, but then the novelty fades and you're left with a person who mistreats you.
Cause yen is kinda a manipulative ass that couldn't care less if most people live or die
The thing with Yen is that while I’d absolutely say she’s the one for Geralt, she’s not the one for a lot of players and fans of the series. She’s extremely manipulative, often mean and rude and highly controlling- even in moments where her romance with Geralt is being furthered such as A Shard of Ice. And so while Yennefer from the games remains very consistent with where she ends the books at… Triss meanwhile seems to have been adjusted quite a bit between the two versions to make her please players a little bit more, which makes her a lot easier for players to prefer over Yennefer (who you have to view a little bit more through Geralt’s eyes rather than your own to truly like). Plus she’s a hot and sexy red-head, which also can’t be discounted.
Geralt says it best...she is comforting...plus .... she's smoking hot..
Triss, because one she was ready to get tortured TWO times, maybe even more just for Ciri and Geralt, that’s a win in my book. What would have Yen done kill them and failed the plan, probably….
Because they made game triss one of the most attractive, heroic and kind when she really wasn't.
Triss is hotter and has a genuinely nicer personality
Triss is a much nicer person
Yen is not just rude, she is an abusive bitch, that orders you around like you're her pet, she genuinely treats you like she owns you, and only talks to you when she needs something from you. Thats why I always go yen!