Netflix's Witcher Doesn't Understand Yennefer

[@c292r89dvbh]

To put it simply: Anya does a good job at playing this version of Yen. The only problem is this Yen is not actually Yennefer at all.

[@eillhart]

I think Anya's actually pretty charismatic. The Yen she plays is awful but I hope the actress will be able to get some other, actually well-written roles and continue with her career.

[@FeuerblutRM]

Doesn't change her ugly face though, but I agree nontheless.

[@yandespar3490]

yeah, she's obviously talented but the writing is awful and inconsistent. and, honestly, she's just too young for this role. i hope, though, she gets noticed and cast in better roles where she can use her skills

[@c292r89dvbh]

@@yandespar3490 I agree. Personally, and no disrespect towards Anya, I don't think she could play Yennefer had she been written accurately.

[@RED-my9hl]

she deserved better

[@justynadzt7728]

Ironically, Sapkowski is a left-wing, progressive writer who created a novel full of interesting and strong female characters, and Netflix has turned them into selfish hysterics and idiots who are manipulated by others.

[@dodonixx953]

This show is why hyper-idividualist will make any political prescription the worst possible version of itself.

[@eillhart]

I think what gets me most is how proud Hissrich is of herself. She really thinks she gets "hate" for making the Witcher more progressive and feminist than the original. I'm Polish and I'm a woman and the books really changed my outlook on life and power, showed me that inequality can sometimes be surpassed with enough intelligence, dedication and luck. It's not gonna happen always and for everyone, the system is inherently cruel and unjust but even poor, ugly peasant girls can sometimes beak out of it. So it pays to study hard, to be ambitious, to try to climb that ladder. At the same time, you cannot forget the important things: family, human connections, common decency. With so many different female role-models I really got to see a whole spectrum of roles a woman can have. You know who's one of my favourite female character (and love story) in the whole saga? Queen Zuleyka. That's how good the original, written by a middle-aged Polish man raised in a pretty traditional country, was.

[@wilhelmrk]

Basically what they are doing is turning the system they perceive as discriminatory on its head and implementing it again with a female supremacist view. It's the You Go Girl, get that bag attitude where they make Yennefer naturally deserving and born for greatness without putting in the work. Because she is a reflection of how These, often extremely privileged, authors see themselves.

[@TheBayouCritter]

Good talk.

[@CaulkMongler]

I like the original take. It’s realistic. Most times in life you must make sacrifices in order to gain something greater.

[@joshridinger3407]

i think she either didn't read the books or didn't pay attention to them. the show actually constantly undermines its female characters. the books are considerably more feminist.

[@irena4545]

And the level of heartbreak when you realize that it was Zuleyka's misplaced trust in Sheala that got her husband killed is a level of writing that Hissrich cannot even dream about.

[@hermina_grayson]

"When you have power like this never apologize" is probably the worst lesson in TV history

[@ArgentWolf95]

I prefer "with great power, comes great responsibility." from Spiderman. Yen also understands it. It's like they intentionally changed that.

[@jio5680]

Because no dictator ever lived by such motto)

[@_peepee_]

the girlbossification of hollywood

[@sweetviolents29]

My brain instantly translated it jnti “When you’re the showrunner, never apologize” 😞

[@XunluT]

44:00 That's because Geralt is not a passive character in the books. He claims to be passive, he often SAYS that witchers are supposed to be neutral and unfeeling, but in fact he is NOT. He cared too much to stay neutral, cue the events in Blaviken. He even spares monsters if possible.

[@LadyAhro]

Everyone misunderstands this about Geralt. He may call himself neutral but he is also obviously LYING to himself, as though jaded, he still cares.

[@XunluT]

@@LadyAhro I agree completely!

[@rajahava]

@@LadyAhro He does not lie to himself at all. He is extremly self-aware. It is a constant struggle between rationality and emotions. Constant fight betwenn ideals and brutal reality. He pities himself for having scruples. His emotions are just slightly harmed by the mutation but often he wishes that he was cold and emotionless like it was intended. It all starts with the story he tells about his first killing as a witcher. That instead of praises and graatitude he got fear and disgust.

[@boianko]

I haven't read all of the books, but from the first two I did read this struck me as a huge difference between the adaptation and source material. In the books I got the sense that he did buy into the idea of Witchers not having emotions, maybe as some sort of defense mechanism to deal with the horrors of the world. It's an excuse to force himself not to care or feel that he begins to realize is just not who he is.

[@leviHeichou]

Yeah. That a big point in the books many times. Its especially obvious iin the end when it is this refusal to be neutral that gets him killed.

[@saladdodger4722]

The way the showrunner speaks about Yen and how they promote her, you really get the sense that they view her as some kind of strong feminist icon, the strong independent woman fighting in a patriarchal opressive world. But as this video points out, they've made her story an example of a common anti-feminist argument that women shouldn't be empowered to find happiness outside the home because they'd be more happy raising children. They also seem to fall into the common trope of saying that 'women only want equality when it comes to pay and voting but not the draft or other aspects'. I feel this sort of goes hand in hand with the fact they seemed to have changed Geralt from a gruff exterior with a loving, caring and thoughtful personality to just the gruff exterior, basically playing in to this idea that men should be stoic to be cool, mysterious and attractive. For all this talk of the Witcher being 'woke' it sort of falls apart when you truly dissect it and I don't think there could be a more embarassing display of how to fumble the ideas and viewpoints intended to put across than this show.

[@r.daneel.90]

The show is woke exactly for that. Because they're just pretending to be progressive, inclusive and with a good moral/ethic message. But in reality its nothing more than a mask for the underlying narcissism, resentment and hypocrisy.

[@kellharris2491]

The women in the draft argument was always stupid to me. As a woman who has actually served the truth of the matter is women fought to be in the military and to be on the front lines. Not the other way around. But the truth is the Military doesn't even want women. Not really. They only want so many and then they have no need of them. Many people are against the draft period. During WW2 women ran the country including much of the manufacturing of military equipment. As well as raising all of the kids. That some people use the draft to denigrate women and say they shouldn't have the right to vote is just disgusting.

[@tomcustis9272]

I think that is the main argument against woke entertainment though. It’s incredibly surface level and unsubtle pandering to a certain political persuasion. Genuinely deep and thoughtful examinations of feminism etc don’t irritate people. It’s having on the nose “you go girl boss” moments thrown in at inappropriate moments that is jarring.

[@saladdodger4722]

@@tomcustis9272 I think most people who unironically bitch about 'wokeness' and 'politics in muh video games' doesn't want to hear anything constructive about feminism. It's just when these ideas are done well, subtly and woven into good storytelling, they're too dumb to look that deep at it, hence all the people who think that the likes of Fallout or Squid Game are pro capitalism.

[@SleepWalkerWW]

In the books, Yennefer and Geralt are each about a hundred years old. Their mutations keep their physical state close to their physical prime, but the experience of the past years does not disappear anywhere. Yennefer is a kind of granny with experience, self-confidence and cynicism accumulated over a century. She is still capable of kindness and empathy, but not easily and not towards random people. I'd say that Yennefer and Geralt's encounters stretched across the timeline in the stories show this well, as well as the fact that Yennefer, even with people she really cares about, can't completely let go of cynicism and some manipulativeness.

[@melinaalba63]

I love that you really put an emphasis on Show-Yennefer being so special and important because of her trauma, which basically means that if she would not have had this trauma and wouldn't be miserable mentally, she wouldn't be special and interesting. I hate it when shows or whatever do this kind of thing. It really infected my mind as a teen and even as a young adult it still somewhat sticks with me, the thought that I will inevitably be uninteresting and basic if I overcome my mental health issues and traumas. It's such a horrible mentality to put into a piece of media, such a horrible lesson to teach...

[@porcelainchips6061]

I'm physically disabled in a similar way to how Yennefer was shown and the whole sex scene really disturbed me / grossed me out. Without being explicit, I will say that you can't perform like a porn star or game of thrones character when your back is like that. It bothered me, because it made me feel like it was a blatant display of the writers not knowing/caring about what kind of a disability Yennefer had; that they wanted us to pity her, but that they didn't understand or bother to understand what they had created in this version of the character. I pushed through and kept watching, but that one scene was really difficult for me to see. I'm usually one who believes others are too "soft" and could toughen up, but that moment got me in the not-good-audience-response way. I did not expect realism, but I was disgusted at how Yennefer was only disabled / clumsy when the writers wanted to remind the viewer, but then forgot about it when the character WOULD be affected / limited in their ability. For any writers out there looking for advice about how to write a similar character arch, here's some advice; only make the character as disabled as you are willing to look into; if you don't want to research (not deep-dive, I mean literally just surface-level) a condition, then don't and instead go with what you are willing to put some time into grasping. Disabled people will not hate you for not being 100% accurate, but they do get upset when a character is only "sometimes" affected and otherwise seems not to be. Also, as one extra suggestion, you can definitely have the newly "cured" character be happy to be healed; in fact, showing them do a little thing they could never do before in the mists of some scene with a different focus would be cute. Like, say in a dialog-heavy situation the hunch back, who is now cured, realizes they can lift and place an object with ease that would have hurt them before; or that they can hop or skip and it brings a smirk to their face. Nothing big, or dramatic; it could just be a tiny moment of realization. By contrast, I felt like in the adaption of the Witcher Yennefer's physical impairments just cease to be part of the script, with her and everyone else only noting how she has become beautiful. Really I'd argue she'd love that effect, but would immediately take notice to how she feels completely different. When your spine is twisted, you might find it hurts to breathe. A dull pain, but it's there and gets worse from running, or lifting, or lying down. You might also find there's just a lot of pressure from tissue and bone pressing on each other. There's a million sensory aspects from becoming un-disabled that the person themselves would notice before realizing that their outward shell is now prettier. Would that (becoming beautiful) be what other characters notice first? Of course, but it wouldn't be what the afflicted notices first.

[@katarzynak8436]

Warto zwrócić uwagę, że w książce jest opisana inna historia, w której Yennefer traci i odzyskuje sprawność. Mianowicie po bitwie pod Sodden traci wzrok, a później go odzyskuje. Po tym wydarzeniu wydaje się bardziej refleksyjna, w książce można znaleźć kilka fragmentów podkreślających, że docenia możliwość widzenia.

[@AW-uv3cb]

This is a fantastic comment, and thank you for sharing your first-hand insight.

[@MiraBoo]

People were shocked when I said that the tortuous transformation scene Yen undergoes is something I’d do without hesitation, as if my reasoning was superficial and mad. Then I reminded them that I had major spinal surgery. I was thinking of the relief from constant pain, the ease of mobility, how there’s no long or complicated recovery. That temporary torture, much like my surgery, would be totally worth it. Improved aesthetics were just a lovely bonus of, not the reason for, undergoing such a torturous transformation. Also, can you imagine, for a moment, just how horrific being pregnant would be as a disabled hunchback? The pressure on the spine, the ribs, the hips. There’s a high likelihood-depending on just how twisted her spine is-that she couldn’t even safely carry, yet alone deliver, a child. Giving up her ability to conceive a baby isn’t nearly as huge of a sacrifice as the show makes it out to be since Yen likely would have required magical (or vastly advanced medical) intervention to survive having a kid. Adoption was always Yen’s most feasible path towards motherhood. In the show, that is.

[@jujubaoil]

It keeps me up at night knowing that Lauren S. Hissrich might never realize how badly she botched this adaptation. I only hope someone she respects gives it to her straight and shows her all the bad decisions she made for the show.

[@mg1721]

ohh she knows how much she botched it, she was completely aware of what she was doing.

[@jujubaoil]

@@mg1721 I mean, I'm sure she knows what she was doing, but it feels like she's proud of everything she's done so far. To her, it probably wasn't a botch at all. Just all according to plan.

[@Synthia17]

@@jujubaoil She definitely knows, people told her that straight up but she has too big of an ego to listen and it's pathetic. Pretty sure she at some point begged people to come back and watch season 3, she knows what she did.

[@pierrecibandit3877]

@@Synthia17 she did do that, and its just plain out pathetic.

[@ebonyPM]

in my opinion she just used someone elses character names and world to create her own story with her own characters and her own agenda. She wasn´t even trying to actually adapt the original and she is persuaded she made it better. So I don´t think that recognition is even possible for her, sadly. I would like to see if she would be treating the source material the same way if it wasn´t written by that terrible boogeyman of today known as straight white male.

[@odalicio]

The books had me obsessed with Yennefer. The game polished that into actual love for the character. The series however was an assassination of everything that mattered about Yen... I mean she's still mouthy, but she doesn't really say anything anymore

[@franciszaldivar337]

I've actually mentioned on a few fan sites I'm a part of, that Netflix's Yennefer acts like an immature petulant teenager whose personality is boiled down to unnecessary cursing and temper tantrums, I mean if you want a good example of her character from the books, read the "Dear Friend" letter

[@LeutnantJoker]

Exactly. Yennefer in the books could be very loving or a total ICE queen with a very share and brutal wit. Gerslt knew when to back away when she was really pissed. She had a temper. But she was never acting like a spoiler 12yo throwing a tantrum. In the books I knew she was dangerous, in the show I can't even take her seriously

[@anitaremenarova6662]

Yeah, they're not exactly selling me on the "almost 100 year old sorceress with decades of experience" character when she acts like a child all of the time.

[@dotkiarika1026]

@@LeutnantJoker I think part of it is also like refusing to let both Geralt and Yen be fuck ups too because whenever they were angry it made sense

[@Synthia17]

I also think Yennefer got the harshest punishment as an "adapted" character. Netflix did not get anything about her and it shows, she ends up vile, spoiled even. Putting her backstory first was a mistake, at least if it's done so bluntly and poorly. It was fantastic to peel her layers as you read all the way till the Hindarsfjaal Freya vision and then fierce struggle against Vilgefortz while Geralt was fucking around in Beauclair. Can't imagine this botched show ever getting anywhere near that level. Also Aretuza was a school strictly for girls so I don't know why it's made to be patriarchal, boys had Ban Ard. I'm looking very much forward to the next parts, I was already immensly frustrated with this travesty and you showed me additional issues I didn't even think about or couldn't put into words. Hope those videos blow up so people can see why it bothers fans so much and its not just "careful, your racism/sexism shows".

[@joshridinger3407]

i don't see how aretuza is made 'patriarchal' in the show. once women graduate from there they enter the wider 'brotherhood of sorcerers' in the books and that seems to be what's depicted in the show. the show does amp up the gratuitous grimdark shit to 11 though, making the environment some orders of magnitude more abusive and exploitative, probably in a vain attempt to appease all the fake fans who think the witcher is supposed to be like warhammer fantasy or something

[@Synthia17]

@@joshridinger3407 There's no "wider brotherhood of sorcerers", they're all just mages, some more powerful/older/wiser than others, you don't join anything. They also made Stregobor and Artorius Vigo way more important than they were, for some reason being top dogs in the mage community? Having any voice in how Aretuza should be run and what will mages do in politics? No idea what's that about, Tissaia and Margarita were running Aretuza and it was just a school, not some giant institution to be fought against.

[@joshridinger3407]

@@Synthia17 there's literally a governing body made up of both male and female sorcerers: the council and the conclave. in the show, tissaia doesn''t turn girls into eels because stregobor makes her do it lol. that nonsense has nothing to do with patriarchy.

[@Synthia17]

@@joshridinger3407 Those are there to protect magic and its interest or get rid of rogues and those who might hurt the mages by engaging unethical practices. You don't get to join a brotherhood and Aretuza has all female governance. And of course, the whole eel thing is ridiculous, I mean why do they even have meetings anywhere near Aretuza and Ban Ard isn't even mentioned. Stregobor should sit in Kovir while Artorius isn't even a Northern Realms mage. The politics are all messed up from the start, so are the rules of magic in the show universe.

[@joshridinger3407]

​@@Synthia17 the council and conclave decides on whether the mages will support wars and stuff, what kind of political pursuits their members will engage in, what kind of magic is allowed, and so on. so yes, there is a broader community of mages outside of aretuza and ban ard with a governing body, and mages become subject to this institution after graduating from their schools. they mostly rule with a light touch, but they do rule. and yennefer actually does mention ban ard in one episode when yelling at istredd (she calls him a 'ban ard boy').

[@jansandman6983]

She is reflected on how the producers of this show is really like. People who refuses to accept consequences for failing to connect with the fans due to their actions and instead blames the fans calls them toxic, racist and terrorists.

[@verenamenzel8958]

she prooves, that she is not only ignorant, but stupid too. How can she talk a lot of bs, regarding the huge fan community the witcher books and games have worldwide.Its up to me!

[@Beatmyguest001]

I think the frustrating thing was that there WAS a chunk of genuine racists who were anti-Yen before the show even STARTED. They’ve overshadowed the vast majority of genuine criticism for the show being, well, pretty piss poor. I enjoyed the first season to an extent, but I haven’t even watched any of the 3rd - I have no interest left. But that isn’t because of the individual actors faults, it’s bad writing. And these genuine complaints have been diminished by the small but horrible minority who were genuinely racist and sexist in their criticisms of the show. They’ve shot themselves in the foot.

[@tomcustis9272]

@@Beatmyguest001being against race-swaps isn’t racist though

[@MartinzW]

@@Beatmyguest001 They never really overshadowed proper reviews though. Every proper critic, even those who label themselves as conservative, never raised an issue with it.

[@JuzefaWingedCat]

I really like it how Yennifer in the books and game, feels like a real human, real woman. We have so few believable female characters like her in fiction.

[@colbunkmust]

"there's a lot of *me* in Yennifer" Yeah, that explains a lot...😬

[@5PctJuice]

One of the things that annoys me/pisses me off the most about this show is how solid the main cast really is. Anya is phenomenal for the role she was given; she just deserved to be given a better-written character.

[@FeuerblutRM]

You really think of her acting as good? I find your standards concerning...

[@5PctJuice]

@@FeuerblutRM acting well is still acting well even if the character is badly written, dude.

[@LadyAhro]

​@@FeuerblutRMI bet you think Hayden is a terrible Anakin too. Rather than ever thinking critically about the dialogue he was given

[@bronwynbeistle8317]

@@LadyAhro No one could have done anything good with those lines. Poor Hayden Christensen.

[@LadyAhro]

@@bronwynbeistle8317 It's so sad. But he's clearly very skilled at showing powerful emotions in scenes despite it all. Many of his best scenes have no dialogue and focus on his expressions as he turns to the dark side.

[@alarsonious2071]

Dude. Thank you. This articulates perfectly why the TV show totally fails Yennifer.

[@kristianstepancic3440]

Man made a legendary story critique two years and is now about to give us a wholeass series 🙏🏼

[@djengefrett]

makes me sad how many book readers actually hate yen. she’s such a dynamic character that honestly feels like a real person to me. her motivations are so compelling and she deeply loves and cares about ciri and geralt. she’s complicated and imperfect and i love her for it.

[@simolaine1099]

She deeply cares for Ciri so sacrifices her to a demon? It's complicated I guess

[@irena4545]

@@simolaine1099 Book Yennefer does no such thing, of course.

[@simolaine1099]

@@irena4545 I could've misunderstood but it's kinda ambiguous which Yen he's talking about.

[@alexmashkin863]

Who are those people? I assume you're talking about people who read the books and hated Yennefer character. Never met anyone like that 🤷🏻‍♂️ I'll freely admit to being annoyed by her at times, but all in all it is probably my absolute favourite female fictional character ever

[@alexmashkin863]

Who are those people? I assume you're talking about people who read the books and hated Yennefer character. Never met anyone like that 🤷🏻‍♂️ I'll freely admit to being annoyed by her at times, but all in all it is probably my absolute favourite female fictional character ever

[@alienplatypus1596]

The essay is designed to be stand-alone, and can absolutely be viewed as such. However, there is some additional context and insight gained if you view the video within the wider context of this five part series. So I do believe it is worth watching Part 1 (Netflix's Witcher Doesn't Understand Destiny) if you haven't yet to take away as much as possible from the video. Either way, I hope you enjoy the video, and wish you all a great day!

[@GangreneSerenity]

You had my heart when you tore down ACO. Are you ever going back to gaming or are you doing the whole, “if it pulls me this way I’m gonna talk about it” nonetheless I’ll keep your shit on repeat because I can be a zombie sometimes and the way they did the Witcher feels like sandpaper toiletries. Man I have nothing to say other than I hope you don’t stop man

[@JL-nb1yc]

I have always felt something was wrong with Yen, but I didn’t understand what it was. This is so insightful and you help explain many things I feel as a gut instinct. Yenifer is not a victim, she’s the victimizer.

[@yilz123]

How’d you make this epic video series? Are you a writer?

[@TheBayouCritter]

You had me at "be"

[@Minisloth27]

Pogged

[@witcheraficionado]

I love book and game Yen so much and the shows's version disappointed me on so many levels. You've done such a good job taking the writing and the narrative apart, I am really looking forward to your next videos!

[@zolikoff]

There is no "show version" because it's not the same character at all. Netflix just used the same name as it did with everything else in this series.

[@eillhart]

Also, why is Hissrich in every interview? I think that's the first time I see a writer/producer be present during nearly every conversation with the cast. It's like she's there to jump in and start explaining her choices if the actors are unable to...

[@mg1721]

she's there if in case cavill starts talking and that ends up showing people how much she botched the show and how much of a hack she is. which happened anyway.

[@eillhart]

@@mg1721 Cavill's probably the biggest threat but I doubt Freya and Anya were allowed to have any independent thoughts on their characters as well. She's controlling them all. Are there any other shows in which the writer is such a star, giving so much interview also on her own? Her ego is incredible, it killed the show in equal measures as her inability to interpret complex literary text and making Yennefer a self-insert character.

[@drinkxyz]

She's egocentric, a narcissist

[@Hammer1987]

So Netflix Yennefer is just a self-insert power fantasy? That seems to be a common trend in adaptations these days.

[@goaway6339]

Unpopular opinion: Yennefer's wardrobe in Season 1 was awesome. It made her stand out as someone whose choices were unique and a reflection of how she saw the world differently. They were also (mostly) super pretty. In comparison she spent most of Season 2 looking dowdy and broken, and then Season 3 so far she looks like someone picked up some discount work blouses on the way to set. So all that gorgeous power just got washed away.

[@colbunkmust]

Imo they looked way too modern, too haute couture, not enough historical influence. That's the issue I see with most of the costuming in general. Historical fashion was still meant to stand out, hell, whole systems of sumptuary laws were formed to separate the haves and have-nots and much of that had to do with wearing clothing.

[@alicjakempisty2729]

her fashion choices made her look plain stupid. she went hiking in the mountains to find and fight a dragon in a fitted ankle-length coat with a giant fur collar like she was going to the opera. she went INTO BATTLE in a long dress made of hundres of strings flying around with her every move. they made her an idiot.

[@angrynerdgirl]

Her season 3 costuming was just depressing. I didn't love her s1 costumes but at least they were interesting.

[@dotkiarika1026]

Honestly if I have one criticism of book Yen is that her only wearing black and white is too heavy handed as a symbolism. I also don't get why, as someone who enjoys her newfound beauty, she would limit herself like that.

[@colbunkmust]

@@dotkiarika1026 she's had like 90 years to figure out what type of style she likes. It's not "newfound beauty" by the time Geralt meets Yen, and in the books we never actually get a firsthand account of what Yen's life was like when she was a younger sorcerer. It's all told through Geralt's perspective. Yen could have worn colorful clothing for the first 50 years and decided that black and white suites her better.

[@bubblegum6076]

And I feel resentment for Tissaia, one of my favorite sorceresses, the most powerful and oldest witch in the world, in the Netflix series she behaves like Yennefer's lap dog, only runs after her and cries. The show has been terrible since the first season.

[@melkerahtagadatsoin-tsoin6016]

I lost it with her and Vilgefortz. I loved her in the books, it was so far from anything she would do

[@murfeel1173]

To be fair, she's Vilgefortz's lapdog, not Yenn's. XD

[@machi536]

its funny that i think they didnt adapt a shard of ice from the books bc it would make ppl dislike her, but were down to writing an non existent plot about her taking geralts adoptive daughter to get sacrificed 😭😭

[@Ruimas28]

The bottom line is: The writers are terrible! They only throw traits around randomly as they feel like it. They have absolutely no idea how it all should work together and how it all should build a story together. Original, adapted, whatever. THEY CANT WRITE!

[@CaulkMongler]

It’s bc they don’t understand the original characters. Since they don’t understand the characters, they would’ve never been able to adapt it. So they wrote modern interpretation crap that’s shallow and makes no sense narrative-wise.

[@Xenono54]

I disagree that "she isn't a Mary Sue in the show because she makes mistakes". What matters is how other characters perceive mistakes and how it changes this character's arc: if no one reacts to mistakes properly, including the character in question, that means the writer is not seeing them as mistakes and considers the Mary perfect and spotless still. A mistake needs to have a meaning, not just be there for "NOT MARY SUE" card. Edit: I forgot to thank you for this video, you are on point so often it's baffling.

[@MartinzW]

My CEO would pride himself about admitting his shortcomings - proudly presenting it to the whole company. And arguably, he did admit some uncomfortable things. But when confronted with an exact thing he wrote in email, he goes "I have never used to that word. Those who use it are wrong". Lying. Because that was one thing he did not control narrative for. My point is, Netflix Yen, is Mary Sue because her mistakes are driven by narcissistic narrative, essentially, they don't present her as someone with deep fault but rather that she had no choice and is a victim. So it's a surface deep.

[@Xenono54]

@@MartinzW the victim part is so spot on. That's what they do these days: present Mary as a victim and anything she does - however messed up it may be - is disregarded by characters and plot, because "she had no choice/she had to do it". While I would argue: characters having to face consequences for their decisions - be they in-the-moment or (especially) conscious - is exactly what moves character forward and evolves them. And in essence, what makes a character Mary Sue condenses into exactly that: absence of character evolution.

[@MartinzW]

Couldn't ignore - 23:18 - " I moved myself up through the system and I feel like it gave me the best possible education" , NOO, no it doesn't. Education is about multiple perspectives, data and self criticism. You alone moving up through certain situations just gives you one perspective and letting you ignore shortcomings. So those that are not charismatic, pretty and well off that didn't get the opportunity to move up through the system are less educated? If nothing else, it may make you ignorant of your own advantages. It's not the best possible education.

[@shawnamiller191]

"Lavender and Blueberries" that's so fitting, like an off brand

[@anbuookami13]

The approach of blaming everyone else and never accepting responsibility is just a general thought process nowadays. I love the insight in this video and analysis. Yen's toxic behavior and actions are celebrated

[@MrBell-iq3sm]

I don't think it's a recent trend. It's much older.

[@persona2grata]

I think you hit the nail on the head in terms of the epic vs the saga. I haven't really enjoyed the 3rd season very much, but my favorite part of it were the moments with Ciri, Geralt and Yen interacting as a family, even with the awkward transition from Yen being willing to sacrifice Ciri and betray Geralt right up until the end of last season. What I like about Geralt as a character is his world weary status as an outsider of society, rejected by the very people whose lives his skills safeguard. He's simultaneously bitter of and thirsty for what regular people get freely and what he feels like he can never, and maybe doesn't even deserve in his own eyes, to have. Then along comes Ciri and Yen and like a oasis in the desert he sees the possibility of having something of that familial love for himself, and because he's a hard but ultimately good man one you want the three of them to have that together, to heal those wounds the world inflicted upon them by finding each other. It's ultimately a personal story and the politics and power games of others don't matter except as they act to keep them from coming together.

[@harisy1916]

Problem with modern show adoptions is that the creators want to write their own on fanfiction.

[@MadhuKeehl]

Yen have always been my favorite character ever, 'cause I've never read such a empowering yet realistically made women in fiction. I was very disappointed by Netflix adaptation of Yen, but until now I didn't realized why so clearly. I've always had the feeling that something was not right with her in the show but apart from the shitty dialogs and her victimistic personality, I didn't know what was so wrong. A don't let me start with her relationship with Geralt (The Last Wish is my favorite story ever, where their absolutely perfectly imperfect and real love starts and I couldn't believe what they did this it in the show...💔). I love how you've understood and explained the complexity of her in the books and the horrible version they did in the Netflix show, butchering her personality, real strength and beauty. Thank you so much for this video! ❤️

[@7Z7A7C7K7]

Oh FINE, I'll rewatch your AC Origins video. Again.

[@kiris1323]

This is an incredibly well thought out, explained and informative video. You killed it dude

[@lex_law]

omg when you said Yen's your favorite character I knew this is going to be what I needed ever since this show came out (I dropped it after s2)

[@flipina]

I am glad that I watched the series first because now I can forget all about it and get the books. Helps that i have short memory. Season 1 confused me because of the time spent with Yennefer and i wasn't into the books and games. There was something off about her arc and personality that you put into words.

[@MsAlhartt]

Мне кажется, они сделали с Йеннифер то же, что сделали с Мулан в Диснеевском ремейке. Теперь она не тяжело работала над собой и использовала свои сильные стороны, нет, она родилась с силой, превосходящей всех вокруг, и женщин, которым запрещено пользоваться этой силой, и мужчин, которые поощряются за использование этой силы.

[@martar.2085]

Exactly!

[@sniper-fd5ug]

“Nine out of ten of them die” lmfao

[@jindrichdolejs623]

I haven't the video yet, but Yennefer in the books didn't choose to be barren, she was born like that, in Witcher universe magic abilities correlate strongly with unfunctioning womb

[@carloszambrano1124]

2 years and nothing. Now it’s suddenly a weekly show. Nice video, more please 🙏

[@deec75]

I founds this so helpful, thank you. I admit to not having read the books and essentially missing out on the crucial aspects if these characters. I had enjoyed s1, and less so s2, but found s3 a drag. I gain so much more insight and pleasure from videos such as these, so thank you for making them!

[@itsgonnabeokay9341]

As someone who has 10 play-through's in The Witcher 3 and who chose Yen every single time, I completely agree with you. I love her character and yet I completely hate her "Netflix version."

[@addaelliott2651]

You have helped me understand the series so much, i was confused as hell before watching this

[@bonbonbot8444]

It hurts me so much. I love her character so much. I love how realistic she seems as much as she have seen in her life. I love her character so much. I feel frustrated with this show. I hate how makers disregard her important characteristics that made that character a gem and what made this story famous on the first place.

[@christiewong8889]

This is an amazing, passionate defence of Yennefer. Apparently the things that are left to enjoy about her come down to Anya Chalotra's acting. The "angry victim" Yen we get in the show is clearly not what we were meant to get, as you said, but I will say that Anya is compelling in her biting anger, I didn't expect a harsh voice to come out of a girl like her. I was drawn to watch the Witcher just from general hype, wasn't a fan of the books or the video games and how subpar the show turned out to be definitely did not make me want to check them out. Hearing your explanation, I'm just SO, SO surprised that the show got greenlit at all. It's not even a Frankenstein of an adaptation, it's a shitty, beginner's fanfic that keeps the character's names and appearance and nothing else. The story's soul is gone!

[@Ashbrash1998]

Honestly, it remind me of another character that readers disliked at first and then loved later, which is Jamie Lannister. Granted its two different fantasy books by two different authors but its omething I noticed.

[@ВладиславЯмковский]

Isn't sorceresesses sterilisation, at least partially, deliberate in books (not because of show reason, ofc)? In pamphlet "The Poisoned Source" de Vrie calls for sterilisation of all mages to control their population and because untrained magical abilities lead people to become "insane slobbering oracles"

[@Ruimas28]

Well, we know Tissaia did call for it in the books, but all evidence points towards she did not get it to pass. What evidence? . Yennefer´s relationship with Tissaia would have been completely different if Tissaia had been directly responsible for Yen loosing her fertility. There is no way they would have been as close as they are in the books. . When The Lodge first joins, they plan to marry a magic user to the Kovir prince. True that they say none of them are good options. However, they specifically say that it might be too late even for the younger ones among them (Triss and Keira). The way they say it makes it look like they are simply too old to be fertile anymore. If they had been under a school which at any point had practiced forced sterilization it would have come up in a talk to marry one of them to a prince. And even Rita, the leader of Aretuza, says that her girls are just not interesting enough. She does not say they will all be sterilized. So by Rita´s words we would know that if sterilization was ever a thing, it is not anymore by the time Rita became responsible for Aretuza. And, once again, because we have seen both Rita, Yen and Tissaia acting as friends in the books.....it would be incredibly weird if Rita had went against such a main rule already in place by Tissaia. Would Rita even had been endorsed and supported by Tissaia if she wanted to revert Tissaia´s work? Unlikely! So mostly the internal book logic says that Tissaia only called for it. Most people fail to understand that Tissaia´s call was in the books for other reasons. Its there to set up that the offspring of magic users might be dangerous. Which both Geralt, Ciri and Vilgefortz are examples. Its there to set up that some magic users are out there having babies. So much so that it scared Tissaia. We can quite easily understand that it was not just your random rare baby which would scare Tissaia and force her to call for full sterilization. It also confirms that a good number of magic users do remain fertile in their youth. Once again, if it was not like so, Tissaia would not have any big reason to be concerned.

[@joshridinger3407]

it's unclearif she is ever able to actually enforce this, and evidence against it is that yen is more or less open about her desire to cure her fertility and nobody treats her like she's breaking any rules for doing so. they just think she's doomed to failure

[@murfeel1173]

Even though Yenn remains my fave character on the show, I agree with EVERYTHING this video said. U_U The problem is the storyboarding/writing--they fumbled the bag by not remembering who she is in CANON, and WHY Ciri & Geralt love her, even when the rest of the world doesn't. They had something truly special with their take on Yenn, but the timeline's are all over the place, none of it's cohesive, and they said to heck with continuity. So Yenn comes off contradictory & hypocritical, when in the books she's one of the most focused/consistent characters. She CAN be unlikable (it's canon), so long as it's for the right reasons. What's wild is that this Yenn's closer to Dandelion of all people. I ship her more with Istredd than Geralt! It's also a problem that most of the fans ship Dandelion with Geralt, too. Like wtf, this poor woman had several sex scenes & showed her boobs MULTIPLE times, what do you mean you don't ship her with Geralt!? Oh right--because Hissrich actually hates Geralt/Henry so much that she forgot he and Yenn are actually supposed to be in love. XDDD

[@silkwormchan]

How tf the idea of Yen being born extremly powerful and therefore more wothy of everything and being exeptional can be also about prejudice against people with disabilities?? Isn't it literally the same "treating others differently because of the way they were born"? And how tf it also coexistis with "actually societies where people treated equally are bad"? It almost sounds like Hissrich truely believes Yen's mistreatment would be ok if she wasn't genetically predisposed to be more talented with magic and it is ok to mistreat others if they aren't exeptional 🤔

[@CaulkMongler]

She’s a Mary Sue self-write-in.

[@antonkukucka7062]

It’s crazy how workg they understood the books. Did they even read them?

[@CaulkMongler]

With the drivel they gave the audience, I’m sure they read it but lacked the comprehension to understand the complexity.

[@Arassar]

Yennefer's ridiculous back story was the biggest reason I threw my Netflix subscription into the trash.

[@DEEAD666]

Same here!

[@LeutnantJoker]

Not to mention the pointless Pornographie scene in that backstory which Also made me Lose sll respect for the actress. Those scene were gross, pointless and out of place, just trying for the GOT shock factor

[@Pedro_Le_Chef]

Another excellent longform argument. Eagerly waiting for part 3.

[@Esperion12]

Apart from what was said in the video (essentially the victim mentality for xyz reasons), I mostly got the idea from Yennefer: "no children = no happiness". Did we stumble and this absolete idea somehow now is the universal norm? xd

[@TalesOfBalkanMagic]

In other words - book Yennefer is a grown, mature woman, and show Yennefer is not Yennefer at all.

[@GangreneSerenity]

He had me at assassins creed origins when his one and only was out and now he’s on a tear!! Wooooo go ALIEN

[@majorbombas]

I think that Yennefer doesn't need tragic past to be WHAT she was in books. She lived like 200+ years, saw things that would break strongest minds. We do not need to see her past, we need to see her changing and evolving into loving motherly figure... And we didn't got that. Netflix is doing everything backwards. We got her backstory we didn't care about, because it doesn't bare any weight on her character later in the series. You can literally cut every scene with hunchback yennefer and nothing changes. And before anyone says "Oh, but it removes context of her behaviour" no it doesn't. In almost every scene she is in, she talks about THE SAME problem she has ever since they infertilised her.

[@noctoi]

Absolutely. She's the ultimate caricature of a victim who became an abuser. She's meant to be striking and memorable but she's NOT a nice character, she's fundamentally selfish and oblivious to the needs of others. I mean she got Geralt into a relationship by drugging him and r*ping him! She grows as a character, but she's an anti-hero at best. I'm SO angry that they messed with that. It could have been SO powerful if they'd let her have her own conflict she was originally written with rather than retconning it. Yennifer's one striking redeeming feature in the books - particularly when her and Geralt first got together - was that in the books/games she grabbed life and revelled in it. She moulded life to her whims and gave no apologies. She may have been an absolute asshole, but she was utterly unashamed and unapologetic.

[@davidhoracek6758]

Well, this makes me really sad, because it makes so clear that all they needed to make the show good was already written on the page.

[@shinaxia7474]

Yennefer in the series is an abomination for strong and liberated women and reduces a woman to one thing - an incubator. "I want to leave something behind." Good Lord, can't a woman leave a legacy in art, in science, in the generations she taught wisdom and magic? Is the only way for a woman to secure her inheritance is to give birth to a child? As a woman, I refuse. I know a lot of women who gave up their personal development and career to give birth and raise a child. Some are happy about it, others are not. This is a very individual issue. Because I also know women who did not start a family, for various reasons, and the lack of children does not make them worse. If this show respected women, it wouldn't make a liberated and strong sorceress desperate who sold her uterus for Magic and then regretted it even more desperately. In the book, Yen was ok. I didn't like her, but I respected her. I can't watch this in the show. She's disgusting as a character. Well, this is my personal opinion.

[@ronaldood4678]

What is terrifying and so insulting to women is Yennefer is portrayed as a woman wanting a child because she desires to carry on her legacy, unlike the books where she desires a child simply because she so deeply wanted to be a mother. The former choice is out of spite and selfishness, the latter is out of real love and desire to nurture. The show is trying to sum up feminine or motherly desires as one sided and driven by selfish goals, at least how it came off to me. The story with the golden dragon in the books showed that so well how the real Yennefer wants to be nurturing, especially at the end when she was caring for the baby dragon.

[@priestX145]

“It makes her a hypocrite who constantly plays the victim.” And with this single line I feel how Yenn becomes a kind of avatar for for the female empowerment types in the writing industry whose own limited and narrow view of the world shapes how they write characters and stories. There’s nothing wrong with female empowerment, but the way most Americans women understand the concept is it odds with Sapkowski’s works.

[@janorlowski2761]

If i recall correctly the is a Chapter intro in the first or second book from Tissia to the mages, about the dangers of having kids as a mage. That they could have uncontroleble amounts of power. So she speaks in favor of Sterilisation of all sorcceresses novices. In the books I also saw it as a choice to sacrifice fertility for power.

[@ghoulchan7525]

wouldn't that make it so they would slowly die out?

[@janorlowski2761]

No, because new mages are trained as children from non magical parents. Some of them just got the money to send them to Aretusa/ Ban Ard and some just got the talent. Nimue for example a book charakter.@@ghoulchan7525

[@janorlowski2761]

No because like Witcher they get new novices from parents that werent Wichers or mages before. Children with a natural gift for magic. @@ghoulchan7525

[@mrmostlyharmless]

I find these shows are like parasites. They suck the juice out of the host material and corrupt it. They are living off good, sucking what they can off it, then discard it. The show is already a husk of its former self since Geralt left.

[@silvermoon332]

i've only seen the show and yen is my favourite character, but it's a shame that her hypocrisy never really gets challenged the way you expect it to be. the decisions she makes don't make sense sometimes, and finding out that's because her characterisation clashes with the source material is interesting. it would have been nice if they picked a side and did some version of the character justice

[@cttommy73]

I don't understand what the author meant by Yennefer is supposed to be a character readers "hate". Hell, I say she is the best character in all of Witcher. Triss, on the other hand, is a character you can hate for how hypocritical and dumb she was written. Hell, I find most of the characters you are supposed to hate less hateful then Triss. And it is in no way me saying I like or condone them. It's just they are typically more upfront with being evil and selfish then Triss.

[@djengefrett]

triss, as a part of the lodge, literally wanted to use ciri for her elder blood (like all of the villains) to create a prophesied baby that the lodge wanted to steer in ruling the north. she’s unbelievably hypocritical.

[@CableAnna]

Looking back I now understand why I was so confused with Yen in the show. I had to rewind back to figure out what was the motivation to do something because it just felt contradictory in multiple occasions. Bad writing.

[@iBe_ImmorTaLiiTy]

"When you have power like this, never apologize"... Bang bang bang, you die and you die and you die! ... Why Should I care? My mommy figure in my life told me it was alright to do whatever the f*ck I want because I am powerfull. (Only thing missing is that she would say LOL at the end of her "I am powerfull" haha).

[@marty.m2933]

Yeh. I don't want to be that guy, but...can you imagine someone saying that to a male character? I guess that would be problematic, but it's okay this way (except it goes absolutely against everything Yennefer taught Ciri in the books, but I guess we're used to that by now). 🤮

[@SorceressWitch]

She was my favourite character after playing the game and then i read the books and liked her even more. The show changed her views which didn't need changing. They never understood her character. Feel bad for the actress because the writers messed her character up.

[@dBl8418]

Amazing. I hope one day somebody shows these to Henry Cavill, I’d be curious to hear his reaction to the points discussed in the video. Great work.

[@LunarSpawnSerenata]

No need. He might aswell agree. Why you think he quit?

[@Snapdragon0112]

Supposedly they wanted to film a big sex scene with Gerald and Yennifer. The story goes that Henry Cavill refused because the love between the two was not physical but emotional. If that story is true, it just shows how much he actually understood and cared for the books.

[@angela_merkeI]

They often fuck in the books.

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

Goes to show that just because the writer is a woman, they will write good female characters. Sapkowski understood women better than Hissrich does.

[@cttommy73]

He understands women the best. Just wished he understood men better. Like, 90 - 95% is good, the 5 - 10% of the male characters were written like thrash.

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

@@cttommy73 Really? I never felt that. There are a lot more men than women in the books overall, the spectrum is wider, but I think they're pretty decent. What do you mean?

[@LunarSpawnSerenata]

That’s sad honestly. :/

[@micaelasparrow650]

It always annoyed me in the Witcher that Yennifer was always whining about the witches "taking her choice" to have a child. Like they didn't lie to you about what was going to happen. You knew what the consequences were and you still asked for it. This was her own choice. It's one of the reasons I couldn't stand her character.

[@Meechda76]

Thank you for this.

[@theinkwitch13]

This is what bad 'feminist' writing is. Hissrch thinks she made a feminist icon when the original Yen was already one. These feminist directors ( Looking at you Elizabeth Banks ) just take great female characters and then strip them of their entire personality so that they can have a feminist puppet of 'badass woman'

[@sophiehallen6048]

My man, I am not as invested in the Witcher (yet, I will get to the books soonish) but I really love your video style. Thanks :)

[@nara-yana]

Netflix's *Yennefer* turned out to be the showrunner's mouthpiece and self-insert instead of her own thing: she became what the showrunner interpreted her to be due to reader's bias.

[@jeanneg1628]

ahh one of the most cathartic things in the world - listening to someone else systematically take apart a piece of media you disliked and explain precisely why you didn’t like it. perfection. love this so far

[@CaulkMongler]

Great character analysis. It seems the writers of the show truly have no appreciation for the depth of the original character - they ended up writing in less depth.

[@AMTrox96]

This character arc is a weird adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal

[@JenniferFuss]

Season 3 doubled on the switch of Yennefers character back to the book that it feeles like being spinned into nausiation o.O

[@momokazi3215]

Yennefer is one my favorote book and video game characters. I absolutely adore her story! It keeps me up at night what Netflix has done. If they wanted an IP just to make money, all they had to do was follow the source material, its a gold mine on its own due to how compelling and brillant it is.

[@maxpower2480]

I as someone with no skin in the game (have yet to read the books and play the games) I didn't mind yen at first. Yeah, let her be an ungrateful shit and hypocrite. These people exist after all and can be fun to watch. And yeah, fuck the system(s). Even the ones that benefit you. All of this works if you want to have a deeply unpleasant anti-hero. But then you can't just have them go 180° every time your story needs them to be a hero without showing us why. People can be incosistent, but their motivations usually aren't. Thanks to your videos it all makes a bit more sense now. They basically planted different characters in an existing story without tinking about the implications that would have and actually doing the work to follow through, but rather forcing the fit.

[@gwynbleidd1917]

Yes, and aside from all the disgusting right-wing bigotry, you now know the main reason most book fans despise the show. They truly fucked up the character development and plot in really stupid ways that put them in a position where they either have to retcon a bunch of their idiotic writing, or just scrap major parts and themes of the books.

[@sofianaji6726]

Yennefer falls in love with Geralt because he sacrificed his last wish for her. His selflessness and generosity touched her. This moment in the book made me so emotional 😢. However the netflix version...

[@FreakazoidRobots]

This is the best argument I've heard for why people don't like the first two seasons. Very good points.

[@aleksandrastojcic970]

She wanted to have peace and for everyone to leave her alone with their bullshit. All her life she helped others and dealt with her problems alone. Once in her life, when she wanted to be a woman and enjoy having a child, no one had an iota of empathy for her. Beauty, self-confidence, and freedom were not important to her because of her as her, but she had to regain all that in order to be a good example to the child. She didn't want to touch anyone first until they all tore her apart for their selfish beliefs.

[@supern0is349]

this is one of the best analisys, not only of the witcher series but of media in general that i've ever seen on youtube. Great work

[@unfilthy]

When writing an adaptation, one needs either a good measure of humility, gratitude, and respect for the privilege, or, alternatively, to be so outstandingly good that your talent can cover the checks your ego writes. Hissrich seems to have neither the former nor the latter. She doesn't have the humility to adapt the source material faithfully, but her belief that she can improve on the original (you know, the one that inspired the fandom that allowed the show to be created in the first place) is not backed by her abilities (that she thought she could write like Nolan nearly killed me; even Nolan can't always write as well as Nolan...).

[@manofmartin]

An hour and change on just yennifer. How long would your video be on the whole show? I'd love to see it! You hit every point like a master jewel cutter making a princess cut diamond!

[@jermainegrays]

Bravo. Great analysis.

[@tomcustis9272]

What’s sad is that yen gets by far the most exploration as a character in the show. It’s bad but no one else rlly gets anything at all.

[@2wolf5]

Honestly Yen is not so hard to describe once you know all there is to know about her. She is still a complex character. A person horribly abused in her young years. But putting in a few words, she is a person, that just seek to be loved, to have a normalish family, to have a child. And despite her constant sleeping with other men, there have been many times where you can see she only truly loved Geralt and no one else, even though she was afraid to fully commit to it since she wasn't 100% sure Geralt loved her back as much as he did. Netflix didn't even made her character they just slapped her name on some Hollow piece of clay.

[@Buzzabeel]

I thought Yennefer was the best part of S1, but this video made me realize that it was really Anya Chalotra’s acting that I loved, and not the actual character.

[@Spewwow]

My binge continues onto part 3! this is better than the show!

[@GamingWife42]

The TV wrote her as a Millennial/Gen Z lol

[@RuailleBuaille]

She's a self-victimising, entitled and selfish character in the Netflix "adaptation". 21:20-23:04 is spot on. She made the choice, at the time it aligned with her goals. Regretting it later is one thing, but blaming others for it? Nah. She's been written to be incapable of growth and self-reflection it seems. Shame, because Anya seems to be a good actress. Would have been interesting to see what she could do with a decently written character who was more than an endless loop of repeating cycles with no depth. Edit: haha, Alien Platypus says the same things in the next section. 😂

[@WafflezDay]

The writers absolutely went out of their way to change characters and how the story plays out. It's pathetic.

[@gameboyterrorysta6307]

I disagree with idea that writers sacrificed "characters" for "plot". There's no plot in this show. Making up unrelated fetch quests without any cause and effect or even trying to ground them in the created world isn't plot.

[@happyburial]

This series is phenomenal. I really want to express my gratitude to you for voicing these arguments. A good deal of the online discourse about The Witcher fails to grasp the fundamentals of what makes the books so unique. (and to a lesser extent the games, not that they are inherently lesser, just much less theme-driven.) So many people that criticize the show do it on a very unsavory level, bashing the casting (coincidentally focused on the female side of the cast, but muh waifu), while in other videos often elevating superficial things to be franchise defining - stuff like "evil is evil" etc. I guess what i wanna say is: Thanks for a Witcher Critique that understands Sapkowski as the sassy, highly political author that he is.

[@vivanesca]

if you like this I hope you watch Curio's take on the difference between show and book and games Geralt!

[@Dahello90]

Netflix Yen is such a mess. Book Yennefer is good example of "strong (female) character"