Talk:Yennefer/@comment-44186882-20191118084229

Seems like the biggest argument for Geralt and Yen being truly in love is the idea that Geralt showed signs of attraction to her prior to the big wish. But that's pretty juvenile to say; "love at first sight" is something one says in hindsight if a relationship succeeds. Geralt was initially infatuated with Yen and probably only lusted for her, they were too new to each other for this to be any early sign of love. Geralt's slept around, even while apparently loving Yen all this time, which really illustrates that he's a man of infatuation and lust, not love. The wish then just gives the impression that their connection is entirely fabricated by a magical bond, any seeming act of love between them after the fact is entirely suspect. This is what makes it so likely for many that his love for Triss to be more legitimate, if he truly loves her at all. They have no manufactured bond, so whatever chemistry exists isn't suspect.

Honestly, though, much as I enjoy these stories and the games, Geralt's a bit 2-dimensional. His whole character is predicated on the hackneyed "Lone Wolf" trope to a T. It's all he is. This is why I personally think it a smart move by the devs to let the players choose who Geralt should get with, with the option to sleep around, because he's really just a guy looking out for himself; even when he's saving others, it's for his own sake. He does it for coin or because it's part of the Witcher ethos; for greed or obligation, not altruism. Chances are he'd end up with Yen, simply because the wish binds them and she likes treating him as her whipping boy; not to say Triss doesn't do that herself, but she's free to skive off and find her someone else. Yen will always find her way back to Geralt, a mix of the wish binding them and her over familiarity with him. It isn't love, truly, it's just mutual parasitism.

It's notions like this that make me hope that if any future Witcher games are made, by CD Projekt or another company, they'll permit players to create their own Witcher character and have more free roam in the setting, not beholden to preconceptions of who the character is supposed to be from the books or otherwise; pick a gender and a Witcher school, scour the Continent for monsters and such, screw and love whoever you want without flooding comment threads and forums with endless "Yen vs Triss" debates that'll never be settled.