Talk:Geralt of Rivia/@comment-25526161-20150607200853/@comment-64.124.147.2-20190122202622

He just doesn't/can't really wear his emotions on his sleeves, either as a result of his mutations (which he had more of than most witchers), or just from good old fashioned trauma. Indeed as others have said, he is not a heartless monster by any stretch, although he is constantly characterized as such by nearly everyone who doesn't get to know him (something that also compells him to hide his feelings beneath a mask of apathy). Moreover, his struggles with his emotions frame much of his character development. He must constantly grapple with his instincts to do something decidedly foolish but "noble" in the heat of things, which he usually does anyway, and which usually gets him into trouble. His quest to rescue Ciri in the books is muddled by his struggles with emotions - here is something he desperately needs to save by any means, including by sacrificing his own life or the lives of others, and yet many times he still interrupts this mission to help people in need. By the end of the last book, having finally finished this quest and finding something he very much wants to live for, he decides he's had it with being a witcher, and that risking your neck for anybody else or some lofty idea is foolish, and yet he STILL takes up his sword to defend innocent strangers to the death in that moment.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this character and his development. Despite living in a brutal world that makes one cynical by nature, despite being literally designed to be an uncompromising killer, despite having a quest in front of him that means everything, he doesn't shrug off his feelings or what he knows to be right. Geralt is one of the most noble, human characters I've had the pleasure of reading about and I myself aspire to be a little more like him. Someone who doesn't choose between one evil or another, who doesn't compromise their morals, who treats everyone equally and stops at nothing in pursuit of what is right.