Tear Jerker / The Witcher (2019)

The one death Geralt will remember for a long while.

Season 1

Episode 1: The End's Beginning

• We were yet to see the whole picture of Cintra, admittedly, but the first episode builds up the Cintran Royal Family (Calanthe, Eist and their granddaughter Ciri) as a quite loving (and even fun enough) family, even as they are subject to the usual tensions of dynastic and royal politics. Considering most royal families in many fantasy shows/stories have been Royally Screwed Up, it was a genuine delight to see such a good enough family ruling a prosperous kingdom. And then the invasion of Nilfgaard happens, Eist falls in battle, Calanthe is mortally wounded, and Ciri is forced to go on the run.
• Renfri's backstory. She was believed to be cursed and treated like a monster her whole life, simply because she happened to be born at a certain time. Even if she was cursed, one gets the sense that being treated so horribly played more of a role in making her into a bitter, violent person. Her mother died and it's insinuated her stepmother wanted her out of the way so as to supplant her with her own children (which could put a different spin on her supposedly 'acting out' as a child). Stregobor hired a man to kill her, later intending to dissect her body; however, the assassin took the time to rape and rob her as well. Renfri killed him in self-defense before fleeing, unable to return to her life as a princess and turning to crime to survive.
• Renfri's fate and its effect on Geralt. He desperately tries to persuade her to give up her vengeance and leave in peace. Consumed with hatred for Stregobor for ruining her life, she refuses and fights Geralt. He really doesn't want to fight her, but she leaves him no choice. He manages to disarm her, and it seems for a moment she'll surrender...but then she lunges at him with a dagger, forcing him to drive it into her neck. He holds in his arms and gently lowers her to the ground as she bleeds out; her final words aren't a Dying Curse but a reminder that "the girl in the woods is [his] destiny". When Stregobor comes to claim her body, Geralt threatens him, furiously refusing to let him take her and cut her up just to prove he was 'right'. Stregobor then turns the townsfolk, whom Geralt had just saved, against him and they begin hurling rocks at him. Stregobor mockingly tells Geralt he'll never be truly accepted no matter what he does, and even the young girl who looked up to Geralt and whom he saved from Renfri tells him to get out and never return. Subsequent episodes show that Renfri's death haunts Geralt for years to come.

Episode 2: Four Marks

• Yennefer's life when we first meet her is just awful. The poor girl suffers from facial deformities and a twisted spine that gives her a noticeable hunchback and it's clear she is punished for it constantly. We first see her trying to be friendly to a young couple her own age and they mercilessly beat and insult her just for handing them a flower that one of them discarded. Her stepfather treats her like dirt and sells her to Tissaia for four marks, which is less than half of what he'd have sold her a pig for. While she's locked in her room at Aretuza she punches a mirror in disgust at her own reflection and then tries to cut her wrists with the shards. She's saved only to be told by Tissaia that no one would blink if she died. By the end of it you just want to give the poor girl a hug.

Episode 4: Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials

• The death of the baby princess Yen is guarding. Yen spends the entire episode risking her life for the baby and her mother, and seems to be the only person in the world who genuinely cares about her; her own father ordered her assassination purely because she's a girl, while her mother tries to offer her to the assassin in place of her own life. Yen manages to escape with the baby through a portal, but the assassin throws a knife at them, which fatally strikes the infant. Yen desperately tries to heal the baby, but soon realizes it's futile and sobs over her. Then there's Yen's sad monologue to the baby, where she apologizes for failing to save her, and bitterly sums up how miserable and disappointing both their lives have been (and would've been in the princess's case):
  "I'm sorry you didn't have a life. But if truth be told...you're not missing much. I know it's easy for me to say with warm breath in my lungs, and you with nothing. Still, what would you have had? Parents? Well, they're the ones who wrote your last act, so not much lost there. Friends? Most likely fair weather. Lovers? Fun for a bit, I'll admit, but all eventually disappoint...and let's face it, you're a girl. Your mother was right about one thing. We're just vessels. And even when we're told we're special, as I was, as you would've been, we're still just vessels. For them to take and take...until we’re empty and alone. So count yourself lucky. You've cheated the game and won without even knowing it."
  • She then gently tells her to "sleep well" and buries her with her own hands so she won't be left for scavengers.

Episode 5: Bottled Appetites

• Tissaia's visit to Yennefer is very much that of an estranged mother-daughter relationship. Tissaia clearly wants to help Yennefer: trouble with the Brotherhood, trouble with fertility angst, trouble with an "intolerant king"; her student is facing a lot of trouble, and is trying to shield her from it as best she can. She offers forgiveness, acceptance, and purpose at Aretuza, but it comes out as scolding and orders. On the other side of it, Yennefer has too much pride and inferiority complex to accept help from anyone. All she sees is someone who wants to control her and take credit for her accomplishments. Making it all the sadder, the more important business she refers to is overseeing an orgy, rather than something worthy of her talent.
• While there's plenty to be said about Yennefer putting the townfolk under a spell that traps them in an orgy, there is something tragic in the fact that she does not take part in it, instead sitting alone, fully clothed, with a look on her face that carries no expression - for all that she did this as a sort of retribution, it clearly carries little enjoyment for her all the same, an indication of just how lost Yennefer has become since leaving court, that the power she has sought has brought her no satisfaction.

Episode 6: Rare Species

• Most of the episode was quite an adventurous fun romp—with the episode almost ending happily for the morally acceptable/non-villainous characters. Even Geralt's situation seems looking up, with Jaskier's company and Yennefer's growing appreciation of him. And then ironically, Borch, the old man they saved and helped for the episode, lets slip a few well-meaning words that leads to it tumbling all down.
  Borch: Thank you for protecting it. And thank you, Yennefer of Vengerberg. I can see why Geralt didn't want to lose you.
  Yennefer: What does that mean?
  Geralt: In Rinde. The djinn.
  Yennefer: That's why we can't escape each other. Why I feel this way inside.
  Geralt: No.
  Yennefer: It's not because of anything real or true. You made a wish. It's magic.
  Geralt: It's real, Yen.
  Yennefer: How could we ever know? Disregard for other's freedom has become quite your trademark.
  Geralt: I made that wish to save your life.
  Yennefer: I didn't need your help!
  Geralt: Like fuck you didn't! And you, you flit about like a tornado, wreaking havoc, and for what? So you can have a baby? A child is no way to boost your fragile ego, Yen.
  Yennefer: I'll take advice from you about children as soon as you take responsibility for the one you bound to you and then abandoned!
  Borch: That's enough. I'm going to save you both a lot of hurt with a little pain now. The sorceress will never regain her womb. And though you didn't want to lose her, Geralt, you will.
  Yennefer: He already has.
  Geralt: You wanted to show me what I was missing... there she goes.
  Borch: What you're missing is still out there. Your legacy. Your destiny. I know it. And you know it.
  (Borch walks away. Jaskier, oblivious to what went down, approaches.)
  Jaskier: Phew! What a day! I imagine you're probably...
  Geralt: Damn it, Jaskier! Why is it whenever I find myself in a pile of shit these days, it's you, shoveling it?
  Jaskier: Well, that's not fair.
  Geralt: The Child Surprise, the djinn, all of it! If life could give me one blessing, it would be to take you off my hands.
  Jaskier: (clearly hurt and resigned) Right. Uh, right, then. I'll... I'll go get the rest of the story from the others. See you around, Geralt.
  (Geralt is left to stew in his emotions, left both by his longest companion and the woman he loved)
• The death of the hirikka, though primarily Black Comedy, is also quite sad; Geralt states that the creature was starving and would have left if they'd given it some food, and it gets hacked to death by an overexcited dragonslayer.

Episode 8: Much More

• The flashbacks to Geralt's early childhood and his mother's abandonment of him are sad enough, but the heated confrontation he has with her while delirious (though it's unclear whether it's really her or a dream) is particularly heartbreaking.
  Geralt: Come closer. I want you to look at me. How do you like my eyes? Do you know, Visenna, what they do to a witcher to improve his eyes?
  Visenna: Stop it.
  Geralt: Do you know that it doesn't always work?
  Visenna: Stop it, Geralt.
  Geralt: You don't get to use that name. Vesemir gave me that name. I need to know why.
  Visenna: No answer will give you what you want.
  Geralt: Three out of ten boys survive the trial. Tell me at least you didn't know this before you left me on his doorstep?
  Visenna: It's time to sleep. There's valerian in the medicines.
  Geralt: You trusted destiny rather than trying to find me yourself.
  Visenna: Don't ask any more questions.
  Geralt: Why?
  Visenna: The answers will only hurt us both.
  • As she fades away, he still begs her not to go.
• As mentioned over on the Fridge Brilliance page, everyone is back to calling Geralt "the Butcher of Blaviken". Jaskier has stopped singing about Geralt, and—given that 'Toss a Coin' is a reasonably popular ditty—he's probably gotten a lot of requests that he's turned down.
• To muster up the chaos to wipe out the Nilfgaard army, Yennefer has to, at Tissaia's urging, relive every moment that's ever hurt her. It becomes clear in the blast of fire just how much pain Yennefer has been carrying around her entire life.

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Season 2

Episode 1: A Grain Of Truth

• Vereena seems so innocent, despite being a predatory animal. Her death is heartbreaking.
• Meanwhile, Nivellen might have a LOT of terrible things on his track record like raping a priestess, slaughtering his servants in a frenzy after she cursed him, and allowing his bruxa lover to slaughter the nearby villagers, but he is also a man who is desperately lonely, thanks to all those circumstances.

Episode 2: Kaer Morhen

• Eskel's death is this both in and out of universe. Geralt and Vesemir are both devastated at his Cruel and Unusual Death of being infected by a Leshy, and bewildered as they've never seen it occur before. And since Eskel ended both the book and games series alive, it shows the audience that established canon will not necessarily protect characters.
• Geralt is happy at Kaer Morhen and considers it his home now, thanks to Vesemir, but that wasn't always the case.
  Ciri: And what did you do on your first night here?
  Geralt: I was beaten and starved.

Episode 4: Redanian Intelligence

• At the very end of Jaskier's song, he stares off distantly, snapping out of it after people start applauding. The song itself is a scathing goodbye song he wrote after Geralt abandoned him, and it's clear that after all this time, he's still heartbroken.
  • After spending years rehabilitating Geralt's image from "the Butcher of Blaviken" to "the White Wolf," what's the title of his new song? "Burn, Butcher, Burn."
• Yennefer's breakdown after escaping the sewers, finally laying bare her vulnerability and angst over how her life has played out:
  Yennefer: What the FUCK is the point... of anything?! You're born helpless so you find strength, and then that's all that they want you for: to use you. Then you... you find love but it isn't real, it's a wish someone made once before they even knew who you were! And... you find power AND IT TURNS TO ASH IN YOUR HANDS!

Episode 6: Dear Friend

• Geralt's faithful horse is horribly injured by an attacking monster, forcing Geralt to Mercy Kill poor Roach. He gives a solemn yet touching short speech as he says goodbye:
  Geralt: Enjoy your last walk across the meadow and through the mist. Be not afraid of her for she is your friend.

Episode 7: Voleth Meir

• Ciri and Yennefer escape through a portal to the farmhouse from the end of the previous season. The building is dilapidated and seemingly abandoned, leading Ciri to assume the family must have moved on. As she looks around she discovers the charred bodies of Yurga and Zola in a back room. Ciri is horrified to realise that the couple, who'd been so kind to her and Geralt, were slaughtered by Rience during his search for her.
• Francesca wakes up in the middle of the night to find Filavandrel holding their baby daughter who's been murdered in her sleep. The pair are absolutely devastated by losing another child after waiting so long for one to be born.