Netflix's The Witcher: Why Jaskier Should Replace Triss In The Love Triangle

Joey Batey’s Jaskier was easily the best part of the first season of Netflix's Witcher adaptation. He was wonderfully charming, his songs, while inaccurate (that’s Geralt’s tutting you can hear on the wind), were torturously catchy and, on top of all that, he worked as a perfect companion to Henry Cavill’s moody, monosyllabic monster slayer.

He was so perfect a companion in fact, that many a fan have suggested he and the Witcher should become more than the friends they are usually portrayed as. This is a suggestion that I personally agree with; but I think Netflix should go even further than that and have the bard replace Triss Merigold in this version of the franchise’s central love triangle. I know, I know – it’s a massive change. And yet, with all the massive changes from the books that the Netflix version has already made, what’s one more?

Witcher purists have already been angered by the first season’s diversions so, really, what’s the harm in a little fanservice for those actually on-board with the series? Still not convinced? Well, let me try and remedy that…

In Blood of the Elves, the book which will presumably be the primary inspiration for season two of the show, Triss comes to Kaer Morhen to help Ciri control her magical abilities while she trains with Geralt and the other Witchers. Over this period of time, Ciri and Triss develop a close, sister-like relationship, all the while Triss sleeps with Geralt, who has become Ciri's father figure at this stage.

I think we can all agree that this is rather odd. Even Triss' fellow sorceress, Philippa Eilhart, comments on it in The Witcher 3, straight up saying to Geralt that "there are times where I doubt you three realize how it looks" while the two of them explore some elven ruins near the end of the game.

Therefore, removing Triss from the love triangle would eliminate this weirdness, and make the bond she has with Ciri nothing but wholesome. Furthermore, there are two other relationships that would make more sense as a result of such a change.

The first would be Triss' and Yennefer's friendship as, in the books, the two are supposedly best friends - and yet Triss goes off and sleeps with the man Yennefer loves, which seems somewhat out of character given how nice Triss generally is to people.

The second would be her brief fling with Eilhart, which acts as a betrayal to both Geralt and Yennefer, as Eilhart is the founder of the Lodge of Sorceresses, an Illuminati esque group that seeks to protect magical interests by influencing the Continent's politics. A key part of these machinations is Ciri, so the Lodge is constantly trying to capture her and marry her off to a member of the Kovir royal family - hence why Triss' collusion with them is a betrayal to Ciri's adoptive parents.

Really, all this should be enough justification to remove Triss from the love triangle even if she isn't being replaced by Jaskier.