Character Analysis: Geralt of Rivia from the Netflix Show “The Witcher”

After I fangirled about Yennefer, this time I‘ll focus on the guy himself:

Geralt of Rivia, the one and only Witcher. Or to say it in his own wise words: “Hmmmm … fuck.”

For this article I just focus on the Netflix Show “the Witcher” and not on the games or the books. Yeah, sorry, I haven‘t had time to either play or read all that awesome Witcher stuff.

But I‘m on it!

For Geralt I’ll dive deep into a character analysis and try to find out why Geralt is doing what he’s doing.

So what is behind these lovely yellow eyes? What moves him? What makes him to the Witcher he is with his so well known groans?

Well, fellow nerds, let me tell you about …

Geralt, the monster slayer with the soft heart

The show starts with Geralt fighting a weird spider thing in the swamp. Yeah, sorry, I forgot how it‘s called but it looked scary af.

We see him casually slaying a beast and after he succeeds he kills a poor little deer because it got hurt during the battle and its survival chance was zero. That‘s, I guess, what happens when you admire the Witcher from too close. Poor little deer.

During that little scene, when he told the deer that it wasn’t its day and killed it, there was mercy and empathy on his face. He felt for the little poor thing after he killed a big beast.

I mean, how fucking sweet is that? He’s such a softie inside.

Also later when he fights Renfri, we see how he struggles. He doesn’t want to hurt her. He wants her to stop, but that’s not an option for her. So he feels forced to fight her to save others.

Yeah, no easy decisions for our Witcher, but that makes him also a super interesting character.

Geralt, the loner hero with his “Hmmmm”s

It’s always the same with these loner heroes. They show up with their sarcasm, hardcore fighting skills and lonely, but soft heart and …

… I’m lost!

I’m looking at you Wolverine, Van Helsing, or Geralt. They don’t like to work with others. They just walk on this earth slaying monsters while fighting their owns. But deep down they just want to be loved like everyone else.

I guess, that makes them so special to my heart and also special for the story.

Loner heroes are especially known in the old western movies and even in the good old days they were very popular. Because I guess, you like to see if they are able to fight (their) demons, if they can be happy and if they can win against the evil forces.

Geralt, is definitely such a loner hero. In the beginning he only has one friend and that’s his horse Roach. Nothing wrong with that because Roach is the best, but sometimes a little bit human company is also nice.

Geralt also thinks that his only life is fighting monsters. That’s why he’s in this world. For nothing else.

That is kind of sad, isn’t it? I mean, you’re so much more worth Geralt! So much more … but thanks to Jaskier, Yennefer and Ciri, Geralt acknowledges in the end that there’s more than just slaying monsters. There are people out there who care about each other and who maybe one day can call themselves a family.

I know … Aaaawww!

Geralt, the one who can’t escape his destiny

Speaking of Jaskier, Yennefer, Ciri … even though Geralt starts out as a loner hero who only has his horse as a friend at the end of the show, he’s finally reunited with Ciri. Because:

“People linked by destiny will always find each other.“

I totally love that quote. I’m a sucker for destiny and all that kind of stuff, so that really got me, too. In the show I really enjoyed watching Geralt trying to refuse his destiny, but there’s no other way. You need to fullfill your destiny.

Geralt is not a big believer. He just hunts monsters and gets paid for it. He saves people, but he also isn’t involved in anything. If he needs to choose between two evils, he wouldn’t choose at all.

That might have worked in the past, but now that he’ll have a little girl to take care of, his rules might not always work. So complications and conflicts are inevitable like Thanos. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself there)

Or let’s describe it in Geralt’s words:

For more Geralt we need to wait for season two unfortunately. And all we can do until then is …

Toss a coin to your Witcher. O’ Valley of Plenty …