Witcher Season 2 Theory: Why Jaskier Returns To Geralt
The Witcher season 2 official trailer and images confirmed the return of the beloved bard and Geralt’s friend, Jaskier, but why will he return after how Geralt treated him in season 1? The Witcher is a series of books and short stories by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski which have become widely popular thanks to their video game adaptations. The books were adapted into a movie and a TV show in Poland in 2001 and 2002, and an English adaptation finally arrived in December 2019 thanks to Netflix. Aware of the success of The Witcher books and video games, Netflix renewed the series for a second season before the first one was released.
Netflix’s The Witcher stood out due to its non-linear and sometimes confusing narrative, as it follows three characters whose stories are set in different places and points in time, with their paths converging towards the end of the season. These characters are Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), the title witcher; Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), a powerful sorceress with a difficult past; and Ciri (Freya Allan), the crown princess of Cintra who has powers of her own. However, the breakout star of The Witcher season 1 (and who was responsible for the catchiest song in the soundtrack) was Jaskier (Joey Batey), a bard who decided to join Geralt in some of his adventures.
Although Geralt is a loner and only seems to enjoy the company of his horse, Roach, Jaskier joined the witcher and accompanied him on different jobs, encountering a variety of creatures (and even being possessed by one in the process). Geralt wasn’t enthusiastic about having company and was usually rude to Jaskier, who put up with the witcher’s attitude until Geralt snapped against him, forcing him to leave him alone. Now, fans of Jaskier are happy to learn he will be back in The Witcher season 2, but what will bring him back to his old friend?
Jaskier met Geralt at a tavern, where the bard had just been booed after a performance, and Geralt was trying to have a drink in peace. Jaskier asked Geralt to review his performance and he told him that the creatures he sang about don’t exist, so Jaskier realized he was talking to a witcher. Geralt was then offered a job to kill the “devil” that was stealing the grain, and Jaskier tagged along to help him improve his image so that he wouldn’t be seen as a monstrous killer anymore – and that was the beginning of their friendship, and it was a very peculiar one. On one of their many adventures together, Jaskier asked Geralt to act as his bodyguard as he attended a royal betrothal and he had personally crossed many of the attendees. The betrothal party was for Princess Pavetta’s hand in marriage, which turned messy once Lord Urcheon of Erlenwald a.k.a. Duny arrived, who had been secretly engaged to Pavetta and was cursed to look like a humanoid porcupine. Geralt defended him and a battle ensued, but Queen Calanthe eventually allowed the Law of Surprise to be honored and Pavetta to marry Duny. Geralt chose the Law of Surprise as pay and Pavetta was revealed to be pregnant, so her child, Ciri, became Geralt’s destiny.
Having a Child of Surprise wasn’t in Geralt’s plans, and he made sure to make Jaskier know that it was all his fault for taking him to the party. This, along with Jaskier making a problem with a djinn even bigger by being possessed by it, led to Geralt blaming the bard for everything bad that had happened to him (including losing Yennefer’s affection), saying that if he could be given one blessing, it would be for life to take Jaskier off his hands. Hurt, Jaskier left and wasn’t seen again for the rest of The Witcher season 1, leading to a lot of speculation over his possible return.
Plot details on The Witcher season 2 are scarce, though it’s well-known by now that its main focus will be Geralt and Ciri’s journey to Kaer Morhen and her training there with the help of other witchers: Eskel (Basil Eidenbenz), Lambert (Paul Bullion), Coën (Reza Al-Rahman), and Vesemir (Kim Bodnia). Jaskier’s role in season 2, then, is a mystery, and his return was kept a secret until the release of the first trailer and the official images, though a teaser focused on Geralt subtly teased his return. However, the books can offer some clues as to what his involvement in season 2 could be like, as he has links to some of the new characters.
One of the biggest mysteries and inconsistencies from The Witcher season 1 was Jaskier’s age, as 24 years passed between his first meeting with Geralt and the argument that ended their friendship, yet he didn’t age at all. This mistake has already been acknowledged by showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich, who admitted they “dropped the ball on aging” Jaskier but this would be done differently in season 2. Jaskier’s seemingly never-ending youth was the subject of various fan theories, with some of them suggesting he became immortal through a potion and others believing the series is being told by Jaskier and so he’s describing himself as youthful and attractive. It’s because of that mistake in aging the bard in season 1 that he looks different in the official images from season 2, as he has been given a more mature look with longer hair, stubble beard, and a new outfit that took some ideas from the one he famously wore in the video games.
As mentioned above, Jaskier has some links to some of the new characters in The Witcher season 2, and these show why Geralt will need his old friend in this new season. First off, Jaskier got into trouble with Rience (Chris Fulton), a mage instructed to find Ciri after the fall of Cintra. Jaskier caught Rience’s attention through his ballad about the lion cub of Cintra, in which he mentioned she was under a witcher’s care. Rience later captured the bard and tortured him for information, but he was rescued by Yennefer. Jaskier was also enlisted into the service of the Redanian Secret Service by its leader, Sigismund Dijkstra (Graham McTavish). At one point, Dijkstra wanted information about Geralt, but Jaskier protected his friend’s location with a lie. Although in season 1 Geralt blamed Jaskier for all the bad things that happened to him, he’s going to need his friend in The Witcher season 2 for his and Ciri’s safety, as Jaskier won’t give any information away no matter how hard others try, and will do everything he can for his witcher friend and the young princess to be safe.