S02.E07: Voleth Meir

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

A close friend is lost - and another found - as Geralt helps Ciri learn more about her power. Cahir warns Fringilla to focus on their primary mission.

 

[Smad]

You gotta appreciate how much they rolled back Yen's characterization. The entire Season she walks around with this sad, kicked puppy dog look. She also lost all of her bite. Where is the bitca from S1? Speaking of S1, Yen lusted for power and sacrificed everything in her pursuit of it only to find it hollow and unfulfilling, which is why she was looking to find happiness in a child. This Season she is desperately trying to get back that which left her completely hollow and willing to sacrifice a child for it. Erm excuse me, writers...I have questions.

It's always a pleasure to see Yrpen and his merry band. Jaskier reacting like a guy who got dumped by Geralt and later bitching about Yen lol. But at least it lead to Geralt piecing the puzzle together.

You have to appreciate that despite the farm people being dead for quite some time, they left 2 perfectly healthy and saddled horses there for Yen and Ciri to ride. They are even color coded to match them! Nenneke can now make portals too? Is there anyone in Hissrichverse who can't?

Good grief Tissaia, what happened to you? First you stab Yen in the back and now Triss. Is the V-D that good? The guy is pestering you, disrespecting your wishes and he yells at you and you just take it? Where did the boss bitch from last Season go? In fact what's with all the sorceresses this Season? They are all freaking doormats. The only one who comes across as a boss lady is Phillipa and maybe Fringilla, in those rare instances where she isn't being an idiot.

Edited December 19, 2021 by Smad

[Harvey]

30 minutes ago, Smad said:

You have to appreciate that despite the farm people being dead for quite some time, they left 2 perfectly healthy and saddled horses there for Yen and Ciri to ride. They are even color coded to match them! Nenneke can now make portals too? Is there anyone in Hissrichverse who can't?

 

 

Those farm people were killed recently by the fire magician. Yen and Cirilla even say F-him or something to that effect when they see the dead bodies. So the horses were only unattended for a few days max.

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, Harvey said:

Those farm people were killed recently by the fire magician. Yen and Cirilla even say F-him or something to that effect when they see the dead bodies. So the horses were only unattended for a few days max.

Flame Fucker 😁

Great episode. I'm glad Yen had a change of heart, I never thought she'd go through with it. I did think she might use Ciri to kill the Witch but, I never thought she'd actually let the Witch have her.

 

[Stardancer Supreme]

I'm sick of Fringilla walking about the castle getting disrespected.  If she doesn't pop off Cahir and that other general's heads by the end of this season...  Take your authority and knock them off already, White Flame be damned!

ETA: She did take them out! I'm proud of her. Hopefully sparing Cahir doesn't bite her in the ass later...

Edited December 20, 2021 by Stardancer Supreme

[Smad]

2 hours ago, Harvey said:

Those farm people were killed recently by the fire magician. Yen and Cirilla even say F-him or something to that effect when they see the dead bodies. So the horses were only unattended for a few days max.

That didn't look like a few days ago. F-him was Yen's guess because the bodies were burned. Doesn't mean it was him.

[Sakura12]

The fire fucker was looking for Ciri. Ciri stayed with them, so it makes the most sense for it to be him.

[Bort]

I’m still cracking up at the Firefucker nickname. Between that and calling Stregobor “fuckhead,” Yennefer was really on a roll.

[Smad]

So did Triss actually do know about Geralt&Yen? I've seen a lot of people argue in episode 4 that she didn't know about them. But her convo in this episode with Tissaia seems to indicate differently. Between her immediately jumping to Yennefer's name and her disappointed look, it seems she was aware. Also thanks for ratting Ciri out to Tissaia, that had some majorly bad consequences.

[Sakura12]

For me Triss figured it out when Tissesa said Geralt was at the battle of Sodden and she thought back to him rejecting her. She then figured out that Geralt loves Yennifer. She didn't know ahead of time she put it together with the clues. Her face to me was more of a resigned of course its Yennifer, she's the special one. 

[Morrigan2575]

3 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

For me Triss figured it out when Tissesa said Geralt was at the battle of Sodden and she thought back to him rejecting her. She then figured out that Geralt loves Yennifer. She didn't know ahead of time she put it together with the clues. Her face to me was more of a resigned of course its Yennifer, she's the special one. 

I remember them talking about Geralt at Sodden in S1. I had to check if Yen made any comment that she knew him but, she didn't. Just said to be careful of Witchers as they were disappointing or something.

So yeah, I would agree, Triss didn't know about Yen/Geralt until after Tissesa mentioned it.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Morrigan2575

[thuganomics85]

Sorry, Yen (and I guess Triss kind of): I think it's clear that besides Ciri, Geralt's true heart lies with Jaskier!  Their reunion was everything I wanted and more.  The rapport between the characters is just so much fun and Henry Cavill and Joey Batey seem like they're having the time of their lives with these exchanges.  Also great seeing Yarpen and the rest of the dwarves again as well.

Figured Yen would come around at the end, but I still don't see how both Geralt and Ciri will trust her again considering how close she was to going through with it.  Plus, it looks like the witch's plan is still going to come to fruition, so Yen still massively screwed up here.  I guess we'll see if she can make up for it in the finale.

Fringilla finally has enough of the disrespect and takes out her enemies, but I can easily see sparing Cahir backfiring on her.

Man, at this point it would be easier to determine who isn't pissed at Tissaia right now.

Enjoyed having Stregobor and Dijkstra in a scene together and watching Lars Mikkelson and Graham McTavish try to out-sinister one another!

I guess Francesca's baby dying is due to the deal with the witch?  I wonder how that's going to effect the elves storyline going forward.

I'll see how this plays out later tonight!

[iMonrey]

So is Jaskier not his real name? This is the second time he has introduced himself as Julian Alfred Pankratz. Is he just making that up? Because he also starts to say "Viscount . . . " before someone cuts him off. Is Jaskier just another word for minstrel or singer?

Ick, Fringilla. I understand you want to eliminate your enemies but do you have to stab one of them through the eye? That just squicks me out. 

[Sakura12]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

So is Jaskier not his real name? This is the second time he has introduced himself as Julian Alfred Pankratz. Is he just making that up? Because he also starts to say "Viscount . . . " before someone cuts him off. Is Jaskier just another word for minstrel or singer?

Jaskier is his nickname. Julian is his real name. He comes from a noble family. 

[SourK]

On 12/19/2021 at 9:19 PM, Stardancer Supreme said:

I'm sick of Fringilla walking about the castle getting disrespected.  If she doesn't pop off Cahir and that other general's heads by the end of this season...  Take your authority and knock them off already, White Flame be damned!

ETA: She did take them out! I'm proud of her. Hopefully sparing Cahir doesn't bite her in the ass later...

People love to spare Cahir, man. The character doesn't really serve a purpose, IMO, but everyone does their best to keep him around.

I would have liked that scene more if it didn't seem like an exact re-enactment of American Horror Story.

[Dobian]

On 12/24/2021 at 1:07 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Sorry, Yen (and I guess Triss kind of): I think it's clear that besides Ciri, Geralt's true heart lies with Jaskier!  Their reunion was everything I wanted and more.  The rapport between the characters is just so much fun and Henry Cavill and Joey Batey seem like they're having the time of their lives with these exchanges.

Yes, there is no denying the magic that happens when these two are on the screen together.  “I’m just too sad and complicated!” (Jaskier doing a Geralt voice).  You just don’t this kind of repartee with Triss or Yennefer!

[WatchrTina]

On 12/24/2021 at 3:07 PM, thuganomics85 said:

I guess Francesca's baby dying is due to the deal with the witch?

I didn't understand this AT ALL.  Can someone explain it to me?

Did . . . did I just see a house grow legs and walk?

Edited December 31, 2021 by WatchrTina

[Bort]

47 minutes ago, WatchrTina said:

Did . . . did I just see a house grow legs and walk?

That happened earlier in the season when Yennefer, Fringilla and Francesca all went there. The phrase got them there and the house turned around on its legs.

[TaurusRose]

On 12/28/2021 at 10:46 PM, Dobian said:

Yes, there is no denying the magic that happens when these two are on the screen together.  “I’m just too sad and complicated!” (Jaskier doing a Geralt voice).  You just don’t this kind of repartee with Triss or Yennefer!

Yeah, whatever.  The men have chemistry and a friendship, but Gerald is in love with Jennifer and vice versa.  And I really can't stand the Jaskier character.  He is best used is small doses.  If I wanted to watch a fucking musical I'd watch Le Miserables or some such bullshit.

Edited December 31, 2021 by TaurusRose

[Smad]

17 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

I didn't understand this AT ALL.  Can someone explain it to me?

It wasn't the deal with the witch that killed the baby. The baby IMO was always going to die. Lets remember that it only survived birth due to Fringilla (apparently no one in that world knows how to deal with newborns). If the elves had still been out and about in the wilderness, Francesca might have lost it sooner but definitely right after birth.

Voleith Meir thrives on pain, desperation and anger. Yennefer was the appetizer, as VM said she wanted her desperation crisp and Yen spend episode after episode getting hit with the shit end of the stick. Fringilla was sort of the main course, as her mounting anger kept growing over the Season until she snapped. Francesca was the desert that filled VM to the brim and gave her the final push to get free. Francesca needed to be filled with as much hope as possible so that the loss of her baby would reach maximum hurt. So VM pushed Francesca to make the alliance with Fringilla, thereby giving the elves a place to stay, support from humans and the promise of a better future (especially since her baby survived via this alliance).

At least that's how I interpret this wonky story.

[nodorothyparker]

My husband who reads a lot more of this stuff than I have had to explain to me that the old woman is this universe's version of Baba Yaga, a witch in Eastern European folklore who as Smad said, feeds on others' misery. Everything that's been happening with the female mages has been feeding her until she could escape her freaky house with the legs where she had previously been imprisoned to seek out Ciri for a new corporeal form. Or something like that.

At this point, I'm a little unclear if Fringilla is playing both sides or if she'd just had enough of the Nilfgaardians using her magic and still talking shit about her. I can make an argument either way.

Yennefer makes sense to me in a who the hell am I and what am I supposed to do now if I don't at least have the magic I gave up everything else for kind of way. It was probably pretty easy for her to justify the plan to hand Ciri over as long as she didn't actually know her and hadn't seen how deeply connected she is to Geralt and he to her. Love the Geralt-Jaskier reunion and rolling up to a fight in the nick of time with a wagon full of dwarves.  Also loved Jaskier making the parallel argument in reminding Geralt that not that long ago he wanted no part of his responsibility to his child surprise and look at him now, so maybe don't count out that Yennefer could be in a different place too.

[areca]

Yennefer can die in a fire.  What is seen, cannot be unseen Geralt.  She was going to sacrifice a child. She even admits it with "I didn't know who she was....!" Meaning "If she wasn't who she was, you bet your ass."  Then again, we knew this about Yen from The Be-Eeling.

Edited January 19, 2022 by areca

[Kasienka]

I think Yen and the others were in some way influenced by Deathless Mother and their actions weren't 100% their own. The constant whispers and Yen being almost in a trance when she and Ciri reached the broken monolith made me think so. Also I can't believe that without it Yen would go that far with Geralt's daughter before she changed her mind. She was all about women being just vessels to be used last season, can't see her using any young girl to gain her magic back. But maybe that's just my wishful thinking, I just want all of them to be together.

Speaking of acting out of character, I'm supposed to believe Tissaia de Vries, rectoress of Aretuza has fallen for Vilgefortz i love you's? C'mon she is way smarter than that. Guy is handsome I give him that, but he certainly doesn't give trustworthy vibes. "I think of you as an equal" suuuure.

Fringilla snapped and though it was a rather gruesome way to get rid of your political opponents , I can't say I'm sad to see those bastards gone. I just hope she wasn't involved in Franceska's baby being murdered. This show just can't do a season without some baby dying, stop it please.

Good for Dara for choosing his people, curious what Dijkstra has planned for the future. Really don't see the point of Stregobor and Fringilla's uncle still being around, I'm so ready to see them gone.

Best parts of episode were definitely Jaskier and Geralt interactions. I love that the first thing they did was to hug:) Talking later:) And Yarpen's back too! I always loved dwarves in the Witcher universe, the more the better! And I think it's the first time I've actually seen a female dwarf portrayed on the screen.

 

[tennisgurl]

We finally get what we have been waiting for all along, Jaskier and Geralt are finally back together! I love that they just gave each other a big hug when they first saw each other, even after Jaskier spent the whole season moping and writing sad break up songs about Geralt ditching him on a mountain. This show really becomes so much more lively when those two are around, their chemistry is just so delightful.

I knew that Yen would never go through with sacrificing Ciri, although I cant blame Geralt for being very pissed at her, even with the Baba Yaga apparently messing with her mind. Yen might be desperate, but not "kill an innocent kid who is also my sort of boyfriends surrogate daughter" desperate when it comes down to it.

Tissaia is going to have a line of people out the door who want to give her a good smack.

That firefucker sure does get around huh? Yen is trying to give Jaskier a run for his money when it comes to snarky nicknames. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by tennisgurl

[Zuleikha]

My husband who reads a lot more of this stuff than I have had to explain to me that the old woman is this universe's version of Baba Yaga, a witch in Eastern European folklore who as Smad said, feeds on others' misery.

I know this is old, but Baba Yaga doesn't feed on people's misery in Eastern European folklore. She's a tester--pass her tests and be rewarded, fail them and be eaten or otherwise punished. I can't think of any stories with her where she's a straight up villain (although that doesn't mean there aren't any). 

The show is stealing her house with the chicken legs, but it's a cheap reference. Voleith Meir isn't like Baba Yaga at all otherwise.

It's also a confusing plotline. I don't think the writers wrote it well. I don't understand why Francesca and Fringilla aren't more concerned about the magic underlying their deal, especially Francesca who came from a position of intense weakness. A single elven baby does not provide good justification for the elves simply abandoning their end of the bargain with Nilfgaard. They have no strength in the relationship, and Nilfgaard has treated them fairly well.

Fringilla's breaking point was clear, but everything that led to the breaking point was not. The Nilfgaardians seem to be disciplined and hierarchical. Presumably, Emhyr left a clear chain of command for holding Cintra as well as missions. Either Fringilla had the authority to make the bargain with the elves or she didn't. If she didn't, Cahir is not going to be able to sell any form of trumped up treason + summary execution to Emhyr as an excuse to let Fringilla live. Emhyr is going to think what he thinks about the situation (and how is this even supposed to work? unless Fringilla mind controls Cahir, couldn't he just tell Emhyr the truth and be protected by Emhyr? Fringilla is much less of a threat if she's executed for treason than if she's alive and scheming!)

I also don't understand what level of manipulation the Voleith Meir is actually doing. I hate the weakening of Yennefer as well. I already saw helpless and sad Yennefer at the start of last season.