What You Should Know About Yennefer in ‘The Witcher’ ~ Digital Library

There is a lot going on in Netflix’s hit fantasy series The Witcher starring Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, and Freya Allan. Spanning multiple timelines and introducing a boatload of new characters, the Game of Thrones-esque series is adapted from the fantasy series of the same name written by Andrzej Sapkowski (the books also served as the foundation for CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher video game series).

Netflix’s The Witcher follows three characters including the one played by Chalotra, a sorceress named Yennefer of Vengerberg. Yennefer (or Yen, depending on who she’s with) is a woman with as much pain as there is power in her backstory; trying to figure her out may take a while. Luckily, you won’t have to spend too much time if you keep reading our explainer on all the key details about this sorceress below.

So, if you still haven’t watched The Witcher and are curious to know more before you dive in or you’re still thinking about Season 1 and want to revisit some key facts, the following breakdown on Yennefer of Vengerberg has your name written all over it.

Yennefer’s Early Life Was Not Great

Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes / Netflix

Yennefer was born in Vengerberg, one of the many kingdoms on the Continent. Her early life before training to become a sorceress was very rough. Born with a congenital hunchback and into a large family, Yennefer experienced discrimination and abuse at the hands of her father. She was regularly mistreated because of her physical appearance and was damn near resigned about the circumstances of her life.

Things change when, as a young adult, Yennefer is sold to the elder sorceress Tissaia de Vries by her father despite Yennefer’s wishes to stay with her family. Tissaia de Vries brings Yennefer to Aretuza, a special academy which trains young women to become sorceresses.

Her Journey to Becoming a Sorceress Was Intense

Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes / Netflix

Yennefer’s journey to become one of the most powerful sorcerers ever was not an easy one. As was the case with Geralt of Rivia during his training to become a Witcher, Yennefer had to go through numerous trials in order to prove her magical abilities while training at Aretuza.

We see in the show how Yennefer and her fellow sorceresses-in-training quickly realize there is a physical cost to magic and when they fail to succeed at their numerous tests of skill and ability — what is referred to on the show as “ascending” — Tissaia de Vries tricks them and turns them into eels, condemned to live in the pools at Aretuza.

While Yennefer showed promise and ability, she believes she will never be as powerful as possible unless she physically transforms ( there are some big issues with that considering this aspect of her life was written by an able-bodied male and is portrayed in a problematic way on the Netflix series).

With the help of Giltine, a sorcerer responsible for helping the students of Aretuza ascend into their final forms as immortal, magical beings, Yennefer gives up her womb — and thus, her ability to have children which later she tries to restore often at great cost — and does whatever is necessary to remove her hunchback and become beautiful.

She Has Spent Years Honing Her Powers

Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes / Netflix

After her transformation, Yennefer became a sorcerer for and advisor to the king of Aedirn and she becomes the youngest member of the Council of Sorcerers. On the show, we see it is protocol for newly-ascended Aretuzan sorceresses to become the magical advisors to heads of kingdoms across the Continent.

Originally, Yennefer was meant to go to Nilfgaard, but it’s a major plot point that she steals the king of Aedirn’s affections away from fellow sorceress Fringilla Vigo and takes her place at Aedirn and Fringilla Vigo instead goes to Nilfgaard (the move bites Yennefer and the other sorcerers in the ass nearly a century later when Fringilla Vigo, now skilled in dark magic, helps Nilfgaard conquer the Northern Kingdoms out of vengeance).

Yennefer ultimately spends the next few decades wandering across the Continent and making a name for herself along the way after ending her time serving the throne of Aedirn. As we see on The Witcher, she spends time bewitching others, selling her magic for a steep price, and eventually does whatever she can, including going on dangerous quests involving dragons and djinns, to restore her fertility.

On The Witcher, just like the books, we come to learn that Yennefer is actually around 100 years old, give or take a few years. Among the many bonuses of being a sorcerer in The Witcher is an extended lifespan which means this group of magical folk are key sources of information in the larger story; they’ve seen some things.

On the Netflix series, Yennefer’s slowed aging is never explicitly stated, but she makes a reference twice during Season 1 to the fact that she’s been alive for decades despite visibly looking like she is in her late 20s to early 30s.

She & Geralt of Rivia Have a Complicated Relationship

Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes / Netflix

Yennefer’s relationship with Geralt of Rivia is, to put it mildly, pretty damn intense. These two magical beings have a very complicated — but loving! — relationship which plays out over the course of decades as they are attracted to and repelled out of one another’s lives.

In the books and on the Netflix series, Geralt of Rivia and Yennefer first meet after Geralt of Rivia crosses paths with a djinn, a.k.a. a genie. When his companion (in the books, it’s a bard named Dandelion; on the show it’s a bard named Jaskier) touches the djinn’s container, frees it, and is injured while attempting to make wishes, Geralt of Rivia must take him to a local official’s house for medical help.

Yennefer is there, having bewitched the official and his guests. She’s charmed by Geralt of Rivia and agrees to help his companion, mostly because she knows the djinn can grant one final wish and she wants to use it to restore her fertility. Instead, Geralt of Rivia whispers the third wish to the genie, which might’ve ticked Yennefer off if it somehow didn’t end in them having a super hot hook-up.

We may not totally know what Geralt of Rivia wished for, but some theories center on the possibility that Geralt of Rivia wished for his fate to be tied to Yennefer, hence their decades-long on-again, off-again relationship. Regardless of the specifics, Yennefer and Geralt of Rivia are both softened and made vulnerable by their love and protection of one another, adding another layer of development to both of their characters.

Yennefer & Ciri Have a Deep Bond

Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes / Netflix

Netflix’s adaptation of The Witcher has yet to put Yennefer and Ciri in the same room, so we haven’t seen how this powerful sorceress’ connection to Ciri really is. But, as fans of The Witcher books and video games know, Yennefer is going to find her desire to be a mother fulfilled in a way she never imagined through her relationship with Ciri because Yennefer ultimately ends up training Ciri to hone her magical abilities.

This relationship begins in the first Witcher novel, Blood of Elves, and it’s this book which will likely serve as the source material for the upcoming season. In Blood of Elves, Yennefer is called in by her old friend and fellow sorceress, Triss Merigold, to help train Ciri after Triss Merigold realizes Ciri is a Source. Because Ciri is filled with the same kind of chaotic power which allows her to channel a large amount of magic at once, just like Yennefer, the elder sorceress quickly rises to the occasion.

The Witcher Season 1 is now available to stream on Netflix. Season 2 is coming later in 2020.

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