In the first episode, Stregobor's belief that Renfri mind-controls her bandits is the reason he wants to dissect her and figure out how it's done, while in the finale Fringilla only manages it with the brain-worms in her arsenal of banned magic. Plus, she's shown magically enhancing a husband's, er, potency earlier in the episode for a reason, and mentally dominating more than a couple of individuals is suggested elsewhere to be difficult. It could be she has them under complete control, as she's done with the mayor and, later, Geralt, but given the townsfolk's response to the spell ending is not fury nor disgust but rather looking for their pants in embarrassment, I don't read it that way. When Geralt and Yennefer cross paths in Rinde, she's charmed the mayor and turned his fancy house into her personal party palace by removing the inhibitions of some locals. Like the suicide attempt, Yennefer's most powerful motivation is a need for autonomy. Rather, she wants the ability to choose for herself. In a subtle but meaningful change from the books, it's not because she wants to have a baby. She stops working for the Brotherhood, who train mages to be royal advisors, and goes rogue, searching for a way to restore her fertility. The sequence where Yennefer fails to protect one of the Queen's children from a magical assassin, climaxing with the extremely Witcher moment where she sits on a beach telling a dead baby 'you're not missing much,' sets her on a new path. (Side note: Kalis, the doomed Queen of Lyria who gave birth to too many daughters, is the mother of Meve, protagonist of Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales.) She goes from misery to triumph, manipulating her way out of appointment to the court of Nilfgaard and into the glamorous court of her homeland, Aedirn. (Again, nice lady.) Tissaia demonstrates the importance of control by having the students capture lightning in a bottle, and when a classmate betters her, Yennefer's jealous rage manifests as a lightning bolt that's almost fatal.ĭuring this time Yennefer begins and ends a relationship with Istredd (a mage studying at Ban Ard Academy, which is Aretuza for boys), and undergoes enchantment, giving up her womb to be magically resculpted into a beautiful, ageless sorceress. 'Without them, chaos will kill you.' The rector demonstrates the importance of balance by having students draw life from a flower to levitate a rock, letting Fringilla magically desiccate her own hand first to prove a point. Over the course of two episodes, Yennefer goes through her education at Aretuza, learning that magic demands 'balance and control,' as Tissaia says. Only there, after saving her life, Tissaia says this will be her last chance to cry as 'there isn't a more hideous sight than a sorceress weeping.' What a nice lady. This is one part of Yennefer's life familiar from the books, shown in flashback near the end of The Lady of the Lake. Imprisoned after finding out she's worth less money than a pig, she attempts suicide.

(In the books, they also share a birthday.)Īfter being purchased by Aretuza's rector, Tissaia de Vries, Yennefer is locked in her room at the academy. That's something this version of Yennefer has in common with Ciri, as well as elvish blood. Her natural magical talent-her connection to chaos-is set off by fear and anger.

At the time she's trying to escape from the villagers who torment her for having a curved spine. Yennefer's magical abilities first manifest when she subconsciously portals from the farm where she grew up in the kingdom of Aedirn to the Tower of the Gull at Aretuza, presumably drawn by its magical energy.

The witcher yennefer