*material girl plays as i walk into kaer morhen, accompanied by a harem of increasingly eccentric individuals, ready to pick up our inheritance only to discover vesemir is very much so alive and well*
“Geralt knew, in moments like this, the enchantress’s telepathic abilities were sharpened and very powerful, so he thought about beautiful matters and beautiful things. About things which would give her joy. About the exploding brightness of the sunrise. About fog suspended over a mountain lake at dawn. About crystal waterfalls, with salmon leaping up them, gleaming as though made of solid silver. About warm drops of rain hitting burdock leaves, heavy with dew. He thought for her and Yennefer smiled, listening to his thoughts. The smile quivered on her cheek along with the crescent shadows of her eyelashes.”
Part Two, the return, electric boogaloo of Canon or Fanon
So in my first I Can’t Believe It’s Not Fanonpost, the thing people seemed most surprised to see on the list was “Geralt can smell lust.” (I read your replies and tags with great interest)
Scenting lust is a very very popular trope in fic, as it should be. Enhanced senses are great narrative devices for so many reasons. Given how much of our true selves we try to hide from one another, and given how enhanced senses can cut right through that, the dramatic potential is delicious. (Just ask Foggy and Matt, their Daredevil S1 confrontation is amazing) Then if you add the horny potential, well, it’s a popular trope for a reason.
So, Geralt can smell lust, canon or fanon? Well, fic writers…
It’s canon, and I’m bringing receipts.
Let’s start with how Geralt’s enhanced senses work in the books.
MINOR BOOK SPOILERS (I won’t spoil plot, but there will be book passages. I will do the little three dots when I’ve omitted something in order to stay focused on the topic of Geralt’s sense of smell and to avoid as many spoilers as necessary)
Witcher facts that sound like Geraskier fic writers made them up, but that are, in fact, book canon.
PART ONE:
We’ve all read the fics where bad guys kidnap Jaskier in order to get to get to Geralt. These bad guys always regret it when Geralt slaughters every single one of them.
Well, good news! In Season of Storms, starting on page 310, this very thing happens.
(TW: Violence and gore)
Geralt is attending a royal wedding and once again, powerful people are trying to get him to do something he doesn’t want to do. He enters a room to find:
Dandelion was as white as a sheet and clearly terrified…He was sitting on a chair with a high backrest. Behind the chair stood a skinny character with hair combed and plaited into a queue. The character was holding a misericorde with a long, narrow, four-sided blade. The blade was pressed against the poet’s neck, below his jaw, slanting upwards.
“No funny business,” warned Ropp. No funny business witcher. One false move, even one twitch, and Mr Samsa will stick the minstrel like a hog. He won’t hesitate.“
So, these particular assholes have accurately surmised that Geralt’s weakness is Dandelion. There were any number of people they could have kidnapped, but they chose the poet. Of course, they underestimate Geralt, like so many people do.
Geralt tries to warn them that this is a very very bad move.
Anon reminded me of something I should have mentioned!
Geralt makes sure that Dandelion’s cousin Ferrant had nothing to do with the threat to Dandelion’s life. Ferrant is appropriately afraid of Geralt and swears he would never endanger Dandelion.
So the royal instigator I mentioned IS Ferrant de Lettenhove, Dandelion’s cousin. And when he comes in and looks at the corpses, he asks Geralt what the hell he has done. Geralt has just committed a whole bunch of murder (literally standing among their body parts and splattered blood), but instead of defending or rationalizing what he has done, Geralt threatens him.
"They carried out their orders” shrugged the witcher, looking down at his sword. “Like you, they obeyed their orders. And you didn’t know anything about it, confirm that Ferrant.”
So Geralt is eyeing his sword casually, with blood and guts and maimed dying men all around him, and he is calmly asking Ferrant to confirm that he had nothing to do with threatening Dandelion.
Frankly, it sounds terrifying. And Ferrant is appropriately terrified.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” the instigator confirmed hastily and stepped back against the wall. “I swear! You can’t possibly suspect…You don’t think…”
But Geralt answers that no, he doesn’t really think he had anything to do with it. And if he did, Ferrant would be dead already.
“If I did, you’d be dead. I believe you. You wouldn’t have risked Dandelion’s life…”
“If I did, you’d be dead.” WHEW I have to admit that I absolutely love how sweet, dorky Geralt goes absolutely batshit terrifyingly homicidal when someone threatens someone he loves, and in this case it is Dandelion.
