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The Witcher, Netflix’s hit fantasy series, follows the adventures of Geralt of Rivia. Accompanying Geralt on some of these adventures is the bard Jaskier. Geralt and Jaskier have a genuine friendship, even though Geralt won’t admit it. Find out what Joey Batey, the actor who brings Jaskier to life, has to say about the characters’ relationship and take a look at fan reactions, ahead.

What does Joey Batey have to say about Geralt and Jaskier’s friendship in ‘The Witcher’?

Joey Batey, Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan, and Henry Cavill of 'The Witcher': Geralt and Jaskier have a genuine friendship
Joey Batey, Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan and Henry Cavill at the premiere of The Witcher (Wiedzmin) in Poland | Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for Netflix

In an interview with 411Mania, Joey Batey talks about Geralt and Jaskier’s friendship in The Witcher. According to the actor, he would “write on [his] mirror…the keywords that were really important to [him].” And one word kept coming up. That word is “loyalty.”

Batey says that loyalty is “Jaskier’s superpower in many respects.” While Jaskier doesn’t have magic like Yennefer or fight with a sword like Geralt, he is a loyal friend to Geralt. Batey explains the importance of representing a friendship between two men like the one Geralt and Jaskier have in The Witcher. According to him, their friendship is “an honest one” that is “full of love.”

Batey believes that “Men [don’t] say the word love and tell each other they love each other as much as they should.” Geralt and Jaskier in The Witcher, however, “do that every single day by being there for each other through the very darkest days of The Continent.” Batey also told 411Mania that there’s “a quietness and understanding” between Geralt and Jaskier.

How does Joey Batey describe this ‘quietness and understanding’ between Geralt and Jaskier in ‘The Witcher’?

According to Jaskier himself, Joey Batey, Geralt and Jaskier in The Witcher truly understand each other. Their understanding of each other “goes unspoken but is very much there.” This “quietness and understanding” is especially shown in a scene in episode 4 of The Witcher where Jaskier gives Geralt a bath. According to Batey in his interview with 411Mania, “That was the first day that Henry [Cavill] and [Batey himself] really kind of clocked each other and understood what it really meant to be friends and the journey that these two characters would go on.”

That scene is, according to Batey, “the first time we could go visit something really profound between them.” The “profound” thing would be the aforementioned “quietness and understanding.” According to The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, Geralt and Jaskier’s friendship is easy to bring to life, due to Henry Cavill and Joey Batey’s natural chemistry.

What does showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich have to say about Geralt and Jaskier?

In an interview with ComicBook.com, Hissrich discusses how easily the friendship between Geralt and Jaskier developed in The Witcher. According to the showrunner, “That relationship is so pure.” “We wrote it on screen,” Hissrich says,”and then Henry [Cavill] and Joey [Batey] have a great relationship.” Hissrich adds that “There is plenty of ad-libbing happening in those scenes.”

Batey himself, in his interview with 411Mania, admits that he and Cavill “were ad-libbing some of those lines from an improvisational poem that Jaskier has started to come out.” According to Hissrich, “Their energy just plays so well off each other, and their chemistry is really great.” Throughout season 1 of The Witcher, fans start to see the friendship between Geralt and Jaskier develop.

What do fans think of Geralt of Rivia and Jaskier’s friendship?

According to Hissrich, “You do start to see where Geralt needs Jaskier and wants Jaskier.” As their friendship develops it becomes “one of the funniest, most heartwarming parts of the entire season.” But what do fans think of the duo?

One fan on Twitter says Geralt and Jaskier give them “proper Shrek and Donkey friendship vibes.” This fan “[loves] them so much.” Another fan says “Jaskier is essentially Gossip Girl and Geralt is his Serena van der Woodsen.” While someone else talks about the dynamic between Yennefer, Geralt, and Jaskier.

According to this fan, it is basically summed up by Yennefer saying “this is my boyfriend Geralt. And this is Geralt’s boyfriend Jaskier.” So yes, fans are definitely seeing the chemistry. Except some are taking it in a slightly different direction.

Most likely, the writers did not intend to write any romantic undertones in Geralt and Jaskier’s friendship. Yet the fact that fans are seeing them shows what wonderful chemistry Cavill and Batey have.

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