Henry Cavill’s 20 best moments as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher
By Daniel Roman
17. The Thanedd mage ball
We come next to Thanedd. Season 3 allowed Geralt and Yennefer to spend more time together than ever before in the series, and it all culminated with the mage ball at Aretuza. Like the Cintran royal ball, the highlight of this scene in terms of Cavill’s acting is how much Geralt is a fish out of water among all the mages.
Sabrina Glevissig tries to make a pass at Geralt, and he hilariously diverts the attention back to Yennefer. Philippa Eilheart makes veiled comments about the political state of the Continent, while Redanian spymaster Dijkstra makes veiled threats. Thanedd progresses differently than it does in the books, but it’s still extremely enjoyable in large part because of Geralt’s utter disinterest in being there.
The other side of this episode-long sequence is that it lets us see Geralt and Yennefer’s last night together before everything goes to hell the following morning. By this point, Cavill and Chalotra have been portraying these characters together for years. That familiarity bleeds off the screen in the quiet bedroom scenes, where the two compare notes about what they learned at the ball.
The Thanedd mage ball gave Cavill time to bring out Geralt’s sarcasm as well as his tenderness with Yennefer one last time before everything changes for good.