How The Witcher changed its approach to Jaskier’s music in season 3
By Daniel Roman
The Witcher season 3 has come and gone, leaving behind a divided fandom. This was Henry Cavill’s final season as Geralt of Rivia, as well as a big moment for fans of Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher Saga of books, since it adapted one of the most beloved: The Time of Contempt. The results have been interesting to say the last.
Once again, The Witcher season 3 featured Jaskier, the bard played by Joey Batey. Jaskier and his music have always been an important part of the series; who can forget how popular “Toss A Coin To Your Witcher” became after season 1? But in the third season, the show changed its approach to Batey’s bard.
“Always, when we’re writing a season, we keep in mind where we want the next season to start,” showrunner Lauren Hissrich said in Netflix’s documentary Making The Witcher: Season 3. “So there are actually a couple of parts of Baptism of Fire that come up at the end of this season. That started us thinking, ‘How can we really use Jaskier’s music more integrally in the show?'”
Jaskier’s music is no longer being used just in a “performative or cathartic way”
The season’s seventh episode, “Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan,” features a heart-wrenching scene where Jaskier tries to gain entry into Brokilon Forest in order to reunite with Geralt, who’s healing there after his duel with Vilgefortz of Roggeveen. The dryads of Brokilon refuse Jaskier entry, threatening to pepper him full of arrows if he doesn’t leave.
Jaskier settles down at the edge of the forest and starts singing a song. Titled “Enchanted Flowers,” this song appears in The Time of Contempt in pretty much the same way. It’s a turn for Jaskier, who up until that point had mostly used his music to woo crowds or get out his own feelings.
“[Composer] Joe Trapanese and I started writing the song ‘Enchanted Flowers,'” Batey recalled. “Something that we really wanted to bring in was this… this almost a dirge, an elven dirge, that gave… that gives Jaskier a chance to survive. It’s almost… in Dungeons & Dragons terms, it’s the roll of the dice, really. He has to meet his friend, and the only thing that he can do is sing and tell a story.”
"So these songs are now no longer being used as just a performative or cathartic way of communicating his own emotions or the emotions of the Continent. But he’s using them as a way to connect with people, and specific people."
This fits very well with where Jaskier is in his overall arc in the series. After Brokilon, the book series goes through a profound shift as Geralt, Jaskier, and other companions like Milva set off on a globe-spanning quest. It makes sense that the show would adjust its approach to Jaskier’s music at this point; he’ll probably be taking plenty of notes from here on for his history book Half a Century of Poetry, quotes from which appear throughout The Witcher novels.
According to Batey, the show’s new approach to Jaskier’s music allowed him to dig even deeper into the story. “They may not be on everyone’s Spotify Top 100 at the end of the year, but I think it’s more characterful for me.”
You can can watch Jaskier bring dryads to tears in The Witcher season 3, streaming now on Netflix.
Next. Henry Cavill’s 20 best moments as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher. dark
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