Easily, one of the highlights of the new Netflix The Witcher series is Jaskier, the comedic and entertaining bard and best friend of Geralt. While Jaskier has made a lot of fans fall in love with him, there’s a lot that they don’t know about him. Particularly because Jaskier’s in-game counterpart, Dandelion, has quite a few differences.
While all fans can spend the next year dreaming up new adventures for Jaskier in season 2, until then let’s compare the video game and TV series characters. He definitely would be into some self-criticism, right?
… Maybe not, but here are 10 Things They Got Wrong About Jaskier In The Netflix Show.
Contents
His Name
In Netflix’s Witcher series, Geralt’s charismatic bard best friend is named Jaskier. If you ask Witcher fans (who aren’t familiar with the Polish language), that isn’t the name of our favorite bard. A little sleuthing will reveal that Jaskier’s name in the translated books is Dandelion. While Dandelion goes by many names, the one used in the Witcher series is the untranslated name, Jaskier.
Guess Netflix thought having one of its main characters named Dandelion was just way too silly.
It’s their loss, really. Dandelion’s name just is the cherry on top of his performative absurdity.
Meeting Geralt
While Henry Cavill’s Geralt meets Jaskier in a tavern one day and the bard starts following him around, in the books and video games the two have a much more fascinating and complex first meeting. Sure, they do later run into the remnants of the elven kingdom, but they meet because Dandelion seduced a woman backstage and her brothers are after him to end his life.
Geralt, while reluctant, helps make sure that those brothers don’t rip Dandelion’s limbs from his body.
This does kind of mirror Geralt’s purpose for going to the Pavetta’s royal engagement party with Jaskier, though. That’s pretty neat.
A Priceless Lute
Throughout most of The Witcher series (books and video games) Dandelion has this priceless lute on him at all times. It makes beautiful music and Dandelion/Jaskier loves it for that. After all, it helps him make beautiful music, if you know what that means.
However, in the series, the particular circumstances and lute aren’t exactly the same. After all, Dandelion got the lute in his first adventure with Geralt. When they met with the elves, Dandelion was given a lute of great value and beauty by the elven people.
That didn’t happen in the series, even if meeting Geralt did boost his career. Toss a coin to your Witcher, guys.
Awkward Talker
In the recent Netflix series, Jaskier is much more awkward than Dandelion ever would be. While he is a troublemaker that gets himself in absurd situations, he’s also a smooth-talker that charms the pants of everyone around him.
Netflix Jaskier often fumbles with his words, flirts with women that have no interest in him, and is really awkward about it all. Just because he sings well and is bold a loud doesn’t erase that awkwardness.
Jaskier is an awesome character, but he’s just not as fearless and charming as Dandelion. Wild, considering the guy’s name is Dandelion.
Geralt’s Biographer
As a Witcher, Geralt just cares about ridding the world of monsters and getting paid for it. He’s not really enticed by the fame aspect. However, Dandelion is fascinated with Geralt’s life and loves to use his tales to get his own fame. While he does do songs and poems, in the books and games, Dandelion is also obsessed with writing his biography.
Fortune doesn’t favor him, though, as two different copies of his writings have been lost or burned.
Eventually, Dandelion did write down Geralt’s whole story. Jaskier, though, doesn’t seem to have the same ambitions. He seems to be pretty satisfied with songs.
Toned Down Appearance
If there’s one thing Witcher fans will notice right off the bat, and what might confuse them about Jaskier, is his appearance. In the video games, Dandelion in a very flamboyant man with bright clothing with very poofy sleeves and even a twirly mustache. Oh, and a giant hat.
It’s safe to say that Jaskier’s look is quite a bit toned down from its canonical style. And by quite a bit, it’s probably more like completely different. His clothes are brighter than others and there’s some poof, but other than that and his brown hair, he looks completely different.
Let’s leave it up to hardcore fans to decide if this was a good change or not.
Abandoned Nobility
Netflix’s Witcher series had a lot to cover, so it makes sense that it never got into Jaskier’s backstory. However, if it’s anything like Dandelion’s should be, the guy is actually a member of the nobility. He just abandoned his station because he preferred being a bard. That didn’t stop him from relying on his family money every so often, though.
Jaskier, on the other hand, seems to be flat broke. Fans meet him that way, when his girlfriend kicks him out he’s begging for food, and he doesn’t seem to have a place to stay. That seems like quite a different origin story and hopefully, it will be explained in further seasons.
Geralt’s Friendliness
A core part of Geralt and Dandelion’s friendship is how different they are and how they balance each other out. Also, another core part is the fact that Geralt is almost constantly annoyed with him. However, in the Netflix series, Geralt seems far more unfriendly to Jaskier than ever before.
Sure, they had their spats, but his language towards Jaskier was unkind, bordering on abusive, especially since he refuses to call him his friend.
Geralt and Dandelion bickered a lot, but even an amnesiatic Geralt at least accepts the fact Dandelion is his oldest friend. It’s just a bit of a yikes.
His Role In The Djinn Adventure
In the books, the way Geralt and Dandelion encounter the djinn is quite a bit different. The Netflix series shifts the blame to Geralt, but in the original tale, Jaskier was the one who found and opened the djinn all on his own. And the djinn wasn’t frustrated with the wrong person asking questions, but just thought Dandelion was so annoying that he wouldn’t answer.
Yikes.
Jaskier at least was collateral damage that Geralt had to care for, since he was the one looking for the djinn, building up the bond between them a bit. Dandelion almost died just because a magical creature wanted him to shut up.
Bardic Fame
One of the biggest differences between the Netflix Jaskier and his Dandelion counterpart is his fame. While Jaskier seems to have mild success spreading songs, he’s still a lesser-known bard with little fame or money. Dandelion, on the other hand, is known around the continent as a famous singer and writer.
One could blame this on the time periods, but it’s not that. Dandelion was famous for his works before he even set out as an official bard. That is not Jaskier’s story.
Guess as the seasons go on fans can see what else changes about their favorite singing ladies man.