Why Does Jaskier Hate Yennefer In The Witcher?

One of the most lovable characters in the entire live-action series of The Witcher is Jaskier, who works as a bard and as the unofficial hype man for Geralt. However, even though Jaskier likes making friends with a lot of different people and beautiful women, one person he never particularly liked is Yennefer, who he always treats as a devilish creature. So, why does Jaskier hate Yennefer so much in The Witcher?

Jaskier hates Yennefer in The Witcher because of the circumstances of their first meeting when the mage was using odd magic to extract the djinn out of a confused Jaskier. Of course, some would also think that Jaskier didn’t like the way Yennefer was intruding in his friendship with Geralt. 

The thing about Jaskier is that he sees Geralt as his best friend. Of course, they were already a duo when they first met Yennefer. While we may be able to point to Jaskier being pushed out of the window when Geralt fell for Yennefer, let’s not forget about how troublesome the mage can be. Yennefer’s troublesome nature might be the bigger reason why Jaskier hates her.

Why Does Jaskier Hate Yennefer?

While The Witcher focuses more on three central characters named Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer, the secondary characters also have their own spotlight on this series. One of the most endearing secondary characters that fans really love is Jaskier because he serves as the comic relief of a serious series and is also the unofficial hype man that sings songs about Geralt’s adventures.

Jaskier is the type of person that fans love because of his comedic personality. However, he was never the type of person that other characters in The Witcher (except for Geralt) got along with, particularly because he never stops talking and can be quite annoying. But while that may be true, that never stopped him from trying to be friends with people, except for one person—Yennefer.

Whenever Jaskier and Yennefer cross paths, it’s as if Jaskier is looking at the devil herself. And he always talks as if Yennefer is out there to do something evil. So, why does Jaskier hate Yennefer so much?

To understand why the bard hates Yennefer is to look at the circumstances surrounding their first meeting. 

Before Jaskier and Yennefer met, the bard was already good friends with Geralt. Jaskier stumbles upon Geralt, who was out fishing for a djinn because he needed its help to sleep. However, when he does find a djinn, Geralt and Jaskier mess up, and that leads to Jaskier getting injured. While Geralt was able to get help from an elf healer in a nearby camp, he needed to seek the help of a mage to undo the magic that caused Jaskier’s injury.

In a nearby town that Yennefer basically put in a trance, Geralt met the mage for the first time. While telling the story of why he needs her help, Geralt tells Yennefer about the djinn, which caught the mage’s attention because she needed to find a way to bear children once more. After putting Geralt in a trance that got him in jail, Yennefer takes Jaskier because she believes that the bard became the vessel of the djinn and still had one more wish left.

While Jaskier does get healed, he wakes up in bed with Yennefer looming over him. At first, the bard thought that Yennefer was going to do something sexual to him, especially because she was grabbing him by the testicles. However, Yennefer’s goal was to try to extract the djinn from Jaskier in the hopes of becoming its new vessel without even knowing that it was actually Geralt who possessed the last wish. 

This led to a troublesome situation that forced Geralt to save the day once more. Of course, it also led to a steamy romantic scene with him and Yennefer, with Jaskier witnessing the events from outside the window.

So, because of such circumstances, it is easy to say that Jaskier and Yennefer didn’t start out right in terms of their relationship. Of course, Jaskier also noticed how easy it was for Yennefer to sort of manipulate Geralt and make a puppy out of the wolf. This was seen in episode 6 of season 1 when Geralt agrees to take on a dangerous mission involving a dragon just because Yennefer is also involved in the quest.

Then there is also the fact that maybe Jaskier is sort of feeling a bit jealous because he was pushed out of the scenes when Yennefer arrived. Geralt and Jaskier were already a duo before they met Yenner. So, Yennefer taking too much of Geralt’s time might have been one of the reasons why Jaskier doesn’t like her.

Will Jaskier And Yennefer Become Friends?

While Jaskier and Yennefer were never friends, as far as the bard is concerned, Yennefer actually likes him, to some extent. 

This was seen in episode 4 of season 2 when Yennefer hears about the Sandpiper smuggling elves to Cintra. She realized from afar that Jaskier was the Sandpiper after hearing his singing voice. Yennefer even broke out a smile at first and then hugged Jaskier when they finally met again.

Even after the hug, Jaskier was still skeptical about Yennefer and her motives. But when he found out that Yennefer needed his help to get to Cintra and that they were both hurt by Geralt, they found common ground and then ended up helping one another.

When Rience, the fire mage, captured Jaskier to extract information about Geralt and Ciri, Yennefer helped Jaskier out of the situation. They parted ways after that and were seemingly on good terms. But they reunited and worked together once again in Kaer Morhen when Yennefer asked for Jaskier’s help to find a way to get Voleth Meir out of Ciri’s body. At this point, Jaskier was no longer as rude as he once was to Yennefer, as the duo may have become friends.