Ep. 43 — Chapter 6 from "Blood of Elves" (Part 2)
Garrison from the US and Daniel from the Netherlands join Alyssa for Part 2 of our discussion of Andrzej Sapkowski’s first Witcher novel Blood of Elves, Chapter 6. Very important bits include: fast traveling across the Continent; the musings of an emperor; military tactics, propaganda, and Do-It-Yourself Justice; Big Reveals with a Capital B; The Steve Jobs of the Continent; sinking feelings; prophetic dreams; marshmallow assassins; and What If… Nenneke was the hero of Sodden?
This episode is available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.
In this Episode
[00:00] Cold Open
[00:50] Introduction
[02:58] Discussion
[20:37] “Tidings from Toussaint”
[23:35] Ad Read: Shop Breakfast in Beauclair
[24:18] Discussion
[47:06] Outro & Credits
Relevant Links
Transcript
Cold Open
ALYSSA: But although the night was dark, the moon was new, and the sky overcast, he suddenly saw 10,000 dazzlingly, dazzling, I need a supercut with the, with me trying to say this fucking word from Episode 7. Good lord, okay.
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]
Introduction
ALYSSA: Welcome to Breakfast in Beauclair, a global Witcher Podcast. My name is Alyssa from GoodMorhen, and I’ll be your host as you, I, and our international hanza accompany Geralt of Rivia and his destiny, Cirilla of Cintra, across the Continent.
With just one and a half chapters left in Andrzej Sapkowski’s Blood of Elves, we’re inching closer to the end of Season 3 of Breakfast in Beauclair! The last episode of this season will release at the end of October. And as usual, the show will take a three month break between seasons from November through January. Season 4 of the podcast will premiere on February 3rd, 2022 covering Netflix’s Nightmare of the Wolf and The Witcher, Season 2. Over the break, join Breakfast in Beauclair on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for new content and the Hanza Discord at bit.ly/thehanzadiscord to hang out with our global community when The Witcher, Season 2 drops this December.
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[Episode Details]
As for this episode, Garrison from the US and Daniel from the Netherlands join us for Part 2 of our discussion of Blood of Elves, Chapter 6. Join us as we fast travel across the Continent and discuss the musings of an emperor; military tactics, propaganda, and Do-It-Yourself Justice; ‘Big Reveals’ with a capital B; The Steve Jobs of the Continent; sinking feelings; prophetic dreams; marshmallow assassins; and What If… Nenneke was the hero of Sodden?
In our mid-episode news segment, “Tidings from Toussaint,” Lars from Witcherflix shares insights into Season 2 of “The Witcher” on Netflix.
Without further ado, let’s begin our discussion of Blood of Elves, Chapter 6.
Discussion
[Breakfast in Beauclair stinger by MojoFilter Media]
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): When we left off, five monarchs from the Northern Kingdoms met in secrecy at Hagge Castle to debate the future of the Continent, resolving to kill the Lion Cub of Cintra and provoke war against the Nilfgaardian Empire.
ALYSSA: In the next section, Marshall Menno Coehoorn and Emperor Emhyr var Emreis of Nilfgaard draw new plans in response to the Council of Kings and military movement on the continent. It should be noted in this section that Coehoorn and Emhyr aren't named in full until the very last paragraph. So throughout the section, Emhyr is only referred to as the man, and Coehoorn is just referred to by his last name and occasionally, like, the Marshal. Um, but we don't really hear about them until the very last section, which kind of cloaks everything that we're going to be discussing in a little bit of mystery and uncertainty while we wait for that reveal. And so when we first are dropped in, Emhyr summarizes what we learned in the last section, so he knows everything. He knows that um those five monarchs met. Even though he doesn't know the content of the conversation, he's smart enough to guess what they're doing and surmise, kind of, what they're planning based on who was or wasn't there. Again, very smart of him. He notes that they didn't invite anyone from the chapter of wizards, which is interesting and significant. So Coehoorn tried to see to it that the wizards learn of this council, let them know that their monarchs do not treat them as equals. “It seems to me that the wizards of the chapter have had some doubts in this respect, disperse them.” So we're kind of hearing that like, yeah, he's doing all the things that they suspected he was doing. He has his little birds up in the North uhm spreading propaganda and information or disinformation throughout the continent. He also notably asks any news from Rience to which Coehoorn says no. So I feel like at this point, readers go one of two ways. They either, you know, are just waiting with bated breath now that we know Rience is in contact with the freaking Emperor of Nilfgaard, and they're just waiting in utter silence uh for this reveal or they're just like, uuuugh, it's one or the other, I think. What did you guys think of these two revelations?
DAN: Well I remember when I read the book for the first time, I was like, okay, he knows a lot. So it's probably the emperor of Nilfgaard but it's still quite vague of who the guy actually is. And then I was suddenly like, hey, he knows, Rience. And so I was like, okay, great, you know, Rience. Who knows Rience? Who are you? Tell me your secrets!
ALYSSA: Yeah. It's been that question that has danced around the continent, right, like everybody wants to know who Rience is working for, and for the love of God, they can't figure it out. We heard that from the Northern Kings, just now. Geralt has no idea who has employed Rience, or why he's looking for Ciri. Like nobody knows. And we freaking find out, if not employed by, he's at least connected to Emhyr. And yeah, it's just like bated breath from here on out. Gary, what did you think?
GARY: The first person that speaks is the Marshal, is Coehoorn. And I think like, who would a Marshal speak to? Who would a Marshal subserviently speak to? It's got to be like, a king or somebody huge, right? Like its gotta be somebody really important. As it goes on, I really loved how much Coehoorn talks about like when he's talks, everyone listens. And when he monologues, you sit there. If you notice, through like the first two pages of him talking, Coehoorn gets like three, four points to talk and in all that he says like five words, because he's not supposed to talk a lot. It's like, “Can you guess what they're discussing?” “I can”. Doesn't speak again. Like this guy knows to listen. So obviously, he's a soldier. He's somebody who listens to the person who's in command. Uhm but when you get to the finding out like, hooooh, this person knows Rience?! So this is like, other than the last section, which uh tied into Ciri a lot, this section ties into Geralt, and you're like, ohhhh, okay, like you're getting more and more of the backstory of what's going on with these characters and what's happening. So it's a really, it's really interesting way to introduce that.
ALYSSA: And uhm you know, what you had brought up with Coehoorn, I think Peter Kenny says, “Ku-hoon”. Koh-horn? I don't know what he said.
GARY: Oh, god. It’s gotta be Coehoorn for me. There's an O-R-N. [7:18-19]
ALYSSA: I know. I know. Um.
GARY: Our Dutch listeners, we're sorry. We're gonna mess this up.
DAN: It's sad to hear but I'll accept it. Well there is a Dutch guy called Menno from Coehoorn.
ALYSSA: Ku-horn? Ku-horn?
DAN: Ku-horn.
ALYSSA: Ku-horn. Okay.
DAN: Okay, so like cow horn. He was a Dutch military siege engineer like builder of fortresses, destroyer of fortresses in the 17th century for the Dutch Republic. —
ALYSSA: Mm hmm.
DAN: — So yeah I think he took the name from that guy.
ALYSSA: I’ll get on board with, can you say it one more time?
DAN: Ku-horn.
ALYSSA: Ku-horn. Yeah. Okay. I'll get on board with that. The interesting thing, though, umm is that we get this entire section from Coehoorn’s perspective, which is delightful. It's so fun to hear his internal monologue as he's kind of just being basically a spectator in this display. It's so fun, just like hearing what Emhyr is saying, and Coehoorn just like processing it to some delightful like juxtaposition as we get on and some delightful moments as well. We get those two orders, right. He has contacts within mages in the North. We also know that he's in contact with Rience. Emhyr then asks Coehoorn, who is now the governor of Cintra, how he likes the country before announcing that the Marshal will be taking over a group of soldiers and Dol Angra. There's then a small interruption here, Coehoorn learns that the rebellion has been stopped like some of the uprisings uh in the provinces have been stopped. And Nilfgaard has captured the leader of this rebellion. Uh, Duke Windhalm of Attre has been caught. We had met Windhalm of Attre previously at Pavetta’s banquet in Cintra during A Question of Price. And he was briefly described just, as like, a chubby 12-year old prince. Here, we hear that he's now a Duke and he was leading a rebellion. Ciri’s only about 10, so this can't be more than like 10, 11 years since that banquet. So he's only maybe like 22, 23 leading a rebellion against Nilfgaard. Emhyr, at this point, demands that Windhalm is made a spectacle of, and very publicly and cruelly executed in order to make an example for anyone else who might think of rebelling against the Empire. When I had the realization that this is a character that we had seen before and went back referenced it, it's such a sinking freaking feeling to know that like this character, even if they were minor, to know what fate has befallen them by the time we get to the saga, and it's just a little, fuck, it’s a little crushing if I'm being honest.
GARY: Yeah. There, there is a lot. I love this, like I love this guy. First time you see him and the way he talks about all these situations, you know. How do you find the country, governor? He stops talking about all this important stuff. The Marshals taken, taken back and shutters and you know, he's like, uh it's gloomy. He says in his head, like, I can't hide anything from him, he already knows. And obviously, it gets more into that because this guy, you can't hide anything from him. And he goes in like talking about the monarchs from before that he calls Meve the Merry Widow of Lyria? Like this guy, whoever he is, not only does he know everything, but he also looked down on everyone around him. And so he's got to be somebody huge. He's up there, he's really high up. He also gives like, direct orders to like, you will not be provoked. You will be provoked when I tell you you were provoked. And this goes back to the chapter earlier where they want to start a provocation at the border. This guy's thinking, that's what they're gonna do. Like, he feels like they're easy to read. This guy's amazing. You know. Whoever this guy is, he's super smart. Then you get to the part where the Duke, Duke Windhalm was like, good, we caught him. Uh, kill him. Get rid of him. Yeah.
ALYSSA: The dark humor that happens here um and the construction of the scene, again, we get it from Coehoorn’s perspective, and it's like, Emhyr just gives him information piece by piece. And when with marshals, he's processing. So Emhyr is just like, well, we have to execute him with no, don't stop at a beheading, we have to make it public and cruel. Coehoorn was just like, okay, I'm just not gonna be there, though. And immediately, Emhyr is just like, you'll be there, of course, on my behalf, don't tell me any of the details, because I don't want to know. Uh, and it's just like, oh, this poor Marshal. I like that the chapter is written and structured in a way that you, as a reader, are equally in fear and in awe of Emhyr as he is, it's a very interesting way to do the chapter um and to do this section. And I think it was done really well. We very rarely actually see scenes from Emhyr's perspective, which I think adds to a certain amount of um, you know, mystery about this Emperor. So you know, getting this from one of his Marshals, since the first time that we're meeting him, we as readers have an equal amount of, you know, fear and regard for what is going on.
DAN: It really feels like for example, let's say this is a game of chess. You know, not war, not politics, just chess.Then feels like the Northern Kings are like, you know, like five people sitting on one side of the table, constantly talking to each other, okay, what's going to be our next move, and after completely discussing and taking way too much time to finally set their piece. In the meanwhile, sort of it feels like Emhyr, sort of like, you know, taking a sip of drink, just sort of like staring out of a window, sees the move being made, waits five seconds, and already knows, like, okay, this is going to be the next six moves that those other guys are going to try. Like, great, great, I already know that, I'll put this in, like in six turns checkmate. —
GARY: Yeah.
DAN: — that's sort of the vibe he's giving.
ALYSSA: You know, being an emperor, you don't need to collaborate with anybody, uh if you don't have to, and he's able to, you know, make these decisions and execute them on his own as opposed to the Council of Kings, which needs a certain level of cooperation and strategy. Interesting to see how that's done, and how the decisions are being made over in Nilfgaard, comparatively. We hear a little bit more about what is happening on the continent through the news that's being relayed between the Marshal and the Emperor. He asks again, for additional updates from Rience, and he's not getting them, he asks twice. And on the third time, he just pivots the conversation, and he's just like, “No, we're not going to wait for Rience. We're not going to wait for his report. Tell him to assassinate the Witcher immediately, and to leave Yennefer alone.” So all of a sudden, as Gary said, like, oh, shit, we're now like really invested in what's going on because the first half of the section with the Northern Kings has this very concern for Ciri. And now all of a sudden, the freaking emperor has a hit on our man. Like Geralt has warned in a previous chapter that he has become stuck in something so much bigger than himself. And we finally see that it really is because it's drawn the attention of kings, of an emperor. It's unfathomable, truly.
GARY: Oh, yeah. He's very, very much like, I want to know what's happening with this. That's, it, that's his piece being played right now, if we're talking about the chess game. Did that work? He wants to know and he says, stop pussyfooting around is what he says, to stop playing with the Witcher, that no one toys with the Witcher. You begin to feel like this guy knows everybody, everybody that's an important piece on the board. He knows them. So why would the emperor want this guy dead? Just a Witcher? Really? What's so important about him? I love this chapter because it makes you ask so many questions about what, why, how? How does he know these people? You know, it's so good.
ALYSSA: Yeah. We've spent, you know, all the short stories as well as all of Blood of Elves, up until this point focused on such like a microscopic level on Geralt and Ciri specifically. Suddenly, with this chapter as well as a couple of the other ones in Blood of Elves, our understanding and our view of the continent has expanded so much beyond just the Witcher and his ward. We’ll spend the rest of the saga, you know, exploring the rest of the continent as well, which is so exciting. But to your point, Gary, like, like, what, what does he even want? What will this one assassination do for him? Why does he need to get a hit on this man? And it certainly leaves you with more questions than answers by the end.
DAN: Well like what Gary mentioned is like he's such a strange man of like so many aspects, I would say. When he's introduced, he's like a thin lighthaird hair of men just with an elf tunic, marked with the imprints of armor and rust stains. Rust stains? He's the emperor of like, the biggest Empire there, and he has rust stains on his clothing. And at the same time, one or two pages later, it's mentioned that he has a massive diamond on his ring. Even in himself, it's like a massive contrast that asks like so many questions like why is he dressed so dirtily but still has like a very expensive diamond ring, you know?
ALYSSA: Maybe it's like the Steve Jobs of the continent, just like same shit different day. Uh, and it gives him more space to plot if he's not thinking about his outfit. So as we move forward to the rest of this section, the two are interrupted you know, one more time. This time by a soldier in black armor with wings of a bird of prey on his helmet who is revealed to be a Count. He's presented to Emhyr. Coehoorn is still in the room when this happens. He overhears, obviously this um, this dressing down from Emhyr to the soldier. And the Emperor says, “You should understand that the mistake you made in this town two years ago has not been forgiven. You are getting one more chance. You're getting one more order. My decision, as to your ultimate fate, depends on the way in which you carry it out. I never deceive anyone. I never give anyone false illusions. Let it be known that naturally the prospect of saving your neck from the executioner's axe exists only if you do not make a mistake this time. Your chances of a full pardon are small. Your chances of my forgiving and forgetting are nonexistent.” Gary was saying Emhyr instills fear in the people of Nilfgaard like nobody's business, and he leverages that fear very much. Yeah, but again, more questions than answers. He spends the last couple paragraphs for this section formulating the right way to present this final order. Um and we never actually hear what it is but at this point it is revealed that this is Emperor Emhyr var Emreis, the white flame dancing on the barrows of his foes, that sort of thing.
GARY: First off, like in strides this guy black armor, he's got the wings on his helmet, you're like, oh, it's this dude. It's basically said, your mistake here two years ago, like so then you have timeline, very easily lays out. It's been two years since he made a mistake, he says has not been forgiven. Like we brought you out of these cells. And I think even Coehoorn says this guy does not look like somebody who spent the last two years in the cell —
ALYSSA: Mm hmm.
GARY: — He still has full respect. He's been put in the armor again, he has full respect for his emperor. He's got his one chance he feels like, and Emhyr just lays it out, you're going to do one thing for me and you can save your head. He clarifies, your chances of me forgiving you are never going to happen. It feels like even though he can save his own head, he cannot save the relationship between him and the Emperor. And the emperor will always look down on you because you failed once. You're not allowed to redeem yourself. And I feel like that redemption goes back into the original quote from the chapter, if you plan murder of any scale, you are not better than anyone else and yet he tells him right there, you're never getting my forgiveness. It's, whew, it’s heavy and it's, it's so good. You want more of this, I, like if you're me, and I love villains and people who inspire those villains. Like I want more of this, who's this guy? His executive power is just complete. He can do whatever he wants, and people respect the throne.
DAN: And it reminds me a lot of the quote from the Witcher games and not from the books but it's quite fitting one. It's a quote from Emhyr saying, “I'm not known as the patient, be sure you’re not known as the headless.” He doesn't fuck around, he’s like okay, this is what you're going to do or you’re going to the scaffold. It's an easy choice, but it's up to you.
GARY: It’s an easy choice, whatever I'm about to tell you.
ALYSSA: Yeah, you know, we're not going to find out for a very long time what the outcome of this conversation is, but these are certainly characters that we will get to revisit throughout the saga for sure. As we've said before, these two conversations between the Northern Kings as well as the Emperor and his Marshal really paint the picture for how whatever Ciri and Geralt have gotten themselves mixed up in, how large this is and how deeply it affects the political happenings of the continent. And you know, now that we've gone to such a macro perspective, we'll get to finally focus on our heroes.
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Before we get to the rest of the discussion, we’re going to hand it over to Lars from WitcherFlix for recent news on the Netflix show. When we come back, Garrison, Daniel, and I will continue our discussion of Blood of Elves, Chapter 6.
“Tidings from Toussaint”
[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by MojoFilter Media]
LARS FROM WITCHERFLIX: Hey, it's Lars from WitcherFlix and this is "Tidings from Toussaint". Welcome back everybody! This is a rather short episode. The last two weeks were kind of slow when it comes to news for the Witcher main show. Instead Netflix still promoted the new Witcher spin-off anime Nightmare of the Wolf. Luckily, there were some things that hinted at some aspects of Season 2.
In a promo video for the anime, showrunner Lauren Hissrich talked about the film's ending and how it will connect to Season 2. She said: "It's really a story of fatherhood in my opinion. We get to see the father figure that Vesemir is to Geralt in the anime film and we get to see that Vesemir was willing to put his own life on the line in order to preserve this new generation of Witchers. When we see Geralt again in Season 2, he is struggling with that same idea, which is the Continent is changing once again, and suddenly Geralt is thrust into the role of the father figure."
On East European Comic Con, Triss Merigold actress Anna Shaffer talked a little bit about her character and what we can expect from her in Season 2. Among other things Anna talked about what three things she loves the most about Triss. She said: "The way she is connected to heart and to nature. […] Her emotional nature, that connects her to people but can also lead to not being able to control these feelings. […] Her kind personality, her actions coming from duty and kindness." When it comes to Season 2, Anna had the following to say: "It has a different feel to it, a different costume design, a different make-up design, but we keep what people loved about Season 1 but adding something different a bit fresher. [In Season 1,] we leave Triss very seriously injured, it affects her a lot physically and mentally so what we get to see in Season 2 is a different journey for her. One where she takes ownership over her life a bit more."
In other news, Redanian Intelligence revealed more about the Witch prequel miniseries "Blood Origin". In the last two weeks, the show has been filming at Freshnam Little Pond in the UK, the same place where parts of Season 2 of the main show was filmed. Moreover two new actors have been cast for "Blood Origin". Guy Rhys plays a character named Cavaro and actor Aidan O'Callaghan will be part of the miniseries playing a character named Kareg.
In addition, we have our first images from the set of "Blood Origin". Redanian Intelligence posted some tiny little videos from the set at Freshnam Little Pond showing main actors like Sophia Brown, Laurence O'Fuarain, and Michelle Yeoh standing by a lake. In another video, we can see an army moving through the hills in front of a blue screen. It will be interesting to learn what these scenes will be about.
Anyway guys, that's it for me for today. I hope you all stay safe and well. We'll talk again in the next episode of Breakfast in Beauclair. Until then, thanks again for listening and good luck on the path!
[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by MojoFilter Media]
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Discussion
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Hey everyone! Welcome back from the break. When we left off, Emperor Emhyr var Emreis of Nilfgaard spoke to Field Marshal Menno Coehoorn about the empire’s military strategy and stunning revelations about the emperor’s personal interests.
ALYSSA: In the next section of this chapter, Ciri awakes to the sound of Nenneke and Yennefer arguing. Having woken from a dream about Geralt and strange people on a canal, she falls back asleep and this time dreams of Yennefer and mysterious doors that she should not open. We get a very sudden like smash cut. We've been with these kings, we've been with this emperor and then all of a sudden we are back with our heroine who we've not seen since Chapter Four. She gives us like an update on what has been happening with Geralt, Shani and Dandelion which is very exciting for us as readers but Ciri of course has never met the others so she doesn't really know what's going on with Geralt. And again, she kind of just sees this as a dream. So for us, as readers, we know what's really happening but for her as a character she may or may not. And Nenneke’s arguing with Yennefer about Ciri’s magical training. Uhm Ciri is left alone in the room. She has just woken up and her nose is clotted with blood. Nenneke’s outside arguing about Yennefer’s methods, uhm and Ciri can't quite make out what Yennefer is saying in response. So she tries to go back to sleep and she tries to kind of like hook the dream that she had with Geralt and try to get herself back into that. It doesn't work. And she's instead carried to another dream in which she's being marched by Yennefer down this corridor of doors. They eventually make it to the end of this corridor. Ciri gets frightened. She knows that she shouldn't enter this door that Yennefer is leading her to. Yennefer insists. The chapter here says, “She stopped short, tried to pull away, but Yennefer’s hand was strong and unyielding and unrelentingly dragged her forward. And Ciri finally understood that she had been betrayed, deceived, sold out.” Yennefer in the dream then says “If you're afraid, turn back.” Ciri responds, “That door mustn't be opened. Do you know that?” Yennefer says, “I do.” “But you're still leading me there.” “If you're afraid, turn back. You still have time to turn back. It's not too late.” “And you?” “For me, it is.” We get this recurring dream with the doors uh from Ciri throughout the saga. And at this point, we still don't know what it means. And I don't think we ever concretely find out either. But before Ciri has woken up a second time, she hears a quiet voice in her dream just say, “You have made a mistake. You mistook the stars reflected in the pond for the night sky.” And it's not exactly this way in the English translation but you know, it is our Breakfast in Beauclair Polish approved translation that I'll just use continually throughout the podcast. But oh man, what did you guys think of this little part?
GARY: First, you get a little magic-y dream. You know, you see that in fantasy sometimes. And it's like, are these the things of the past, present or future? And she sees, you know, these doors, she sees Geralt with all his friends. And she's obviously just out of it from what happened earlier. Then she sees, my favorite part of this, which is just Nenneke just dressing down Yennefer, just you betrayed my trust. You're ruthless. You're cruel. You don't care about her. You're irresponsible. And it's, it's great. Because Yennefer up to this point has been sold as like a strong character, someone who doesn't take shit from people, especially not monarchs. And they think, this is a nun. This is somebody who has, owns no land, just has her little monastery. She's a good healer. People know her for that. She has a little acclaim because of that. And she's just taking it out on Yennefer, just dressing her down. Ciri even says like, well, she's not going to take that, you know, she's not going to take that. And then Yennefer just says something quiet back to her. She's like, oh, this must be a dream too. You know, this isn't real either.
DAN: Yeah, and she does feels like okay, this is real. But then because of the rest of this section is also with weird dream moments, it still feels like okay, so it happened, right? Nenneke is a badass, but same time Yennefer is as well. So wait, did she back down, did Ciri just imagine that, that she maybe already feel, fell asleep again. It's a weird section in that regard.
ALYSSA: Ciri just serves as a tool to kind of connect everything that's been going on and to give it a little bit of grounding. Even though everything is kind of happening around her on such a macro and micro scale. The kings are thinking of her. Geralt is thinking of her. Yennefer, Nenneke, are you know going head to head. She's just kind of there. She's still a child. I feel like having this brief moment with her before we kind of see what has happened since she was brought to the Temple of Melitele, gives us that brief little bit of grounding before we kind of go back to like everybody strategizing around her. So I do appreciate, like having this section as well.
GARY: When Ciri wakes up again, she can feel that Yennefer is next to her, right? She's sitting in the dark, you know, she still has all this, you know, dull pain going on. So she's not quite with it all the way. But she can tell that Yennefer’s there. And yes, she's staying in the dark. And to me, I feel like if this was a scene in the movie, they would make Yennefer come out and you would see her like makeup probably ruined. She probably is crying from something because I just feel like Nenneke’s has laid into her and just taken her down and she is staying in the dark not to betray the image she's already built up, that she's a powerful person who doesn't take it from anybody and she's not going to let even Ciri see that she is faltering in this moment. I feel like she's using that darkness as a mask. Because she never comes out of the darkness. She stays there. She holds her hand, but she doesn't leave her side. One of the things I really like about this is how Sapkowski uses the name the magician, and then calls Yennefer, a magician. If you're not thinking about it too much, it's like okay, well, she's a mage. Magicians, mages. But really magicians are like jesters. They're comical. They're lesser. They're not all powerful. You're not Yennefer right now. You're not the greatest sorceress in the north. You are some magician. Nenneke always knows how to bring people down. I mean —
ALYSSA: She does.
GARY: — you see that in from the short stories. Like she takes Geralt from being the badass witcher who saves the day to you're a dumb ass. You're an absolute idiot. Like what do, you know she brings everybody down. She brings lords down in those short stories. She brings Yennefer down. The only person Emhyr is probably afraid of is Nenneke, honestly. Gotta believe that.
DAN: For sure. She probably was at the Battle of Sodden just sort of screaming, well, Emhyr, where are you and then Nilfgaards fled. They're like, okay, nope, we're done. —
GARY: Yep.
DAN: Nope.
GARY: Nenneke won the Battle of Sodden. And that's what happened.
ALYSSA: She's the real hero, not Vilgefortz.
DAN: Sort of like the hero we deserve, but the hero that we need.
ALYSSA: Oh, 100% 100%. And uhm, she's such a, she's such a freaking legend. This is again, a small taste of what we're going to get in Chapter Seven. The conflict between Yennefer and Nenneke, and how they butt heads, specifically over Ciri’s education, and the fact that Geralt had sent Ciri to the temple and then sent Yennefer after her doesn't really seem to suit anybody well, but you know, we'll get to that in the next few episodes as well. I spoke about this a little bit already but this recurring dream about doors that shouldn't be opened, I think there's so many different ways to interpret this as we move forward throughout the series. And I'm really excited to get to those points and then, you know, revisit this discussion again. And there's a few that have come to mind. And I'm sure there's many more that will crop up as we continue to have these discussions over the next like, however many years of the podcast but you know, I think this is one of the first times that we see this recurring dream, and I'm excited to actually talk about it when we can get to spoilery parts of the saga. In the next section, Geralt, Shani, Dandelion and Philippa arrive at Myhrman’s house to find it safely in the middle of the canal. Shani tricks Myhrman into lowering the bridge and the Witcher knocks him out. This is the first time we're back with the Witcher since the end of Chapter Five. In the last few sentences, we had learned that Shani knows where to find Rience. Now we're kind of seeing what has happened after that conversation. They scheme a little bit. They're like, “Damn, he's in the middle of the canal.” “How we're going to get there sneakily? It looks like a fortress.” “Is this really his house?” And Shani is like, “Ah, I know how to get in. It's fine.” She like rings a big gong. Uhm Myhrman comes to the window. He's like, who the devil is here at —
GARY: Oh my god.
ALYSSA: — this time of night?
GARY: The best quote.
ALYSSA: Gary, if you want to read that out when we're done, we can.
GARY: That is the best quote. “Who the devil is ringing this time tonight?”, he bawled furiously. “Whack yourself on the empty head of yours. You shit, you lame dick. When you get the urge to not, get out. Get lost you old soaks!” This guy just, he goes at it. He's like, “College kids waking me up at night. Get out of here!”
ALYSSA: Yeah, and that is our introduction to this character who Shani claims has been hoarding Rience. She's just like, “Hi, Mr. Myhrman, sir. I've got your goods.” And he's like, “Why? Why are you here at this time of night? Who are those people that you have with you? You usually come alone.” And she's like, “They're just friends in your godforsaken neighborhood. I'm not gonna come here by myself. I value my virginity.” He's just like, “What? Okay, whatever.” So he eventually is convinced to go down and answer the door and he has a crossbow with him, but I just love the way that the section closes. He goes to answer the door muttering under his breath. “Myhrman released the stopper on the winch and the bridge creaked down hitting the planks of the deck. The old fraud minced to the door and pulled back the bolts and locks. Without putting his crossbow aside, he carefully peered out. He didn't notice the fist clad in a black silver studded glove as it flew toward the side of his head. But although the night was dark, the moon was new and the sky overcast, he suddenly saw 10,000 dazzlingly bright stars.” It's such a delightful way to end that section. Yeah, it's, I love how poetic that is. Like even though it was really just that dark. He saw stars. I think that's such a lovely way of putting it.
DAN: Sounds so sweet. Sort of like, oh so nice. But it actually means Yeah, he got a massive concussion. —
ALYSSA: Yeah.
DAN: — sort of like let's contrast.
GARY: Geralt’s got a mean right hook.
ALYSSA: Oh, absolutely. I would not want to get punched in the face by a witcher with like silver studded gloves. Holy crap.
GARY: The only thing we glossed over in that is I like how when Philippa comes down into that scene, she lands on the railing as this grey Owl and then turns into herself and she's still on the railing. I didn't notice that until I read it the third time. She's like, awkwardly on the railing like an owl in this scene and it's like, like owls don't have arms to like do the extra hand. So I just have to imagine she's standing there straight up and down on the railing when she comes in and I, I think that's just hilarious.
ALYSSA: Yeah. Um, in the previous recording when we recorded Chapter Five, one of the guests, uh Josh brought that up, like just the fact that there's little to no spectacle around a lot of the magic in the Witcher and especially transformative magic, not like what you would see where there's just like lights and smoke and suddenly people transform and like Beauty and the Beast like colorful tornado style. It's just like they are and they aren't. And in this case, Philippa is an owl and then she's not. As he said, there's something so fun in her just like being stuck in this owl like position as a human.
GARY: “Equally ruffled and wet” is literally the line so it's like god, it's awful to be out of here. Like she just pissed that she's out here.
ALYSSA: And it's interesting to note that like even when she's not an owl, she's often described in owl-like terms or smelling like an owl or still being referred to as one which is interesting.
DAN: It’s a small thing we maybe glossed over, but the reason that they're going through Myrhman is because Shani saw Rience there because she sells university medicines to him. Like wait a second, Shani, what? What are you doing? You're selling University property.
ALYSSA: Yeah, that was one of the things that actually Ciri had overheard in her dream. As Geralt and these people were walking toward the canal, Shani mentions, like yeah, I just like, loot stuff from the school and like resell them, because my stepfather can barely afford my tuition. —
DAN: Relatable.
ALYSSA: — Yeah. And Dandelion, um reprimands her and she's like, meh.
GARY: I think that's how most people respond to Dandelion. Meh, whatever you say, bard. ALYSSA: Well we had seen at the end of the previous chapter that like Dandelion’s spent so long trying to like look for the embarrassment and shame on her naked body and she like responded with nothing but mirth, and I think it's kind of the same thing here. Like she doesn't care what Dandelion thinks of what she's doing. Like she's got her set plan and set morals and it seems like she's gonna get stuff done. No matter the circumstance.
DAN: Also it remind me when the first time I read the section I was like, it was before University, so I was like, oh, God, Shani! You’re a thief now? How dare you steal from the university. Nowadays when I’m looking at these admission fees, I feel like yeah, okay, I can understand what she's doing.
GARY: You get yours, girl. Get your degree.
ALYSSA: Ah, school. We again have a little bit of a smash cut after Geralt takes out Myhrman. We meet new characters, the Michelet brothers. In this section, Rience hires the Michelet brothers, professional assassins, for a peculiar job. We know what this job is. We've heard from Emhyr that he has put out a hit on Geralt. And now Rience is trying to do this. But we get the section from the perspective of Toublanc Michelet. And if I'm saying this, I'm so sorry, to anybody French who's here. But Peter Kenney does such a fantastic job with this character. He has throughout this entire chapter, just because we had all of the kings, everybody who was at Nilfgaard, Ciri, Yennefer, Nenneke, everybody who's with Geralt, and then the Michelet brothers. Rience is proposing this assassination, but he's not giving them any information about who this is. Toublanc was like, there's something weird about this. Like, you want us to kill an ordinary man who doesn't have any family, doesn't have any contacts, nobody's going to go look for him, we don't have to hide out, we're not going to get involved in a blood feud. We don't kill ordinary people. What do you need us for? There must be a catch. Rience is just like, well, you know, your standard rate is 100 crowns. And Toublanc is like, no, there's something here. Give us 200. So he doubles his rate, and then Rience says, “Fine. Okay, let's go.” And Toublanc is taken aback because he didn't think he'd be able to haggle for more than 120 or 150. This section ends on such an ominous note. All of a sudden, he realizes he should have accepted more, and that the price that he's being offered is much too low for whatever catch is now in this assignment, and we know that it's the Witcher. We know that Rience is sending mortal men to fight off a witcher.
GARY: He really undersold this job. Serious. It doesn't say that he pays them, I don't think —
ALYSSA: No. We’ll find out, certainly.
GARY: — He's, he's like, 200? Let's go. Let's do it. You get the offer. You get like too good of an offer. It's like being at a yard sale or something and you offer the person like $1 and they're like $2. Okay, sure.
DAN: It's also like when I read it in the chapter for the first time again, the first time I see the word Michelet Brothers I always imagine the word Michelin, you know, from that tirer company. Imagine like, four like Michelin figures standing next to each other. “Yeah, we're mercenaries now.”
ALYSSA: Little marshmallows. Yeah, I mean I can't imagine just like that sinking feeling of like, “Oh shit. I sold myself too low.” Like I'm getting into something that is really really fucked u, aren’t I? You’re with Toublanc as he's making this realization and it's just ugh like you as a reader not knowing what's coming. Oh my god like the suspense that is building at this point now that you're seeing how Rience is responding to the commands given to him by Emhyr. Oh my god, yeah. I just, argh, it's one of those sections that is so beautifully done but I know when I think about it and when I read it, the pit in my stomach is probably the same thing that Toublanc Michelet felt.
DAN: It's also sort of like you know, greed blinds or something like that. As clearly its like oh, I'll just say 200 and I feels like he just cares so much more about the money. I'll ask 200 if you accept that we do it. You should have negotiated more man, like at least you know found out more but he was thinking, thinking about money first, questions later.
GARY: It also feels like Rience went to the lowest bidder, you know. Like these guys are set up to be assassins and it's like they didn't ask any questions about who this guy was. They're just like, “Oh just, just a dude? Yeah, we will kill a dude, sure.” That really the group you want to take up against a witcher? Sure, Rience.
DAN: I mean it's kind of implied that at least have a bit of skill. I mean, you're talking about breaking into castles and into garrisons taking out sort of nobles, or very rich people who can put on bounties. So it's either, they always try to avoid that, that's implied or is implied not really sure which of the two it is, they have done those kinds of jobs you know, like a job that you kill someone and have to wait like five years because otherwise a bounty on you is going to cost your life. Maybe there are actually tough people but just not tough enough because Geralt is a witcher. Who knows?
ALYSSA: Yeah, but you know we've spent the entire chapter hearing about preparations and this is Rience. Smash cut back to Geralt and the crew as they're interrogating Myrhman. In this section, Geralt, Philippa and Shani interrogate Myrhman about Rience. Myrhman comes to on the floor of his own home and he's got Geralt’s either knee or boot on his chest and everybody's around him and he's definitely got a concussion and they start interrogating him. Dandelion kind of takes a backseat in this part. But Geralt is just like, “Where's Rience?” He like cuts straight to the chase and Myrhman panics. He's like, “Ah, who? Who, who are you talking about?” And Shani immediately is just like, he was here three days ago. He even like had the audacity to flirt with me and like try to grab me as well. And you referred to him as Master Rience. She's like, I know and you never entertain guests, you only entertain really good friends. He curses her inside. He's just like, “Oh, you stupid red haired hussy student. Mmmrrr.” And then Geralt gets more angry and starts to really threaten Myrhman. And Myrhman believes him. Geralt threatens to cut off his ear, cut him piece by piece and feed him to the fishes in the canal. And Myrhman resolves himself like “I just I just I just need to let go of my ear. If I let go of my ear or at least Rience will see that I that I tried and I just, just one little ear.” Eventually, Philippa cuts in. She's like let's do this my way. She gets down and I think it notes that, again, like she smelled like wet feathers and, and everything. Myrhman has a thought that he wants to scream and Philippa, obviously being a mage, she touches his temple, and this section kind of closes with her being like, “Oh, you want to scream already?” She says something to the effect of like, I will find and deepen every groove that evolution has set in your brain and you are going to know what a real scream is. And it’s just like oooh fuuuck. It’s so scary! It's so scary between the Witcher and Philippa. My God.
GARY: Yeah. Well, I think Dan wanted to talk about this guy, was willing to lose an ear, dude.
DAN: Like, I mean, the moment I think Geralt would put the knife against my ear I would be lik like, okay, you know, I either lose my ear, or because this guy seems very scary, maybe he fights and wins from Rience, let's just tell it. He's like, okay, yeah, I'll lose an ear. Dude, its an ear! Kind of sort of admirable, he's like, willing to lose that much. Just, you know. Maybe it's not admirable, maybe it says something about Rience, you know, like, how much he can be punishing, to people who backstab him.
GARY: Philippa doesn't even wait like she doesn't even get into the torture and is like, alright, I got something she's like, why don't we just do the worst thing first? What are you guys waiting for? Let's get to it. And yeah she is a bad person, obviously. That is a sickening line.
ALYSSA: Yeah, she, oh god, it's so she's, she's just like, I don't even know if it's vicious. Like I mean she is, but like beyond that it's like means to an end. Everything is a means to an end. Whatever she needs to do to achieve that, she'll do it without hesitation. She's so concrete in her purpose, her glorious purpose. And man, like you said, she just goes straight to the most efficient and brutal way of dealing with this man without hesitation.
GARY: Yeah. Straight to the torture? Straight to torture. Let's do it.
ALYSSA: Yep! There we go. Oh, my God.
DAN: I mean, we shouldn't forget that's also Geralt just trying to chop him to pieces and feed him to the fish. I mean, it's not like he's in that regard much better, you know —
GARY: True.
DAN: — I would say like Geralt is the scariest. We've seen the power confines that he can be. Philippa promises —
GARY: But he didn’t yet. He didn't do it yet, though. He might have. That might have also just been a threat, you know. You never know because he didn't do it. But you're right. I mean, he is willing to cut some ears off.
ALYSSA: Yeah, I think like Philippa is just on a whole new level. Like Geralt still has reservations. We know that from previous chapters. He sees killing as a, he never goes to killing as a first resort. It’s typically only when he's provoked. Although he's very, very, very angry right now, given the fact that like Rience is kind of hovering over his head. But man Philippa is just on a whole new level. And admittedly, I'm very excited to see her brought to screen as a character in The Witcher Season 2 but, man, when we see this stuff play out, I don't even know what to expect if I'm being honest. Like —
GARY: Yeah.
ALYSSA: — I can't wait to see this on-screen.
DAN: For sure. Yeah, she's a murder machine.
ALYSSA: So as we close out the section, Myrhman is left in the hands of Philippa and Geralt as they look for information about Rience.
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Before we continue with the rest of the chapter, we’re going to end our discussion here. Join me, Garrison from the US and Daniel from the Netherlands in the next episode of Breakfast in Beauclair as we continue our discussion of Andrzej Sapkowski’s Blood of Elves, Chapter 6.
Outro & Credits
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]
ALYSSA: Thanks for joining us at the breakfast table! For show notes, transcripts of each episode, and a complete list of our social platforms and listening services, head over to breakfastinbeauclair.com.
Breakfast in Beauclair is created by Alyssa from GoodMorhen. It’s hosted by Alyssa with the “Tidings from Toussaint” News Segment by Lars from WitcherFlix. The show is edited by Alyssa with music by MojoFilter Media.
Breakfast in Beauclair is produced by Alyssa in New York City with Luis of Kovir, The Owner of The Churlish Porpoise, Arix the Godling, Katie (The Redhead of Toussaint), Jacob B., Ayvo of Gulet, Bee Haven of the Edge of the World, Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye, RedKite, The Original Roach, Codringher’s Cat, Dustin, Libby, Clare Odell, Jennidy Mundilovitch, Brett from California, Wolf, Corey from the US, John of Ryblia, Sebastian von Novigrad, Tom from Australia, Jill Cate, The Tabby Witch, and Olle from Sweden.
Special thanks to Garrison and Daniel for joining us for this episode and our international hanza for their support.
Transcriptionist: Krizia Casil