I Didnt Even Understand On My First Watch That He Didnt Just Mean The Witchers - Tumblr Posts

Why is the Witcher fandom not talking about this scene? I get it. I completely agree, the whitewashing of the PoC characters is horrible. The racism is atrocious. We need to talk about that. HOWEVER. We also need to talk about this. This scene. It makes my skin crawl. I'm horrified. Appalled. Everyone should be, no matter how you feel about this show. ESPECIALLY if you love this show. Especially if this is the canon you prefer. Because this scene right here? Turned those witchers into rapists. Discussion below the cut.

Vesemir is standing there, smiling and sober. Geralt is talking to him, not smiling but also sober. They discuss how "all of them" the witchers and sex workers alike took this drug. It's clear they're all inebriated. So even if you do not know prior canon, you know they are at minimum, drunk off of some substance. If you DO know the lore, and/or are just nosy, you know they're all clearly overdone on a hallucinogenic substance. You cannot consent when drunk. You cannot consent when high. My problem here is, this is a known substance for the witchers. If this is something Eskel has taken to deal with the pain of his sting, then it's likely a common substance to them. They know it, they know the taste, they know how it impacts their bodies, and what drinking too much will look like for them. Spoiler alert: They're all pretty much fine. Because they manage the Leshen fight just fine. They go from carousing to fighting in a heartbeat. However, the women? Are you telling me they agreed to come up the mountain, agreed to have their memories forcibly wiped? Consent is explicit, ongoing, to each activity, and revokable. They did not tell us, or show us, that these women agreed to being drugged. They had "summat warming". Alcohol is the implication. Even drunk off your ass, most people (most!) can remember the next day. Especially when they don't drink that much- because when shit goes down, these women run to hide, and run to leave. They're not shown as heavily impaired. They're not stumbling or woozy. They're afraid of the attacking monster.. upset, scared, half dressed... and then they run out of the keep. Netflix Witcher's continent website even confirms that they do not remember what happened, and that one of the women died.

These women were drugged, raped, and left to fend for themselves on a mountain full of wolves that we were told harbor wolves that are familiar with and used to eating human flesh. We're supposed to shrug this off because... they're sex workers? They're a plot device? They're a day's amusement? I have asked Hissrich 6 times, explicitly and politely, and been ignored each time. Today, with all the rest of her behaviour, I'm done. Also, Editing to add in, the gifs were made for me by the ever wonderful @winter-fir. Go follow my friend, she's a sweetheart and a lovely artist.