Geralt/Eskel
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Geralt of Rivia x Eskel |
| Alternative name(s): | |
| Gender category: | Slash |
| Fandom: | The Witcher |
| Canonical?: | No |
| Prevalence: | Minor |
| Archives: | |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
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Geralt/Eskel is the slash pairing for Geralt of Rivia and Eskel in The Witcher fandom. It can be a main pairing, or used as background in stories focusing on other pairings, such as Geralt/Yennefer, Geralt/Jaskier or Geralt/Emhyr.
As of September 2020, there were about 200 stories for the pairing on AO3.
Canon
Eskel is Geralt's fellow witcher and closest friend/brother.
Book series
Eskel is raised along with Geralt at the Witcher's keep of Kaer Morhen.
Video games
In The Witcher, Eskel and the other School of the Wolf witchers find an injured Geralt in the forest near Kaer Morhen at the beginning of the game. They are reunited again in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, where Eskel is one of the many friends and acquaintances who help Geralt fight the Wild Hunt to protect his adopted daughter, Ciri.
Netflix adaptation
Eskel did not appear in Season 1 of the show but was announced as part of the 2nd season.
Fanon
They are shipped based off the fact they are the only two survivors from their cohort, are consistently described as close, and were apparently impossible to tell apart before the mutations and Eskel's scarring.
Common Tropes in Fanworks
- Friends to lovers
- Eskel is the Sensible One
- Eskel cares for Geralt when he is put through additional rounds of mutations
- Eskel doesn't get laid as much as Geralt because of his scars
- Eskel is the only one who can really understand Geralt
- Geralt/Eskel/Lambert - based on why not, a little pseudo-incest good, more pseudo-incest better
Controversies
- Pseudo-incest: Some fans view the pairing of Geralt and Eskel as near-incestuous due to the familial relationship between the School of the Wolf witchers. Geralt and Eskel were raised together by Vesemir, who Geralt considers to be his father.[1] In the game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, there are multiple instances where the characters of Geralt, Eskel, and Lambert, another witcher who they grew up with, refer to one another as "brothers."[2] Additionally, in the video game The Witcher Geralt says in a journal entry that people often think they are brothers, although at the time he is suffering from amnesia and doesn't remember his past. In an interview, Henry Cavill has said he considers them more "bros" than literal brothers.[3]
Example Fanworks
Fanfic
- The Trial of the Linens by Dira Sudis (underage and non-con warnings)
- Scent Memory by hobbitdragon
- A Chance Encounter by softestpunk
- Urbe Aureā series by Dira Sudis (background Geralt/Eskel for the first three works, will change in the 4th), podfic by greedy_dancer
Podfic
- Controlled Burn, podfics by PhagePods or Chantress
- (podfic) but your presence by greedy_dancer
- Scent Memory by Chantress
- (podfic) Live On a Hill Against the Sky by AceOfTigers
Fanart
Meta
Resources
References
- ^ Geralt says "Everyone's got a father, and mine is Vesemir." in "The Voice of Reason," a short story included in The Last Wish.
- ^ During the quest "To Bait a Forktail," Eskel may comment "Vesemir used to say he couldn't tell us apart. Like brothers, two drops of water," depending on the player's dialogue choices.
- ^ "The Witcher: WitcherCon | Tales from the White Wolf with Henry Cavill Panel | Netflix". "It's the same kind of 'family' tag I would put on not only my actual brothers of blood, but the people who are my friends who I call 'brother'. [...] That's moreso how I would probably refer to as the witchers."