Geralt/Emhyr
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Geralt of Rivia x Emhyr var Emreis |
| Alternative name(s): | |
| Gender category: | slash |
| Fandom: | The Witcher |
| Canonical?: | no |
| Prevalence: | minor |
| Archives: | |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Geralt/Emhyr is the slash pairing of Geralt of Rivia and Emhyr var Emreis in The Witcher fandom.
Canon
Book and video game
The pairing is based on the books and video game canon, where the relationship between Geralt and Emhyr is mostly antagonistic.
Show
Emhyr did not explicitly feature as a character in the first season of the Netflix adaptation, other than a scene in one of the earlier time periods when he is the Urcheon of Erlenwald (aka Duny), which is based on one of the short stories in the book series. He's a character in Seasons 2 and 3 as the Emperor of Nilfgaard and the "White Flame", similar to the books and games.
Fanon
Before the show
In 2018, when the fandom was small and based exclusively on the book series and the video game adaptations, the pairing was the fandom's second-most popular one (behind canon het pairing Geralt/Yennefer).[1]
This popularity was undoubtedly due to the influence of astolat, who posted the first three Geralt/Emhyr works on AO3 and wrote more than 100,000 words for the pairing in January and February 2017, inspiring others to create their own works. Out of the 20 earliest works posted to AO3, 14 are either astolat's stories or translations, podfics, missing scenes, alternate points of view, or fanart of those stories.
Even early original stories credit astolat for inspiring them:
2) This is all astolat's fault and you should go read all of her Witcher fic because it's phenomenal.
3) As far as canon goes, I have read half of one of the books and astolat's fics. That's it. So, er, sorry?
Fanon interpretations of the pairing are heavily influenced by astolat's fics, featuring themes such as arranged marriage, dub-con, enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort, identity porn.
After the show
The Netflix adaptation did not feature Emhyr in Season 1, and the fandom was quickly overtaken by the new juggernaut ship (Geralt/Jaskier). It's reasonable to hypothesize that the influx to the fandom in general, however, did bring new fans to this Geralt/Emhyr pairing.
Although Emhyr does appear in later seasons of the Netflix adaptation, as of December 2023 the pairing isn't in the Top 10 for The Witcher fandom[note 1], overtaken by relationships including one or more of the main characters in the TV show, Geralt and Jaskier (with each other or others), but also Yennefer and Ciri.
Example Fanworks
Fanfic
Astolat works:
- Witcher works series[note 2]
Other works:
- circling by xpityx, 6k. (2017) Emhyr sighed, as if Geralt’s lack of immediate understanding was a fundamental failure of his character. Rated Explicit.
- Unintended by softestpunk, 22k. (2017) Geralt and Emhyr get married, for political reasons. At first, Geralt finds this very funny. This does not last long, but it all works out okay. Rated Explicit.
- Urbe Aureā series by Dira Sudis, 86k across 4 works. (2019-2021)
Podfic
- quietnight has podficced many of astolat's works, sometimes with cabloom
- Demands of the Dead by BabelGhoti
- Blooded Crown by astolat by Rhea314
- The War of Silver and Ash by annapods
- Cursed by lunchee
Podfics of non-astolat works:
Fanart
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Resources
Notes
References
- ^ "fail-fandomanon thread about the Witcher's most popular pairings as of Jan 19, 2018". Archived from the original on Dec 12, 2020.