Wait, did Yennefer just call Ciri
"ugly" in the third season of Netflix's "The Witcher"? What's that about? The pet name the
mage gives her young student may sound harsh at first, but there's a deeper meaning at play.
However you feel about the changes the second season of "The Witcher" made to
the initial relationship between Yennefer and Ciri, it's safe to
say Season 3 provides a dynamic that more closely resembles that of the mage and her
charge in author Andrzej Sapkowski 's novels "Blood of Elves" and "The Time of Contempt."
Not only does the first episode see Anya Chalotra's Yennefer and Freya Allan's
Ciri grow into a more mother-daughter type of relationship, and begin to build a kind of complex
family dynamic with Henry Cavill's Geralt, but the early episodes of the season specifically focus
on Yennefer's evolving emotional capacity and aptitude. Though the series gives both characters
a more tension-filled back-and-forth than in the books, it also draws heavily from Sapkowski's
depiction, right down to its use of book Yennefer's nickname for her surrogate daughter:
"What would the consequences be then, my ugly one?"
When Ciri asks Yennefer why she calls her that, her answer is similarly jab-laced:
"Why do you call me that?"
"Because I promised I'd be sincere with you from here forward."
It's an ever-so-slight variation on her response in the books, from "Blood of Elves." She says,
"I promised to be sincere."
Its intent, in both the book and the show, is ironic and affectionate. But it's not
exactly what one would call a typical term of endearment. It's also a translation from
the original Polish-language novels, which has, for years,
prompted some fans to question whether it accurately portrays the original meaning.
In a thread on the "Witcher" subreddit, fans discussed the possibility that the
English translation doesn't quite get Sapkowski's point across. In Polish,
the word is "brzydulka." Its straightforward, surface-level translation is indeed
"ugly," specifically with regard to a young girl. But as one Redditor points out,
"In some places around Eastern Europe, it's something not so unusual to take a word that
on its face has a negative meaning and turn it into a cordial pet name,
so it becomes a private joke between the two people."
So the translation gap isn't so much linguistic as cultural. While a few fans were adamant that
the translation itself is simply bad, most argued that the subtext is clear regardless. One wrote,
"Even translated to English language and other
cultures one can read irony from the get-go in Yen using that pet name."
In truth, Yennefer's nickname for Ciri has little to do with looks,
and everything to do with her assessment of her charge's intelligence. Yennefer knows Ciri
is bright enough to understand irony and self-assured enough,
or at least has the capability to be, not to have to fish for compliments.
The beautiful mage also knows a thing or two about how ultimately unfulfilling good looks
can be. She's not about to let this beautiful young girl get in the habit of identifying too
strongly with the power those looks have over others, particularly not when she possesses
such real power. What's more, book Yennefer's insistence that Ciri avoid faking ineptitude plays
a significant role in her simultaneously didactic and playful use of the phrase.
There's also an inherent affection in Yennefer's use of the words "my"
and "one." The series — which more or less uses the exchange to nod back to
its source material — doesn't underscore this implication to the same degree as the books,
but an analysis of the novel reveals Yennefer's intent.
In "Blood of Elves," it's clear Yennefer's approach to her initially
reluctant and insecure pupil borders on reverse psychology. When Ciri says she
can't do magic because her friends told her virgins can't access magic, Yennefer says,
"I can't see a solution. So go out and lose your virginity if
it gets in your way so much. But be quick about it if you please."
She's not about to entertain, as a more coddling instructor might,
the kind of half-feigned doubts and silly lines of inquiry children so often engage in to garner
sympathetic reassurance and attention. Ciri also knows better than to listen to such foolishness,
so Yennfer treats her as though she's already grown into that intelligence. It's the equivalent
of a parent saying, in a deadpan tone, that they have to go to the hospital when a toddler
falls down and instinctively overreacts or cries despite not being the least bit hurt.
Yennefer's nickname for Ciri comes from a similar place, though its function evolves as both the
pair's relationship and Ciri grow. Her instructive use of irony becomes an inside joke. American
parents may not be in the habit of calling their child "my ugly one," but tongue-in-cheek is a
relatively universal language, which Yennefer helps Ciri learn to speak.