Halloween 2021: Decoding Sorceress Yennefer’s Personality And Character Arc With Her Costumes

With the trailer release of the season 2 of the hit Netflix show The Witcher, and the second season releasing on 17th December, 2021, the long wait is over. The series that is based on the books by Andrzej Sapkowski had the viewers engrossed, making it one of the most binge-worthy series' of the 2019. The Witcher, Princess Ciri of Cintra, and Yennefer of Vengerberg emerged as the most significant characters from the series, with the plot revolving around them. While, before the first season was released on Netflix, the fans of The Witcher predicted that The Witcher (Geralt of Rivia) is going to become the most admired character, it was actually Yennefer of Vengerberg, who became the most talked-about character from the show but yes that doesn't mean The Witcher is not loved. So, much like in the books, Yennefer is a dark horse of the series.

About Yennefer

Yennefer's beginnings were humble and she was the daughter of a marriage union between a human father and a mother with mages and elven blood. They were shown as small farmers with meagre income and Yennefer's father was quick to blame his wife, when Yennefer was born with a congenital hunchback and deformed face. So, she faced a rough childhood and we could view early in the show, how she was harassed by two bullies who were her age, when she wanted to be their friend by offering them a flower and how because of her pent-up rage and frustration, she unknowingly teleported herself to a magical place, where she met Istredd. With her teleportation, of course Yennefer attracted the attention of Tissaia de Vries, who was one of the rectors at the Magical School of Aretuza. Tissaia bought Yennefer for 4 marks instead of 6 (less than the price of a pig), which her father quoted, and hereon began the journey of Yennefer as a witch. She didn't want to be a witch and she wasn't seen as particularly bright student, failing in all lessons but Tissaia saw potential in her, for she was able to redirect lightening into her own body instead of glass, which was considered powerful but Yennefer didn't know at the time. Later, Yennefer got herself transformed into a conventionally stunning woman, while maintaining the colour of her eyes and raven-hued hair but the transformation process had her losing her womb.

So, as the show progressed, we learnt that Yennefer, while a powerful sorceress, was quite a flawed character, who masked her vulnerabilities and emotions in order to appear strong. She found her job of serving the king as a sorceress, pretty boring and when she found herself out of the job, she sold love potions to earn income. So, in the season one, Yennefer of Vengerberg was mostly shown as an aimless character but with the only strong aim of bearing a child, for which she could do anything. In the season one, her character was portrayed as the one with repressed anger with seething inner revenge against those who have wronged her and a seductress too,if it could bring her closer to her goal of having a child, like invoking a djinn. She was also a bit of anti-establishment with her defying the teachings at Aretuza as meaningless and her relationship with both Witcher and Tissaia were close but fractured. She was a kind of an individualist, who had her own separate journey and her only true potential came at the very end of the season one. Her journey played an important role in her costumes too, for people either wear costumes that complement them or the outfits that deceive others - Yennefer wore costumes that did a bit of both.

Decoding Yennefer's Character With Her Costumes

Her costumes were muted throughout the entire season one. As a farmer's daughter, she wore a mud-stained brown dress, which truly represented her poverty and that she couldn't care much about her dressing for she didn't consider herself pretty, and because of bullying by her father and others, she lacked confidence, which her dress brought out. Her dress was pretty insignificant, which was what Yennefer thought of herself in the beginning. The blue dress at the Magical School of Aretuza was a uniform and this attire had softness and vulnerability to it - as if Yennefer needed help at that phase of her life and emotional support.

Post her days at Aretuza and transformation, Yennefer made black as her colour, for the black hue represents strength but the colour can also mask the weakness, which is why we also see a lot of strong but flawed characters including Batman, Darth Vader, and Voldemort, etc.., in black. Black, in a way, is also the hue that can represent revenge and this hue can intimidate others - it is a neutral colour that exudes fear and represses emotions, which as seen in the season 1, was what Yennefer wanted. However, Yennefer also wanted help but she had too much of pride to ask for support, and which was where, also to fool others, she wore black. Even in the season 2's trailer, we saw Yennefer having a conversation with another powerful sorceress Fringilla Vigo, who Yennefer fought against in the season one. So, the black hue added to another interesting angle - whose side you would be on. Yennefer as it is, was more about her journey than taking sides - she wasn't particularly inclined on idealism and could be on any side, depending on whether her reality matched with the purpose.

Even as she wore black, she didn't wear the colour like a uniform but the style and cut of her black-toned outfits changed with her phase and the scene. Tim Aslam was the costume designer in the season one and the costume designer didn't go for the typical pants outfit that Yennefer wore in the games but instead opted for gowns. In the beginning, when she graduated from Aretuza and was in a party where kings would select the sorceress, Yennefer appeared all transformed in a black dress, surprising Tissaia. The kings were immediately taken by her and the most sought-after king selected her after dancing with her. She wore a powerful black lace dress for that scene. Her dress had chain detailing and collared-like flaps, and she paired it with a choker pendant. The emphasis was also on her makeup and muted lip shade with wavy tresses that had quite an effect. She made a strong entry and black was her hue in the scene because in a party, where her fellow sorceresses and queens wore flamboyant hues, she kept it black to attract attention and exude power - as if in a frivolous world, she meant business.

In the episode 5 of the season one, when Yennefer first met the Witcher - Geralt of Rivia, she was seen dressed in a cage dress that was black-hued and she looked every inch seductress. While she didn't anticipate The Witcher coming to her private party, where she was shown sitting on the throne and enjoying people make love to each other at her will. Witcher wanted her help to cure his companion Jaskier of the Djinn and Yennefer saw it as an opportunity to use the djinn in order to get her baby by requesting the djinn to grant her a wish. So, dressed in a black cage dress with a lace fascinator, her hair tied into a bun, and a red lip shade, Yennefer looked impressive and Geralt of Rivia was also attracted to her. Later in the scene, she even slipped into a flowy white and silver dress to express innocence and purity, in order to hide her intentions of procuring the djinn from Jaskier. Did she succeed in that? Well, watch the series. However, after this scene, Yennefer is back to her black outfits. In another scene with the Geralt of Rivia, she was seen in a black dress but with a fur coat draped on the bodice of her dress. This was less of an intentional dress and more that she had to be up in the mountains to fight a dragon.

Another significant gown of hers was the lace one with floral cuts. After breaking up with Geralt of Rivia - The Witcher, Yennerfer was seen going back to Istredd. For this scene, the gown selected for Yennefer was a floral-cut one. It was a robe-like gown and it showed a certain sense of brokenness in Yennefer, and in this attire, for the first time ever since, she wore black, she looked somewhat detached from the outward portrayal of toughness and somewhere came the warmth and concern for others, also even if she masked it, she looked as if she needed help. And which made her return to the familiar place - Aretuza, where she reconnected with her teacher, Tissaia but warned the students there of what they might experience, in the absence of Tissaia of course. And she wore the same floral dress, reflecting a phase where she needed nurturing and perspective. The floral dress also reminded us of the scene as a student at Aretuza, where Yennefer ate a flower in her first lesson, for she couldn't conjure magic that would kill flowers and raise a stone. Tissaia at that time told Yennefer, "Sometimes a flower is just a flower and the best thing it can do for us is to die."

But it wasn't long for Yennefer to get out of the floral dress and slip into a rope dress - one of the most prominent outfits of Yennefer of Vengerberg. It was a grey and black dress, with hints of blue and the dress was 25 kilograms. The dress was crafted by the costume designer for the battle scene, and unlike other outfits of Yennefer, which had more of a Gothic touch, this ensemble was a mix between Gothic and contemporary. This gown was accentuated by ropes, which was synonymous of holding back of control or letting go of control - what would Yennefer choose? But this dress definitely captured the essence of Yennefer's character.

So, today on the Halloween's Day, with some time left for the evening party, you can ace one of Yennefer's looks and her makeup game. Also, having learnt about her character that was played by Anya Chalotra in the series, you could exude more Yennefer vibes at the party (yeah but don't do anything dangerous like Yennefer).

Happy Halloween!

Pictures Source: The Witcher/Netflix