Recently I finished the Witcher books and it struck me how different Tissaia is in them, compared to Netflix. So, as an introduction to what might turn into a series of comparions about Tissaia’s character, here’s a side by side of the scene where Yennefer wakes up in Aretuza. Be warned: the differences are stark.
Trigger warnings: mentions of self-harm and a suicide attempt.
The show makes Tissaia a more antagonist character. They don’t even try to hide it.
She bullies Fringilla and purposefully allows her to injure her hand (which I have a whole post about here) and she turns unwanted girls into eels. In fact, she even makes Yennefer as unwitting accomplice in her eel-schemes.
In the show, Tissaia is cruel and doesn’t seem to really care about the girls at Aretuza. Which is why I have such a hard time believing when Yennefer decides to help her at Sodden.
I can only assume Yennefer wants to truly one-up Tissaia. She wants to wants as Tissaia sees how powerful she is and Yennefer has also been shown to disagree with Nilfgaard. So she doesn’t go to Sodden out of respect for Tissaia but because she feels an obligation to the continent itself and she wants to one-up the woman that made her life hell.