Joey Batey Sums Up Jaskier With One Line From The Witcher Books

Jaskier the bard is a lot of things: musically inclined, funny as hell, loyal despite himself, and not particularly humble, to name a few. But there's another way to describe the fan-favorite character from Netflix's "The Witcher," albeit one the show never addresses head-on: the dude is kind of old. The timeline of the show's first two seasons spans decades, and while Geralt and Yennefer's status as a witcher and a part-elven mage, respectively, keep them both young, there's no real explanation for why the guy following them around with a lute seems to remain perpetually in his 30s.

Series creator Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has been upfront about the mystery — or lack thereof — about Jaskier's age before, telling TV Guide that Jaskier's baby-faced appearance in season 1 wasn't meant to hint at any hidden magical abilities. "That was just a mistake," Hissrich told the outlet, describing two massive whiteboards in the writers' room that are filled with timeline details to keep straight. "Jaskier was always the outlier because Jaskier would have aged a lot in that season," she said, joking that he "just had great genes." Meanwhile, the actor behind the bard, Joey Batey, has joked to Digital Spy that his character really is immortal, saying, "If you look at photos of me from 10, 15 years ago, I haven't changed. I have a child's face anyway. In terms of immortality, no comment. But we all know it?"

In that same conversation with Digital Spy, Batey references a quote from Andrzej Sapkowski's book series that doesn't just sum up whatever's going on with Jaskier's age, but also his character's personality as a whole. He says:

"To this question, I will always say there's one quote in the book when someone's describing Jaskier: he's pushing 40, he looks 30, he thinks he's 20, and he acts like he's 10. And that pretty much sums him up."

The quote in question comes from the 1994 book "Blood Of Elves, when the Redanian spy Sigismund Dijkstra (who you most recently saw getting his consensual freak on with Philippa in season 3) tells Jaskier, AKA Dandelion, "I know you're almost 40, look almost 30, think you're just over 20 and act as though you're barely 10." He may not be a fire mage, but that's a sick burn. It's also just the truth: the fun-loving bard is young for his age, which explains not just his lack of aging in the first season, but also kind of his whole deal.

The description of Jaskier as a ten-year-old at heart is probably the most telling part of that quote. Jaskier is a delight because he's the one person who says what's on his mind when everyone around him is stoic or strategizing. He's playful and silly, like when he entertains Ciri (Freya Allan) by making up a whole dialogue between Yennefer and Geralt while watching them argue, but he's also emotionally immature. As the new season highlights, the character has a pattern of self-destructive behaviors, including cheating on his on-and-off girlfriend with anyone who will pay him attention.

It's a testament to the show, though, that it's finally starting to give Jaskier enough screen time to work through his arrested development. He may have started the show as a kid at heart, but as he ends up with the serious responsibility of safeguarding Ciri – and finds himself with equally serious feelings about TV series newcomer Prince Radovid (Hugh Skinner), it seems like Jaskier might be starting to grow up at least a little bit. Still, I kind of hope he keeps thinking he's 20 for the rest of the show, because in a war-torn world like this one, God knows we need some comic relief.

"The Witcher" season 3, volume 1 is now on Netflix. Volume 2 will hit Netflix on July 27, 2023.