In 2027, fans can return to the world of The Witcher series after nearly a decade with Songs of the Past, a new DLC for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Series developer CD Projekt RED recently confirmed that the DLC will see a now-retired Geralt travel to Letten, the home of his longtime best friend, the bard Dandelion (aka Jaskier, aka Julian Alfred Pankratz de Lettenhove). Perhaps this DLC will clear up some of the many mysteries surrounding the character, who adopts a bold, flamboyant performer’s identity but keeps his personal life secret even from Geralt.
A Dandelion By Any Other Name Would Be Just As Mysterious
Dandelion (known in the original Polish as Jaskier, meaning “Buttercup”) is a strange character in the world of The Witcher. He’s at the same time one of the series’ most straightforward figures and one of its most mysterious. As Geralt’s best friend, he’s been at the witcher’s side for decades, appearing in almost every game, comic, short story, and novel. The Netflix TV series chose to make their relationship a newer and rockier one, although it did grow into something more like the duo’s iconic bromance by the end.
He’s a renowned bard, famed throughout the Continent, even if Geralt isn’t always a fan of his music. While not a fighter, he’ll willingly join the witcher on any adventure, no matter how dangerous. In the novels, he is one of the small group of companions who accompany Geralt on his multi-book journey to find his adoptive daughter Ciri. By the time of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, he seems to have settled down to run a tavern – but Dandelion is still willing to help out Geralt or Ciri at the drop of one of his iconic, fabulous hats.
But who is he, really? Andrzej Sapkowski’s original novels only briefly gloss over how the witcher and the bard first met, introducing Dandelion in an early short story as an already-established friend of the White Wolf’s. Many hoped the recent novel Crossroads of Ravens would include said meeting, but it was set far too early in Geralt’s timeline to do so. He’s been by Geralt’s side the entire time and gained a reputation as one of the most well-known bards and poets on the Continent, yet, in the end, fans know next to nothing about the man.
Songs of the Past: A Dandelion’s Roots
The bard is reluctant to share anything about his past, only admitting to noble birth late in the books when he needs to use that status to help his traveling companions. Fans tended to assume that he wasn’t in touch with his family, or that perhaps they didn’t approve of his less-than-dignified choice of career. Songs of the Past footage shown at Gamescom seems to support this theory, as Dandelion’s cousin talks to Geralt about him returning home “after all this time,” and his grandmother speaks somewhat coldly and dismissively about the bard. His cousin, at least, does still seem to care for him, as she joins Geralt in looking for Dandelion when he disappears.
Songs of the Past will introduce us to the Lettenhove family and their complicated relationships, and likely finally clear up several of the mysteries surrounding Dandelion. Did he leave home simply because he wanted to become a bard or didn’t want to inherit his noble title, or is there something more sinister going on? Based on preview footage, Songs of the Past seems to start with Dandelion going missing following the Belleteyn festival, an important holiday in the world of The Witcher. Figuring out what happened to him will apparently make up the DLC’s central story.
Trailers for the DLC reference a “garden that wants blood” located in the heart of Letten, and Geralt (after briefly thinking his friend might have simply slipped away with a woman or overslept with a hangover) seems quick to believe that something quite serious indeed may have happened to Dandelion. The folk horror vibes are strong from the outset.
Could whatever hungry thing lurks in Letten’s Garden of Thorns want to hurt, kill, or possess Dandelion? Is it (possibly she, as trailers have featured a female voice speaking threateningly to Geralt) angry that the son and presumed heir of the Lettenhove family left his homeland for so long? It’s even possible that this creature, if she’s some sort of witch or fae, could be yet another jilted lover everyone’s favorite bard left behind – he’s rather known for that!
There’s also a heavy emphasis in trailers about the idyllic nature of Letten, in a way that feels almost too perfect compared to the rest of Geralt’s world. The Continent isn’t typically a nice place to live, and the few pleasanter places (such as Blood and Wine’s Duchy of Toussaint) always have something darker going on, whether it’s vampires, curses, evil rulers, bizarre creatures, or all of the above. It’s a definite possibility that the Lettenhove family have made some sort of deal or bargain to keep their land so idyllic – a deal, perhaps, that Dandelion’s departure altered or damaged in some way. Whatever it is, if Dandelion really does know about it and has kept it from his best friend (a professional monster hunter) for decades, it’s probably something pretty big.
And if there is something powerful in the heart of Letten that’s deeply connected to its ruling family, a particular mystery might finally see an answer at last…
Will Songs of the Past Explain Why Dandelion Doesn’t Look His Age?
The timeline of The Witcher is a confusing one. Andrzej Sapkowski played fast and loose with continuity, and figuring out even a rough order in which the original short stories took place was a difficult task for fans. CD Projekt RED has worked to establish a generally more consistent timeline, but it’s probably never going to be completely clear exactly how many years Geralt’s adventures span.
For the most part, this hasn’t been a concern. Witchers age slowly, as do several of Geralt’s associates such as the sorceresses Triss and Yennefer, the vampire Regis, and various elves and dwarves (and presumably Ciri, due to her elven blood). But Dandelion is supposedly a normal human, and yet he has been by Geralt’s side the whole time. Figuring out exactly how old Dandelion is is borderline impossible, but whatever age he may be, he certainly doesn’t look it.
Figuring out Dandelion’s age is impossible because the bard himself has made it so. In the books, he leaves it deliberately mysterious, his published works indicating only that he and Geralt traveled together for “many decades.” He hints at one point that he was twenty when he met Geralt, giving him a birth date of 1229, but nobody is ever able to confirm that. However, in Wild Hunt, a text written by Dandelion himself gives his birth year as 1232. We only have the bard’s word for it – no outside source is ever able to directly confirm anything.
Notably, in the novel Blood of Elves, spymaster Sigismund Dijkstra says to Dandelion, “I know you’re almost forty, look almost thirty, think you’re just over twenty, and act as though you’re barely ten.” That statement would have been made in the year 1266 or 1267, establishing as early as the original novels that Dandelion looks at least ten years younger than he should – and, as time passes in the series, that gap only widens.
Fans Have Theorized About Dandelion’s Backstory For Ages
Dandelion has never seemed to age at the rate of a normal human. Even the most conservative estimates put him at nearly fifty by the events of Blood and Wine, but the Dandelion who shows up in said DLC is just as fresh-faced as the bard who gleefully narrates the first game. Dialogue throughout the books and games indicates that characters are constantly mistaking Dandelion for younger than he is, even someone as observant as Dijkstra – and Dandelion himself is doing nothing to dissuade these incorrect estimates.
Songs of the Past takes place even later in the series timeline, but the revealed redesign for Dandelion doesn’t possess a single graying hair. The bard does not seem to have aged a day in the many years fans have known him. Not to mention that a man well past fifty (and potentially sixty, depending on which birthdate is the right one) somehow still has a grandmother who is not only alive, but clear-eyed, sharp-witted, and not at all infirm. There’s something up with the Lettenhove family, and that something seems to be tied to their enhanced lifespans.
Fans of the series have been theorizing for years about why Dandelion, who possesses no magic or witcher mutations, looks much younger than he is. The Netflix series can add as many instances of Yennefer calling out the bard’s “crow’s feet” as it wants – we’re not fooled. Theories range from secret Fae or Elven ancestry to “he slept with a sorceress who blessed him with long life.”
But Songs of the Past may reveal that none of these guesses were correct. With all the references to fertile land, the Belleteyn festival, and a garden that wants what it is due, everything seems to point to some sort of entity that is extending the ruling family’s lifespan in exchange for payment. What form that payment takes is unclear, but it doesn’t seem to be anything pleasant. And Dandelion, who has been away from home for decades, may have been attempting to dodge that payment…and, in Songs of the Past, it’s finally come due.
While the above theorizing may turn out to be totally inaccurate, it does seem confirmed that Songs of the Past will shed a greater light on Dandelion than any previous piece of Witcher media. Are there things that even Geralt doesn’t know about his dearest friend? It certainly seems so – and both he and the players will learn the truth when the DLC releases in 2027!
What do you think will be the secret (or secrets) behind Dandelion and the Lettenhove family? Do you think there is a reason why the bard seems to age slowly? Comment below and share your theories with us!
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