The Witcher 3's best romance is Shani, Geralt actor says, and Yen is "more like a naggy mom," but her and Triss are both "absolutely stonkin' ladies"
"Yen is three, Triss is two, and Shani's one"
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Geralt actor Doug Cockle is clearly a fan of the RPGs he's appeared in, and he's putting that fandom to good use by putting down arbitrary rankings of his favorite things in The Witcher. In fairness, he's only doing it because he was asked to, but if you agree to weigh in on the great Witcher 3 romance debate, you know what you're in for.
Cockle doesn't give much thought to two potential partners for Geralt in an interview with GoatedSynro on YouTube, as Syanna is a "psycho" and Keira is a "romantic side quest." Bold descriptors, but there's nothing as bold as his ultimate top rankings: "Yen is three, Triss is two, and Shani's one," he argues. "There, I said it."
Shani is a particularly interesting choice as number one since she doesn't factor that heavily into The Witcher 3, the game series fans tend to be most invested in. Cockle describes her as "good fun," and seems to admire the realistic view she has of Geralt. But he's equally not afraid to weigh in on the battle that continues to tear the fandom apart: Triss versus Yennefer.
"I prefer Triss in the game, partly because I'm partial to redheads," Cockle says, "but also because in the game Triss is more like a friend with benefits. She and Geralt have a laugh together whereas Yen is a little bit more like a naggy mom."
I can see Cockle's argument, but as far as I'm concerned Yen is Geralt's one true wife and Triss deserves a whole lot more heat than she gets for seducing him while he's going through full amnesia. I say this all as an unbiased journalist with no side in the debate, of course.
"The truth is that both of them are absolutely stonkin' ladies," Cockle says. "They're great. They're both powerful sorceresses, they're both beautiful, they're both smart, they're both all that. But I just prefer Triss over Yen." Well, there's no accounting for taste, I guess.
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.
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