The Witcher remake reignites a slightly different 'best girl' debate

Triss Merrigold in The Witcher — (Image credit: CD Projekt RED)

The Witcher remake has reiginited a heated debate as to who Geralt should romance - albeit with a notable twist.

Geralt of Rivia has never had a problem with the ladies. The gruff monster-slayer is frequently commented upon as being hideously ugly to most folks on the Continent, but there is no shortage of romantic interests for him to woo across all three games. The Witcher 3 saw him reunite with the canonic love of his life, Yennefer of Vengerberg, but the first game in the trilogy saw us torn between two others.

A thread in the Witcher subreddit has kicked off the "battle of the redheads". It pits Triss Merrigold - a romantic option across all three games and several books - against Shani - a love interest who features heavily in The Witcher 1 and then again in the Hearts of Stone expansion to The Witcher 3. One is a bewitching sorceress, the other a wise-talking medic, and Geralt needs to choose between them; but it's not that simple.

Beautiful redheads do seem to be Geralt's type in The Witcher 1. From vampiric villain Queen of the Night to the cursed King Folstest's daughter Adda, Geralt has the chance to make merry with no shortage of women. Romancing these side characters doesn't have any in-game consequences, but with both Triss and Shani returning in later games and your choice being crucial to which ending you get, even with Yennefer not around, this isn't a choice to be taken lightly.

One of the most unique, perhaps infamous features of The Witcher 1 is the romance cards. These collectible in-game cards act as 'trophies', awarded to you when you successfully romance one of Geralt's many potential bed-mates, and were replaced with cutscenes in later games. Whether the romance cards will return in the remake, we don't know – but at least we should get a fix to one of the original's most glaring issues.

After weighing in on the debate, check out what we know so far about The Witcher 4.

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Jasmine is a Senior Staff Writer at GamesRadar+. Raised in Hong Kong and having graduated with an English Literature degree from Queen Mary, University of London, she began her journalism career as a freelancer with TheGamer and TechRadar Gaming before joining GR+ full-time in 2023. She now focuses predominantly on features content for GamesRadar+, attending game previews, and key international conferences such as Gamescom and Digital Dragons in between regular interviews, opinion pieces, and the occasional stint with the news or guides teams. In her spare time, you'll likely find Jasmine challenging her friends to a Resident Evil 2 speedrun, purchasing another book she's unlikely to read, or complaining about the weather.