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Renfri is a ghost.
Geralt takes her brooch, binds it to his sword. She stays his sword. She watches over his shoulder. Follows his footsteps. Judges his actions. Weighs him down with humanity.
He carries her. He doesn’t have a choice - the girl in the woods will be with you always.
She’s a heavy ghost.
Geralt meets a group of elves. He tells the elves to go elsewhere. He tells the elves that to stay would destroy them. The elves let him go. Renfri does not.
Renfri is - was - eighteen and human. She haunts his legacy, gives him the title “Butcher of Blaviken”, makes humans shy away from him at best. Every rock thrown has her hand behind it, her words. The weight of her ghost. Vengeance for her death.
The bard is eighteen and human, and he crafts a new legacy, gives him the title “White Wolf”, makes humans thank him, respect him, pay him fairly. The emeralds on Renfri’s brooch wink over his shoulder. Geralt tries to discourage the bard, does not want another weight. Renfri is heavy enough.
Geralt learns that some humans are stubborn. Renfri haunts his footsteps, and sometimes so does the bard.
Geralt fights a princess - some call her a princess, some call her a monster. Geralt saves a princess from a curse. She’s younger than Renfri was - is - was. She could become so many things. He tries to give her Renfri’s brooch, tries to put that weight down. One princess saved in honor of one who wasn’t.
The brooch remains with him. The weight remains.
Geralt doesn’t get involved in the affairs of men. So he says. So Renfri’s ghost reminds him.
A queen tells him there is a simplicity in killing monsters, except Geralt killed a monster and a princess won’t leave him.
Geralt saves a man - some call him a man, some call him a monster. Geralt saves a man from a curse, and binds himself to a princess. He can only carry the weight of one, and he leaves Cintra. He steers clear of princesses.
Renfri follows him. She is with him always.
Geralt saves a sorceress and binds himself to her. The scent of lilac and gooseberries haunts him, but slips from his grasp. He keeps getting involved, but he keeps saving people. He keeps binding himself to people. He keeps making choices. He wonders if Renfri resents him for this.
Geralt learns that some bonds are inescapable. Renfri stays with him, and the sorceress leaves and comes back, over and over.
Renfri haunts him and haunts him and haunts him. Her ghost echoes across his life, smudges the details together. He’s carrying too much. He can’t put her down.
Geralt saves a dragon - some call him a man, some call him a monster. He tells Geralt that his legacy is still out there, but Geralt can’t take another legacy, can’t carry another one. His legacy, his future, it’s all haunted. Renfri, his faithful companion, his ever-present ghost, stays. He can’t drive the dead away the way he can the living.
Geralt returns to Cintra. Renfri follows. Cintra falls. Ghosts are bad omens, and Geralt doesn’t save a princess. Renfri leaves with him, brooch glinting in the fires. He wonders if Renfri is jealous - Geralt keeps trying to save princesses.
Maybe he’s weighed down by a second ghost now, maybe Renfri is finally calling in her claim, but Geralt nearly doesn’t make it. He thinks he’s gone for a moment when he sees Renfri’s face, soft and hazy in the firelight. Her ghost wears armor, her vest and her gauntlets. It’s not like Geralt can hurt her anymore. His armor is gone. It’s as they were when she died so perhaps Geralt is the ghost here, dressed as she last remembers him. He wonders if it’s possible to haunt someone who’s dead.
But he survives. Renfri watches over him.
Geralt meets a princess in the woods - the girl in the woods will be with you always - has been with him always - is his destiny, past and future. She’s younger than Renfri. She could become so many things. Her emerald eyes shine in the sunlight. He keeps Renfri’s brooch. He promises to do better. He makes a choice.
It is a weight. It is not so heavy.