Radskier

Radskier is the slash ship between Jaskier and Radovid from The Witcher fandom.

Shaerrawedd
Frustrated with Dijkstra's failure to bring Princess Cirilla of Cintra to Redania for him to marry (a strategy that would have provided him with a rightful claim to Cintra, and made Redania the most powerful kingdom on the Continent) King Vizimir declares that he has decided to put his best and most trusted man on the job - his younger brother: Prince Radovid.

A displeased - yet resigned - Philippa thus reluctantly agrees to assist the Prince in his search for Ciri - as she feels that no one else but she and Dijkstra can be trusted with "babysitting" the King's "baby brother".

On her way to meeting with The Sandpiper, she stops by a tavern, and asks the Prince to wait for her there.

She then finds Jaskier in the middle of a heated argument with one of his lovers, Vespula, who has been throwing various objects down at him from the balcony of her apartment in the Town-square.

While Jaskier is attempting to argue with her that “it was just one time – admittedly with many different people – and it meant nothing!”, she throws down a pair of pants that the bard remarks aren’t even his, to which she responds “Do you think you were the only one having some fun on the side, you lying, wretched son of a devil?”, and gets even more irritated when he answers “Well…  yeah, kinda?”

Jaskier then attempts to pacify her saying ''“This is what we do, my sweet. We are creatives. Freethinkers. All is fair!”''

At that moment, Philippa chooses to make her presence known and, as she is attempting to intimidate the bard into handing them over Ciri, the argument with Vespula culminates with her throwing Jaskier’s beloved lute from her balcony as far as she can (much to Jaskier’s horror) …  with Radovid unexpectedly showing up and catching it before it shatters on the ground.

While Radovid tells Philippa that he left the tavern because he was "getting bored", the Prince quickly reveals himself to be a fan of Jaskier's work, confesses to having "long wanted to see [him] in person", and says that "Song of the Seven" is his favorite.

While quick to remark on the slight irony of Radovid's song choice, Jaskier nevertheless appears pleased by the compliment, and extends his hand towards the Prince while inviting him to introduce himself.

Upon realizing that he's standing in front of the Prince of Redania, Jaskier becomes immediately flustered - forgetting all proper knowledge of Royal etiquette while babbling and attempting to approximate a weird curtsy - under the very amused and charmed gaze of the Prince.

After apologizing for how long he's been holding onto Radovid's hand, Jaskier once again attempts to argue with Philippa that there's not much he can do to bring Ciri to them.

As she's about to issue yet more threats, Radovid interrupts her, and attempts to argue that having Ciri come to Redania - though a far from perfect solution - would be the "least bad option" to ensure the Princess' safety.

The moment he suggests that Jaskier could be their "royal bard", however, said bard is quick to dismiss the idea, arguing that "a staid life at court" isn't meant for him; thus prompting Radovid to answer "If your time at court's been staid, you've been doing it wrong."

The flirtatious nature of the exchange is not lost on Philippa, and, before they leave, she gives Jaskier a five days ultimatum to get results; threatening to "undo all the good" he's ever done as "The Sandpiper" if he doesn't get results (meaning they will massacre every single elf he's ever helped ferry to safety).

A few days later, a violent encounter with Rience and the Scoia'tael - where Jaskier has a bit of a near death experience (his lute, that Radovid had prevented from shattering earlier in the episode, ends up stopping an arrow from reaching him), a few of Yarpen Zigrin's men are either injured or killed, and Ciri is almost captured - Jaskier starts reconsidering the Prince's offer.

He thus secretly meets with Philippa and Radovid, and tells them that he now realizes how much danger the people he loves are in, and that Redania might stand the best chance at offering them protection. As Radovid suggests that they could escort Ciri back to Redania that very night, Jaskier answers "No, not yet", then tells them about Rience, and says that if they can get rid of him, they will have gained Geralt, Ciri, and his own trust.

After Jaskier leaves, Philippa notices Radovid's sigh of longing, and seemingly begins perceiving him as a potentially useful political tool.

Reunion
As Jaskier dreamily reflects on his and Radovid's last encounter, swooning over how intelligent, insightful, and different he is – visibly affected and intrigued by the feelings the Prince is inspiring him (while trying to explain them by comparing Geralt to a hammer, and Radovid to a spoon) – Vespula eventually tells Jaskier “you like him”, looking fondly amused by the whole situation.

When Jaskier answers ''“Who, Geralt? Yeah, I guess. Platonically, and occasionally with great effort, as one would a family goat,”; Vespula rolls her eyes at him, looking even more amused, before clarifying “I mean the spoon guy.”''

When Jaskier attempts to deny it, she insists, telling him ''“I’ve cursed you for chasing tails of every kind. Men, women, dwarves, elves, polymorphous…  […] But never have I ever seen you have a crush ”;'' thus implying that Jaskier, as a sapioromantic, could be finding himself experiencing genuine romantic attraction towards another person for the (or one of the) first time(s); and that, despite what their very first scene together would suggest, Vespula has not only been very much aware of Jaskier’s rather diverse and frequent sexual encounters for quite some time now, but also seems to be generally okay with them.

At least, the good-natured, affectionate, and supportive way she teases him about his feelings for Radovid suggests as much.

The fact that she says she's never ever seen him have a crush before also implies that Vespula and Jaskier aren't romantically involved - despite being emotionally and sexually intimate with each other - since one would assume that, should Jaskier have had romantic feelings for her, she would have seen him have a crush on someone (herself) before at some point, at the very least.

Quotes
"Does the witcher know how lucky he is to have you?"

- Radovid, Unbound

Songs

 * Extraordinary Things | Jaskier/Joey Batey & Radovid/Hugh Skinner
 * Jaskier's first song to Radovid.


 * A Little Sacrifice | Jaskier/Joey Batey ( on the show )
 * & Ciri/Freya Allan ( on the show and the soundtrack )
 * A song that Jaskier sings to Ciri as a lullaby to help her fall asleep moments before Radovid attempts to knock on their cabin's door, with the following events leading to their very first kiss and night spent together.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION


 * TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Joey Batey has been deeply involved in the creation and the portrayal of the Radskier ship. "My number-one priority, which I said to her, was just to make sure that we were doing it right and that we did it sensitively with a care and a kinship, and I wanted to avoid all kinds of stereotyping, really.  So there was an awful lot of script rewrites and things like that. We deleted whole scenes in favour of songs. So I brought in a new song, and I said: 'Can we just cut all this dialogue, and I can just sing something?'"
 * When asked if the two characters might be singing together, Joey answered "I don't think [I could]. I think I would be too nervous to sing anywhere near Hugh. I think his talent would outshine mine and poor Jaskier, you know, poor Jaskier's ego would be burned if I ever tried to do that." However, according to Hugh, he did offer him a crash course on how to play the "mandolin" [note: he might have meant "lute"].