Sylvia Anna

"Do you really wish to know?" — Spoilers from the books and/or adaptations to follow!

	You must have thought you had me pegged. Before bothering to hear my side. Everyone does that.
- Syanna to Geralt, Blood and Wine expansion

Sylvia Anna or to a select few, Syanna, is the older sister of the duchess of Toussaint, Anna Henrietta, and is thus a cousin to Emhyr (of an unknown degree). She was among the girls that also had the great misfortune of being born during a total eclipse and is considered to be affected by the so-called Curse of the Black Sun.

Biography

From a young age, Syanna was plagued by nightmares so badly that she'd wake up screaming every night and create drawings of what she saw in them. However, she was close with her younger sister, Anarietta, and the family soon learned that as long as she slept nearby, the nightmares didn't happen.

She loved to spend time in the magical Land of a Thousand Fables world, an illusion Artorius Vigo created for the young princesses. After awhile though, having tea all the time with the characters in the illusion grew to be dull and so Syanna would play a few tricks to liven things up in it. However, sometimes her pranks would go too far. When she was young, she knew Cedric de Coulbert's brother had a crush on Anarietta, and thus she convinced Cedric that she could see the future in her dreams and one of them showed that he would die at his brother's hands. With this, Cedric stole his father's sword and killed his brother, hurting both families.

Syanna and Anarietta weren't free from typical sibling arguments either and, at one point during a fight, Anarietta punched Syanna and the two fought so badly that before the governess could break them apart, Syanna had knocked two of Anarietta's teeth out, who then went crying to their parents to tell them what happened. Their parents, despite the governess trying to tell them Anarietta had thrown the first punch and Anarietta herself also trying to mitigate the situation, only punished Syanna, being believers in the Black Sun curse.

Sometime later, her father had mages from the Chapter come in and run tests on her but the duke remained silent on what was said concerning Syanna and the future. To Syanna though, it soon felt like the only thing her parents praised her for was the fact that she liked to keep things neat and tidy, like always making her bed in the morning and cleaning her room.

When she was in her teens, one prank got out of control where she and Anarietta decided to throw fish bladders filled with suet at the Nilfgaardian envoy's bald patch. Anarietta even thought of the idea to light them on fire, to impress Syanna, and they hit right on target, much to the girls' amusement. However, the council was not amused and this time Anarietta kept quiet as they blamed and punished Syanna, listing every single possible "offense" - from her flights from the palace to supposed acts of cruelty and even "inappropriate" friendships - and used it to officially cast Syanna out of the duchy. Her title and birthright was stripped away, then a group of knights escorted her to the edges of Toussaint. This group, comprised of Louis de la Croix, Vladimir Crespi, Milton de Peyrac-Peyran, and Ramon du Lac, just had orders to take Syanna to the edges of Caed Dhu. However, they took it upon themselves to insult and mock the former princess, denying her food, abusing her, and Crespi going as far as beating her unconscious when she first tried to escape them, with none of them trying to stop the others. When they finally got to Caed Dhu, they left her in a ragged dress, penniless, and in the cold, hoping she'd soon die. Instead, she swore she wouldn't forget them or what they did.

I learned something then - knights are not so chivalrous when no one's watching.

- Syanna to Geralt, Blood and Wine expansion

She then proceeded to wander the woods for a week, nearly freezing to death and trying to eat twigs to survive, before she came across a bandit campsite. However, instead of hurting or raping her, the group took her in and set off for Nazair, where she joined their band and quickly rose in their ranks before becoming their leader. During this time she also met the vampire Dettlaff van der Eretein in Metinna when she was visiting a fence there and immediately had her suspicions on what he was and followed him. However, knowing she was following him, Dettlaff went down an alley then jumped out at her, baring his fangs. This didn't scare her though and intrigued, the two met up several times before Dettlaff and her became romantically involved. While initially exciting to Syanna, she quickly realized it was too much, as Dettlaff, not being human, was too intense. Knowing he wouldn't understand her wanting to just go back to being friends, Syanna instead simply disappeared one day.

However, around 1275 her thoughts eventually returned back home, to Toussaint, and she decided it was time to re-claim her birthright while also taking out all those who did her wrong. Thus, knowing Dettlaff would do anything for her, she wrote up letters pretending to be an abductor and holding Syanna hostage and the only way to save her would be for Dettlaff to do as they said, which was to kill 5 people whose names would be delivered to him. As she had Dettlaff kill the four knights that had escorted and abused her so long ago, she also had a man from Cintra help her carry out a deal to get a hold of several barrels of Sangreal, a wine made exclusively for Toussaint's royal family, and then to try and steal back a family heirloom that'd once been hers but was currently in Orianna's possession. However, this last job proved to be her undoing as Dun Tynne Castle, the place she'd been holding out in, soon came under attack by both the Ducal Guard and Dettlaff, who intended to "rescue" her. Up in her tower, Geralt met her and quickly realized she was the mastermind behind all the killings and as soon as Dettlaff caught on, he became enraged and left, but not before threatening that he'd attack the whole city if she didn't meet him again in a few days time to explain herself. With nowhere else to go, Syanna was then arrested and taken to Beauclair to face sentencing, despite Anarietta being relieved to see her sister after so long.

Journal entry

Sylvia Anna... A lovely name, don't you think? This beauty should come as no surprise, given it's the name of the daughter of a duke and the sister of a duchess. Yet the fate Syanna (as her intimates called her) met was not as beautiful as might have been suspected for one so well-born – though, as it turns out, she had in truth been born rather inopportunely. She came into this world during an eclipse and thus fell victim to the panic surrounding the Curse of the Black Sun, which was said to affect young girls from ruling families birthed in similar circumstances. Though Geralt had serious doubts whether this curse truly existed, many claimed it caused horrible mutations which filled its victims with cruelty and a desire to kill.

Syanna's parents certainly seemed to be among the believers in the curse, for they deemed her too dangerous to be allowed to remain at court and forced her into exile. Syanna then fled to Nazair and soon, for all intents and purposes, dropped off the face of the planet.

Anna Henrietta, full of sisterly love and compassion, spent years mourning the absence of Syanna, who had officially been declared missing and presumed dead. When she surfaced again, however, their reunion was not one of familial joy. Syanna despised Anna Henrietta and did not wish even to speak to her.

This reluctance might have had something to do with the fact that, moments earlier, Syanna had been unmasked as a murderer...

If Geralt decides to bring Syanna to Dettlaff:

Geralt's journey to the Land of a Thousand Fables bore more fruit than he had expected. His conversations with Syanna shed light on a few matters: she made no secret of the fact that her elaborate murder plot was about getting revenge on the people who had forced her into exile. Vengeance is one of the oldest motives in the world and has brought many doom and few relief. It was to bring Syanna face to face with a higher vampire who was simultaneously a serial killer, her slighted beau and, it seemed, a being still deeply in love with her...

If Geralt doesn't get the ribbon:

What could go wrong when an ancient vampire meets the woman who took advantage of his unconditional love to manipulate him into committing a string of murders? Sometimes I get the feeling Geralt did not bother to consider this question before taking Syanna to her meeting with Dettlaff. I suppose he must have counted on love overcoming the vampire's hurt pride. If he'd have asked me, I would have told him it wasn't a matter of pride at all. Dettlaff had simply realized the woman he had placed on a pedestal did not actually exist. In her place was a petty and malicious weaver of plots, whom he killed without a second thought.

If Geralt gets the ribbon:

When Geralt brought Syanna to the meeting with Dettlaff, he never expected this story would end with such a finale. Though several days had passed since their last meeting, Dettlaff had not managed to rein in the wrath he felt toward Syanna. He attacked her, and if not for the magic ribbon Syanna and Geralt had purchased in the Land of a Thousand Fables, he would have torn her to shreds in an instant. Yet the ribbon had been created to transport the ducal daughters to a safe place if they were ever threatened – and what place could be safer than the most protected part of the family palace? Syanna thus escaped Dettlaff's claws and landed straight in the palace dungeons.

Though the investigation had already revealed almost all the key details of the mysterious murders – Geralt now knew their means, method and perpetrator and had even prevented their continuation – he still did not fully understand why this whole plot had been hatched in the first place. Yet he did not have to try hard to learn this last bit of information. Syanna did not hide it had been a simple matter of getting revenge on those who had forced her into exile. Vengeance is one of the oldest motives in the world, one which has brought many doom and few relief. As for Syanna, it brought her to a cell in the ducal palace.

If Geralt investigates the 5th victim and gets Syanna to forgive her sister:

Though Syanna had shown she could be merciless with those she considered enemies, the witcher felt sorry for her, in a way. Perhaps because he had also been considered a freak his entire life, or perhaps because, though he never admitted it, he simply had a good heart. Whatever the cause, he decided to visit Syanna in her cell, where she revealed to him that her plan had one last, culminated step: the murder of Anna Henrietta.

Luckily, Geralt was able to get her to listen to reason and she decided to await her sentence patiently. She knew her sister well and could be confident Anarietta would not let any harm come to her.

If Geralt doesn't investigate, doesn't talk to Syanna, or fails to get her to forgive her sister:

Yet something continued to bother Geralt, a detail as minor yet difficult to dismiss as a pebble in one's boot. Syanna had had a plan, an elaborate, precisely worked out plan... yet if so, what was its grand conclusion? By the time the witcher understood how the plan was to culminate, it was already too late. During a reconciliatory embrace, Syanna killed Anna Henrietta, the last of the people whom she blamed for her exile. Moments later she died as well, shot down by the captain of the ducal guard.

Romance Option

If you do decide to do the more peaceful option of dealing with Dettlaff by trying to find Syanna in Beyond Hill and Dale... there is a possibility of having a romantic romp with her after defeating the Cloud Giant.

In all conversations with her at every possible step of the quest choose the "nice" option that doesn't berate her, and learn her backstory.
In the conversation after the fight with the Cloud Giant select the option "Use me? How?", and then let her have her way with you.

Associated quests

Trivia

Rhenawedd is from Elder Speech and can be translated as "Queen's Child".

Notes

There's a bug with her journal entry where it shows the forgiveness portion, even if she was killed.
Her favorite fairy tale was Thumbelina because it wasn't about a princess.

Videos

Legends of The Witcher The Curse of The Black Sun 3