The Witcher season 2 sees Yennefer powerless, and uses a subtle trick in some scenes to highlight her she feels about it. A big part of the season 2 storyline involves Yennefer losing her magic and being forced to confront how she feels after losing such an essential part of herself, tying in with the themes of loss and grief explored in The Witcher season 2. Essentially, without her magic, Yennefer feels naked, and the camera carefully highlights when she feels this way.
A protagonist, if not a hero, Yennefer of Vengerberg is one of the main characters of The Witcher. Season 1 followed her journey from being an outcast farmhand to becoming one of the most powerful sorcerers in The Continent. The ending of The Witcher season 1 shows Yennefer using a cataclysmic amount of fire magic to win a decisive victory against the armies of Nilfgaard. In season 2, she’s forced to deal with the consequences of this feat. Seemingly, the fire magic has permanently damaged her connection to the Chaos, the primordial force used by mages to wield magic. As a result, she’s left unable to perform even the simplest spell. Her desperation to get back what she’s lost is ultimately what allows the villainous Voleth Meir, the Deathless Mother, to take advantage of her and manipulate her actions.
Without her magic, Yennefer feels exposed, helpless and weak. It’s during her return to Aretuza, the magic academy where Yennefer learned her powers, that she feels this most strongly, and some excellent camera work uses this to show how she’s feeling. Most notably, this happens in a heartbreaking scene when her mentor Tassaia confronts her about it, asking her to admit to the others that she can no longer wield magic. As Yennefer realizes that she must also admit this painful truth to herself, the camera focuses on her to show what she's going through. Between careful camera work and costume design, the cinematography of The Witcher shows how, at moments like these, she feels completely naked.
Yennefer's return to Aretuza happens quite early in the season, and up until this point, she’s been shown in denial about her magic being gone. Her feeling of nakedness without it is what drives her actions all the way until the end of Witcher season 2. Back in Aretuza, she’s just beginning to come to terms with the fact that a big part of what she once was is lost. The implications, what it means for her, and what happens next, are still a mystery, and the magic academy is one of the closest things she has to a home. But instead of comfort, all she finds are reminders. Aretuza is probably the worst place for her to be going through something like this. Repeatedly, it’s shown how her peers take their abilities for granted, not even hesitating to perform magical acts like heating a pool of water. Wizards like Stregobor casually use their magic in grand displays. Everywhere Yennefer looks, she’s confronted with the things she can no longer do.
Yennefer’s story in The Witcher season 2, as she searches to find meaning in a world where part of her is missing, is touching and heartfelt. While it leads her to take terrible actions, it’s hard to condemn her for them. After all, she’s lost something which used to define everything she was. In her situation, how many people wouldn’t at least be tempted to do the same?