The Witcher has been a big hit with viewers. Still, some fans of the book series that inspired both the games and the show are confused as to why the bard is named Jaskier and not Dandelion like in the English translations of the books and the games produced by CD Projekt Red. The issue is purely a translation issue; Jaskier and Dandelion are the same person. When the books were translated from Polish, the bard's name Jaskier became Buttercup for a brief time. The translator did not think that the name Buttercup fit with the personality of the character and decided to change the name to Dandelion.
The Witcher is a Netflix TV series that follows the exploits of Geralt of Rivia and Jaskier, the bard. The timeline is a bit funky, but all of the Jaksier parts are set shortly before the events revolving around Cintra and Nilfgaard. Viewers see Geralt and Jaskier travel around and get into all kinds of messes, all while Jaskier is perfecting his song "Toss A Coin to Your Witcher."
Jaskier, directly translated from Polish, refers to a yellow petaled flower, and the only flower in English that directly represents what the author was referring to was the buttercup. The name Buttercup didn't quite describe the character when the translator was going through the books. He decided to change the character's name to another yellow petaled flower thinking the dandelion would be more fitting for the personality of the character. The translator could have decided to keep the character's name as Jaskier, but he didn't.
The name change means that the show is closer to the source material than the games are. Jaskier remains Jaskier and not the Dandelion that fans of the games and the English translations of the books have come to know the character as. It is unconfirmed if Jaskier will be in future seasons of the show.
Adaptation and translation always bring challenges. For fans of the original translations of the books and the games, the change from Dandelion to Jaskier could have been jarring and confusing at first. This name change could have upset or confused fans of the original English translations and the games, but brings viewers closer to what the author originally had in mind for the character.
The Witcher is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.