Emhyr var Emreis

Emhyr Var Emreis, Deithwen Addan yn Carn aep Morvudd (The White Flame Dancing on the Barrows of his Enemies), known for a time as Duny, the Urcheon of Erlenwald, is a character in The Witcher fandom. 
He is the Emperor of Nilfgaard, an antagonist in the Witcher books and in the video games, where he is voiced by Charles Dance. 
He appears in a variety of fanworks, the most well-known of which are astolat's Geralt/Emhyr fanfiction. These stories, which show Emhyr in a sympathetic light, were instrumental in shaping the wider fandom's view of the character, albeit not to every fan's liking. 
==Canon==
===Books and Games===
Emhyr's family was killed during a coup, which saw him cursed to bear the appearance of a humanoid hedgehog for a time; the cursed form is a hedgehog because in the Elder Speech of the Witcher books (which is influenced by Celtic languages), eimyr means hedgehog. He went by the name "Duny" during this time, and he was also called the Urcheon of Erlenwald, because "urcheon" in Middle English means "hedgehog".
Emhyr is the biological father of Ciri, whom protagonist Geralt of Rivia claims as his "Child of Surprise" as reward for saving "Duny".
Emhyr reclaimed his father's throne and waged many wars, expanding the Nilfgaardian empire. His quest to find Ciri again led to him clashing with Geralt on many occasions. 
In the Witcher 3, depending on choices made by the player, Emhyr is either assassinated, conquers the North and wipes out all resistance, or abdicates his throne in favour of Ciri. 
===Netflix Show===
Emhyr appeared briefly in Season 1 of the Netflix show as his Duny persona. He appears in Seasons 2 and 3 as Emperor of Nilfgaard.
==Fandom==
===Astolat's Influence===
===Shipping===
As of October 2021, ~615 stories used the Emhyr var Emreis tag on AO3, although most of them included him as a secondary character. 
The most popular Emhyr ships were: 
* Geralt/Emhyr: ~271 works ()
* Emhyr/Pavetta and Duny/Pavetta
* Emhyr/Mererid (Emhyr's chamberlain)
===Tropes===
* Emhyr is usually described as a highly intelligent, highly competent character. This competence might extend to his romantic/sexual skills, or stories might hinge on the contrast between ruthless conqueror and inexperienced or artless lover. The theme of loss of control also often features, in contrast to his external veneer of impassibility. 
* There is often a focus on the contrast between Emhyr-as-public-figure and private!Emhyr. 
* Animal transformation might feature, since Emhyr spends much of his youth as humanoid hedgehog Duny. 
* He is often depicted as being/having been deeply in love with his wife Pavetta. 
==Example Fanworks==
* Misethere by astolat (2017)
* Unintended by softestpunk (2018, Geralt/Emhyr)
*Faithful by softestpunk (2018, Emhyr/Mererid)
* Urbe Aureā series by Dira Sudis (WIP, started in 2019, Geraly/Emhyr, Geralt/Eskel, eventual Geralt/Eskel/Emhyr)
*Take My Hand, Teach Me To Dance by FrozenHearts (2020, Geralt/Jaskier, Emhyr/Pavetta)
*Seeking out his servant by Glossamyre (2020, Emhyr/Mererid)
==Resources==
*Emhyr va Emreis on the Witcher Fandom.com wiki
*Emhyr Var Emreis AO3 tag
*Emhyr Var Emreis Tumblr tag
==References==