Why Triss Merigold From The Witcher Looks So Familiar

Now most famous as Netflix's surprise hit of the 2019 holiday season, The Witcher started life as a series of fantasy books and short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The franchise's fortunes really took off in 2007, when game developers CD Projekt Red produced the first of three smash hit video games based on The Witcher. It was in the games that Triss Merigold went from a magic-wielding secondary character lusting after the titular monster-slayer Geralt to a magic-wielding major character and Geralt's actual, though occasional, love interest.

In November 2018, British actress Anna Shaffer was announced for the role in the Netflix adaptation. Given the character's contradicting history between the page and the games, fans wondered whether the Witcher writers would lean into Triss' romance with Geralt on the series, or return to the original text and sideline her in favor of other characters. On the first season of The Witcher at least, it looked as though they were leaning more towards the books, with Shaffer's Triss maintaining a platonic-slash-professional relationship with Geralt and ultimately working more closely with the sorceress Yennefer.

No matter what the Witcher team chose to do with Triss Merigold for the show, one thing is undeniable: the actress who plays her looks incredibly familiar. Here's where you may have seen Anna Shaffer before.

Anna Shaffer's first-ever screen role was in 2009's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in which she played a witch who couldn't land her romantic interest. Sound familiar? In the David Yates-directed film, Shaffer portrayed Gryffindor student Romilda Vane, the leader of a clique of girls who become obsessed with Harry, or, rather, with his celebrity status, and trail him around Hogwarts trying to get his attention.

In case you've forgotten the small details from Harry Potter, Romilda Vane was a small but memorable character in the fifth film. Remember when Harry's best pal Ron Weasley accidentally ate a Chocolate Cauldron laced with love potion and became instantly infatuated with a girl? That girl was Romilda, who actually made the love potion specifically for Harry. Shaffer also appeared in the last two movies of the franchise, 2010's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2011's Part 2 continuation, but her character had a more serious purpose throughout those installments. Romilda joins Dumbledore's Army to fight against the evil forces taking over the wizarding world, but unlike many other minor characters, she survives the Battle of Hogwarts that left dozens dead. Keep watching the video to see why Triss Merigold from The Witcher looks so familiar!

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