Anséis is the younger of Queen Meve of Lyria and Rivia’s two sons. His mother loves them both but doubts either will ever want, or be able, to rule, since they take after their famously dim-witted late father and prefer roaming the world causing trouble.

In the books

Meve mentions her sons in Blood of Elves, fondly and with little hope. In Baptism of Fire, Geralt fights alongside Meve’s army at the bridge on the Yaruga, which is where the prince’s grudge against him begins.

In Blood and Wine

Anséis has come to the knights’ tourney in Toussaint for the third year running, this time against his mother’s orders, and she has cut off his allowance for it. In The Warble of a Smitten Knight, if Geralt enters under his own name, the prince scorns him as a deserter from the Yaruga and throws down his gauntlet for a mounted duel. Win, and Anséis accepts that a man who answers a challenge is a true knight, which counts as a Proof of Honor for There Can Be Only One. If Geralt enters as Ravix of Fourhorn, the prince does not recognize him at all.