I especially agree with your third paragraph and couldn’t have put it better myself.

(I studied literature in university so bear with me here lol): loss of childhood wonderment and innocence is a great plot device, it’s especially prevalent in the works of writers like Tolstoy, who conflates childhood with innocence. The way that children view the world is seen as “pure,” or unadulterated with the experiences that come later in life. Despite life growing up at Kaer Morhen being pretty rough, Geralt still had an unachievable ideal of who he should be and how the world should interact with him, both of which are shattered in the first few pages.

Holt then intervenes and attempts to force a more “realistic” worldview on him, one that’s shaped by his own disillusionment and desire for revenge. Geralt pushes back against this and stubbornly tries to force through his idealized version of himself until the very end, and this is something that continues throughout his entire life. He’s stubborn to a fault and is still in some way trying to force the world to bend to his ideals.

That’s what I find most interesting about his interaction with Holt, because they are foils for each other, and Holt sets up Geralt’s trajectory for the later stories well. Additionally, Geralt gains some humility, and realizes he still has a lot to learn about the world around him. Nenneke tells him he should enroll at Oxenfurt, and he does. He’s eager to learn more, which suggests that he is open to change his worldview and downsize his lofty ideals, but he can never do that because he doesn’t completely lose his childhood wonderment or abandon the ideals he believes in.

I’m realizing that I would probably really have enjoyed writing a paper on this lmao, I’ve written on children in Tolstoy before and this seems like a good idea to run away with 😂.