Netflix's The Witcher

[Wandering_Wand]

EDIT: For now, we've decided to discuss spoilers in this thread. PLEASE USE THE SPOIL TAG "[ SPOIL ] ABCD [ /SPOIL ]" (remove spaces in the brackets for your post) WHEN DISCUSSING CRUCIAL ELEMENTS OR QUESTIONS, ETC.


Hey everyone, I want to start a thread (didn't see anything recent) about Netflix's latest show The Witcher that premiered on December 20th, 2019.
I've provided very basic information immediately below, but the point of the thread is to be a place of discussion focusing on the show itself and the books it's being adapted from. NOTE: The show is NOT adapting the video games. This has been a point of discussion across the Internet regarding this show as most people are originally familiar with the games. I've posted some general information on those points as well.

Anyway, happy discussions!

——

Quick Summary
The first season is adapting Andrezj Sapkowski's collection of short stories introducing The Witcher, Geralt of Rivia from The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny. Official first season summary below:

Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.

It's important to note that the video games take place after the novels/stories, of which there are seven total when including the collection of short stories and main saga ending with The Lady of the Lake. The books are more or less based on Polish folklore, ancient culture, etc.


The first season's eight episode titles and chapters they're loosely adapting are below, for reference. The average run-time of the episodes throughout the entire season is about one hour:

1. "The End's Beginning" (The Lesser Evil)
2. "Four Marks" (Edge of the World)
3. Betrayer Moon (The Witcher)
4. Of Bastards, Banquets, and Burials (Question of Price)
5. Bottled Appetites (The Last Wish)
6. Rare Species (Bounds of Reason)
7. Before a Fall (Sword of Destiny)
8. Much More (Something More, the Battle of Sodden)

Timeline FYI
The show experiences some "time skips" and flashbacks in the first season as the show decided to set up the backstories of the other two main characters, Yennefer and Ciri. This has led to slight confusion among some viewers (both new and those familiar with the stories). The main purpose of this was to offer a proper introduction of the main trio outside of just Geralt. Thus, the first season showcases some intertwining threads from episode to episode. This does clear up by the end of the season, so stick with it and see how it all comes together!

Misc.
-Season two has already been ordered by Netflix and will air in late 2021.
-The Witcher medallion in the show is much closer to what's described in the books opposed to the commonly known wolf's head from the games.
-The showrunner, Lauren S. Hissrich, has writing and producing credentials for shows such as The West Wing, Justice, Parenthood, Do No Harm, Private Practice, Daredevil, The Defenders, The Umbrella Academy
-For the English/American readers and audiobook listeners, Jaskier = Dandelion.

witcher-pic.jpg

[CRaymond]

Is this a spoiler thread?

I have so many questions and almost all of them require some level of spoil.

[kidfresh512]

Yennifer was the star of this series by far. Loved her.

[Wandering_Wand]

Is this a spoiler thread?

I have so many questions and almost all of them require some level of spoil.

Let's do it! I'll update the OP to request everyone use the spoilers:

Spoiler!

end of spoilers tags when appropriate. If it gets out of hand, we can create a spoiler discussion thread.

Yennifer was the star of this series by far. Loved her.

She was great. Her arc was wonderful and the actress was very good. I think that was her first big role and if so, she did an amazing job.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Never read the books or played the game, but its not bad, IMO.

don't care for the vague time skip, though

[Wandering_Wand]

Never read the books or played the game, but its not bad, IMO.

don't care for the vague time skip, though

I've seen some very useful timelines created by fans that may be useful here. Let me see if I can find the best looking one. Only problem is that it's likely to be a bit spoilery.

[Nazrel]

Never read the books or played the game, but its not bad, IMO.

don't care for the vague time skip, though

Well, they were left with the problem of the fact that Ciri is a main character but doesn't show up until the novels, and they're were doing the short stories, and the background stuff this season. Everything with her this season is just stuff vaguely alluded to in the novels or just made up whole cloth (pretty sure she never befriended an elf or the dryads); the season ends before what would be her first scene in the novels (or maybe her first scene, I believe there was a paragraph of her first meeting Geralt, before cutting to her at Kaer Morhen)

[Forseti]

It seems pretty straightforward to me though I could be wrong, not having read the books. spoilers:

Geralt's and Yennefer's stories span a number of years while Ciri's scenes take place over a short time. G's and Y's stories eventually catch up to Ciri's present.

end of spoilers

[sunofdarkchild]

Well, they were left with the problem with the fact that Ciri is a main character but doesn't show up until the novels, and they're were doing the short stories, and the background stuff this season. Everything with her this season is just stuff vaguely alluded to in the novels or just made up whole cloth (pretty sure she never befriended an elf or the dryads); the season ends before what would be her first scene in the novels (or maybe her first scene, I believe there was a paragraph of her first meeting Geralt, before cutting to her at Kaer Morhen)

spoilers:

In the second collection of short stories she first met Geralt in that forest with the Druids several years before Nilfgard's attack on Cintra. The show reworked that story into being part of her flight from Nilfgard and took Geralt out of it. Also a lot of what is shown from Ciri's pov is told in flashback in the novels. A lot of it is made up as well, but much of what is shown about Yennefer is also made up. In the books Ciri knew she was Geralt's 'child of surprise' from a much younger age, like 5 or 6, and had met him years before Cintra fell.

end of spoilers

[sunofdarkchild]

Even having read all the books the time-skips threw me for a bit of a loop at first.

I knew the Yennefer scenes had to have been long in the past given her history in the books and games, but the other time-skips took a little getting used to.

[Micheal]

Who is waiting for Witcher season 2?

[AndrewCrossett]

I am. Out next month, I guess.

[Styles]

[Hiromi]

first episode of the second season is amazing, blows any episode of season 1 out of the water

[remydat]

Just finished watching. Second season was definitely better than the first. My only issue is that for someone that already read the books and played the video games, the series moves so slowly. This show literally could go for like 10-15 seasons given all the content they still have yet to explore and they already have a prequel series in the works.