The Witcher | Check out the differences between the series and the books

Discover the fundamental differences in the universe of The Witcher franchise books and games

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WARNING: The following article contains spoilers of the first season of the series Netflix and some events from the books.

The Continent is a fascinating and completely unique place among the fantasy worlds created by Andrzej Sapkowski, which is why even those who are enjoying the adaptation of The Witcher, for all its merits, may still have some complaints for the series not faithfully adapting the stories and novels.

The showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich said throughout the development that the series would remain as faithful as possible to the books and, in a way, this is true, since the tone is there, the same themes are still prominent and well explored and the struggles of the characters were more or less transposed to the screen, even if they are not perfectly replicated. But at least in the fight scenes, it is always possible to 'let it go', because not always what happens in words, it is possible to replicate on the screen, even more so if what is expected, is that the adaptation is based on the “real” world. . That said, the series The Witcher it requires more than a few freedoms from its writers, which will undoubtedly result in major changes in the story and characters in general. Let's check out some of them here.

It is worth mentioning that making a list of differences between the books and the series can fill a single episode - since certain events lead to others that modify the entire course of certain characters -, therefore, the article will focus on those that define the most important aspects. of the continent.

1THE BROKILON FOREST

Visually, this protected forest is as magical as it should be. Here is one of the points where readers can see that there are many changes, from dryads to events taking place within the forest. In the series, it's the forest that calls Ciri after the princess escaped the fall of Cintra and the clutches of Nilfgaard. She is invited to be with the queen of dryads, Eithne, which offers mystical waters to help erase traumatic memories of loss and war. None of this works and eventually Mousesack, or rather, the Doppler posing as Mousesack, he arrives to take Ciri back.

This is a major departure from novels. In Sword of Destiny (Sword of Destiny - 1993), Geralt he enters Brokilon to deliver a message to Eithné, who dominates the forest region and its non-human inhabitants. There, he and a dryad named Braenn they discover a 10-year-old Ciri, fleeing a potentially arranged marriage. The meaning of the forest stems from the role it plays in the history of Geralt and Ciri and its importance for the construction of the world, since it helps a lot to clarify the relationship between humans and non-humans - including elves and dwarves - in the northern region of the continent. By making these changes to the story, the Netflix series turns the Brokilon Forest into something more than just another vaguely magical location. Dryads also become little more than another mysterious race of people, and both the Forest and the Dryads are much more than that.

2TOR LARA

Also known as Seagull Tower, Tor Lara is the tallest structure on the island of Thanedd and houses a highly unstable portal in its upper chamber. In the book Time of Contempt (Time of Contempt - 1995), is this portal that Ciri uses to escape Thanedd's chaotic coup, causing her to end up in the desert. It is a crucial turning point for the character, it is her flight to Tor Lara that finally pushes her to independence after being forced to put all of her training and magical skills to the test.

With that in mind, the representation of Tor Lara's Netflix series as just a cavernous chamber, with nothing but ambiguously potent and very lightning magic, is far below the representation of the novel. From here you can already know that Ciri's story will unfold in a completely different way. Those who are familiar with the novels may have guessed this anyway, given how other events in Ciri's history are being presented on the show in another way. It is entirely possible that your misfortune in the unforgiving desert may not happen. What is a shame.

3THE ELDER BLOOD or THE ANCESTRAL BLOOD

Pavetta and Ciri have Elder Blood, that is, a gene that grants carriers an affinity for magic. In the books, Elder Blood is rarely under the control of the women who own it, and only women can manifest its power, but that does not seem to be the case in adapting to the streaming. We see this in “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials”, the fourth episode of the first season, when Pavetta blows up almost the entire place with powerful magic, when the queen Calanthe try to kill Duny, O Erlenwald hedgehog. Pavetta is calm inside the eyes of the magic cyclone, completely conscious and under control. Ciri also seems to quickly master at least some of her magical abilities, such as her sonic scream.

In The Last Wish (1993), Pavetta has no control over the power of Elder Blood and neither does Ciri, who does not have only one power in the books. According to Hissrich, this was done to establish an air of suspense in Ciri. Whether or not this Elder Blood (re) imagination helps the program successfully create this suspense effect depends on the viewer.

4FRINGILLA VIGO

Aretuza, in the series, is shown training various witches in the novels, including Yengerfer de Vengerberg, Sabrina Glevissig and Fringilla Vigo, the last of which was sent to advise the Nilfgaard ruler and then fight for the growing empire during the Battle of Sodden. His loyalty to Nilfgaard, his story and much of his character have been altered and the narrative or thematic reasoning behind it is not really clear, even at the end of the season.

Sapkowski's novels describe an academy in Nilfgaard that produces its own witches for employment at court. It was where Fringilla Vigo was trained. As a separate state in the south of the continent, Nilfgaard's rulers do not need or want to accept wizards from the northern kingdoms, where Aretuza is located. His association with Aretuza and his subsequent betrayal in the series may present problems later, when his relationship with Yennefer must really change and develop.

5FALL

Still on the subject of Nilfgaard, the villain Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach is a completely different character from the novel. What the two versions - book and series - have in common is that both are officers in the Nilfgaardian armed forces and pursue Ciri during and after the Cintra massacre. The similarities between them do end there.

Cahir, in the novels, appears to be a threatening character at first, but later reveals himself to be quite compassionate with his own reasons for pursuing Ciri, none of which really includes the glory of the Nilfgaardian Empire.

Suffice it to say that the character introduced in Blood of the Elves (Blood of Elves - 1994) it would never behave in the same way as presented in the Netflix adaptation, as Cahir is really no problem for Ciri. In many ways, it is easy to think that the adaptation has other plans for the character; some scenes suggest that Cahir was intended to serve as Nilfgaard's zealous face in the first season, to the confusion of the most dedicated fans of the novels.

6NENNEKE

The character that helps Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri the most is Nenneke, which is completely non-existent in the Netflix series. Book fans remember Nenneke as the stern but wise priestess at the Temple of Melitele. She was there to help Geralt heal when he was injured by the striga and was there to provide guidance to Ciri and Yennefer when they first met.

It seems that Nenneke's role will be divided between different characters, mainly Triss, who treats Geralt when he is injured by the striga in "Betrayer Moon", third episode of the first season. Remember that Triss played a minor role in the novels, which means that readers can probably expect a deeper level of involvement from her. Without Nenneke, the dynamics between Ciri and Yennefer may be completely different from what readers could see in the novels, which need not be negative if the program is careful to replace Nenneke and the Temple of Melitele.

7GERALT'S LAST WISH

In the adaptation of the series of The Last Wish, Geralt tries to save Yennefer from the power of Djinn using his third and final wish, which is revealed in "Rare Species", sixth episode of the first season, as a desire to remain essentially connected to Yennefer. The desire itself is not exactly unfaithful to the original material, since his third wish was the subject of debate among fans, and it still is today, but the difference is in the confrontation that defines what will happen next, forcing Yennefer to abandon Geralt.

See more: Review | The Last Wish

This does not happen in the book. In fact, Yennefer knows - unlike the reader - very well what Geralt wanted during the fight against Djinn. There was no anger in his reaction. In fact, she accepted the tone slightly, alerting the wizard that he had actually condemned himself. It is uncertain how this change will affect their relationship on the show. The decision to portray the tumultuous romance in this way seems to have been made because of the tone the series should have, that is, the drama, since the other problem points in their relationship - which would have occurred between “Bottled Appetites”, fifth episode of the first season, and "Rare Species" - were covered up in a brief monologue.

8The not-so-unwanted surprise child

The series constantly reports that Geralt had no desire to claim the law of surprise, which would give him the right to have Ciri as his own. However, in the original works, he makes it clear that he would like an heiress in a speech he has with Duny when he invokes the law.

-… What do you want from me, Geralt?

"Duny," said Geralt slowly. - When a wizard is faced with a question like that, he has to ask that it be repeated.
- Very well. I repeat it, then, because I want you to know that I am your debtor. What you want from me?
- Duny, Calanthe, Pavetta ... To become a wizard, one must have been born in the shadow of destiny, and not many are born in these conditions. That is why we are so few. We age, we die and we have no one to pass on our knowledge and skills to. We lack substitutes, and this world is full of evil, which just waits for us to disappear for good. […] You will give me what you already have and do not yet know. I will return to Cintra in six years' time to see if fate has been generous to me.

See too: The Witcher | Everything you should know to venture into the universe

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