It's interesting, I'm seeing a lot of positivity about Witcher from show watchers despite the lukewarm reviews. I think maybe game players might have that extra bit of context that the critics lack and make things harder for them to follow. Even if you haven't read the books if you've played the games you atleast know what a Witcher is and have some context for the various areas mentioned.
You also might have an emotional attachment to some of the characters for various reasons. Because witcher 3 is really good at evoking the feels and the show will remind you of some of those feels
The show would have been a lot better if they hadn't shuffled the order of episodes unnecessarily. I enjoyed the show, but the extent to which they jumped between parallel timelines became distracting. It felt to me as if they just shuffled the scenes up in editing. I say this as someone who binged the entire series. If the episodes had been released over a typical season of TV it would have been very difficult to follow.
Dandelion was a lot more fun than I would have expected. Yennifer was also surprisingly good but became less interesting as the season progressed. Still, criticisms aside I watched the entire season already. To put that into perspective, in the last year the shows I've found interesting enough to binge have been limited to the dragon prince, stranger things, and the good place. The show was still a pretty fun ride.
I really likes that aspect of the show and thought it brought the show up from what would otherwise be pretty standard fantasy.
the timelines were not separated randomly but to reinforce/contrast themes. Its not a coincidence that we get yennifers transformation and the removal of the strigas curse in the same scene. Blaviken the same time we are introduced to princess cirilla etc etc
timeline stuff is becoming a bit screwy as I'm in ep 4 and Geralt is the same in appearance as he is before Ciri even exists. I accept that Yennefer looks the same because from what I remember from the game she's genuinely really old and just masking it.
EDIT: Also the wedding going on when Geralt just slaughtered a bunch of guards is weird.
timeline stuff is becoming a bit screwy as I'm in ep 4 and Geralt is the same in appearance as he is before Ciri even exists. I accept that Yennefer looks the same because from what I remember from the game she's genuinely really old and just masking it.
witchers age... but not really that fast. Geralt is over 100 by the time of witcher 3 so he is more or less going through the prime of his life during the show. You probably would not notice the 40 or so years go by
timeline stuff is becoming a bit screwy as I'm in ep 4 and Geralt is the same in appearance as he is before Ciri even exists. I accept that Yennefer looks the same because from what I remember from the game she's genuinely really old and just masking it.
witchers age... but not really that fast. Geralt is over 100 by the time of witcher 3 so he is more or less going through the prime of his life during the show. You probably would not notice the 40 or so years go by
Ah, that makes some sense then.
But what about Dandelion? I do think Ciri is miscast. Maybe I'm spoiled by the bad ass game version but this one doesn't have much charisma. I'm more invested in her grandmother and she hasn't got a bright future ahead of her.
I liked how in episode 3 when he realized what he was going to have to do to get rid of the thing he unrolled a satchel and just started chugging Witcher Potions to prepare and they don't even try explain what he's doing or why.
This made me laugh so hard I had to pause it. My fiancé was baffled as to why I found it so funny, but it’s a great bit.
timeline stuff is becoming a bit screwy as I'm in ep 4 and Geralt is the same in appearance as he is before Ciri even exists. I accept that Yennefer looks the same because from what I remember from the game she's genuinely really old and just masking it.
witchers age... but not really that fast. Geralt is over 100 by the time of witcher 3 so he is more or less going through the prime of his life during the show. You probably would not notice the 40 or so years go by
Ah, that makes some sense then.
But what about Dandelion? I do think Ciri is miscast. Maybe I'm spoiled by the bad ass game version but this one doesn't have much charisma. I'm more invested in her grandmother and she hasn't got a bright future ahead of her.
At this point she's just a kid who has no idea what the fuck is going on and holy shit grandma is dead too now and wow run for your life. Triss to me is the worst casting, I don't really blame the actress there wasn't much to it, but compared to game Triss she's as interesting as watching paint dry. Her hair is also not nearly red enough! Netflix already has a relationship with Ellie Kemper, sign her up.
Not to mention for the first few episodes Ciri's story, Geralt's story, and Yennifer's story are all
taking place at different points in time and they don't tell you this you just have to notice when you see characters appear in more than one of these stories and realize it's taking place at different points in their lives.
I thought that
Renfi mentioning that Calanthe had just won her first battle was a good way to indicate it early. Granted it'd be fairly easy to miss.
There was also the point that
Mousesack tells Ciri the story of girls getting locked in towers and killed "a long time ago", which hints as well that the two plots in the first episode aren't happening at the same time.
Just finished the first episode and I'm really enjoying it so far. I could definitely see somebody who hasn't played the games or read the books being confused as hell, though. The world is just there and the show isn't going out of its way to explain it at all.
I havent read the books or played the games and I'm liking the show pretty well 4 episodes in. Though I did download the 3rd game cause I can tell I'm going to want to jump into that.
Not to mention for the first few episodes Ciri's story, Geralt's story, and Yennifer's story are all
taking place at different points in time and they don't tell you this you just have to notice when you see characters appear in more than one of these stories and realize it's taking place at different points in their lives.
I thought that
Renfi mentioning that Calanthe had just won her first battle was a good way to indicate it early. Granted it'd be fairly easy to miss.
There was also the point that
Mousesack tells Ciri the story of girls getting locked in towers and killed "a long time ago", which hints as well that the two plots in the first episode aren't happening at the same time.
Just finished the first episode and I'm really enjoying it so far. I could definitely see somebody who hasn't played the games or read the books being confused as hell, though. The world is just there and the show isn't going out of its way to explain it at all.
I havent read the books or played the games and I'm liking the show pretty well 4 episodes in. Though I did download the 3rd game cause I can tell I'm going to want to jump into that.
Be warned that the Witcher games are going to contain spoilers for the entire series, as they take place after the books.
One thing with aging ciri up in the show is that it kinda messes up the timeline. In the books her mom has her when she's only like 17, and then ciri flees the siege at like... 13 or 14? Hence why her grandma isn't that old at all. Early dandelion is in his mid 20s, and when things get going he's late 30s (but of course he's still totally irresponsible and acts like he's in his 20s).
Aging Ciri up is still understandable considering what a central character she is, but you kinda have to ignore how nobody else seems to have aged in any of the timeskips.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
she's supposed to be Geralt and Yennifer's surrogate daughter.
In the books and games Geralt and Yennifer basically raised Ciri. They had a significant bond with her through their hand in her upbringing. Geralt first met her when she was like... six. Then took custody of her when she was like 10 or 11. Yennifer met her shortly thereafter.
But in the show she's basically already a freakin' adult before they ever even meet her.
And the age difference between the actresses for Ciri and Yennifer is only 5 years. I know it's "Yennifer uses magic to look young, blah blah blah" but it still kind of undermines the believably of Ciri as her daughter.
I really feel like they should've chosen a slightly older actress for the part of Yennifer, and at least used a younger actress for Ciri for the first season. Allan does fine in the role as Ciri... if it was Ciri 9 or 10 years later in the story.
she's supposed to be Geralt and Yennifer's surrogate daughter.
In the books and games Geralt and Yennifer basically raised Ciri. They had a significant bond with her through their hand in her upbringing. Geralt first met her when she was like... six. Then took custody of her when she was like 10 or 11. Yennifer met her shortly thereafter.
But in the show she's basically already a freakin' adult before they ever even meet her.
And the age difference between the actresses for Ciri and Yennifer is only 5 years. I know it's "Yennifer uses magic to look young, blah blah blah" but it still kind of undermines the believably of Ciri as her daughter.
I really feel like they should've chosen a slightly older actress for the part of Yennifer, and at least used a younger actress for Ciri for the first season. Allan does fine in the role as Ciri... if it was Ciri 9 or 10 years later in the story.
Yeah, but most of the time children end up being terrible actors. I'd prefer they age someone up to get a better actor.
The story coulda been written differently though. Maybe some flashbacks and such and then shoot ahead to her current age? But then you're getting a lot of shitty child actor time on screen.
I had assumed that we're just supposed to read Ciri as a fair bit younger than her actress's actual age.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
Not to mention for the first few episodes Ciri's story, Geralt's story, and Yennifer's story are all
taking place at different points in time and they don't tell you this you just have to notice when you see characters appear in more than one of these stories and realize it's taking place at different points in their lives.
I thought that
Renfi mentioning that Calanthe had just won her first battle was a good way to indicate it early. Granted it'd be fairly easy to miss.
There was also the point that
Mousesack tells Ciri the story of girls getting locked in towers and killed "a long time ago", which hints as well that the two plots in the first episode aren't happening at the same time.
Just finished the first episode and I'm really enjoying it so far. I could definitely see somebody who hasn't played the games or read the books being confused as hell, though. The world is just there and the show isn't going out of its way to explain it at all.
I havent read the books or played the games and I'm liking the show pretty well 4 episodes in. Though I did download the 3rd game cause I can tell I'm going to want to jump into that.
Be warned that the Witcher games are going to contain spoilers for the entire series, as they take place after the books.
Are the books that good? I could use something new to read. Witcher 3 is also on gamepass so I've thought about playing that.
I had assumed that we're just supposed to read Ciri as a fair bit younger than her actress's actual age.
This was my assumption as well. They do a lot of work to make her look young.
The witcher 3 is quite possibly the best game ever made. Its got one of the best written and executed stories in interactive media and the gameplay itself is still fun
I think its better they get someone and play down their age so they're supposed to seem younger so that if you have them swordfighting later it can be the same actress and look believable. Probably easier than trying to find one person just for season 1 Ciri.
If they're playing her age down she still reads as like... 15 at the youngest. It'd probably help if she didnt look exactly like the actress playing her mother.
The Witcher made me realize how helpful the map opening of GoT was for understanding the fake names everyone is saying.
The Witcher world in general:
Niilfgard (the South) - Evil expansive empire. Amount of evil varies by story, desire to expand doesn’t.
The North - Collection of interchangeable, shitty kingdoms ruled by asshole royalty. Some of these royalty are important as characters, but its okay to let the place kingdom and town names wash over you.
Rivia - The shitty Northern kingdom where Geralt comes from. The asshole queen got her own tie-in game where she fights Niilgard in Thronebreaker.
Skellige - Fake Vikings. Honor, clan halls, and such.
Novigrad - Independent city state in the North.
Elves - Former rulers of the world. Overthrown by humans in a series of genocidal wars and purges that are still ongoing. Live either in urban ghettos or in the forests as guerrilla bands.
Dwarves - Similar issues with humanity but have retained some of their strongholds and have a better economic position than elves. Still get targeted in purges.
Lots of monsters, sentient and not, and lots of not humans who are just people and not monsters. Humanity is a late-comer, arriving via an extra-dimensional convergence with a world ruled by elves. Most monsters also come from other dimensions.
The more I watch, the more the books are coming alive. I thought it was going to be based on the books, but not follow directly. I'm not complaining in the least, just wondering aloud.
I'm enjoying The Witcher so far, but don't come in with too many expectations. This isn't game of thrones. It's janky as fuck. It's like a souped up Sunday afternoon syndication show (Xena, Stargate, etc...), which is, in itself, quite pleasant but not winning any awards or mainstream viewers. I'll watch the rest to support Fantasy on TV, but I don't think it's gonna bring many converts.
My wife asked, as Yennifer was strapped into the chair to have her deformity removed, if they were also going to get rid of her bangs.
I hadn't considered it.
The bangs were indeed gone after the procedure.
Well the procedure isn't just to get rid of the deformity, it seems to be for everyone and it is to make them as hot as possible.
All the girls has something “wrong” about them that was corrected during the change.
Varying definitions of wrong, of course. But all sorceresses are hot I guess and this is why
all that go through the brotherhood/sisterhood. As theyre expected to be important people in a court. Mages who are not part of the brotherhood need not be hot
I'm enjoying The Witcher so far, but don't come in with too many expectations. This isn't game of thrones. It's janky as fuck. It's like a souped up Sunday afternoon syndication show (Xena, Stargate, etc...), which is, in itself, quite pleasant but not winning any awards or mainstream viewers. I'll watch the rest to support Fantasy on TV, but I don't think it's gonna bring many converts.
The witcher is a far more personal story than got and the comparison to hercules/xena isnt too far off. Though done with quality and theme and purpose.
Only have one episode left to go. So far I am loving everything. I'm enjoying the conversations with my friends that are Witcher fans. Seeing the little nods to the books in scenes that were only hinted at but now being a bit more fleshed out.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited December 2019
Finished episode 5 of Witcher, the best parts are the actual Geralt ones, the weakest is everything else. And two of the casting choices are not good.
Triss is horribly miscast. Like, she comes across more as your mom's friend who you're just an acquaintance with, like she's Maya Rudolph and it's an SNL skit.
This is probably gonna be blunt and rude but I don't know a better way to write it; Yennifer was really good as the hunchback ugly duckling, but transformed Yennefer is not cutting the mustard. She's too young and is too Mary Ann instead of Ginger. Hell, the actress would've been a better Triss than the current one. There isn't a sense of change the way it's always been described, basically going and pulling a Captain America. I was expecting the same thing with the actress here but it looks like they pulled a Finn Jones in Iron Fist and cast her and started filming without any real prep time. She looks too much like Selina Gomez in places and her eyes, while trying to be alluring with the purple, don't actually convey this worn down feeling of aged sorceress who was raised like a pig and realizes she doesn't really want this magician life anymore. And finally seeing her interact with Cavill, there's no chemistry and it's kinda weird like it should be in the pool hall in Dazed and Confused. I mean Tissaia's actress would be a better Yennefer. Yes it's all subjective but a Charlize Theron/Famke Janssen as Yennefer is what they should have gone with.
But everything else, when connecting to Geralt and the Cintra story, is surprisingly good. You can see how they work around monster of the episode in places with the CGI but it's better than I expected. Calanthe hella classy, and the Bard is riding the right side of the line on entertaining/annoying. Also while Ciri's story started well it's starting to suck in the stupid forest. I. Don't. Care.
wtf was with those girls getting turned into eels? And didn't I see one of them reappear in the dancing hall for episode 3? Were the girls just turned into eels forever? Just dead basically to be used as batteries?
I thought the elves arrived by covergence as well and that the humans were there first. Not much of a difference if that is one though
The world is basically the Grey Havens from Tolkien (The paradise the elves sail off to) where a bunch of 14 century Visigoths get dropped into it, along with monsters from across the multiverse.
Humans do what we do, make weapons to fight the monsters (witchers) and punch the natives in the face (elves and dwarves)
If they wanted to add more exposition and make things clearer for non-game/book people, it seems like they could've gone the loading-screen route and had an older Jaskier narrating the events of each episode and providing the world set-up.
Like the whole series could've been presented as "Taels of Ye Witcher" by the Bard Dandilion. A story told 'round the campfire in flashbacks.
That was actually some of my favorite shit from the books, where kids would be around the campfire begging for a story about Yennifer and others would be like "No, tell us what happened to Geralt!" and they'd all try to suss out how much of it was true, and how much was just bullshit exaggeration.
Minor addendum on Rivia, but one that you might want to find out on your own:
Geralt isn't actually from Rivia. He just thought it had a nice ring, and that it would sound more trustworthy to people looking to hire a monster slayer than just "Geralt, of nowhere in particular."
And Nilfgaard, once again something that the show will probably explore in the future:
Nilfgaard isn't really any more evil than anywhere else, except that they're actively expansionist (but so would most of the northern kingdoms, if they could). And contrary to how the north views them they're not even actually a like truly united Empire, they're actually a giant mass of client states, principalities, duchies, and so on, all with their own unique identities and loyalties, and often their own local governing bodies. Some places are more incorporated into Nilfgaard, other places don't consider themselves Nilfgaardian at all and will be angry if you call them that, though they still like send troops and taxes to the empire.
Witchers in general are dying out,
but surprisingly the real reason is just a lack of need. Humanoids basically carved out the continent from monsters, but that process is largely finished now, even a renowned witcher like geralt is just kinda scraping by with occasional jobs. Most monsters left are just like scavengers, or have adapted to living in a civilized world. The witchers that are left don't recruit much anymore, because why bother.
By witcher 3 of course there's piles of monsters in velen, because the whole country is a battlefield and largely in a state of anarchy.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
The relative rarity of monsters is kinda jarring coming from the games, where you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a dozen drowners or necrophages.
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You also might have an emotional attachment to some of the characters for various reasons. Because witcher 3 is really good at evoking the feels and the show will remind you of some of those feels
Dandelion was a lot more fun than I would have expected. Yennifer was also surprisingly good but became less interesting as the season progressed. Still, criticisms aside I watched the entire season already. To put that into perspective, in the last year the shows I've found interesting enough to binge have been limited to the dragon prince, stranger things, and the good place. The show was still a pretty fun ride.
The
EDIT: Also the wedding going on when Geralt just slaughtered a bunch of guards is weird.
Ah, that makes some sense then.
This made me laugh so hard I had to pause it. My fiancé was baffled as to why I found it so funny, but it’s a great bit.
Be warned that the Witcher games are going to contain spoilers for the entire series, as they take place after the books.
Aging Ciri up is still understandable considering what a central character she is, but you kinda have to ignore how nobody else seems to have aged in any of the timeskips.
In the books and games Geralt and Yennifer basically raised Ciri. They had a significant bond with her through their hand in her upbringing. Geralt first met her when she was like... six. Then took custody of her when she was like 10 or 11. Yennifer met her shortly thereafter.
But in the show she's basically already a freakin' adult before they ever even meet her.
And the age difference between the actresses for Ciri and Yennifer is only 5 years. I know it's "Yennifer uses magic to look young, blah blah blah" but it still kind of undermines the believably of Ciri as her daughter.
I really feel like they should've chosen a slightly older actress for the part of Yennifer, and at least used a younger actress for Ciri for the first season. Allan does fine in the role as Ciri... if it was Ciri 9 or 10 years later in the story.
Yeah, but most of the time children end up being terrible actors. I'd prefer they age someone up to get a better actor.
The story coulda been written differently though. Maybe some flashbacks and such and then shoot ahead to her current age? But then you're getting a lot of shitty child actor time on screen.
Are the books that good? I could use something new to read. Witcher 3 is also on gamepass so I've thought about playing that.
This was my assumption as well. They do a lot of work to make her look young.
The witcher 3 is quite possibly the best game ever made. Its got one of the best written and executed stories in interactive media and the gameplay itself is still fun
The Witcher world in general:
Niilfgard (the South) - Evil expansive empire. Amount of evil varies by story, desire to expand doesn’t.
The North - Collection of interchangeable, shitty kingdoms ruled by asshole royalty. Some of these royalty are important as characters, but its okay to let the place kingdom and town names wash over you.
Rivia - The shitty Northern kingdom where Geralt comes from. The asshole queen got her own tie-in game where she fights Niilgard in Thronebreaker.
Skellige - Fake Vikings. Honor, clan halls, and such.
Novigrad - Independent city state in the North.
Elves - Former rulers of the world. Overthrown by humans in a series of genocidal wars and purges that are still ongoing. Live either in urban ghettos or in the forests as guerrilla bands.
Dwarves - Similar issues with humanity but have retained some of their strongholds and have a better economic position than elves. Still get targeted in purges.
Lots of monsters, sentient and not, and lots of not humans who are just people and not monsters. Humanity is a late-comer, arriving via an extra-dimensional convergence with a world ruled by elves. Most monsters also come from other dimensions.
That’s the conjunction of the spheres stuff
I hadn't considered it.
The bangs were indeed gone after the procedure.
Varying definitions of wrong, of course. But all sorceresses are hot I guess and this is why
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
Triss is horribly miscast. Like, she comes across more as your mom's friend who you're just an acquaintance with, like she's Maya Rudolph and it's an SNL skit.
This is probably gonna be blunt and rude but I don't know a better way to write it; Yennifer was really good as the hunchback ugly duckling, but transformed Yennefer is not cutting the mustard. She's too young and is too Mary Ann instead of Ginger. Hell, the actress would've been a better Triss than the current one. There isn't a sense of change the way it's always been described, basically going and pulling a Captain America. I was expecting the same thing with the actress here but it looks like they pulled a Finn Jones in Iron Fist and cast her and started filming without any real prep time. She looks too much like Selina Gomez in places and her eyes, while trying to be alluring with the purple, don't actually convey this worn down feeling of aged sorceress who was raised like a pig and realizes she doesn't really want this magician life anymore. And finally seeing her interact with Cavill, there's no chemistry and it's kinda weird like it should be in the pool hall in Dazed and Confused. I mean Tissaia's actress would be a better Yennefer. Yes it's all subjective but a Charlize Theron/Famke Janssen as Yennefer is what they should have gone with.
But everything else, when connecting to Geralt and the Cintra story, is surprisingly good. You can see how they work around monster of the episode in places with the CGI but it's better than I expected. Calanthe hella classy, and the Bard is riding the right side of the line on entertaining/annoying. Also while Ciri's story started well it's starting to suck in the stupid forest. I. Don't. Care.
But I'm just so proud of them showing Sanic as Ciri's father, chaos magic, moer like chaos emeralds m i rite?!?!?!?!?!?!
I thought new Yenn was pretty spot on. Her warddrobe too!
The world is basically the Grey Havens from Tolkien (The paradise the elves sail off to) where a bunch of 14 century Visigoths get dropped into it, along with monsters from across the multiverse.
Humans do what we do, make weapons to fight the monsters (witchers) and punch the natives in the face (elves and dwarves)
Like the whole series could've been presented as "Taels of Ye Witcher" by the Bard Dandilion. A story told 'round the campfire in flashbacks.
That was actually some of my favorite shit from the books, where kids would be around the campfire begging for a story about Yennifer and others would be like "No, tell us what happened to Geralt!" and they'd all try to suss out how much of it was true, and how much was just bullshit exaggeration.
And Nilfgaard, once again something that the show will probably explore in the future:
Witchers in general are dying out,
By witcher 3 of course there's piles of monsters in velen, because the whole country is a battlefield and largely in a state of anarchy.