The Witcher – 10 differences between the series, books and games
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• The final season of Game of Thrones left a deep, gaping void in the hearts of moviegoers that urgently needed to be filled with quality content. And this difficult mission was taken on by Netflix, releasing the long-awaited TV series The Witcher starring Henry Cavill.
• The mission was really not easy, because The Witcher has a huge fan base. Someone is familiar with the White Wolf from books, and someone has been in his shoes in the gaming space. Whether Netflix succeeded or not is up to you to judge, but we offer a look at the 10 biggest differences between the series, games and books about The Witcher.
10. Fall of Cintra
• In books and short stories, the fall of Cintra – the birthplace of Princess Cirilla – was never directly discussed. The sacking of the kingdom is only mentioned in passing, through a series of stories Dandelion tells Geralt.
• The series gives us the opportunity to witness the bloody battle for Cintra and then the fall of the city, first through Ciri's desperate escape and then through Geralt's escape.
9. The power of Ciri
The Witcher books portray Ciri's strange, chaotic powers in a different light than the Netflix movies. The novels mostly showcase the girl's magical instincts, and the true potential of her magical abilities is not explored until the Hour of Contempt book.
• But in the series, Ciri's powers are extremely powerful and uncontrollable from the start. This explains why she is constantly hunted.
8. Gwent
• This is a gambling card game in the world of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Its popularity has stepped beyond the "parent" project, there is even an esports discipline Gwent Masters, which is under the auspices of CD Projekt.
• The game of the same name appears in Andrzej Sapkowski's novel Baptism by Fire. However, book gwent could be played by four (pair by pair), while game gwent could only be played by two.
• It would be interesting to see if Gwent survives in the series, although it will most likely not be given to a character as dark and serious as Henry Cavill's Geralt of Rivia.
7. Yennefer's story
Perhaps the most striking difference between the book and the Witcher series has to do with the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg, who becomes Geralt's love interest and Ciri's adoptive mother.
• In Andrzej Sapkowski's books, little is known about Yennefer's life before she met Geralt. Her adventures in Arethusa, her relationship with Tissaia, and her attempt to save the queen's baby were not mentioned in the books.
• The only aspect of Yennefer of Vengerberg's backstory that is in the books is that she was a hunchback and attempted suicide before becoming Tissaia's apprentice. The series also allowed to reveal the character of Yennefer and explain why she so desperately wants a child.
6. Geralt's swords
When the first promo shots of The Witcher series appeared (Henry Cavill with a white wig on his head, dressed in skin-tight leather clothes), avid fans of CD Projekt RED games were not happy with them.
• This was largely due to the fact that the cinematic Geralt had only one sword. But in books and games, the White Wolf wielded two swords. One of them was for monsters, the other for humans.
• However, the show quickly proved that Geralt doesn't need a second sword to defeat his enemies.
5. Ciri's Journey to Geralt
• The Netflix adaptation paid a lot of attention to events that weren't covered in too much detail in the books. One such event was Ciri's entire journey to The Witcher.
• The details of her escape from Cintra through the plains, through the forest of Brokilon, and eventually into the arms of Geralt were made up specifically for the series.
4. Buttercup
• This carefree and chatty bard performed by Joey Baty won the hearts of the audience, almost eclipsing the gloomy and little-talkative Geralt-Cavill. And only those who got rid of the TV a long time ago and do not go online do not know how to pay the Witcher (thank you, Buttercup, this song will stay with us for a long time).
• Their relationship with Geralt gives the show a much-needed touch of humor.
• But if you suddenly played the English version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, then you didn’t meet Buttercup there. Instead, localizers for some reason chose the name Dandelion. And in German and at all – Larkspur. It's good that in the series and in the Russian-language version of the game, they did not deviate from the name that Andrzej Sapkowski gave to his creation.
3. Geralt's childhood
• Another event that is not accompanied by as many details in the books as in the series is the meeting of the wounded Geralt with his mother. It takes place throughout most of episode eight, with the White Wolf wounded and delirious.
• Netflix demonstrates to viewers that at one time even a brutal monster slayer was an innocent and gullible boy who became a Witcher not by choice. In Sapkowski's books, Geralt was left by his mother, the druid Visenna, to Vesemir in Kaer Morhen. It was she who gave Geralt his birth name, which is not mentioned in the series.
2. Triss Merigold
One of the biggest disappointments of The Witcher series is also among the biggest differences between it and the Geralt of Rivia games. In the game, Triss is a fair-skinned sorceress with luxurious brown hair and green eyes. She is also Geralt's love interest (after Yennefer, of course). In the book, her hair is also brown, but her eyes are blue.
• The series did not develop the theme of the Triss-Geralt-Yennefer love triangle and, much sadder, changed the appearance of the Fourteenth from the Hill, which infuriated many fans who were accustomed to the luxurious game look of the red-haired sorceress.
1. Battle of Sodden Hill
• In the books, this terrible battle was mentioned after it had already taken place. And Geralt came to the battlefield, looking for Yennefer of Vengerberg, in the hope that her name was not engraved on the memorial obelisk. But The Witcher series fully reveals the Battle of Sodden Hill, giving it a large amount of screen time and, in fact, making it the key chord of the season.
• This clever decision by the showrunners provided an opportunity to truly showcase the abilities of many mages and the sheer chaotic power that Yennefer of Vengerberg possesses.
When will the second season of The Witcher come out?
• As for the release of the second season of The Witcher, it is expected in December.
• The first season was based on the books The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny.
• The second season, according to showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, will include parts of stories from Sapkowski's book Blood of the Elves.
