Fantasy Netflix's The Witcher - General Discussion Thread

[Lilbaz]

Question about Tissaia turning some of the students into eels... did those students volunteer (knowing that was their best way to serve) or did she straight up essentially kill them? They didn't seem to freak out when the first one got turned, they just calmly stood there. Did they see it as doing their part?

Or were they eels all along and she was the only real student?

 

[Lighthouse]

Watched the first few episodes, and I can see they decided to be VERY faithful to the books, which I'm not sure was the best decision. They follow the stories from "The Last Wish" almost verbatim. Still, I'm really enjoying it so far and I think Cavill is doing a lot better than I thought.

 

[heatvision38]

Or were they eels all along and she was the only real student?

You know what, that had actually crossed my mind, and one of them did say early on" I want to go home," but then I thought that would be too crazy (though cool). So are you speaking in fun or is that from the books? Obviously a few of them still show up later (Fringilla and Sabrina for example).

 

[Reek]

Talking?

 

[Primal Slayer]

It's not rocket science. I would say a lot of actors are simply private about their private parts and are skittish about appearing nude onscreen. Emilia Clarke has talked about it and how producers have tried to persuade her into appearing nude onscreen when she was reluctant to do so.

It's not rocket science until he says so. He could be against nudity which is fine...but we don't know for sure....HBO went a long time showing way more female nudity than male and we know GoT wanted more female nudity. And we know this industry is still extremely pro female nudity over male nudity, THATs...not rocket science.

But....apart from the nudity issue

The last two episodes are definitely the strongest and most interesting. I hope the 2nd season is more like that than the first part of the season.

 

[heatvision38]

I remember she mentioned there was 2 types of mages to Yen: ones who are unemotional and in control of their emotions, and ones who are emotional like herself and Yen. I figured those 3 were the unemotional ones so they know their roles as conduits.

She referenced Sabrina when talking about lack of emotions, but Sabrina still ascended.

 

[heatvision38]

Also, as I'm now re-watching ep 3, during the Brotherhood council meeting, why does Stregobor work so hard to get Yennefer to Nilfgaard over Fringilla? Does he genuinely think she would do a better job than Fringilla or is there something beneath his efforts? It seemed more than just out of concern for the land, but I wasn't clear on it.

 

[Legendver2]

Also, as I'm now re-watching ep 3, during the Brotherhood council meeting, why does Stregobor work so hard to get Yennefer to Nilfgaard over Fringilla? Does he genuinely think she would do a better job than Fringilla or is there something beneath his efforts? It seemed more than just out of concern for the land, but I wasn't clear on it.

It's not so much his belief Yen can do a better job, but his lack of confidence in Fringilla to do her job, plus the fact that Aedirn is Cintra's main trading partner, and Cintra hates elves, which Yen is a quarter part of. So 2 birds one stone kinda thing.

 

[heatvision38]

I get the logical reasons for it, but Stregobor came off kinda slimy during that scene, so I was wondering if he had a more personal and insidious motivation.

And there was that line from Tissaia about Stregobor being afraid of someone named Falka.

 

[Punisher_MAX]

Watched the first few episodes, and I can see they decided to be VERY faithful to the books, which I'm not sure was the best decision. They follow the stories from "The Last Wish" almost verbatim. Still, I'm really enjoying it so far and I think Cavill is doing a lot better than I thought.

It's not very faithful...

 

[TheVileOne]

I get the logical reasons for it, but Stregobor came off kinda slimy during that scene, so I was wondering if he had a more personal and insidious motivation.

And there was that line from Tissaia about Stregobor being afraid of someone named Falka.

Well Stregobor is not exactly what I'd call a noble individual. He might've had some ulterior motives. However, he seemed to think with Yennefer's potential strength she'd had a stronger "spine" on how to deal with Nilfgaard rather than Aedirn. And seeing as how Yennefer is of elven descent, he sounded concerned if Cintra got wind of it, it would cause havoc.

 

[TheVileOne]

Watched the first few episodes, and I can see they decided to be VERY faithful to the books, which I'm not sure was the best decision. They follow the stories from "The Last Wish" almost verbatim. Still, I'm really enjoying it so far and I think Cavill is doing a lot better than I thought.

They actually made a ton of changes and additions.

 

[Punisher_MAX]

So they made Tea and Vea, the Zerrikanians, black like everyone said they should be. So instead of adding randomly casted black actors they could've added more original Zerrikanians but now have two main characters casted in a race they're not. Smh.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

A key thing you've touched on there is the power of investment in a show over time. I think a lot of folks are hastily cementing their opinions on this show based on its first season, and I'd be very curious to know what their opinions were about GoT after its first season. It's a little disingenuous for folks to compare S1 of The Witcher to the established fandom of GoT after like 8 seasons or whatever it ended up being.

First season of Game of Thrones went over very well. Especially because of Baelor. It was going about well, getting buzz and talk, and then Baelor happened. And then you realized how many people were watching the show, and how many people it got talking about the show. The first season started with 2.22m live viewers, and the finale ended up with 3.04m, with the second season premiere shooting up to 3.86m. One advantage of the classic release schedule is building buzz. The show also got legit buzz in terms of critical reception and awards recognition. The first season went over well enough that from 2012 on, GoT became the most pirated show in the world for 6 years running.

 

[Marvolo]

Did they miss any of the short stories? I wonder if they're just going to stick to the novels from now on.

This season mostly adapted The Last Wish short story collection and took elements from a few of the stories in Sowrd of Destiny . Like when Yen goes to the dig site to see the mage, that is only a tiny part of a whole short story in Sword of Destiny involving Yen being torn between her affair with Geralt and her affair with the mage, and Geralt and the Mage competing for her. That short story is called Shard of Ice.

They didnt do the short story that introduces the Doppler Dudu which is called the Eternal Flame. That story could make a really funny filler episode. Or a a one off Episode released between seasons. You should read it sometime.

They also skipped A Little Sacrifice. Which is about a Noble hiring Geralt to convince a mermaid to abandon the sea, grow legs, and be his wife.

They didn't adapt any of Season of Storms which is a collection of events with an overarching plotline about Geralt's swords being stolen by a Sorceress named Coral and Geralt's love affair with her. Throughout the book Gerslt finds himself in one bad situation after another trying to untangle himself from a web the sorceresses have weaved to manipulate and **** with him. It's pretty funny at times, because all these wannabe badasses keep showing up and trying to kill him since he doesnt have his swords. Gerslt disabused them of that foolish idea.

Since the show killed Coral in episode 8 they might not be planning to do any flashbacks of Geralt's affair with coral. But I hope they adapt the other events of the book.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Keira Knightley had similar issues with her onscreen nudity. She was OK with going topless, but less so with her nude backside.

Cavill I imagine was probably very self-conscious about those things. I can't blame him. When you are an actor and you are nude onscreen, that's forever right there. I can imagine how that might mess with your head.

The vast majority of actors are't big on nudity it seems, but we have lived in a world where they kind of just had to go with it, especially actresses. Clarke talking about it on GoT is kind of heartbreaking. Knightley has mentioned no longer doing any and getting that in her contract.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

This season mostly adapted The Last Wish short story collection and took elements from a few of the stories in Sowrd of Destiny . Like when Yen goes to the dig site to see the mage, that is only a tiny part of a whole short story in Sword of Destiny involving Yen being torn between her affair with Geralt and her affair with the mage, and Geralt and the Mage competing for her. That short story is called Shard of Ice.

They didnt do the short story that introduces the Doppler Dudu which is called the Eternal Flame. That story could make a really funny filler episode. Or a a one off Episode released between seasons. You should read it sometime.

They also skipped A Little Sacrifice. Which is about a Noble hiring Geralt to convince a mermaid to abandon the sea, grow legs, and be his wife.

They didn't adapt any of Season of Storms which is a collection of events with an overarching plotline about Geralt's swords being stolen by a Sorceress named Coral and Geralt's love affair with her. Throughout the book Gerslt finds himself in one bad situation after another trying to untangle himself from a web the sorceresses have weaved to manipulate and **** with him. It's pretty funny at times, because all these wannabe badasses keep showing up and trying to kill him since he doesnt have his swords. Gerslt disabused them of that foolish idea.

Since the show killed Coral in episode 8 they might not be planning to do any flashbacks of Geralt's affair with coral. But I hope they adapt the other events of the book.

I would have been shocked if they did Season of the Storms. It came out years later, and doesn't really fit the overall narrative. Not a bad story, just with only 8 episodes, it would have been kind of weird trying to get it in there.

By the way, still stuck on episode 1.

 

[TheVileOne]

Female actresses probably have it harder in that regard. But if I were to make a prediction, dollars to donuts Cavill wasn't keen on showing off his undraped rear.

I mean look, it annoys me two when characters have a love scene fully clothed, but if they aren't crazy about it, they shouldn't be coerced into doing it.

I kind of feel like Season 1 could've used 10 episodes. I seriously wouldn't mind 10 episodes for Season 2.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Female actresses probably have it harder in that regard. But if I were to make a prediction, dollars to donuts Cavill wasn't keen on showing off his undraped rear.

I mean look, it annoys me two when characters have a love scene fully clothed, but if they aren't crazy about it, they shouldn't be coerced into doing it.

I kind of feel like Season 1 could've used 10 episodes. I seriously wouldn't mind 10 episodes for Season 2.

Oh, I don't doubt that. Just that there seems to be a, "way of life" aspect to it all. If the actors didn't want to do it, and they got their way, good for them. Honestly, as much as I like seeing pretty people naked, I don't need it. Especially with the history of Hollywood, where it almost always comes with the question of coercion.

I would doubt 10 episodes for season 2. One of the issues with Netflix right now is how many episodes they think they need of shows to get the most out of them.

 

[TheVileOne]

I respect Cavill for having thick enough skin for starting in the business relatively young and managing to survive it with his sanity intact. As if the drama for the Superman era of his career wasn't bad enough, having Martin Campbell call you chubby while auditioning for James Bond can't be great for your self-esteem.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I respect Cavill for having thick enough skin for starting in the business relatively young and managing to survive it with his sanity intact. As if the drama for the Superman era of his career wasn't bad enough, having Martin Campbell call you chubby while auditioning for James Bond can't be great for your self-esteem.

Seriously? Man, **** Martin Campbell. It also rather hilarious, when you consider Cavill has become a bit of a sex symbol.

 

[Lilbaz]

You know what, that had actually crossed my mind, and one of them did say early on" I want to go home," but then I thought that would be too crazy (though cool). So are you speaking in fun or is that from the books? Obviously a few of them still show up later (Fringilla and Sabrina for example).

Not read the books so i have no idea.

 

[elgaz]

The vast majority of actors are't big on nudity it seems, but we have lived in a world where they kind of just had to go with it, especially actresses. Clarke talking about it on GoT is kind of heartbreaking. Knightley has mentioned no longer doing any and getting that in her contract.

I think sometimes the story demands it, and as an actor or actress they should at least consider the idea. Sexuality and nudity are as much part of human nature and behaviour as anything else.

The problem has been that other 95% of the time, the story hasn't demanded it and they've thrown in the nudity purely for titillation. So I'm glad to see that some actors and actresses are becoming more assertive about when and where they should do it, if at all.

Even something as basic as Daniel Craig stepping out of the sea in Casino Royale looking bronzed and muscular - that was purely a PR move, it did nothing to enhance his characterization as 007 or add to that particular part of the film.

 

[Lighthouse]

It's not very faithful...

Then I must have read different books, because they seem pretty faithful to me, and no, I'm not talking about casting black characters, which is a stupid thing to complain about.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Watched most of this and saw Star Wars over the weekend. One disappointed me and it wasn't The Witcher.