The Witcher S3: Bye Bye Henry

[IlyaP]

@sifth do the comments here about Vesimir and "do witchers have any place in the world?" make any sense to you? 

https://redanianintelligence.com/2021/12/27/the-witcher-showrunner-addresses-season-2s-controversial-eskel-storyline/

Am curious what these comments at the above link have to do with the books/show. I've only read a bit of book 1 and it failed to capture my attention and joined the To Try Reading Again At A Later Date pile. 

[IlyaP]

2 minutes ago, karaddin said:

that can't be too easy or the whole thing feels like jerking the audience around for nothing

But it's like, the *journey*, man! 

[sifth]

8 minutes ago, IlyaP said:

@sifth do the comments here about Vesimir and "do witchers have any place in the world?" make any sense to you? 

https://redanianintelligence.com/2021/12/27/the-witcher-showrunner-addresses-season-2s-controversial-eskel-storyline/

Am curious what these comments at the above link have to do with the books/show. I've only read a bit of book 1 and it failed to capture my attention and joined the To Try Reading Again At A Later Date pile. 

I'm having a hard time finding the comments you're talking about in the article. If you don't mind copying and pasting them here, I wouldn't mind trying to make sense of them for you. Though, I'm going to be honest, it's been a long while since I read these books. If I had to guess, it might be that in the novels, there are hardly any monsters left in the world and Vesimir often wonders if Witchers are even still needed. You wouldn't get that impression by watching the show or playing the games though, lol

Edited July 29, 2023 by sifth

[IlyaP]

Sure! They're...weirdly formatted on the page: 

"We just had to make sure that we were really driving home that point, that The Continent is constantly changing, and is there a place for witchers anymore?"

"I mean, so much of Season 2 is about the fact that… Is the witcher brotherhood over?” showrunner Lauren Hissrich explained. “I mean, that’s really what Vesemir’s character is dealing with all season, is this emotional sense of: ‘Is this the end of life as we know it for witchers?’ So, of course we had to kill more. We had to make it more painful for him.” At that point, Hissrich turns to Vesemir actor Kim Bodnia and says: “Sorry.”

“Eskel’s death in episode two… It was very traumatic,” Unlocked host Felicia Day said. “Can you explain your decision to kill him off so soon? Because people want to know.”

“Yes,” the showrunner replied. “People definitely want to know. Well, a couple of things. Well, we knew we had to kill someone in that episode. We knew that we wanted a monster to enter Kaer Morhen and have something to do with Ciri, and both Geralt and Vesemir and the brothers realize that bringing this girl into their witcher keep is going to fundamentally change things.”

 

Sorry for the length. Hopefully that helps and elaborates on what I'd mentioned? You obviously have more domain knowledge of thisnthan me, so I defer to your wisdom on this subject! 

[IlyaP]

16 minutes ago, sifth said:

You wouldn't get that impression by watching the show or playing the games though, lol

Absolutely! Played the hell out of Witcher 3, and a bit of 2, and almost nothing of 1, as the controls were...beyond janky, and utterly baffling. 

But at least in 2 and 3, he comes across as a kind of sage mentor/father figure, and there seems to be business aplenty for witchers! 

[sifth]

55 minutes ago, IlyaP said:

Sure! They're...weirdly formatted on the page: 

"We just had to make sure that we were really driving home that point, that The Continent is constantly changing, and is there a place for witchers anymore?"

"I mean, so much of Season 2 is about the fact that… Is the witcher brotherhood over?” showrunner Lauren Hissrich explained. “I mean, that’s really what Vesemir’s character is dealing with all season, is this emotional sense of: ‘Is this the end of life as we know it for witchers?’ So, of course we had to kill more. We had to make it more painful for him.” At that point, Hissrich turns to Vesemir actor Kim Bodnia and says: “Sorry.”

“Eskel’s death in episode two… It was very traumatic,” Unlocked host Felicia Day said. “Can you explain your decision to kill him off so soon? Because people want to know.”

“Yes,” the showrunner replied. “People definitely want to know. Well, a couple of things. Well, we knew we had to kill someone in that episode. We knew that we wanted a monster to enter Kaer Morhen and have something to do with Ciri, and both Geralt and Vesemir and the brothers realize that bringing this girl into their witcher keep is going to fundamentally change things.”

 

Sorry for the length. Hopefully that helps and elaborates on what I'd mentioned? You obviously have more domain knowledge of thisnthan me, so I defer to your wisdom on this subject! 

Well a lot those comments stem from changes made in the show. In the book Geralt does bring Ciri to Kaer Morhen for training, but only 4 or 5 Witchers are present. In the show there are dozens and nearly all simply exist to be killed off; which to me is stupid. Also the witchers present for Ciri’s train are very accepting of her and Ciri herself is very happy to be around people who finally understand her and even starts referring to them as her uncles. 
 

The whole monster attack at Kaer Morhen never happens, so naturally no one dies and truth be told the reader is treated to several chapters of Geralt and Ciri just being happy with the other Witchers. Triss shows up as well and helps train Ciri and gives her a positive woman role model for a while, who she comes to see as an older sister and the other Witchers tease Geralt and wonder if Triss is his new love interest. It’s all very lighthearted, because like I posted above the novels are not action heavy.
 

There’s no BS about Ciri’s blood being used to create Witchers either. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by sifth

[IlyaP]

7 minutes ago, sifth said:

There’s no BS about Ciri’s blood being used to create Witchers either. 

Uh...what?!

I've only seen season 1. I thought the test of grasses? involved a lot of things. Since when was Ciri necessary? That just seems...odd.

[sifth]

11 minutes ago, IlyaP said:

Uh...what?!

I've only seen season 1. I thought the test of grasses? involved a lot of things. Since when was Ciri necessary? That just seems...odd.

It was a major plot point in season 2 and something not in the novels or the games, because yea, it’s pretty stupid. 

[Zorral]

Third episode:

Spoiler

how did Jaskier find Geralt? I thought I saw the Ciri simulacrum in the battle, but wasn’t she left with healers in a forest somewhere? Why yes, we get pushed to " neutrality be damned." 

It's impossible for me to grab hold of anything that goes on in the episodes and thus I never remember anything, because nothing makes sense, and nothing comes through as connected to anything else. The exception was this season as it was pushed so hard that Geralt, Yen and Ciri are a 'family, and every other word anybody mentions seems to be 'family'.

With the strike it will be an easier transition from Cavill as Geralt. If there is another season, with strikes and AI and all the rest.

[IlyaP]

4 hours ago, Zorral said:

The exception was this season as it was pushed so hard that Geralt, Yen and Ciri are a 'family, and every other word anybody mentions seems to be 'family'.

All they need now is some Coronas!

[karaddin]

5 hours ago, Zorral said:

Third episode:

  Hide contents

how did Jaskier find Geralt? I thought I saw the Ciri simulacrum in the battle, but wasn’t she left with healers in a forest somewhere? Why yes, we get pushed to " neutrality be damned." 

 

Pretty sure that one is actually explained but given the rest of the random meetings I can understand why you might have missed it

Spoiler

Either Triss or Yen told him that they'd taken Geralt to Brokilon to heal

 

[IheartIheartTesla]

Based on the last episode, it cant be the last time we see Cavill-Geralt, can it?

[Ran]

Kind of ended on a whimper, this season. I don't know, didn't feel like Cavill really got the send-off he deserved. I did like the Tissaia and Yennefer aspect of the final episode, and I suppose the events in Redania were interesting. The twist in Nilfgaard was fairly predictable, though.

[kairparavel]

Welp. That's that then. Too bad the Witcher has ended and they'll never tie up everything...

In reality, if that is the quality of the writing going forward, it won't matter who is playing Geralt. That was just lame.

[SpaceChampion]

Cavill at least got to close an arc for Geralt -- the one about his neutrality that was there from the first episode of season 1.  They even flashbacked to Renfri to emphasize the point.  Choosing to take a side on behalf of people to whom he has no connection, small scale though it was, was important for his character.  It couldn't have been done with something more tightly concerned with the plot or people he knew.

[TormundsWoman]

Like @SpaceChampion I think Cavill himself got a close for his Geralt arc.

It just felt like they wrote the callbacks to season 1 with that in mind. For 3 seasons he was told he cannot hold the neutrality he so loves, and Renfri and Stregobor which were a launching pad for his Season one introduction featured impactfully into this season's storyline and bookended Geralt's journey so far. As a result Cavill's Geralt decides "fuck neutrality" and goes for it into the sunset after Emhyr, because Ciri. I personally loved that.

[john]

I thought it was pretty bad. One of the most disjointed tv shows I’ve seen for a while. Good actors, good performances because you need that these days when everybody is trying to make prestige television. But it was just a collection of scenes strung together with barely any sense. Yes, some of the scenes were cool but there’s no impact to them if there’s no purpose. The politics, factions, motivations were all really thin.

I didn’t get much satisfaction from Geralt’s final scene either. He got angry and brutally murdered some guys to save a little girl he probably traumatised for life (and handed her back a presumably blood soaked doll while she quaked in fear beneath a wagon ). Could have just given up his Witcher’s medallion if he truly has chosen his side.

That said, the scene where Ciri meets the Rats and fights the Arabic Scottish dude was the best thing in this season. Shame it’s possibly the last bit of Witcher we get.

[mormont]

I'm in the 'rather enjoyed this' camp. I liked the Ciri solo episode, the battle, and Cavill's last fight at the end. I tend to enjoy fight scenes in fantasy for what they are: few of them make any real sense if you know anything about medieval combat so the best way to view them is as entertaining choreography, rather like a dance but with more fake blood.

Anyway, I was entertained. 

 

 

[Derfel Cadarn]

I enjoyed it. Felt shorter than seasons 1 and 2. But I felt it hit the major beats from the book.

I’ve seen people who’ve played some of the games but not read the books complain that Ciri is taking over as the main character, which is true of the books.

I’d read something (on realising it had spoilers for last episode I clicked back) about how the Hensworth Geralt was an alternate universe Geralt, and dreaded that actually happened. Glad it didnt!

[3CityApache]

47 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

I’d read something (on realising it had spoilers for last episode I clicked back) about how the Hensworth Geralt was an alternate universe Geralt, and dreaded that actually happened. Glad it didnt!

It still might, I fear, if there ever is a fourth season, that is.