"The Witcher" nods to The Conjunction of the Spheres, Ithlinne's prophecy,
and where Witchers come from, but doesn't explain any of it. The new prequel series
"Blood Origin" answers many of those questions and raises more. Warning: Spoilers ahead.
In the time of "The Witcher," the Continent is a hodgepodge of social, political,
and religious groups, subject to an endless cycle of war and racial conflict. Much of that strife
comes as a result of human machinations, as the many human nations of the Continent are prone to
infighting just as often as they are to prejudice against Elves, Dwarves, and the like. One of the
setting's most enduring and poignant features is the abundance of Elven ruins and artifacts across
the land, over which humanity builds their empires and attempts to recreate old Elvish magics.
"My elders worked with humans, and got robbed of all they had.
And when they fought back, they were slaughtered."
Yet in "The Witcher: Blood Origin," humanity has yet to arrive on the Continent, and in its place,
the Elven empires prove themselves every bit as bloodthirsty as their eventual human successors.
The series begins with three major Elven kingdoms uniting under one banner,
with Xin'trea as its capital city. The unification is no feat of diplomacy,
but rather the act of a few scheming, power-mad individuals, specifically,
Balor and Eredin. The new, unified empire is built on a shaky foundation as a result.
This period is known in canon as a golden age in Elven history, and yet even then it was a violent,
tenuous time. By the series' end, the death of an empress, the shattering of dimensional barriers,
and a peasant uprising all bring the so-called golden age to an ugly end.
Though they've yet to properly arrive in "The Witcher" to hound Ciri and plague Geralt's dreams,
the Wild Hunt is one of the greatest threats in the Witcher canon and is likely to end up
as the series' overarching villains. In the Sapkowski novels, video games,
and other media, the Wild Hunt is one of the primary groups responsible for Ciri's constant
pursuit and nomadic lifestyle. They want Ciri's unique power that comes from her Elder Blood,
a power that is prophesied to either end the world or save it.
All of their efforts begin in the final moments of "The Witcher: Blood Origin."
When Balor betrays Eredin and casts him out into an unknown dimension,
the Elf seems doomed to a slow demise on a dead, alien world. But it's precisely that
exile that causes Eredin, alongside his band of loyal soldiers, to begin transforming into
the fearsome Wild Hunt. Eredin's singular determination allows him to survive exile,
discover the secrets to interdimensional travel, and return to the Continent as the King of the
Wild Hunt. Using advanced magic found only on other worlds, Eredin and his band evolve into
something more than simple raiders. Wielding frost magic and commanding elemental beasts,
they become terrifying figures who haunt the dreams of folk from the Continent and beyond.
"The Witcher: Blood Origin" establishes the origin for several major moments in the franchise's lore,
the biggest and most important are the Conjunction and the creation of the first Witcher. But
the series also finds time to sprinkle in the origins of smaller characters that are destined,
as more hardcore fans will undoubtedly know, to become central figures in Witcher lore. One such
figure is Ithlinne, who appears in the series for just a few short scenes as a poor little girl who
happens to have psychic visions. As it turns out, that little girl eventually grows into the most
famous seer in history whose most famous prophecy points to Ciri as the cause of Armageddon.
In the final moments of the series, Ithlinne offers
Éile the Lark a prophecy regarding her child and its descendants. As ominous as its sounds,
it's nothing compared to what she'll predict just a few years later. Unlike so many other oracles,
an alarming amount of Ithlinne's prophecies end up coming true, and so her writings become almost
sacred texts in the world of the Witcher. Many of the major decisions made by kings, queens,
and mages in the time of Geralt come as a result of Ithlinne's words and their ever-present doom.
Another minor character in "The Witcher: Blood Origin" who closes out the series in an impactful
way is Avallac'h. For the vast majority of the series, the young Elf is merely a simple
mage's apprentice, a stuttering lackey with no discernible importance beyond his meager
station. His surprising rise to prominence comes after saving Empress Merwyn from a
would-be assassin. Merwyn has no idea what events she's setting in motion by promoting
Avallac'h and granting him access to higher-level magical research,
nor how he will one day play a major part in the story of Geralt and Ciri.
"I need you to learn how to open gateways to new worlds."
"This is insane. I'm going to die."
As fans of the novels and video games will know, Avallac'h is an ancient Elven mage with
an unparalleled knowledge of interdimensional travel who eventually becomes Ciri's mentor and
bodyguard. In the game, "The Witcher III," it's thanks to Avallac'h that Ciri is able
to evade the Wild Hunt for so long, and it's only through him that she's able to understand
the truth of her powers and finally master them. By awakening Avallac'h's potential,
Empress Merwyn unknowingly sets in motion a series of events that culminate in Ciri's
survival and therefore enable Ciri to play whatever cataclysmic role she's meant to.
The world of "The Witcher: Blood Origin" seems harsh and violent enough for the series' first
few episodes, but its finale takes everything to an extreme new level by ushering in the
Conjunction of the Spheres. The Conjunction is perhaps the single most important event
in the Witcher canon, and even when shown in the series, its full importance goes untold.
The finale shows the Conjunction's first moments, describing it as a shattering of space and time,
a tearing of the veils between worlds, but even that grandiose narration doesn't begin to cover
it. Almost instantly, the Conjunction transforms the Continent from a place of relative uniformity
and stability into a terrifying, savage land where dozens to hundreds of different species
of monsters, humans and elves included, war with each other for supremacy. Gone
are the days when a peasant's greatest concerns were taxes and blight. Instead,
they are replaced with the existential terror of vampires, basilisks, kikimores, and leshys. The
establishment of the various Witcher schools is a direct response to this sudden influx of monstrous
beasts and without the Conjunction, there would be no Witchers around which to build a franchise.
As any longtime fan of the "Witcher" franchise can tell you, the real monsters aren't the beings
with sharp claws, stingers, and rotting flesh, they're the very people around us,
the regular citizens who suddenly resort to ghoulish acts of violence and selfishness.
That humanity is the real monster, is one of the central themes that guide every aspect of
"The Witcher" franchise. In a clever stroke of world-building, Sapkowski chose to introduce
humans to the Continent at the same time as the more obvious monsters, making the creation of
the Witchers a dual necessity. In the latter half of "The Witcher: Blood Origin" finale,
the Conjunction of the Spheres brings humanity to the Continent, forever changing its landscape.
In the finale, an Elven fisherman stumbles upon a shipwreck whose passengers speak no
Elvish and bear smooth, rounded ears. Those first human settlers, though unintentionally,
start a process on the Continent that in many ways resembles an infection, spreading from nation to
nation, tearing them down to continue feeding and increasing their numbers.
One of the more curious new additions to the Witcher lore in Netflix's "The Witcher" is the
presence of the monoliths, strange, black pillars of stone that harbor deep secrets relating to
magic and the Conjunction of the Spheres. The video games have their own monoliths which seem
unrelated, and the books have no mention of them at all, making them a novel invention for the
Netflix series. They pop up again and again in "The Witcher," forming the basis of Istredd's
research, interfering with Ciri's power, and even summoning several entirely new species of
monsters. The mysterious structures return in "The Witcher: Blood Origin," and like other important
facets of the universe, their true nature and origin are revealed more fully in the series.
It turns out that the monoliths are Dwarven creations, only controlled by the Elves because of
their conquest of the Dwarves and their territory. Their magic is ancient, predating even Elvish
magic, and is intrinsically tied to the land and the underlying properties of the dimension itself.
Just as the monoliths withstood the magical experimentation of the Elves and endured until
the time of humanity, they also endured throughout the days of Dwarven dominion and Elvish conquest,
making them some of the only unchanging features of the Continent's landscape.
The world of the Witcher is chock full of fascinating characters, creatures,
coalitions, and conflicts that make for excellent story material, but at the end of the day,
the reason we're here is the Witcher himself, Geralt of Rivia. He and his fellow cat-eyed,
sword-slinging brethren give the franchise its namesake and are Sapkowski's primary invention.
"The Witcher: Blood Origin" is fully aware of this fact, which is why much of its story
is dedicated to the creation, and eventual destruction, of the Continent's first Witcher.
The first Witcher wasn't created by any organization in response to encroaching
monsters, and it even predates the Conjunction of the Spheres. Instead,
the first Witcher is made for killing one single monster. Although the process of mutating
young boys into Witchers eventually becomes standardized, the first attempt is anything
but. Fjall is laid on the dirt floor of a cave, given a mix of herbs, and infused with the blood
of the most convenient monster. The transformation ultimately consumes him and leads to his death,
and how the process was revived and eventually streamlined is still unknown.
Bookending "The Witcher: Blood Origin" are prophecies from the young Ithlinne.
The first prophecy centers around the Lark and her quest, but the second prophecy,
the one that comes at the tail end of the finale, seems tailor-made for Geralt and
Ciri. In particular, one invocation of a seed bears a great portent.
"Carry forth the first note of a song that ends all times."
This is almost certainly a direct reference to Ciri's Elder Blood
and her eventual role in the ending of the world.
This final prophecy of the series echoes the most famous of Ithlinne's predictions in the books and
games. Known in Geralt's time as simply Ithlinne's Prophecy, it foretells the ending of the world,
all centered around Elder Blood. Elder Blood flows through Ciri, which makes
the girl perhaps the greatest asset to anyone in the Spheres who has a stake in Armageddon.
Like Ithlinne's Prophecy, this prediction from the "Blood Origin" is likely what will set in
motion the series of events that lead to future generations' fear of those with Elder Blood.
As "The Witcher: Blood Origin" concludes, Seanchaí implores Jaskier to "sing the Song
of the Seven," referring to the tale of Fjall, the Lark, and their five companions. She wants
the famous bard to spread the tale far and wide, rekindling the fire of hope among
Elvendom that the Lark and company first breathed to life over a millennium ago.
Tasked by the mysterious and godlike Seanchaí to sing the Song of the Seven
across the Continent, Jaskier emerges from the series with a new purpose,
one meant to tip the scales of power toward the side of Elves. Seanchaí's
nature and ultimate motivations are unclear, so it's difficult to determine exactly why
she brought this tale back to life or what will come from it, but regardless,
it will certainly mean more for Jaskier, the sect of elves known as the Scoia'tael,
and therefore the state of the world for Geralt and Ciri, in future seasons of "The Witcher."
Although the majority of "The Witcher: Blood Origin" is set long before the time
of Geralt and Ciri, there are two brief sequences set in their era,
one at the series' very start and one at its end. In those few moments, we're able
to learn a little about the current state of the Continent and its warring inhabitants.
For one thing, we know that the wars in the Northern Continent have for some reason
attracted attention from extra-dimensional beings, hence Seanchaí's involvement. It's
also confirmed that Seanchaí will be in more "Witcher" projects going forward. Both she and
the Song of the Seven are likely to appear in "The Witcher" in future seasons. In addition,
the scene in which we first find Jaskier says a lot about the current state of things. He
is apparently regarded as a folk hero, the noble Sandpiper, Rescuer of Elves,
and is even beloved enough to warrant his rescue from human capture by an entire
company of Scoia'tael. It seems since we last left Jaskier and the rest of our heroes in "The
Witcher" Season 2, the Continent has moved forward, elevating Jaskier along with it.