Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic.
Today, we’re doing an overview of The Witcher, which was a series of novels and short stories,
then comics and graphic novels, then became a popular videogame franchise, and then a
live-action series on Netflix.
This is a superficial look, ideal for people who might be contemplating diving into this
world, not for longtime fans.
Let’s start at the beginning.
In the mid-80s, Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski started publishing short stories revolving
around a character called a ‘witcher.’
Later, they were eventually translated to English, and other languages, and released worldwide.
These short story compilations featured epic adventures of a character named Geralt, who
had the profession of Witcher.
What does that mean?
In this fantasy world, a Witcher is a warrior mutated to slay monsters.
They have enhanced strength and speed, eyes that can see in the dark, and other abilities
that a normal human in this world wouldn’t.
They’re rare, wandering the world and taking contracts to kill monsters, in exchange for coin.
Most of their emotions have been nearly eliminated, making them perfect soldiers to kill these monsters.
You might recognize a Witcher because they carry two swords, one made of steel to fight
humans and one made of silver, much more effective against monsters, to whom silver is incredibly deadly.
Witchers can also use simple magic, usually spells cast with a quick gesture that can
do things like light a fire or cause a wave of energy to push back enemies.
Following the success of the short stories, Sapkowski then wrote longform novels about
Geralt, with a much stronger throughline involving political intrigue and warring nations, all
across this fictional landscape called The Continent.
There are other notable characters that appear across all these mediums, including the sorceress
Yennefer, which whom Geralt becomes romantically entangled, and a young girl named Ciri, a
princess with magical abilities that needs training to use them.
In 2007, Polish videogame developer CD Projekt Red released the first videogame based on
the Witcher, followed by the sequel Assassins of Kings in 2011.
The Witcher took the world by storm when its third entry released, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
In 2015, the year it released, it won over 250 “Game of the Year” awards from various outlets.
It’s still massively successful, coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2019.
This game was massive, with potentially hundreds of hours of content and several massive expansion stories.
Also in 2019, we saw the release of The Witcher on Netflix, an eight-episode adventure starring
Henry Cavill, best known as Superman in the DC Extended Universe.
Cavill was a huge fan of the game and books, fighting for the role as soon as he heard
the project was in motion.
A second season of The Witcher was announced before season one even aired, hopefully a
sign of Netflix’s satisfaction.
So some of you might be here because you’re interested in diving into the show and want a bit of a primer.
There’s only one tidbit that I think would be useful before you begin, that maybe the
show didn’t do a stellar job of explaining.
This is not a spoiler, so don’t worry.
The stories told in the television series, focusing on our three lead characters, are
told in three different times.
The sorceress Yennefer is the first tale, taking place decades before we meet Geralt.
Ten years might pass in between episodes for her, as she learns and hones her magic abilities.
Then we have Geralt’s story, which I think takes a few dozen years.
And lastly, we have the princess Ciri, whose city is attacked in the opening episode of the series.
So this attack is actually years and years and years later than the story of Geralt,
although the stories are told parallel.
So you might see a character die in the "present", in Ciri’s story, but then
see that character ten years earlier in Geralt’s story.
The city that was razed to the ground shows up episodes later, prosperous and untouched.
Eventually, these stories all catch up to the same time, but there are some episodes
that can be really complicated if you’re not catching the hints.
Do you need to read the stories or play the games to appreciate the Netflix show? No.
But I’d venture to say your interest in the show might trigger you to go back and
read the books or check out Wild Hunt.
I’m about 30 hours into the game now because I found the show so interesting.
Hopefully this helped prepare you a bit for diving into The Witcher.
If you’re a fan of this world, share this video with friends that might be on the edge.
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