If someone asked you who the main character
in The Witcher was, you might say him,
or you might say her.
But Geralt, Ciri,
and Yennefer aren't the only important people
in The Witcher universe.
Two new prequels will explore the mysterious characters
who shaped the Continent's history
and first up, we'll meet a very special Witcher in this.
So, buckle up.
Here's a spoiler-free rundown
of how the upcoming prequels
fit into The Witcher timeline.
In the time of the live action
Witcher, the year is 1263.
Nilfgaard has sacked Cintra
and is poised to invade the rest of the Northern Kingdoms
as Geralt, one of the last remaining Witchers,
meets Ciri in the woods for the first time.
Of course you might be wondering...
Tell me, Witcher,
why are there so few of you left?
It is no longer possible to create more of us
since the sacking of Kaer Morhen.
The history of Kaer Morhen
and what happened there decades before Geralt dined
with Queen Calanthe is the narrative heartbeat
of Nightmare of the Wolf.
Nestled in the Blue Mountains,
Kaer Morhen created Witchers
for centuries
and was the seat of their power.
In this anime film,
we'll see the stronghold
in its heyday
as it teams with hunters
who venture out into the world
to kill monsters for cash bounties.
In spring, Witchers would leave Kaer Morhen
to take contracts and hunt monsters.
They'd often be gone for months before returning back
for winter for a well-earned rest
where they'd spend their time:
Drinking, eating, sleeping, all free.
In Nightmare of the Wolf,
winter has just arrived,
but a new force terrorizing the lands
means one brave Witcher can't rest just yet.
- [Vesemir] I do have a name, you know.
Yes! Enter Vesemir.
If the name sounds familiar,
that's because Geralt mentioned him a couple of times
in The Witcher season one.
Vesemir gave me that name.
Vesemir is Geralt's mentor,
the Witcher who trained Geralt to become the man
who can do this in 1263.
In Nightmare of the Wolf,
we meet a younger, more carefree Vesemir who's a bit
of a rogue.
We visit as far back as
the turn of the 1100s
when Vesemir was a boy,
but the bulk of the action
takes place in 1165.
Nightmare of the Wolf
is set on the sword's edge
of immense change across the Continent.
Just two decades after the events of the film,
the Great Cleansing began,
a dark part of the Continent's history
where elves taught humans how to master chaos
and channel its immense power and wield magic.
Rather than live in harmony with the elves,
humans then used this knowledge
to betray those who taught them.
They stole elven land and crushed the ensuing rebellion,
forcing the remaining elves into hiding.
Nightmare of the Wolf provides a glimpse
into life on the Continent before this betrayal
and the live action Witcher shows the consequences.
The Great Cleansing humans call it.
I call it digging a mass grave...
for everyone I loved.
Keep an eye out for certain characters too
from the live action series.
Like the elf, Filavandrel,
and even one of Queen Calanthe's ancestors,
King Dagorad of Kaedwen.
The film is written by Beau DeMayo, who was a part
of the writing team on The Witcher seasons one and two.
It's also executive produced by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich,
who is the show runner of The Witcher.
Nightmare of the Wolf will help you understand
in greater detail the troubles that the Witchers have faced,
what caused public opinion to go from this...
to this.
You'll have to watch the film to find out.
Meanwhile,
The Witcher: Blood Origin
will be a full
six-episode limited series
that takes place over
a thousand years before Geralt
and Ciri walked the Continent.
It will tell a story lost to time.
How a series of events led to the cataclysmic conjunction
of the spheres, where the worlds of monsters, men, elves,
dwarves, gnomes, and others merged to become one.
As Blood Origins showrunner Declan De Barra has said,
“What was the elven world really like
before the cataclysmic arrival of humans?”
This is that story.
You can watch season one of The Witcher right now
on Netflix, and season two will drop on December 17th.
In the meantime,
Nightmare of the Wolf releases on August 23rd,
and Blood Origin is currently in production.
For more from the Continent,
keep checking back to Netflix.