I love The Witcher. I loved the video games (and still am planning to go back to them at some point). I love the book series. I loved season one on Netflix. When I say that season 3, volume 1 was bad, I say it with immense hurt. It’s a show I was rooting for from the beginning and it “letting me down” isn’t just a matter of “they changed something minor and I’m a fan of the original work,” but being upset that major changes show a legitimate disregard of the source material (and possibly a disregard for good storytelling).
That’s my one paragraph review of the series. But let’s look at how the writers changed three characters to the point of ruining the show and making it almost unwatchable (whether you’re a fan of the original The Witcher content or not):
1. Yennefer
This is almost unfair. The worst of the changes to Yennefer’s character came from season 2— but we are still seeing the backlash and quirks heavily in season 3.
One of these is that her magic works and doesn’t without any real explanation. It seems like she is capable of offensive/defensive magic again, but they make a point to go get a teleportation spell from Kiera Metz, another sorceress, because… that’s a magic she can’t do? Because chaos?
Trying to make magic work in world building is hard. Making it inconsistent without any real explanation makes it lazy. They already invented the “additional cost” of fire magic in season one and it was just the beginning of digging a hole in their world’s logic.
There’s also still the big elephant in the room: NO ONE SHOULD TRUST YENNEFER! Her arc in the last season included attempting to sacrifice Ciri to a demon— something Yennefer never would have done in the books or video games, even for “power.” Yennefer trains Ciri (having never lost her magic in the first place) and becomes a mother to her. We don’t really see much of a mother relationship at all, instead opting for barely a mentor and maybe the equivalent of an older sorority sister— because she is no longer the strong woman character on equal footing to Geralt.
She begins the first several episodes practically begging Geralt for his attention. This wouldn’t be out of place for a light rom-com in which a character made a little mistake and the other person can be worn down by the end of the story for a happily ever after. But it sure isn’t Yennefer.
She spends the majority of the rest of the volume acting like she’s a popular girl who got kicked out of the clique and is trying to get back in. I wish I weren’t having to make these comparisons, because they make Yennefer sound weak and vapid. But the Yennefer written this season is essentially that. (And I want to point out this is not a failure of depiction by actress Anya Chalotra. I’d say that none of the failures of this show are; this show is a failure of script writing.)
Whoever worked on Yennefer these past two seasons plainly doesn’t even understand the basics of her character.
It’s not until the last few episodes that Yennefer feels almost like the master of manipulation and politics that she’s supposed to be. Even what should have been an epic climax of intrigue, the ball on Thanedd, is written in a way that it feels more annoying than intelligent.
But that’s a little off topic. Let’s get to the character who changed the most and probably ruined the season for it:
2. Radovid
The changes to Radovid is practically an exercise in seeing how one change has ripple effects.
If only one thing changed about Radovid. They essentially rewrote his character. Some of the biggest changes to his character are:
- Radovid is now the younger brother to King Vizimir of Redania— not his son
- Radovid is older than depicted in the books
- Radovid is gay
The change from son to little brother to the king appears to have no rhyme or reason. It is a perfect example of what appears to be the writers making changes without regard to the source material for the sake of change.
Without too much in the way of spoilers, the change to little brother affecting the story is most evident in an altercation between Radovid and Dijkstra (Redania’s spymaster). Dijkstra is supposed to be one of the best players of the spy game in the world, challenged only by Nilfgaard itself. He’s smart and usually at least one step ahead of everyone. You know what would be dumb? If the super smart guy started a fight with the future king and literally told him to go “suck on the royal teet.”
How do they justify such a blatant misstep? By making Radovid the little brother and therefore considerably less likely to get to the throne. (Though it’s unclear if Vizimir has children in this series with his wife.) Even at this, Radovid would likely be some kind of duke or high level noble who would be able to exercise some degree of power.
What would have been more interesting? If Radovid was being trained in the arts of spy craft by Dijkstra; that the future king of Redania would be the most savvy in their history and an ally to his plans… as opposed to what we got which included an weird behaving Radovid who isn’t particularly good at anything but looking good and has been aged up…
By the end of the book series, Radovid is about thirteen. The show’s Radovid appears to be somewhere in his twenties. We don’t get much of Radovid’s character from the books; the Radovid of the games is a powerful and ruthless king.
While I know that the show isn’t trying to pull from the video games, it is a touch point that my mind always goes to. The video games (which set themselves after the events of the novels) include Radovid as King Radovid the Stern of Redania. The card art from Gwent, the Witcher card game also created by CD Project Red (who created the Witcher video games), illustrates the degree or ruthlessness he shows (especially to Phillipa, also pictured):
It is so far hard to see the show’s Radovid being able to become that man.
It’s hard to see the weak fop created for the show who appears aged up just so that he can be a romanced NPC. His character, who doesn’t have an overt sexuality in previous depictions, also appears to have been turned gay specifically as an opportunity for…
3. Jaskier
They give Jaskier a bad, gay B-plot.
I remember when I used to enjoy seeing Jaskier onscreen. Season 1 Jaskier was fantastic. Season 2 made sense; I loved the sandpiper role he took on. Season 3 has one solid scene with him and Ciri making fun of Geralt and Yennifer (with Jaskier describing poetry in a VERY Dandelion exchange), but beyond that it feels like they gave him a childish diva drama with another bard and a romance with Radovid that again feels like we’re watching a show about high school than a show that should be replacing Game of Thrones in our hearts.
Seriously, did they pull writers from shows about high school drama?
Dandelion (as he is always referred to in the original source material and video games) isn’t gay; until season 3, neither was Jaskier. Interactions with his female lover, one of the legitimately major nods to the books, includes a line that more or less says Jaskier has sex with everybody and anybody— but up until this point it has only been alluded that he is straight. He hired Geralt in season 1 to protect him at the ball in Cintra because he had slept with so many ladies there; it would have been an ideal time to also mention all the dudes he had also slept with. Changing it here in season 3, including a line that tries to overwrite our memory of seasons 1 and 2, again feels lazy as it tries to insert a change.
And that’s another trend that I’m seeing from this season: the writers, regardless of the source material, decided that they wanted to get from point A to point B and chose the laziest ways to get there. Every time.
What’s more, the change to Jaskier’s sexuality makes his relationship to Geralt kinda sad. There’s a line from Radovid that more or less says, “I hope your witcher appreciates you,” and the look back from Jaskier reframes the relationship from buddies more akin to Shrek and Donkey to one of sad pining from Jaskier. (Which means that even if they wanted Jaskier to be bisexual, they’ve chosen the poorest ways to express it.) This is a fundamental change that bleeds into his character across episodes and takes him from being the fun comic relief of season 1 to someone who is sad, mopey, and a little boring.
Plus, watching Radovid’s depiction just makes me wonder what Jaskier sees in him at all. Come on Jaskier. You can do better.
Finally…
I think I can see why Henry Cavill, who plays Geralt in seasons 1-3 and is an easy standout, is leaving the show. I had hoped rumors of the writers disregarding the source material, even mocking it, wouldn’t be true— but it only appears more evident as the show goes on. And this wouldn’t be bad if they were capable of writing a good adaptation, but all of the big changes feel short sighted and the more changes they make to try to fix their previous changes only make them appear more inept. There’s a part of me at this point that hopes the show is cancelled as Cavill walks and that someday he comes back as the executive producer of the next adaptation. It’s a shame because they had a fantastic cast.
But am I going to watch the second volume when it comes out on July 27th? Yeah. I can’t not. I have to watch Cavill’s last outing as Geralt. But if what we’ve seen so far is anything to go by, what should be something I do with love is going to be done with the same feels I have for chores.
Thank you for reading!
What did you think of volume one? Let me know in the comments below!
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