The Witcher is the highly anticipated television adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels and it is finally here! Many are familiar with the novels and most likely the game also, but with Netflix at the helm of the series, The Witcher is about to be very well known. The new series stars Henry Cavill in the role of Geralt of Rivia, whom (in simple terms) is a magically created monster hunter who travels around the Continent.
Like any fantasy series, there’s many characters, creatures, and places, so if you need a quick reference, we’ve created episode recaps to help you (or perhaps spoil you because you can’t watch fast enough).
Welcome To Blaviken
The episode dives right in with Geralt (Henry Cavill) fighting a kikimora, which he manages to kill along with a suffering deer that becomes his meal. With Roach, Geralt’s horse, toting the slain kikimora, Geralt heads to a tavern in Blaviken in search of the alderman’s house. We learn that Witchers are not liked at all with Geralt being unwanted and on the receiving end of verbal abuse. Naturally a few men are willing to kick him out, but a woman, Renfri (Emma Appleton), orders the men to stand down before shouting him a beer.
Geralt soon meets Marilka (Mia McKenna-Bruce), the alderman’s daughter, who says they have no use for the kikimora, but suggest Master Irion might. She takes him to plain-looking castle, but upon entering, he finds a lush oasis with naked women and meets Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen), who has taken Irion’s name as an alias. However, it seems Stregobor has no interest in the kikimora, but wants him to kill Renfri instead.
Stregobor tells Geralt of the Curse of the Black Sun, which was the first full eclipse in 1200 years and marked the return of Lilit, the demon goddess sent to kill the human race. According to mage named Eltibald, 60 women with gold crowns would fill the rivers with blood. Stregobor studied the girls born around the Black Sun and found internal mutations, which he tried to cure but they died—which was the lesser evil. All but Renfri died, who is the daughter of King Fredefalk of Creyden and delivered by Stregobor at birth. Stregobor’s man was killed by her and she’s been on the run since where she has picked up swordskills, kills for pleasure, and she’s also resistant to magic. He believes killing Renfri is the lesser evil, but Geralt will choose neither.
A Royal Family
A girl and a group of boys are playing knucklebones when she is taken back to the castle to stand alongside the Queen and King of Cintra. The young girl is Princess Cirilla (Freya Allan) and she stands with her grandmother, Queen Calanthe (Jodhi May) and her husband, Eist Tuirseach (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson).
Another scene in Cintra sees festivities occurring in the hall when Eist tells Calanthe he saw the wraiths of Mörhogg, who are an omen of war. Calanthe doesn’t care for the omen since the North have been at war since Nilfgaard took Ebbing and 50 ships from Skelligen are on their way so they are prepared. When Ciri asks what they speak of, Calanthe wants her to be unaware, despite the fact Calanthe won her first battle while at the same age as Ciri in Hochebuz. Danek (Tobi Bamtefa) then informs Calanthe that Nilfgaard are on their way to Cintra.
The Lesser Evil
Renfri finds Geralt in the woods and she provides more details about the attack as Stregobor’s man raped her and she’s done what she did to survive. She speaks of Calanthe just winning a battle in Hochebuz, which is a clue that perhaps the series is not running on the same timeline. Renfri asks Geralt to kill Stregrobor because it is the “lesser evil”, but instead he gives her a choice and she leaves.
Later on, Geralt talks to Roach about his first monster near Kaer Morhen and how a young girl was almost raped, so he killed him. Renfri finds him again and says she will leave and the pair end up kissing. Geralt dreams of sleeping with Renfri and wakes up running for the market where he finds Renfri’s men waiting. Ensue Geralt showing off his sword skills in an epic fight sequence with her men, which are no match for him whatsoever.
With the men dead, Renfri holds a sword to Marilka before they face off and she lands some blows to his abdomen and thigh. After several swings, Geralt directs Renfri’s dagger into her own throat with her last words being “the girl in the woods will be with you always. She is your destiny”.
Stregobor is elated to find a dead Renfri and plans to conduct an autopsy on her mutation, which allows her to influence people. However, Geralt will not let him take her and so Stregobor begins turning the townspeople on him who start casting stones. Marilka tells him to leave and so he does.
Cintra Burns
The Cintran army with Calanthe and Eist face Nilfgaard on the battlefield, while Ciri stays behind with Sir Lazlo (Maciej Musial) and Mousesack (Adam Levy). The Cintrans are losing with no ships coming, Eist receiving an arrow to the eye, and Calanthe returns to the castle gravely injured. Nilfgaard breach Cintra’s gate and Mousesack uses his magic to prevent them from getting into the castle. The soldiers continue to attack the castle with fire, and eventually Mousesack can’t hold the wards anymore so Calanthe tells Mousesack and Danek that “it’s time”. The pair leave and shortly after, Mousesack returns saying that “he’s gone”. While Lazlo fetches Ciri’s cloak, she screams causing glasses to tremble and Calanthe tells her to find Geralt of Rivia as “he is her destiny”.
With Cintra on fire, Danek gives families some vials, which contain poison and they kill themselves. As Calanthe looks upon her burning city, she steps from the tower to her death. Ciri, Lazlo, and Mousesack escape, but Mousesack stays behind to protect them. While Lazlo and Ciri flee on horseback, Lazlo is killed with an arrow and they fall. Soon afterwards, Ciri wakes to find her on horseback with a Nilfgaard knight, Cahir (Eamon Farren), and begins screaming, which causes a monolith to fall and divide the earth, allowing her to escape.
Overall Thoughts?
Firstly, I am new to The Witcher as I haven’t read the books nor played the games, but nevertheless, I was very excited to watch a new fantasy series. Pilot episodes are always tricky as they can be a bit hit or miss, and for The Witcher, I think it may have been a bit of a miss. There seemed to be no pull towards the characters and as a newcomer, I felt very uncertain about what I had watched. It wasn’t until further episodes that I became more invested and even after rewatching a few scenes to finalise this recap that I understood some elements better.
With all that said, this can often be the case for a fantasy series as you’re establishing a world, creatures, characters, and lore that is unfamiliar and can typically be quite a significant amount of information for a reader or viewer. If you’re wondering if you should continue watching, I became more invested during episode 3, which was fantastic.
With a second season already announced back in November, it’s clear that Netflix is expecting the series to be quite the hit, so let’s hope that fans of the original source material enjoy it, otherwise they could very well butcher it on social media.
