Toss a coin to your Witcher… I can guarantee you will have those words stuck in your head for quite some time because quite the catchy ballad is introduced in the second episode of The Witcher! ‘Four Marks’ introduces several key characters, including Yennefer, and it continues to lay the groundwork for the rest of the series.
During the previous episode, we meet Geralt in Blaviken where both Stregobor and Renfri ask Geralt to kill the other, which he chooses to do neither until he faces against Renfri and kills her. We are also introduced to Princess Cirilla, Queen Calanthe, and King Eist in Cintra where they are attacked by Nilfgaard. Ciri manages to escape from her captor when she screams and causes a monolith to fall and separate them.
The Crooked Girl
A young couple bully and hit the town’s “crooked girl”, named Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), when suddenly finds herself on a different floor in a cavern. A man named Istredd (Royce Pierreson) asks who she is as it seems she portalled to the Tower of the Gull in Aruteza. He quickly grabs a flower and takes a bite as someone will be coming for her and he begins speaking Elder. He creates a portal that can’t be tracked and she returns home until one day, a witch, Tissaia (MyAnna Buring), approaches and Yennefer’s father sells her off. Locked in her new accommodation, she tries to kill herself.
Tissaia saved Yennefer and introduces herself as the Rectoress of Aretuza. She speaks to a group of girls, including Anica (Szandra Asztalos), Fringilla (Mimi Ndiweni), and Sabrina (Therica Wilson-Read), who are “conduits of chaos” and says balance and control are needed for magic. The girls are set to complete a series of trials to see if they can ascend and asked to lift a stone with an incantation, when Fringilla’s hand turns black as magic requires a give and a take. Tissaia shows them they must use the life of the flowers to lift the rock, but Yennefer is the only one who can’t do it. Yennefer then finds Istredd and introduces herself properly.
Weeks later, Yennefer still struggles with lessons, this time with thought transference, and afterwards, Istredd says she can try with him and he shows her things he thought she would love.
On The Run
Ciri (Freya Allan) is in the woods with men after her. After using mud to colour her hair brown, she attempts to eat berries when a boy, whom we later learn is named Dara (Wilson Radjou-Pujalte), warns her they are poisonous. The pair share a rat and she later spies a Cintran flag, but “Rat Boy” doesn’t go with her.
Ciri enters the Cintran encampment and a boy recognises her cloak as one his father made. She notices a necklace of elf ears around his neck, which are trophies for the elves he killed avenging human lives lost in Filavandrel’s uprising, who is the King of the elves. The boy’s brother died when Filavandrel tried to take Cintran land the previous year. Ciri introduces herself as Fiona to his family and they don’t look favourably upon Calanthe. His mother orders Abbott, a dwarf, to give Ciri his boots, which is okay because he is “one of the clean ones”.
Later on, the Cintran encampment is under attack and the dwarf kills the mother in anger when Dara rescues Ciri. After fleeing, she learns that Dara is an elf.
The Bard, the Witcher, and the Elves
In Posada, we are introduced to Jaskier (Joey Batey) who is a bard and adds significant comedy to the series. He spies Geralt (Henry Cavill) in the tavern’s corner and another man asks for Geralt’s help as a “devil has been stealing his grain”. Jaskier follows Geralt as he hopes to tell the Butcher of Blaviken’s tales, but ends up being punched in the gut.
Jaskier and Geralt arrive at Dol Blathanna, which was what the elves called it, when a projectile hits Geralt in the head, followed by the same happening to Jaskier. The ‘devil’ attacks Geralt, but he is a Sylvan named Torque (Amit Shah) and Geralt is soon knocked out also.
Geralt and Jaskier wake to find them captured by elves, including by Filavandrel (Tom Canton). Torque was helping steal for the elves, but they can’t let Jaskier and Geralt live as the people of Posada will come to kill them. Geralt suggests they go somewhere else and rebuild, and Toruviel (Natasha Culzac) wants them to rise up. Geralt and Jaskier leave and Jaskier begins singing a ballad about Geralt:
“When a humble bard / graced a ride along / with Geralt of Rivia / along came this song / from when the White Wolf fought / a silver-tongued devil / his army of elves / at his hooves did they travel / they came after me / with masterful deceit / broke down my lute / and they kicked in my teeth / while the devil’s horns / minced our tender meat / and so cried the Witcher / he can’t be bleat.
Toss a coin to your Witcher / O’ Valley of Plenty / O’ Valley of Plenty / Oh-Oh-Oh / Toss a coin to Your Witcher / O’ Valley of Plenty
At the edge of the world / fight the mighty horn / that bashes and breaks you / and brings you to mourn / he thrust every elf / far back on the shelf / high up on the mountain / from whence it came / he wiped out your pest / got kicked in his chest / he’s a friend of humanity / so give him the rest / that’s my epic tale / our champion prevailed / defeated the villain / now pour him some ale
Toss a coin to your Witcher / O’ Valley of Plenty / O’ Valley of Plenty / Oh-Oh-Oh / Toss a coin to your Witcher / And friend of humanity”
Time To Ascend
During the night, Tissaia wakes Yennefer and she joins the other girls at the Tower of the Gull, which is off-limits to everyone but the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. Their trial? Catch lightning in a bottle. Doralis is struck, Anica catches lightning but it smashes, and then Yennefer is thrown backwards. Sabrina succeeds in capturing it, which angers Yennefer and she throws a bolt of lightning towards Sabrina. Tissaia says what she did is dangerous and she cannot submit to chaos.
Yennefer tells Istredd that Tissaia knows about them and she wants him to help her, but he can’t. He shows her the skulls of dead elves, the elves that built Aretuza. He tells her of the elven mages who taught humans how to turn chaos into magic and then humans slaughtered them to have it all to themselves. Istredd shows her feainnewedd, which only grows were elder blood has been spilled and Yennefer is easily able to create the same portal that Istredd made, which he is surprised by. She tells him that her real father was a half-elf and he died in the Great Cleansing, and his blood is why she is cursed with a twisted spine. With that, Istredd kisses her and afterwards, Yennefer gives the flower to Tissaia in hopes she can ascend. Meanwhile, Istredd tells Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen) about Yennefer being part elf.
Yennefer is passed over when it comes to ascending, but she follows Tissaia and the girls who ascend and then turn into eels. Tissaia asks Yennefer to push the eels into the pool and Yennefer realises they are instead conduits for Aretuza. So, Yennefer pushes the eels into the pool.
Overall Thoughts?
Seeing as though the book series are made up of both novels and short story collections, newcomers to the television series, like myself, may be hesitant about the interrupted flow with each episode. While I’ve watched the entire season and it now makes sense, but initially it comes off rather off-putting and somewhat confusing, but if you keep watching the series, it’ll begin to click for you, while readers and gamers will likely understand it better.
The highlight of this episode would have to be Jaskier as it’s not often that you have such an openly comedic character in a fantasy series and it helps to shift the tone slightly and add a reprieve (more so to other episodes). The scene with the elves came across very subpar and almost as though it was from a very different series with a lower budget, but I’ll have to watch the completed season to see if they are any final edits (e.g. the lighting and Torque, because my word, what the actual hell).
‘Four Marks’ is my least favourite episode and I still don’t feel a pull or draw to the plot and characters, but really this episode is still setting the world and the characters, especially with the introduction of Yennefer.
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