While waiting for the next installment of The Witcher, fans can enjoy the expanded universe that Netflix is creating in the meantime. Beyond the original show, the streamer released the animated film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf in 2021 and a limited series, The Witcher: Blood Origin, at the end of 2022. And with the wide world established in Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels, there is more than enough material for additional spin-offs — although the adaptation hasn’t fully adhered to Sapkowski’s story, opting instead to make a universe unique to the show.
The most recent addition, Blood Origin, is a prequel show that explores a time long before The Witcher, but the two are far from unrelated. Jaskier’s (Joey Batey) appearance, Ciri’s (Freya Allan) lineage, and the first Witcher give the two series an obvious connection. Yet it offers new information that doesn’t fully align with what we know of the world from Sapkowski’s books. There are two major differences in the origins of Witchers and the Wild Hunt. But despite the changes, Blood Origin explains a part of history that will inevitably become important in The Witcher series. With a greater understanding of events (especially the thing that changed for the show), fans will be able to better enjoy the upcoming seasons of the original series.
The Origins of Witchers
As the name suggests, Blood Origin is an origin story for both Witchers and their universe. While the series sticks to Sapkowski’s concept of the Conjunction of the Spheres, they took the creation of the first Witcher in a different direction. Blood Origin is the story of a ragtag group of elves and one dwarf as they attempt to stop the overly ambitious Empress Merwyn (Mirren Mack) from conquering a multiverse. But Merwyn’s beast from a different dimension causes problems. Unable to beat it with conventional methods, the outcasts merge one of their number with the heart of another interdimensional beast, making a stronger and less vulnerable warrior. And so, the banished elf, Fjall (Laurence O’Fuarain), becomes the first Witcher. Yet the transformation is not perfected, and Fjall becomes corrupted, forcing his lover, Éile (Sophia Brown), to kill him once the task is complete. Though the word itself is not used at that time, Seanchaí (Minnie Driver), telling Jaskier the story, labels Fjall as the original Witcher. Fjall’s story doesn’t directly contradict Sapkowski’s version of early Witchers, but they don’t fit together seamlessly.
In the books, the early Witchers were necessary to protect humans after the Conjunction of the Spheres. In the new world, humans had no ability to defend themselves from the monsters that threatened them, so a small number became Witchers. The mutated people were hated by those they protected but seen as a lesser evil. The tragedy of these Witchers was that they didn’t have the control to live among humans but were vital to the survival of the race. Blood Origin takes place before the introduction of humans to the world, and the show doesn’t make it clear how more Witchers will come to be. Though Fjall is the first Witcher, the second one is still a mystery, so the description of early Witchers could still be accurate.
The opening sequence with Jaskier explains that there are many different versions of the story, but this is the full truth, despite not fitting with other legends. Jaskier expects Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) to be surprised by the story of his people, meaning the events of Blood Origin are not common knowledge, even among Witchers. Though that moment does a little to excuse the differences, there are some connections missing. Perhaps the biggest point of concern is that Fjall is an elf, while the Witchers are meant to be a human organization. The mutation is so specific that the order refuses to take Ciri for fear of what it would do to a human girl. An elf would be even more different, so the transformation would be more likely to go wrong. Of course, things could change over the years between the two series, but this is more than gradual development as it changes the foundation of Witchers.
The Wild Hunt
The other big difference is the Wild Hunt. Blood Origins introduces Eredin (Jacob Collins-Levy), the High Commander of the Golden Empire who turns on the sorcerer Balor (Lenny Henry) — who understands the monoliths better than anyone. In their confrontation, Balor sends Eredin to another realm and closes the portal, abandoning him and his soldiers. In the end, Eredin finds a helmet of bone, becoming the foe that The Witcher’s Season 2 finale teased.
Eredin has centuries to gain infamy as the Wild Hunt’s leader before he encounters the characters in The Witcher. Yet as one of the major connections between the two series and the plot line that most requires an understanding of the Conjunction of the Spheres, the Wild Hunt looks different from that in Sapkowski’s books. In that version, the Wild Hunt is from a different universe, using the monoliths to travel between worlds. The Conjunction of the Spheres disrupts them, and ever since, they appear as specters in the other worlds they travel to. Blood Origin changes their native home. But with Eredin being banished for a few hundred years and that time unaccounted for, this change is minimal. There is more than enough time for these soldiers to settle in a new home in a different world, though their long life would then require explaining. Yet if the change amounts to nothing, then why do it? How exactly Eredin and his backstory play into The Witcher won’t be revealed until the new season comes out, but there must be a reason.
Blood Origins Further Explains the World of The Witcher
With Ciri’s powers, understanding the Conjunction of the Spheres will be important moving forward. Ciri’s ancestry now has a growing significance as well. Blood Origins allows a wider audience to understand the backstory of the world as well as certain characters like Eredin. The prequel helps fans of the books or games to know what lines up with the show’s version and what doesn’t.
Blood Origin’s explanations will make future Witcher content easier to understand for all fans as it widens the show-specific lore. Overall, the prequel series successfully expands the universe and explains what was clearly a confusing time in the world’s history — but how it might change the original series in the future is yet to be seen.
The Witcher: Blood Origin and the first two seasons of The Witcher are now available to stream on Netflix.
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