Before The Witcher Season 2, Let's Recap Season 1 & Sapkowski's "Blood of Elves"
With one month to go before Netflix's "The Witcher" Season 2, here’s what you need to remember from Season 1 as well as a summary of Andrzej Sapkowski’s books: "Blood of Elves", "The Last Wish", and "Sword of Destiny".
Season 2 of Netflix's The Witcher premieres on Friday, December 17, 2021. Watch the show on Netflix.
Transcript
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]
ALYSSA: Before we get to Season 2 of Netflix’s “The Witcher”, here’s what you need to remember from Season 1 as well as Andrzej Sapkowski’s books: Blood of Elves, The Last Wish, and Sword of Destiny.
This is Geralt of Rivia. He’s a witcher, or a mutated monster slayer for hire, in a land known as the Continent. The Continent is home to a host of fantastical beings: from cursed humans to kings, priestesses, witchers and sorcerers, to elves, dwarves, sylvans, dryads, and even a fabled golden dragon. The complex relationships between species and social classes set the stage for major events throughout the series.
The two ruling powers on the Continent are The Northern Kingdoms, a number of separate monarchies including Temeria, Redania, Aedirn, Kaedwen, and Cintra, and the conquering Nilfgaardian Empire to the South. The Northern Kingdoms and the Nilfgaardian Empire have been at war. Each has their own agenda and agents charting the course of history on the Continent.
Netflix’s “The Witcher” Season 1 and Sapkowski’s The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny followed Geralt of Rivia on his early adventures as a witcher. Although these stories offer fleeting glimpses into the world, some characters we meet in them ultimately have a major impact on the story to come.
Take Yennefer of Vengerberg. Yennefer is a sorceress with magical abilities. Geralt and Yennefer met in the title story of The Last Wish—adapted as “Bottled Appetites” in Season 1—and have weathered a complicated on-and-off relationship ever since. Although they have great respect and love for each other, the short story “A Shard of Ice” from Sword of Destiny and “Rare Species” from Season 1 ended with their separation before Yennefer fought at Sodden Hill, leaving their relationship uncertain as we transition to the novels and Season 2.
Jaskier, known to English book readers as Dandelion, is one of the first characters readers encounter in Blood of Elves. Although he is often the reason for Geralt’s troubles, the bard is a true friend and constant companion of the witcher, appearing frequently across Sapkowski’s short stories and the Netflix episodes.
Then there’s Princess Cirilla, the Lion Cub of Cintra. Ciri’s story begins in “A Question of Price” in The Last Wish that was adapted as “Of Banquets, Bastards, and Burials” in the Netflix series. Before she was born, Ciri was promised to Geralt in return for saving her father’s life. This ‘Law of Surprise’ bound Geralt to Ciri as his ‘Child Surprise’ or ‘Child of Destiny’. Their story continues in Sword of Destiny’s title story as well as “Something More”, in which Geralt has a number of surprise encounters with Ciri yet rejects her every time. Years later, Cintra falls to Nilfgaard, the Cintran royal family is killed, and Ciri’s whereabouts are unknown. A series of coincidences reunites the witcher and princess at the end of the short stories and—as with “Much More”—he promises to be her guardian.
Following The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, the five novels that make up the Witcher Saga explore the intertwined story of the witcher and his Child of Destiny. The novels are Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire, Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake. Season 2 of Netflix’s “The Witcher” will primarily adapt Blood of Elves with some additional known storylines.
Here’s a quick refresher for book readers on Sapkowski’s “A Grain of Truth” and Blood of Elves:
In the short story “A Grain of Truth” from The Last Wish, Geralt arrives at a remote estate deep in the woods and finds Nivellen, a man cursed to resemble a beast. Over dinner, Nivellen tells Geralt of the young women who have stayed in the estate to provide Nivellen company in exchange for part of his sizable wealth. With the help of his horse, Roach, Geralt notices that Nivellen’s current companion is a bruxa, a vampire, who is using Nivellen to lure victims to the estate. As Geralt kills the vampire, she declares her true love for Nivellen, breaking his curse.
Sapkowski’s loose take on the French fairy tale, Beauty and The Beast, will be adapted as the opening episode of “The Witcher” Season 2 and, unlike the book, will include Freya Allan’s Cirilla of Cintra as well.
The rest of the season is expected to follow Blood of Elves, in which Ciri adapts to her new family and surroundings as political forces around the Continent prepare for war.
Geralt whisks Ciri away to Kaer Morhen, the witcher’s keep in the mountains of Kaedwen. He hides the princess in the keep for two years, training her as a witcher with the help of his mentor, Vesemir, and brothers, Lambert, Eskel, and Coën. Triss Merigold arrives at the keep to help the witchers manage mysterious magical occurrences that have been plaguing Ciri.
At the end of winter, Geralt and Triss take Ciri to the Temple of Melitele to further her education. On the way, they join a convoy led by Yarpen Zigrin and have their first encounter with Scoia'tael, elven commandos that have been patrolling and attacking the citizens and forces of the Northern Kingdoms.
A mysterious mage named Rience has been going around the Continent looking for Geralt and Ciri on behalf of unknown benefactors… While he never finds the girl, Rience tortures Jaskier for information, is disfigured by Yennefer, and fights Geralt on the streets of Novigrad, leaving the witcher injured at the end of the novel.
Meanwhile, the Northern Kingdoms respond to the threat of the Scoia’tael and the Nilfgaardian Empire with plans of their own. They’ve heard rumors of the hunt for the missing Lion Cub of Cintra and decide it is in the best interest of the North that she dies.
At Geralt’s request, Yennefer educates Ciri at the Temple of Melitele. Although they have a strained relationship at first, the two form a mother-daughter bond. The book ends with their departure from the temple on an ominous final line from Sapkowski.
Season 2 of Netflix’s “The Witcher” premieres on Friday, December 17, 2021. Want an in-depth analysis of Blood of Elves? Check out Episodes 29 through 46 of Breakfast in Beauclair, a global Witcher podcast, for a chapter-by-chapter discussion of the novel. Every episode, I sit with new guests from around the world to discuss Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher Universe and Netflix’s adaptation and spin-offs. Learn more about the lore, culture, and history of the Continent with new readers, hardcore fans, and other Witcher content creators.
Join our international hanza for Season 4 of Breakfast in Beauclair in which we’ll discuss Netflix’s animated film, Nightmare of the Wolf, and “The Witcher” Season 2. Season 4 of the podcast premieres on Thursday, February 3, 2022.
The Witcher Universe has so much to uncover! Let us know in the comments below what you found interesting from this video and if you have something new to share with our hanza today. Thanks so much for watching and we’ll see you on the Path.