Sunday, 29 May 2022

My thoughts on The Witcher series

 Warning- SPOILERS!

5 things I LOVED about The Witcher Series:

1.      What I nicknamed as ‘The Fellowship,’- Geralt, Dandelion, Cahir, Milva and Regis. It gave me total Lord of the Rings vibes and I loved the dynamics within the group. I loved how it was such an odd assortment but they did seem to genuinely care/ look out for one another. Sweet!

2.      How Geralt became buddies with a Vampire. And how Regis was more human than most people.

3.      I like Yennifer in the books much more than the Yennifer in Series 1 of The Witcher. I felt like series 2 was making her a little bit more like the Yennifer I imagined in the books- but then it went AWOL with that whole ‘losing her magic’ and then ‘abducting Ciri’ nonsense- ew.

4.      The short stories in the first book and how they felt a little familiar- like the fairy tales I know- but not quite the same so there was that allure of them being unsettling and unusual.

5.      I love learning about the new monsters- this is what sets The Witcher apart from a lot of fantasy novels where the creatures just feel recycled. The monsters in The Witcher are unique, often complex and sometimes misunderstood.

5 things I did not love so much…

1.      I found the majority of ‘the fellowship’ being wiped out in quick succession of one another absolutely devastating. I kept thinking that it was all a dream/ joke or that there would be some sort of catch and at least one or two of them would return victorious. I had grown very attached to them over the last few books.

2.      On a similar note, the death which broke my heart the most was Cahir’s. He had become one of my firm favourites. I loved how he had turned things around and won Geralt’s trust. I found him courageous, honourable, determined and I felt quite protective of him in all honesty. Because it is heavily implied that Cahir is killed but you don’t actually *see* him killed in the novel, I kept hoping that somehow, somehow he had made it. I had imagined that he would help to save Ciri, she would forgive him and they would fall in love. I would have totally shipped them as a couple (although I am not sure what the age difference is!). Sadly, all of these imaginings are nothing more than a plot idea for a fanfic. RIP Cahir.

3.      On the whole, I think Andrzej Sapkowski does a relatively good job with his portrayal of the female characters. They are strong and are reasonably complex and developed. However, there were points where I felt myself grimacing, especially with the constant references to plunging necklines and the moments where the sexualisation of characters definitely did not feel relevant to the storyline. This leads me on to my next dislike…

4.      The sex scene in the library between Geralt and Fringilla. I didn’t find the word play with all the book titles amusing and it may have been a translation issue but the constant “Fringilla screamed/ was screaming,” over the slightest thing was so off-putting.

5.      I might be in the minority with this one, but I didn’t really like the whole bringing elements of the Witcher world into our universe with the arrival into Wales and The Lady of the Lake, etc. I like seeing the world of The Witcher as something entirely different and separate from our reality and didn’t feel I needed things to crossover. It also felt a little tagged on the end in the final book- as though it was only there to bring the series to a close (which I won’t go into detail about as wouldn’t want to spoil the absolute ending for anyone who hasn’t got there yet).

This was the first series I had read in a long time and I am sad that there isn’t more to read. I enjoy the TV series and love Henry Cavill’s portrayal of Geralt. However, I am disappointed that I am not getting to see the beloved books being transformed on screen seeing as the creators of the Witcher TV series have gone on such a massive tangent/ made up things entirely despite having a perfectly good book series to follow. As long as I get to see my fellowship together at some point, I will be happy 😊

Let me know your thoughts by commenting below.

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