The untold origins to Netflix’s bloody series
Created by: Declan de Barra & Lauren Schmidt Hissrich
Starring: Sophia Brown, Laurence O’Fuarain, Mirren Mack
Rated TV-MA for intense violence and gore, some sexual content, and strong language throughout
Release Date: December 25, 2022
This review may contain spoilers
Dammit, Netflix, what the actual hell?
Before witchers, monsters, and humans graced the Continent, there was the time of elves. When The Witcher started, elves lived dispersed into small numbers. Now witness the untold story of their downfall.
Although after seeing this miniseries, maybe it was better left untold.
Way, way, waaaaaaay back then
Over a thousand years before The Witcher, the elves ruled over the Continent from the kingdom of Xin’trea. However, the land is suffering from drought and a shortage of food. Princess Merwyn (Mirren Mack, BBC’s The Nest) and Balor (Lenny Henry, BBC’s The Lenny Henry Show) plan a coup for control over Xin’trea and to open portals to new worlds to feed their people. Their betrayal will cause eight strangers to band together to overthrow the new Empress’ reign, create the first witcher, and cause the cataclysmic Conjunction of the Spheres.
I can see why Cavill is okay with leaving
I’ve been a longtime fan of The Witcher lore. I read the books and played the games. I also enjoyed watching Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher series. It was shocking to hear Cavill’s recent announcement that he was moving on from the series, especially after how much of a fan he was of the lore. But seeing how the writers are changing the lore; yeah, I don’t blame him for leaving. Still, it’s a damn shame.
And with Henry Cavill leaving the series, I believed he was what was holding the show together. Without his influence, the future of this show may not last for long.
The Conjunction of the Spheres
The Conjunction of the Spheres is the big moment where monsters and creatures from other worlds/realms all converge into the elves’ world. This is also where humans come in as well, now trapped in a world of elves. The humans would soon dethrone the elves and would be the reigning species on the Continent.
So, this series got the Conjunction right, but it’s played out like an afterthought. There wasn’t any buildup to it, and it’s tucked in the last 10 minutes, quickly explained in narration. Instead of being this big, epic moment for the TV lore, it just comes across as a boring, matter-of-fact history note. It’s almost like the writer had to mention it, so the prequel can still count as part of the Witcher franchise.
The first Witcher
It’s where the first witcher comes into play that I was angry with. Even though this is an original story, and there’s not much on the very first witcher, the prequel really got it wrong.
More Witcher trivia – the witchers were created for humans to deal with the monsters coming from the Conjunction. However, in Blood Origin, Fjall (Laurence O’Fuarain, The Limit of) turns into a witcher ahead of the Conjunction because the Empress has a dragon-scorpion-thing flying around. And good thing they went through the trouble of making a witcher because only a witcher could throw a big sword at the thing’s face.
Seriously, that’s all it took. Almost seems like the whole transformation scene earlier was a waste of time…
Easy-bake Witcher
And let’s talk about that scene, shall we? The transformation into a witcher (known as the Trials) is supposed to be a harrowing and painful experience. In the third episode, Fjall takes the task himself, ingesting dangerous mixtures performed by mages.
And honestly, they should have had the transformation fail at first. It would have killed whoever, yes, but it would have shown that this is not an easy walk in the park. And it would have made the next attempt tenser, knowing that this procedure can kill. Or, at the very least, the failure would show that it’s so dangerous that they wouldn’t attempt it until they had more knowledge about what they’re doing.
F-bombs
Another thing about this prequel is the profanity. Now I like a good swearing as the next fucking guy, but this show pushed it. ‘Fuck’ is used more ridiculously than in a Quentin Tarantino movie.
I mean, how do you take the line “Fuck the fucking fuck off” seriously? It’s like they’re trying to copy Rocco’s various use of “fuck” in The Boondock Saints after losing his mind after watching the Saints kill off a room of Mafia gangsters. Now, that’s a grounded reason for the absurd use.
Maybe Blood Origin’s use was meant to be funny, but it’s a weird jump from the original series’ tone. It was more serious and subtle with their F-bombs. Hell, most of what I remembered was Geralt muttering “fuck” every time he had to do killing without being paid for it.
Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) was the main reason I was interested in this prequel. Her character was the most interesting out of the main heroes, but she didn’t have much screen time. She had a great insult to remember – “May your womb rot and your name be forgotten.”
Thank gods this was only 4 episodes
Thankfully, this miniseries was short. I don’t know if I could have handled a full series of this.
Unfortunately, the story and its characters are really crammed into the limited time. There’s little agency to anything going on. Maybe one more episode (or two) could had fleshed out these characters more. Then, maybe, I would have cared for more of them. The same goes for the story.
Toss more coins to your Witcher
The Witcher: Blood Origin ultimately felt like a waste of time. The further Netflix trails away from the books, the more uninteresting the series gets. Not only are they retconning the stories and lore, but they’re rewriting the logic out of it as well. The short prequel leaves a lot of confusing dead-end story trends and uninspired teases to future characters down the road.
And they dare release this on Christmas Day!!
The Witcher: Blood Origin is streaming on Netflix.
