“The Witcher” Season 1: When you face your destiny, choices are more important than arrangements

“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” won TGA2015’s best game of the year with its excellent game quality and depth of exploration.

Out of their love for the protagonist Geralt, the players used the settings in the game to create a lot of stalks and prestige to “sing” his deeds.

For example, the champion of the high jump, the card king of the north, the famous detective of Rivia and so on.

And after playing the game, I went to supplement the original novel of “The Witcher”.

It just so happens that the Netflix series “The Witcher” is already online, so let’s talk about the “The Witcher” series with the original work.

Personally, Netflix’s “The Witcher” cannot be said to be a success for both gamers and viewers who have never known “The Witcher”.

In addition to the adaptation of the original book, the plot of the first season of “The Witcher” also has its own original part.

Generally speaking, there are three lines: “witchers” Geralt adventure story selection, the clown duck into a swan in Fort Wenger, and the escaped princess of the kingdom.

These three story lines can only be regarded as average, and the depth of the story is not as good as the original.

And after these three stories are put together, the back and forth of the multi-line narrative and the chaotic storyline have become the other two very obvious problems in the “The Witcher” series.

In the first episode, Princess Ciri’s homeland was captured, Xili fled, and Ciri’s grandmother fell from the castle and died.

But by the time of episode 4, Geralt’s Adventure Stories Collection is back to when Ciri was not born.

Coupled with the chaotic editing of multi-line narratives, the audiences who have not known the “The Witcher” series before are filled with question marks.

The princess of the kingdom was exhausted from fleeing for her life one second, and the princess’s grandmother who had passed away a second later was talking to Geralt.

Isn’t it a good fantasy story, why is it suddenly like a ghost story?

In addition to the chaos on the story timeline, the plot editing of multi-line narratives is also fascinating.

The three story lines switch back and forth, and often when the audience is just or about to be immersed in the story of one character, the plot shifts to another character.

The theme emphasized in the first season until the end is “the arrangement of fate”, while the theme emphasized in the original book is “the choice when facing fate.”

The charm of “contradiction”

The reason why Geralt has a large number of fans is that, in addition to the factors in the game, Geralt’s personality charm in the original book is also particularly important.

If I were to describe Geralt, I would use the word “contradiction”.

Andrzej Sapkowski, the original author of “The Witcher”, once described the creation method of fantasy novels in this way:

The writer chooses an interesting time period, especially a period of great turbulence: war, religious conflict, politics, etc.

Throw your protagonist into a witch’s cauldron, let him find a way out here, let him make a choice, let him suffer from wrong choices, let him be baptized, let him mature, let him find or It is to lose his true love, conscience, ideals and humanity.

Geralt is the protagonist in this “Witch’s Crucible”.

In this world, a large number of non-human races are struggling to survive in human society due to the decline of civilization.

“Witchers” as a magical creature walks between the contradictions between human and non-human races.

Humans think that the body of “Witchers” has been transformed by magic, so it can’t be regarded as human.

Non-human races believe that even if “Witchers” are transformed by magic, they are still human in nature.

But in addition to fantasy races in this world, there are many political and military struggles in human society.

“Witchers” mentor Vesemir once told Geralt thousands of warnings: “Don’t be a hero to defend justice, just take the money to get the job done.”

In fact, “Witchers” do not have any rules or creeds, they are engaged in mercenary business.

Humans will look for “Witchers” because monsters are in chaos, and monsters are becoming scarce because of the bounty hunted by “Witchers”.

If you don’t kill the monsters, “Witchers” will be hungry again, which is another contradiction.

As a member of “Witchers”, Geralt sets many rules for himself, and uses this to refuse some jobs, and also to silence others’ mouths.

Because he knows that in human society, people will respect those who follow oaths and rules.

Although we all know that in the world of adults, “no distinction is made between right and wrong, but only the interests”.

But Geralt’s famous saying is: Evil is evil, no matter how big or small, it is the same in the end. If I were to choose one of them, I would not choose either. “

But in such a turbulent time and world, it is impossible to stay alone and not be swallowed by the vortex of fate.

Because the sword of destiny has two blades, you are one of them.

Rush story advancement and incomplete story adaptation

“The lesser of two evils” in the first volume of “The Witcher” is my favorite story.

This story shows the readers Geralt’s character, background, and the contradictions between people and society and the world in that era.

The series uses this story as the first episode, and there is no problem in unfolding the whole story.

This is because a lot of pen and ink was used in the original work to describe the conflicts and contradictions in society and the world at that time in the form of dialogue.

If these are completely shown in the episode, I believe that the first episode, whether for player fans or new audiences, will be able to make people happy and willing to chase after it.

In the series, many key elements and backgrounds of the original work are not explained in detail.

The Curse of the Black Sun (the legend that human civilization will be destroyed by 60 girls born during or after the eclipse) is only a brief introduction, but it does not mention how wizards protect human civilization from being “destroyed” by girls. .

As for all the sufferings Renfri suffered because of the legend of Curse of the Black Sun, I can’t give a detailed introduction.

So this kind of narrative cannot let the audience know firsthand why Renfri hates Stregobor so much and why he desperately wants to kill him.

Stregobor and Geralt on the other side of the contradiction in the story have become their first meeting, not to mention their conflicts in the past.

The most important part of the long conversation between Geralt and Renfri in the original story has also been taken hastily…

But in the original book, the conflicts between Stregobor and Geralt in the past, the curse of the black sun, and Renfri’s experience are all described in great detail.

For example, how Stregobor dissected the girls under the curse of the black sun. In the past, he caused Geralt not only to not get the bounty, but also to slander him as a liar.

However, after this encounter, he begged Geralt to help him kill Renfri, saying that it was “the lesser of two evils”.

Geralt will always “inadvertently” call Renfri in conversations with Renfri.

My understanding is that Geralt wanted to deliberately provoke her in this way, to make her realize that she is a normal person, not the kind of monster mentioned by Black Sun.

Geralt is unwilling to help Stregobor, nor is he willing to help Renfri to avenge him. He said that both are evil, and he won’t choose either.

At the end of the story, Renfri tricks Geralt into saying that he has given up revenge.

But the next day Renfri issued an ultimatum under the wizarding tower of Stregobor: Either come out and die, or she and her men will kill all the people of Blaviken.

Stregobor, who had previously warned Geralt to “take the lesser of two evils”, replied but refused to leave the tower and die: “Even if Blaviken and all the people around me are killed, I will not leave this tower.”

In order to prevent innocent people from being slaughtered, Geralt had to “take the lesser of two evils” and killed Renfri and her men.

Although Stregobor wanted to dissect Renfri’s body, he gave up under the threat of Geralt.

As a result, Stregobor, who ignored the life and death of the people, simply left. In order to protect the innocent people from being killed by Renfri and her men, Geralt was called “Blaviken’s Butcher” by the people.

Finally, he left Blaviken amidst the stones and insults thrown by the people. Even Geralt’s mayor friend said to him: “You go, don’t come back again.”

A good story, I think that in addition to the shocking plot, the reversal and climax of the story should not only surprise the audience, but also make sense.

It also needs to allow the audience to participate in the story and resonate with the protagonist in experience or emotion.

In reality, it is impossible for us to have experienced so many cool and thrilling adventures like Geralt.

Therefore, the original work uses a lot of pen and ink to pave the way for the story, and finally throws the dilemma between “profit” and “righteousness” to the protagonist, the audience.

“If it is me, how should I choose?”

Finally, the audience and readers will resonate emotionally.

This is also demonstrated in the “The Witcher 3” game.

There are not so many “I want it all” good things in destiny. It is more about how we choose when we get to a fork in destiny.

You think the original work of “The Witcher” is a fantasy literary work, but in fact this is a diversified story that tells the reality of society, tells the story of man and nature, and tells the choices and consequences of fate.

That’s why I think the original work and game of “The Witcher” are made by God.

And I think “The Witcher Season 1” was unsuccessful because the series only told 3 story lines in a shallow way.

However, each of its lines has not been deep enough to pave the way and describe it.

The original story is about how to make a choice under the compulsion of fate, and the price to bear after the choice.

“The Witcher Season 1” is about the arrangement of fate.

Concluding remarks

Before “The Witcher Season 1” was officially launched, several of its trailers earned my expectations.

I firmly believe that as long as you follow the original film, it will definitely not roll over.

As of today, I have watched “The Witcher Season 1” completely twice.

I can see that the screenwriter seems too anxious about the arrangement of the story, too eager to advance the story.

He wanted to carry the banner of fantasy drama before the end of “Game of Thrones” and the start of “The Lord of the Rings” American drama so that “The Witcher” could stand firm in the market.

But steady and steady is the right way.

Just like the exquisite swordsmanship used by “Witcher” cannot be practiced in a day.

Geralt’s profound insights and wise words cannot be honed in one or two years of adventure.

It is expected that “The Witcher Season 2” can correct the shortcomings in “The Witcher Season 1” and return the focus to the depth of the story.

I hope “The Witcher Season 2” will show the world of Geralt and “The Witcher” that fans love in the series.

No matter which “The Witcher” fan doesn’t want to see the polarized reputation of their favorite works.

Who doesn’t want to give the story of his “high jump coach” Amway to his friends around him, right?

Related Post: “The Witcher Season 2”: Netflix Fantasy Adventure TV Series Exposure Official Trailer and Poster.