Breaking Down the Magic, Monsters, and Burly Men of theWitcherTrailer

At Comic - Con last week , Netflix finally , after month of tease , gave usour first lookat The Witcher in action . Not only did it divulge some pretty major , if unsurprising connection to the world of Andrzej Sapkowski ’s novel , it also gave us some intriguing hints to what fans familiar to the CD Projekt Red games can get out of this new show .

https://gizmodo.com/a-new-legend-begins-in-the-first-trailer-for-netflixs-t-1836391093

The trailer opens , unsurprisingly , with a snap of Henry Cavill as the nominal Witcher : Geralt of Rivia , a free-lance monster hunter who travels across the world killing monsters for gold . Geralt can do this — and has all that whitened hair to boot , a marker that sets him aside from even his fellow Witchers — because he is part of the self - named ancient order that exposes its warrior recruits to dangerous , toxic mutagen to translate them into Witchers , giving them enhanced potency , lightness , smoke , and the power to cast magic , which is otherwise a very uncommon ability in The Witcher ’s human race — a place call The Continent .

Wotcher, Witcher.

Wotcher, Witcher.Gif: Netflix

“ I remember hear stories about Witchers … is it true what they say ? ” the narrator tells us , as we cut to a brief shaft of of Geralt doing what he does good : fighting monsters . We see a little more of this encounter by and by on , but it come along to be an adaptation of the very first short story Sapkowski wrote about Geralt , “ The Witcher , ” eventually collected in the first inadequate story anthology in the series , The Last Wish . In that tale , Geralt is tax with slaying a creature call a Striga — who is in reality the raised soundbox of a Princess nominate Adda , cursed to transform into a grotesque beast for have an incestuous relationship with her brother , the prince of Temeria . “ The Witcher ” see Geralt fight the beast and lift the curse from Adda .

Before we see too much more , we cut back to another abbreviated shot of a bloodied Geralt in the town from the chess opening . Geralt is from a splinter faction of the old Witcher fiat called the School of the Wolf , hence the masher medallion he ’s bear in these Ithiel Town scenes and elsewhere in the house trailer .

Next , we get a brief stab of a forested kingdom and its warrior woman inhabitants : these come out to be Dryads , and this is the land of Brokilon — home to the all - female race and the toxic waters that can be used to transform appendage of other species into wood nymph themselves . We see them encountering a young girl who is actually one of the most significant characters on the show : Ciri , played byFreya Allan . A untested princess from the land of Cintra , Ciri is being hunted by a whole host of nefarious parties because of both her royal connecter and her untrained , but Brobdingnagian , magic powerfulness .

As we rationalise across shots of some interesting figures — a wagon train of black - armor soldier , a young , disfigured woman , who will become very authoritative momently , and a cleaning woman using magic to casually rear a rock — we take heed another soma provide more narration . This sentence basically setting up the backstory for The Continent at large , explaining the history of deception and how , in an upshot know as the “ Conjunction of the Spheres ” in the script and games , supernatural beingness and monsters began look across the world : “ gremlin are the original sorcerers of the Continent — when mankind and giant come , imp taught human how to sprain chaos into illusion … ”

“ … and then , the world slaughtered them , ” the narrator — a mage identify Istredd ( Royce Pierreson ) conclude , revealing himself as having been speaking to the disfigured young char from earlier . This fair sex is another major Witcher character , bang to fans of the books and games alike , but perhaps not in this particular form : this is Yennefer of Vengerberg , played by Anya Chalotra . A powerful sorceress herself , Yennefer was assume with a stark curve of the backbone , and an abusive upbringing with her father leads to further traumas being impose on the new woman .

https://gizmodo.com/the-witchers-big-romance-is-less-weird-than-it-looks-1836549941

Yenn is what is get it on as a “ beginning , ” someone with natural - born capacitance to wield magic , a low density among human being . Eventually , she can harness this ability to completely alter her appearance to other people , mould an ever - present glamour that present herself as a physically able , attractive young adult female … which is why it’sslightly less peculiarthat she eventually becomes one of Geralt ’s love interests in the Christian Bible and the games .

We next cut to a blastoff of the show ’s rendering of the Isle of Thanedd , home to Aretuza . That ’s a magic shoal for young women that Yen and several other sorcerers we ’ll play in the series , as well as Ciri herself eventually , perfect their magical abilities .

“ Chaos is the most dangerous affair in this human beings , ” the green - robed sorceress we fancy be adrift a rock to begin with tell to one of her bookman . This is Tissaia de Vries ( encounter by MyAnna Buring ) , who plays a immense part in Yennefer ’s backstory , being the woman who took the young Yenn in and helped hone her wizardly abilities to treat her condition .

“ But without ascendency , Chaos will wipe out you , ” Tissaia monish , as we get a few more challenging shot : Ciri on an icy plain stitch , Yennefer demolish a mirror , and what could be an overhead shot of the Chapter of the Gift and the Art , the mellow conclave of thaumaturgist on Thanedd that Tissaia is part of . finally , in the account book the Chapter is destroyed by infighting in a takeover over whether not to hold up the invading Nilfgaardian Empire , a major faction in the series that we ’ll see a bit more of presently .

We cut to cool shot of Geralt swinging a silverish lash back in the same ruined castle he was shown briefly fighting in originally . This feels like once again more affirmation that this action sequence is Geralt ’s fight with the Striga in “ The Witcher ” as this twirl is essentially ripped from theintroductory cinematicfor the first game in CD Projekt Red ’s darling picture game trilogy , which depicts the same fight .

As we get to see a few more shot of Geralt ’s engagement with the Striga — and picking up some coin as a wages , as Witchers are wo nt to do — we get yet another teller , this time a woman . “ So that ’s all life-time is to you , ” she asks , of Geralt . “ Monsters and money ? ” Basically … yeeeeaaaaah .

We contract to a wounded , recovering Geralt to see that this narrator is none other than not just another wizard , but another important number in the books , game , and his life in oecumenical : Triss Merigold , play by Anna Shaffer . Triss , like Yenn , is also a source , and , like Yenn , is a love life pastime of Geralt ’s . This scene presumably take place shortly after Geralt ’s encounter with the Striga , as when he first meets her , Triss is an adviser to the King of Foltest , who recruit Geralt to bring around his girl of her monstrous oath . “ It ’s all it needs to be , ” Geralt sound out of the monsters and money .

“ Something out there waits for you , ” Triss ominously warns , as the trailer really starts getting into the main premiss of the show : an adaptation of what is in reality thefirst proper novelin Sapkowski ’s series , Blood of Elves . “ This child will be extraordinary , ” a man tells Geralt , as we cut over shot of Ciri and her homeland , the land of Cintra . This piece is actually another interesting character from the books and the games — Mousesack ( Adam Levy ) , comfortably known to gamers as the druid Ermion . Mousesack has a little but important role in the books , guiding Geralt and Ciri to their eventual meeting .

https://gizmodo.com/how-to-get-into-the-witcher-novels-1706064080

As we cite , uh , a while back , Ciri is n’t just the princess of Cintra , but has elven blood , collapse her magical ability . We seem to cut to either one of her main abilities — witching visions and , at this point in the serial , uncontrolled teleportation — as we see the young Ciri in a desert realm looking upon a distinctly charming - take care tree diagram .

In a brief entr’acte from Ciri and Geralt ’s fib , we cut back to moment between Tissaia and Yennefer during the latter ’s brutal training . “ Yennefer , imagine the most powerful charwoman in the reality , ” Tissia instructs , presumably begin to teach Yen the magical ability to alter her appearance . “ Do you have what it take ? ” ( not really a spoiler : she does ! Yen is finally one of the most hefty sorcerers around ) .

But now we ’re back to Ciri ’s story , and an significant foundation of just one of the primary threats in the series : the invasion of the Kingdom of Cintra by the Nilfgaardian Empire . Nilfgaard lash out Cintra during the First Northern War . The charwoman we see here abide dumbstruck as the Nilfgaardian army attacks is likely Queen Calanthe ( Jodhi May ) , Ciri ’s grandmother . “ She is why they came , ” Calanthe read , presumably referring to Ciri . Calanthe moderate her people in the fight against the Nilfgaardian ’s until the bitter ending , when , as we see briefly here , Cintra ’s capital ( also identify Cintra , helpfully ) , is level to the ground by the Nilflgaardian United States Army .

As we see a brief moment of Ciri ’s vast magical power displaying themselves in the Cintran court — blasting the gathered crowds back suddenly . Mousesack continue to urge Geralt to face his destiny : protect Ciri from the clutches of Niflgaard ’s emperor . We also get some brief shots Yennefer ’s glamoured form here , too — the appearance she stick out to those around her to mask her true body .

“ witness Geralt of Rivia , ” Calanthe tells Ciri .

https://gizmodo.com/no-one-making-the-witcher-thought-they-could-live-up-to-1836389204

We finally cut back to the town we consider Geralt in at the start of the trailer . Note that Geralt is n’t fighting teras here , but human being — this could be a town call Blaviken , where Geralt earns the nickname “ The Butcher of Blaviken ” for killing a bunch of thieves and soldier of fortune on the hunt for a local mage . Or it could just be any Ithiel Town and Geralt ’s in a scrap because , at this stop in story the Witchers themselves have become a rarified breed , and are n’t really held in the highest respect , because they’re … well , kinda creepy monster huntsman ? unremarkably one of them being present is a portent that risky affair are going down , so commonfolk be given to not peculiarly be too keen .

A few more random slam follow : Another pellet of the Striga , Ciri begging with Calanthe that she ca n’t present her destiny alone before fleeing Cintra , and Yennefer encountering Geralt , at a masquerade that is likely the Belleteyn , a May Night festival Geralt and Yen meet each other at in Sword of Destiny , the 2d anthology collection in the book of account series . This is n’t actually how they first meet in the book series — that ’s detail in the short story “ The Last Wish , ” which collected in the anthology of the same name .

“ No matter what you choose , ” Mousesack continue , “ You ’ll come out fucking . ”

We see Geralt getting involved in what seem to be a fight between Cintran soldier and commoners — and we in reality get a very abbreviated coup d’oeil of another character from the books .

This curious looking character is Duny and … is actually really important , but saying why would form ruining a major despoiler for the series at large . Suffice to say , at this point in the serial , Duny is in reality a prince who was cursed to look like a strange , hedgehog - like being .

We get another few glimpse of Ciri — first , encounter the dryad after fleeing Cintra , and then secondly , what appears her escape from working capital ( you may juust about make out the blue mantle she ’s assume throughout the trailer ) .

The laggard climaxes back during Geralt ’s scrap in the Ithiel Town from the opening — it ’s cut to make it bet like Yennefer is scream on Geralt and is in this fight as well , but it is likely two different shots , dedicate the inclement weather Yennefer is being swamp by is not present in Geralt ’s fight .

https://gizmodo.com/heres-why-the-witcher-auditioned-207-other-guys-for-ger-1836600508

Back on Geralt though , you see him do something very familiar to sports fan of the game — point out three of his fingers . This is how Witchers cast magic in fighting , called sign , making runic gestures . He ’s likely using Aard , one of the most basic signs in the secret plan , which is fundamentally a telekinetic blast .

We sharply cut to a very brief , very curious shooting of Tissaia catching a bolt of lightning of lightning and redirecting it through a hole in the ceiling . It ’s hard to say where this is from , but if we were mighty sooner and Tissaia ’s fellow sorcerers in the Chapter of the Gift and the Art are in the series , this could be part of the coup attempt , but that actually fall quite a bite into the series .

The poke actually instead reason with a verygame - fan pleasingshot : a giant , spidery wight egress out of a swamp as an fabulously messed up look Geralt devise to face it down .

https://gizmodo.com/yes-there-is-a-bathtub-in-netflixs-the-witcher-1836547479

The creature has a few more branch that suggest it could even be an Arachnomorph , spider - creatures enclose in DLC for the third Witcher biz , Wild Hunt , but given the books are the major source textile for the show this looks like it could more probably be a Kikimore , a jumbo insectoid creature Geralt battles as a overture the inadequate tarradiddle “ The Lesser Evil , ” a fight with which eventually brings Geralt to the Ithiel Town of Blaviken , where he earn his notorious sobriquet . It ’d make mother wit if it is , hand the town we saw him fighting in earlier !

Anyway , it ’s this last shot that ’s going to be specially pleasing to fans of the games : Geralt ’s got black eyes here because he’s … poisoned himself to near death ? preparedness forwards of combat is as important to the existent fighting itself in The Witcher , and Witchers often temporarily boost their mutagenic ability even further by drinking potions before going into a fight . But the potions are actually , essentially , various strengths of poison , so Geralt has to equilibrise a all right line between giving himself a impermanent blessing and , well , kill himself .

In the games , this is represented by a perniciousness meter that occupy as players chug potions in and out of battle . As Geralt looks unwell and sickly the more it fill , a about - maxed - out meter is represent by , you guessed it , fateful eyes . It ’s a cool optic callout to fans of the game to signal that some serious commercial enterprise is about to go down .

Although short , our first tone at The Witcher is a sweet one , whether you ’re derive to it as a fan of the original book or of the gambling saga that catapulted their world into the wider cultural area . So far the show ’s take on the novel seems to dilate on the existence in some interesting ways — particularly on its focus beyond Geralt , specially Yennefer ’s stemma story — while at the same time draw in some familiar , fearsome foes that fan who devoured the Witcher games will get a recoil out ofseeing replicated on screen .

https://gizmodo.com/the-witchers-showrunner-on-getting-video-game-fans-into-1836605116

How much longer we ’ll have to wait for this interlingual rendition of The Witcher to fully give away itself remains to be interpret — Netflix would n’t give a release particular date beyond later on this year .