Like most shows or movies adapted from literary works, Netflix’s hit seriesThe Witcheris not exactly a one-to-one translation of its original source material. This was made evident in its first season, with the show’s attempt to adapt the short stories from bothThe Last WishandSword of Destiny. Each story was tied together into a single, long-running narrative that gave the audience the impression that the show had an end goal that it was trying to reach as opposed to simply being about the titular Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, on the job like the books portrayed him.
This trend continued into the show’s second season, adapted fromThe Blood of Elvesand parts ofTime of Contempt. UnlikeThe Last WishandSword of Destiny, however, bothThe Blood of ElvesandTime of Contemptare not collections of short stories but are instead single, much longer stories that make up the mainWitcherseries, of which there are five books in total (not counting short story collections or spinoffs). While these changes made sense for the show’s first season, it was more than a bit of head-scratching for its second season, which included yet another short story fromThe Last Wish.
Making changes when adapting something from the written word into something that needs to be played out by actual, human actors is a practice that is as old as movie-making itself. Both the quality and the necessity of said changes depend entirely on the individuals making the adaptation, but even good adaptations are not immune from some changes. One good example of this inThe Witcherseries itself lies in Geralt’s relationshipwith the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg. In Netflix’s adaptation, both Geralt and Yennefer are, to some small degree, loyal to each other and refuse to be with others even when offered the chance.
By contrast, in the books, both Geralt and Yennefer are not exactly faithful partners, and both have a string over lovers as the books go on. This change does not affect the larger story in the slightest, but it illustrates how whatever changes are made in Netflix’s adaptation will more than likely not affect the story going forward.
Addition, Not Subtraction
As was stated above, the first season of Netflix’sThe Witcherwas based onThe Last WishandSword of Destiny, both of which are collections of short stories. The total page count of both books (in their English translations) amounts to roughly 672 pages.The Blood of Elves, on whichthe second season is largely based, by contrast, stands at approximately 320 pages (again in the English translation), so based on page count alone, it is obvious that a direct adaptation ofThe Blood of Elveswould not be able to completely fill up the eight-episode, hour-long episode each length that the show’s producers were looking for. To counteract this, however, the show’s producers decided to add brand-new scenes rather than change what was already there to make it longer. If one were to compareThe Blood of Elvesto season two ofThe Witcher, one would find that most of the major events of that book happen as described, albeit with some necessary changes to fit the show’s specific narrative.
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Yennefer’s sub-plot with her losing her magic, the elven baby sub-plot with Francesca Findabair and Filavandrel aén Fidháil (who wasn’t in the later books at all), and all the things that happen with the sorceress Fringilla Vigo and the Nilfgardian knight Cahir were all added for the sake of adding run time to the show’s episodes. None of these sub-plots were in any of the books. In fact, until they met Geralt and Ciri, it was largely a mystery what any of these characters were doing. Considering that every one of those characters will be important later, it is actually a good thing that the show is bothering to show more of them than the books did. So, for the most part, the story ofThe Witcherremains largely intact. The show offers more than the books did.
Same Journey, Different Path
Considering that all the essential characters from the books (at least the ones who have appeared) are in the show and their motivations and what drives them to pursue their goals remain largely intact, it is relatively safe to say that whatever other changes are made tofuture seasons ofThe Witcherthat the story willfollow the same path as the books. As long as the end goal remains the same and all of the critical events that happen in the books happen as they are supposed to, there will not be a need to worry about whatever changes are made.
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Despite the flaws in seasons one and two ofThe Witcher, the show has done quite a fantastic job of staying true to the story that the books have told. If at the very least, this trend continues, then fans of both the original books by Andrzej Sapkowski and the videogames by CD Projekt Red will be satisfied.
