[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Witcher: Blood Origin.]In addition to explaining what happened during the event known as the Conjunction of the Realms, The Witcher: Origin of Blood also reveals the identity of the first Witcher prototype, who was an enhanced warrior long before Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) became the White Wolf. During an exclusive interview with Collider Stephen Weintraubexecutive producers Declan De Barra and Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich discuss how long ago they decided who this warrior would be and how things changed during development.
Witcher: Origin of blood Set 1200 years before the main series, it follows the Seven, warriors who band together to fight against the Golden Empire. Among these seven warriors Lawrence O’Fuarine like Fjall and Sofia Brown like Eile, members of enemy clans who fall in love while fighting a common enemy. By the end of the series, a member of the Seven must sacrifice himself to become a monster capable of killing other monsters. At first it was assumed that this role would be played by Eile. As de Barra explains:
“This [the prototype Witcher identity] a lot changed when it had to be Aile and then the idea of a sacrifice. Witchers always sacrifice themselves, or someone sacrifices an innocent person to become a witcher, [there] there is always this element of sacrifice and to sacrifice it. The idea of a sacrifice between two lovers, where someone co-opts or steals the other person’s sacrifice because they love them without admitting they love them, was something really powerful. When we stumbled upon it, we knew there was going to be a coup.”
Bye Origin of blood It was originally planned to make Eil the prototype of the Witcher, but Fjall takes her place, saving the woman he loves from excruciating torment. This stolen victim was something that the show’s creative team wanted to explore in order to surprise the public. De Barra tells us:
“You’re kind of acting so the audience believes it’s going to be Aile and Aile believes it’s going to be Aile, everyone believes it’s going to be Aile, but then he can’t let her die because he sees what she’s got that power is in her music that will have a huge effect. And he sees nothing but himself, except the killer. And it’s better for him if he sacrifices himself, even if it makes her angry, because she will live on. And whether he admits it at the time or not, he kind of fell in love with her. It sort of wrote itself as soon as the idea of sacrifice came up.”
Why Origin of blood Features of the Witcher prototype?
With Origin of blood Set many centuries before the Witchers officially roamed the continent, the idea of showing a prototype monster hunter in a TV series might seem odd to fans. However, as Schmidt-Hissrich shows, Witcher there must be monsters in the universe, as they are one of the show’s most endearing moments. According to her:
“So how do we start promising the audience what we know they like? Witcher? Because obviously the origin story had to fit into our world no matter what. But any Netflix data will tell you that people are like monsters and people are like witchers. And so we knew that with this 1200 year time span, we would never be able to connect the worlds as closely as we would like. And it was Declan who came up with this idea of a proto-Witcher.”
Despite having a Witcher prototype, Origin of blood couldn’t use the same cultural background to turn Fjall into a monster hunter. Because the show’s creative team wanted to respect the mythology developed by the original writer. Andrzej Sapkowski, they came up with the idea of treating witcher technology as something built on the ruins of an ancient empire. So in Origin of blood, the word “The Witcher” is not mentioned, but the mages are already talking about the Trial of Herbs, one of the tests that Witcher imitators must pass. As De Barra says:
“The idea was that the legacy of Fjall, sacrificing himself and becoming this proto-witcher, could be one of the last ingredients that would later be resurrected. Because part of the story we’re telling here is that this whole wonderful world, this technology and culture is lost. It’s like Rome after the fall of the Roman Empire. We are heading into the dark ages and all these technologies are lost. And the idea that this key element of what would become important in The Trial of Herbs for the Witchers later, 500 years after The Conjunction, is lost. And it’s related to this story that we have here, it’s like what is this fundamental element that was used?”
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf and the first two seasons of the series Witcher available right now on Netflix. The streaming platform will give us The Witcher: Origin of Blood for Christmas December 25th.
Source: Collider
