Thank you so much for 100K views on this video and 1K subscribes! ❤ I really didn't expect such a positive response. I hope you won't be disappointed by the content I want to make on this channel because it won't be as much about The Witcher as it will be about fairy tales, folklore, customs, traditions and stuff like that. I'll still make videos about The Witcher occasionally (like once a month) since it's so dear to my heart. Especially if I'll manage to somehow connect the subject of the video with the focus of my channel. But it won't be the primary content. If you want to see how an adaptation of The Witcher world could be done really well by actual fans go subscribe to The Witcher Stories ( www.youtube.com/@TheWitcherStoriesCZ ) 🐍And if you would be interested in the military side of The Witcher world go subscribe to Moritz Workshop ( kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a9eDab1jydWXio0.html ) ⚔

"I hate how everything beyond California and USA is so different. We must make it look the same as Los Angeles. For diversity and inclusion!" - everyone in Hollywood

"netflix doesnt understand the witcher" is the understatement of the year. they dont understand the entire fantasy genre. or even stories in general. they genuinely fail to comprehend what people find enjoyable or what the point of a story even is.

The Marilka dialogue in the first episode described it perfectly already. Not just that a village girl wants to get "out of here and get a better life". That already is ridiculous. This is the 13th century when family, ESPECIALLY in Slavic culture, was absolutely everything. She would want a husband and as many kids as possible and their own place in the countryside, and a beautiful garden to tend to. Not going on adventure like modern miss independent woman. That concept doesn't exist in the 13th century. But the worst part was her complaining that girls cannot become Witchers. Yet again showing that Netflix thinks Witchers are like Thor or Ironman, just another form of a superhero. Instead they are people who got tortured as children, spent their childhood bruised and in pain and are doomed to a life of constant fighting for people who don't even like them and spit at them most of the time. Geralt himself said it plenty of times in the books. He's no a hero or knight. Not even a soldier. he has no great convictions to fight for and he's far too afraid of dying to serve in any wars under any army. he'll do his job and defend helpless people from all sides until he bleeds out in a ditch somewhere because one monster was too fast and ripped his guts out, just like every single Witcher before him. That is NOT a fate a teenage girl from the 13th century would envy him for. Not even remotely. It's just modern nonsense. These days women are supposed to be able to be everything, but I truly wonder how many girls would think life like Geralt in the Witcher 3 trailers was so exciting if they read the story of him fighting in a pool of shit and sewage to kill a Zeugl, not getting the stink off for days. Or how many would be excited about being a soldier from a hollywood movie if they had to die in the mud of a WW1 battlefield. The entire point of Witcher was that it is NOT epic, NOT exciting and certainly not cool. It's a miserable life of hardship and nobody liking you, which is exactly why his friendship to Dandelion is so special. The bard was the first person who even treated Geralt like a person and not just a freak. In the show Geralt constantly insults his best friends and treats them like garbage. Especially when he looked at Yennefer and asked her "A mother? YOU?! You can't be serious!" ... that's just the biggest sign that they have absolutely no clue what they're doing. Not only would Geralt never hurt Yennefer like that, American hollywood women are apparently also so removed from their own ability to have children that they think this is not a big deal. Try talking to any Polish woman like that and you'll get your eyes scratched out. Being able to have children actually means something to a normal woman, and no normal man would EVER talk to a woman like that, especially not one desperately trying to restore her ability to have children. They have absolutely no clue what normal people's lives are like. Yeah they show Yennefer's background and her disfigurations, but they make it all about her looks and about her father mistreating her. A much bigger deal for yennefer was that her MOTHER pushed her away, because her mother felt she had caused her husband to no longer love her, and make her responsible for the defective child. So the mother ended up resenting Yennefer "for destroying the relationship". That hurt Yennefer even more than her father insulting and misstreating her. And then they made it all about Yennefer wanting power. When on earth was Yennefer ever powerhungry? She didn't want that geenie in The Last Wish to move mountains and become all powerful, she most likely wanted that power to heal herself, because that's all she ever wanted and what all her motivation was always about. She didn't give a crap about anything else and wasn't like other sorceresses at all, which is why she wasn't remotely interested in joining the lodge. They basically get everything completely wrong. They even claimed Witcher 3 was too white, confirming even more that they have no clue what diversity actually means. Just because most people in Europe have light skin (even though any idiot in Europe would be able to tell a Spaniard from a Pole or Swede) that doesn't mean European culture is not MASSIVELY diverse. It's probably the most diverse place on the planet considering its small area for the amount of different cultures that live there. Summarizing all that as "white" is rudiculous. They have no idea how many European influences, how much folklore, from ancient slavic tales to vampires from Portugal and germany, to Grimm's fairy tales to the Arturian Saga and gaelic stories and language influences went into the Witcher. They are uneducated idiots who have no idea what any of it is about. And they cannot even get their diversity BS right. The zerrikanian warriors are black and looked at as these exotic women in one episode, and in another episode a black dude runs around at the court of cintra and nobody thinks he's special in any way. How on earth does that make any sense. The Witcher world DOES have all the different ethnicities, they just don't live in the Northern Kingdoms. If they wanted Arabic or Black looking people, well then get a character from Zerrikania or Ofir and add them. Don't make medieval Poland, Germany and France (Hell Temeria even uses the French lillies and Redania literally has the Polish eagle... do the show makers even know what those symbols are??) look like downtown New York or L.A. for f*s sake...

I've been saying this -- Hollywood just can't deal with real diversity. Different culture, cultural norms, and values are way beyond their comprehension.

The realistic aesthetic to Witcher is integral in supporting its stories. 1. turns whimsical folklore into horror - take fantasy tropes and showcase how they could turn out if done by real people 2. protagonist must be smart and tough - he is not overpowered and must study and prepare to take on powerful enemies - consequences are lingering - people don't act like archetypes. Give power to the good King and you might watch an elven genocide. 3. relationships feel hard won/lost making them unforgettable

Polish painter Jacek Malczewski often juxtaposed chimeras, harpies, fauns and other mythological creatures in his paintings with villagers in their everyday, life situations. I always associated this with Sapkowski's "The Witcher" because both artists looked for inspiration and showed the legends where they were born - among ordinary people in their small houses.

Worst thing is they had Cavil, they were so lucky to get someone who enjoys and somehow understands world he tries to portray. But instead of lisening to good advice they said he was kicked for toxic gamer behaviour. If after the season 3/4 fails they will blame him for that, we will reach peak stupidity

As an African in America I’m so pissed that Witcher TV Series is overly diverse…I love Witcher because of its Polish cultural origin and its source material…to the point that Ciri told Geralt about how she went to a different dimension that had dark skin people and she was surprised and thought it was interesting yet Geralt got confused and thought she was talking about Zarakannians who really aren’t that dark in the grand scheme of things…but now they are just tossing that out for Netflix dollars and that just rubs me the wrong way. Shoutout to my boy Henry Cavill. Edit: Thanks for the well thought out and positive comments! Nice to know the internet has some semblance of sanity left :)

The eastern European folklore and culture was always the most interesting thing about the Witcher for me as an American because it's barley if ever explored in shows. It's different and that's it's strength, the music, the people, the world, the locations. It's not epic, but it's so intriguing and if they want to get fantastical the Witcher has that it but it's not on demand. It's a slow burn of intrigue that concludes with a moment of epicness. Hollywood took that, washed all the flavor out of it, and replaced it with just generic manufactured trash. And they want to be so inclusive except when it comes to Slavic culture apparently.

Finally, someone who understands "soul" of The Witcher. You presented it beautifully, thank you.

I've read the books (translated to german tho, but think the translator did a very good job) and they are so different from the usual fantasy crap we get. The language used stood out specifically, because the Author used very time appropiate terminology, which, with the very well written dialouge, made everything so down to earth and realistic. Smart or witty people in the books talked like that, you could gather that someone was smart just by reading their dialouge, characters were distinct. Eastern European History and Culture are very interesting and unique and just making it american is the wrong call. I came to despise american media, because they always try to depict diverse groups and cultures but they always just turn out to be american in their behaviour and mindset.

Excellent grasp of the difference between high fantasy and low fantasy. Netflix lost because they tried to convert The Witcher into high fantasy, while also cancelling the Slav/mid-European culture the story rose from.

To understand Witcher you need to do only one thing: Travel to Poland in Fall and spend a day each in those 3 locations: A run down pomeranian fishing village in the marshes. A baca hut in Carpathain mountains. A day in the castle of Lublin. The 3 layered castle where neither layer works easthetically with another one, cause it had to be rebuilt, but there were never funds to do a full renovation. Those 3 locations will get you the perfect understanding of Polish countriside culture: the stoic perservance. The realistic acceptance of living in a culturally isolated place and ability to find joy on it and carry on. That's why also Velen is my favourite location in whole of Witcher 3. Yeah, Novigrad is grand, Skellige whimsical and Tousaint gorgous. But nothing says that YOU will be able to go on and survive as sitting down with Bloody Baron in his ruined castle and drinking together. Both of you may have a history you'd prefer to change, but both of you will do everything to get as much from life as you can despite it. We may be in the shittiest place we realistically can reach, but this is the place we can be free and make our own way into the world.

Exactly! Thank you! The Witcher's world is very "domestic". It's reality with a spice of fantasy. It's not grandiose, Geralt is but a speck in the grand scheme of things. Had he not gotten involved with Ciri, he would have lived his days just hunting monsters to get by and would have probably died doing so. The stories that make up his life story are so interesting because he has been incredibly lucky to come out alive from them. He's not unbeatable, he's just a man with better senses, strength and speed than average. Anything else has to come from taking elaborate potions that slowly poison him. It's not glamorous, it's painful. I seriously don't understand the need of adaptations to reinvent the wheel (and do it poorly in the process). The whole thing is already written down, just read the fucking books, play the games and make an adaptation of what already exists and excels at telling this particular story.

This pretty much explained why you need someone deeply in tune with the cultural background of a book (or from the same culture) to adapt it succesfully

The series look like they hate Sapkowski's work. They only needed the "Witcher brand".

Hollywood americanized everything from Norse folklore and myths aswell. As did they with Japanese movies and stories. I completly agree with you on all points! The movies and series would be way better if they didn't americanize everything.

Finally a critique that looks beyond the american culture wars. Well done.

As a South East Asian, I want to watch The Witcher, because I expect to transport my mind into the beautiful classic Medieval Eastern Europe folklore fantasy, not Los Angeles.. Or even Asia, what's the point...

Very well written. In medieval societies without mechanization and mass production, the countryside and the farmers and peasants that inhabit it have to make up the bulk of the population to produce the food that people need to survive. This modern TV fantasy world-building has massive towns full of citizens that just exist without the need for fresh food and water; heroes who can traverse the land without the need for supplies, campfires or even bedding. They can survive in the mountain/desert environment without any effort whatsoever. It's no wonder their worlds 'reflect the modern world' more than the worlds their series are based upon, because they are more like modern worlds, where basic neccessities are not something you have to worry about.

They said that Blood Origin is based on a plot hole one of the people in the writers room noticed in the books. Thats when i knew it was going to be fucking awful

I am not sure the dark lens for shooting the village was so much an attempt to make the villages look drab but rather to make them look "realistic". Back in college I took some classes on graphic design and in it they talked about how to use filters to remove the color from things in order to make them look more "realistic". The reason was this claim that the "real world" isn't that colorful and things are more toned down. But this made NO sense to me as all I could think is if this is what you think the real world looks like you need to get your eyes examined. I also learned around the same time Color blindness is fairly common among men, and a lot of graphic designers tend to be men so maybe there really was something wrong with their eyes.

You pointed out the feeling I always have when watching these fantasy shows. The landscape is always the same. Rocky, huge new Zealand mountains, canyons with plains without trees all around. This look is in 95% of modern fantasy shows and movies. It was British countryside before lotr.

Great video. If i recall correctly the showrunner Lauren was basically offered this project when she never was a showrunner before and I think that you are on point that neither she nor her team of writers understood what actually made this book series and games so popular and what made them stand out. As one of the writers admitted most of them didn't like it or even despised the source material, so no wonder why they didn't get the atmosphere, the charm of the setting, didn't respect the folklore, traditions and landscape of the eastern and central Europe that made the books and games stand out.

The success of Peter Jackson's LotR movies heavily contributed to the current generic fantasy landscape look. Suddenly every fantasy world had to look like New Zealand. Disney did it in their version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and New Zealand is a horrible match for Narnia.

Thanks for the great material! TBH after what Netflix is doing to The Witcher's Lore I think I start to understand why, for instance, Native American people are angry to see how Hollywood and western creators in general depicts them. Here I am wondering why there are no polish actors, as you said, no central europe landscapes, or slavic musicians doing soundtrack. You have to be born in the culture to have the culture and philosophy of your people in blood - then you can share the original spirit to the others by creating the show :) Netflix Witcher is Hollywood - washed and everything right now is from Hollywood and it is so boring. It is like chewing paper. No flavor.

I love the point about the countryside. Yes, it's the appreciation of the folklore and the normal people that create the richness of Sapkowski's lore, just the fact that he made mythical folk creatures into real things! But in Hollywood, there's Mexico filter, Arabic country filter, and Eastern European filter :D I remember a while ago, watching Killing Eve, when they went to the Polish countryside. I couldn't believe how they portrayed it. Babushkas in headscarfs, horse ridden wood carts, and a grey pub where grey villagers watch grey football drinking grey beer, lol. The countryside in Poland is perfectly fine, thank you very much. People choose to live there, because the nature is beautiful and there's lots to do. Of course after war, it looked like Velen, but now it's good. And people are relatively open and tolerant.

Buddy, you hit the nail on the head. The showrunners/writers have no creative vision, and every recent fantasy show that's come out of the mainstream with the exception of HotD feels like a mishmash of someone's poorly written D&D campaign. You have a DM that's not prepared enough and keeps chucking storylines and quests from half-remembered books he read 10 years ago creating an unholy abomination with no rhyme or reason. Thanks man, this video just had me going "I thought it and you said it.".

I feel that this video perfectly encapsulates my feelings regarding most fantasy. Where there's armour that don't make sense, clothing that don't make sense, stories that don't make sense and the only environments are brown villages and open plains with lots of rocks and mountains in the distance.

I think a big thing that also kept me aware of how much more grounded the witcher is in comparison to other fantasy, is the simple fact, that the peasant revolt killed so many witchers. sure they might be enhanced mutants, but just a few people with pitchforks surrounding them can kill them. They arent some super soldiers fighting for humans they are basicly just warriors trying to make a living

Agreed. And furthermore, if everything is epic, nothing is epic. You can't make a moment extraordinary if you haven't established the ordinary first.

This video was wonderful, and it reminded me of the Syndrome quote from the Incredibles: “when everyone is super, no one will be.” Same way with these shows, everything is “epic” these days and in turn they all just feel watered down and meh.

Another realistic and funny thing in the books is that Geralt lost a tooth at some point. I get why they didn't include that in the games but it would've been funny to see a main hero going round with a gap in his teeth like a common brigand.

While playing the Witcher 3, whenever I spend a lot of time in the small villages and the countryside then go back to Novigrad or Oxenfurt I’m always so mesmerised by the lights and the city aesthetics. It just feels so much more realistic when you have those contrasts and the fact that they feel and look like actual medieval cities are so amazing.

There is a part of Witcher 3 I absolutely love it is in the Blood and Wine DLC. The is a village north west in the map you have to liberate from bandits once you do villagers come back and then you see something you don't see in any other game. A little boy holding a stick and pretending it's a sword, while few meters away from him a man in leaning on the well playing a flute, not far is a man siting on a bench reading a book with a few friend standing next to him talking. Across the river you can see three women washing clothes ... the village is alive with activity. This is not the only example. As for colours. Hollywood producers actually don't know anything about the medieval period except swords, plate armour and castles.

Hello, American here. We don't like what they're doing either. It's less of a "Americanizing" problem and more of a inexperienced/bad writting problem. With no life experience or skills to pull from like Tolken had, all the writers in Hollywood try to rely on a big spectacle to hook the audience. The problem is, BIG STUFF happening all the time is exhausting and numbs the viewer. A little bit of BIG STUFF towards the end can be cool, like dessert after dinner. But having dessert for every meal will wear out it's welcome, just like BIG STUFF happening all of the time.

Great video, really captured what's wrong with the Netflix Witcher. I'd add one aspect to it: the language. The books are beautifully written, amazing dialogues, colorful expression of feelings. I loved that Geralt is finally a main character who actually speaks his mind. Then came Netflix and switched him to the generic "strong and silent hero". Moreover, every character in the show swears all the time, and it's soooo out of place. I could accept (barely) that Yen swears. Or Geralt. But the kind and strict Nenneke? Ciri in her early years? The wise, fatherly Vesemir? Queen Francesca? There is no way they would. Their beautiful dialogues are distorted and lost under the generic swearing and unnecessary comedic relief Netflix tries to force on its viewers. And sadly, not just Netflix. HBO did the same with GoT in the last seasons as well

Trafna analiza! Przyszedł czas na zmianę paradygmatu fantasy. Teraz właśnie się to dzieje na tablicach oglądalności Hollywoodzkich "dzieł" jak Rings of Power czy Blood Origin. Ludzie pokazują, że chcą czegoś oryginalnego.

Personally, I think you missed one thing about the books that makes them different from others, and maybe it’s just because it’s my personal favourite part of The Witcher-books. The way that the books are told, how it often is told through layers of storytellers - lady of the lake, where Ciri tells the entire story to the knight, the mention of the fate of Jaskier’s journal, the two sorceresses attempting to discover Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer’s later fates. That kind of meta storytelling doesn’t exactly translate well to the screen, but to me, it’s very specific to the Witcher, and makes it stand out against other fantasy stories.

My favorite Witcher books are 100% the short stories. Just Geralt roaming around the world getting into random shenanigans

The thing I love about the entire Witcher world is the proportions. 90% of the people are ordinary. It doesn't make them bad. Their driving force isn't to save the world or fight the invading armies or stand up to the [insert absurdly horrible creature.] They simply want to stay alive, get the crops in, survive the winter. That makes them "real." The armies are not made up of glittering crusaders; they're tired, hungry and generally miserable soldiers. The other 10% are either slightly better off or in some cases, a lot better off. But the really high nobility aren't inhuman. They are driven by the same hungers and needs. They want some comfort, wealth and respect...and better food, pretty women and safety. The top percent are kings like Radovid who is an egotistical whack job...he believes he is some kind of demigod. You have Emhyr, the Nilfgaardian Emperor...who is aware of his power and his weaknesses...and generally tries to do what he thinks is best for his nation even if everyone else might hate him for it. And then the Witchers. Everyone can't be a Witcher. The mortality of the training is staggeringly high...and that's just to get them to the level where when they Walk the Path they have a reasonable chance of surviving. Everything isn't gold and jewels and fresh smelling flowers. The Witcher World smells like a small village of farmers. Or a rather smelly city. They have "privy's" in the Witcher world and garbage tips and slaughter houses. They have manure and the smell of wheatfields and vinyards. It's "real." Magic exists...but a lot of it is either horribly difficult or painful...that's why there are so few sorceresses. Witcher World is normal...but with monsters. But no Supermen. Even the kings, magicians, witchers and bards still have to eat and bathe and go to the bathroom. Everyone probably has fleas, even the kings. But Hollywood and the "writers" don't want to show us people...everyone is a hero or a monster.

Never heard about the Metro adaptation, and I'm glad they scrapped it because having it set in the US just wouldn't work at all. If you were to make it into a movie or preferably a TV show/mini-series you'd need to had Glukovsky involved and ideally not only have it set in Moscow, but also have all the dialog in Russian with subtitles. Some may argue that it would need to be done in English, but most of Squid Game was in Korean and it was a world-wide success. Trying to portray the world of Metro anywhere other than Russia just doesn't fit the whole point of the series and that is even more important given current events.

I'm not surprised morons in Hollywood disrespected the books this much, they didn't even know Poland or any other Slavic country existed. Must have hit them hard too when turned out not everybody in Europe speaks French 😂😂 Amazing vid btw, Greetings from Hungary ❤

In the books every time Geralt fights a bigger monster he gets fucked up pretty badly. The most unbelievable thing in the series is that every time this happens there is someone who cares enough to actually save him.

Awesome video! Just to add a bit to the epic scenery discussion, I think that the reason that the "epic scenery" has become stale comes from the fact that Hollywood doesn't understand how that scenery was used in Lord of the Rings. Like you mentioned about the hobbits, it was used to enhance our understanding of the characters and people that lived in those areas. It helped explain why hobbits loved the shire and why people from Gondor and Rohan were different. It became part of the storytelling. Now Hollywood uses it only for it's wow factor and forgets that the scenery must affect the people who live there in some way. That's why the Witcher books and games scenery is so good as well. The scenery is directly connected to the people and the shows don't convey that aspect of the books/game.

Your analysis is spot on! Netflix show was my first contact with The Witcher franchise, but I gave up on it after 4 episodes because I felt like I'm watching some kind of bootleg version of GoT with no soul. Then I've played games and I fell in love with them for its climax and morally grey characters. As a Polish I really wish there was more Slavic represantation in mainstream media that's why it's such a shame that our culture was compeletly ignored by Netflix.

I wouldn’t compare D&D to these shows, the D&D campaigns I play the worlds are usually so unique and interesting. Whether you’re in Barovia, Icewind dale, Baulders gate, the underdark or Drakkenheim; you can easily distinguish between these places because they are all built to have their own unique settings and cultures within them

As a fellow-Czech fan of this Polish fantasy work, I salute you and congratulate you for being able to describe so well all the things that have bothered me since the first series, but I couldn't put my finger on what they exactly were. Tbh. I was very happy when Henry Cavill took up the role because he was a great fan and I believed that thanks to his enthusiasm it could be pretty good. I also believed they would really follow the story line of the books because there are so many interesting characters and plot twists to explore. The first season at least tried to introduce the back stories of the main characters, but even in that season some sets and costumes felt...I don't know...stupid, impractical, unrealistic, simply off? The Witcher books and games are based on medieval European life, so it should all be sort of gritty and dirty with a few exceptions that shine even more strongly (like all the witches and their beautiful clothes and cosmetics). When I first read the books, some 20 years ago, they struck me as something special exactly because the characters made mistakes and they were never just black and white which made it very different from let's say LOTR. This feature is also translated into the games and how they are played. Also, all the folklore and history that was interwoven into the stories was a revelation for me because I hadn't even known back then that Eeastern European folklore could be so interesting (I know, but I have always been more of a Classics girl). Right now, I'm just sad that Netflix basically used Henry Cavill for clout but gave him no say in what the series would look like and allowed writers that have no respect to the original source to destroy the whole thing.

Very good video and explanation. When I heard the first time that Netflix will produce The Witcher, I decided to read the books first. I loved the books, though they had something disturbing, as the story line is very different from other fantasy saga. I could not really define why I love the books, but after your explanation it became very clear. Thank you for this video.

7:29 it's funny because in the games it isn't really all that clear which of the kingdoms you're supposed to root for, but personally I rooted for Nilfgaard because they were the lesser evil, sure taking over the world and waging war is not a good thing but Nilfgaard atleast seems indifferent or on good terms with nonhumans and mages, unlike the northern realms and rulers such as Radovid

9:10 I 100 percent agree here! I remember playing the game, and just loving Velen and the outskirts of Novigrad. There were so many simple little villages, nothing big, just small wooden shacks with a bar. And then you'd be climbing a mountain or something and out in the distance you can see a stunning landscape, or an insane castle that just calls to you. It was such a treat. Actually kinda miffed that Netflix snagged such a cool franchise and has essentially made it impossible for anyone else to try and dabble on a series with it. Real sad, it could have been an amazing series like GOT, with a pretty active fanbase. Hopefully the Blood Origin/Rings of Power will serve as a grim reminder for these mega corporations to understand that fancy schmancy big names will attract a lot of fans, yet if no effort is put into being loyal to the story, then said fans will disregard and even put down such series.

Great video and all your points are spot on. I'm Croatian (living in North America) and was hesitant to play the game, but was surprised by how many things reminded me of home - glagolitic Alphabet, the tight knit villages, creatures from our folklore (leshy really got me good!) Even city names like Novigrad. Alongside the folk music it felt like a Polish game that showed a deep Slavic culture that we still share. Then the show came out and was a fantasy Manhattan/mutt of random ancient cultures that were continents and timelines apart. Utterly disappointing. What's even worse is how fantasy settings are being politicized, it's so fucking ridiculous. I hope that modern day fantasy shows die soon, because no one will remember them.

Wow good video! You managed too explain really well why the books and games are so realistic, grounded and unique compared to other fantasy titles and how the show fails to capture this and just comes of as a poor imitation and mostly like generic modern fantasy crap.

Your video is on point. I get why creators want diversity on their shows. Some are ideologically commited. Some just want to market product to broader markets and think that race of hero is as important as to them. But in persuit of this they made heroes of EVERY show (no matter if it's in historical setting, fantasy land or far future) looks like pedestrians on Beverly Hills. No matter if action takes place in Cintra, Nilfgard or Velen. There is no ethnic difference, no accents specific to groups, they have no cultural roots or clothing matching local geography or access to specific matterials. It's bland and homogenized. This would be ok in modern setting or SF. But in pre-industrial society, where travel is limited by technology, economic incentives and rigid societal hierarchy? You could make diversity work in this setting. Like, elves could be played by all Asian actors. Give them ginger hair, or light-blue eyes, so they looks completly distinct from any human race. Or make Nilfgardians brown (they are from south, so it would have sense). And voila. You have avesome looking elves and diversity. But I think writers live in buble, and think that entire world looks like mega-city district they live in. I'm surprised there was no Starbucks or pizza parlors in Witcher or Rings of Power. It would paradoxically be more consistent in world they created than dragons.

I like how you keep calling it "central Europe" :))) No one in "western Europe" knows what that is, it's just eastern Europe to them. But absolutely agree with you on all points, and I had the same reaction to Witcher 2 as you did, and was extremely happy that Witcher 3 was more like Witcher 1.

Your arguments are exactly why I fell in love with the old Polish series adaptation, Wiedzmin with Zebrovski. Of course the budget was small, and the CGI quite horrendous, but as it was filmed in Poland, its countryside and old medieval castles, it captured this European homely atmosphere so perfectly! But maybe you have to live here to understand this, which someone from USA just can't do as easily. BTW I too was quite apaled when they introduced the castles in the Netflix version and it just had to look so over the top fantasy. I had the exact same thoughts as you so nicely explained here. Greetings from Czechia

This is it. The "Dark Low Fantasy" theme/genre really is underrated & so far I would say Witcher is the only recent "popular" western series that conveyed this genre perfectly. Initially, "Conan" series can be considered as low fantasy too, but with times, it's just keep evolving (devolving) into high fantasy with full on no rule/law magic shenanigans. I would say anime/manga series are far more diverse & has many of this low fantasy genre works. For example, "Mushishi" can be considered low fantasy & rather close to Witcher in the terms of supernatural "folklore" mythos & fantasy stories.

Netflix understands witcher. It's just that they want the fanbase of the witcher series for their fantasy themed series. U know, avoid hard work to actually achieve popularity due to people's love for ur work but rather, buy that love. Unfortunately for them, they didn't realize they can't buy love.

Thank you so much. Couldn't agree more. In my opinion Netflix tried to press the books into a mold that doesn't fit. While after season 1 I was interested in watching season 2, Blood Origin just leaves me wishing for a reboot.

I was asking myself if you are Czech/Slovak or not, you sounded like it and then I saw the board games and it got confirmed for me... a souhlasím s tebou na většině. Hodně štěstí s další tvorbou xd

A positive and negative(about the books) is that they are uniquely Polish and I feel lots of elements get literally lost in translation from Polish to English.

I love how you say "Melitele". In it I can sens a neighbour from... Czechia? Or Slovensko? You were right on all points. What especially moved me was your take on Hollywood's portrayal of slavic villages. Meanwhile our countryside is so beautiful and colourful, so much prettier than towns. I'm thinking of the village of Zalipie, all in painted flowers or the villages in the tatras with their quaint wooden architecture.

ironically, i think japanese authors arrived at the same conclusion as the witchers author, because the reason the "rpg videogame scenario isekai" style became so prominent on japanese entretaintment media over the last decade was because in most of them the protagonist is a guy that just chill out with their pals or normal people and travel the world or lives in a small and quiet village enjoying mundane stuff without much care for the world. heroes and world threats be damn.

I'm glad the video has so many views and you've gained new subscribers, happy for you man. Keep up the good work and greetings from Poland!

Thanks a lot for this video, i never heard the issue with Alik Sakharov, it is a good piece of info. As a Latin American i really wanted to see the Witcher show as it should be, an Eastern European tale. Netflix ruined it for me.

damn you're right. I didn't notice the tonal shift from The Witcher 1 to 2. I know why I prefer TW1 than TW2 now. It's the setting, most of TW1 set in the countryside, the villages where the slavic folk atmosphere really shined.

Someone once said that mainsteam fantasy is for people who think they have fantasy, but who just want something familiar.

All valid points, but it couldn’t be generically good either.outside of ruining the vibe of the Witcher they couldn’t even write a cookie cutter fantasy if they tried

Okay, you've convinced me to read the books. I always feel a little weird reading translations because I'm afraid the prose will be a degraded version of the original, but I must read these. I love fantasy books with a realistic, down-to-earth feel. I think LotR has such a good blend of down-to-earth and... not even epic, but high-romantic. It's a beautiful blend. Mundane detail always enhances a fantastical story, I think. But these TV writers find reality boring. It's like they hate reality, but they also hate fantasy, and they hate stories. It's amazing.

Thanks for this video. I fear that this would be another rant about “wokeness” but instead you articulated what I also love about the games and why the series - all of them - fall short. For some people it was inevitable that a Netflix production of the Witcher would be bad but I don’t think that’s the case. Netflix has produced good, if not great shows, just not the American division. Squid Game is one example of Netflix foreign projects that blew it out of the water and it’s probably best written and cast show - Dark - was also a non American production. Imagine if they had found some good people in Europe instead of giving the show to some third tier Hollywood producer 🙈

Amazing review who really shows its made by someone who knows the Witcher lore.. Good work my friend.👍

I love this video, being from Asia and seeing western fantasy tales I loved the idea and romantic scenery or European countryside. I was told to watch the Witcher because of it’s pace and easy going nature with fantastical monsters and a more realistic magic perspective. The first season confused me as I didn’t understand what was happening, but some research and reference guides helped. I was always waiting for the massive fireball and it never came which was refreshing. I began watching charmed the American tv series of witches. The classic charmed I should say. Yes it was fire balls and lightening bolts. What I loved about the show was they were trying to live normal lives. The icing and style was different which made it a success. Unfortunately anime in America has bastardized my language and started trends with people who jump into what’s popular. Westerners are injecting their western beliefs into my culture without realizing the problems. Thank you for making this video consider me subscribed.

One of the most "epic" and memorable moments in the books for me was a little girl on ice skates. I shudder to think what Hollywood would do with this passage.

Very well put good sir, this message needs to be spoken openly and loudly. It baffles my mind how there are people not realising exactly this....

They want to make all fantasy like D&D and fail to realize D&D's strongest appeal is its capability of running many different games. My campaign looks like my friend's on the surface - our elves look and act similar, magic works the same, classes are roughly the same - but they're different at the end of the day. Our bard is horny, theirs is shy - their fighter is brash and arrogant, ours is tactical and cautious - our big bad is an evil vampire lord determined to remove death, their big bad is a human-turned-lich that outlived his elven wife and went mad. It's ironic to me that Netflix makes their shows all look like D&D without backing up with an interesting story to make the similarities worth it

You're convincing me to buy the Witcher books. I LOVE down to earth, gritty fantasy. I'm not fond of "high fantasy" at all.

Witcher was always about countryside, the dangers lurking in the dark awaiting for the unprepered, it was about moral choices that common people face everyday, it was about dirt, mud and dense atmosphere of something present that you are not fully aware of. What netflix did was set the series in stone castles, big halls, cold blunt mountains and grass plains so empty that you almost feel your sould puring out while watching. It focused on creating black and white world with no moral dilemma and an soulles creation is what they'v got. You deserve more subs than you have, one of my favorite video since very long time, your critique is calm and to the point without overreacting, very refreshing. Thank you!

The elves did not feel like elves. They felt like humans.

You are absolutely right about The Witcher being down to Earth, and the vibrant countryside sceneries with old medieval structures. It should be like that, where after we watch the show, it gives us nostalgic vibes that makes us wanna go back whenever we wanted. The Witcher's main theme is all about Witchers doing bounty hunts after the Spheres of Conjunction, then they got involved on the crossfire of multiple nations waging war to each other. Then, meeting new people in their daily lives of Witchers' jobs. It's not overblown character progression. There's weakness to them, so they can learn. Even if they are built different, they need to gather information to hunt a monster down. Thinking all about it, I kinda miss the simple middle age, fictional/non-fictional stories.

Nice to hear from someone who understands exactly what’s wrong with the Netflix adaptation. Even people who dislike it often have baffling reasoning, like: "It should’ve been all about Geralt hunting monsters and being badass", stuff like that. I have to facepalm every time I hear it.

More big companies need to realize it’s taking big chances that generates big success

As a Witcher fan living in rural eastern Europe, I totally agree

Oh wow, what a well written argumentative video you’ve made explaining the historical & cultural influences embedded in the DNA of the source material. I’m definitely impressed by 80% of what you said here Well done! That being said, may I ask that you include a bibliography/reference list of sort in your description/end of future episodes particularly regarding the piece of media (video clips & music) you utilized? And maybe relevant reading or sources regarding historical fantasy and Central European life if it applies (unless all of this was informed through lived experience, in which case you should disregard) I feel like it’s a part of essay writing that hasn’t caught on yet with the new form that is video, and feel it’d formalize and give it more legitimacy as part of an educated essay piece

This was such an amazing video, my friend. As Los Angeles is so far removed from the rest of the country, and most C. Europeans migrated to the Great Lakes region, please don't judge us by them alone. We still do Mass in Polska in Chicago and Cleveland. Everything you said was great, and I feel more educated having heard it.

Lot of Witcher stories play out like fantasy versions of actual folklore stories. Good example Botchlings which are Witchers versions of real folklore ghosts of abandoned or murdered babies (example Liekkiö in Finland). Hollywood writers could've read Witchers and grabbed some history folklore books with ghost stories from few hundred years ago in Europe to "get" what Witcher is trying to do. But that would have required interest and effort in the project they were hired to do.

Well said! A golden opportunity, as portrayed in the wonderful books, was wasted due to narcissistic self-insertion, ignorant laziness, cocaine/adderall-fuelled arrogance and witless lack of insight. Cultural vandalism is the order of the day.

Thank you so much for this brilliant analysis! It's not just a excellent comparison of the show, books and games, but also of high fantasy and realistic/low fantasy.

All those modern fantasy series remind me a bit of the release of the 50s/60s Japanese Kaiju-movies in Germany: Promoters feared that the German audience wouldn't watch something like that, because nobody knew what a Godzilla was. So they just released the movies under "Frankenstein's monsters from Outer Space", because Germans knew Dr. Frankenstein, even if the movie didn't feature him. Now replace Japanese Kaiju-movie with "mediocre Fantasy novel I wrote at age 14" or "funny DnD campaign we played in college" and Frankenstein with a beloved fantasy franchise...

Nice video. Good argumentation. And those points are exactly what I was thinking about. Just wanted to appreciate your work for a moment. 👍

So, to sum up, it seems Netflix mistook the stars in the sky for their reflection on the water's surface.... With that out the way, you are absolutely right in how Netflix completely misunderstood the whole 'grounded tone' of the witcher books. But even that i feel was not fatal compared to their destruction of characters. In the books, Jaskier is happy-go-lucky but actually incredibly wise, and at times drops needed truth-bombs on Geralt, whilst Netflix turned him into an annoying sidekick. Yennefer in the books is absolutelu awesome- yes she has a hideous temper, but she is classy, wise. In the show there is nothing to like about her. In the books, a large part of the reason that their relationship doesnt work is because of Geralt's poor behaviour, which made him so much more interesting

"The Witcher is not D&D". You ain't wrong there. Plus, D&D, especially the crappy 2000 movie, has variety with a warrior, a thief, a sorcerer, an elf and a dwarf that act differently and have likeable personalities. All these Witcher characters fight and swear the same way. You could take one out and you could care less and couldn't tell the difference.

Discovering this channel was like finding a diamond in the rough. Seriously, love your voice, your presentation, and ideas. Could you do a similar breakdown of rings of power? Would love to hear your thoughts! Subscribed!

This is what I really liked about Game of Thrones in the first seasons. It felt like a real middle-age drama with rarely seen fantasy elements. Magic, Spells , Creatures were soo rare that even the people living in the world didn't believe in stuff like that. I know it got more and more with the seasons but for the most part, its about a realistic believable and political setting.

I'd say Witcher: Blood Origin is less "discount D&D" and more like "yes, we have Dragon Age at home" (which is even worse).

Found this video on chato's channel, thank you for the explanation, I agree with most of what you said

I would be fine if they did this diverse DnD style of casting if they actually made their own universe. But they're taking this formula and implementing it in already existing universes as we see in the witcher series but especially blood origin, the Rings of Power etc.

The problem when the big companies mostly spend their time copying eachothers.

One of the better examples of a czech accent - this isn't a criticism btw - wonderful video

When it comes to high fantasy vs low fantasy, I always liked how Berserk straddled that line. On one hand we have huge monsters and weird magic, but on the other we have fairly realistic (with an occasional exception) weapons and armor and believable, if often wicked, characters. Constrasting the two sides made both stand out more