Netflix Witcher series (spoilers)

[bilateralrope]

It seems that this series has caused Witcher 3 to have more concurrent players on Steam that it did on launch day. That rarely happens with single player games, especially 4 years after launch.

You saw what Nilfgaard did when they attacked Cintra. I think you're supposed to expect them to do the same to any of the other kingdoms they attack, with the sorcerers being the only people in position to hold the one choke point Nilfgaard forces have to go through.

You missed some of the stuff said at the Ball, as well as when the Sorcerers were meeting. Cintra was just the LATEST conquest. Before that, Nilfgaard had destroyed all it's other Northern neighbors, because the White Flame told them to. Also, if you'd missed it, Stregobar blatantly blamed Yennifer for Nilfgaard, saying if there'd been a stronger hand on the reigns, it'd still be tiny and useless. The female mage who went there bought into the religion hook, line, and sinker.

Fair enough. I tend to forget exposition like that.

One reason the mages were so upset? Nilfgaard is taking mages, and brain-washing them into thinking they were just another soldier to die for the White Flame's cause.
We know if you cast magic too big for you, you wither and die. We see the remains of one mage after the first fireball, we see a second mage dying for the next fireball. We see the mage with the box die, having spent all his 'chaos' creating the fog that covered the forest (and reached the farm where Geralt and Ciri met). Nilfgaard's only use for mages is as weapons, which obviously doesn't sit well with The Brotherhood, whose entire purpose seems to be riding herd on the Kingdoms and keeping their own lifestyle rich and pleasurable.

I'm not so sure that the mage Brotherhood is much better. Not with them sacrificing students with that pool and the organisation as a whole deciding not to intervene against Nilfgaard. Good thing some of the mages decided to go against the Brotherhood.

[Broomstick]

Also, if you'd missed it, Stregobar blatantly blamed Yennifer for Nilfgaard, saying if there'd been a stronger hand on the reigns, it'd still be tiny and useless.

Stregobar is a misogynist asshole who happily blames others for his own misfortune. If they're women so much the better. I'm not convinced that Stregobar thinks Yennifer is that much more competent as thinks she would have been so bungling that with such a mage Nilfgaard would not have been effective.

The female mage who went there bought into the religion hook, line, and sinker.

She also seems to have taken to heart the early lesson about using others as a power source rather than herself.

Although on re-watch I'm wondering if she's using some of her own substance for some of her enchantments.

Which leads me to wonder why the Nilfgaard mages don't use alternate powers sources than their own selves - even if they weren't willing to consume a footsoldier how about a horse or goat or tree or something?

One reason the mages were so upset? Nilfgaard is taking mages, and brain-washing them into thinking they were just another soldier to die for the White Flame's cause. We know if you cast magic too big for you, you wither and die. We see the remains of one mage after the first fireball, we see a second mage dying for the next fireball. We see the mage with the box die, having spent all his 'chaos' creating the fog that covered the forest (and reached the farm where Geralt and Ciri met). Nilfgaard's only use for mages is as weapons, which obviously doesn't sit well with The Brotherhood, whose entire purpose seems to be riding herd on the Kingdoms and keeping their own lifestyle rich and pleasurable.

Mages not just as warriors, but as suicidal warriors although Fireball Woman does seem both reluctant and terrified before she casts her final spell.

We also see, with the common Nilfgaard soldier before Geralt skewers him, that whatever the Nilfgaard religion is it seems to have some sort of powerful afterlife reward promised to its adherents which leads its followers to be willing to die.

[LadyTevar]

We also see, with the common Nilfgaard soldier before Geralt skewers him, that whatever the Nilfgaard religion is it seems to have some sort of powerful afterlife reward promised to its adherents which leads its followers to be willing to die.

Yes, we should find out more about the "White Flame" as the series goes on, but you have the heart of it -- The world is broken up into the "Saved" and the "Un-Saved", and those who fight against being Saved are Unclean and deserve the harshest punishments and death.

But, they want Ciri for another reason.

[Broomstick]

They want Ciri because she's fucking powerful, although entirely untrained. They also want to convert her. Also
Spoiler

In the books she's the daughter of the Emperor of Nilfgaard, so it's personal

[LadyTevar]

They want Ciri because she's fucking powerful, although entirely untrained. They also want to convert her. Also
(snip spoiler)

Indeed. She's got her mother's (and great-grandmother's) gifts, obviously. Let her get a bit of control over her chaos, and she'll be truly scary.
But, there's even more to it Spoiler

There is a prophecy; the Aen Hen Ichaer, the Elder Blood, will either save the world or destroy it

[Elfdart]

I just binge-watched this yesterday and it's awesome! In terms of pure camp it's somewhere between Hercules & Xena and Adam West Batman. Henry Cavill does the patented HBO mumbled whisper (where you have to turn the volume way up or use subtitles just to understand what he's saying), but he looks like he's trying very hard not to laugh, like he realizes what a shitty acting style it is. But judging how my girlfriend says "Yeah Baby!" every time Witcher Man (as she calls him) opens his shirt, I guess it doesn't really matter how he delivers his lines. Still, I figured having him in some sort of heavy metal Chippendale's outfit was meant as a kind of antidote to the non-stop boobage in Game of Thrones and either way was pretty funny.

But not nearly as funny as the aspiring wizard being name is Yennifer. What's so funny about that, you ask? My GF's name is Jennifer, but one of the ladies I work with is from South America and when the met, called her "Yennifer" (and still does). Well, she didn't appreciate her namesake being a power-crazy hunchback with a permanently busted jaw -and even less when I couldn't stop laughing. Then she transformed into this drop-dead gorgeous creature and it was MY turn to salivate.



For a moment I thought it was two different actresses. Well done! Did I mention Yennifer is hot as hell? So much so that during the hot tub scene MY "Yennifer" offered to pause Netflix so I could take a cold shower that she thought I might need, and not miss anything. How considerate of her!

Anyway, I was able to keep up with the time shifts by keeping in mind that the chubby blond kid in one thread is the old king in the other.

The creatures, like everything else, were goofy but in a good sort of way. The hedgehog knight and the faun left me in stitches because I kept thinking of Narnia where Reepicheep the Mouse is a great fencer and Mr Tumnus is a friendly faun, and the idea of a giant hedgehog wanting to marry a princess and the faun stealing to support elves was about the most bizarre thing I'd seen since Italian Spider-Man.

All in all, this is a fun, campy and very entertaining series. I can't wait for the next season!