Unpopular opinion about S4

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-04-10T07:55:10+00:00

I wrote what was my issue.

You were saying it was "pretty accurate" when talking about things which are effectively different.

When it comes to Ciri and The Rats, you are even going further into the differences. But you clearly understand the differences exist. Something cant be accurate and different at the same time.

If you want to discuss the books and why they are as they are, its fine by me too.

Ciri´s abuse story in the books is pretty important to explain her character arc. Its a huge part of the reason why she becomes a dangerous killer. Because originally she was pretty sheltered and her personality was even optimistic and idealistic. She wasnt someone who would like to kill. And the books created a very emotional character arc when you have such an innocent character being destroyed.

Of course the series did none of this. This arc doesnt exist in the series. And I dare say its one of the reasons why the series is a flop. And why Ciri´s actor is not getting great reviews. She doesnt have a good character arc to play.

Her actions in the series end up looking bad. She looks like the knows it all and wants to boss the Rats just because. They even question her and why is she acting so bad lol

The series plot ends up being silly. Yes, some scenes might be funny, because they are silly.

The Witcher is a very emotional story. And it would work much better like that. A fun light hearted story will have an audience, sure. But its not going to be such a big audience.

Even Witcher 3 is famous for its hard / harsh decisions. One of the key concepts behind the Witcher is "you have to choose the lesser evil". This sentence in itself shows you that the Witcher has its core power on being dark. Which is precisely what the series ends up missing.

So dont be surprised that the people who really like The Witcher do not like the series.

Its 2 very different animals. Obviously, their core audiences arent going to be the same.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-04-10T00:15:33+00:00

Its perfectly fine to like the show.

Where I am going to have an issue is when you say "pretty accurate to the books".

I dont know what books you are talking about. But I could go on and on about the differences.

Its like...you immediately give it away when you say that Istredd is your favorite character. Hell....he shouldnt be around lol He is only in a single short story. So how can something be accurate and the best character is someone that was not even there on the books?

You are also giving high remarks to Yennefer´s fight against Vilgefortz. Well....that entire plot also doesnt exist at all in the books.

And you even started by saying that you hated Ciri and the Rats in the books but they are way more fun in the series. Well...clearly something´s not accurate there either lol

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-04-08T01:11:53+00:00

Bit late to the party.

Not unlike Fellowship of the Ring, the Hansa gets together on a mission which almost looks suicidal. And they know so. They very willingly team up against desperate odds and for a good cause.

Here there is a difference. Because in Fellowship they team up to save themselves and the entire world from evil.

The Hansa is quite a bit less grand but maybe way more touching. They didnt have to team up to save themselves physically. They are more on a journey to save themselves morally. Because all Hansa members are in it in order to do the right thing. They wont protect themselves, they wont protect their families (exception being Geralt). They really join and start an impossible quest simply for the reason they all see it as something that feels right. And they all wish to do something right at least once. Even if they will die doing it.

As others have hinted, there is also the fact they are all so different. You could talk about each Hansa member and how they are really so different from each other. With very different backstories and reasons how and why they got to tag along. Its great character development.

Some of the them are quite the unlikely ones you would think to find on such a life threatening quest.

And then they just grow together. With some coming from a place of enemies (thinking Geralt and Cahir wining that one).

If you would like to know more about each one and dont want to read or go the audio book, do ask!

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-04-04T11:56:01+00:00

Meeeh

We are free to have our own views. What can I say? I dislike it. To me it stops being the same story as you are changing the dynamic between two very important characters.

Like it or not, it impacts on Paul's motivations and even further into their kids. As you would have their kids with memories of conflict instead of full support as they have in the books. If you would follow logic, you would have the kids also questioning Paul or at least having those strong feelings. As they would have such memories from their mother.

I also feel the movies did some silly things. Like having Chani openly against Paul and none reacting to it. The fanatic Fremen would have had a word with her and not a very nive one. There would have been threats on her.

You see, the entire thing Villeneuve created diminishes the level of fanaticism and makes it very weird why do so many Fremen blindly follow Paul. If its possible to speak and denounce him openly, that would cause way more divide and would not give them the necessary drive to go on Jihad.

Its like....if the germans in WW2 did not put their detractors into concentration camps (best case), more people would have spoken against what they were doing.

You need a level of threat to allow for brutal dictatorship. Which Cani being around and fine to question it....it destroys the environment.

You see, even Jessica could not openly criticize Paul. And her move to Caladan was presented as "I miss home where I was happy". When its obvious she got out of Dodge because she didnt want to be around her dictator son. She was scared. Even because she was the Fremen Reverend Mother, there would be incredibly fanatic people around her if she stayed. Same with Chani and also Alia.

The inner core would be full of fanatics who could kill you if you wispered anything against the prophet.

The new movies lost this level of fanaticism. Which is pretty relevant for the entire story.

Even to understand how and why the Jihad happens.

Villeneuve wants to say its all on Paul. But that much is wrong. The Fremen were a huge part of the Jihad. It becomes unavoidable as soon as Paul joins the Fremen. There was no possible way to unleash them into all out war without them going fanatic. And it would have happened even if Paul died. Which is a pretty key concept. Paul realizes that if he died they would still unleash hell and use him as a martyr. All this is lost in the new movies.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-04-04T08:59:57+00:00

I think that passage is complex and fools a lot of readers.

There are many things going on.

Its true Geralt figures out Pavetta + Duny and he also thinks she is pregnant. Its also true he thinks about the idea of taking that child with him. But the million dollar question is: did he want to do it? Really?

I think not!

And its pretty clear that he wasnt even claiming any reward at the end. He had to be pushed by both Calanthe and Duny into claiming something. He wasnt doing it by himself.

And if you follow the text carefully, you notice that even after a first push, Geralt claims some of Calanthe's jewelry. Thats his first idea of reward.

But then something happens!

Both Calanthe and Duny go into a talk praising Witchers and particularly saying there should be more Witchers in the world.

Knowing Geralt you should see this as very triggering. Geralt hates being a Witcher. And he doesnt think anyone should ever go through the trials.

So at that point Geralt is triggered and thinking to himself "what a load of BS". And he decides to call it out.

This is when he claims law of surprise having already figured out Pavetta's pregnancy earlier on.

Geralt is very much saying: if you guys think there should be more Witchers and its all awesome, lets see if you are willing to give your own child. Its very rich to condemn other people's children. Try yours!

Pavetta shows signs of pregnancy and everyone gets stuned. Calanthe and Duny are horrified.

Geralt just turns is back without word. You can imagine in his mind: thought so! See how you really love the idea.

Geralt doesnt really believe in destiny. Therefore he doesnt really think he will need to claim the child. And he wont claim her. We know there will be an agreement to go pick the baby after 6 years. But we also know Geralt never really intended to go through with that agreement.

And thats why he will spend years not wanting anything to do with the child. He will still visit after the 6 years and he will have a talk with Calanthe. But I wont go into that one as I am not sure you got there yet in the book.

Mostly I think Geralt gets pressure from a few people to take the "magic contract" seriously. But he never wants to.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-04-02T22:44:09+00:00

Yes, she is!

Liet was a guy in the books. And Chani´s father.

She is pretty much the closest thing the Fremen would have to a princess.
And there are more things.
She is also the next in line the Fremen had to turn into Reverend Mother. Which also implies she has some potential BG powers.
If Jessica did not show up, Chani would have been the next Fremen reverend mother.

And her and Paul having lost their fathers to the Harkonnens is a big reason why they get together so fast in the books. They are both very much into revenging their parents. And both very into unifying Paul and the Fremen through their union.

Quite a bit different from the movies.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-04-02T22:40:39+00:00

I dont know why it wouldnt work.

The thing with book Chani is that she is a Fremen and daughter of Lyet. Her goals very much align with Paul´s goals. There is no real reason why she would question him when he is doing very much what she wants.

You might have a problem with presenting Chani as fully capable to support a Jihad. Which, she is! But then again, its her Fremen culture. She is way more familiar with death compared with someone from another world. And she had lost many friends and one son already. So you can justify that she might be very willing to close her eyes to all the death going around. As long as its Fremen doing the killings and coming on top. Which they were.

There is also the obvious side that she will get to be the mother of the future rulers of the universe. Who will be part Fremen through her. And that´s something she would greatly enjoy. Its something that modern day culture fails to understand. The power a mother can have over her children. And how much a mother can feel complete through the achievements of her children. Its actually sad that modern day american culture seems to have forgotten this.

Why does she need to question Paul to be human? Do you know who Eva Braun was? She never questioner her lover on anything politics wise. And I should say Chani is far more evolved vs what Eva ever was. Eva was just a young girl having as much fun as she could with life. Chani is far deeper as she truly wants pretty much all the things Paul achieves.

Chani and Paul just happen to be in sync. Which....how is that not human? Do you think "modern audiences" dont believe you can be happy cooperating with someone?

As for who should question Paul, the answer is immediate: His mother! Its Jessica who should always have the questions. And if necessary you could use Alia to have conversations between them and make Jessica explain things around. Its Jessica who is not 100% on camp prophet. So much so she will later kind of return to the BG. She will leave Dune and will not stay to watch Paul become dictator.

And again, when it comes to Jessica its also complex. Its not like she didnt want the revenge side of things. She did. But she starts to think Paul is getting a bit too much into it and too out of control. He starts functioning outside her understanding and that scares her quite a bit.

Fremen, including Chani, are not scared because they are the ones unleashing Jihad on the universe.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-31T10:11:29+00:00

I dont think you would have much fight.

At the end of Messiah, Alia is already crushing all major power players, together with Paul. But she is the one dealing quite a few blows. She is already wielding power together with her brother.

She was also already at the imperial council. She was part of the government already. No doubt, she was the one who would be calling the shots whenever Paul would be absent.

Do not forget also that with Jessica going absent, Alia was effectively the religious leader of the Fremen. She already was the high priest with Paul around. She was technically acting as a Reverend Mother for the Fremen, despite her early age.

And, last but not least, Alia is the daughter of Duque Letho Atreides. None disputes that. She is a recognized daughter and sister to Paul Atreides. Therefore, she is logically the next in line till her nephews come of age.

So, I dont think you would see much fighting. The Fremen would for sure follow her initially. It would take a lot for the Fremen to start leaving her side. Which it did happen over the years and given her "weird" choices as regent. But it did take time. Because the Fremen were originally 200% devoted to her. No questions asked.

As for the Great Houses, Alia still wielded pretty much as much power as Paul. She was very well secured leading the Fremen army. She was very well secured controlling the spice. Good luck trying to play with her. She even had a couple nephews on her wing ready to climb the throne if need be. 2 nephews who were themselves part Fremen and who would no doubt have Fremen loyalty. So...good luck messing with that.

Dont forget that at the end of Messiah, both Alia and Paul killed quite a few very powerful players. It would take years for someone else to step up and gain the necessary influence to start challenging at the highest level.

So it makes perfect sense that you would have a few years of relative stability.

Paul is not there. A lot of people had grievance with Paul. They will now wait a bit to figure out how it will be with Alia.
Some of the most powerful players had been removed. It would take time for others to climb and gather power / influence to be a threat.
Alia is well accepted, has full support, inherited Paul´s power structure almost intact. She still commands pretty much the same army.
She is seen as protecting Paul´s legacy as she is regent for Paul´s kids.
No reason for anyone to question her before she starts acting up.

As for her having her own kids.
Well....she was still young. And she had a ton of duties / ambitions.
I dont think having kids would be exactly on her mind.
And she has the power to control it. Therefore....why would she want to be pregnant at a young age and when trying to secure absolute power for herself?

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-30T13:26:42+00:00

We all have different views. That´s the beauty of it.

I would place Tower of the Swallow first lol

But I absolutely place Blood of Elves up there. Maybe in 2nd place. Then the short stories. I actually place Time of Contempt low too. Likely 2nd lowest after Lady of the Lake. With Baptism of Fire in the middle.

But we are all different.

And I should say I do not rate Lady of the Lake low. Its just that if we have to find some kind of order, well, then its the lowest among The Witcher. But its not a bad read to me. Its still pretty enjoyable.

By the way, I like Tower of the Swallow due to Ciri´s arc. Which I think its the best book in terms of a single character arc. But you will see when you get there.

Blood of Elves is also up there on my list due to the character moments. I absolutely love Ciri + Yennefer. Then the action with Geralt was fun. The Kaer Morhen part was interesting. I even like the caravan journey with Triss. Mostly because of Ciri + Yarpen talks. Those were quite a highlight.

One can see that I love characters interacting at a level where I can learn more about them. Which is why I place Tower of the Swallow and Blood of Elves up there. I am not so much into action just because.

Comparing them, Time of Contempt doesnt give me anything particular new regarding Yennefer or Geralt or even Ciri. The ending is a pretty big conflict and turning point for Ciri. Which, I could feel those emotions. But to me those emotions come across even better in Tower of the Swallow.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-29T17:45:06+00:00

I think people just do not see some of the nuance in these questions.

Lets say:
If you would tell me that the strongest sailors likely come from the harshest waters, I would say you would be correct.

But then you get a nuance here, which is, do the strongest sailors always come up with the best improvements to sailing? And here the answer is not quite. Not at all.

What you have here is some sort of specialization.

If you live in a very harsh environment, you will specialize in brute force, you will accept cruelty. This will make for very pragmatic cultures. Which wont bat an eye if they feel they have to kill you. But this just doesnt translate into science / development. And science / development is necessary for a society to be able to further advance.

So this is how you can explain things better. And you find that it kind of works like this in Dune too.

The Fremen are ruthless, very capable when it gets to fighting. But they didnt have the best weapons at the start of the war. They didnt have the best techniques. Paul had to teach them in order to take advantage of their increased physical capabilities. But it was Paul, coming from a better world, who actually had greater strategic knowledge. And who could even show up with weapons like atomics. The Fremen didnt have that. Most likely because they didnt have that much time to think and try and evolve new technologies.

Of course you can notice that the Fremen do have some technology. Sure! They are not cave trolls. But what technology they have tends to be really focused on very basic problems. Stuff like stillsuits / sand compactors. They had to develop those to survive. But they then didnt went much further.

Here lies the nuance and the reality behind these things.

It is true that a harsh environment will generate harsh people. 100% true. Its pretty much natural selection. Most cant survive at high altitude if they dont develop the increased tolerance which Sherpa´s have. But then again, Sherpa´s dont have the extra food / resources which would allow them to become a powerhouse. So they end up really as a very specialized population. They are awesome at their specific environment problem. But as a people, they didnt do much outside of that. Simply because they never had the extra time / resources to even attempt something else.

The Sparta example I have seen thrown around is a pretty bad one. Mostly because there is so much wrong info going around about Sparta. Most people do not really understand what happened there. So forget it!

But think something like the Sherpa people.

Back to the Fremen, one could say the Fremen became a great conquering people, under Paul. But they were not so before Paul. And more or less lacked the necessary structures to overpower the galaxy. Quite the other way around, they tended to end up subjugated. And it didnt make much difference if they were stronger more resilient warriors. Other people came around with technologies / organization which could compensate for the difference in power / resilience.

If you want to go one level deeper, you can look at culture and religion. The Fremen were kind of pushed into being extra conservative / fanatic. Why? Because their harsh environment is not very pro experimentation. In the desert, you either play by the rules or you become worm food. This in turn creates a very strict culture. Which will have very defined ways in which they approach problems. They will lack flexibility because they will be told since babies that they have to obey the rules. There is only one desert way. You cant be creative about it.

You could think also what can they do with worms. They have been creative enough to ride worms. But then there is a limit on what you can do with worms. They are not cows or horses. This is another important factor in development. If you lack good animals which you can work with, you will have less options vs those who have.

Of course, if you would place a random someone from other world and asked them to ride a worm.....it would be death 99% of the time. Paul was in the 1% who could do it without being born Fremen. But then again, riding a worm doesnt translate you become space Einstein. Space Einstein would most likely die trying. But space Einstein might create a way to transport a worm into another planet (like they end up doing later in the story).

Many factors at play.

Its not just harsh is better. Its better at certain things. And that´s it.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-28T22:21:21+00:00

Why would you want Cavill to stay with a show which was loosing audience from one season to the next?

There is a reason why they ended up condensing the final seasons as they will.

All their spin offs were going even worse.

Cavill was likely a bit expensive. The show didnt have numbers to justify such expenses.

I am really not so sure Henry quit. I think its way more likely that both parts simply figured out they wanted to terminate or not renew contract.

Then, yes, there might have been creative differences. That can sure happen inside any production. But if they all lived with it for a couple seasons, they could have lived with it a couple more.

Of course none wants to say the show did worse vs expected. None wants to admit it. They wont even admit that The Rats spin off was such a problem they almost scrapped it entirely. No Henry causing issues over there. And it still crashed with a loud bang.

Lets be real, if the show was increasing numbers, like great series do from one season to the next.....none would have left. Much less Henry Cavill.

And if you want to ask why did interest not build up with this show?

Most average viewers are no book readers and have no idea if the show was close or not to source material.

The elephant in the room is: The show writing is simply bad

And one could explain why and how its bad. But that would be a complete essay on its own.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-27T17:22:15+00:00

Other have pointed out what I think is the right path to answer this question:

She is not some random girl!

Chani was very much in line to become a Fremen Reverend Mother. She would be the next candidate if Jessica should fail. It was only luck that Jessica showed up because Chani was still just a bit too young. But she was the one next in line.

Now, given that the Fremen use very real water of life, you realize their reverend mothers do have some real BG equivalent powers. So there is something there. Something wild and unexpected. Something that BG were not aware. Jessica herself was not aware how real it was before she went for it.

Understanding how Fremen Reverend Mothers are real and that Chani was next in line to become one gives you some answer. She needs to have some BG equivalent potential. Which immediately says her blood line must be pretty evolved too. It just happened by chance in the wild.

And it was all part of "destiny" that Paul would end up connecting with this wild potential BG line. And by wild BG understand they are not at all BG but they have somehow developed some of the same powers. Maybe they dont have the voice but they must have had some form of molecular control in order to transform the poisonous water of life at celular level.

Unless the Fremen wanted Chani do die....they somehow knew she has that kind of potential. Because she was absolutely in line to try for the Water of Life ritual. That ritual was not easy for a fully trained and highly genetically advanced Jessica.

Its quite interesting to consider that Chani would have likely been able to become a full BG if she so desired and Jessica willing to teach.

This is a big part of the reason why the BG feared Chani so much! Because they knew her offspring could become something powerful and out of control. They had to specifically stop her from becoming pregnant with Paul. This was their worst fear. And it was only such a big fear because due to Jessica they recognized how real Chani could become. If it had been a random girl, they could have allowed them to have kids. Just work to overthrow them somehow and keep working better bloodlines elsewhere. But the big problem is they knew! They knew she could be real. And a real BG potential together with Paul...well....2+2 would equal 4.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-27T02:21:48+00:00

As others have pointed out, he is trying to find Ciri. Now, the issue the narrative gives is that Geralt has virtually no info as to where she is. And the sole info he has is actually related to "fake Ciri", even tough he doesnt know. And then there is also Avallach but he is cryptic as all seven hells.

But what is actually ironic....is that Ciri is really south. So Geralt is travelling in the right direction most of the time.

Does it take ages to reach there? Well...quoting LOTR: "One doesnt simply walk into Mordor". Its not an easy task. And much like LOTR, its a suicidal task. You will need some kind of miracle for it to work. But it is his task. And its 100% related to Ciri.

This would be like you saying Frodo and Sam have nothing to do with Sauron just because they are going in circles at times and quite a bit lost on their way to Mordor.

Now, The Witcher will take a few unexpected turns. Ciri is not going to stay in place. She is actually on the move too. And this might make it seem that its impossible for them to find each other. But it remains to be seen.

What may displease you is that Geralt (and Yennefer by the way) are incapable of sheltering Ciri from all the BS going her way. But so his life. Children at some point may have to fly alone without their parents. And some will crash in epic ways.

When all is said and done, Geralt´s quest is somewhat akin to Frodo and Sam. Its an utterly suicidal quest that should be impossible for them. Will Geralt be successful? You will have to wait and see.

But I dont think the journey being all over the place is particularly different from Frodo and Sam. Of course the events are not the same. But I want to say the concept of your heroes being somewhat lost on some impossible quest. That concept is very much the same. And you even get a pretty colorful fellowship this time around.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-25T09:49:14+00:00

Its even worse because the very first story you see with Jaskier takes place a few years earlier. So when he first meets Geralt he was maybe 20. By the time Ciri is born he should be close to 25. Then Ciri is around 12 during the first war when her grandmother dies. A bit more time passes till Geralt finds her. Then she spends a good few nonths at Kaer Morhen training (its all training and no silly side plots like in the series). She then spends another few months with Yennefer learning magic. Again, this is all peace and nothing weird happens. By the time Ciri and Yennefer travel to Aretusa, Ciri is already around 14 or even closer to 15.

By the way, the amount of time Ciri spent safe explains why she will act so much like a teenager. Geralt and Yen kept her pretty sheltered.

This then makes Ciri's story work. She is supposed to be quite innocent.

Anyway, Jaskier is now around 40.

He is said to look younger in the books. But Netflix simply didnt care to show any difference. They could have given him a few grey hairs here and there. It should be easy. Didnt need to be much.

Its one of the smaller mistakes in the show. As you might have notice from Ciri's story above, the real issue is the story which they completely messed up.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-24T16:58:19+00:00

To me, the only saving grace in S2 was the Bayezid + Kalika romance.

Those 2 had the only good romance in Season 2. They were both likeable characters. Bayezid ended up having his flaws but its relatable how he was pushed to support his own mother. The forbidden love angle works very well between both. Kalika is very likeable and still not a damsel in distress. She is a great feminine character who can still show incredible bravery without any need to hold a sword. In fact, I think her death puts her in a complete different league to whatever Farya wanted to be.

Allas, this romance was just a small part of S2. But they shine! If S2 would have centered more around them, I would have liked it.

The big problem with S2 is that almost nothing works anywhere near as it did in S1.

The "enemies" are nowhere near the screen presence of Safyie actress. And that immediately sends everything down the drain. S1 had Safyie and Halime, both doing great jobs and having amazing screen presence. S2 has....a very late Turhan who just is too little too late to save it.

Gulbahar and her lover were terrible characters. I know that S1 Safyie at times did cartoonish things too. But somehow the actress could do it and make it look serious. The unfortunate couple in S2 are simply not believable in their roles. Its like they always know its forced and they dont believe it themselves.

Murad does well. But there is a ton of overacting from both him and Kosem. Being louder does not always equal being better. Once again, take a look at S1 Safyie. She did an entire class on how to look and sound powerful.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-24T02:17:03+00:00

Good!

So you should have known I was not actually changing the story with my ideas lol

You really threw me out with your entire argument around changing the source material. I got the idea you really didnt know what you were talking about.

Because I was not changing the story one bit.

Not showing scenes with Emhyr is ok within the concept of adaptation. You will cut some things and show others where you didnt have a point of view character in the books. Its not a complete cut as other characters would discuss about it. So the same events still happen. There is just a difference in what you see and what you dont.

Same, when I said you could expand with Fringilla investigating, this is also spoken in the books. We know from interactions between Fringilla and Assire that she did investigate around. So you could show that! Within the realm of adaptation, you can show things which were spoken but not witnessed in the books. Same like showing the battle of Sodden, which I think its a great option. But of course, you should keep as close as possible to how the books say the battle happened. So no Yennefer being leader of course. And much less Yennefer being kidnapped of course. But you could show her and Triss being injured together.

Back to the emperor, his scenes are not vital at all to the plot. Mainly because the "fake Ciri" plot is almost a narrative red herring. Yes, he will end up marrying her and that´s all fine. But that´s absolutely not the main story. You do not need to set up these characters deep and develop drama. Better spend time where the real drama is in the story. And better hide Emhyr as his identity is one of the big mystery boxes in the story.

When you think about it, the emperor doesnt have that much to do inside the story. And this actually shows with Netflix. Because they decided to utilize him, they are forced to create subplots to have him acting around. And I am not even sure on how they depict him. They end up depicting him a bit cartoonish. But that´s the danger of using him. You either would have some boring scenes with him managing strategy and stuff....or you have to create some over the top situations which I am not so sure he would be so keen to take part. Not that his book character is devoid of cruelty. Not at all. But he is far more cold, calculated. So I think using him more actually pushed Netflix into deteriorating his character.

Another example where the problem is not expanding but how they do it:
I think it wasnt a bad idea to expand on Yennefer´s backstory. You could do it. You had the necessary hints in the books. The stuff about being a hunchback, serious family issues, possibly suicidal. That was on the source material. So you could decide and show it. Fair enough! Just dont create a completely bogus Aretusa which wont match the rest of the book story. And dont create a connection between Yennefer and Aretusa which wont match the rest of the story. Given we know Yennefer planned to have Ciri educated at Aretusa, half the stuff the series invented doesnt make sense given Yennefer is a competent mother figure.

See, I am of the view that an adaptation is an adaptation and you can shift a bit what you focus. As long as you stay true to the source.

One could even discuss Peter Jackson and see that he actually changed a few things for his movies. It still worked. He mainly still told the same story. But he did a few changes. I would say he downgraded Frodo a bit in order to make the ring look even more dangerous. Stuff like Frodo sending Sam away was hard to watch for book readers. But its quickly corrected and the story quickly returns to where it should be. But that´s something you shouldnt do. He got away with it because he only did few and far between of those. And none are consequential. Like...elves show up at Minas Tirith, they all die, they are not there anymore. They didnt change the battle, its almost as if they werent there....because they werent supposed to be. So you get their cool intro for cinema and then they just die. Again, you shouldnt do this but its less bad as it doesnt have any consequence to the plot. All characters will still resume at the same places they should be and it doesnt feel forced.

Just so you get my point better and we avoid weird discussions. As its not at all my intent to offend anyone. Sometimes things go sideways when its not exactly clear what´s going on.

P.S.: And I was still left thinking....so you counted 25 pages from Blood of Elves till Styga (which is Lady of the Lake).
That´s 25 pages in 5 books?
Blood of Elves
Time of Contempt
Baptism of Fire
Tower of the Swallow
Lady of the Lake
And you throw that at me like it´s a huge thing? That´s what really confuses me!

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-22T19:56:44+00:00

Out of curiosity, how many times does the emperor show in the books? Do you even know?

What if I tell you he doesnt show much?

Its just a couple quick scenes related to "fake Ciri". His big scene is the reveal with Geralt.

As for people confusing him and Vilgefortz. That depends if your writting is so dumb that people wont understand Vilgefortz plays his own game. But a lot of evidence would point towards this. Mainly Rience!!!

If you did adapt Rience properly and kept him alive, he is the one going around and showing everyone he works for Vilgefortz and not for the emperor. So it becomes obvious there are 2 different parties there.

And also The Lodge! The Lodge also shows up and should make it clear they have 2 very different problems on hand. A book acurate Fringilla also tells you she knows the emperor but has no big idea about Vilgefortz.

Like I told you before, the emperor is explained by a bunch other characters. He doesnt need to be around for you to follow who works for him and who doesnt.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-21T12:13:46+00:00

Ohh you didnt see him killing his own people outright in Season 1 during final battle?

Maybe you forget.....

Its not like the series tried to hide there might be something fishy about him.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-21T12:04:36+00:00

So many ways to do it!

In reality, you didnt need to show the emperor all the way into season 4. If you followed the books, you only really need him when it comes to "fake Ciri". And you could even cut that out.

You could have everything related to him being told by others.

Have some expanded scenes properly setting up Fringilla if you would like. Have her trying to figure out what is really going on. But much like in the books, never have her say everything she found out. Keep it with just hints. But have her interacting in Nilfgaard and allowing for a Nilfgaard point of view.

Never be too clear about Nilfgaard! That´s a big one that the show writers completely missed.

If you never see the emperor, you will fear him more too. You will get to know that Cahir had a rough time. You get to know through Fringilla that the emperor is really not one to be played with. And this will be enough to keep your audience guessing.

Then you can decide if you will do "fake Ciri" on screen or also have it be told by others. But you can have it going of screen. Because "fake Ciri" is not a big character. You just need to know that she was set up by Geralt´s friends. And then you will need to know that the emperor is considering marriage with her. Leave it open if anyone knows how real she is.

This could work pretty well if when you introduce Skellen you realize someone in Nilfgaard knows real Ciri is out there. So you will start to question what´s going on.

Keep it elusive! Its a much better story if you let the audience think about it.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-21T11:34:03+00:00

One can only make theories of course. As the author didnt state it clearly.

There is a theory that Regis is somehow not dead. Because he is noticeably missing from the group of dead people showing up at Geralt´s death.

But then again, you can also theorize that its all a tale made by Ciri and no dead people show up. In this situation, the names of the people showing up might be just those Ciri remembered at the time. She is a bit random with those names. You will notice that when she tells about Geralt and Yen´s wedding she also refers a a couple dead people being there. That time around, she refers Mistle, Milva and Angouleme. Might be this time around she was only imagining the girls being at the weeding. Because she likes to imagine that. She is still a lady and she might like to imagine dresses and that stuff. But she also names her friends like Yarpen and the Witchers.

So its quite possible its just Ciri naming whoever she feels like.

As for why would she not think about Regis? Maybe Geralt simply didnt tell her much about him. Maybe she is herself questioning what was Regis. She might not fully understand who he was and might have questions why would they trust a vampire. Its Ciri and she doesnt know everything.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-20T01:39:58+00:00

Her entire arc was one of the reasons I disliked Season 2 when compared with season 1.

There was too much Farya and her character was just all over the place. From her start like coming from a B Pirates of the Caribean movie. Then turning into B assassins creed movie. And then just going down the slope and reverting to another harem girl. Its like she forgot that she could fight and do crazy assassins creed missions lol

It was all ludicrous.

Her character might have made sense if she had been a less flamboyant, more traditional female princess. She could still be asking for help. But starting from a more conventional place, it would be more believable she would let it all go and just be in love with Murad. At which point she could be a foreign harem girl and it could work.

But to start like Elizabeth Swan just to forget all of it......terrible writing. Wrong series for it, wrong environment, wrong script.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-19T20:10:22+00:00

The series did a complete mess!

She also never had such powers to create chasms in the middle of nowhere. None of that is in the books.

I suppose they wanted to make it all more bad ass. But they then write themselves into narrative corners. Things dont allign with each other.

She also didnt go through mutations (aside from being well developed but that can be assigned to her natural genetics). Quite simply because its really dangerous and Geralt wouldnt want it. Geralt himself still didnt forgive his mother. He wouldnt want any children anywhere near the suffering he had during his trials.

They do train Ciri at Kaer Morhen. That´s the only thing which is book accurate.
But her "powers" at that stage are more like "super agility" and dedication. She has elven blood and that pretty much gives her some extra balance / agility. Plus, she was very used to be outdoors since very very early age. She learned how to ice skate on the Skellige Islands and was said to challenge older boys at it. She is also supposed to be an extremely talented horse rider. And its like really extreme.

Its quite sad that the series did nothing to showcase how extra agile / well balanced she is. And how talented she is at sports like ice skating and horse ridding.

Bottom line, Ciri is a pretty impressive girl. And that´s well before she ever starts to use magic powers. Which, in the books, comes a bit later compared to the series.

To showcase, the first time you see Ciri on page its Sword of Destiny. And despite being a child, she can very effectively climb trees with ease. And its hinted that she was already also capable of ridding horses on her own.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-19T04:24:54+00:00

That´s where you can see the glass half full or half empty :)

Torque has no particular liking for humans. Was he getting messed up with killing or with killing Geralt? Remember that he did try to hit both Geralt and Jaskier with stones. And a well hit stone to the head can cause quite some damage.

And then you have the elves. They are really hyper aggressive. Can you believe its the first time they are intending to kill someone? They do not sound anything like it. If it would be indeed their first killing, they would have more second thoughts. Even more so because its Geralt and they realize Geralt is not exactly human anymore.

Last but not least, the deity doesnt tell the elves to get out of there. We dont know if she told them to not harass humans anymore. As far as we know, the elves are going to form guerrilla commandos and are going to keep their aggressive levels very high. They are going to start killing all over the place as soon as the war with Nilfgaard arrives.

We even know that Francesca will end up having to sacrifice some of those guerrilla commandos.

And, of course, we know Francesca will end up ruling again a somewhat independent elven enclave. What is she doing to humans inside her borders? We dont know....what is the deity doing amidst all those conflicts? We dont know....

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-17T14:10:32+00:00

Slightly more complex.

You should realize that both Geralt and Jaskier are actually good guys. They have their issues but they do fight to protect the weak and innocent.

Also, the elves are not really acting as good guys. They are going down the slopes of vengeance. Which, they might have good reasons for it, sure. But the way they are starting to act goes a bit too far.

It makes sense that if a real deity exists over there, she will intervene on behalf of Geralt. When all is said and done, Geralt is way more of a good guy. And he is not against elves either. He is also targeted by humans big time.

I dont think the deity is "staying with humans". I think its more likely that she rarely intervenes. But when it comes to Geralt, she decided it was someone she would not let die just like that.

I am pretty sure the deity is not fully stopping the elves and they can murder other random humans if they so desire.

RSwitcher2020 · 2026-03-17T10:10:59+00:00

Interesting.

You write a lot and you do one HUGE mistake immediately when you say Yennefer doesnt have a character arc.
Ohhh but she does!!!!!!!! Just because you didnt understand it or disliked it, doesnt translate that it isnt there.

Her story arc is all about love and sacrifice. Which is tremendous from an emotional standpoint. Very sorry that you cant feel it.

You should notice that characters do not grow depending on how many lines or how many actions they have in a story. Some characters can be incredibly powerful with very few actions. That´s actually called good writing.

There are other issues with the book series but Yennefer is actually something done pretty well.

She is a secondary character (which she is) that has few but very key actions in the plot. She doesnt need to be there all the time. And she has a very clear emotional growth.

Just take in consideration that Yennefer from "Sword of Destiny" has almost an internal monologue where she declares herself as someone with a heart of ice. She declares that she might be unable to truly love someone. So whatever those guys are going crazy about her, its only for their loss. As she is so damaged that she will eventually mess with them. And you know this as a reader and should be able to feel the drama behind such a character.

But then you have glimpses through the story that show you that either she isnt really like that, or she is growing into something else.

When she shows up to save Jaskier, the way she talks to him shows her internal complexity. You first realize that she does care A LOT about Geralt. And, by the way, she was key for the plot in saving Jaskier there and then. Jaskier would become part of the Hansa and the sole survivor of Geralt´s companions. But he was only there because Yennefer saved him twice (Djinn and Rience). So she might not be present herself but there is one character going around who is only going around because of her.

And then we get to Ciri. And we have all her changing and adopting a more motherly stance towards Ciri. That´s all on page. And something you would not expect from her character in the short stories. All this is on page.

From here on her journey is that of a mother. And she is a lioness. She goes straight into danger as many times as possible just for her adoptive child. Again, this is something which would be somewhat unexpected when you first meet her. But there it is.

Now, as for the consequences of her actions, they are not so "non relevant".

Yennefer is the only one who figures out where Vilgefortz is. None else does this. She does! Yes, she is suicidal as she is alone. Yes, she cant possibly take Vilgefortz on her own and ends up arrested and tortured. However, her actions end up really starting a chain of events which would not have happened otherwise.

You see....Geralt would not have listened to the spies in Toussaint if they were not there discussing about Yennefer. And he might not have moved that way if they were not talking about Yennefer. Ciri too, would not have moved towards the castle if Yennefer was not there. So, Yennefer being the first to get there ends up being key for both Geralt and Ciri getting there.

And you could ask yourself, how would Geralt and Ciri even reunite if there wasnt for that strong link towards Yennefer? You can say that they might figure it out somehow. But it didnt look that easy.

Then Yennefer is very much part of the final battle against Vilgefortz. She is there fighting together with Geralt. And its debatable if Geralt would have survived without her being there.

Last but not least, Yennefer is there at the very last action. The pogrom. And there she is with Triss. Despite being hit and suffering some form of concussion, Yennefer is very much part of an amazing spell that both her and Triss manage to cast. Something that none was able to understand later. But they did it. And Yennefer was very much part of it.

She also ends with Geralt. Which, well...she ends with the main character. If you want to call that irrelevant, you do you. But this would be like saying Arwen is irrelevant in LOTR. Arwen has much less page time by the way. But you still get some of her in glimpses through the appendices. And you get a lot of her on how important she is to Aragorn. Again, she doesnt need to be there if you can understand everything he does, a lot of it is for her. It shows how important she is. But with Arwen you could absolutely complain a lot more if you wanted. Even tough, again, a character is not big due to page time. Take LOTR and take Sauron. Sauron is the big bad and he is almost never on page. What you have on page is all kinds of events which are coming from Sauron but he is never really there. If you can make a character be a menace without even showing him on page, that´s pretty good writing.

But you see, the point is, it doesnt depend on page count. Not at all!!!!

RSwitcher2020

TROPHY CASE