The Witcher: Blood Origin | Roundtable Discussion
More than a thousand years before the events of “The Witcher,” seven outcasts join forces in a quest against an all-powerful empire and an ultimate evil. As events lead up to the Conjunction of the Spheres. This limited series was released on Netflix on December 25, 2022. Join us for our roundtable discussion of The Witcher: Blood Origin.
This Discussion Will Contain Major Spoilers for The Witcher Blood Origin. Proceed At Your Own Risk If You Are Not Up to Date.
As Alvitir (Mark Rowley) attempted to unite the kingdoms, the first episode ended in tragedy when the three monarchies along with their protection clans were all murdered by the mage Balor (Lenny Henry), a creature he summoned from the other world, and Alvitir’s sister, Merwyn (Mirren Mack). What are your thoughts?
Amy – I felt like it was predictable that Balor would betray them all and plot their assassination as he spoke to the chaotic voice in the other world. The creature appeared out of nowhere, but the method by which it killed everyone left me speechless. However, Merwyn’s real shocking moment came when she slit the throat of one of her guards; all of this was in her mind to become Empress as she wants to create her dream of being the next Solryth.
PurpleBrina – I was kinda disappointed in the ending of the first episode, I wanted more. It was very obvious that the betrayal was going to happen because without it what would the show be about. The beast in this was definitely more scary than some that were in The Witcher.
Sarah – I enjoyed the setup with Merwyn and Fjall (Laurence O’Fuarain), although it was pretty obvious that they would get caught as soon as they started kissing! That was something I noticed a lot, even from the first episode, the plot wasn’t very deep or challenging. I very much enjoyed Henry as Balor, and felt that he really leaned into his role. As Amy says the betrayal was pretty obvious, but he was having a great time with it and the beast he summoned was pretty terrifying!
Seven strangers team up together to defeat a big evil, add in the creation of the first Witcher and you have the events of an amazing story. This is exactly what is happening, as Jaskier (Joey Batey) is learning the forgotten tale that was lost to time. With the tale only being told of the main events, is there anything you wish that we knew about the seven strangers’ back stories?
Sarah – This whole mini-series felt to me like a D&D campaign, and I thought that the seven heroes each got a decent enough slice of backstory, with the possible exception of Zacaré as we only met her near the end of the series. The pacing helped with this, dropping stories in episode by episode instead of giving us too much exposition in the first one. I also liked that we got glimpses of some of the other characters stories, and felt that even the ‘NPCs’ got a turn to have their story told. I would quite like to have known more about Brother Death, as he didn’t really seem to earn his name from what we saw.
Some of the glimpses that we got into the past made me wonder about the backstories of the characters, for example, Éile’s (Sophia Brown) life before she became the Lark looks traumatic, and I would like to know how she got from the earlier place to being a traveling bard, but there was enough background given for each of the lead characters that I felt like I knew them, which I took as a sign of good writing.
Amy – First off, I love how each of the seven has different skill sets and they all bring in their own slice of… uniqueness to the group. I have to say that Meldof (Francesca Mills) is my favorite of the group, and her hammer, Gwen. Her kookiness brings a little humor to the group of six very serious individuals. I really wish we learned more about Syndril and Zacaré; we know that they are celestial twins. But how did they find each other, or like what happened when they attempted to create their first monster.
PurpleBrina – I know this is going to sound cheesy but the whole seven strangers getting together made me think of MTV’s Real World. How even though they are all different, they all worked together and came together to get the big bad. I really would have loved to see more backstory of the Lark. Even as Sarah said “traumatic” but it would have been interesting to see her overcome and how she used her voice to make her life what it became.
With a land of magic, we got to see many different types being used. From Balor; an elfin mage who becomes power-hungry and wants to wield chaotic magic which would make him the most powerful mage on the Continent. To Syndril (Zach Wyatt) and Zacaré (Lizzie Annis), are celestial twins who created the first Witcher. Balor is later killed alongside Syndril after Zacaré binds the two together in an attempt to stop the Conjunction of the Spheres. For a brief moment, the worlds connected which resulted in pulling creatures from all over. What was your favorite magic moment? What did you think of Balor being the villain?
Amy – To me I think Balor was severely lacking in the villain department, he was set up to be the bad guy but I just did not get that feeling from him. Scían’s (Michelle Yeoh) brief moment of what ‘betrayal’ had more of a villain vibe than all four episodes of Balor. Watching and seeing how Zacaré wielded the fog was fascinating and really made with I had that magic to use.
Sarah – I really enjoyed the moment when Avallac’h (Samuel Blenkin) was being held up against a wall by Balors magic, after this theft of Syndril’s book, and he shot back at Balor in self-defense – the look of shock on both their faces at what he has done made me laugh a lot! I liked Balor as the villain, his character was given a halfway decent reason to be trying to better himself, and the way that he itched for more and more power was fun. Plenty of grass in greener syndrome happening for him! As with several other plotlines, his betrayal of Fenrick was obvious from the moment he sacrificed the twins, but that didn’t make the moment any less shocking for me. I grew up watching Lenny Henry as a comedian on TV, so it made a great change for me to see him getting to play a baddie!
PurpleBrina – I don’t think that my favorite moment wasn’t really magical but it was a powerful moment. It was the end when the Lark sings and brings back Fjall to his human form. There was just something about that moment for me that hit my heart. I love that part so much.
The Witcher: Blood Origin is a very short series with only four episodes long. What are your overall thoughts? Anything you’d like to add?
PurpleBrina – It was what it was. A wham bam thank you ma’am. It wasn’t supposed to be this epic 5 season event. It was a short and jammed-packed storyline to kinda sorta help you understand how The Witcher was made. I really did enjoy it even if it was short and sweet. I am curious how they will make this tie-in with season 3 of The Witcher.
Sarah – I had an absolute blast with this show. I loved that it was only four episodes long, so it didn’t ask for a huge chunk of time like some shows do. I found it camp, silly, uncomplicated fun. I could switch off my brain after a day of work and watch some pretty people running around fighting evil and righting wrongs, and I loved it. As I mentioned earlier it made me think of a D&D campaign, with everyone getting their time in the spotlight and a simple plot that didn’t tax my sleepy brain. I would like to return to this world for another mini-series, as I feel like there are more stories to be told in the same way. I also appreciated seeing a world of Elves that weren’t all slender, white, and blonde-haired, as they are so often portrayed. I appreciated the diversity in the show and the way that some aspects, such as the various same-sex relationships we saw on screen, were just accepted. Something I wish I had seen more of when I was younger!
Amy – Going to be brutally honest, this was a huge letdown to me. After the first episode, I had to stop watching for a few hours as it gave me a headache. In my opinion, the episodes bounced around too much, as they didn’t have flow through them. I can actually sit down and bullet-point everything that happened and that’s how it felt. Like the events where bullet points in each episode. Which caused me to get a headache or lose interest. All through I did have a few favorite characters and a few brief moments that I liked, but I can’t give it a glowing review. There are moments I wished they talked more or cleared up. I get that it is supposed to be told as a story, it just didn’t feel like a proper story.
What are your thoughts on The Witcher: Blood Origin? Let us know in the comments or on any of our social medias.
