"True sacrifice comes from within."
Hello everyone!
But as it happened, I wanted to talk about it tonight.
And boy, do I have things to say to people.
Particularly because it feels like things that aren't as bad as everyone make them seem are getting review-bombed all over the place.
Not to mention all this woke going around ... I'm sorry, who gave anyone else the right to tell other people what they should or shouldn't like?
This world is going crazy, I'm telling you, if it isn't already halfway or more than halfway there.
Anyway, before I go completely on a tangent, I suppose I should actually start talking about the topic of tonight's blog post.
The Witcher: Blood Origin was a Christmas gift, and to me it keeps on giving.
Now if you recall, Witcher is the brain child of one Andrzej Sapkowski which Netflix took for its own massive fantasy franchise, attached Henry Cavill to it in the lead role, and called it a day. But now we know season three is the last one with Henry since the actor has left the show and will be replaced by Liam Hemsworth in season four, and I feel like that was one nail in the coffin for Blood Origin.
It was released right around the time of the news, you see.
Blood Origin, similarly to Nightmare of the Wolf, is a prequel, though this covers the time that we only get to hear about in the flagship show, which is the Conjunction of Spheres.
What is it? How did it happen? Read on.
Remember Jaskier? He of the Sandpiper fame? He's pulled into some sort of bubble dimension by the Seanchai (Minnie Driver), a collector of stories, who tells him what he'll need to craft what she calls the Song of the Seven.
Our story begins on the Continent BEFORE humans arrived when it was the home of the Elves at pretty much their peak, or slowly descending from their peak. Three kingdoms, constantly at war with one another, and their ruling families protected by the Dog Clan, the Raven Clan and the Serpent Clan.
We follow the (mis)adventures of Fjall of Dog Clan, who gets tossed out on his head after being discovered in the bed of the princess, which is a big no-no (though the princess-bodyguard trope is real, I will say that), and Éile of Raven Clan who's renounced her warrior ways and now wanders around under the name of the Lark, singing songs in her beautiful voice and generally just ignoring the rest of the world.
Our two unlikely heroes meet - and get into a brawl because why not - when both of them are apprehended in the middle of nowhere, though Fjall's release is bought quite quickly (and Éile gets herself out of there, no problem), and he learns he's being recalled. He declines (not that respectfully) and goes on his merry way.
But why was he being recalled, you might ask?
Well, remember those kingdoms at war? The king of one called a peace summit to finally negotiate what might have been a lasting truce. Only, Merwyn, his sister (and the princess who fucked Fjall), has other plans, personally kills her bodyguard (of the Dog Clan) while Chief Druid Balor unleashes a monster never before seen - and not of this world - onto the three groups to wipe them out.
Merwyn is then crowned Empress of a new, golden age empire, much to her delight. It doesn't last for long when she figures out she's only Balor and Eredin's puppet (remember the name Eredin, by the way). She killed her own family because - SHOCKER - her brother was going to use her for political alliance and marriage, and now she's got an even smaller golden cage to exist in.
This is a no-no for Merwyn who's bonkers enough that she considers herself the next Solryth, an ancient Elf who united her people and ruled them, so she's got her own schemes in place.
But back to Fjall and Éile.
Evading assassins and discovering they're all from the three different armies the kingdoms possess, they start making their way back to Xintrea to figure out what's what - during which journey they learn the royals are no more, Merwyn, the army and Balor rule, and Merwyn was the one orchestrating the coup from behind the scenes.
This, more than anything, fuels Fjall onto his quest to kill her purely because she annihilated his family (and also, because she's got to be stopped).
So Éile figures they need her old swordmaster, Scían (Michelle Yeoh), of Ghost Tribe. Ghost Tribe - or, what's left of it, which is only Scían - have a bone to pick with Merwyn's family who got rid of all of them, so she agrees to help the other two, not that they're wildly successful. After a bank robbery gone wrong Scían needs help or she'll die from an infected wound, which is how they team up with Brother Death - a retired sellsword who takes them to the nearby healer.
Oh fyi, she's his girlfriend, and she's got some weird mists surrounding her place that they have to cross through which show them their worst parts before they can really join her.
Zacaré does in fact heal Scían, but her celestial twin Syndril explains just what is ACTUALLY going on.
He was the one who discovered that the huge monoliths that are being excavated throughout the land (Dwarves, who were on the Continent before the Elves, buried them because they supposedly gave the land its fertility) can be used as gateways to other worlds. This is a power Balor wants to exploit and harness, and how he got that monster into this world.
So the plan adapts to Syndril opening a portal for them using a monolith that'll transport them directly to Xintrea, but something goes horribly wrong: they land on a random ass different world, are attacked by a monster, and barely escape with their lives.
They're now close enough to Xintrea to be able to see it, but might have been monster chow if not for Meldof, who takes them to her hidden lair in the forest. Meldof has a beef with the Elves to begin with - for one, she's a Dwarf, and for another, some Elves did horrible things to her beloved Gwen, so she crafted herself a war hammer and tracked them down one by one.
Now she's on board this reasonably suicide mission, which adapts YET AGAIN when Syndril is like: well, if we want to fight a monster, maybe we should create our own.
Dun dun dunnnnnnnn the first Witcher's about to be born! Or, proto Witcher I suppose.
Éile's the one who volunteers for the process; and while Scían takes off in the night, she and Fjall finally have a more tender exchange which has been brewing ever since their first meeting. See, the whole, princess thing? Fjall was more in lust and I doubt he had a choice. Besides, Merwyn killing his family kind of killed that off, too. But with Éile, he has an equal, who can reciprocate what he's feeling.
Sure it's condensed and compressed, but we're in a time crunch, people.
And oh also, Fjall sneaks off to be made the guinea pig as he's convinced Éile has so much more to live for, particularly given her reputation as the Lark, someone who can tell their stories on after it's all over with.
It's bitter-sweet because Éile refuses to leave his side during the transformation, and she's the one who can call back his more humane nature when he's almost lost to the beast they've unleashed into his system (crafted from the heart of that thing they killed, from the other world). Now, since we know Witchers are a horny lot, the next bit isn't as surprising given they haven't refined the process yet and Fjall is really rough around the edges, but after their little impromptu sexy break, Scían finally returns, and they head on off.
What was she doing, you might ask?
Well, she went on down to Xintrea and promised to deliver Fjall - correctly deducing Merwyn wouldn't want him killed, so that'd be their way into the palace. Merwyn, on her end, has by then blackmailed Eredin into helping her and crafted an uneasy alliance with Balor, her empress powers now in full swing. Doesn't quite minimize her desires and crazy though, since she decides hey! I'll colonize the new worlds and CULTURE them! EDUCATE them! They're all so barbaric!
Blech. She's ten sheets to the wind crazy, let me tell you, but oh well.
Anyway, what initially looks like Scían's betrayal turns into a master plan for them to disguise themselves - and the sellswords she gathered - into the empire's soldiers to march right in, which is when all hell breaks loose.
Zacaré and Syndril head for the monolith to take it down, finding themselves in a direct fight with Balor - who's brought Chaos magic to the Continent after sacrificing his nearest and dearest.
Merwyn is playing all haughty and will have Scían executed for betraying her friends - as if she hadn't done the same thing, but then she wants Fjall to impregnate her and whatnot, to which he laughs, calls her delusional, and breaks his chains, revealing his monstrous side. Then he goes to fight that stupid winged Predator look-alike.
Éile rouses the commoners to fight with them and eventually stabs Merwyn to death - though Merwyn goes and parks herself on her throne for dramatic effect because she wants to be remembered, or something.
Oh you will be, child, but probably not for the reasons you think. Or you'll just be forgotten, which is even easier.
Anyway, after Scían recovers her tribe's stolen sword, she, Brother Death and Meldof are fighting through the soldiers to witness Fjall's fight with the monster. Fjall ends up killing it - but only after it nearly takes out Éile and he finally allows himself to transform in full, becoming ... the Witcher Hulk? Not sure what to call him. Syndril's proto Witcher serum definitely isn't as refined as what we know from later.
Then he might have gone on a rampage - he bats away Brother Death and nearly caves his skull in - if Éile didn't sing him back to himself. At which point he begs her to kill him. Which she does ... I'm not crying, you're crying!
And Syndril? Welp, he connects himself to Balor, or has Zacaré connect him, then, realizing they're at a stalemate, he transfers their joint power into the monolith, which causes it to shatter the barriers between worlds as he and Balor die. Conjunction of Spheres, a la carte, everyone!
In the aftermath, as humans wake up on the Continent after the worlds merge, our heroes go separate ways. Brother Death is healed enough by Zacaré to live a peaceful life with her; Scían returns, at peace and finally in possession of what she'd been after; Meldof quietly disappears from history; and Éile burns Fjall before she continues on as the Lark.
In a quick time-jump, we see her in that middle-of-nowhere town from the start of the show, but now she's pregnant. With Fjall's baby! Aka ... Witcher Fjall's baby, which means that the Elder Blood from later on mixed with the original Witcher bloodline to create Ciri, eventually. Ithlinne, the child-prophet who initially described everything that Éile would have to do, now casts a second prophecy which states the Lark will sing the first notes of a song, but her descendant will sing the last.
So, ya know what, Ciri? No pressure, my girl.
We end the story as we started - with Jaskier, having written this all down, because it looks like this part of history's been forgotten. The Seanchai wants him to make and sing the song so the Elves will remember - a time of great adversity is upon them, so they need to draw on the Seven of their pasts.
Sing the Song of the Seven, Sandpiper. So the oppressed may find hope and strength in the tale of their
Ancestors, and be ready for the great change to come.
Ancestors, and be ready for the great change to come.
And then she dumps him right back into reality where he's just been rescued by some of the Elves, actually; but wait! You think that's the end?
Remember Eredin? I told you to remember him. He ran afoul of Balor with the whole Chaos magic thing, and Balor cast him out into some other world or dimension. We check in with him just before the story ends, and lo and behold! he finds a weird ass skull on a desert-looking planet that seems strangely familiar. Once he puts it on, you can recognize him as the leader of the Wild Hunt - that, conveniently enough, is after Ciri.
Or, you know, the Child of Prophecy, the child who can open portals, the child that carries Elder Blood and the DNA of the first, original Witcher.
DUN DUN DUN!
Whew, that was a tale and a half. And Jaskier composes a pretty good song out of it, too, but then again Bear McCreary KILLED it in 2022 with the soundtracks he composed. Nothing to complain about here.
The story of Blood Origin is told over the course of four episodes, despite the fact six were filmed, but apparently there's way more trouble behind the scenes than we're aware of. And I'm not sure what people are complaining about - The Witcher itself isn't exactly A-list fantasy, but Blood Origin is a perfectly respectable prequel.
To all those crying BUT THERE'S NO GERALT: this is 1200/1500 years BEFORE Geralt, idiots. Also Henry has Warhammer now so I'm pretty sure he'll be fine.
To all those crying BUT THE GAMES: let me give you a little hint, morons. And yes, I'm being deliberately mean because people are legitimately stupid over this issue. THE GAMES ARE NOT CANON. THEY NEVER HAVE BEEN. In actuality, they over a time period AFTER the story of the books, and are a loose WHAT IF. So crying foul because this show isn't like the game is the stupidest thing of all time. IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE. Get off the BUT THE WITCHER 3 high horse already and stop, just stop!
To all those crying YOU CAN'T TELL US WHAT TO WATCH: I'm not. Geez. I'm telling OTHER people to STOP saying 'omg this is so stupid don't watch'. I have plenty of problems with Rings of Power and ADORE LOTR, but I'd never tell anyone they shouldn't watch the show.
I have different issues on the topic, but honestly when you look at discussions, it's all over the place. I LIKED THIS MINI SERIES. It was fast-paced, sure, but what were you expecting with only four episodes going on? It covered the basics, it did the Conjunction, it showed there's still miles to go before a fully functional Witcher, and it gave us a core band of misfits to relate to.
If you can't use your imagination enough to actually enjoy a short one-off and see what they were trying to do, then I don't know what to tell you.
My advice for anyone reading this? Watch Blood Origin and form your own opinion. Maybe you won't like it - and that's fine, just don't let anyone else tell you you're SUPPOSED to not like it. Maybe you'll watch it and like it, who knows!
Either way, I definitely liked it. It hit the right beats for me and I enjoyed the cast.
Now let me prepare for my last season of The Witcher in peace.
xx
*images and video not mine
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