#the witcher season2

[astaldis]

Inferno

Fandom: The Witcher TV

Whumpee: Cahir

Words: 2,763

Published: 2023-02-17

Inferno

Summary:

Suddenly, the fire in the background is gone, extinguished by an invisible force. The hill is shrouded in darkness. The sorceress pushes her hands out toward the advancing soldiers with a forward thrust of her arms. A powerful stream of bright yellow and purple flames explodes from her palms. The flames surge and roll down the hill, a creeping barrage, a deadly avalanche. It devours trees, men, every living creature in its path. An inferno of fire, of screams, pain and death.

— At the end of the Battle of Sodden Hill, Cahir watches the incredible inferno of flames that is devouring his army. Suddenly, there is a blast of magical energy ... Missing scene from between S1 E8 and S2 E1 - how Cahir is captured by the Brotherhood.

Read on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45128743

[astaldis]

Definitely "Time to take a bath"! (read on Ao3)

"What are you doing here? And what fresh hell did you just crawl out of?" "A sewer."

THE WITCHER 2.4 Redanian Intelligence

[fangirleaconmigo]

Same anon from the Striga ask. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!

I've just read the next short story in The Last Wish, the one with Nivellen. I watched the show back when it aired with no prior knowledge of what the witcher was so I'm technically working my way backwards (I played the games a month or so ago) and I'm wondering why they chose to change the timeline regarding this story. In the show, Ciri is there when he encounters Nivellen and fights the Bruxa. After reading the story, I'm not sure how I feel about that? I like the book version of that event better. Though I did enjoy the knife game they played in the show. I feel like Geralt was less...I'm not sure what to say, but since he wasn't protecting Ciri things played out differently on that front. I'm not sure if I'm misremembering the show, but didn't Geralt leave Nivellen behind afterwards? In the book Geralt helps him leave and doesn't just leave after killing the being that essentially freed the man.

What did you think of the changes and the adaption of this scene?

Have a good day / night!

- 👻

Hello Striga Anon! Sorry it's taken me so long. I wanted to reread before I gave my thoughts and this is how long it took me to get around to that. That's how seriously I take this :D (Just to anyone reading, never worry you're bothering me, even if I take forever to answer. Just keep sending the asks and I'll get to them)

But YAY I LOVE talking about the books. SO, for this short story A Grain of Truth vs the TWN episode A Grain of Truth in S2, first of all, let me say that I recapped and reviewed the entirety of the episode The Witcher Season2 Ep1 here.

So, a compare/contrast of that ep with the books short story: (obviously TW: for all themes in this episode including Nivellen's action that led to his curse.) The main four changes I'll discuss are

Geralt having Ciri with him

Geralt knowing Nivellen previously

Nivellen being a less ethical person

Geralt leaving Nivellen in distress

Having Ciri along. At this point, Geralt and Ciri need to be traveling together. They needed an episode where they get to know each other, I assume, before they show up at Kaer Morhen. You see, in Season One they literally LEFT OUT Geralt and Ciri's storyline and just have them run into each other's arms at the end.

They got a lot of (well deserved, imo) critique for that. This relationship is literally both the inciting event, and the point and heart of the entire series. The showrunner said she took that to heart so I expected for them to have to try to build their relationship from scratch and try to make up for lost time.

So they reached back into the first book and used A Grain of Truth as the setting for Geralt and Ciri spending time together traveling and getting to know each other. I think that was a good choice.

Geralt knows Nivellen. I can only assume they did this for one of two reasons. 1, he has Ciri with him, so I cannot imagine him just waltzing in and staying at the house of a sketchy stranger with her. Also, 2, Nivellen tells stories about Geralt, so that acts as a device for Ciri to get to know him and trust him better through the eyes of another person.

Nivellen is a less ethical person. In the book, Nivellen doesn't know that Vereena is killing townsfolk. In the show, he knows she’s killing and he looks the other way. So, that is a huge huge huge difference as far as Geralt's moral compass. I think they did that to resolve something I find a bit sticky. (Some people don't. Your mileage may vary)

The issue of Nivellen raping a priestess. In the book, he characterizes it as something he did under peer pressure. He was running with a bunch of thugs and they coerced him. Geralt seems to completely accept that as a mistake. As a coerced error and bad luck. I did not like that. It didn't seem to jibe with Geralt's character. He tells us in the same book that the first 'monster' he killed was a rapist. But there are those who disagree with me.

Geralt leaves him. In the books, Geralt befriends Nivellen and offers to help him. In the show, he walks away basically like...so kill yourself then.

I have seen some viewers say that they didn't like that. They said Geralt is supposed to be kind and helpful, and he did help in the book. Meanwhile, he was so cold and heartless in the show. I have also seen people say that they accept the rape as a youthful mistake and that the whole point of the story is that people can redeem themselves. That they can choose not to be monsters. That this is a positive message and a classic witcher theme.

I of course, respect those viewpoints. I can see that. But for me, it’s a no. I discussed this in my recap. But fair or not, I cannot stomach the thought of a rape as a mistake of peer pressure. I know that there are shades of gray in every area of human behavior but that bit bugged me SO BADLY. Geralt literally kills rapists on more than one occasion to defend people. So, to see him be like, oh, yeah, you made a mistake, let me help you, with zero internal struggle ESPECIALLY knowing that his mother figure is a priestess (different temple but still) that I just could not. It irritated the fuck out of me.

I was hoping the show would either take out the rape or make Geralt react more strongly to it. (see, I said I'm not always a book purist). And what they did was they made Nivellen a worse person (ignoring murders) so they could have Geralt walk away and have it make even more sense. Geralt is like...oh...rapist AND murderer (by refusing to stop his bruxa lady from killing), and Ciri agrees. So, he and Ciri are both like fuck you bye.

I don't mind seeing Geralt be cold hearted there. He can be cold hearted sometimes when he thinks someone is a murderer and a rapist. I was fine with it.

So, anyway, Your mileage may vary, but I was good with all of these changes in episode one. And I think it was a strong ep that worked well.

I can’t say that about the next episode.

[heartstoppermybeloved]

Henry Cavill (The Witcher season3) Yasmin Finney (Heartstopper season2)Cast AgeAnd Real Life Partner Henry Cavill#The Witcher season3#Yasmin Finney#Heartstopper season2#Cast AgeAnd Real Life Partner. via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlr7JtDaCOg

[riviawitch]

Wow not used to seeing Geralt this soft

[tschulijulesjulie]

thank you @aeide-thea for suggesting this one. its not exactly how i remembered - its shorter, not multi-chaptered and they do visit Kaer Morhen - but i actually think it is the one. i think my brain muddled both fics together (and maybe even other ones peppered in too) lmao.

anyways, this is a big recommendation for both of them because my boy eskel deserves some love (especially after he wasn't in season 2 at all yeah in this house we deny the existence of most things season 2 ) and Jaskier has two hands (and season2!Geralt actually don't deserve either one, but this is post season 1 so its fine)

so yeah, thanks for finding it <3

i know im not that active in the witcher fandom anymore (and a lot of you aren't either) but i recently went through my ao3 history and reread some of the fics thatt made me fall in love with this fandom.

one of them was Lost/Found by @/xxenjoy on ao3 (that's @witcher-and-his-bard here on tumblr, i believe - formerly @witcher-and-his-bard-archive)

and it was great and just as amazing as i remembered - just, once i had finished it and it didn't end like i thought it would, i realised i had mixed it up in my mind with another, quite similar fic, in my memory.

so i went looking for it. i spent hours looking through my ao3 subscriptions. i spent hours looking through my tumblr follows. i cannot find it.

heres what i remember:

it was a very similar setup to Lost/Found: after the mountain Jaskier runs into Eskel and starts traveling with him. Eskel is kind and they fall in love. eventually they run into Geralt who apologizes. they end up in a throuple.

whats different to L/F is, that it switched POVs i think - i do remember some of it being from Eskels perspective. he was quite self-conscious and afraid of losing Jask when they met Geralt.

i also thi k they didn't visit KM like in L/F

i think it was rated E but i might be wrong

also i have literally no idea how long it actually was - i think it was multi-chaptered, but i also might be wrong

if anyone has an idea which fic that might be - pleeeeease tell me. i feel like im losing my mind, i feel like my brain just made the memory of this fanfic up.

[mejcinta]

I don't like this Francesca woman at all. 😒

[naamoosh]

The fact that 'Fire Fucker' which has no lyrics at all is marked ‘explicit’ just because it’s called 'Fire Fucker'.

meanwhile, 'Whoreson Prison Blues' which:

1. is called 'Whoreson Prison Blues'

2. has a Chorus that goes “Go fuck yourself, you whoreson 'Cause you're through fuckin' with me”

isn’t

just... both confuses and greatly amuses me

[maddie-w-draws]

Yeah but Jaskier in season 2 outfit with Wolfie just REEKS of Trashy Romance Cover. And Geralt gets into enough shit that he can be the damsel.

ur so right

[clown-of-rivia]

[soymimikyu]

Easily my favorite scene from season 2 is when the dock worker tells Jaskier it took him till verse 4 to realize there were multiple time lines. It’s the greatest shot at something season 1 did so well (and went over my head till someone explained it to me and I saw season 1 three times).

[astaldis]

Season 2 minus the Eskel scenes

For @bawdybean

But maybe others who love book/game Eskel, haven’t watched season 2 yet because they don’t want to see the Eskel rubbish there, are interested in what to skip in S2, too?

Hope I got everything (the seconds are not very exact though). If I missed something or got something wrong, please correct me!

Episode 1: Safe to watch, no Eskel here

Episode 2: 

1. Best to stop after Coen says: “Here’s to another winter, together.” (9:00) and start again at 10:55 (after the Witcher logo)

2. Stop after Vesemir: “What if your princess is more than you bargained for?” Geralt: “I know that already.” (at 13:27) and start watching again at 14:30

3. Stop after Ciri: “What’s that?” Geralt: “Stay here.” Ciri: “You know, in Cintra I went to parties-” Geralt: “Cirilla.” (21:30) Start again at 25:15.

4. Stop after Vesemir says to Ciri: “It’s hard to do when I don’t know who I’m protecting. Or what I’m protecting her from.” Start again at 31:35.

5. Stop after Geralt: “But you protected us anyway.” Vesemir: “No. I taught you how to fend for yourselves. “(34:35). Start again at 37:00.

6. Stop after Voleth Meir says to Yennefer: “You will beg me to take it from you. And I will.” (43:00) Start again at 49:20.

7. Stop after Fringilla says “If she’s really that evil, why did she let you go?” (50:28). Start again at 52:00.

Episode 3:

1. Stop after Geralt says: “When you finish this, get some rest, Ciri.” (2:50) Start again at 6:41.

2. Stop after Lambert says to Ciri: “Still wanna be a Witcher?” (14:40). Start again at 17:00.

Hope you’ll find a way how this can work. Maybe somebody who has already seen the whole thing or does not care much about Eskel can skip the scenes forward for you? Good luck, hope this helps!

[tossacointoyourlocalidiot]

chapter 2 is hereeeee!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41859846/chapters/105974280#workskin

[witcheronboard]

I finished the second season in a week… I purposely dragged it out because I knew once I finished watching I would feel empty again!

[heartstoppermybeloved]

Henry Cavill (The Witcher season3) Walliam Gao (Heartstopper season2) Cast Age And Real Life Partner Henry Cavill#The Witcher season3#Walliam Gao #Heartstopper season2. via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su-RdqVGcm8

[dreamcatcherie]

“I think there's something wrong with me. Everywhere I go, people die. Sometimes, I feel like I could burn the whole world. I wouldn't mean to. It just makes me feel so afraid. All the time.”

Princess Ciri of Cintra, The Witcher, Season 2: Episode 1