#twn s2 spoilers

[emotional-support-fandom]

Jaskier: Do you ever touch yourself when you think of me?

Yennefer: *stares at Jaskier* Of course I touch myself when I think of you.

Jaskier: *jumping up and down* Really?

Yennefer: Yes, it's called a facepalm.

Jaskier: Meh, i'll still count that as a win.

[limerental]

actually the scene that pleased me most deeply in surprising ways was ciri and jaskier watching yenralt make up. that's it right there, that's the energy. that's them.

[cap-sweet-and-salty-sadness]

it really feels like the twn writers read geraskier fics because there's too many fanon things that ended up in s3: Bi Jaskier, Geralt communicating his feelings and thanking him, "Jask", people recognising Jaskier not only as a bard but as a viscount and being in awe of him, his proven competence, etc. Maybe they finally realised we don't like him being the butt of the joke and the comic relief, maybe my expectations for this season were so low that I was pleasantly surprised, but I don't believe in coincidences. The conversations were just too good for the writers to not have sought inspiration elsewhere. We know some of them hate the books and there's fics out there that are masterpieces, I wouldn't be surprised.

[autisticwitcher]

I'll try not to make a too long post about this because like, whatever, but the thing that has me the most upset about the Witcher s3 is actually the way the writing treats the physical space these characters inhabit because this is supposed to be a big fantasy story! This is a big continent in which different countries are at war with each other! Nilfgaard trying to take over the rest of the contintent is a big deal because it would make the empire MASSIVE. But you don't get that feeling from the show because because their writing just chaotically flip flops between character constellations and places to hit as many plot beats from the books as it can until the world has collapsed so that everyone somehow lives in an area that doesn't feel bigger than a large metropolitan area.

Take the sene where Ciri is chased by the Wild Hunt for example. That scene is lifted fromt he books, but it doesn't have the same context as the book and so it's free of any internal logic. In the books Ciri and Yen are in Gors Velen, Ciri and Yen fight, the whole bath scene yada yada but Ciri learns that Geralt is nearby on a farm so she runs away to Geralt, gets overtaken by the hunt and Geralt sensing with his Witcher sense that something is wrong in the area goes to check it out and finds (and rescues) Ciri. In the show we don't actually know where exactly Geralt is. Is he close? Is he far away? Where even is that castle, how long was he traveling with Teryn, where do Anika and Otto live? Doesn't matter. Geralt is going to Ciri and Ciri ran away vaguely towards Geralt so somehow they run into each other in the middle of nowhere in the woods right when the Hunt dramatically reaches her. Yay father daughter reunion, we can now move onto our next plot point. (And yes I get that this was also supposed to resemble their meeting in S1 but like, that at least made sense because we are told they are in the same area and also looking for each other and also fate intervened a little bit...but you're telling me destiny somehow gave them a magic father daughter radar?)

Or take the Radskier meeting in Loxia: How tf did Radovid know where Jaskier was? I get that Loxia is a settlement by Thanedd, the students are also lodging there while the guests occupy their rooms, but like, when they show the house it looks like it's in the middle of the woods. If it had been a townhouse, then yeah sure this makes perfect sense. Radovid learns Jaskier's in town, decides to stop by. But no he goes out the middle of nowhere where this house seems to stand, then sneaks about when he runs into the forcefield, not even waiting for the door to open, to get a fun "Jaskier thinks there's an intruder but actually it's his boy Radovid" sequence which...aesthetically fun but WHERE is the narrative logic to any of that?

Cahir is shown in some fancy castle in Nilfgaard in one scene, then the next have him and several other riders carrying a lot of goods to the elves who are somewhere in the North, potentially up in Kaedwin where their last marked location was, maybe closer to the border in Lyria or Temeria or somewhere. How did he get there? Did the whole convoy step through a portal? Did he portal to the nearest post and form the convoy there? We can imagine the possibilities but it would have been so much better to show it just to give the distances weight and meaning.

And don't even get me started on Mistle in Gors Velen...like great that she and Ciri had that interaction, the moment itself was fun, but like...do you know how far Gors Velen is from Gheso? How little sense it makes for her to be there and then later be elsewhere? That there are several books worth of plot because Ciri stepped through a portal that lands her in the middle of the Nilfgaardian Empire where she is alone and has to somehow survive while her parents travel leagues to find and save her?? And so having Mistle meet her in Gors Velen only to later hang out with the Rats in Gheso two weeks later makes it feel like Ciri stepped through a portal in New York to land in New Jersey? When it should be more like stepping into a portal in New York and ending up in Texas?

Thanedd and the political plot are sooo central this season but because everyone immediately reaches everyone else and characters even on horseback travel long distances so fast it feel like they're squabbling about who gets to rule which burrough of New York or something, not countries on a continent. Like look at the map:

It doesn't feel like these characters exist on this map, and that just throws off the whole vibe. Like yeah some of the writing decisions are stupid, some of the decisions characters make have no internal logic, and the costuming is mostly bad. But I feel like all that would be much better if it all felt more consequential because there was something behind it all. But instead only the places the characters are in right now matter and they get there because they have to for plot and they keep going back and forth because it's more fun if they split up but also they need to reunite but also they need to split up again and so we keep riding around in the same part of the woods.

Idk where I wanted to go with this, maybe I'm just nitpicky. Maybe I'm too autistic and got worked up about the wrong thing, but it's just so frustrating that it feels like they did not consider why plot point A leads to point B in the books and so just haphazardly throw shit together because they think it looks fun in the show. And the problems with the physical space just exemplify that.

[vordemtodgefeit]

oh god what are they doing to our boy this season i am worried

[raspberry-rampage]

oh, to be the creators of the witcher netflix series

and make pretty much the female main character of the series an annoying spoiled brat, which would’ve been fine and even endearing if they were younger looking and her development/character arc focused on overcoming those flaws;

and take a character, who’s in juxtaposition to other characters who are clearly non-human/identify as non-human HUMAN which allows them to have a different perspective on the world and be relatable and make some of their acts truly brave, and make them... non-human;

and try to invent the magic system and come out with something completely illogical, inconsistent and overall bullshit in delivery;

and look at a series that could’ve been one of the first big international series that celebrates the Slavic culture, but instead make it general fantasy or with Celtic/Nordic inspiration;

and take a beloved book series that’s pretty much considered a national treasure of fantasy writing, with a world-wide fanbase thanks to several succesful games, call their ‘creation’ an adaptation while it pretty much is a big budget fanfiction;

[yennefxr]

Why Vilgefortz threw himself off a cliff (ft. Girlboss Yennefer)

TWN based spoiler heavy Vilgefortz ramble about subterfuge, Aretuza's destruction and his ultimate frenemy Yennefer. 

If you ask yourself ‘Why did Vilgefortz do that?’ or ‘How could Yennefer do this?’ This one’s for you. 

Vilgefortz throwing himself off a cliff in season one to the pearl-clutching horror of Witcher fans was actually kind of genius. The greatest sorcerer on the Continent loses a sword fight to Cahir of all people and as a result Vilgefortz is written off as a thoughtless, useless and ineffectual villain. 

It’s too far of a stretch to consider the central antagonist of the saga may have an ulterior motive and that the fight’s victor was total misdirection.

Cahir was always going to walk away unscathed for two reasons:

Cahir doesn’t know it yet but they’re coworkers and it’ll reflect badly on Vilgefortz if he fillets him. 

Cahir is the only person that knows the true identity of Ciri and this is invaluable information to both Emhyr and Vilgefortz for their respective elder blood schemes.

The fight was subterfuge and the outcome never mattered, what did matter was that Yennefer was there to witness it. 

Vilgefortz’s behaviour is overtly theatrical during this scene - he dramatically flies in, he’s throwing swords about the place, he’s doing flips, Christ he even has a gimmick involving an endless supply of swords. He could have severed the mind connection with Yennefer at any point but it was imperative she witnessed this performance. Why? 

In S2 Vilgefortz has essentially fucked his way to the top. He’s not exactly subtle and there are clues to his true motives throughout all of his scenes. For example:

  He tells a Nilfgaardian soldier he can’t save him today because he’s Team Aretuza right now (a cute throwback to him bashing that Northern Kingdom soldier’s head in at the end of S1).

He is openly conversing with Emhyr within Aretuza, most likely about elven baby slaughter.

And finally he is so obviously manipulating Tissaia that it’s almost criminal he didn’t look down the camera and wink. But I digress.

Vilgefortz’s theatrics return during Cahir’s fake execution (because yet again Cahir was never at risk). Our attention is firmly on Yennefer and Cahir’s Bonnie-and-Clyde style escape and not on how every northern royal or high ranking member of Aretuza saw Vilgefortz hand that axe to Yennefer before she went full renegade. This may not seem significant but Cahir has now miraculously survived two near-death experiences and both times Yennefer and Vilgefortz have been at the helm. 

For Vilgefortz to put Cahir’s neck on the line he would need to know exactly what Yennefer intended but so far they’ve interacted for maybe five minutes at most. So how much does he know about Yen? 

During his introduction in S1 he knew exactly how to locate her, her romantic past with Istredd and the strength of her bond with Tissaia. Using the latter he expertly manipulates her back to Aretuza and onto the battlefield with a few clever words. 

They strategised together at Sodden to coordinate the counterattack and in the process he let her take the lead, so he knows exactly how she operates in combat situations. 

By the end of season two he knows Yennefer is with Ciri and Geralt since he has been tracking Ciri from the moment she fled Cintra through Rience. He knows all about her family unit and what that means to her to have that connection. 

Vilgefortz has clearly been studying Yennefer since before he appeared on screen, but if that isn’t a convincing enough argument, he’s also a mind reader. He’s so adept at it in the books that he’s frequently shown as bored waiting for characters like Geralt and Ciri to catch their thoughts up with his conversation. 

Whilst not yet confirmed in the show, an audition transcript posted back in May 2022 on RI alludes to Vilgefortz being far worse than just a mindreader: 

Voice 1: I can tell you that whoever did this has grand plans. It’s a mind-control enchantment. Anyone’s head would be a tangled mess.  Voice 2: Mind control? To what end? Voice 1: I don’t know. But it’s damned powerful. It has elements of sorcery, druidic magic and there’s even some ancient elven in this spell. That’s the other thing. The subject must be part elven. Maybe a couple of generations removed, but still. Voice 1: Who would have the power to do something like this? Voice 2: I don’t know anyone with the knowledge to do something like this. It would take lifetimes to acquire these all these skills, but whoever he is, he has a variety of interests.

This scene is now confirmed to take place during episode 3 of Season 3 with one of these voices being Geralt. 

Vilgefortz knows in S3 through his own studies of elder blood that Yennefer will need help tempering the chaos within Ciri and he knows exactly where she will turn. Straight back to Aretuza and her own maternal figure Tissaia with whom he has conveniently allied himself with both politically and romantically.

We've seen in the trailer that Geralt is less than enthused by this but Yennefer is adamant it's the best thing for Ciri.

Vilgefortz will actively defend and encourage Yennefer’s return to Aretuza despite her reputation across the Continent as a traitor, because Ciri will fall right in his lap. And whilst it seems strange for Vilgefortz to defend Yen he’s actually done it before in this deleted scene with Stregobor.

Stregobor: There’s something unnatural in her Vilgefortz: And there’s something unnatural in how entrenched your protege is with Nilfgaard 

Vilgefortz could have commented on any of Stregobor’s antics but he deliberately chose to rebuke Istredd. Stregobor’s student and one time spy. It’s reminiscent of teachers arguing about their student’s behaviour. It’s small but Vilgefortz has planted that seed of connection between him and Yennefer and he has been doing so continuously. 

Stregobor is truly the boy who cried wolf after the Renfri debacle and as such the audience (and Aretuza) is totally unsympathetic to his protestations of a traitor being amongst them. He’s so adamant in his prejudice towards Yen that he blindly appeals to the real traitor, again emphasising how the lines between Yennefer and Vilgefortz are starting to blur. 

Stregobor is the first to identify the connection but TWN has not been shy in making parallels between Yennefer and Vilgefortz:

In S1:

Yennefer is strapped into a chair and forcibly sterilised. This never happens in the books and it is voyuersticly grisly in the show. Vilgefortz straps women into chairs and forcibly removes their wombs as part of his elder blood experiments in the books.

Yennefer stands at the top of Sodden Hill and scorches the Earth below. In the books Vilgefortz’s last stand at Stygga invokes a similar image. 

In S2:

Yennefer is the hero of Sodden. In the books, Vilgefortz is the hero of Sodden. Though in the show they can't seem to make up their minds.

And the piece de resistance is that Yennefer hunts Ciri across the Continent to sacrifice her for magical powers. In the books, (you already know where this is going)it’s Vilgefortz. 

Yennefer and Vilgefortz themselves even acknowledge their shared calculating natures during a terse discussion of the political fallout after Sodden.  

Possibly their most contentious connection is Tissaia.

Vilgefortz was justifiably criticised for being romantically involved with Tissaia but there’s zero consideration as to his motive entering that relationship. Putting aside Tissaia and Vilgefortz’s shared political aspirations and their similar ideology on what to do with girls who no longer serve their purpose (eelgate), we’re left with Yennefer. 

We know Vilgefortz has been manipulating both women and that he’s been watching them closely. He repeats Tissaia’s own words to Yennefer back to her like a mantra:

But to what end? Vilgefortz has nothing but contempt towards Tissaia and Yennefer’s relationship, and later Yennefer and Ciri’s bond. This is all a projection of his horrific mommy issues (more on that later) but here's an example of his feelings towards motherhood taken from Lady of the Lake: 

“I would have given you a reason for your crippled excuse of a maternal instinct. Although you’re dry and sterile as a stone, you’d not only have a daughter, but a granddaughter too. Or at least an excuse for a granddaughter."

Aretuza is the perfect hunting ground for Vilgefortz to find victims for his elder blood experiments. Students that don’t ascend are callously discarded, and coupled with the fact the girls have only been sent there as they have zero place in society and their families want them gone, they now fit the profile of ‘perfect victim’. Nobody’s that won’t be missed. If S3 follows the books then when Vilgefortz and Tissaia take control over Aretuza Tissaia will be promoted to Arch-Mistress meaning her protection of the girls slips as her her attention shifts elsewhere. Now Vilgefortz can play.

However there was a moment in S1 that makes me think he’s been set up an opposing force to Tissaia’s maternal nature since the beginning:

Vilgefortz has been snatching these girls from just beyond Tissaia’s reach. He is making a mockery of her role as rectoress and the motherly role she has adopted towards her girls. This has now been confirmed as true via RI.

What becomes of Vilgefortz’ victims is something Geralt will discover in S3 when he goes on the hunt for Rience’s master and discovers a grotesque monster consisting of girl body parts fused together by fire. Fun. 

Tissaia and Vilgefortz’s relationship was never simple - consider these motives and exactly why he is so intimately placed within Tissaia and Yen’s relationship. Vilgefortz has dug his claws deeps and intends to weaponise Tissaia’s demise against Yennefer to break her.

Now onto the coup, in a bid for redemption a politically motivated Yennefer will be directly responsible for organising the conclave of mages in S3. Whether she is directed to do so by Tissaia or Vilgefortz or through her own volition remains to be seen. We know there are ulterior motives regardless of who hosts.

 What’s particularly striking about this is that as Thanedd burns it completes Yennefer’s self fulfilling prophecy, as warned about over the seasons by Stregobor.

Stregobor is adamant Yennefer will lead Thanedd to ruin and compares her alleged actions to that of Falka during her rebellion in S2. Anything to reclaim power. He insists history will repeat itself and likely foreshadows his own death at Thanedd:

The question is will Stregobor uncover the true identity of Aretuza’s traitor or will he die clinging to the belief that Yennefer will betray them all?

Moving onto the aftermath of the Thanedd coup the tiny blink and you miss it interactions between Vilgefortz and Yen take form - the fight that never was, the power exchange in front of Kings, her return to Aretuza, and all the jarring similarities between them. Yen was never working with Nilfgaard, she was working with him. At least this is what Vilgefortz wants the Continent to believe and he’s been planting that seed since S1. Stregobor noticed it. The Northern Kings saw it. Geralt will see it. 

Now Yennefer is all alone and her relationships have been systematically destroyed. 

Aretuza is gone and Tissaia is dead. Geralt has only just forgiven Yen for trying to sacrifice Ciri in S2, what will his natural conclusion be when Yennefer takes them to Aretuza and lands them in front of Vilgefortz? The Lodge knows Yennefer is innocent but that doesn’t fit their narrative so her friends run with her being a traitor and are happy to let her die as one.

Yennefer is now on the run and the only path she has is directly back to Vilgefortz.

TWN may not delve as far into her isolation as the books did; there are hints that Geralt and Yennefer will face Vilgefortz together and honestly I would prefer that. Geralt’s acceptance that Yennefer betrayed him in the books never sat well with me so I would welcome that change in the show. 

So why has Vilgefortz done this to Yen? We begin to understand when Vilgefortz tries to recruit Geralt during Time of Contempt; he beguiles him with philosophy, immortality and concerning ideologies regarding women but Geralt simply doesn’t bite, until Vilgefortz hits too close to home.

"And there at the end of the world, I met a woman. A sorceress". "Be careful", whispered the Witcher, and his eyes narrowed. "Be careful that the similarities you are so desperately searching for don’t lead you too far".

Geralt rejects all of Vilgefortz’s attempts to find common ground with him and alluding to Yennefer is a step too far. Vilgefortz denies this connection and goes onto discuss how his preternatural rage stems from his mother’s rejection, the callousness of the Brotherhood and then back to the sorceress once more. 

“I left her. Because she was promiscuous, arrogant, spiteful, unfeeling and cold. Because it was impossible to dominate her, and her domination of me was humiliating…I left her, because she was like my mother. I suddenly understood what I felt for her was not love at all…a perverse need for suffering and atonement. What I felt for that woman was hate.”

Vilgefortz’s reason for becoming a mage was hatred - he has nothing but contempt for women and the magical Chapter. Yennefer is the embodiment of that hatred, from her own cold and spiteful demeanour and later her selfless maternal quest to save Ciri, she is the perfect target for his rage. He wants her to suffer and be humiliated as he was. 

Neither Vilgefortz or Yennefer were ever going to be satisfied sitting courtside at the beck and call of a King, in that respect and in many other ways they are similar. But their major difference is where that quest for power leads them and for Yennefer in TWN that leads her to attempting to sacrifice Ciri to regain what she lost. 

Yennefer gains far more when she meets Ciri - she finds connection, she finds a daughter, she finds everything she has been searching for. Her desire for power pales in significance to the point she would sacrifice her own life to save Ciri’s. She becomes utterly selfless and in doing so distinguishes herself from the Lodge and the antagonist she has been paralleled against from the second he appeared on screen. This is the Yennefer that will be tortured by Vilgefortz for months, but she accepts this as long as she can keep Ciri safe.

 I don’t necessarily agree with Yen’s actions in S2 but they’re not unfounded. The issue is the fandom at large has been drawn to caricatures of these characters that are the very antithesis of who they are. For a fandom that loudly professes their commitment to complicated women Yennefer was relegated to a love interest in S2 remarkably quickly. Fuck her complexity, she’s holding hands with a man now, therefore who cares what she did to Ciri. Let her be a little evil.

 It’s just such a dull reductionist take on Yen. 

Vilgefortz falls victim to this too - there’s zero exploration or even expectation of a motive which is tragic as the antagonist of the saga. It’s unusual how little traction Mahesh Jadu gets as a villain considering tumblr’s obsession with them but I imagine once Vilgefortz interacts with Geralt perception will change as it did with Yennefer after interacting with Jaskier, Istredd after meeting Geralt and I can only imagine the reception Phillipa will receive after interacting with Jaskier too. Is it an unfortunate pattern or is it just a coincidence that these characters only get traction after being blessed with meeting the golden white men of the franchise? I digress.

Vilgefortz and Yennefer are complicated characters who make zero attempt to coddle the audience but what they do do is contextualise each other. They are what the other hates most, and yet they’re mirror images. They deserve more than being reduced to lazy tropes and love interests and hopefully in S3 more people give both Anya and Mahesh the opportunity to show the depth and intrigue their characters can bring to the Witcher. 

[abeautifulblog]

What was the verdict? What did you think? Is blood origin worth watching?

Yesssssss, question mark?

[My thoughts/opinions on Blood Origin, accompanied by screencaps from the groupchat liveblog -- spoiler-free, actually!]

Blood Origin has a more interesting story than TWN S2 (it's the story of how the Conjunction of the Spheres happened, and how the first witcher came to be, eyyy! :D), and the actors do a better job convincing the audience that their characters actually care about the other people onscreen.

In fact, coffee-mage said, "Honestly, Blood Origin is rekindling my enjoyment for Witcher more than S2 did, just because this is such an interesting universe"

The scenery is quite beautiful, and so are a lot of the costumes. The empress's costumes in particular have that gorgeous, hedonistic opulence reminiscent of Queen Amidala's outfits, stunning and original, legitimate works of art in their own right -- although they are offset by a lot of pleather armor with no coherent aesthetic, and wigs that are worse than what you'd find at Party City.

I didn't even hate the het romance, because it was a friendship first and a romance second, and it was built on a foundation of earned mutual trust and respect. (And it's enemies-[to-friends]-to-lovers, if that sweetens the pot for anyone.) It was a bit zero-to-sixty when they make the shift from being friends to making cow eyes at each other, but a lot of things in the show were, which brings us to Blood Origin's two main failings:

1) That the story was too rushed. This show had kind of the opposite problem from TWN S2 -- that instead of fucking around and wasting time in order to make a thin amount of plot stretch to cover eight episodes, Blood Origin was frantically trying to cram a complex, multi-layered story with a large cast (like, 8+ primary characters?) and all their backstories and motivations and character arcs into four episodes.

2) That the writing is just. not. good.

I'll be blunt with you guys -- whoever's writing for TWN is simply not smart enough to tell a grown-up story, not on an individual level, and not a world-building level. Blood Origin is supposed to involve a lot of complicated political maneuvering, but these writers' idea of what makes up the mechanisms of power is childishly, cartoonishly simplistic, and it could not be more clear that they have no idea how empires are administrated, how diplomacy and soft power work, what kind of time scale these things run on.

Which isn't even touching on the nonstop abuse of As You Know, Bob dialogue, and how, thanks to the time constraints, almost everyone's backstory is told-not-shown. "AS YOU KNOW, I WAS A FOUNDLING AND YOUR PARENTS TOOK ME IN, AND THUS I GREW UP TO REGARD YOU AS MY OWN SISTER--"

Like, guys. GUYS. This is the kind of shit I wrote in middle school.

It's better than TWN insofar as they remembered that they needed to actually introduce us to these characters, tell/show us what they're like as people, what their relationships and conflicts are, but MAN the dialogue is clumsy as fuck. Character interactions are as basic as can be, and any nuance or complexity there is coming from the actors, not the writing.

The premise of the show -- the story, the characters -- is not fundamantelly flawed. It had the potential to be very good, but it's not, because the execution was hot dogshit.

Joey is a delight as always, but his role in this show is so tiny and SOOOO pasted-on, just a sliver of framing narrative at the beginning of the first episode and the end of the last, so if that's what you're coming here for, you're going to be disappointed. I truck with the theory that they shoehorned him in at the last minute to try to draw in Jaskier fans and keep Blood Origin from being a total flop, because he's not integral to the story at all -- you could remove the framing narrative without a single hiccup.

(Although from a meta perspective, a lot of the plot holes make so much more sense if you interpret it as Jaskier making shit up. Something unbelievable happens and you're just like, LOL, OH LOOK, THERE'S JASKIER BACK ON HIS BULLSHIT. XD)

Michelle Yeoh is also a treat, though god only knows how they roped her into this trashfire. To be sure, her role is so thin that she's basically doing nothing but serving stage presence, but by god she's serving it in spades.

Anyway, tl;dr --

C+

High production value, and a concept with a lot of interesting potential, but foiled yet again by the holistic incompetence of TWN's writing team.

(Seriously, just -- HIRE. BETTER. WRITERS. It blows my mind that they pour all this money into these shows, but then don't think it's worth their time to find people who know how to tell a story?? Like they don't seem to think that part MATTERS? When to my mind, it's the only part that matters??)

So, is Blood Origin worth watching? I can't say, that is a question you will have to answer for yourself. *I* had a great time, but that was more about the day-drinking and getting to share the experience with friends.

So yeah, I guess that's my recommendation -- watch it with friends.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[fangirleaconmigo]

You’ve probably gotten tons of asks about it already but are you going to make posts talking about the new season now or wait till part 2 comes out?

Hello dear! I tend to think and mull for a long time because my brain is slow.

If anyone wants my preliminary thoughts that are subject to change after seeing the rest of the season, here’s a few things:

SEASON THREE SPOILERS

Canon bi/pan bard is fantastic so far. It feels very natural, the emotions, the chemistry is there, very special and particular connections, etc.

Joey said he had a lot of input and it shows, because it does feel personal. I love it. Anyone who listened to my Whiskey with Witcher podcast interview knows that I’m a big fan of that development.

He also talked up Hugh Skinner and I was like well we shall see. People always talk up their scene partners because they know them and care about them which is GREAT but that doesn’t always actually translate to the screen for the viewer.

But Hugh WAS amazing. Joey was not exaggerating his expressiveness, passion, and chemistry in the role.

Hm. Let’s see what else.

I really appreciate that they haven’t ‘dropped’ the centrality of the Yen and Tissaia relationship. I’m not a fan of the Vilgefortz Tissaia romance addition. But at least they haven’t minimized how important her other relationships are.

Tissaia and Yen is the relationship that hooked me into the witcher to begin with. It had complications and dramatic tension and I was intrigued by how it changed the two women. It is so central to me, and I'm glad it still is for the show.

Ciri: It’s a whole new Ciri. Very different from the books. It’s not worse, it’s just different. In the books she just wanted to be left in peace and wanted nothing to do with being royalty or the motherhood and reproduction that this entails.

She has like a rage moment of almost riding into Nilfgaard at one point but she comes to her senses.

But the show cast her much older and this is just a different story. It’s about leadership. She wants to be a queen. Like I said. Very very different Ciri.

I have always believed you can change things you're adapting, in fact you have to. The test is, what you change it to has to be compelling enough in its own right that people aren't sitting there bitter about what they are missing out on. And I think her internal struggle and arc has potential. We'll see how it plays out the rest of the season.

The stuff about experimenting on the girls and messing with their heads and mushing their body parts into one is obviously brand new as well. I don’t really get it so far, but we’ll see how it plays out.

I believe it's ideas adapted from Season of Storms but I've only read that book one time, so I'll have to go look again.

The plot line has potential. Again, the story in the books was about bodily autonomy and the villains were all trying to basically turn girls and women into breeding machines. The lab was discovered and was horrific in a different way.

So what they’ve done is a bit more “fantasy” and I think it is potentially a much better choice for the kind of show they’re doing. I don't think I would want to see TWN put in a bunch of extreme and graphic reproductive and sexual violence and torture. I think you have to know the kind of show you're making and have a consistent tone. So I'm open to something else, for sure. But I’ll reserve judgment until I see how they wrap it up.

I loved all of the Ciri and Yen stuff. Their conversation and scenes are great. I know for a lot of people it's sort of hollow after S2. Since I made the decision not to quit the show, I have to let that go or I'll be miserable. So, I'm blocking out and denying a lot of season two.

Season three I'm enjoying. Yes, it's camp and silly in a lot of ways. Of course it's a flatter more simplistic version of the story. But we are on season three folks. If that is offensive to people, they should have quit already. Hatewatching is bad for the soul and constant hate and hostility is bad for the fandom. If ya can't have fun with it, time to move on.

For me, I had a great time watching it. I'm actually re-watching it already. I didn't rewatch season two at all (except for the first ep) so that's a good sigh already.

How I judge the season's writing as a whole will have to happen after the second part. And I'll let you know then if you send me another ask.

What I'm looking forward to the rest of the season:

The lodge. I think Cassie Clare is a fabulous Philippa but I want to see her come into her own self. I hope that's coming.

Keira Metz's brass knuckles.

FRINGILLA. We've seen so little of her so far, but what is there has intrigued me. Where are they going with her? I hope she's a bigger part of the last three eps.

MERIHART I want Philippa x Triss so badly ghhhhhh.

Milva. I can't wait to meet Milva.

Jaskier x Radovid I hope is a satisfying arc, and I believe it will be.

Geralt and Jaskier in Brokilon oh I hope they do it justice.

WILL WE SEE THE UNICORN??

Thanks for dropping into the ol ask box hun!

[piceuscelus]

okay so it occurs to me that i should warn now: s3.i drops tomorrow (in a few hours? idk) and i will not be a spoiler-free blog as i am currently queuing up to binge-watch s1 and s2 in a row so i can watch the new stuff ASAP like the s2 drop, i'll be tagging any spoilers/TWN posts cas "celus twn spoiler" for probably a month or so

extra reminder: i'm still not here for negativity about the show. further details about that later when i know how i actually feel about the season, but i do know i won't want any of the bashing negativity here.

love y'all :D

[petrifiedforests]

I posted 3,292 times in 2022

33 posts created (1%)

3,259 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@purpurred

@multiplelizards

@itsrapsodia

@chanonce

@rebard-main

I tagged 1,483 of my posts in 2022

#the witcher - 526 posts

#critical role - 149 posts

#stranger things - 96 posts

#star wars - 75 posts

#cr3 - 54 posts

#twn s2 - 50 posts

#the witcher s2 - 48 posts

#clone wars - 44 posts

#the witcher spoilers - 37 posts

#stranger things 4 - 35 posts

Longest Tag: 103 characters

#and he'd have a lot of vids about bees and bumblebees buzzing around the insect hotels he built himself

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Fanbinding of Sore Must Be the Storm by foxy_mulder

Part 1 of Binding The Thing With Feathers series

This is the second part of the series, and this time the marbled paper has found its way on the outside and is not hidden away. Just like spoiler alert the FEELINGS

@fox-muldest has gifted us a soft and thoughtful Geralt who tries his best and I absolutely adore the whole story from beginning to end! If you haven't, go check it out!

12 notes - Posted May 8, 2022

#4

Fanbinding of Tunes Without Words by foxy_mulder

The book has book linen over the spine and then the majority of the cover is done with green paper. To tie it all together, I chose a strip of the endpapers as a border between the two.

I had a lot of fun formatting it and adding pictures.

See the full post

16 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

#3

I'm here to tell you that it's fine to think about murdering your SO if they don't stop snoring. Especially if you moved to another room and now hear them through the wall. It's only the execution of the thoughts that's generally frowned upon.

17 notes - Posted August 17, 2022

#2

Once more for the people in the back: GoncharOv is the name of the theatrical release, GoncharEv is the director's cut

82 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

For every new Roach a new Geralt

82 notes - Posted October 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[des8pudels8kern]

Another week survived!

Barely.

Everything at work has continued to be non-stop and hectic.

To give you an impression: We've known for six weeks that I'll be taking over for my team-lead when she retires. Monday is her last day, and half of that will be brunch with the team and the higher-ups. You know how much time we've spent with her briefing me and teaching me the new tasks awaiting me? Half an hour, Friday afternoon, after we should have gone home for the weekend already and well after our brains were any good.

I slept 11 hours Friday to Saturday and the same Saturday to Sunday, and I am still just so fucking exhausted.

I am confident I can do the job, but, oh, the first months will be tough, and I'll be floundering to much.

Due to the above mentioned everything, I still haven't watched TWN S3. Yes, including 3.1, which has been out for weeks. Jaskier is a Blorbo, and I don't have the mental bandwidth for new Blorbo content. I have decided to just enjoy the posts on my dash, spoil myself silly, and not put pressure on myself to watch now when I'm not in the proper state of mind for it.

I also have hardly even thought about the fake!Sith Obi-Wan AU, because I am just so, so done. There is, however, a rambling voice message on my phone that I left myself in the middle of the night about a scene I want to write. I have not listened to it yet. I know what state I was in when I recorded it and am afraid to find out how incoherent my explanation of something I thought of as a genius idea might be.

I did, however, watch Good Omens S2 yesterday and today. I adore Good Omens, but neither of them is a proper Blorbo to me and ergo it's, well, easier emotionally.

My verdict with very vague spoilers: I did actually enjoy Jim. Muriel is a cinnamon roll and needs to be protected at all costs. And, while I do understand and sympathize with Crowley, I'm Team Aziraphale when it comes to that big decision. I think Aziraphale chose the way he did not because he still firmly believes in a broken system, but because he believes, down to his very core, in doing good, and that means not abandoning those caught in said broken system. Crowley, meanwhile, ultimately only cares about himself and Aziraphale. It's why he wanted the two of them to leave and go to Alpha Centauri in S1, and tbh it's the same attitude that Gabriel and Beelzebub share and that let them do as they did. They are, all three of them, ultimately selfish (in a me and mine, screw everything else sort of way), whereas Aziraphale may seesaw between being alligned lawful or chaotic good, but cannot bring himself to not at least try to protect his people.

[twenty-qs]

Ok but the way Jaskier is always asking Geralt “is this what pleases you,” “what’s wrong Geralt talk to me,” “you must want something out of life,” “I’m Geralt I’m so sad and complicated”—Jaskier might treat it like a joke to make it go down easier, but nobody else EVER considers Geralt’s feelings. Nobody else talks to him like he’s just a dude who’s bad at feelings and sometimes needs emotional support. Nobody else would dare to suggest that this grim faced nonhuman muscle mountain might be sad, and on top of that decide to help him. Like I don’t care if it’s platonic or romantic, it makes me feral that even when Jaskier hated Geralt most, he still was asking “what for do you yearn”—nobody else ASKS Geralt these things. They just assume: either he’s a witcher incapable of emotion, or he’s bound by destiny so it doesn’t matter what he wants. To Jaskier, it matters. It always matters. And that’s so tender 🥺

[emo--chanel]

nobody:

absolutely nobody:

not a single soul:

jaskier in disguise: a buddy of mine saw the sandpiper take his shirt off in the lake. and he said that the sandpiper had an eight-pack. that the sandpiper was shredded.

[whereismymonsterlover]

Also why is no one talking about Jaskier playing the spoons in the cell. Joey was crushing it. and the fucking legendary delivery of him stopping, looking towards the fighting then swiftly going back to playing spoons

[inber]

just a reminder that jaskier called yen his wife so they're legally married now no takesies backsies