The Witcher: Blood Origin

An underwhelming premiere at least introduces Michelle Yeoh's character. A recap of “Of Ballads, Brawlers, and Bloodied Blades,” episode 1 and the premiere ...

And anyone who played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt should at least recall the name of Eredin, the elf in Merwyn’s royal guard ( [more info here if you’re interested](https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Eredin_Br%C3%A9acc_Glas), but be warned — future spoilers). When the dust settles, the ruler of the newly united realm is none other than Empress Merwyn, who has been set up as a puppet by Balor to keep the people complacent while he does whatever he wants behind the scenes. It might even have worked if not for the scheming of Balor, his Chief Sage, who uses the peace meeting between Alvidir and the other rulers to summon a monster and kill all the heads of state in one shot. [who is having one hell of a year](https://time.com/icon-of-the-year-2022-michelle-yeoh/). Like much of Blood Origin so far, this meeting is somehow both convoluted and undercooked — there’s a lot of talk about a poisoned king and a sacred sword born out of black sands — but it does promise more Michelle Yeoh, so who could argue? But almost everything interesting in Blood Origin’s premiere happens after Fjall is banished, when Merwyn moves to the center of the narrative. Their dynamic is bog-standard enemies-to-allies stuff, full of little tiffs both physical and verbal, but by the end of the episode, they’ve already developed a begrudging respect. Jaskier, who previously wisecracked about this story seeming cliched, is somehow impressed by this summary of the story we’re about to see. And then there’s the recent news that Henry Cavill, star of the flagship The Witcher, is departing the series after its upcoming third season — under [potentially troubling circumstances](https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/henry-cavill-allegedly-fired-witcher-165838764.html) — to be replaced by Liam Hemsworth for season four. But in the lag time between the announcement of The Witcher: Blood Origin and the show’s premiere this week, very little in Netflix’s nascent Witcher-verse has gone according to plan. With her lover out of the kingdom, Merwyn’s brother, the young King Alvidir, sees an opportunity to marry her off to the ruler of a rival kingdom and stop a war. Banished by his own father, Fjall ends up as a mercenary with a penchant for mumbly quips and brothels, because come on, you’re going to need somebody vaguely Geralt-like in a Witcher story.

If you've been wondering how 'The Witcher: Blood Origin' ties to 'The Witcher', we have your back. From the connection to the novels to what role Joey ...

No, Andrzej Sapkowski’s original series doesn’t have a novel that’s explicitly about the Conjunction or the creation of the first witcher. Blood Origin begins with Jaskier (Joey Batey) in the middle of a battle that takes place during the events of The Witcher. That’s when she tells Jaskier the story of the first witcher and the Conjunction of the Spheres. The four-episode miniseries is a prequel to the events of the The Witcher. According to this prequel, the same event that eventually led to the combining of these realms also led to the creation of the very first witcher. Specifically, the main narrative of Blood Origin takes place about 1,500 years before the novels or Netflix’s series.

The Witcher: Blood Origin is a prequel miniseries to the main Netflix series, and it spreads its massive sequel story across just four episodes in its only ...

So any returns to these characters and the time immediately after the Conjunction of the Spheres would likely have to come from an entirely new Witcher spinoff. And then in the edit room, we went, ‘OK, what’s the best version of this sandwich we can make?’ The tastiest sandwich you can make that would make you just go, ‘That was not too much, it was not too little. But with so much meat left on the bone, it’s always possible that the Witcher universe could return to this time period, and maybe spend a little more than four episodes there next time. The sauce was just right.’ And that’s what we tried to do.” From everything we know, Blood Origin is just a miniseries, so we shouldn’t expect to see a second season. And while it certainly is a little bit about that, mostly it isn’t.

In Episode 1 of The Witcher: Blood Origin, Jaskier is charged with retelling the story of the Seven, the Golden Empire, and the Conjunction of Spheres.

There’s a lot Episode 1 does to build the story of The Witcher: Blood Origin. Distrusting everyone after the entire Ghost Clan was poisoned, Scían has made a life for herself as a hermit in the Valley of Lost Souls. On the night of the treaty, the generals and commanders of the three kingdom’s armies leave the conference room and look at the door behind them. Similarly, Merwyn wants to unite the Continent and use its might to colonize other dimensions. Fjall and Éile are caught in a suspicious storm while returning to Xin’trea, forcing them to seek shelter in Pryshian territory. On stage, the Lark sees a group of men harassing a young girl and decides to teach them a lesson. However, Niahm is shot with an arrow and killed, leading the Lark to a bloody confrontation with a group of masked assassins. Just as Pryshia counts on the Raven Clan to protect its king, Xin’trea counts on the Dog Clan. That’s why he ends up in a cell on the island of Inis Dubh. Kicked out of Xin’trea and told never to return, Fjall starts to wander the world alone, getting into trouble everywhere he goes. In her previous life, Éile was the fiercest warrior of the Raven Clan, an old guard responsible for protecting the king of Pryshia, a mighty elven kingdom. The creature is, in fact, a collector of stories, and a being responsible for spreading long-forgotten tales that people need to remember to move on with their lives.

Over four episodes, Netflix's The Witcher: Blood Origin tells an origin story to The Witcher series.

[Michelle Yeoh](https://time.com/6239974/michelle-yeoh-2022-person-of-the-year-reception/) (meaning the show is guaranteed to have at least one great character). In the world of The Witcher, songs are not just stories, but history, and the singing of them is what ensures that history is not forgotten. Fans of the main series who are invested in the world therein will find no real reason to dislike this one as well. [good old-fashioned mayhem and monster-killing](https://time.com/6220602/vampires-pop-culture-2022/), Netflix’s The Witcher: Blood Origin, out Dec. Since this was the story of the world of The Witcher before there were any humans (or witchers) in it, there are technically no human characters at all, which speaks to how well-established the overall series is. She and a band of outcasts must come together to protect their people, first from their own leaders, but then from the otherworldly threat those leaders unwittingly unleash in their quest for power.

Blood Origin is trying to speedrun through two different shows at once. A recap of “Of Dreams, Defiance, and Desperate Deeds,” episode 2 and the premiere of ...

• On the way to meet Zacaré and Syndril, there’s a fun, trippy sequence in which Fjall and Éile fight through nightmares caused by the Marsh of the Mists. Meldof now calls her hammer “Gwen,” talking to it and even kissing it when the deed is done. But it seems to me that “beautiful scenes of people around campfires” is exactly what Blood Origin is lacking. The crew agrees to head to Xin’Trea — some to close the gateways to other worlds, some simply to kill as many members of the Golden Empire as they can. [In an interview](https://redanianintelligence.com/2022/12/10/the-witcher-showrunner-details-cut-content-from-blood-origin/), Witcher showrunner Lauren Hissrich talked about Blood Origin’s cut content, explaining that a lot of “beautiful scenes of people around campfires” were removed during editing to make the show more propulsive. And how cunning can she be if she literally just sort of bumps into Eredin on the streets, which is the only reason she’s able to pitch him on switching to her side? But just when it looks like Scian might die, freeing Michelle Yeoh up to get back on the Oscar campaign trail, a convenient deus ex machina comes in the form of Callan, a.k.a Brother Death. Unfortunately, the bank is empty, and the gang is ambushed. That implies a willpower that goes far beyond what anyone expects of her, and that seems to be where her character is going. By the end of this episode, their numbers have doubled, though we’ve barely gotten to know the three heroes we’ve already had. How dangerous can Balor be if Merwyn can simply throw on a hooded cloak and wander out of the castle? [Game of Thrones](https://www.vulture.com/tv/game-of-thrones/) pastiche set in Xin’trea, where a bunch of people are squabbling for control of the Golden Empire they build together.

In Episode 3 of The Witcher: Blood Origin, the Seven have a well-deserved party before they march into Xin'trea to topple the Golden Empire.

Before the episode ends, the gates of Xin’trea open, and the Seven get ready for their final battle. At the end of the process, Fjall dies. Unable to stop the process, Éile gives Fjall all the support he needs. By giving one of the Seven the powers of a monster, Syndrill hopes to crate a weapon strong enough to take down the Empress’ draconic bodyguard. Merwyn decides to visit Balor in prison and tries to convince the mage to join her cause. However, Éile (Sophia Brown) and Fjall (Laurence O’Fuarain) convince him a warrior should go through the procedure. The mage siblings’ past pain might prove helpful, as the ritual they used could be tweaked to make a warrior bond with the heart of the beast they brought from a different dimension. Meldof takes the whole party to a makeshift home she built inside a cave. Balor pretends to agree with the Empress’ terms, but it seems like his time in prison allowed him to realize what would be a true sacrifice to give to the ethereal being in the barren dimension. In Episode 3, there’s a lot less jumping back and forth in the narrative, and the main characters actually have time to connect with each other. That’s because, despite the imminent danger, the Seven find time to enjoy what little pleasure life can give them while they get ready to invade Xin’trea and take down the Golden Empire. Despite taking Balor out of the picture, Merwyn’s plans don’t come to fruition.

The spinoff prequel tells the story of the Seven, a group of heroes who band together to defeat the Golden Empire and end up causing the Conjunction of the ...

In The Witcher lore, Avallac’h was supposed to marry Lara Dorren before she fell in love with the human Cregennan of Lod. By the end of The Witcher: Blood Origin, Éile and Meldof (Francesca Mills) try to make a peaceful life for themselves, far away from Xin’trea. In the prequel, Eredin is the High Commander of the Golden Empire. Blood Origin tells the origin story of the Wild Hunt’s leader, Eredin (Jacob Collins-Levy). Blood Origin also features the creation of the first prototype of a Witcher. Éile asks Ithlinne (Ella Schrey-Yeats), a girl who’s a powerful seer, to touch her belly and predict the future of her child. The Conjunction of the Spheres also brought humans to the Continent, a race of warmongering conquerors that would spread through the lands like cancer and put Elfkind at risk. One of the goals of the Seven is to destroy the central Monolith High Mage Balor (Lenny Henry) wants to use to draw forbidden power from other dimensions. [The Witcher: Blood Origin](https://collider.com/tag/the-witcher-blood-origin/) is set 1200 years before the events of [The Witcher](https://collider.com/tag/the-witcher/), the prequel still leaves many untied threads the main series will definitely explore in the future. So, let’s break down what happens in The Witcher: Blood Origin’s ending and explain what all of that means for the future. The lowborn’s insurrection allows the Seven to infiltrate the palace, take down Empress Merwyn (Mirren Mack), kill the Empress’ monstrous bodyguard, and destroy the central monolith in Xin’trea. In the final episode of The Witcher: Blood Origin, the Seven achieve their goal of toppling the Golden Empire by igniting the flame of revolution in the hearts of the lowborn.

The bad news was Henry Cavill's departure from the role of Geralt of Rivia, which will be taken up by Liam Hemsworth in Season 4. Now, on Christmas, Netflix has ...

Maybe we’ll get more of Avallac’h in Season 3 of “The Witcher” and see if Ciri and Geralt believe that he’s a time traveler who’s there to help. The writers put this scene in to get you excited about the connection of “Blood Origin” with the rest of the franchise. She also says that one of Lark’s blood (meaning Éile’s bloodline) is going to bring about the end of the world or an end to the oppression of the elves. However, Syndril spends all his time in the forest, and Balor wastes his time in Xin’trea, getting replaced by Avallac’h as Chief Sage and then being reinstated when Avallac’h fails to operate the monolith. Syndril and Zacaré head to the monolith to destroy it before it can be accessed again. You see Syndril in the Xin’trean jail, and then you see him with Zacaré. Instead of doing that, Balor imprisoned him and forced him to finish configuring the details of working with the monoliths so that he could not only access that realm but also control every monolith that exists in the known universe. Set 1200 years before the events of “The Witcher” and in the elven kingdom of Xin’trea, Fjall Stoneheart (who belongs to the Dog Clan) is Princess Merwyn’s bodyguard. The latter of the two predicts that Éile will be going out on a quest in the name of her clan, and it’ll conclude with the merging of the worlds and the death of a beast by Éile’s blade. He’s shown to be talking with a faceless, shapeless entity in order to gain access to chaos powers under the garb of getting endless food and treasures for the Queen and the Golden Empire. “Blood Origin” then directly cuts to Merwyn dreaming about becoming the emperor of Xin’trea and taking the elves to their next golden age. The concept sounded great on paper as we were promised a story about the downfall of the elves, the birth of the first witcher, and the Conjunction of the Spheres, with the one and only Michelle Yeoh in the mix.

'Blood Origin' opens plenty of possibilities for the next story in the Witcher-verse. A recap of “Of Mages, Malice, and Monstrous Mayhem,” episode 4 and the ...

And that leads to the best scene of the episode (and the series): When Éile and Merwyn drop the overblown public personas they’ve each accumulated and confront each other, elf-to-elf. I’ll say this for Blood Origin: Even if this odd little chapter of the Witcher universe wasn’t exactly a riveting page-turner, it has me plenty curious for the next story. When Ithlinne touches her belly, she delivers a prophecy about a future child of Éile’s blood, “singing the last.” There are a few ways to read this, but Blood Origin decides to save them for the future, leaving us — and Jakier — in the dark. When she talks about how the old ways had to die for a better world to exist, you can see that her conviction is real. The Conjunction is finally near the end of the episode. This plan is doomed by its reliance on Balor, who betrays her at literally the first opportunity and absorbs all the chaos magic for himself, becoming the most powerful being …

Several great mysteries were solved over the Netflix miniseries' four episodes, including Witcher 1.0's signature grunt, the source of monolith magic and a ...

It could be a dream or an actual battle, but let's count on seeing it in a future episode of The Witcher. He's one character many Witcher fans expected to meet in Blood Origin, and in the beginning, he's young and somewhat naïve. Though Geralt knows that Voleth Meir has been on the Continent since the Conjunction of the Spheres, Blood Origin reveals Eredin has been stuck in that ghostly world for just as long. Remember the last episode in season 2 of The Witcher? As I mentioned in my review of The Witcher: Blood Origin, showrunner Declan de Barra chose the Conjunction of the Spheres as the focus of this series. Flashback to the first episode in season 1 of The Witcher. Remember little Ciri disguised as a boy, playing a game in the street with a group of kids? He's standing in the doorway, and he slowly grins at Ciri. As a reminder, white frost will end it all and the world will be reborn from the seed of Elder Blood. When Ithlinne touched her stomach and went into fortune-telling mode, she told Éile of a last seed that will carry the note of a song that will end all times, and one of her blood shall sing the last. Looming above all this is chatter about the end of human civilization (via the Black Sun curse) and the demise of elves -- and the world -- according to Ithlinne's prophecy. She's pissed at the humans, who are at the top of the social ladder in the present era.