The Witcher Season Two Isn't That Bad: From A Fan Of The Books

Since the release of its second season on December 17, 2021, The Witcher has been charting within Netflix’s Top 10 Movies and Shows. Originally a book series, which was then adapted into a famous video game, fans of both harshly criticize the show. However, the new season captivated me enough to watch all eight hour-long episodes in one sitting. While the show may not hold a candle to the books, I’d say it comes pretty close (spoilers for the book series and the show lie ahead)!

The main conflict of season two centers around the Deathless Mother, or Voleith Meir. Trapped in a hut by the first witchers thousands of years ago, she escapes and threatens the safety of the world. The Deathless Mother is a completely new character to the franchise, like the elf Dara last season. I think that this was a clever move by the writers, as this timeline in the books focuses more on explanations of lore, rather than action. Now with the Deathless Mother, the explanations are complemented by thrilling fight scenes to keep viewers engaged.

With the introduction of the Deathless Mother, the explanation of other “spheres” (worlds) is clearer than in the books. We see Geralt and Istredd (who surprisingly work well together in the show despite their burning hatred for each other in the books) come to the conclusion that since the new monsters appearing in their world have never been sighted before, they are from a different sphere. This is great foreshadowing of the true nature of the Wild Hunt and Ciri, who are later revealed in the books to have the ability to travel to different worlds.

In this season, the Queen of the Elves, Francesca Findabair, is introduced. In the books, all the sorcerers and sorceresses held each other in contempt and barely got along. Watching the show, it surprised me that Fringilla and Francesca became allies, which is all due to the Deathless Mother. Surprisingly, in the show Nilfgaard hated the elves like everyone else, unlike in the books. They frowned upon Fringilla’s ally and by the end of the season, it seemed as if they were sending her to exile for it. This conflict was left on a cliffhanger and will probably be developed more in the next season, but I can’t help wondering how; Fringilla is extremely loyal to Nilfgaard in the books, but in the show, they set her up as someone opposite of that.

The biggest disappointment for me is that they revealed the White Flame a.k.a. Emperor of Nilfgaard’s identity way too early. After reading all seven books of The Witcher, my jaw physically dropped at the reveal of Emhyr’s true identity. It is the biggest plot twist I have ever experienced, and there was a certain excitement that came with having that reveal at the very end of the story. Emhyr is prominent throughout the story, having multiple scenes to himself which the show cannot simply leave out. For a TV show, it would be hard to keep his identity shrouded without drawing suspicion, as in the books, I wasn’t suspicious of anything like the reveal happening at all, so I understand why the showrunners made this decision.

While the show isn’t faithful to the original plot, I think that the showrunners executed this adaptation beautifully. As a fan of the books, I like how I didn't exactly know what was going to happen in the next scene. To the fans of the books, at least give this second season—and the show overall—a chance!