The Witcher 10 Things The Games Left Out From The Books

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The Witcher 10 Things The Games Left Out From The Books

Though the video game adaptation of The Witcher remains fairly faithful to the original fantasy books, a few things from the story got left behind. During the last decade, video game trilogy by CD Projekt Red became a household name. The games follow the adventures of monster-slayer Geralt of Rivia as he travels through a world filled with Slavic mythology. These games won the cat-eyed mutant international renown. Before that, however, The Witcher was a fantasy book series by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. CDPR stays quite faithful to Sapkowski's original in terms of atmosphere, world-building, and the characters. But, there is still a lot of lore that has been changed or ditched altogether. Here are ten things from The Witcher books that the games left out. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY

Some Sorceresses Can Have Healthy Children

Witchers are infertile full stop. The topic of mage fertility is not nearly as cut and dry. The magic renders the majority of sorceresses sterile. But, few can bear children. It is important to say, however, that a child born to a mage often suffers from deformities and other severe physical and mental issues. The sorceress Tissai de Vries wrote an entire in-world book on the topic called The Poisoned Source. In it, the Aretuza rector calls for mandatory sterilization of all sorceresses to prevent such tragedies. The excerpt from de Vriese's book can be found in the Blood of Elves. Still, there are exceptions to the rule. Geralt himself is evidence that some sorceresses can have healthy children.

Geralt s Mother Was A Sorceress

While the Witcher 3 Wild Hunt gives the player a full origin story of Lambert if the right dialogue is selected. The games never mention Geralt's pre-Witcher past. On the other hand, the first Witcher book, The Last Wish, starts with the story of how Geralt's mother met with his presumed father. It depicts a powerful mage and healer, Visenna, helping a wounded warrior Korin. Even though the story ends with the two of them staying together, Sapkowski never confirms that Geralt is Korin's son. But, he is a child of Visenna beyond doubt.

Geralt Is More Of An Unsightly Speedster

It would be wrong to assume that the book Geralt is a wimp. But, both the games and the series put a tad too much of a hunk-with-a-sword out there. In Sapkowski's novels, the Brokilon Dryads even describe Geralt as lean and sinewy. His formidable fighting skills come from his speed, agility, and reflexes. The games take a lot of Geralt's fighting style from the books. Nevertheless, the fact that Geralt's heavy attacks can cut an armored man in half shows a considerable amount of strength. It shows in Geralt's design as well. By the Witcher 3, he exhibits the typical heroic build. With becoming a more traditional hero, the White Wolf also became easy on the eyes. The saga has him as a sharp-featured pale man with an ugly smile and unpleasant voice. The CDPR made the famous witcher into more of a silver fox.

Witcher Signs Are Different

The games give Geralt to play with. If the player chooses to upgrade their magic tree In The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings, they also gain Heliotrop. While most of the signs are used in the book, some of them are never named. For instance, Geralt uses sign resembling Yrden to lock himself inside Striga's lair. This short story is the first written adventure about Geralt of Rivia called The Witcher. It was originally published in Polish fantasy magazine Fantastyka. The possible Yrden only appears there and is never mentioned in the books again. In contrast, the player never gets access to Somne. It appears on the last page of the Season of Storms book. Geralt uses it to put to sleep a young sorceress, Nimue.

Steel Is For Monsters Too

The entire debate about witcher swords and what they are used for sparked with the release of The Witcher Netflix series promo picture. On it, Geralt, portrayed by Henry Cavill, carries only one sword strapped to his back. Both steel and silver are used for monsters. But, while games take this into a bit more conceptual space implying that steel is for human monsters. In The Last Wish, Geralt explains that some literal monsters are better fought with steel. The most notable steel sword in the books is Sihil. It is a dwarven forged blade that outclasses all the other swords. Zoltan gives his Sihil to Geralt in the Baptism of Fire, and the white-haired witcher uses it until the end of the saga. Geralt in books does have two swords, but, he only carries one strapped to his back at the time. The other is stowed on Roach.

Yennefer Was A Hunchback

In the books, Yennefer is Geralt's femme fatale without a rival. While she is mostly portrayed as manipulative, power-hungry, and cold, behind the icy facade hides a tragic backstory. Yennefer was born as a hunchback and only gained her beauty through magic. Geralt finds out that Yennefer was deformed when they first meet in The Last Wish. The slight unevenness in her shoulders gives it away. The Netflix series covered Yennefer's origins. The same cannot be said about the games. But, the lack of info on the raven-haired sorceress is justified since she doesn't appear until the third game. And even then, the amount of her involvement is determined by the player.

Leo Bonhart Might Have Been A Bluff

A tall, thin warrior with soulless green eyes as depicted by CDPR concept artist . Leo Bonhart was Ciri's major nemesis in the books. Hailing from , he became infamous for hunting down and killing witchers. As a testimony to his deeds, Bonhart carried their medallions. The fact that his trophies included a Griffin and Cat medallion is also the only indicator that other witcher schools existed in the saga. Bonhart is mentioned in the first game by Jean-Pierre during the swamp episode. While Pierre states that no witcher could stand against Leo. In the books, Yennefer questions whether Leo ever faced a witcher in a fair fight. As he never meets Geralt and Ciri kills him in the Lady Of The Lake.

Unicorns

Ciri first meets a unicorn called Ihuarraquax in the Time of Contempt as this fanart by portrays. In Sapkowski's books, unicorns are sentient beings who share the world with Aen Elle. They hold a strained peace with the elves. Unicorns despise their neighbors as Aen Elle forced them to open portals and enable raids of the human world. Later, when the ashen-haired princess flees the world of Aen Elle in the Lady of The Lake Ihuarraquax helps her. Thanks to him, the Lion Cub of Cintra manages to escape Eredin and teleport to another dimension. Ihuarraquax also aids Ciri when she saves Geralt and Yennefer and takes them to the Isle of Avalon at the end of the saga. Besides the infamous stuffed unicorn Yennefer keeps, the horned steeds never make an appearance in the games.

Triss Is A Glorified Extra

The first Witcher game places Triss as Geralt's main love interest. She plays a significant role in all three games and can become the love of Geralt's life. In the books, Triss doesn't make an appearance until the Blood of Elves. While she still aids Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer, it mainly happens from the sidelines. She is the youngest of the sorceresses, and that makes her more idealistic and naive. In terms of her involvement with the White Wolf. Triss has a major crush on Geralt. But, it never moves beyond that as the book Geralt belongs to Yennefer.

Genetically Modified Monsters

The mutant monster slayer bests across his videogame journey. But, he never meets Idr described in Sapkowski’s works. Idrs are centipede-like creatures designed by a mage Idarran of Ulivo. Their full names are inscribed on small metal plates attached to them. Bearing designations like IDR UL Ex IX 0008 BETA gives these genetically modified critters a futuristic vibe. Maybe CDPR saved Idrs for the sequel. After all, Ciri mentions she visited a world with flying cars. So here's hoping that in the future Geralt forms a dream team with cyber Keanu Reeves.