Which parts of the Witcher books is Netflix going to adapt?
By Daniel Roman
Image: Netflix/The Witcher
2. The Butcher of Blaviken
It might comes as little surprise that in this dark, gritty fantasy world, witchers often aren’t perceived in the best light. Among the people, there are many myths about witchers that are based on outright fallacies at worst, or at best, teeny tiny seeds of truth. This leads to all sorts of prejudices and assumptions, and numerous occasions where Geralt is viewed with outright fear, anger, and disgust by the people around him, no matter how hard he tries to do the right thing or help them.
This idea is made painfully clear in one of The Last Wish‘s other highlights. Called “The Lesser Evil,” it follows Geralt as he’s torn between the sorcerer Stregebor and the deposed princess Renfri — two enemies who try to convince Geralt to kill the other, each asserting that their plan is the one that will do the least harm. Of course, neither actually acts in a way that makes it seem like they care about doing less harm…only whether Geralt will help them kill the object of their ire.
Ultimately, Geralt has to consult his own moral compass to make an excruciatingly difficult decision…which does lead to bloodshed. A lot of it, and in a very public setting — which causes the townsfolk to turn against him even though he was acting to save them.
In the trailer, there are a lot of scenes showing Geralt fighting in the streets of a town. My guess is that these are from the show’s depiction of this brutal showdown, where Geralt earns the dreaded nickname “The Butcher of Blaviken.”
It’s been confirmed that Millie Brady has been cast as Renfri, so that’s a pretty strong support for “The Lesser Evil” coming to the screen. The short story also starts with Geralt having just killed a kikkimore — an arachnid-type creature that likes swamps, and whose description bears a striking resemblance to this guy:
Image: Netflix/The Witcher
All things considered, the showdown in Blaviken is one of the meatiest parts in either of the first two books, so it makes total sense that Netflix would include it—and show footage of it right up front to get us psyched. It would make complete sense as an early/mid season gut-punch episode of the type that leaves you clutching the arms of your chair as you try to process what you’ve just seen.