Which parts of the Witcher books is Netflix going to adapt?
By Daniel Roman
Image: Netflix/The Witcher
4. Yennefer’s Backstory
One thing that the show has been pretty open about, both in terms of interviews and the footage shown in the trailer, is that it will be digging into the untold story of Yennefer’s past. In the books, Geralt realizes that the beautiful Yennefer was once a deformed hunchback — before she was physically transformed by the process of becoming a sorceress. And in the books, that’s pretty much all there is to say on the matter.
Not so in the show. How many episodes it will be before Yen is shown at her full power is a pretty good question — again, it could either start with her exploring this transformation, or it could be shown in flashbacks. Considering that she and Geralt are the better part of a century old and have a fair amount of history by the time Ciri comes onto the scene, I’m putting my money on flashbacks. That’s doubly true when you take into account actor Anya Charlotra’s comments about Yennefer’s age range: “we explore from her at 14 years old to when she’s 77.” It’s hard to imagine the show handling it any other way than flashbacks, really.
But hey, it’s never wise to count out a curve ball. They could throw us for a loop and follow Yen’s assent right from the get-go, so that by the time she meets Geralt a few episodes in, we’ve watched her journey from deformed teenager to sorceress supreme. But if the show does do that, how will it accommodate for Geralt’s striga plotline, which is supposed to happen after he meets Yen?
It’s enough to make even a superfan’s head spin! Given how much emphasis Netflix has put on the reveal that they are doing Yen’s backstory, all we can say with certainty is that it seems likely they’re going to be giving it a fair amount of attention and screen time.
For example, we’ve got this beautiful shot, which could very well fit the description for the Isle of Thanedd, the place where novices in the ways of magic are trained.
Image: Netflix/The Witcher
Thanedd isn’t shown until later in the books…but if the show is delving into Yen’s past, then it is entirely possible it will go there. We know that another novice has been cast, and we know that MyAnna Buring will be playing the head of novices at the school of Aretuza on Thanedd Isle, Tissaia de Vries. (Fun fact: Buring also voiced the major character Queen Anna Henrietta in the Witcher 3 video game expansion Blood & Wine, so she’s a veteran to this universe.)
Exploring Yennefer’s history is one big liberty Netflix is taking with the show that might allow it to really put its own stamp on the Witcher world. It’s a plotline that has never been shown before, in book or game, and that makes it a unique part of the Netflix adaptation.