10 things The Witcher show should adapt from the video games

2. Letho of Gulet

Of all the Witchers Geralt encounters throughout his journey in the video games, few leave as big a mark as Letho of Gulet. One of the main antagonists of The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, Letho was hired by the Emperor of Nilfgaard to murder the rulers of the Northern Kingdoms, thus softening them up for a second invasion. In typical Witcher fashion, Geralt ends up framed for one of Letho’s assassinations, and then has to clear his name and hunt down the other Witcher to stop the killings.

This Witcher of the Viper School is built like a ton of bricks, has a bleak attitude and a southern drawl. He pretty much oozes personality whenever he’s onscreen.

Over the course of the second Witcher game, you find out that Letho isn’t really evil — he was hired on the promise that after he’d carried out the required assassinations, the Nilfgaardian Empire would help him reestablish the obscure School of the Viper and begin training new Witchers again. Alas, any deal done with Nilfgaard in this series is one not to be counted on. The southern empire aids in the hunt to kill him, hoping to tie up loose ends before its treachery is discovered.

Letho could work well in the Netflix show. While everything with the assassinations happens during a second conflict with Nilfgaard (an invention of the games), there’s no reason the show couldn’t take Letho and just insert him into the first war. The idea of assassinating northern kings to pave the way for Nilfgaard’s army is very much in line with the book series. In fact, in the novels, Nilfgaard’s invasion of the north is made easier by the assassination of a few rulers, so the show could bring Letho into that plotline relatively seamlessly.