#the witcher critical

[izzy-hands]

some characters have gone through an entire makeover and our poor bard can’t get one (1) new doublet. truly hard times on the continent. 

#the witcher critical #i'm trying not to let the costumes impact how excited i am about this season #but my god some of these choices are questionable at best #and i miss jaskier's doublets so much :/

[hungerofhadarr]

The Witcher three trying to hold the crown for “ most characters butchered in our adaptation “ only for Netflix to smirk over the shoulder and steal it like taking candy from a baby

#the witcher #the Witcher critical #I guess ? #I am playing it save #replaying tw3 and this fuckinf broken flowers quest is making me smell ants and spiders

[noveratus]

I just finished watching the Witcher season 3. Here are my thoughts on this season:

First, I should make it known that I have not read any of the books and I played the witcher wild hunt very briefly since I wasn't a huge fan of the combat system, so there is a chance that I'm not the target demographic for this show. Perhaps they were trying to appeal to the fans of the series. If that is the case, I apologize for my thoughts. These are the thoughts of a casual watcher of the series who is very passionate about writing and stories and general.

The best word that I would use to describe this series and just the whole show, in a whole, is confusing. Things just seem to happen, and I am left wondering what even is the story here. The show feels both too slow and too fast for the story it is trying to tell.

Season one is by far the best. Despite the non-linear timeline, you can understand what is happening, you understand what the arcs are, what the characters want, and you have a notion of what is going on. There are still confusing moments, particularly those with the elves and Cintra. Her journey feels so slow compared to both Yen and Gerald since, once you remove all the magic and all the dressing, their stories are about family, with Gerald's being about the fear of letting people in and Yennifer's being about being accepted enough to be loved.

Then we have season two, which is just political nonsense for the most part. We barely get any time with the main trio, and it is mostly just a lot of nothing. People speak and tell your their plans and whatever, but it summarizes to a bunch of nothing. There is a 6. Everyone wants Cintra, but that's it. There is essentially just one character arc in this season that goes through a character arc with that being Yennifer, and while I do have conflicting emotions about it, it is definitely a character arc. Besides that, the closest thing you get to character development is Cintra's fight montage scenes, and while those can be fun, not everything has to be deep and sad and depressing, that is not what they are. They try to be exactly that. Bleak. Like the show is turning to you and asking, "Aren't you enjoying seeing how much these characters for basically no reason? This is what will make them stronger! They aren't really learning anything, just getting beaten until they seem like they can be excusable to be strong enough to survive what will throw on them next! Isn't this deep? Isn't this exciting? Bleak and depressing equals deep guys! C'mon!" When it comes to the plot, it is essentially people saying "shit is going to happen, shit is really going to happen. We will kill this baby. You know we will kill this baby! Wanna see us do it? We will do it! Just watch it! And hah! We did it!" And that's pretty much it. Pretty much the only thing that carries over from season 2 to three is Yen's arc, and the first thing they try to do is try to retcon it. So yes, season 2 is a boring, confusing slog where things just happen and feels very pointless.

Then we move on to season 3. Season three starts well. I honestly enjoyed the first episodes, with Yennifer trying to regain the confidence of both Gerald and Cintra, and I think it works. I enjoy seeing Cintra and Yennifer butting heads, it makes sense, they are different people who can teach each other a lot after everything they went through, and you see glimpses of this, and while Gerald's hunt doesn't make a lot of sense since he just let the guy go, I think that the subsequent plot with the fake Cintra and the missing mages is fine, I'm invested, I want to know what is going on, and then the ball happens and that is a good episode, it has mystery and this sense of magic and actual illusion and I was hyped. Truly, I couldn't wait to see where this was going, and then we had a betrayal, and then another and suddenly the elves are here, and they are the bad guys and the racist is in the right and gets treated like a hero and Ciri is there and then she isn't and why did you leave in the first place, Yennifer, if you were going to come back to help your people?! What did you think was going to happen? Sunshines and rainbows?! There is this huge battle where a lot of people die, but I'm left just confused because, oh my god, there is even more political nonsense here and it carries on through the last three episodes where, again, nothing really happens besides the nonsense politics while Gerald is recovering and I'm so done. Ok, that is not completely true. There are two segments that I would like to mention, the sorcerers and Cintra. I think that, while not that important development wise, since Cintra goes from point A to point B back to point A, the desert part is good. It is visually interesting. It shows her skills, and while bleak, it is entertaining. They are showing you something that isn't characters talking about something no one understands or trying to make something deep out of something that isn't. This is a girl trying to survive in a desert in a harsh environment. I can understand that I want her to succeed in that. Now, for the sorcerers, they are mourning, they are dealing with loss in the middle of war. I can understand and sympathize with that, but then you have Tissaia's death that is framed as this noble sacrifice when it isn't. It is sad, yes, but the audience isn't really given a moment to process that, it is framed so that her death is about Yennifer, like losing her will make her stronger and I have serious problems with any media that shows suicide as anything noble or brave or good, like one's death is preferable to them being alive.

Now, I have avoided speaking about Jaskier so far because, and I want to make it clear that Jaskier is my favorite character in this show, he is sadly pointless. Don't get me wrong, Jaskier is essentially the heart of the Witcher, but when it comes to the narrative, the story itself, he is only there for fan service. They tried to fix this with Radovid, but it still didn't work, it didn't truly affect the narrative since the most important part of Radovid's character is that he becomes the king and, so far, that has nothing to do with Jaskier. Dandelion is just there to look pretty and occasionally get saved by Gerald, which I find particularly funny during the action scenes where he just disappears or runs around with nothing to do. The sad part is, Jaskier is a bard. A man known for the art of speech and song and playing with people's emotions. He would be perfect for a political piece, which seems to be what the show is going for, but instead, they put him in situations where he is completely pointless.

So, in the end, I didn't like season 3. I liked the first half of season 3, despite its issues like the Wild Hunt bit, but the ending was disappointing. It didn't diminish my enjoyment of the first part, so that is something I guess, but still. And I want to make it clear that I don't think this is the writer's fault. I would like to put my theory hat here for a moment and take a shot saying Netflix desperately wanted the Witcher to be game of thrones. They wanted all the politics and gritty realism and bleakness from that show, but the Witcher just isn't that, is it? I haven't played the games a lot, but from what I understand, the Witcher shines most with its side missions, the ones where you don't have the end of the world, but a person trying to survive, and love, and find happiness in a world where humans seem to be at the bottom of the food chain. The Witcher's tv show seems to completely forget about monsters until it is convenient for them to remember when, in the game, even if you are powerful, there is a chance you will struggle with what you are fighting if you don't know how to fight them. And this, this sense of survival is pretty much gone in the show. It is just politics that say nothing really with a moody superman thrown in the middle of it.

#the witcher #the witcher spoilers #the witcher critical #review #the witcher criticism

[tarragonthedragon]

i'm supposed to be working on my findings presentation but instead i am going through yennefer's costumes in the witcher s3 because i have already found her in four different outfits that i own. are their wardrobe dept raiding my wardrobe. why is she dressed like she shops at M&S

#the witcher critical #costume design

[dragynkeep]

Yeah it really shows in the quality of a show doing an adaptation of a game/book etc when the people in charge actually give a damn about the source material.

it's crazy!! hotd & the witcher take notes smh

#tlou #hotd critical #the witcher critical #ais.txt #answered #q

[im-just-a-ghost]

The Witcher games are painfully written by a male and it shows

The Main character is surrounded by very beautiful women who all love him

Not just those beautiful women, every woman will apparently sleep with him (I had to tiptoe to not accidentally trigger a sex scene with any "friend")

And he is conveniently sterile and doesn't contract diseases so he does sleep around a lot and visits brothels regularly

Speaking of, you get a card once you sleep with a woman in the game. So you can go around sleeping with every possible female character and "collect" them

Ofc he's "amazing in bed" and it's a known fact to strangers for some reason

Literally stranger men were talking to him about how his female friend, Shani "looks at him a certain way" and how he's lucky (and I don't think they even were in the same room as her and Geralt at the same time) But just had to congratulate him like good dude Bros.

A strong female soldier, Ves, one of the important characters, has of course to wear an open shirt with no bra even though allll her fellow soldiers and boss wear proper armor. (If you're not a woman, know that jumping around and running without a bra for support is uncomfortable if not downright painful, if Ves isn't being easily stabbed then she's in pain)

Main character's friend talking about Ves' boobs and how "it's what he thinks about because she's not a hooker and therefore can't have her" and the main character agreeing and not saying anything about how she's their friend or how he's a degenerate and disrespectful

Literally, for no reason, the daughter figure also doesn't wear proper armor even though she's a witcher too. A wandering swordswoman but she doesn't get to wear something like her male colleagues

I really wish it was different, it really took away from my experience and I just wanted to relax and read about mythical creatures and have fun

#I would've enjoyed them more if not for...all of this #the witcher #the witcher games #geralt of rivia #Fay plays Witcher 3 #I now know why the game is so popular #male fantasy #the witcher 3 critical #the witcher critical

[assassinregrets]

i think lucy lawless should be the new geralt

#the witcher #why not #critics are calling this my finest work

[cat-cosplay]

#cat armor #cat cosplay #cosplay #cats #kitty #cats in costumes #cat #cat costume #cats of tumblr #aww #fan art #pike trickfoot #vax'ildan #critical cosplay #critical role #geralt of rivera #the witcher #jon snow #hiccup haddock #how to train your dragon #orym of the air ashari #warcraft #grom hellscream #armor #pet armor #leather armor #leatherwork

[archerinventive]

When your costume closet starts looking like a D&D campaign team.

For today we have have the Barbarian, Warlock, Fighter, Ranger, and our poor Paladin just trying to keep it all together.

Wishing all you warriors a wonderful Wednesday. ❤️⚔️

Photo Credit (Image 02): Costographer

#dungeons and dragons #adventure squad #yasha #critical role #red sonja #witcher #geralt of rivia #archer #ranger #paladin #cosplay #costumes #axe #swords #archer inventive

[spielzeugkaiser]

[MASTERPOST] - there I go with the h/c again :) In the last post @panur asked something about the timeline and that got me thinking! Ciri was very little when Jaskier was ill, she doesn't remember much - she probably had no idea what happened. And she does not really have an idea what Jaskier does either but oh well

#geraskier #jaskier #geralt of rivia #the witcher #Ciri #onlyfans!jaskier #roach the cat #trans!geralt #of course I do hurt and comfort after some fun stuff #also I drew this with a fever I swear to god I'm dying ahhh #cancer tw #critical illness tw

[xeylah]

THIS should be the new witcher

#I'm actually losing my mind right now this is how I'm coping #im flabbergasted #the witcher #critical role #matthew mercer #henry cavill

[luddlestons]

As a fan of the dnd/rpg/high fantasy genre I have definitely experienced the “seeing a b/w sketch of a wizard with a book and a cat and not knowing for a second if it’s Anders, Caleb, or Gale” but I’d like to note a new variation which is:

“Oh, that’s a cool hairstyle on Yennefer—wait. That’s Shadowheart.”

#critical role #bg3 #dragon age #the witcher

[marstheterrible]

#the first meeting went exactly like this #hes been at it ever since #i wont be taking any criticism #jaskier the bard #jaskier #geralt of rivia #geralt #geraskier #the witcher #incorrect witcher quotes #queue me up and spit me out

[patroclusdefencesquad]

the thing about the witcher season 4 is that even if it's the worst thing ever made you will not hear one word of criticism pass my lips

#i'm a hcav hater first and a witcher critic second #as long as there's jaskier and yennefer i will be satisfied #the witcher

[revoevokukil]

There is an old copy-paste moving around the internet regarding discussions asserting the inherent Slavicness of The Witcher, and I will record it here for posterity.

(translated from polish)

-write eight books

-have their main character suffer from otherness, prejudice and erroneous stereotypes

-insert anti-racist references at every turn

-make dwarves into Jews

-and use to criticise anti-Semitism

-criticise nationalist attitudes

-criticise xeno- and homophobia at every turn

-show support for a multicultural society and acceptance of otherness

-describe how victims become executioners

-show how violence begets violence

-make it the central theme of the last three volumes

-have the hero and his lover die during a racist pogrom

-defend the persecuted to the lastHear from every corner of the internet that "a black witcher would be a disaster."

-write thirteen stories

-based three on Andersen's fairy tales

-three more on the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm

-seventh on an Arabian fairy tale

-mock folklore and folk beliefs in the first one

-but also make fun of them in the story "The Edge of the World"

-mock the Polish legend in "The Limits of Possibility"

-name the main character "Żerard" (Jerald)

-generally use mainly names with Celtic roots like Yenefer or Crach

-and those derived from Romance languages such as Cirilla, Falka or Fringilla or Triss

-a few English names such as Merigold

-and those derived from other Germanic languages such as Geralt

-and Italian

-German

-and even French

-borrow monsters from American games, especially from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

-from Irish, make an elf language

-and from German, make it the language of dwarves

-make the characters celebrate Irish folk holidays

-write an article about where you got your inspiration from

-pour bile on Slavic fantasy in it

-finally write an eighth book

-make one of the key characters a Japanese demoness

​

Become a champion of turbo-slavism.

/s

#the witcher #the witcher 3 #the witcher books #nobody contests The Witcher is the product of the time-place-history and culture experienced by its author #what very much ought to be contested are attempts at painting TW as symbolic of an ideology it very much criticizes #aside ethnonationalism criticism applies to imperialism likewise. not like eastern europe has extensive experience with both or anything #as goes for creative and intellectual inspiration it would be trite to reduce it to the local circle only (and inaccurate) #Sienkiewicz or no Sienkiewicz #at some point the audience must simply read more to know more. helpfully AS has provided a plethora of references + an entire other trilogy #9/10 when you see a discussion about the inherent Slavicness of The Witcher it's thanks to CDPR's excellent marketing strategy #which is a shame

[keen-on-euphemisms]

Everybody: praising how well The Last Of Us depicted the adaptation, not only sticking to the source material but also making minor changes that compliments the story

Meanwhile, The Witcher production:

#the witcher #geralt #twn critical #the last of us #the last of us hbo #the pain of knowing that we will never have a good adaptation when we have an example that it is possible is killing me #at this point i just can't anymore