Lore has all the time been a difficult topic for followers in the case of variations: Too shut an adherence to the unique textual content, and also you get a diminished model of the factor you already love; too free an adaptation, and all of the sudden your loved one collection is unrecognizable. I’m pretty outspoken about my perception that so far as the Netflix TV present is worried, Witcher followers have had it rougher than most in the case of their franchise being sullied by poor selections. So it’s no shock that when CD Projekt Pink revealed the primary trailer for The Witcher 4, which options Ciri as its most important character and seemingly a full-blown Witcher, some followers (albeit a minority) met it with skepticism. Nonetheless, with three Witcher video games underneath its belt already, CD Projekt Pink has earned the advantage of the doubt.
Probably the most comprehensible of those followers’ issues appear to be over how The Witcher 4 matches into the world and canon of Andrzej Sapkowski’s books. As an example, Ciri, after the occasions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, would have been older than regular to endure the Trial of the Grasses, and within the books, a lot of her magic was taken away from her as she saved Ihuarraquax — but within the trailer, she makes use of magic freely. What’s complicated about these issues from followers, nonetheless, is how unaware they appear to be of the connection between CD Projekt Pink’s video games and the Witcher canon already. It’s not that the 2 have diverged, essentially, a lot as it’s that they weren’t ever tightly sure to start with.
The Witcher video games have by no means been strict adherents to the books they’re primarily based on. As a substitute, they’ve all the time been extra about committing to the spirit and themes of Sapkowski’s collection than about giving digital life to his phrases. And, as a fan of Sapkowski’s books, I feel that’s one of many best virtues of CD Projekt Pink’s sport collection. The wealthy complexity and element of the world and characters that Sapkowski created all the time felt like they might be stretched way more broadly past the pages of his novels and brief tales, and within the succesful arms of CDPR, we’ve been capable of see that growth of the world.
That is a part of what makes The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt arguably the perfect entry of any selection in your complete Witcher franchise. That sport jumps previous the established canon of Sapkowski’s novels, imagining a barely extracanonical story that takes place a number of years after the books’ story has ended. It’s an growth and continuation of the tales of Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri, nevertheless it grasps the essence of their characters, and of The Witcher’s whole world, in addition to something within the collection’ historical past.
All through The Witcher 3, Geralt’s mission to search out Ciri, then to save lots of her, brings him into contact with the strangest inhabitants of his world. And whereas the sport provides you selections about learn how to take care of them, CDPR’s writing does an impressive job of preserving you in your toes, always giving Geralt’s quests surprising and sometimes tragic outcomes regardless of his greatest intentions — preserving them thematically resonant with the perfect of Sapkowski’s brief tales. In different phrases, it’s every thing the Netflix collection has failed at; up to now, the inventive crew for the present has fairly carefully tailored the plot of Sapkowski’s novels, however appears wholly tired of his themes.
However what’s much more complicated for the self-proclaimed followers of The Witcher 3 who now specific skepticism over Ciri’s evolution in The Witcher 4 is that her transformation was first launched in Wild Hunt. Relying on the alternatives gamers made all through the sport, Ciri may both finish The Witcher 3 useless, because the queen of Nilfgaard, or on the trail to changing into a Witcher. The query of how she received from that path to the place we see her in The Witcher 4’s cinematic trailer appears much less like a plot gap and extra like the precise plot of The Witcher 4 itself, one thing that was confirmed Friday on X by CDPR studio head Adam Badowski.
And the reality is, as a fan of Ciri and of Sapkowski’s books, I really feel fortunate that CD Projekt Pink is dedicated to persevering with her story and giving her a story future. Given the studio’s observe document thus far of capably increasing on Sapkowski’s characters and world, it’s arduous to think about her in higher arms — together with these of her authentic creator. The one actual draw back is that it might be fairly a couple of years earlier than we really get to see how her story performs out.