While the wait for The Witcher season 2 had been awfully long, the franchise’s anime tie-in film, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, gave fans something to talk about when it came out in August this year.
The feature explores Geralt’s father-figure, Vesemir’s adventures as a Witcher. If you have already binge-watched the entire season 2 and haven’t watched the film, it might seem like Vesemir is the obvious connection between the two.
However, there are tiny details and mentions as subtle as Geralt creeping up on monsters that you might’ve missed if you skipped the anime.
Let’s take a look at how Nightmare of the Wolf connects to The Witcher series – and obviously, plot points for both are discussed ahead, so Spoiler Alert!
- Kaer Morhen
The Witcher season 2 begins with Geralt and Ciri’s journey to the safest place he knows of – Kaer Morhen.
An obvious connection as the old keep was first seen in the anime, but much more than that is the hints at its destruction. On their way there, Ciri questions him about the fortress, and he tells her how less than 20 Witchers who remain go there in the winter to regain their strength and restock their potions.
This detail, including how damaged the place looks and the tree on which all the dead witchers’ Medallions hang, serve as a direct reminder of the attack on the School of the Wolf that took place in Nightmare of the Wolf.
Vesemir discovers Feainnewedd flowers, which only grow where Elder blood has been spilled, scattered around the training field. And to say that Ciri had been training quite relentlessly would be an understatement.
This gives the Witcher a newfound hope. The attack on Kaer Morhen had resulted in the knowledge of the Trial of the Grasses being lost and along with the mutagen required to make more witchers.
Vesemir connects the two, unearthing the mystery of Ciri’s bloodline and asking her to give some of her Elder blood, the key ingredient, to test out if making a mutagen again was possible. It works!
Ciri agrees but on the condition that she be the first to be injected with it. Vesemir agrees, but Geralt stops him from injecting Ciri. (Thank god he did, just episodes later, we see what happens to the mage’s face who tries to take a whiff of the mutagen.)
- Geralt’s reluctancy to turn Ciri into a Witcher
Of course, Geralt would not put his Child Surprise through what he, and others before him, went through during their Witcher training days but injecting a life-threatening mutagen in one’s veins isn’t exactly an ideal experiment.
Turning the Witchers into heartless “monster-killing monsters” has been a generational practice. Nightmare of the Wold shows Vesemir was tortured by Deglan the same way he, in turn, tortured Geralt and the other kids.
We saw Geralt as a child in Nightmare of the Wolf. Now that he is all grown up, it goes without saying, his batch-mates are too. We see adult versions of Eskel and Lambert in season 2, who were all mentored by Vesemir. We see Remus in season 1 but not long before being killed by a Striga, whose curse Geralt eventually breaks.
Speaking of Vesemir’s mentor/father, Deglan’s armor is seen on display when he shows Ciri around the fortress. Deglan was the one who indirectly brought on the destruction of Kaer Morhen when he created the hybrid monsters in the film.
- Familiar Faces and Monsters
Another reminder of the past is the skeletons lying outside Kaer Morhen. Along with human bones and those of monsters too. One such residue is a large skeleton with a beak, which resembles the Griffin that Vesemir slays in mid-air in the film.
Vesemir is skeptical when Geralt first walks in with Ciri. He later warns Geralt about not being involved in the politics of the kingdoms. Kaer Morhen’s whole destruction could’ve been avoided if Deglan hadn’t sent new monsters to the Continent to survive as witchers.
Filavandrel’s more prominent role in season 2 doesn’t only trace back to the iconic moment from season 1 that led to us getting Jaskier’s “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” but also to the anime where the elf is revealed to be a friend of Vesemir.
Nightmare of the Wolf gives us a fight between Vesemir and a tree-like monster, Leshen. Season 2 saw the monster mutilating Eskel’s body and growing out of his shoulder (which will continue to give me nightmares for a while.)
A not-so-significant-for-the-plot detail is that Vesemir loves hopping in bathtubs, just like Geralt in season 1. Although season 2 makes it a point to mention repeatedly that all the characters smell truly awful at all times.
(Good thing Netflix got the series an Old Spice deodorant collab. )
Both the seasons of The Witcher and the anime film, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, are now streaming on Netflix.
About The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is an anime spin-off of ‘The Witcher’ live-action series produced by Netflix and showrunner Lauren S Hissrich. The anime movie is directed by Kwang Il Han and written by Beau DeMayo.
It includes ‘The Divergent’ series star Theo James as the voice of the main character, Vesemir. Lara Pulver voices Tetra Gilcrest, Graham McTavish stars as Deglan, while Mary McDonnell voices Lady Ilyana Zerbst. Other characters such as Filavandrel and Luka are voiced by Tom Canton and Matt Yang King respectively.
Nightmare of the Wolf is the origin story of Vesemir, Kaer Morhen’s oldest and the most experienced Witcher. The story revolves around a young, bashful Vesemir slaying monsters for money. Till his curiosity gets the best of him.
Vesemir investigates the occurrence of a new monster, leading to consequences that become fateful to the entire Witcher’s community.
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