About

The Witcher is a media franchise comprised of a series of novels written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, several role-playing games produced by game developer CD Projekt Red and a fantasy TV series by Netflix. The franchise is centered around the exploits of Geralt of Rivia, a genetically modified monster hunter known as a Witcher, who sells his services to the highest bidder.

Premise

The Witcher is set in a fantasy world filled with various races and monsters. The world's geography can be divided into three main parts: The Northern Kingdoms, The Nilfgaardian Empire and The Skellige Islands. Centuries before the events of the books and games an event know as the Conjunction of the Spheres occurred where the world of The Witcher intersected with another which let many of the monsters seen in the series into the world and is also thought to have brought humans into the world. Centuries after the Conjunction of the Spheres humans have replaced the Elder Races (Elves, Dwarfs, Halflings) as the dominate race of the world. To combat the many monsters that had infested the world humans invented a process know as the Trial of the Grasses which gave the children it was used on super human strength and reflexes and also reduced aging but had a very low success rate and left the ones who survived infertile. While the Witchers are humanities best way of exterminating monsters they are detested by many of the inhabitance of the world. The main protagonist of the series, Geralt is one of these Witchers.

History

Books

In 1990, a collection of short stories by Sapkowski titled The Witcher, followed by "Sword of Destiny" in 1992 and "The Last Wish" in 1993. In 1994, the first novel in the series Blood of Elves was released, followed by Time of Contempt in 1995, Baptism of Fire in 1996, The Swallow's Tower in 1997 and Lady of the Lake in 1999.

Video Games

On October 26th, 2007, CD Projeckt Red released a video game titled The Witcher, which takes place after the events of the books. On May 17th, 2011, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was release. On May 19th, 2015, CD Projekt Red released the third game in the series The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt .

On August 26th, CD Projekt Red's sister mobile company Spokko announced mobile augmented-reality video game The Witcher: Monster Slayer.

TV Series

In May 2017, Platige Image announced plans to produce a Netflix series based on the novel series. On September 4th, 2018, Variety reported that actor Henry Cavill would be playing the role of Geralt of Rivia in the upcoming The Witcher series. The first season of the series premiered on Netflix on December 10th, 2019.

Online Presence

In September 2007, the WitcherGame YouTube^[2] channel was launched, gathering more than 196,000 subscribers within eight years. In July, the Witcher Wiki was created on Wikia.^[1] On March 27th, 2011, the /r/witcher^[3] subreddit was launched for discussions about the series. gaining over 84,600 subscribers over the next five years. As of November 2015, the @witchergame^[5] Twitter feed has accumulated upwards of 122,000 followers. Mods for each game in the series can be found on the database Nexus Mods.^[4]

Reception

The games in the Witcher series have received critical acclaim. On the site Metacritic, The Witcher has a score of 81, Assassins of Kings has a score of 88 and Wild Hunt has a score of 92. Additionally, Wild Hunt won every award it was nominated for in the 2015 Golden Joystick Awards. The games are often praised for their open world design, combat systems, voice acting and story telling.

Search Interest

External References