8 Things We Learned About Witchers After Seeing Nightmare Of The Wolf

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf successfully expanded Netflix’s Witcher universe by digging deeper into the beloved property’s world than ever before. Fans got to see a time when witchers were still in their prime, fighting monsters across the continent and recruiting new children for their ranks.

The animated movie also revealed several things about the witchers that the Henry Cavill-led series hadn’t mentioned. Fans of the book and games might be well aware of the franchise’s lore, but general audiences found out plenty of secrets thanks to Nightmare of the Wolf, increasing their understanding of the series’ titular character.

8 Witchers Are Seldom Recruited

Nightmare of the Wolf shows some of the witchers’ recruit methods. The Law of Surprise is a crucial part of the franchise and one of the main ways for witchers to acquire recruits. Indeed, many of the children who arrive at Kaer Morhen are unexpected children. Other times, young boys joined willingly, like Vesemir, who travels to Kaer Morhen after being dazzled by the witcher lifestyle.

The movie doesn’t mention it, but fans of the books and games know that people in the Continent would sometimes offer their own children as payment for a witcher’s services. The thought of parents selling their children is too macabre to entertain, but worse things happen every day in the unforgiving Continent.

7 Witchers Have Multiple Magical Abilities

The Witcher gives glimpses into a witcher’s power. Henry Cavill’s Geralt uses his abilities multiple times, but audiences don’t get to see the full extent of his Sign Magic. However, Nightmare of the Wolf reveals more of the powers that a witcher possesses.

Vesemir uses several elemental powers throughout the movie, including fire and air-based. He also employs other magic techniques that come out in energy form. Vesemir also relies a lot more on his magical abilities, whereas Geralt sticks to hand-to-hand combat. Audiences have their own opinion about who’s the best witcher between Vesemir and Geralt, but Nightmare of the Wolf proved that even if witchers have different fighting techniques, they still get the job done.

6 Witchers Could Lead Fancy Lives

Geralt chooses to lead a solitary and erratic life in the series. He rejects most material benefits, although he does charge for his services every time. On the other hand, Vesemir enjoys the perks of his monster-fighting life and spends his hard-earned money pursuing Earthly pleasures.

Nightmare of the Wolf shows audiences that not all witchers lead the same vagabond lifestyle as Geralt. Furthermore, the movie confirms there was a time in the Continent when Witchers could lead luxurious lives. Society still rejected them for the most part, but they had more power to defend themselves without fear of open persecution.

5 Humans Feared Witchers

Nightmare of the Wolf has plenty of memorable quotes, but the best one summarizes the relationship between humans and witchers perfectly. “The only thing keeping men from hunting us are the scarier beasts we keep away.” Indeed, humans looked down on witchers, considering them threats at best and abnormalities at worst.

Fans already knew that Geralt had a contentious relationship with humans, but that seems to have more to do with his reservations. However, the animated movie drives the point home that society doesn’t see witchers as humans but rather monsters that fight others of their kind.

4 Witchers Cultivated A Bad Reputation

Like any other organization, witchers weren’t immune to corruption. They had so much power and faced so many threats that they became detached from the rest of society, believing that normal rules did not apply to them any longer. Tetra hates witchers so much because one killed her mother while she watched. Like many others on the Continent, she views witchers are beasts running rampant, explaining her desire to eradicate them.

Nightmare of the Wolf explains how witchers, or at least some of them, actively contributed to their bad reputation by overstepping their boundaries and acting outside the law. With his final breath, Deglan even asks Vesemir to turn the remaining recruits into better men, and he took his master’s words to heart, training the next generation of witchers to avoid the mistakes of the past. Fans only got to see Geralt in season 1 of the show, but WitcherCon teased that more witchers will arrive in season 2.

3 Witchers Contributed To The Decline In Elven Population

The elves’ situation on the Continent is perilous. In The Witcher, they are nearly extinct, living inside an old cave or hiding in forests as refugees, dreading the outside world. The three main characters–Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri–have prominent ties to the elves; Ciri and Geralt thanks to meaningful encounters and Yennefer by blood. They all help audiences understand how precarious the elves’ situation on the Continent is, and Nightmare of the Wolf provides even more details about their downfall.

Witchers initiated a chain of events that led to the decline in the elven population. Reidrich and Deglan experimented on a young elven girl, Kitsu, who in turn tried to replicate her experiments in other children. Most of them died because they were unable to endure the procedure. By the time The Witcher begins, Filavandrel and Vesemir are the only people alive who remember the events. Elves are one of the most vulnerable groups in the series, and fans get to understand more about their tragedy thanks to the movie.

2 There Might Be More Mutated Elves

Kitsu is one of Nightmare of the Wolf‘s best characters. A victim of circumstance, she ends the movie free to escape from Kaer Morhen’s ruin. The film doesn’t provide any more information about her whereabouts, and she doesn’t appear in the show either. However, NotW confirms she holds immense power, so fans will perhaps see her in future Witcher movies.

The film also reveals that there might be at least one more mutated elf. Filavandrel takes a surviving hybrid girl under his care, promising that he’d call for Vesemir’s sword if she ever hurt anyone. Fans are left to wonder about the girl’s fate, but if she survived the procedures, perhaps more elves also did. If so, then witchers have even more dangerous threats than they imagine, including a few unlike any of the monsters they’re used to face.

1 (Some) Witchers Helped Create Mutated Monsters

At some point during the Continent’s history, witchers began outnumbering the monsters. Perhaps they became too good at their jobs, or maybe monsters stopped procreating in the wild. Fearing persecution and other hate crimes against the witchers, Deglan sought help from Reidrich to create new monsters.

The plot is as sinister as it sounds and came at the expense of elven blood. Things worsened when Tetra revealed the witchers’ actions to the townsfolk of Ard Carraigh, convincing them to aid in the assault at Kaer Morhen. Nightmare of the Wolf provides much context for the witchers’ demise, letting audiences know they were both victims and perpetrators in their downfall.

About The Author

David Caballero
(803 Articles Published)

David is a twenty-eight-year-old Mexican writer and reader. Having studied Marketing in school, he spent three years working a nine-to-five desk job before deciding to pursue a writing career. He now works as a Senior Writer in ScreenRant and does some more freelancing job, talking about the entertainment business he so loves. Currently, he’s also writing his second novel while actively working to get his first one published.

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