#geralt IS a huge nerd

[donovaneagle2098]

A Complete Encyclopedia of the Lore of Every Witcher School

This is a project I've been working on for a long time. The Witcher Schools in general have lore spread across 3 or 4 different sources, so it's very easy to find inaccurate details about each school due to a person only going off of one source without even knowing of the others. Hell, I've been guilty of this in the past. So I've gone out of my way to find every source available for the various Witcher Schools and compile it into one master post, mostly pulling from the standalone Gwent game, and the Witcher TRPG. Without further ado, let's start out with the original school, the Order of Witchers.

Witcher schools are like the Clans of Skellige, subtly different, but largely united by their common ground, and that common ground is the Order of Witchers.

The Order of Witchers began as an experiment by the rogue mages Alzur and his mentor Cosimo Malaspina. They "recruited" tests subjects from orphanages, buying them from neglectful parents, or outright kidnapping street kids.

From Cosimo's Gwent Card:

"Children keep asking him for gifts. He doesn’t know why, but it really helps with finding subjects for his experiments."

The main goal of this project was to create an order of knights artificially mutated and imbued with extreme levels of magic to protect people from a world where, at the time, monsters were often literally around every corner.

The mutation experiments were grueling, and most early candidates died horribly, the girls especially, as the mutagenic compounds the mages were working with at the time were better suited for a boys physiology, and they quickly stopped trying to find a mixture that worked well with women, instead refining the more successful candidate pool. Even with these refinements, however, the Witchers couldn't actually generate much in the way of magical power, at least not nearly as much as those funding the project had hoped for.

These early candidates were encouraged to stick to political neutrality, were told of their duty to protect the common people, and their sword instructor tried to encourage them to take on knightly virtues to live their lives by, though only a few candidates actually bought fully into these particular knightly ideals.

The school developed a training regimen that all later Witcher schools would put their own small twists on. They perfected the whirling sword style, practiced on the Pendulum and Gauntlet training courses. They learned the Witcher Sign magic, created by Cosimo. They were taught hunting and monster lore from experts hired from across the world, and master alchemists crafted the famous Witcher potions.

Ultimately, funding from this school would be pulled due to the Witcher candidates lack of truly powerful magic ability, and the order would start to fracture. Witchers dissatisfied with their lot in life after being forcibly mutated, and railing against the Order's enforced ideals began getting combatative with other Witchers over petty contracts. At this time, contracts were so plentiful that there was no real need to fight over them, but these dissident Witchers did so anyway out of a desire for autonomy and to be free of the Order's code, which they saw as having no practical purpose to prepare new Witchers for the road ahead. This culminated in one such outspoken Witcher, Arnaghad, attacking another Witcher who poached a contract from him.

After being forced into the painful life of a Witcher, Arnaghad loathed anyone who imposed their will upon him, the Order and it's codes especially. He led an attack on the Order proper, aided by fellow Witchers who respected his defiance towards authority. Once they were beaten back, these dissidents fled to the Amell mountain range to start the next Witcher school, the School of the Bear.

The School of the Bear is one of the most misunderstood schools of them all, owing to the first major lore drop about them being largely in-universe rumors and conjecture surrounding the school, and as such I may need to go more in depth. The two major misconceptions stemming from this is the rumor about their armor, which claims that they don't bother dodging like the other Witchers and instead take blows head on (generally a bad idea, according to Geralt in the books), and the rumor about them attacking most Witchers they meet.

I contacted Cody Pondsmith, who wrote a great deal of this lore, and he mentioned that Bears do often threaten or even fight other Witchers, but in a very Skellige way, only to ward off the other Witcher from contracts they want. The Bears just want to live lives where they aren't commanded by others, and were trained especially brutally, and so will fight for what contracts they want. However they will NEVER kill another Witcher, just draw first blood (outside of duels to decide who runs the school, which occasionally turn deadly. It's unknown if Arnaghad has ever lost these duels) and if that other Witcher stands up to the Bear, they'll let them have the contract and if they meet up and work together enough even maybe become a lifelong friend.

To quote Cody himself: "I like to think of the Witcher Order as a big family in which the Bear School is the blunt, no-nonsense brother. He can be prickly and a bit of a bully sometimes but he takes his job seriously and he can be a good drinking buddy if you get to know him. Not the friendliest of people but far from evil. If you stand up to him and show him you're not afraid of him, he'll respect you."

The other rumor is also an exaggeration. The Witcher TRPG mentions that the Bear armor was designed with flexibility in mind, and while they trained to take on weaker blows with their armor and "mastery of the Quen sign", they also trained how to move quickly in their armor if they needed to dodge a fatal blow. The Bears also still trained on the gauntlet and pendulum like the other schools. Cody Pondsmith also confirmed that the Bears are just as agile as the other Witchers.

The Bears' core philosophy is almost very Lambert like, viewing Witcher's work not as a duty, or knightly virtue, but as difficult, brutal work. The only reason they stick to this work is to do a job where no one else commands them and they're left in peace. They focus only on the practical aspects of their profession, and as such discourage their students from working together in training, since Witchers work alone. As Arnaghad said, "We pass through life alone, better get used to it!" As a result, Bears are very isolated, preferring their own company to that of other Witchers, and were encouraged to value their autonomy and self care above all else. The Bears' final trial involved climbing to the top of Mt. Gorgon and back, and any who died from the cold were left "as a sobering reminder of the dangers of their trade". Despite this, the TRPG has a list of random early training events Witchers from all schools can have, and Bears could sometimes make friends amongst their fellow witchers in training just like members of every other school.

Once the new Bear students left their keep of Haern Caduch, most wouldn't return to winter there, unlike the other schools. They developed a reputation as being terrible to fight, and for being firebrands, often speaking very bluntly, not matter who they spoke to, authority included. Once such Witcher, named Gerd, was asked by a Duchess to help kill her father. He insulted her so badly he got a warrant for his death placed on him, though all the peasants he met spoke rather highly of him. As a result, Bears found it easiest to make friends amongst the similarly minded Dwarves and Gnomes of the Amell mountains, and people of the Skellige Isles. According to Cody Pondsmith, this is the main reason the Bears stayed together as a group at all. They valued autonomy above all else and so long as they functioned as a Witcher school, they were left alone and no rulers would try and command them. They also take their ideals of free will and apply it to others, never seeking to rule over others. They simply wish to live their lives free.

One of the original Witchers to side with Arnaghad, Ivar Evil-Eye, had extra mutations done to him by the Order of Witchers during his trial, allowing him to see into other worlds. In these visions he saw the Wild Hunt rampaging across them, conquering them. Ivar became obsessed with stopping them, and tried to kill Arnaghad to take command and lead the Bear school against the Hunt. This failed, so he and his supporters left to form the Viper School.

The Witchers of the Viper school, based in Gorthur Gvaed, were said to be the most secretive, taking contracts as both assassins and witchers. They at first dedicated themselves finding a way to stop the Wild Hunt, amassing a massive library on the subject. Fighting with an unpredictable, ambushed based variant of the Witcher fighting style, Viper Witchers employed poisons, brewed by skilled Viper alchemists, on both their swords, and a dagger in their offhand, their biggest deviation from typical Witcher combat techniques.

Vipers, for an unknown reason, eventually forgot their purpose. In his time, Letho of Gullet could only guess at why the school had been founded. Instead, they became famous for their skill at political killings, dealing with the nobility of the southern countries before Nilfgaard had even become a large-scale power.

Viper students had a different type of trial, after more grueling than typical training. Instead of any physical task like the other schools, the Viper students were given a pet at their induction to the school. And to graduate, they simply had to hunt it down and kill it, showing their lack of mercy.

While most of those who supported Ivar followed him to the Viper school, one group broke off and west east, across the Korath desert, to Zerikania, founding the School of the Manticore.

The School of the Manticore was founded by the Witcher Iwan, from the School of the Bear, following Ivar's assassination attempt on Arnaghad. They got work in the Korath desert as caravan guards, earning the attention of the Zerrikanian Queen after a deadly battle with a manticore. The Queen sponsored the Witchers of the Manticore, making them the only school to be officially backed by any government. They were experts on potions and anti-toxins, a necessity of dealing with the poisonous creatures of the Korath desert.

A unique adaptation to the monsters of the desert also had Manticore Witchers employ shields into the whirling combat of their Witcher training. Given their extra support, the Manticores held two keeps, Behelt Nar and Bailsuf Alsarea, on opposite sides of the desert, so that they might better patrol and guard those within it.

The Manticore is the final school to come from the schism Arnaghad had led. The other voices of dissent against the ideals of the Order would soon hear of these new schools and decide to break off as well to form the School of the Cat.

The School of the Cat was founded out of a response to the hatred and distrust Witchers received. They desired to be seen in a better, more respectful light. Ironically, they would end up doing the opposite. The Cat School stole away with several of the mutagens needed to make more Witchers and headed to Ebbing, and Stygga Citadel, where they would begin to experiment on human-elf children in an attempt to perfect the mutations. Its possible that the mages at this time furthered experiments on making women Witchers, but this is not confirmed yet.

Attempting to make a name for themselves, the Cats hired themselves out as spies, assassins, and mercenaries, genuinely earning them some respect from common folk for killing bandits.

In their attempts to perfect the mutations and further dull the emotions of their Witchers, the Cat school experimented harshly on a group of children that resulted in the opposite, giving these Witchers hightened emotional responses instead. These students, cast aside and left for dead, fled into the arms of a group of elves, who agreed to support them if this branch of the Cat School supported the elves' fight for freedom.

This branch, led by Gezras of Leyda, attached itself to the Dyn Marv caravan and traveled the continent, lending their services mostly to those nonhumans who could pay, while the main Cats at Stygga ended up getting assaulted by angry royals incited by their political maneuvering. This left the Dyn Marv branch as the only functional element of the School of the Cat. These Cats would train students' agility in a light, fast Elven take on Witcher fighting style, and would train their balance by making students walk a tightrope, starting low to the ground at first, but getting higher and higher each attempt.

The Cat school's breaking of Witcher neutrality and reputation for bloodlust earned Witchers such a bad name that those in the Order who most cherished their old swordmaster's knightly virtues would leave to form the School of the Griffin.

The School of the Griffin, led by Erland of Larvik, wished to truly achieve the dream of the original Order, and Gryphon, the Order's sword instructor. They traveled north to Kaer y Saren, an old fortress the Order once used, and cleansed it of the spirits of those who died in the first Witcher mutations. From there, they began a Witcher school focused on respectability and honor, believing in their knightly duties. And it worked, somewhat. The Griffins were sometimes advisors to nobility, and seen as honorable, but the prejudice against Witchers would never leave, and most would never see a Griffin Witcher as anything more than a monster playing at being a knight.

These Witchers tried their best to cushion their students against the pain of their lives on the Witcher's path, and were more brotherly than the other schools, though their knightly virtues and brotherhood were oftentimes cold comfort to Griffin students.

From the Witcher TRPG Sourcebook:

"Witcher I knew couldn’t really remember much ‘bout his past. Heh, too young to really form a lotta memories when they took him to Kaer Y Seren. Told me that the memory he did have made the mutations easier. Poor bastard clung to a memory of his pa takin’ him on a horse for a ride in the fields. Don’t know why he chose that one. Probably the only normal memory he had."

The Griffins amassed a huge library of magical knowledge, though they could only push sign magic so far, and the books were likely wasted being in a Witcher library. The library held several incredibly famous tomes on magic within, and was the envy of full mages across the Northern Realms. Despite all their efforts, they never could achieve their goal of bringing about the Order of Witcher's vision. The Griffins even had their own breaches of Witcher tradition in pursuit of their knightly heroics. An often said mantra of the Griffin school in Gwent is "To slay dragons! Tis our knightly duty!" despite dragons being largely innocent, intelligent beings who mostly wish to be left in peace.

Code Pondsmith had this to say about the Griffins:

"The Griffins stuck to the knightly traditions that the original witcher order tried to uphold. As a result it's safe to say that the Griffin school taught that monsters were the enemy of mankind and must be defeated. I don't think they would all be blindly overzealous but they wouldn't have any qualms about slaying sapient monsters if they believed it was for the good of mankind. Similarly, it's likely that they would side with humans in any conflict between monsters and humans. In a way, the Griffins' knightly virtues made them easier to manipulate than the other witcher schools. They were bound to protect humanity and thus were more likely to be convinced to hunt a monster if a local noble or alderman claimed it would be for the good of the people. This is the case with the dragons. The kingdoms and jewelers guilds of the North convinced the Griffin School that dragons were a blight upon humanity and the Griffins started slaying dragons regardless of whether all of the dragons they slew deserved it. Additionally, the knightly values might make Griffin school witchers more likely to take pity on desperate humans and work for free."

Those few Witchers remaining in the Order by now traveled to northern Kaedwyn, and started a school based on their tempered, traditionalist, and realistic view on the Order's goals. They based themselves in Kaer Morhen and dubbed themselves the School of the Wolf.

The School of the Wolf is the most famous Witcher school, known for their professionalism and efficiency. They don't kill humans like the Viper or Cat. Aren't bold or brash like the Bear, or put Knightly virtues above Witcher ideals like the Griffin. I mean, anyone reading far this knows who the Wolf Witchers are, so I'm not going to get into to much detail. They're Geralt's school. Ciri's school.

They took a balanced approached to Witcher life and as such trained Witchers who were the best adjusted out of the schools, with neither the Bear's harshness nor the Griffin's egocentrism. For this, Wolf Witchers were lauded all across the Continent.

With all Schools formed, the Golden Age of Witchers began, at first with the Bears and Griffins making peace. From Erland of Larvik's Journal (The TRPG's monster manual):

"Surprisingly enough the fracturing of the witcher order had lead to a more effective organization for us witchers. Spread across the Continent and each making more witchers independently, it was no longer the task of 60 or 70 witchers to patrol the entire Continent from Nilfgaard to Kovir. Each school patrolled their own path and when a Gryphon met with a Bear each knew they had their territory and any infighting wouldn’t be worth the bloodshed. We managed to broker peace and live as somewhat estranged brothers rather than bitter enemies"

Witchers at this time were seen largely as heroes, with their detractors' voices largely simmering underneath. With Witchers around to kill monsters, people felt safe and so ignored any misgivings they might have.

Witchers, no matter the school, aren't too dissimilar from each other, and so the Cintinent at large formed an overall opinion of the Witchers based on the traits they all shared. From the TRPG:

"In the heyday of witchers there were many many seperate schools, which all mutated new witchers and taught them the neccesary skills to hunt monsters and lift curses. While it’s generally agreed that there is a core set of skills required to a be a witcher,

each school taught its students differently and focused on different aspects of witcher training. Thus, witchers from different schools often act differently and go about their jobs in similar but varied ways."

During this time, the Schools all produced hundreds of Witchers, and each was their own person, With their own preferences and personality, despite the schools themselves having reputations for Witchers with only a few certain traits. For instance, the Bear Witcher Ivo of Belhaven fought like a Viper or Cat Witcher, but in personality was a perfect fit for the Bear School with how standoffish he could be.

They also all customized their gear in different ways, usually keeping their gear in similar fashion to their school's, as its what they trained in an were used to. For example, Bear Witcher Junod of Belhaven wore what appears to be a set of Wolf School armor he had modified to fit Bear Witcher style.

Witchers also at this time experimented with signs. The Griffins obviously focused on making them more powerful, and the Bears pushed Quen to a level beyond any other school. But the most interesting case is that of Warrit, a blind Viper Witcher who used the lesser known Somne sign as a form of echolocation.

The Golden age lasted for around 150-200 years or so, ending around 1160 when the monster populations had been hunted down enough that people's main concern stopped being the monsters, and became the Witchers themselves.

The Griffin School, refusing to share the knowledge of its library, was destroyed by jealous mages. A group of peasants and mages attacked the Wolves' keep out of nowhere. The Bears failed to destroy a powerful cabal of vampires and, when peasants rioted and came for their keep, chose to disband rather than engage in needless slaughter. The Cat's keep of Stygga is destroyed, but the Dyn Marv chapter may still be alive and well. The Manticore School failed to protect an important prince from a fire elemental, and so lost their funding and closed. The Viper refused to support the Nilfgaardian usurper and were destroyed.

If you've made it this far, holy shit, thank you! I hope you have a great day!

#the witcher #Witcher schools #Witcher lore #as if anyone needed more proof I am a huge nerd #I hope this genuinely does help people though #School of the Cat #School of the Bear #School of the Wolf #School of the Griffin #School of the Viper #School of the Manticore #Wrote this because I have writer's block for my fic #geralt of rivia #lambert #eskel #vesemir #Ciri #arnaghad #Erland of Larvik #Ivar Evil-eye #Iwan #Gezras of Leyda #Witcher Role Playing Game #Witcher TRPG

[localnoodleman]

Henry Cavill only took the role as Geralt as a long con to get himself as an in-game item skin and then beat it when the corporate overlords fucked the source material to death, and that’s kinda king behavior

#the witcher #geralt of rivia #henry cavill #I’m shit posting so loud and no one can stop me #but really like think about it #man had dc contracts and just hopped on because he’s a huge nerd #and then they truly took the books and just took a massive dump on them #jaskier #I dreamed of seeing u baptism of fire DnD party but alas #I don’t get my dreams #dandelion #time of contempt #I am literally almost done with the books #and guys I love the show in my own way but I need you to know #it’s Not The Same Story Even Remotely

[dreamsmthgold]

If Cavill abandoned The Witcher for anything less than playing James Bond I will lose my cool

#he is a huge nerd and loves geralt!! #i dont think superman was enough to make him do it tbh #i think he has gotten cast as bond #i fucking hope so to make up for this treachery

[zainclaw]

Henry is literally the only reason a live action Geralt of Rivia worked in the first place. And it has nothing to do with him being a big fit dude but everything to do with him being a huge nerd and a bigass fan of the books and the video games. He knew this character. He was literally on set discussing with the show runners what Geralt would or wouldn’t do. This show only worked because Henry was the One good choice for Geralt. Just cancel your fucking show.

#the witcher #geralt of rivia #henry cavill #im really upset ok

[podcastenthusiast]

My personal rating of jobs I've seen Geralt have in modern AU fics:

Military: 3/10 - I get it in the sense that his work is his life and he's Seen Some Shit, but I just can't picture Geralt taking orders consistently enough.

MMA Fighter/Wrestler: 5/10 - It's got the violence! I could see it. I enjoyed the fistfighting quests in the game. Just not my favorite tho.

Bodyguard: 7/10 (10/10 if he's protecting Jaskier) - He is a big tough-looking boy! Likes to keep people safe. But I think he would get bored long-term.

Personal Trainer: 7/10 - A solid choice. We know he's qualified.

Regular Office Guy: 2/10 - Very funny to imagine but I don't think he'd actually make it past the interview.

Mechanic: 6/10 - I could kinda see it if you think of a car as like a modern horse.

Criminal/Gangster: 3/10 - Admittedly I haven't read one of these but I have trouble imagining it.

Lawyer: 8/10 - Saw this once or twice and honestly I'm here for it. Geralt is a huge nerd with a strong sense of justice.

Animal Control Guy: 9/10 - I picture this like that quest in W3 where Geralt had to save that goat except it's his entire job.

Trucker: 10/10 - God tier. Got the traveling, the isolation, the way the job gets in your bones. Perfection.

Anything With Horses: 10/10 - Yes! Geralt is absolutely a horse girl in every universe.

Still A Witcher Somehow: 10/10 - Love these fics with my whole heart. Geralt probably living in his car, wandering the city with a sword and protecting people (like Jaskier) from monsters nobody knows about/believes in? Fuck yeah.

#i'll add more if i find them #the witcher #geralt of rivia #the witcher netflix #witcher 3 wild hunt #geraskier #if you know any i missed send them my way #just saw a fireman one. 8/10 fits him well #horse girl geralt

[endiness]

okay, can i just go off on the ridiculous conspiracy theory that hc is just the only one on the show who cared about the sOuRcE MaTeRiAL and the fandom's veneration of him as this, like, godly nerd figure though.

like, first off, hc did not even know the books existed when he pursued the role and he had only ever played the games. and what, i'm just supposed to believe he has such an obsessive nerdy personality and he's this huge witcher superfan but apparently he couldn't be bothered to google the game series he's just SUCH a fan of and see that it's based off a book series or wiki it or do any research about it whatsoever? he somehow just happened to miss that all of the games credit the book series in the credits to the point where it's literally the FIRST thing that pops up when the credits roll?

secondly, geralt will not shut the fuck up in the books. he speechifies so much that it's like, sir, this is wendy's tbh. meanwhile hc would just not say his lines sometimes. which in turn affected how the writers wrote geralt so as to match his performance. kind of an odd acting choice for someone who just cares soOo much about adhering to the source material.

third, s3 was the closest adaption to the books so far yet that's the season he leaves after? 🤔

fourth, why would he be a fan of the games tbh!!! if he really was as obsessive about adherence to the source material as the fandom claims he is to the point that he either threw a temper tantrum and quit his multi-million dollar paying job because of it or was fired because he was so insufferable and disruptive on set, why would he be a fan of the games? the games do not perfectly follow the source material, either, they retcon things, they introduce just as much if not more original material. if he really had the personality type and attitude the fandom portrays him as having, he wouldn't be able to tolerate the games. yet he is a fan of them. so either that was a fucking lie.gif, he's just a massive hypocrite, or both. 🤷‍♀️

#anti henry cavill #and his stans!!!!!!! #!txt: the witcher

[bilberry-jam]

I forget which book it happens in but when Dandelion is tortured by Rience he picks up on what Rience's accent is while it's going on despite being in immense pain and do you think he like. Ever listened to Geralt talk and started giving him weird side eyes because he noticed Weird Things about his supposed Rivian accent? Like did he ever find out Geralt wasn't actually *from* Rivia just because he's a huge fricking linguist nerd and picked up certain tells that gave it away for him? Idk where I'm going with this I just think it's amusing to think about

Oho! My sincerest gratitude for your thoughts!

Dandelion is tortured by Rience near the start of Blood of Elves. (It's something I think about relentlessly. It's a moment that shows his insecurity around his friendship with Geralt and I don't honestly know if Geralt knows it happened. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) the thought Geralt has no idea about it, no idea that Dandelion suffered for him nor knows how Dandelion internally feels like he's failed him, like he's not good enough eats away at me when I read every single interaction after in which Geralt treats him like his 'silly little friend Dandelion who lucks his way out of everything and has not a care in the world apart from his own ego, drink and sex." Perhaps I'll make a whole post one day about Dandelion and his insecurities.)

To the point. I know Dandelion definitely does know that Geralt isn't from Rivia, I'm just not sure if we are told when he finds this out. It's discussed in this part of Baptism of Fire:

I could literally sit and analyse this interaction. I love it so so dearly. I love The Hanza with my whole heart so I love all their interactions but this one really says a lot about each character.

(Also think it helps add to the headcanon about linking Rivia with Yorkshire stemming from the English translation audio books. Though I dont personally headcanon him to have that specific Yorkshire accent. He sounded like someone you'd meet in my local pub, it was jarring to hear. I also can't imagine him saying "now then" or other dialect )

I know Geralts voice (or rather I think) is rather strange and unusual. I read him as autistic, the fact he picked up a Rivian accent despite not being Rivian is one of the many things on my list to support this headcanon. As an autistic person myself I'm constantly questioned on my voice for it sounding unusual and unfitting to the region.

I definitely think Dandelion would've picked up on Geralt not being from Rivia with his accent. Although I also don't think Geralt is particularly set on insisting to people he's definitely from Rivia, though I can't imagine many people are going to bother to stop and ask a Witcher where he's from. If there were a person to do that, it would most certainly be Dandelion.

#the witcher books #dandelion #geralt of rivia #thinking about this extract is actually pushing me to headcanon an English translation version of Geralt as having a York accent. #this headcanon has just come to me and I might be clinging onto it for dear life now #thinking about Rivia having specific dialect is also a really interesting thought #I need to do more research on the Witcher it seems. one day I'll make a whole document. #ask away!

[modernday-jay]

there’s something beautiful about everyone hating on henry cavill when he was cast as geralt bc no one believed he could do it but then it was revealed he was a massive huge nerd and did a really great job. personally i think that’s the vibe alfred would have if he was an actor LMAO

#apparently henry cavill ISNT gonna be in the next season so idk what happened there but #whatevs. i love that this happened #and how alfred! like maybe he did some goofy stuff beforehand or people just see him as a beefy pretty boy. then BAM. #he gets cast as a huge character and everyones like ‘ewww’ but then he reveals how proud he is of his gaming setup and his #collection of books relating to the franchise etc etc #jayposts

[yenvengerberg]

With Henry Cavill being such a huge nerd and how passionate he was about playing Clark Kent and Geralt, I have no doubt but he would’ve been happy to continue doing both if he liked the direction of the story and character.

When it came to his Superman announcement he specifically said he was looking forward to the more joyful take on the character so we know it’s not gonna be the grim dark Superman of the previous movies which both Henry and the audience had a problem with.  he didn’t like how the character had been treated in previous movies but he was more than willing to come back and play him again if things improved. And that finally happened.

Obviously it’s not like I know him personally and I’m making a ton of assumptions but I do think he would’ve been happy to keep playing both, and I think he’s a big enough star at this point but Netflix and WB would’ve been willing to try to work with him in regards to scheduling. I think based on the rumors if they’re true he was probably just unhappy with the direction of the show and the superman casting gave him a convenient out.

I’m another one of the people who loves comic books and the Witcher so I’m definitely happy he’s going to be superman again but I still really really hate the situation with the show right now. I don’t think he can be replaced as Geralt.  The romantic chemistry with Yen, The parental bond with Ciri, the gruffness and intensity yet all the caring underneath that. I just don’t trust that anyone else is going to be able to emulate all of those things the way he did.

i'm obviously making a lot of assumptions too, but i completely agree that it seems like he was unhappy with the direction of the show. we know now that the cast renegotiated contracts at the end of season 3, so it sounds like something went wrong in the contract renewal. i suppose it could be that the new contract was too demanding, but it just seems to me like this would be the perfect opportunity for henry to get out if he was disappointed. now i'm starting to wonder if he went back to superman because he left the witcher, instead of getting 'poached' by dc as has been suggested.

i know people weren't jumping for joy at henry's casting to begin with, but i really can't imagine anyone else as geralt. he has truly made the character his own and brought a richness to his portrayal. it was him that fought for geralt's intellect to be brought onto screen, when the writers wanted to reduce him to a grunting, brooding man. i now can't picture anyone else in that role. it's going to be a really tough act to follow, and if our theorising is correct and it's subpar writing that has driven this change... i don't think the show can recover from this.

#Anonymous #the witcher for ts #i know this sounds extremely pessimistic #but i can't feel optimistic about this rn i'm sorry

[daenystheedreamer]

do you have any book recs?

im gonna sound like a normie or a heathen but my tastes in books is extremely lame 😭 my favourite books are all huge classics. i fucking love pride and prejudice im so boring 😭 i read the fucking godfather and thought it was fine like THAT is how boring my tastes are

i LOVE catch 22 if you havent read it i HIGHLY recommend it. its really funny and i♡yossarion. about american pilots during ww2 but its a military/war/america/etc satire. really funny!!!

HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES BY CARMEN MARIA MACHADO... omg my most favourite recently published read. BEAUTIFUL collection of short stories. feminist queer etcetc, i love the quiet body horror so to speak? it felt like it read my mind...

an invitation from a crab by panpanya amazing manga/short story collection. after reading it i had to lay back and just stare into the nothingness. again it felt like it read my mind

kurosagi corpse delivery service episodic body horror/horror comedy detective mystery manga. its about a group of college students of a buddhist university who all have various odd ESP powers who try to help corpses lay in rest/peace. great ensemble cast and the dark horse official english translation is AMAZING especially if you are a huge nerd who likes reading footnotes

gay manga: my lesbian experience with loneliness and our dreams at dusk. the latter is a beautiful exploration of queer people, a very kind and sweet work (though check for trigger warnings). the former is a really raw memoir by a lesbian author. its beautiful and its relatable and its horrible and vulnerable. love it<3

junji ito in general great horror mangaka.

ive got more manga reccs but i think i did too many already and idk if they count as books im sorry for answering your ask bad 😭 anyway some more of my lame taste in books below the cut

favourite books no order off the top of my head and my goodreads: catch-22 (love you bisexual slut legend yossarion), contact by carl sagan, i robot by isaac asimov, alias grace + the handmaid's tale by margaret atwood. i love a clockwork orange (LOVE nadsat). i like maurice (em forster), a thousand splendid suns (khaled hosseini). also fingersmith and like water for chocolate. i liked carmilla but its honestly kinda mid 😭

love the hunger games uhhhh. love asoiaf obvi. i tried the first of the witcher novels (the short story collection) but they were too sexist for me and geralt was an annoying centrist. i was like but the elves are literally being oppressed God forbid they fight back. God Forbid renfri fight back against men! i liked jaskier though :) jesus christ thats a tangent

i actually like a lot of non fiction. jeanette mccurdy's recent memoir is a great read, as if ben mcintyre's operation mincemeat. i read ben raines' clotilda, about the last slave ship to smuggle captive africans to the USA. all three are interesting reads

finally karl marx's communist manifesto :) not a joke. very quick pamphlet. one day i will read lenin's imperialism i stg. my goodreads to read list is huge...

#lot of crying emojis in this one. #yeah sorry for not being esoteric its partly cos i dont read so much anymore :( my specific brand of mental illnesses make it difficult #i cant stop the fucking thoughts bruv 😭 #ask #anonymous #yinnie

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

O and X?

O - Choose a song at random, which ship or character does it remind you of

X - top 5-10 characters who are yoUR PRECIOUS BABIES AND YOU WILL DIE DEFENDING THEM

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O: WARNING: My taste in music is embarrassing.

So when I read the ask I was listening to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZTTnAG0sSk

But to go on with the ask, I'll shuffle my current Spotify playlist. I'll do 3 cause this is a shorter section.

Not Evil- (Tiffany Haddish, From the Lego Movie: The Second Part)

So, this is awkward, cause I have a fan music video that plays in my head for this for OFMD. Evil Stede Bonnet is my shit. In canon, he's oblivious and hurts those around him, but purposefully EVIL Stede? Candy to me. Obviously, Izzy's the only one that sees through this. Watching as everyone around him falls to Stede's seductions.

Coconuts-(Kim Petras)

*sigh* You already know. He's in my head, at all times. Izzy Hands. Booba, Honka Honka.

The Anthem of Mr. Dark - The Arcadian Wild

Edward fucking Teach. This whole song(just like Ed) is voice envy for me. Plus, just being unhappy with where you've ended up in life. But it's really playful, and soft, and hopeful. It's not sad like it should be. Radiates Ed vibes.

For non-OFMD choices, I have no idea about my first song. Maybe Benry from Half-Life Vr AI(A really niche internet comedy improv series).

Coconuts I'll push on Geralt(Witcher TV) or Cas(Supernatural) and Anthem goes to Jaskier(Also Witcher TV, but only the fandom Jaskier we've all agreed on)

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X - top 5-10 characters who are yoUR PRECIOUS BABIES AND YOU WILL DIE DEFENDING THEM

TLDR: Loyal sidekicks who just need a hug, a warm blanket, and an ear to bitch into. That are often ignored by their wider fan base.

John Watson- Most adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. THE OG CHARACTER I OBSESSED OVER.

Watson, to me, defines if an adaptation is going to work. He's not a henchman meant to be there for Holmes' ego. Watson is his own fucked up guy, hell, do you think Holmes would keep someone around that was dull? My favorite fan work, Warlock Holmes, gives Watson a fascinating character arch that explores loyalty, addiction, grief, PTSD, masculinity, societal expectations, and ethics. I had a Holmes(all media types) faze from 2015- essentially now. It's what I read when I just feel like shit. Watson is just as batshit as Holmes in the original short stories. Willing to murder, hide evidence, and fight to protect Holmes. Baby.

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AGENT 99- Get Smart (1965–1969)

Deep cut. My family kept a box set of this show that they grew up with. This show was a James Bond parody series in the US in the 60s that really hasn't aged well.

Agent 99, the lady on the right, is a fucking delight and was one of my first tv crushes. The whole joke is 'The Simpsons' set up of a Dumb Husband and Smart Wife. But 99 is fucking amazing. Due to when this show was aired and general sexism, she's not able to just solve every case for 86(on the left). But the audience is meant to know that She's the one doing all the work. She is sarcastic and witty, and not afraid to stick up against 86's ego and hot an ahhhhhhh. It's supposed to play against the trope of the 'useless' woman in Bond media, but she gets just as much development as her partner. We also see them build up their relationship over the course of five seasons into a loving couple, and 86 knows he's the one who got lucky. When she opens up she's highly passionate and a huge fucking nerd. They're both dorks and I love them.

She's also always willing to get in danger for her fail husband. Don't get me started on the awful movie adaptation.

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Izzy Hands- Our Flag Means Death

You already know my thoughts if you've been following me for a while. The showrunner, writers, and actors all love this fuck up. He's a pleasure to write, and fuck, he's compelling. I know the magic of Izzy is how much we don't know, but I'll enjoy the ride while I'm here. It's not often that my favorite character is liked by the writers (Castiel, Supernatural), so I'm living for the welcoming community we've built online.

I want his gender, and that's okay! Please and thank you, with leather on top.

Special Mention: Jean Vicquemare- Disco Elysium. He and Izzy are the same sad man.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaskier(Dandelion)- The Witcher(All Media Types)

*Look* I've only seen the two seasons of the show. Jaskier is barely in it and sidelined as much as humanly possible. With that, I've spent two years of my life reading as much fanfic with him as the main character as I could consume. He is my first case of gender envy and the reason I've been listening to The Amazing Devils for 3 years. Jaskier is who I think I am in a friend group, sarcastic, bitchy, and judgy.

I am fully aware that he shines in the books. The show fucked over every aspect of Geralt and Jaskier's friendship, and honestly, I would have read the books if OFMD didn't come out when it did. I prefer the idea of Jaskier I've built in my head. He's been there for years, he might as well stay. He is an immortal half-elf and is Ciri's beloved uncle/third parent. This mess of a show won't take that from me.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Hanzo Shimada- Overwatch

Did he murder his brother over a family feud? Yeah, kinda. Is he the personification of an 'older sibling'? 100% Did Blizzard ignore a growing fanbase in 2016 and give us almost no lore about him beyond that? Yeah.

Just like with Jaskier, fan interpretation is what drives this fandom. He thrives as the fandoms emo bitch, and I like him so much.

Not a fandom I spend too much time in (besides now, where I spend most of my free time playing O2). But I always loved the general 'there are 50 ships in this fandom' vibe. (Also, throw Cassidy here, he deserves it)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

And Finally. My Queen.

Morrigan- Dragon Age (Spoilers Ahead for the video games Dragon Age: Origins, II, Inquisition)

If I was raised to be the 'spare', younger, body for an elven god mother, raised in a marsh, I would be just as socially fucked up as she is. She is a Bioware Tsundere, like most on this list, seems easy to read but complex once you crack that shell. Her story through the games is amazing and seeing her slowly learn the truth and accept who she is, is inspiring. Growing up I used to play as a male character just to romance her.

She doesn't need love to be happy in life. Just someone to support her in the bullshit that she's about to go through. Playing the game from a friend or lover's POV is rewarding (cough cough *Alistar*). When you do romance her, she's still sarcastic, insensitive, and herself. She doesn't see a reason to change for you (Alistar). She views love as stupid bullshit that will get you killed, and in this story, she's right!

If you fuck up in some story decisions, she still has agency and will leave you if her moral lines are crossed. Nowadays this is kinda common, but when I first played this game as a kid, I was afraid of doing the wrong thing and making my favorite character leave. My only issue is you can't romance her as a female Gray Warden. But Leliana is Bi in origins and is usually my first choice. She does a lot of shit I don't agree with though...

More Mentions:

Castiel. I'm done with Supernatural (years active 2019-2022). I might watch a 'Winchesters' episode if he's in it. But I've moved on. Love him, and will defend him, but that is behind me.

Phoenix Wright (Phoenix Wright). The embodiment of 'I'll get through this somehow'. He tries so hard to be something more than he is, before one day learning that living a happy life is enough.

Dorian (Dragon Age Inquisition)- Gender Envy. I love a sarcastic mage. Also, his coming out scene always makes me emotional. He's learning to be his own person in a strange new land and AHH.

@born-on-a-beach-teach  Thanks for the ask! I ask the same questions back at you!

#ofmd #overwatch 2 #the witcher #get smart #sherlock holmes doyle #hanzo shimada #izzy hands #Morrigan #John Watson #agent 99 #dragon age origins #dragon age inquisition #ask game

[thedestinyofswords]

RP Blog Rules & Information

INDEPENDENT MULTIMUSE BLOG

Written by Stefan.

! 18+ only !

Rules & Information Beneath Cut

About The Blog Itself:

I am a selective follower. It isn’t personal, I just like to be comfortable with the people I follow and like to keep my following number relatively low. If you want me to follow you back, just DM me and let's chat a bit!

Due to the contents and themes in the fandoms I RP, this blog will post dark and possibly triggering topics. I will add a trigger warning to these topics, but please explore with caution. The tag will be #TW.

This blog may RP explicit subjects. I am comfortable RPing smut, but would like to have at least a short conversation about this. I am personally ace/aro, so I would just like a little bit of a warning, and I would prefer a RP not be sexually focused. Please, no porn without plot!

I am still learning the basics of RPing on Tumblr. If I'm formatting something strangely or something doesn't quite make much sense, please just let me know. I'm trying my best, but I'm not quite familiar with this site yet.

I do have a Discord that I will give out to close mutuals. 

Muse Information:

Here are my current fandoms. The *s indicate my level of interest in the muses listed. Three of them mean that I am the most interested, and one means the least interested.

The Witcher:

Dandelion (Saga) ***

Dandelion (Game) **

Geralt (Saga) *

Geralt (Hexer) *

Cahir (Saga) ***

Borch Three Jackdaws (Saga) ***

Borch Three Jackdaws (Hexer) ***

Jarre (Saga) *

Reynart (Saga) ***

Rience (Saga) ***

Rience (Witcher: Netflix) **

Degerlund **

Bonhart **

Brehen **

Hellsing Ultimate:

Alucard ***

Anderson **

Maxwell **

Dracula:

Jonathan Harker **

Renfield *

Dracula ***

About Me:

Heyo! My name is Stefan. I'm 21, and I go by he/him pronouns.

I am going to college at the moment for a degree in English, so please understand that I am a busy person. I also do participate in sports and a decent social life, so sometimes I don't have the ability to answer. Roleplaying is a hobby for me, not a job.

If you want to talk about things other than RPs, I'm a huge premodern history nerd, D&D nerd, and I am a wrestler (as in American folkstyle, Greco-Roman, and freestyle), so feel free to talk to me about any of those or anything you find interesting from this blog!

#rules #information

[dark-muse-iris]

hello and happy new year! 🥂 Since you have played wicher have you seen the series??

Happy New Year, anon!

Yes, I've seen both seasons out so far. Since I played all the games, I approached with some healthy skepticism because a lot of times live-action stuff goes to shit.

I really enjoyed Henry Cavill's portrayal of Geralt. I had seen some of his earlier period-specific roles like when he was in The Tudors many years ago so I didn't think he would have a problem with the role or the setting. He's also a super huge nerd and when he talked about the series and the BOOKS (which so often get glossed over), I felt we were in good hands so long as he remained with the series.

So you can imagine my disappointment now that he's no longer going to be in the series after season 3. I think it's a huge loss for fans. And while I'm still going to give future releases a chance as a big Witcher fan, it's going to be like the 007 movie series for me where I consider each Bond to be a completely different interpretation of the main character.

Honestly, that universe is so rich with characters and lore, they could easily do major story arcs for other characters, especially Ciri or Vesemir. Geralt didn't lone-wolf everything. In a lot of stories and quests, he relied on a network of talented badasses and their contributions to get things done.

#iris answers

[aramblingjay]

Hello! For the writer ask:

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

26. How do you get into a character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going there in the first place?

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end.

Ooooh. Um. I’ll go with the ending paragraphs from To have and to hold:

Just before [Jaskier] walks out, she pulls the gold crown from its frame and presses it into the palm of Jaskier’s hand—she can always put another crown in there, to keep the allure going, but this one no longer belongs with her.

Jaskier closes his fingers around it like another promise, and with that, she lets him go.

I tend to struggle with ending most of my fics but this one in particular was challenging, because I had such a clear idea of wanting to have her hand the responsibility of caring for Geralt over to Jaskier, in a sense saying I cared for him when he had no one, now he has you and I have seen how much you love him, so I’m happy to let him go. But obviously it wouldn’t be good writing or impactful at all to just…say that, so I literally started by having [she lets Geralt go, comfortable knowing Jaskier is a worthy guardian of his heart] written out at the end, edited everything else, and then came back and tried to figure out how to convey that idea in some sort of symbolism. I think when I was editing and re-reading it struck me that the gold crown Geralt gives her is really a symbol of his heart and good soul, because it’s a small kindness he gives her when he’s struggling so much himself. She recognizes that and that’s why she uses it as the centerpiece of her establishment when she becomes Mistress. So it seemed like a natural way to almost pass the torch from her to Jaskier, by passing on the coin that symbolized both Geralt’s humanity and the very idea of paying forward kindness.

Wow that was a rant and a half. Thank you for giving me the chance to ramble like a huge nerd about my own writing!

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

Pretty much all the characters I love and end up writing for have something about them that I really connect with and see reflected in myself. So usually I start by trying to dig deeper into that hook, whatever it is. I also tend to rewatch/reread some relevant canon scenes before I start, just to get myself into the world and the beat of the character. It doesn’t always work, and feeling like my characters are OOC is still a huge thing for me, but getting to be a different person for a few minutes is one of my favorite parts of writing, so I can’t say I’ve ever regretted it? Even when the emotions are dark or heartbreaking.

Thank you so much for the ask!!

Send me writing questions

#ask

[tarriecat]

So I've been subjecting my friends to some rants about why I don't vibe with the promo material for Honor Among Thieves despite being a huge D&D nerd and the reviews seeming fine

And I think it's just...it's got all the same stuff as all the other mainstream movies out there right now. Dull colors, unambitious character designs, safe choices all the way down. No darker-skinned POC, no queerness, no fat characters, at least not in the marketing. The writing sounds fine. It's probably objectively better writing than Hollywood's past D&D attempts. But it looks so...dull.

This game is more popular than ever, and it's popular on the back of properties that are full of WILD SHIT and BRIGHT COLORS, and the best we can get for a movie is The Witcher Goes To Neverwinter? (Actually, that's not fair to the Witcher, Geralt at least has cool hair and Jaskier wears some goddamn color.)

I hope it's good. I hope people like it. I hope they then pick up the game and play better stories than Hollywood could ever attempt. I'm gonna go watch...things with color saturation.

[latestmoviesblog]

Throwback: Henry Cavill Nearly Lost His Eyes Perfecting the Geralr of Rivia for ‘The Witcher’

Every Henry Cavill fan is well aware of the fact that their favorite star is a huge gaming nerd. This is how he landed on Netflix’s The Witcher, in which he played the role of Geralt of Rivia to the utmost perfection. Clearly, the 39-year-old actor left no stone unturned in the preparation of his dream role, only to realize later that this preciseness came at a huge cost. The Man of Steel actor…

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