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The Ending Of The Witcher: Blood Origin Explained - Video học tiếng Anh
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The Ending Of The Witcher: Blood Origin Explained
The Ending Of The Witcher: Blood Origin Explained
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Phụ đề (153)
0:00
"The Witcher" nods to The Conjunction of the Spheres, Ithlinne's prophecy,
0:04
and where Witchers come from, but doesn't explain any of it. The new prequel series
0:09
"Blood Origin" answers many of those questions and raises more. Warning: Spoilers ahead.
0:14
In the time of "The Witcher," the Continent is a hodgepodge of social, political,
0:19
and religious groups, subject to an endless cycle of war and racial conflict. Much of that strife
0:25
comes as a result of human machinations, as the many human nations of the Continent are prone to
0:31
infighting just as often as they are to prejudice against Elves, Dwarves, and the like. One of the
0:36
setting's most enduring and poignant features is the abundance of Elven ruins and artifacts across
0:42
the land, over which humanity builds their empires and attempts to recreate old Elvish magics.
0:48
"My elders worked with humans, and got robbed of all they had.
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And when they fought back, they were slaughtered."
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Yet in "The Witcher: Blood Origin," humanity has yet to arrive on the Continent, and in its place,
1:03
the Elven empires prove themselves every bit as bloodthirsty as their eventual human successors.
1:09
The series begins with three major Elven kingdoms uniting under one banner,
1:14
with Xin'trea as its capital city. The unification is no feat of diplomacy,
1:19
but rather the act of a few scheming, power-mad individuals, specifically,
1:24
Balor and Eredin. The new, unified empire is built on a shaky foundation as a result.
1:29
This period is known in canon as a golden age in Elven history, and yet even then it was a violent,
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tenuous time. By the series' end, the death of an empress, the shattering of dimensional barriers,
1:42
and a peasant uprising all bring the so-called golden age to an ugly end.
1:48
Though they've yet to properly arrive in "The Witcher" to hound Ciri and plague Geralt's dreams,
1:53
the Wild Hunt is one of the greatest threats in the Witcher canon and is likely to end up
1:58
as the series' overarching villains. In the Sapkowski novels, video games,
2:03
and other media, the Wild Hunt is one of the primary groups responsible for Ciri's constant
2:09
pursuit and nomadic lifestyle. They want Ciri's unique power that comes from her Elder Blood,
2:14
a power that is prophesied to either end the world or save it.
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All of their efforts begin in the final moments of "The Witcher: Blood Origin."
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When Balor betrays Eredin and casts him out into an unknown dimension,
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the Elf seems doomed to a slow demise on a dead, alien world. But it's precisely that
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exile that causes Eredin, alongside his band of loyal soldiers, to begin transforming into
2:38
the fearsome Wild Hunt. Eredin's singular determination allows him to survive exile,
2:44
discover the secrets to interdimensional travel, and return to the Continent as the King of the
2:50
Wild Hunt. Using advanced magic found only on other worlds, Eredin and his band evolve into
2:56
something more than simple raiders. Wielding frost magic and commanding elemental beasts,
3:02
they become terrifying figures who haunt the dreams of folk from the Continent and beyond.
3:07
"The Witcher: Blood Origin" establishes the origin for several major moments in the franchise's lore,
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the biggest and most important are the Conjunction and the creation of the first Witcher. But
3:19
the series also finds time to sprinkle in the origins of smaller characters that are destined,
3:24
as more hardcore fans will undoubtedly know, to become central figures in Witcher lore. One such
3:30
figure is Ithlinne, who appears in the series for just a few short scenes as a poor little girl who
3:36
happens to have psychic visions. As it turns out, that little girl eventually grows into the most
3:42
famous seer in history whose most famous prophecy points to Ciri as the cause of Armageddon.
3:47
In the final moments of the series, Ithlinne offers
3:51
Éile the Lark a prophecy regarding her child and its descendants. As ominous as its sounds,
3:56
it's nothing compared to what she'll predict just a few years later. Unlike so many other oracles,
4:02
an alarming amount of Ithlinne's prophecies end up coming true, and so her writings become almost
4:08
sacred texts in the world of the Witcher. Many of the major decisions made by kings, queens,
4:15
and mages in the time of Geralt come as a result of Ithlinne's words and their ever-present doom.
4:21
Another minor character in "The Witcher: Blood Origin" who closes out the series in an impactful
4:26
way is Avallac'h. For the vast majority of the series, the young Elf is merely a simple
4:31
mage's apprentice, a stuttering lackey with no discernible importance beyond his meager
4:36
station. His surprising rise to prominence comes after saving Empress Merwyn from a
4:42
would-be assassin. Merwyn has no idea what events she's setting in motion by promoting
4:47
Avallac'h and granting him access to higher-level magical research,
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nor how he will one day play a major part in the story of Geralt and Ciri.
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"I need you to learn how to open gateways to new worlds."
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"This is insane. I'm going to die."
5:02
As fans of the novels and video games will know, Avallac'h is an ancient Elven mage with
5:08
an unparalleled knowledge of interdimensional travel who eventually becomes Ciri's mentor and
5:13
bodyguard. In the game, "The Witcher III," it's thanks to Avallac'h that Ciri is able
5:18
to evade the Wild Hunt for so long, and it's only through him that she's able to understand
5:22
the truth of her powers and finally master them. By awakening Avallac'h's potential,
5:27
Empress Merwyn unknowingly sets in motion a series of events that culminate in Ciri's
5:32
survival and therefore enable Ciri to play whatever cataclysmic role she's meant to.
5:38
The world of "The Witcher: Blood Origin" seems harsh and violent enough for the series' first
5:43
few episodes, but its finale takes everything to an extreme new level by ushering in the
5:48
Conjunction of the Spheres. The Conjunction is perhaps the single most important event
5:53
in the Witcher canon, and even when shown in the series, its full importance goes untold.
5:58
The finale shows the Conjunction's first moments, describing it as a shattering of space and time,
6:04
a tearing of the veils between worlds, but even that grandiose narration doesn't begin to cover
6:09
it. Almost instantly, the Conjunction transforms the Continent from a place of relative uniformity
6:15
and stability into a terrifying, savage land where dozens to hundreds of different species
6:21
of monsters, humans and elves included, war with each other for supremacy. Gone
6:26
are the days when a peasant's greatest concerns were taxes and blight. Instead,
6:31
they are replaced with the existential terror of vampires, basilisks, kikimores, and leshys. The
6:38
establishment of the various Witcher schools is a direct response to this sudden influx of monstrous
6:44
beasts and without the Conjunction, there would be no Witchers around which to build a franchise.
6:49
As any longtime fan of the "Witcher" franchise can tell you, the real monsters aren't the beings
6:54
with sharp claws, stingers, and rotting flesh, they're the very people around us,
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the regular citizens who suddenly resort to ghoulish acts of violence and selfishness.
7:04
That humanity is the real monster, is one of the central themes that guide every aspect of
7:09
"The Witcher" franchise. In a clever stroke of world-building, Sapkowski chose to introduce
7:15
humans to the Continent at the same time as the more obvious monsters, making the creation of
7:20
the Witchers a dual necessity. In the latter half of "The Witcher: Blood Origin" finale,
7:25
the Conjunction of the Spheres brings humanity to the Continent, forever changing its landscape.
7:31
In the finale, an Elven fisherman stumbles upon a shipwreck whose passengers speak no
7:37
Elvish and bear smooth, rounded ears. Those first human settlers, though unintentionally,
7:43
start a process on the Continent that in many ways resembles an infection, spreading from nation to
7:49
nation, tearing them down to continue feeding and increasing their numbers.
7:53
One of the more curious new additions to the Witcher lore in Netflix's "The Witcher" is the
7:59
presence of the monoliths, strange, black pillars of stone that harbor deep secrets relating to
8:04
magic and the Conjunction of the Spheres. The video games have their own monoliths which seem
8:09
unrelated, and the books have no mention of them at all, making them a novel invention for the
8:14
Netflix series. They pop up again and again in "The Witcher," forming the basis of Istredd's
8:20
research, interfering with Ciri's power, and even summoning several entirely new species of
8:25
monsters. The mysterious structures return in "The Witcher: Blood Origin," and like other important
8:31
facets of the universe, their true nature and origin are revealed more fully in the series.
8:36
It turns out that the monoliths are Dwarven creations, only controlled by the Elves because of
8:42
their conquest of the Dwarves and their territory. Their magic is ancient, predating even Elvish
8:48
magic, and is intrinsically tied to the land and the underlying properties of the dimension itself.
8:53
Just as the monoliths withstood the magical experimentation of the Elves and endured until
8:59
the time of humanity, they also endured throughout the days of Dwarven dominion and Elvish conquest,
9:04
making them some of the only unchanging features of the Continent's landscape.
9:09
The world of the Witcher is chock full of fascinating characters, creatures,
9:14
coalitions, and conflicts that make for excellent story material, but at the end of the day,
9:19
the reason we're here is the Witcher himself, Geralt of Rivia. He and his fellow cat-eyed,
9:25
sword-slinging brethren give the franchise its namesake and are Sapkowski's primary invention.
9:30
"The Witcher: Blood Origin" is fully aware of this fact, which is why much of its story
9:35
is dedicated to the creation, and eventual destruction, of the Continent's first Witcher.
9:40
The first Witcher wasn't created by any organization in response to encroaching
9:44
monsters, and it even predates the Conjunction of the Spheres. Instead,
9:48
the first Witcher is made for killing one single monster. Although the process of mutating
9:53
young boys into Witchers eventually becomes standardized, the first attempt is anything
9:58
but. Fjall is laid on the dirt floor of a cave, given a mix of herbs, and infused with the blood
10:04
of the most convenient monster. The transformation ultimately consumes him and leads to his death,
10:10
and how the process was revived and eventually streamlined is still unknown.
10:15
Bookending "The Witcher: Blood Origin" are prophecies from the young Ithlinne.
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The first prophecy centers around the Lark and her quest, but the second prophecy,
10:24
the one that comes at the tail end of the finale, seems tailor-made for Geralt and
10:28
Ciri. In particular, one invocation of a seed bears a great portent.
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"Carry forth the first note of a song that ends all times."
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This is almost certainly a direct reference to Ciri's Elder Blood
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and her eventual role in the ending of the world.
10:46
This final prophecy of the series echoes the most famous of Ithlinne's predictions in the books and
10:51
games. Known in Geralt's time as simply Ithlinne's Prophecy, it foretells the ending of the world,
10:57
all centered around Elder Blood. Elder Blood flows through Ciri, which makes
11:02
the girl perhaps the greatest asset to anyone in the Spheres who has a stake in Armageddon.
11:07
Like Ithlinne's Prophecy, this prediction from the "Blood Origin" is likely what will set in
11:12
motion the series of events that lead to future generations' fear of those with Elder Blood.
11:18
As "The Witcher: Blood Origin" concludes, Seanchaí implores Jaskier to "sing the Song
11:24
of the Seven," referring to the tale of Fjall, the Lark, and their five companions. She wants
11:30
the famous bard to spread the tale far and wide, rekindling the fire of hope among
11:34
Elvendom that the Lark and company first breathed to life over a millennium ago.
11:39
Tasked by the mysterious and godlike Seanchaí to sing the Song of the Seven
11:44
across the Continent, Jaskier emerges from the series with a new purpose,
11:48
one meant to tip the scales of power toward the side of Elves. Seanchaí's
11:53
nature and ultimate motivations are unclear, so it's difficult to determine exactly why
11:58
she brought this tale back to life or what will come from it, but regardless,
12:02
it will certainly mean more for Jaskier, the sect of elves known as the Scoia'tael,
12:06
and therefore the state of the world for Geralt and Ciri, in future seasons of "The Witcher."
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Although the majority of "The Witcher: Blood Origin" is set long before the time
12:16
of Geralt and Ciri, there are two brief sequences set in their era,
12:20
one at the series' very start and one at its end. In those few moments, we're able
12:25
to learn a little about the current state of the Continent and its warring inhabitants.
12:30
For one thing, we know that the wars in the Northern Continent have for some reason
12:34
attracted attention from extra-dimensional beings, hence Seanchaí's involvement. It's
12:40
also confirmed that Seanchaí will be in more "Witcher" projects going forward. Both she and
12:45
the Song of the Seven are likely to appear in "The Witcher" in future seasons. In addition,
12:50
the scene in which we first find Jaskier says a lot about the current state of things. He
12:55
is apparently regarded as a folk hero, the noble Sandpiper, Rescuer of Elves,
13:00
and is even beloved enough to warrant his rescue from human capture by an entire
13:05
company of Scoia'tael. It seems since we last left Jaskier and the rest of our heroes in "The
13:11
Witcher" Season 2, the Continent has moved forward, elevating Jaskier along with it.
