The Witcher from Netflix vs The Witcher 3 - We Compare Sapkowski's Adaptations
After the premiere of the Netflix Witcher we woke up in a world where we have two adaptations of Andrzej Sapkowski's books that have gained international fame and recognition. We try to compare them applying different criteria.
Table of Contents
- The Witcher from Netflix vs The Witcher 3 - We Compare Sapkowski's Adaptations
- Cirilla
- Yennefer
- Jaskier
- Elves, dwarves, and other races
- Humor
- Depth and subtlety
- Dialogues
- Source material fidelity
- Slavic themes
- Summary
Yennefer
Now time for Yennefer. This is a similar case. Lauren Hissrich and her team have given her story a lot more exposition than the books – meanwhile, the end result is meagre compared to what Sapkowski achieves in just a couple of pages in The Last Wish. In the stories, she's a powerful and ruthless sorceress, whose power cannot overshadow humane weaknesses. In the series, Yennefer is portrayed as a woman characterized by two tendencies: self-pity and erotic entertainment. And the heroine does not become charismatic because of this. Even burning the Nilfgaardian army with a single spell in the season finale doesn't change that.
The game didn't offer a perfect depiction either, but The Witcher 3 managed – overall – to portray Yen much better. Just one encounter of the sorceress with Geralt at the beginning of the game (after completing the prologue in the White Orchard), she was established as a dangerous and influential figure of a cold character, who, however, is also able to love passionately. Not knowing anything about her past, including a difficult childhood, does not prevent the player from formulating a personal opinion on the heroine. Quite the contrary.
THE VOTE IN THE OFFICE
Although this is a similar case, the editors were not as unanimous as in relation to Ciri. "Only" 63.2% of the respondents recognized Yennefer's game depiction as superior (half of the votes calling it "definitely better"). 21.1% voted for Netflix.
Which Yennefer was better?
