The Witcher from Netflix vs The Witcher 3 - We Compare Sapkowski's Adaptations

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

Elves, dwarves, and other races

If only I could "unsee" one thing in my entire life... that wouldn't be it, but it's top five for sure. Along with the dryads from the Polish series.

And it's not about the color of the skin. Certainly not. I think this isn't even worth discussing. If there is a real problem with the elves and dwarves in the Netflix production – and it's quite big – it's that they're not substantively different from humans. Until Dara, Ciri's forest friend, takes off the hat, revealing the huge, Warcraft ears, it's impossible to guess that he belongs to another race. It's similar with Toruviel and Filavandrel in Dol Blathanna. Again, it's almost the Polish-TV-Witcher level, and that wasn't a very expensive production, mind you.

Things are equally bad with the dryads – Brokilon women certainly don't look like they're in the wildest place on the Continent, having abandoned everything that human civilization represents. I can only spare a good word about the dwarves, and especially about Yarpen Zigrin's dragon team... although they're not stocky and bearded enough, I think. I wonder if halflings will ever appear on the screen.

The Witcher 3 doesn't have such problems. My problem is different – it's the deficit of dwarfs with real character, and the complete omission of the thread of Scoia'tael (where's Iorweth?!), which was one of the most important in both the original game and Assassins of Kings. Of course, the problem of racism prevailed in the game, and was much more thoughtful than in the series. But then there was more sex than racism in the entire season one, so yeah.

Who produced a better portrayal of non-humans?