You can already see exactly where they are going with the story, and it's gonna be facepalm inducing.
Hmm, feel free to correct me. It seems like both S1 and S2 attempting to use material from the short stories and the early books. Yeah, they changed some of it. The way individual elements were represented and the nuance was altered. They
completely changed certain parts of it. All I'm saying is it's inaccurate to say it's
nothing like the source material.
Dude, the show isn't following the books AT ALL. Ciri's powers are completely different which means the story will have nothing to do with the books once it gets going, it can't anymore. Oh, and btw, Geralt's mom WAS a Sorceress so he probably WAS a wizard before the Witcher mutations stunted his abilities, but also made him a bit different from other Witchers.
I recall someone posting a quote from Sapkowski a short while ago. It basically said something along the lines of Ciri was the personification of evil. I took it to mean she was used as an element to get there. As in, she isn't "evil" herself. Instead her character serves as the match used to light the fire, so to speak. It kind of sat there in the back of my mind.
It's a good example of what I meant when saying the ideas were there. Ciri's powers are presented differently on the show. Events and how it all plays out are altered. Regardless, the show arguably captures that idea. The character still satisfies this purpose in spite of those alterations.
The world is a clusterfuck. Check. People can be assholes. Triple check. The line between monster and civilization is blurred. Check. The characters tend to be flawed. Good people perform bad actions. Bad people can perform good actions. Check again. Those in power will do what is necessary to keep it regardless of the morality. Check. The Witcher order is a shell of it's former self.... The list goes on and on.
If someone gets caught up on "it doesn't follow the books" all of this is easily missed. They'd be fixating on the event structure and not the ideas behind it. It's possible they're completely unaware those ideas are present. Whether they read the stories/books and/or played the games or not.
Again, none of this is meant as a blind defense of the show. There are a lot of ways to incorporate those ideas. The execution for the show to get there is questionable. In more ways than one. For the most part many of the adjustments appeared as cheap methods to create emotional tension (events involving Eskel, Vesemir, Yen and Roach come to mind.. even Ciri to some degree).
It's complicated. He was against it from the start, reluctantly agreed and then changed his mind. We are talking about saving the world, not whim or because he wanted to. Or rather, he was misled into believing it would save the world. No one except the mgaes knew he was her father until VERY late in the story, that was the plan.
I think there may be some parallels with the way Renfri was presented. Some prophecy spells disaster. Oh my, let's do something about it. I don't think it matters. Whether the fate befalling her was intended, due to an error in judgement, ignorance, whatever.
Anyone entertaining the idea of capturing and forcing another individual to do something because prophecies.... It's possible the prophecy only comes to pass due to the approach toward the individual. It's possible the prophecy is being wildly misinterpreted. It's not a leap given prophecies tend to be cryptic. It could even be deliberate misdirection by the self-proclaimed prophet. It's also possible it's complete horseshit.
Speaking of which, isn't the show sort of portraying Nilfgaardians as good guys?
I think perspective may have played a role there. The bulk of S1 appeared focused on the entities being "wronged" by Nilfgaard. Perhaps Nilfgaard was painted as the terrible, conquering evil because of it. At various points in S2 it appears to show the other side of the conflict. Both Cahir and Fringilla come to mind here. Some of the behavior by the leadership of the Elves could fit there too. At the very least it dispels the notion the Northern Kingdoms are innocent victims. As do the actions performed by specific characters on the NK side of the war.
