TOP 10 – The newest season of Netflix’s The Witcher 3, in which Henry Cavill plays Geralt of Rivia, differs from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in several ways (Note: This article contains SPOILERS about The Witcher 3.)

The new season brought a number of important changes to the previous concept of the series. The first five episodes are very different from the game that served as the basis for the series in many ways. The series was originally inspired by the novels and short story collections of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, rather than the video game series from which it was adapted. The games served as a continuation of the characters’ literary adventures, and as the series evolved, it moved away from both source material.

Released in 2015, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the third game in the series and perhaps the most popular, was partly based on The Witcher, with Cavill’s final season taking elements from Sapkowski’s novel A Time to Despise. Season 3 will change the story of The Witcher, but because the events of the games are not canon and their story is owned by CD Projekt Red, Sapkowski’s characters will have more freedom. That said, Season 3 still brings changes that may or may not be enforced until the second installment debuts in July.

10. Geralt meets Ciri for the first time in The Witcher 3

As The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt begins, Yennefer is summoned by Geralt’s long-lost love Yennefer to Vizima, ruled by Emperor Emhyr, who orders Geralt to find his daughter Ciri. Fans have only recently learned that Emperor Emhyr was actually Ciri’s biological father in The Witcher season 2, and in season 3 he will be just one of many people hunting for Ciri. In the game, Geralt searches for Ciri, engaging in the usual monster hunt for coin along the way, while also interacting with Yennefer and Triss.

9. In season 3 of The Witcher, Geralt does not get into a love triangle with Yennefer and Triss

In addition to hunting Ciri and slaying monsters for clients like the Bloody Baron, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt puts Geralt in the middle of a love triangle with Yennefer and Triss. Yennefer is an old love from the start, while Geralt is reunited with Triss in Novigrad, where she is on the run from the persecution of the Church of Eternal Fire. Both women can be romanced, while in season 3 of The Witcher it is clear that Geralt is trying to make amends with Yennefer (albeit clumsily), and his relationship with Triss is as platonic as when they met in the earlier part of the series.

8. Yennefer never had to regain Geralt’s trust in The Witcher 3

In season 2 of The Witcher, Yennefer betrayed Geralt’s trust by trying to sacrifice Ciri to regain her full power, and in season 3 she pays dearly for it. Geralt and Yennefer’s relationship is much healthier and more respectful in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and lacks the kind of tension that permeated the Netflix series, where Yennefer must atone for months for her past transgression while the trio travels together. It creates a completely different dynamic for the trio, especially since Ciri has no problem trusting Yennefer again after being taken advantage of, while Geralt has a significantly harder time doing so.

7. Season 3 of The Witcher has a different timeline to the game

The first season of The Witcher had a confusing timeline, as it set up the origins of Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri, hurriedly trying to get to the point where their paths would cross and the timeline could be linear again. The timeline becomes linear in the second season, but then several events happen differently than in the game series that disrupt the relationship between Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri, which ultimately makes the camaraderie in season three of The Witcher feel more strained than it should. Also, Geralt is a much older looking witcher by the events of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

6. Geralt Of Rivia in The Witcher Season 3 looks nothing like the in-game Geralt

While Cavill has always embodied the face and physique of Geralt of Rivia, there are differences in his appearance in terms of what he should look like based on the events of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. While he still has the long silver hair, pale skin and wolf pendant, he doesn’t have the beard (and scars) he had in the game. This makes sense, as in the third game Geralt is a witch at the end of her career, unlike in The Witcher season 3 where she is still at the end of her career, although the second part could change this to better fit Liam Hemsworth’s time as the character.

5. The Radovid in the game is much scarier and crazier than Prince Radovid in The Witcher season 3

The character of Radovid appears in both The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and finally in The Witcher Netflix Season 3, he emerged as a rather laid-back and carefree prince. In the games, Radovid is the son of Vizimir and becomes king in his own right, while the Netflix series has chosen to replace him as the brother of the King of Redania and head of Redanian intelligence. As a result, he has a long way to go before he becomes the devious, cunning and paranoid Radovid V the Stern in the games, which take place much later than the events of the series.

4. There are fewer monsters in The Witcher season 3 compared to the game

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is full of monsters, and Geralt is slaughtering them all the time, perhaps because his career is nearing its twilight. The Witcher’s third season has seen five monsters so far – including one that’s reminiscent of the horror film The Thing, made up of pieces of female corpses – but nowhere near as many as in the game. This is partly due to the fact that Geralt is not as prominent in the series as Yennefer and Ciri, who are set to star with Cavill’s departure.

3. Eskel should still be alive in The Witcher season 3

Geralt’s old friend Eskel made his debut in The Witcher season 2, and was a very different character to the games. On the one hand, he became a leshy, and on the other hand, he was killed off before the start of The Witcher Season 3, despite still being alive in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. When he appeared in Season 2, he had a different personality, whereas in the game he was calm, collected and very much like Vesemir, and fans never got to see the character he was supposed to become.

2. The Wild Hunt is easily defeated in The Witcher season 3

The Wild Hunt was hinted at in the exciting finale of The Witcher season 2, and although only briefly mentioned in the novels, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt focuses entirely on the interdimensional elves who, having never been subjugated by humans, hunt for Ciri’s Elder Blood, the only thing that can save their dying world. Considering how easily Geralt defeats the Wild Hunt in Season 3, it doesn’t seem like as huge of a threat as it does in the game, and fans will have to wait until July when the second episode comes out to see if that changes or stays the same.

1. Vilgefortz and Rience are not villains in The Witcher 3

While he was a major character in The Book of Elves and Time of Contempt, in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Rience (Chris Fulton) is only mentioned, and not nearly as menacing as he was in the Netflix series. This is also true of Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), who is mentioned in the game in Geralt and Philippa’s conversation, but never appears as the evil mastermind driving Rience’s strings. The introduction of Vilgefortz at the end of the first episode as the great villain instead of the King of the Hunt for Eredin reshapes the course of events in the series and signals the direction the second episode will take when The Witcher returns for its third season in July.

Source: Screenrant