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Netflix’s animated film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf presents a Vesemir who is not unlike the fantasy franchise’s star, Geralt of Rivia.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, streaming now on Netflix.
Netflix’s The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf introduces a version of Vesemir unlike any seen before — a young, reckless witcher interested in little more than coin and the thrill of the Path. While he’s far from the wise and fatherly mentor Andrzej Sapkowski introduced in Blood of Elves, he does share certain unmistakable similarities with none other than Geralt of Rivia.
That isn’t to say that Geralt has ever been that reckless and single-minded, just that both of these witchers appear to have found similar truths on the Path, at least in Netflix’s adaptation of this fantasy world. Ultimately, it makes sense that they’d share certain qualities. Both the Witcher novels and Nightmare of the Wolf imply that it was Vesemir that essentially raised Geralt, making him a father figure.
The anime tie-in introduces more than a few facets that appear to parallel the key points in Geralt of Rivia’s story. A simple example is Geralt’s most well-known deed: his success in lifting the curse from King Foltest’s daughter, Princess Adda the White, who was born a striga. In Sapkowski’s The Last Wish, Geralt tells Wyzim’s castellan and King Foltest how difficult it is to kill a striga, much less endure battle with it long enough to lift the curse. But Geralt accomplishes what many witchers failed to do.
In Nightmare of the Wolf, Vesemir is shown trying to impress a few fair maidens in a tavern with his riveting adventures. During the conversation, he mentions an encounter with a striga, and when asked if he was able to lift the curse, he responds, “Yes, of course.” Clearly, Vesemir is as talented, and perhaps as witty, as Geralt when it comes to dealing with monsters. It’s also worth repeating that, according to the novels, many witchers could not perform such a feat.
Being a witcher is lonely work. At least, that’s how Geralt of Rivia makes it look in the novels and CD Projekt Red’s video game trilogy, but that doesn’t mean witchers never get to experience intimate moments or loving relationships in their prolonged lives. They all just inevitably take a slightly different form. With Geralt, for a long time that meant an on-again-off-again relationship with Yennefer of Vengerberg, fraught with painful surprises and fleeting, bittersweet moments. Of course, it isn’t all because of the nature of Geralt’s profession, but it doesn’t help. A witcher’s place is on the Path and few witchers die peaceful deaths.
Vesemir may not have been involved with an often-distant and troubled sorceress, but his romance was also doomed the moment he laid down for the Trial of the Grasses. He lived a long, somewhat successful life as a witcher, but the world around him aged, along with Lady Zerbst, who he knew as Illyana. They loved each other sweetly, but it was never destined to last. Not just because of their differences in aging, but because of the world Vesemir inhabited, which was brought to ruin by a vengeful sorceress and the hateful, incensed people of Kaedwen. Like Geralt, Vesemir came to know a love that could not be and yet endured.
Another major similarity between Vesemir and Geralt is the fact that they both fell into the role of mentor despite initially resisting it. One could argue that Vesemir didn’t put up much of a fight, but he was hesitant. He didn’t want to be a fencing instructor and he certainly didn’t want to be stuck in Kaer Morhen mentoring the next batch of young witchers. Nightmare of the Wolf made it clear that he wanted to be out exploring the world. But just as Geralt found himself drawn to Ciri, destined to become her mentor, Vesemir found himself guiding a handful of young witchers out of the crumbling fortress of Kaer Morhen and onto the Path.
Finally and most importantly, Vesemir began his story as a reckless, selfish youth who only seemed to care about coin. When it came down to it, he didn’t bother maintaining the neutrality that the School of the Wolf has often adhered to. He took a stand for what he believed was right, getting involved and saving lives, even when it meant letting monsters go. It’s a quality that Geralt appears to have developed as well, always getting involved for moral reasons, even if it means obtaining a nasty moniker or letting a monster go.
While these similarities are fun details that add an extra layer to The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, they’re also worth keeping in mind when The Witcher Season 2 comes around and an elderly Vesemir appears back in Kaer Morhen.
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is streaming now on Netflix while The Witcher Season 2 premieres Dec. 17.
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