Netflix released a prequel series, The Witcher: Blood Origin, between The Witcher Season 2 and The Witcher Season 3. So, should you watch The Witcher: Blood Origin before The Witcher Season 3?
The Witcher: Blood Origin takes place 1,200 years before the events of the main series The Witcher. It shows us how the Conjunction of the Spheres takes place as well as the creation of the first Witcher.
The Conjunction of the Spheres is the event that occurred where humans, monsters, and different kinds of magic were brought together on the Continent, a place that used to be primarily inhabited by Elves and Dwarves.
So, how does the prequel series connect to The Witcher? Should you watch The Witcher: Blood Origin before watching The Witcher Season 3?
How is The Witcher: Blood Origin Connected to The Witcher Season 3?
While it isn't mandatory for one to watch Blood Origin before The Witcher Season 3, there are events in the prequel that adds context and makes viewers further understand things in Season 3.
First, the Conjunction of the Spheres. "The Conjunction" is referenced in The Witcher Season 3, so if you have seen Blood Origin first, you would understand what it means.
Second, we have the Wild Hunt. We got a glimpse of the Wild Hunt in The Witcher Season 2 and they appear in the trailer for Season 3.
Showrunner Lauren Hissrich said that they would keep the Wild Hunt "an ever-looming threat" in Season 3 (via Entertainment Weekly).
The leader of the Wild Hunt is Eredin Bréacc Glas, and he appears in The Witcher: Blood Origin. The prequel series shows him in his youth before he became the leader of the Wild Hunt.
Since the Wild Hunt will be in The Witcher Season 3, the prequel series will help viewers understand more about their leader.
In The Witcher: Blood Origin, Eredin helped Merwyn with the coup and forged an alliance with Balor, a mage who learned how to open gates to other worlds.
Balor sacrificed Eredin and his men so that he could obtain chaos magic. He sent Eredin through a portal that led to the world where the Wild Hunt is trapped.
In the prequel series, we see Eredin picking up a skeleton mask from the sand and putting it on, marking the beginning of his reign as the King of the Wild Hunt.
Third, the post-credits scene of The Witcher: Blood Origin shows Ciri in a scene from Season 1 where she’s playing with other children.
The post-credits scene reveals that she’s being watched by the powerful elf mage Avallac'h, who was an apprentice to Balor in the prequel series.
Talking about Blood Origin's post-credits scene, Hissrich told Entertainment Weekly:
"He has been watching Ciri for a very long time, planning his future and her future. One of the things that I love is when we finally meet Avallac'h in the books and you realize he's been tracking a lot of time.
And because he can move through space and time, it felt like such a cool way to go, 'Wait! Where else has he been?' We obviously never see him any place else in seasons 1 and 2, but what else has he seen and how are we building to his story in a later season?"
So, Avallac'h may have a significant role in the main series soon.
Fourth, the bard Jaskier is in The Witcher: Blood Origin, which connects the prequel to the main series.
In Blood Origin, Jaskier is seen on the battlefield covered in blood until he is saved by an elf named Seanchaí.
The latter tells him to record the untold legend of seven warriors who went up against the forces of Xin’trea and helped create the first Witcher.
The fact that Jaskier is tasked with writing down the events in The Witcher: Blood Origin shows that what occurred in the prequel series could be significant later on for Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri, and Jaskier himself.
Additionally, it is worth mentioning that while there have been theories suggesting that Ciri is related to Éile because of a prophecy in Blood Origin, Hissrich said that this isn't the case, and it's a "little hidden gem" for now (via Entertainment Weekly).
"The prophecy I actually think is not as clear cut as many people think. It does seem to immediately say Ciri is related to Éile, and that is not the case. So we can dispel that rumor right now. That is a little hidden gem for us, and we have other things brewing with that," said Hissrich.
All of these events in The Witcher: Blood Origin show that the prequel series is worth watching before The Witcher Season 3 - to get some context and further understand things in Season 3.
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Should You Watch The Witcher: Blood Origin Before The Witcher?
For those who want to start watching The Witcher, The Witcher: Blood Origin can be watched first since it is a prequel.
However, watching the prequel first isn’t really necessary considering that the prequel was made to further understand things in The Witcher and give additional information on the world of The Witcher.
Should You Watch The Witcher: Blood Origin Before The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf?
Even though The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf was released first, The Witcher: Blood Origin can be watched first because it takes place over a thousand years prior to Nightmare of the Wolf.
Nightmare of the Wolf follows the story of Vesemir, Geralt’s mentor and fellow Witcher. At the end of the movie, we see Vesemir taking in recruits, one of which includes our very own Geralt of Rivia.
So Nightmare of the Wolf is more of an origin story, which means that watching either first would not really make a big difference.
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You can watch the official trailer for The Witcher Season 3 below:
The official synopsis for The Witcher Season 3 reads:
“As monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her, Geralt takes Ciri of Cintra into hiding, determined to protect his newly-reunited family against those who threaten to destroy it. Entrusted with Ciri’s magical training, Yennefer leads them to the protected fortress of Aretuza, where she hopes to discover more about the girl’s untapped powers; instead, they discover they’ve landed in a battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery. They must fight back, put everything on the line — or risk losing each other forever.”
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