Nightmare of the Wolf Brings More Than Bloody Action to The Witcher

After Netflix discovered it had a brand new hit on its fingers with the grim fantasy of The Witcher in late 2019, work shortly started on plans to broaden the sequence past the realm of merely getting one other season of Henry Cavill preventing monsters. The first step into that wider world, Nightmare of the Wolf, hit the streamer in the present day, and for probably the most half does an awesome job making that step value taking.

Directed by Studio Mir’s Kwang-Il Han, and animated by the studio itself, Nightmare of the Wolf acts as each a prequel to the first, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich-developed Witcher sequence, and a prelude to what to anticipate from one of many characters from Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novels arriving in that sequence’ upcoming sophomore season. Vesemir—played right here by Castlevania’s Theo James; the character’s older self will be portrayed in dwell motion by Kim Bodnia—who we get to see develop from a younger servant boy wanting extra from his lot in life to a mighty, cocky monster slayer on the top of his energy and swagger, supplies our lens right into a world that proves a lot bigger and complex than the one we first encountered by means of Geralt of Rivia’s in The Witcher’s first season. In half, that is just because Nightmare of the Wolf’s standing as a prequel signifies that there are merely extra Witchers to go round. Vesemir is way from alone in his monster-hunting, and there being not only a bigger group of Witchers for him to bounce off of, however the existence of Witchers as a tangible, comparatively highly effective faction on the earth, signifies that society at massive has to grapple with the imperfect place Witchers have in that society, past the hushed tones and in poor health seems Geralt typically obtained in his personal adventures.

It’s that skepticism amongst humanity and even the remnants of different races in Witchers world, just like the Elves—who in The Witcher’s world have been former allies to people who taught their first mages the flexibility to manage magic, just for them to be subjugated and persecuted by the ascendant human nations—that kinds the idea of Nightmare of the Wolf’s most attention-grabbing worldbuilding. It’s a bleak and at occasions cynical story, even perhaps moreso than its live-action sibling. But that cynical lens not solely permits it to current a world that feels morally advanced and attention-grabbing—the place there are not any inherently “good” or “bad” factions, the place violence and worry inevitably and coldly wins out over peace and religion—but in addition put Vesemir by means of a trial of character throughout its 90-odd-minute runtime. It’s rewarding to see him develop as an individual past the masks of confidence he has as a person simply at house drowning in viscera as he’s stark bare in a lavish bathtub, boasting of his triumphs (bathtubs are, in fact, a crucial a part of Witcher worldbuilding that fortunately stay in place right here). As a set as much as give us an concept of what to anticipate when a a lot older, and maybe wiser Vesemir exhibits up in The Witcher season two, Nightmare of the Wolf supplies a compelling journey that invitations us to contemplate parallels between Vesemir and Geralt’s attitudes, and lays the groundwork for a potential-laden relationship between the youthful Witcher and his previous mentor once we get to see them once more later this 12 months.

All that ethical complexity and character-building, in fact, can be merely a canvas for Studio Mir’s animators to gush buckets and buckets of blood in regards to the place, with some actually spectacular animated motion. Leveraging the power of its medium past what we might see in The Witcher, Nightmare of the Wolf exhibits us what these monster killers appear like on the peak of their energy, giving Vesemir a razor-sharp, lighting-quick sense of kinetic power as he soars by means of the air, swords and runic magics whirling. It’s luxurious and grand, and over-the-top in the perfect sort of means. One factor that Vesemir has over Geralt, for instance, is a Witcher-branded, waist-mounted chain grapple that lets him swing by means of the air; it’s very clear somebody at Studio Mir had both been watching lots of Attack on Titan or just actually missed animating Lin Beifong’s metal-bending cops from The Legend of Korra.

But it’s additionally, just like the legacy of made-for-Netflix “adult” animation earlier than it, an infinitely extra gory sequence than its live-action predecessor, with spurts of blood that thematically and infrequently actually get in the best way of the storytelling at hand. At occasions, it may be just a little an excessive amount of—between this, Studio Mir’s personal DOTA sequence for Netflix, and Castlevania’s last season earlier this 12 months, I believe I’ve seen fairly sufficient of intestines the place they shouldn’t be and eyeballs dangling out of sockets on the streamer for some time. But whereas it threatens it, the slickly animated (and slick with gore) motion by no means fairly manages to overshadow the attention-grabbing layers Nightmare of the Wolf brings to The Witcher’s world and grim tone. If you’re lacking the Continent forward of its return this December, it’s effectively value tossing a number of coin’s value of your time right here.

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is now streaming on Netflix.

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