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The Witcher: Blood Origin uses Jaskier as a narrative tool to justify why its prequel story is being told, but this just doesn’t work very well.
The Witcher: Blood Origin included Jaskier as a framing device for its story, but it was wholly unnecessary. The Witcher: Blood Origin is a prequel series told across four episodes and details the story of how the first Witcher came to be, giving audiences a deeper look at the history of The Witcher’s world. Considering the general success of The Witcher franchise, it’s reasonable to assume that any The Witcher prequel would perform just as well. Jaskier’s (Joey Batey) inclusion in The Witcher: Blood Origin, however, makes the entire The Witcher franchise on Netflix feel much less solid.
On the surface, Jaskier’s inclusion in any The Witcher property makes sense, given that he is one of the most beloved characters from Netflix’s The Witcher adaptation, charming audiences with his humor, courage, musical talent, and repartee with Geralt. His inclusion in The Witcher: Blood Origin isn’t the first time a major studio has tried to give audiences a character link between prequels and sequels, and this narrative strategy has certainly had success in the past, with Star Wars being just one example. Unfortunately for The Witcher: Blood Origin and the larger The Witcher franchise on Netflix, the use of Jaskier as a story-framing tool here feels ridiculously contrived.
Why Blood Origin’s Framing Device Is Unnecessary
The Witcher: Blood Origin’s timeline takes place approximately 1200 years before the events of The Witcher. That alone makes it clear that the writers had to jump through some hoops to include Jaskier as part of the prequel. In the end, both Jaskier and Minnie Driver’s mysterious character Seanchaí were simply there to narrate a story that didn’t need narrating – the narrator’s voiceover and the inclusion of present-day Jaskier only served to pull audiences out of the story that was being told, rather than adding anything of value to it. The narrator was telling the audience how to feel about the characters’ backstories and the events that were unfolding, instead of letting the actors’ performances speak for themselves.
Understanding the history of Xin’trea, The Witcher’s Conjunction of the Spheres, and the origin of the first Witcher should have been more than enough to entice The Witcher audience into watching Blood Origin, even if only to ensure that they will understand everything once The Witcher season 3 premieres. Jaskier’s inclusion in a story in which he doesn’t have any consequential part to play was so obviously a ploy to bring in a familiar face in an attempt to elicit an emotional connection to the series before it premiered. This, however, underestimates the audience’s love of The Witcher’s world and lore and undermines Netflix’s adaptation as a whole.
The Witcher Season 3 Must Justify Jaskier In Blood Origin (If It Can)
The only way to really justify Jaskier’s presence in The Witcher: Blood Origin is if it is referenced somewhere in The Witcher season 3. Not just as an aside – Jaskier being called by a mysterious elf to record the tale of the first Witcher because of his prowess as a bard needs to have some kind of meaning. Perhaps the secrets in the story will unlock some fundamental truth for Geralt and Ciri in The Witcher season 3, something that will push the story forward. This can technically happen, and the source material likely proves why it should, if only to demonstrate to audiences that the writers behind The Witcher believe in the story and the world that they are building.
Netflix’s The Witcher franchise has taken a lot of flak recently. Not only did Henry Cavill’s exit from The Witcher shock audiences and fuel theories that he was unhappy with the show’s direction, but Liam Hemsworth’s casting was also met with a lot of skepticism. Add to that the negative critical reception that The Witcher: Blood Origin received in all areas of its production, and Netflix’s The Witcher franchise is surviving on shaky ground. Justifying Jaskier’s forced presence in The Witcher: Blood Origin, however, would go a long way to proving that there is still care being poured into Netflix’s flagship fantasy adaptation.
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