Warning: Full spoilers follow for The Witcher Seasons 1-3 as well as The Witcher book series.
The Witcher Season 3 Volume 2 has been released on Netflix, concluding Henry Cavill’s adventures in a white wig, as well as the events of the long-anticipated Thanned Coup story in which the institution of mages erupts into a very bloody battle.
Netflix deviated from Andrzej Sapkowski’s book series quite a bit in Season 2 but has generally followed the overall plot with Season 3. While Volume 1’s early episodes (the season was split into two volumes this summer) therefore had some catch-up to do from Book 3, Blood of Elves, Volume 2 jumps into the thick of Book 4, Time of Contempt, and both the season and the book conclude for the most part in the same place.
There are still plenty of smaller plot points that deviate from the books though, and IGN has you covered by outlining each of these below.
Chaos
The entirety of Season 3 revolves around the Thanned Coup – the bloody battle between mages that erupts following the ball – and while Netflix reaches the same conclusions as Sapkowski, the ordering and logic behind some events are different. This is seemingly down to the TV show format though, as some aspects perhaps wouldn’t translate very well if ripped directly from the books.
Sapkowski’s novels are all told from Geralt’s perspective, and the coup therefore starts for him (and the reader) as he heads to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Geralt similarly bumps into Dijkstra on his way, but things quickly devolve into chaos as the coup erupts around him.
The Witcher doesn’t really understand what’s going on; he just knows things have gone south and that Ciri is missing. The political connotations and a breakdown of events is explained by Dandelion later, during his recovery in Brokilon, which perhaps wouldn’t make for the best TV.
There therefore isn’t as much talking during these events on the show. It’s pure, unexplained chaos, and Netflix does capture this at times in its bloody battle scenes where mages and Scoia’tael alike are cut, shot, and magically blasted down.
The Thanned Coup
The smaller events within the coup are also a bit different. Starting with perhaps the biggest change, Ciri is brought into the events by Yennefer to act as a magical medium for Tissaia de Vries in order to find out the truth about who betrayed who. Yen doesn’t have any bad intentions but things Ciri is once again put in danger, and since Netflix sort of played that card already in Season 2 with the whole betraying Geralt plotline, it might have been a little repetitive to do so again.
Tissaia snapping is taken from the books but it happens for different reasons. Instead of being a bit heartbroken as she is in the show (Tissaia and Vilgefortz are not in a relationship in the books), she’s instead distraught to learn that basically every mage has betrayed the magic guilds. This doesn’t materialise as zapping everyone with lightning though as it does in the show, as Tissaia instead pulls down the barrier that stops mages from wielding magic and essentially triggers the bloody battle.
This was primarily mage versus mage too in the books, with the Scoia’tael just sprinkled in, because the elves’ goal there, under Cahir and Nilfgaard, was to get Ciri, not to reclaim Aretuza. It’s therefore a little unexplained why Cahir was sent to Aretuza at all in the Netflix show.
Cahir
Though Yennefer isn’t directly involved, Geralt and Ciri do find each other, flee, and find similar hurdles in the way in the book. Cahir shows up, but instead of begging for Ciri’s forgiveness and his own death as he does in the show, he’s there to capture her for Nilfgaard.
This is one of the most significant moments for Ciri in the books. Though the Netflix show uses the “you’ve haunted my nightmare” line, it hasn’t really been mentioned in the show for a couple of seasons. In the books, the Nilfgaardian soldier with the black, winged helmet is a constant fear for Ciri, with the trauma frequently presenting challenges for her.
Cahir arriving to capture Ciri again triggers a blend of fear and aggression in her, and she swiftly cuts him down with her new Witchering abilities. Ready to finish him off for good, Ciri knocks off his helmet and sees that Cahir is just a scared young man. She leaves him alone, having already conquered her fear. The aforementioned interaction in the show is almost fast-forwarding to a future event, but we won’t spoil what’s likely coming in Season 4.
Yennefer’s Visit to Skellige
Crach an Craite and the Skellige Isles make a surprise appearance in Season 3’s final episode as Yennefer heads to the islands in search of Ciri. While this is just a single scene in the show, it’s a major series of events in the books that span several months (and take place much further down the line).
Season 3 generally revolves around Book 4, but Yen’s adventure in Skellige doesn’t begin until Book 6. This suggests Netflix is either planning to cut this entire section of the book (it would roughly line up with what would be Season 5) or it’s just teasing what’s to come in this scene. The show has been reluctant to separate its main characters after reuniting them in Season 2 though, and Yen’s visit to Skellige doesn’t involve any other mainstays like Geralt or Ciri, which makes us think we might just never revisit this story point.
This poses another challenge though, as based on the books, the coming events of Season 4 should follow Geralt on the road with a party of mostly new characters (including Dandelion and Milva, who we see at the end of Season 3). It’s therefore possible Yen will tag along there.
Smaller Changes in The Witcher Season 3 Volume 2
Lydia’s attack against Yennefer and Triss isn’t pulled from the source material, but since Yen essentially disappears at this point in the books, Netflix perhaps needed something for her to do. Lydia’s death in the books instead comes earlier during the initial betrayals of the Thanned Coup.
Filavandrel doesn’t die during the coup in the books, nor do Artorius or Stregabor. The latter two don’t really exist at this point (Artorius is only briefly mentioned later and Stregabor doesn’t make it past “The Lesser Evil” short story) while Filavandrel is only featured in an early short story and not again until later, and only briefly.
Rience doesn’t die during the coup either in the books, though he is part of the attack against the North. As usual, he creeps in, causes some trouble, and creeps out, but doesn’t really come into contact with Geralt and certainly doesn’t lose his head. Rience’s death actually comes much later during one of the books’ most iconic moments, but we won’t spoil that here in case (and in hope) the rest of that epic scene makes it into the show.
Falka’s appearance as a hallucination or magical prophecy or somewhere in between happens a little differently in the books. Ciri has no visions of her mother or grandmother, and instead of a big build-up to the fire magic scene with several appearances of Falka like in the show, the books get straight to it with the moment where Ciri heals Little Horse.
Milva hasn’t drank from the Waters of Brokilon in the books as she has in the show. This avoids her Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker-esque “somehow Palpatine returned” moment, where she explains her dark past before saying: “The waters are supposed to make you forget. Guess they didn’t work on me.”
Radovid becoming King of Redania doesn’t happen in the books as, like we explained in the Season 3 Volume 1 edition of book/show differences, he’s just a child who isn’t really involved in the main story at all. Vizimir is assassinated on orders of Phillipa, but his wife Hedwig (who wasn’t killed in the books) takes over instead.
Ciri’s awakening in the tavern, having been captured by the brigands in the desert, is overall pretty accurate to the books. It does, again, fast-forward some things though. In the books, there’s a fight between this group of baddies and another in which Ciri almost escapes, for example, but the biggest change comes in Ciri’s first kill. Instead of being forced to duel the last-standing bandit in the tavern like in the show, she instinctively swipes at and cuts down a villager aiming to pull her from a horse.
Geralt’s final, very cool fight scene where he takes down an entire Nilfgaardian company isn’t from the books, but it lets the show reach the same conclusion of adding Milva to Geralt’s hanza.
Did you notice any other differences between The Witcher Season 3 and the books? Let’s discuss in the comments!
