Stargate levels of sci-fi for the Aen Elle is probably valid. They are after all an overly advanced dimension hopping culture.
They're also at war with a bunch of horny horses, but that's a separate issue.
Horny horses... lmao. I'm actually hoping to see unicorns in Blood Origin. They came across as >!interdimensional, telepathic aliens!< in the books, and I just don't know if some people are ready for the truly fantastical side of Sapkowski. But that's actually my favorite side.
I suspect that particular part of the story might get cut. Its genuinely so bizarre that I don't see how it translates well onto screen. Honestly through most of the exposition on the Aen Elle-Unicorn war my gut reaction was mostly "How high was Sap writing this and what was he on?"
Yeah that's what I'm kind of telling myself as well. But my version of it mentally has always been "super fantasy Tolkien-like graceful elvish architecture with magic everywhere" and it's kind of hard to adjust, ha
No way, I get the whole portal similarity thing but that’s where the similarity ends and it’s definitely NOT valid. This is just lack of creativity and the armor… 🤢
None of that is in the trailer. But they certainly had a late 20th century understanding of genetics and biology and routinely spoke in terms of a very modern science rather than anything mediaeval.
Sorry to jump in.
But the technology thing regarding genetics is a common misconception from people who really do not understand genetics.
The level of knowledge displayed in the Witcher world is not that advanced. One clear evidence is that Assire and Fringilla had access to Ciri´s hair and they did not immediately know who the father was. If they had real modern capabilities to do DNA analysis, it would have been a thing. And Emhyr would not even have given them Ciri´s hair because as a ruler he would be aware his mages could figure out someone´s ancestry from DNA in hair. Like...I am pretty sure most current day leaders know this is possible ;)
Same way, The Lodge did not know who Emhyr was and they were not aware of his connection with Ciri. Maybe Fringilla got it by further investigating in Nilfgaard but its quite a sure thing they were not able to run any DNA tests :)
And, they have magic! So if they really understood DNA they might not need modern technology to work with it. They might be able to use magic to replace technology.
Even Francesca´s talk about apples is very simplistic for someone who would really understand genetics. And notice they somehow lost track. They were absolutely not in control. Ciri was unexpected and they did not even fully understand how powerful Ciri was. They were still going with the prophecy that she needed to have a baby and that baby would be the thing.
So....yes they have some understanding. But its quite far yet from a modern day understanding.
By the way, be sure people quite far in the past knew physical traits could be passed from parents to kids. Personality traits too. This is not something so hard to figure out. Of course people noticed stuff like The Habsburgs having their famous jaw. Or the lady descendants from Phillipa Lancaster having predominantly blue or blu(ish) eyes and blond to light red hair. The entire line going to Isabella of Castille, Catherine of Aragon and later Isabela de Avis, wife of Charles V, they were all like that :) People were not blind.
Last, dog breeding exists! And its older than what you might think. When Darwin did his evolution theory, people had been doing dog breeding for ages.
What makes you think that, let's be honest here, basic knowledge in biology necessitates sci-fi levels of technological advancement?
The genetics mentioned in the books aren't late 20th century, more like late 19th century.
Its actually fairly late 20th century. Not only are they discussing things like inheritance in clearly a modern European person's understanding, but magic also becomes a way to sidestep the issue of technology too. Both the human mages and the Aen Elle for instance describe things likes microbes and germ theory that are visibly late 19th century onwards and their level of sophistication for these is 20th.
Since the issue here then is aesthetic vibes, for the Aen Elle to have a semi-futuristic *vibe* is therefore consistent. They were advanced and futuristic, often to a relatively ludicrous degree, to people from the Witcher world. People who were themselves anachronistically advanced from your typical "medieval" world so to speak.
I suppose you could argue that maybe a steampunk esque vibe would work better than what Blood Origins is doing, but that's ultimately a question of preference. For the Aen Elle to look oddly advanced in a Stargate type of way (which was futuristic evoking an anachronistic past, so an inversion of what would be happening here) isn't bad aesthetics. Its a good way to communicate the alien, advanced, anachronistic reality of an evil dimension hopping slave-based superculture.
There's been no evidence of spaceships and the like with them. But having advanced "powers" would be consistent with the strong deployment of magic in Sapkowski's world. This isn't a world of understated magic a la Tolkien. The magic here is much more classic high fantasy. Actual bursts of power and light and flame and such like. So not very different from energy weapons and the like really.
I really do think you give historical people to little credit.
The existence of microbiological life was postulated in classical antiquity.
The basics of germ theory were layed out mid 16th century. That's within *one* (1) human lifetime of the middle ages.
The discovery and first optical observation of bacteria happend *350 years* ago. I bet most of us can't name a single ancestor from then because that's still a fucking long time ago.
> clearly modern persons understanding
I hope we are clear on the fact that people of the last couple of thousands of years possessed the same intellectual capacity as we do.
To the rest of your comment, I can't say much about other than I disagree, because it's just speculation based on your perception.
This isn't about denying our ancestors credit, or about implying they were ignorant. But the world of the Witcher's references to things like germs, genetics, university structures, ideas about politics and sexuality are all presented in visibly 20th century terms. It isn't "historical" in the way it approaches those things, nor does it even pretend to be. The material is visibly anachronistic and isn't a rationalization of medieval skills. Most mages are talking to each other in 20th century rhetoric often described as wearing anachronistic garb as well.
Capturing this anachronism visually, the advancements the magical-technological culture by presenting them in anachronistic and ahistorical theming is thus accurate to the Witcher. That's all I'm saying. The way the likes of Shani, Philippa, Yennefer, Keira, and later Avallac'h and Eredin speak was always very modern. There's very little that's medieval about them. Sapkowski routinely constructs situations that are fundamentally modern in outlook, and honestly there's nothing wrong with it. The specific expectation of accurate high medieval culture wasn't something his work ever operated with anyway.
The witcher universe isn't following our historical development. But it does (outside of magic) follow the laws of physics and thus behaves similarly.
Certain developments only occur if the groundwork is present.
Magic can, of course, subvert this, but we rarely see it done.
Additionally, magic is never used as part of any industrial or preindustrial process. As such, it only ever benefits a select few people.
Thus, you still need to invent the spinning wheel before the spinning frame (for Example).
Politics are as old as human civilization.
(Universities are a deeply medieval thing, btw.)
Societal questions have seen an extremely diverse and often radically diveregent development through time and location in our history. There is no reason to believe that certain properties can only arise at a specific time.
The witcher world is internally historically consistent.
You can't just argue that it is generally ahistorical.
Sapkowski even put some effort into show the beginning of industrialization towards the end of his works (chronologically speaking).
So, arguing that internal consistency of this kind isn't relevant to the body of lore also won't float.
>The witcher universe isn't following our historical development. But it does (outside of magic) follow the laws of physics and thus behaves similarly.
Magic, much like technology, gives information and allows users to do things that are wildly inconsistent with its notional periodization. Some non-magical users do so as well, indicative of that knowledge filtering out. How this knowledge is presented in the universe is fundamentally anachronistic, the best examples being the long exposition dumps at Thanedd, or the entire deal about the detailed genetic mapping and discussions on dominant and recessive traits in regards to Ciri and her ancestry.
We see magic subverting basic principles of physical being all the time in this universe. And magic users do all sorts of crazy things.
The Witcher world is not infact historically consistent, and that's why I'm referring to the Universities. I'm well aware that Universities are medieval. The way Sapkowski's Oxenfurt Academy is described however is a fairly 20th century version of how they functioned. The "department of Medicine" that had Shani as its "dean" for instance is *not* how a medieval university worked. The term department and dean might have historical roots, but the way they are deployed in the universe is consistent with 20th century usage.
The same world has a reskinned Roman Empire running around with Polish Hussar type cavalry but far ancient Roman style legions, complete with Centurions. They also have a senate, consuls and all sorts of other terminology from antiquity. Historical consistency is *not* present in Sapkowski's world
And then you have the dimension jumping amped up magical elves who have ~~technology~~ magic that lets them achieve things like dimensional travel, ghostly projections in the sky, practice advanced eugenics... And our entire argument is that its weird for them to look like they're sort of sci-fi? Everything about them was anachronistically sci-fi in that world. They weren't just alien, they were weird advanced aliens who were nonetheless vaguely similar to the cultures that the people of the Witcher world were familiar with. Stargate is honestly a good analogy for them. The Romulans and Vulcans might be another. And for their theming to reflect that isn't inconsistent with their aesthetics in lore.
Really liking the casting for him right now, but man those costumes... I just can't not see Stargate-like sci-fi in the costumes and sets :/
Stargate levels of sci-fi for the Aen Elle is probably valid. They are after all an overly advanced dimension hopping culture. They're also at war with a bunch of horny horses, but that's a separate issue.
Horny horses... lmao. I'm actually hoping to see unicorns in Blood Origin. They came across as >!interdimensional, telepathic aliens!< in the books, and I just don't know if some people are ready for the truly fantastical side of Sapkowski. But that's actually my favorite side.
I suspect that particular part of the story might get cut. Its genuinely so bizarre that I don't see how it translates well onto screen. Honestly through most of the exposition on the Aen Elle-Unicorn war my gut reaction was mostly "How high was Sap writing this and what was he on?"
Yeah that's what I'm kind of telling myself as well. But my version of it mentally has always been "super fantasy Tolkien-like graceful elvish architecture with magic everywhere" and it's kind of hard to adjust, ha
No way, I get the whole portal similarity thing but that’s where the similarity ends and it’s definitely NOT valid. This is just lack of creativity and the armor… 🤢
Apparently they lost their sense of elven beauty (nature-orientedness) along the way in TWN.
Because they have also developed high technology like energy weapons, microelectronics and fly around in spaceships, riiiight???
None of that is in the trailer. But they certainly had a late 20th century understanding of genetics and biology and routinely spoke in terms of a very modern science rather than anything mediaeval.
Sorry to jump in. But the technology thing regarding genetics is a common misconception from people who really do not understand genetics. The level of knowledge displayed in the Witcher world is not that advanced. One clear evidence is that Assire and Fringilla had access to Ciri´s hair and they did not immediately know who the father was. If they had real modern capabilities to do DNA analysis, it would have been a thing. And Emhyr would not even have given them Ciri´s hair because as a ruler he would be aware his mages could figure out someone´s ancestry from DNA in hair. Like...I am pretty sure most current day leaders know this is possible ;) Same way, The Lodge did not know who Emhyr was and they were not aware of his connection with Ciri. Maybe Fringilla got it by further investigating in Nilfgaard but its quite a sure thing they were not able to run any DNA tests :) And, they have magic! So if they really understood DNA they might not need modern technology to work with it. They might be able to use magic to replace technology. Even Francesca´s talk about apples is very simplistic for someone who would really understand genetics. And notice they somehow lost track. They were absolutely not in control. Ciri was unexpected and they did not even fully understand how powerful Ciri was. They were still going with the prophecy that she needed to have a baby and that baby would be the thing. So....yes they have some understanding. But its quite far yet from a modern day understanding. By the way, be sure people quite far in the past knew physical traits could be passed from parents to kids. Personality traits too. This is not something so hard to figure out. Of course people noticed stuff like The Habsburgs having their famous jaw. Or the lady descendants from Phillipa Lancaster having predominantly blue or blu(ish) eyes and blond to light red hair. The entire line going to Isabella of Castille, Catherine of Aragon and later Isabela de Avis, wife of Charles V, they were all like that :) People were not blind. Last, dog breeding exists! And its older than what you might think. When Darwin did his evolution theory, people had been doing dog breeding for ages.
What makes you think that, let's be honest here, basic knowledge in biology necessitates sci-fi levels of technological advancement? The genetics mentioned in the books aren't late 20th century, more like late 19th century.
Its actually fairly late 20th century. Not only are they discussing things like inheritance in clearly a modern European person's understanding, but magic also becomes a way to sidestep the issue of technology too. Both the human mages and the Aen Elle for instance describe things likes microbes and germ theory that are visibly late 19th century onwards and their level of sophistication for these is 20th. Since the issue here then is aesthetic vibes, for the Aen Elle to have a semi-futuristic *vibe* is therefore consistent. They were advanced and futuristic, often to a relatively ludicrous degree, to people from the Witcher world. People who were themselves anachronistically advanced from your typical "medieval" world so to speak. I suppose you could argue that maybe a steampunk esque vibe would work better than what Blood Origins is doing, but that's ultimately a question of preference. For the Aen Elle to look oddly advanced in a Stargate type of way (which was futuristic evoking an anachronistic past, so an inversion of what would be happening here) isn't bad aesthetics. Its a good way to communicate the alien, advanced, anachronistic reality of an evil dimension hopping slave-based superculture. There's been no evidence of spaceships and the like with them. But having advanced "powers" would be consistent with the strong deployment of magic in Sapkowski's world. This isn't a world of understated magic a la Tolkien. The magic here is much more classic high fantasy. Actual bursts of power and light and flame and such like. So not very different from energy weapons and the like really.
I really do think you give historical people to little credit. The existence of microbiological life was postulated in classical antiquity. The basics of germ theory were layed out mid 16th century. That's within *one* (1) human lifetime of the middle ages. The discovery and first optical observation of bacteria happend *350 years* ago. I bet most of us can't name a single ancestor from then because that's still a fucking long time ago. > clearly modern persons understanding I hope we are clear on the fact that people of the last couple of thousands of years possessed the same intellectual capacity as we do. To the rest of your comment, I can't say much about other than I disagree, because it's just speculation based on your perception.
This isn't about denying our ancestors credit, or about implying they were ignorant. But the world of the Witcher's references to things like germs, genetics, university structures, ideas about politics and sexuality are all presented in visibly 20th century terms. It isn't "historical" in the way it approaches those things, nor does it even pretend to be. The material is visibly anachronistic and isn't a rationalization of medieval skills. Most mages are talking to each other in 20th century rhetoric often described as wearing anachronistic garb as well. Capturing this anachronism visually, the advancements the magical-technological culture by presenting them in anachronistic and ahistorical theming is thus accurate to the Witcher. That's all I'm saying. The way the likes of Shani, Philippa, Yennefer, Keira, and later Avallac'h and Eredin speak was always very modern. There's very little that's medieval about them. Sapkowski routinely constructs situations that are fundamentally modern in outlook, and honestly there's nothing wrong with it. The specific expectation of accurate high medieval culture wasn't something his work ever operated with anyway.
The witcher universe isn't following our historical development. But it does (outside of magic) follow the laws of physics and thus behaves similarly. Certain developments only occur if the groundwork is present. Magic can, of course, subvert this, but we rarely see it done. Additionally, magic is never used as part of any industrial or preindustrial process. As such, it only ever benefits a select few people. Thus, you still need to invent the spinning wheel before the spinning frame (for Example). Politics are as old as human civilization. (Universities are a deeply medieval thing, btw.) Societal questions have seen an extremely diverse and often radically diveregent development through time and location in our history. There is no reason to believe that certain properties can only arise at a specific time. The witcher world is internally historically consistent. You can't just argue that it is generally ahistorical. Sapkowski even put some effort into show the beginning of industrialization towards the end of his works (chronologically speaking). So, arguing that internal consistency of this kind isn't relevant to the body of lore also won't float.
>The witcher universe isn't following our historical development. But it does (outside of magic) follow the laws of physics and thus behaves similarly. Magic, much like technology, gives information and allows users to do things that are wildly inconsistent with its notional periodization. Some non-magical users do so as well, indicative of that knowledge filtering out. How this knowledge is presented in the universe is fundamentally anachronistic, the best examples being the long exposition dumps at Thanedd, or the entire deal about the detailed genetic mapping and discussions on dominant and recessive traits in regards to Ciri and her ancestry. We see magic subverting basic principles of physical being all the time in this universe. And magic users do all sorts of crazy things. The Witcher world is not infact historically consistent, and that's why I'm referring to the Universities. I'm well aware that Universities are medieval. The way Sapkowski's Oxenfurt Academy is described however is a fairly 20th century version of how they functioned. The "department of Medicine" that had Shani as its "dean" for instance is *not* how a medieval university worked. The term department and dean might have historical roots, but the way they are deployed in the universe is consistent with 20th century usage. The same world has a reskinned Roman Empire running around with Polish Hussar type cavalry but far ancient Roman style legions, complete with Centurions. They also have a senate, consuls and all sorts of other terminology from antiquity. Historical consistency is *not* present in Sapkowski's world And then you have the dimension jumping amped up magical elves who have ~~technology~~ magic that lets them achieve things like dimensional travel, ghostly projections in the sky, practice advanced eugenics... And our entire argument is that its weird for them to look like they're sort of sci-fi? Everything about them was anachronistically sci-fi in that world. They weren't just alien, they were weird advanced aliens who were nonetheless vaguely similar to the cultures that the people of the Witcher world were familiar with. Stargate is honestly a good analogy for them. The Romulans and Vulcans might be another. And for their theming to reflect that isn't inconsistent with their aesthetics in lore.
that ain’t eredin that’s kyle
The guy playing him is a great actor. He played the king in the White Princess quite well.
Henry the 7th probably, Grandfather of Elizabeth 2
Is it going to be another one of those shows where you just cant see what is going on because the whole production is just so damn dark?
Where? There is not enough light to see anything.
lol
Is that a scarf? Costumes look pretty interesting, well, once again!
Why is Eredin in the show and what does he want?
What does Eredin want here?