WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Witcher Season 1, streaming now on Netflix.

The Continent is a fascinating place and thoroughly unique among fantasy worlds, which is why even those who are enjoying the live-action adaptation of The Witcher, for all its merits, may still have a few gripes with it for failing to adapt the novels as faithfully as it could have.

Showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich indicated throughout development that the show would remain as faithful to the novels as possible and in some ways, that's true -- the tone is there, the same themes are still as prominent and well-explored and the struggles of the characters have been more or less captured, even if they aren't perfectly replicated. That being said, the recently released series does take more than a few liberties that will undoubtedly result in major changes to the overall story and characters. We'll run through a few of them here.

The list of changes could fill an entire novelette, so we'll be focusing on the ones that define the most crucial aspects of The Continent. Also note that -- while we'll try to avoid them -- there will be a few minor spoilers for Andrzej Sapkowski's novel saga.

RELATED: The Witcher's [Spoiler] Was Influenced by Dunkirk

THE FOREST OF BROKILON

Freya-Allan-Ciri-Netflix-Witcher

Visually, this guarded forest is every bit as magical as it should appear. It's everything that lies within that readers might notice is amiss, from the dryads to the events that unfold beneath its emerald shade. In the series, it is the forest that calls out to Ciri after the princess escaped the fall of Cintra and the clutches of Nilfgaard. She's invited to stay by the queen of the dryads, Eithné, who offers mystical waters to help erase the traumatic memories of loss and war. None of it works and eventually Mousesack -- or rather, the Doppler imitating Mousesack -- comes to take Ciri back.

This is a major deviation from the novels. In Sword of Destiny, Geralt enters Brokilon to deliver a message to Eithné, who rules over the forested region and its non-human inhabitants. There, he and a dryad named Braenn discover a 10-year old Ciri, on the run from a potential arranged marriage. The significance of the forest stems from the part it plays in Geralt and Ciri's story and from its importance to world-building since it does a lot to help clarify the relationship between humans and non-humans -- including elves and dwarves -- in the northern regions of The Continent. By making these changes to the story, the Netflix series fails to make Brokilon Forest anything more than another vaguely magical location. The dryads too become little more than another mysterious race of people.

TOR LARA

The-Witcher-Tor-Lara

Also known as the Tower of the Gull, Tor Lara is the tallest structure on the Isle of Thanedd and houses a highly unstable portal in its topmost chamber. In Time of Contempt, it's this portal that Ciri uses to escape the chaotic Thanedd Coup, which is how she winds up in the desert. It's a crucial turning point for her; it's her flight into Tor Lara that ultimately pushes her into independence after being forced to put all her training and magical abilities to the test.

With that in mind, the Netflix series' depiction of Tor Lara in "Four Marks" as a cavernous chamber, with nothing in it but ambiguously potent magic and a lot of lightning, suggesting that Ciri's story will unfold differently. Those familiar with the novels might have guessed that anyway, given how other events in Ciri's story are being presented in the show. It's entirely possible that her misadventure in the unforgiving desert may not happen.

THE ELDER BLOOD

Netflix-The-Witcher-Pavetta

Both Pavetta and Ciri possess the Elder Blood, a gene that grants carriers an affinity for magic. In the novels, the Elder Blood is seldom under the control of the women who possess it (only women can actually manifest its power), but that doesn't seem to be the case in the live-action adaptation. We see that in "Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials" when Pavetta explodes with powerful magic, just before Queen Calanthe is able to slay Duny. Pavetta appears calm in the eye of the magical cyclone, completely aware and in control. Ciri, too, appears to quickly master at least some of her magical abilities, such as her sonic scream.

RELATED: Netflix's The Witcher Misses Out On Some of the Best Stories

In The Last Wish, Pavetta has no control over the power of the Elder Blood and neither does Ciri, who doesn't have any unique powers in the novels being adapted. According to Hissrich, this was done both to establish that Ciri is unique and to create an air of suspense. Whether or not this re-imagining of the Elder Blood helps the show successfully create that effect, is up to the viewer.

FRINGILLA VIGO

Fringilla stands firms in her offer for allyship

Aretuza, in the series, is shown to train a number of sorceresses from the novels, including Yennefer of Vengerberg, Sabrina Glevissig and Fringilla Vigo, the latter of which is sent to advise the ruler of Nilfgaard and later fights for the growing empire during the Battle of Sodden. Her allegiance to Nilfgaard, her story and much of her character has been changed and the narrative or thematic reasoning behind it isn't really made clear, even by the end of the season.

Sapkowski's novels describe an academy in Nilfgaard that produces its own sorceresses for employment at court. That's where Fringilla Vigo was trained. As a separate state to the south of The Continent, the rulers of Nilfgaard would have no need nor any desire to accept mages from the Northern Kingdoms, where Aretuza is located. Her association with Aretuza and her subsequent treachery in the series may present problems later on when her relationship with Yennefer is actually meant to change and develop.

CAHIR

Cahir in the Witcher looking angry

While on the topic of Nilfgaard, the villainous Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach (good luck pronouncing that) is almost a completely different character from his novel counterpart. What the two have in common is that they're both officers in the Nilfgaardian military and they both pursue Ciri during and after the Massacre of Cintra. The similarities between them effectively end there.

Cahir, in the novels, does appear to be a menacing character in the beginning but is later revealed to be quite a compassionate person with his own reasons for pursuing Ciri, none of which really include the glory of the Nilfgaardian Empire. Suffice it to say, the character introduced in Blood of Elves would never behave in the same way as he does in the Netflix adaptation, because he does not actually mean Ciri any harm. In many ways, it's easy to think that the adaptation has other plans for him; quite a few scenes suggest that the intention was for Cahir to serve as the zealous face of Nilfgaard in the first season, to the confusion of the more dedicated fans of the novels.

NENNEKE

The-Witcher-Nenneke

The one character that arguably aids Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri the most is Nenneke, who is completely absent from the Netflix series. Fans of the books will remember Nenneke as the stern but wise head priestess at the Temple of Melitele. She was there to help Geralt heal when he was wounded by the striga and she was there to provide guidance to both Ciri and Yennefer when they met.

It appears that Nenneke's role will be split among different characters, most notably Triss, who treats Geralt when he's wounded by the striga in "Betrayer Moon." Keep in mind that Triss served a minor role in the novels, which means readers can probably expect a deeper level of involvement from her. Without Nenneke, the dynamic between Ciri and Yennefer may ultimately be completely different than what readers see in the novels, which doesn't need to be a negative thing if the show is careful about replacing Nenneke and the Temple of Melitele.

GERALT'S LAST WISH

The-Witcher-Rare-Species-Geralt-Yennefer

In the series adaptation of "The Last Wish," Geralt attempts to save Yennefer from the power of the djinn by using his third and final wish, which is revealed in "Rare Species" to have been a desire to essentially remain bound to Yennefer. The wish itself isn't exactly unfaithful to the source material -- his third wish has been the subject of debate among fans -- rather, the deviation lies in the relationship-defining confrontation that follows, compelling Yennefer to abandon Geralt.

This doesn't happen at all in the novels. In fact, Yennefer -- unlike the reader -- knows full well what Geralt wished for during their struggle against the djinn. There was no anger in her reaction. In fact, she took it somewhat lightheartedly, warning the witcher that he had effectively condemned himself to her. It's uncertain how this change will affect their relationship in the live-action series. The decision to depict their tumultuous romance this way seems to have been made for the sake of drama since the other troublesome points of their relationship -- which would have taken place between "Bottled Appetites" and "Rare Species" -- were glossed over in a brief monologue.

The Witcher stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, Freya Allan as Ciri and Joey Batey as Jaskier. The series is available on Netflix.

KEEP READING: The Witcher: Expanding Backstories Comes With High a Price