The Witcher series of books—and its adaptations—take place in a fantasy world of the darkest type, on par with the Westeros of Game of Thrones for its grimmest excesses. In amongst its humor, action, and romance, its plots, backstory, and worldbuilding are stuffed full of pain, death, and worse.

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This is par for the course for dark fantasy, and Netflix's The Witcher (2019) in no way held back from how thoroughly unpleasant the world of The Witcher can be. Nonetheless, there are some elements of the original story that are gratuitous, outdated, or simply so thoroughly unpleasant that it is a relief to many that they have so far not been included in the adaptations.

6 Yennefer's Assault At The Hands Of The Reavers

Geralt and Yennefer use Geralt's magic to fight the Reavers in the Witcher

The episode "Rare Species" of the Netflix series adapts the story "The Bounds of Reason" from The Sword of Destiny, the second book in the series. In both, Geralt and his allies are forced to protect a dragon from the Reavers, who have come to kill it in order to claim its bounty. In the show, Yennefer is one of those allies, at no point captured by the Reavers, and battles back-to-back with Geralt.

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In the story, by contrast, both Geralt and Yennefer are overpowered and tied to a wagon, but Yennefer ends up with her dress torn and her body exposed, whilst Geralt is able to free himself in order to fight them off. The show's version of events avoids the incredibly gratuitous nature of Yennefer's treatment in the story and forms part of the show's overall more nuanced and sensitive storytelling when it comes to Yennefer's agency.

5 The Darker Parts Of Renfri's Backstory

Renfri talks to Geralt outside of Blaviken

The very first episode of the Netflix show retells the story of "The Lesser Evil," where Geralt is placed in the middle of a conflict between the wizard Stregobor, and the bandit Renfri. In neither version is either of them anything but morally grey, but the show ultimately paints Stregobor as the worse villain. It primarily does this by omitting the darker parts of Renfri's backstory. In the show, viewers learn that Renfri was attacked at the urging of Stregobor, and her attacker assaulted her rather than kill her, seeing her turn to banditry and seeking to gain her revenge.

In the book, Renfri has a long list of atrocities and manipulations to her name, and is only trying to kill Stregobor because it is convenient. Ultimately, all Renfri's darker backstory in the books does is make the situation hard to care about at all, due to both people being less likable, and it still fails to make Stregobor seem in the slightest bit sympathetic. The version in the show is less dark for the sake of darkness, and more emotionally poignant with Geralt forced to kill the blatantly lesser evil.

4 The Attempted Exorcism Of The Djinn

Geralt and Jaskier argue over the Djinn the Witcher

The episode "Bottled Appetites" adapts the story of The Last Wish accurately, with only one major storyline omission. In the show, the Djinn is angry and a threat to the town because of Yennefer's attempts to capture it to restore her fertility. This reason is different in the novel, where the Djinn is angry because Geralt attempted an exorcism in an unknown language. In reality, the exorcism is a joke, and nothing more than a sexually explicit way of telling the Djinn to leave. As it is bound to Geralt's wishes, it is forced to comply with the explicit act, and angry.

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To some fans, it is a fairly immature way to ramp up the threat of the story, and takes some right out of the story. The show's method of achieving the same effect ties the storyline and themes together better, and it breaks the tension at a better time, in funnier ways.

3 Geralt's Casual Murder Of Drunkards

Geralt is provoked by thugs in a tavern The Witcher

Given his later actions of stridently protecting human life, and refusing to allow harm to come to humans if he can avoid it, it can come as a surprise to some that Geralt's very first actions in The Witcher books are to kill several drunkards. While it is by no means an unprovoked fight, with the drunkards harassing Geralt into a fight, it is also made clear that Geralt could have ended the fight in any number of ways, and simply chose to kill them in order to make his presence known.

Even if this wasn't the first thing to happen in the Netflix series (with the events of the first story making up Episode 3 of the show), it would nonetheless make it harder to root for Geralt, and having him avoid doing this makes his character seem more consistent through stories.

2 Geralt & Yennefer's Initial Brawl

Geralt and Yennefer argue after they survive the Djinn the Witcher

For much of "Bottled Appetites," Geralt and Yennefer's relationship begins much in the same way as it does in the novel. Geralt meets her to find help for Jaskier (called Dandelion in the story), and she uses magic to force him to humiliate several city elders with who she has disagreements. The main change comes from what happens when Yennefer attempts to bind the Djinn to her. In the show, Geralt makes his wish and Yennefer teleports them both to safety.

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In the novel, before this can happen, the two get into a genuine brawl with one another, teleporting through the country as they do so. In this brawl, Yennefer's dress is once again torn off, with the text making several lewd references to it. It forms part of a running trend of Yennefer's objectification throughout the books, that the show has a more sensitive and agency-fueled take on.

1 Renfri's Last Attempt To Kill Geralt

Renfri is killed by Geralt in The Witcher

Part of the tragedy of the first episode is that Geralt and Renfri truly have a connection and understand one another, but their respective uncrossable lines force them into a fight to the death. Even when that begins, Geralt tries not to kill Renfri, and clearly regrets it when he does. As she lays dying, the connection wins out, and Renfri makes a solemn promise to Geralt that affects him for the rest of the series.

In the novel, by contrast, Geralt is outwardly unaffected when he deals Renfri with a mortal wound, refusing to hold her as she dies. This is revealed to be because she is hiding a dagger, and wants to kill him still. In keeping with the show's more sympathetic portrayal of Renfri, the show's ending to the story allows for more poignancy, and for greater thematic significance. The original story's ending veers closer to justifying Renfri's death and takes a lot of the complexity out of the situation.

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