Where Does The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf Fit In On The Timeline, According To Netflix?
The world of The Witcher has a complicated timeline. Though there is a reason for that in the Netflix series, that timeline has recently gotten even more complicated with the introduction of the animated film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. This origin story for Geralt's mentor Vesemir shows a very different environment for Witchers, at least at the start. These monster hunters have a thriving stronghold at Kaer Morhen. Witchers leave in the spring to take contracts and then spend the winter resting and training new recruits.
However, one winter things don't go as planned for one particular Witcher. This Witcher is, of course, Vesemir. Because of a new threat, Vesemir does not spend the winter the way he wants to. Instead, he must seek out this threat and put a stop to it with the help of sorceress Tetra Gilcrest. Though things aren't, as is usual on the Continent, what they appear to be.
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf tells the story of how the Witchers went from thriving to barely surviving in the Netflix series. Fans solely of the series have not met Vesemir yet, though they will in season 2 of The Witcher. Geralt did briefly mention his mentor in season 1, though. Yet the version of Vesemir that fans meet in The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is much more carefree. He's a lovable yet careless protagonist. He tends to leave training new Witchers to his fellow monster hunters while he spends the winter just resting. So how does he end up being Geralt's mentor? What events lead to that in The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf? What changes for Vesemir to make him into someone who could mentor Geralt? And where does this origin story fit into the wider Witcher timeline?
To understand where The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf fits in, it is crucial to understand where the action of season 1 of The Witcher takes place. It does jump around in time quite a lot, but there is a present-day timeline, that centers on the fall of Cintra and its Nilfgaardian takeover. Anything after the fall of Cintra and Nilfgaard taking it over is taking place in that timeline. So the bulk of Ciri's storyline is taking place in the present-day timeline. Geralt and Yennefer's storylines at the end also take place in that present-day timeline. Of course, Geralt meeting Ciri in the woods is also part of that timeline. According to Netflix, this present-day timeline is the year 1263. Season 2, of course, will be more linear than season 1 was, now that the three main characters are on the same timeline. Their origin stories have been told, now it's time to get into the action in earnest. Vesemir's origin story, on the other hand, is told in The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf.
There are flashbacks as well in The Witcher: Nightmare of The Wolf to Vesemir's childhood, which takes place in the year 1100. It shows Vesemir becoming a Witcher as a child and the life he left behind in order to do so. However, the majority of the story takes place in 1165, when Vesemir has already been a Witcher for decades. The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf follows Vesemir and Tetra's journey to discover the threat scaring the Continent at that time. Of course, things don't go as planned. And Vesemir and Tetra are nothing like Geralt and Yennefer. The two don't get along at all, though they might seem to for a while, as Tetra does not trust Witchers. And the rogueish Vesemir doesn't want to have to look after the sorceress. Tetra's suspicion and fear of Witchers and the way that magic is used –or in her view, misused – to create them leads to the attack on Kaer Morhen. Vesemir, of course, defends the Witcher's stronghold.
Yet there are some complications that occur and things are not as simple as they might seem to be at first. According to Netflix's video, the Great Cleansing takes place only a couple of decades after the events of The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. The Great Cleansing is, of course, when humans, after Elves taught them magic, forced the Elves out of their land on the Continent. Both of these moments in The Witcher timeline show just how often people can be scared of and harmful to what or who they don't understand. That is a major theme of The Witcher universe: the harm that people can do when they take out their lack of understanding of others.
This harm can even have far-reaching consequences. For example, because of Tetra's distrust of Witchers in The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, Geralt is one of the last remaining Witchers. If Tetra hadn't been so fearful and taken her fear out on the Witchers themselves, perhaps Kaer Morhen would still be as strong as it was in the beginning of The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. Then Geralt and the other remaining Witchers in season 1 of the Netflix series wouldn't have such a burden to bear. And Vesemir's life might have remained somewhat carefree.
Unfortunately, that isn't how things worked out in The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf or the Netflix series The Witcher. Of course, not every fan of both stories will see them this way. Some might not see the far-reaching consequences of what Tetra does in The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. Or might think such events might have happened eventually anyway. Witchers certainly aren't beloved by the time Geralt gets the job. However, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf does show how one person's actions can shape the world, for better or for worse.
Both Vesemir and Tetra play a role in shaping the history of the Continent. And the harm Tetra does ends up affecting the Witchers up to the present-day timeline of The Witcher universe. In addition, some fans will not be that intrigued by finding out where Nightmare of the Wolf fits into The Witcher timeline. Yet those who are will be glad to finally know the answer. And to know how events that took place long ago in 1165 with Vesemir are still affecting Geralt in 1263.
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