The Hexer
From Witcher Wiki
The Hexer (Polish: Wiedźmin) is the international title of both a movie (2001) and a television series (2002) based on the witcher short stories by Andrzej Sapkowski, although it more commonly referred to as The Witcher by fans since the release of The Witcher computer game. Both the movie and the television series were directed by Marek Brodzki, written by Michał Szczerbic, and produced by Lew Rywin. The role of Geralt was played by Michał Żebrowski, and the music was composed by Grzegorz Ciechowski.
The theatrical movie was essentially the then-unreleased TV series chopped into about 2 hours, and received very poor reviews from both fans and critics. The 13-episode TV series came out the following year. The series was much more coherent than the confusing movie, but was still considered a failure mostly due to the film's already bad reputation and due to vast changes to the source material.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
Main characters:
- Michał Żebrowski - Geralt of Rivia
- Zbigniew Zamachowski - Dandelion (Jaskier)
- Marta Bitner - Ciri
- Grażyna Wolszczak - Yennefer of Vengerberg
- Maciej Kozłowski - Gwidon/Falwick
Recurring characters:
- Ewa Wiśniewska - Calanthe
- Anna Dymna - Nenneke
- Jerzy Nowak - Vesemir
- Wojciech Duryasz - Old Witcher
- Kinga Ilgner - Renfri
- Aleksander Bednarz - Mousesack (Myszowór)
- Magdalena Warzecha - Visenna
- Agnieszka Dygant - Toruviel
[edit] List of episodes
| Episode number | Polish title | English translation | Source stories |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Dzieciństwo" | "Childhood" | None |
| 2 | "Nauka" | "Training" | None |
| 3 | "Człowiek - pierwsze spotkanie" | "Human - First Meeting" | Incorporates minor elements of "The Lesser Evil" and "The Voice of Reason" |
| 4 | "Smok" | "The Dragon" | "Granica możliwości" |
| 5 | "Okruch lodu" | "A Shard of Ice" | "Okruch lodu" |
| 6 | "Calanthe" | "Calanthe" | "A Question of Price" |
| 7 | "Dolina Kwiatów" | "The Valley of Flowers" | "Wieczny ogień", "The Edge of the World" |
| 8 | "Rozdroże" | "Crossroads" | "The Witcher", "The Voice of Reason", "Coś więcej" |
| 9 | "Świątynia Melitele" | "The Temple of Melitele" | "The Voice of Reason" |
| 10 | "Mniejsze zło" | "The Lesser Evil" | "The Lesser Evil" |
| 11 | "Jaskier" | "Dandelion" | Elements of "The Lesser Evil", "Okruch lodu" and "Miecz przeznaczenia" |
| 12 | "Falwick" | "Falwick" | None |
| 13 | "Ciri" | "Ciri" | Contains elements of "Coś więcej" |
The Hexer theatrical movie is a compilation of material from various episodes.
[edit] Differences between the books and the series
The makers of the TV series and movie made many changes to the plot of the Witcher short stories, the major ones being:
- In the books, Geralt was given to the witchers by his mother, Visenna and never knew his father. In the series, he was taken from his parents by the Witchers through the Law of Surprise.
- In the books, there was no actual witcher code, although Geralt made up a code of his own. In the series, the witchers have a code that allows them only to fight in an "honorable" way (even with monsters).
- In the books, Vesemir was a witcher. In the series, he is a priest. Some of the characteristics of Vesemir the witcher were given to the Old Witcher in the series.
- In the books, Geralt was never treated as an outcast by other witchers, while he is in the series.
- In the books, there are no female witchers, while a school of female witchers exists in the series.
- In the books, Geralt first met Ciri in the Brokilon forest, not in the Melitele temple in Ellander, as in the series, although she does spend some time in the temple in Blood of Elves.
- Falwick's role was greatly expanded in order to make him a worthy nemesis for Geralt in the series.
- In the books, The Order of the White Rose was not as prominently present as in the series and had no ties to Nilfgaard nor Renfri.
- In the books, Nenneke and Iola didn't die.
[edit] DVD releases
The movie was released on DVD (including an international version with English subtitles). The series was never released on DVD and there are no known plans to release it. It has been unofficially released with English subtitles on the Internet.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Hexer movie at the Internet Movie Database
- The Hexer TV series at the Internet Movie Database
- The Hexer movie trailer
- "Nie pokonasz miłości" music video
- Review of The Hexer at Movie Habit
| The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski | |
| Short story collections | |
|---|---|
| Wiedźmin (obsolete) | The Last Wish | Miecz przeznaczenia (The Sword of Destiny) | Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna | |
| Novels | |
| Krew elfów (Blood of the Elves) | Czas pogardy (The Time of Disdain) | Chrzest ognia (Baptism by Fire) | Wieża Jaskółki (The Swallow's Tower) | Pani Jeziora (The Lady of the Lake) | |
| Adaptations | |
| Wiedźmin (graphic novels) | The Hexer (movie and TV series) | Wiedźmin: Gra Wyobraźni (PnP RPG) | The Witcher (computer game) | |
