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Why Witcher IV Has Me Excited as a Books Fan! (Ciri Character Analysis) — Transcript

by Inis Vitre with Nimue · 8,506 words · 1,232 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00In my opinion, the most important part
0:01of this demo is Kelpie. Hello, Subkovski
0:03scholars and welcome back to Inivitra.
0:06My name is Nwa and on this channel we
0:07talk about The Witcher. And today I'm
0:09going to be giving you my thoughts on
0:11what we know about The Witcher 4 so far
0:13because we know both very much and very
0:15little and it has me both intensely
0:17excited and a bit terrified. In December
0:20of last year, a cinematic trailer for
0:22the first game of a new Witcher trilogy,
0:24The Witcher 4, was released during the
0:26Game Awards, and the internet completely
0:29[ __ ] itself. No surprise there. Roll
0:31tape.
0:33They made it woke. Why have you made her
0:36look purposefully unattractive in
0:38comparison to how she looked in Witcher
0:393? And why the manly voice? What are you
0:42guys doing? Destroying your own lore.
0:44Females can't become Witchers. I don't
0:46mind Siri, but why did you make her so
0:47ugly? The reason female heroic
0:50protagonists don't work is that being a
0:52heroic protagonist is masculine. Female
0:55warriors are purely a sexual fantasy and
0:59only make sense as supporting
1:01characters, not the main character.
1:04That's just how it is. 104 likes. We got
1:09Siri. [ __ ] you for making Siri ugly. You
1:12miserable.
1:14So so tired of every modern game main
1:17character as females. Big fan of
1:19Witcher, but will not be buying this.
1:21Your character design is disgusting.
1:23Disguising.
1:25Your character design is disguising.
1:28Siri looks like guilt with deformed
1:30head. Your lore interpretation is awful.
1:33Woman cannot become a Witcher. And
1:34Sepkovski clearly stated that Siri is
1:36not a Witcher and cannot become one. You
1:38guys can't even make an original title.
1:40Ooh, this one has numbers. Number one,
1:42Siri needs to look more feminine and not
1:44like she drives a Subaru. Wait, wait,
1:46what's wrong with driving a Subaru
1:48Forester? Number two, give us the option
1:51to play as Geralt. We all love Siri, but
1:53he is the lifeblood of this game and
1:54series since the '9s. No. Number three,
1:58no cringe woke [ __ ] please. Witcher 3
2:01was a masterpiece. Now, I didn't even
2:04have to look far and wide for these
2:05tweets. These are all just replies to
2:07the pinned announcement tweet on the
2:08official Witcher account. So yeah, this
2:12is what all the upward was about. Siri's
2:14appearance and womanliness,
2:17which people don't think she's hot. Are
2:20you kidding me? Wait. Uh oh. I'm getting
2:22a message that a woman's appearance
2:24shouldn't matter because she has
2:25inherent value as a human being anyways,
2:27but who sent me this, Dandelion? I know
2:29it wasn't you. But that's right, your
2:31flesh person doesn't matter. It's what's
2:33inside that counts. That being said, if
2:35you look like this, my Instagram DMs are
2:37open. I feel like these guys just can't
2:39stand the sight of a strong century
2:40woman. You know, women exist in real
2:42life, right? Like they weren't made up
2:44for anime. If you actually go outside,
2:46you can see them. I feel like in the
2:48whole conversation about this, yeah,
2:50it's been great to see people defending
2:51women's right to be uh ugly.
2:56But I also just want to come in and say,
2:59if you don't like this, I think it's you
3:01problem. And also, there's nothing wrong
3:04with driving a Subaru Forester. But
3:06yeah, this is why it's taken me so long
3:08to make a very simple video about The
3:09Witcher 4, because I know that no matter
3:11what opinion I have, it's going to be
3:13wrong. But that's okay. Let's move
3:15forward with our wrong opinions. To be
3:18honest, I prefer women. Not surprising
3:22considering the Witcher fandom. Did you
3:24guys know that one of the earliest
3:25dramas of the Witcher fandom back when
3:27it was just books and no games yet was a
3:29lively debate about uh whether or not
3:32Siri was a virgin? We know this because
3:35it was immortalized on the Andre
3:36Subgovski zone with entire pages
3:39dedicated to the various theories and
3:40approaches. Now 20 years after that, we
3:43find ourselves surrounded by similar
3:45obsessions with series biological sex
3:47and womanhood. Kind of just the nature
3:48of the world. It's like Melva Barn said
3:53shitty philosophers or woeful
3:55philosophers if you're doing the David
3:57French translation, but it's the David
3:58French translation and it's like it's
4:00like not it's not woeful, it's shitty.
4:02Okay. Anyways, people, fandom, or maybe
4:05just these parts of the Witcher fandom
4:07will always and forever remain the same.
4:09Amen. But this video isn't really about
4:12drama. As much as I'd like to get my
4:14hands dirty with that, this video is
4:15about my impressions of what's been
4:17presented so far about The Witcher 4.
4:19Because just this week at Unreal Fest,
4:21they presented an in-depth tech demo
4:22which revealed a little bit more about
4:24what set a project has cooking. First
4:26and foremost, let it cook. I wanted to
4:27make this video because I think that
4:29they're on the right track. They're
4:31doing several things here that I think
4:32are setting this title up for success.
4:34It seems that they're remaining
4:35authentic and true to their roots while
4:37also looking into the future. I think
4:39that we are sitting on an entirely new
4:41chapter for The Witcher, not just for
4:43the games, but for the community. But
4:46before we get anything too deep, I
4:48wanted to address the elephant in the
4:49room or the swallow flying around the
4:52place. Yes, in The Witcher 4, it has
4:54been revealed that Siri has taken the
4:56Witcher mutations. She has cat eyes. She
4:58drinks potions and uses Witcher signs.
5:01This all obviously contradicts what is
5:03established in the books. As a fan of
5:05the books, I have objections and
5:07hesitations about this naturally. But
5:09here's the thing. All of Set Pyek's
5:11Witcher games are fanfiction for the
5:14books. They retcon things. They change
5:16things. And they make new stories up. If
5:18they cared so much about the book cannon
5:20as to not change a thing, let me warn
5:22you for spoilers for the Witcher books
5:24here. Spoiler alert for the ending of
5:25Lady of the Lake. Okay, we wouldn't have
5:28any Witcher games as we know them
5:30because Geralt and Yennefer would still
5:31be dead as doornails on the aisle of
5:33Avalon, the eternal resting place of
5:35heroes, making Siri take the Witcher
5:38mutations. It kind of just feels like
5:40par the course for how the game's right.
5:42To me, this feels like the same thing as
5:43inventing the entire story about the
5:45Wild Hunt abducting Geral and Yennefer
5:47and bringing them back to life. Do I
5:48think it's canon to the books? Do I
5:50think it makes the story better? No, not
5:53really, because it doesn't really make
5:54sense. It doesn't make narrative sense.
5:56It doesn't make thematic sense. And
5:58Sepkovski did not write any of this.
6:00Obviously, the books are written the way
6:02they are and they end the way they do
6:04for a reason. However, as someone who
6:07wants to play a fun, interesting Witcher
6:09game. Do I enjoy it? Yeah, because I
6:13want to ride on my horse the Black
6:14Knight. I wish to smite the forces of
6:16evil and darkness with my luminous
6:18blade, bright and as keen as a moon
6:19beam. And I don't think that that's
6:21happening in real life anytime soon. So,
6:23I want to play a video game about it.
6:25Sed's work on The Witcher has never been
6:27about complete cohesion with the books.
6:29This is also why they allow you to
6:30romance Tris in the Witcher 3.
6:32Controversial, controversial. Okay.
6:34Oops. What I mean is Sapex's games are
6:36fanfiction for the books and they're
6:38good fanfiction. They're interesting
6:40fanfiction. Uh, generally my sister
6:46might be among the schemers. What? And
6:50they're mostly accepted by the
6:51community. I'll talk a little bit later
6:53in this video about how the changes to
6:54the lore may affect the story of The
6:56Witcher 4. But when it comes to the
6:58games, what matters to me more than the
7:00details of why and how is if they can
7:03carry similar themes and
7:04characterization. Because I know that
7:06Setup Project will probably find some
7:08story explanation for how Siri took the
7:10mutations, just like they explained how
7:12Geralt isn't lying underneath an apple
7:14tree with three gaping wounds in his
7:16chest. I also, although I promised I
7:19wouldn't really get into it in this
7:20video, I don't think it's as ridiculous
7:22as everyone thinks that a human woman
7:24could undergo the trial of the grasses
7:26and survive because looking at the
7:28ambiguity it's treated within the books
7:29and the adamant perspectives of
7:31Subkovski on women's bodily strength,
7:34it's not that far-fetched. I've also
7:36been seeing a lot of misinformation
7:38surrounding this topic online, which is
7:40kind of disheartening to see. There's a
7:42lot of the book said this, which they
7:45didn't. It's never said that a girl
7:46exposed to the trials would immediately
7:48die. There's a lot more context
7:50surrounding that scene in the books. And
7:52although this video this video isn't
7:54about all that, so I'm not really going
7:56to get into it. But just don't believe
7:58everything you read online. Always look
8:00at the books yourself and do your own
8:01research. This is why in my videos when
8:03I quote the books, I give you the
8:05chapter and the books that the quote
8:06comes from. Always site your Wait, what
8:08does it say? What is the quote? It's
8:10what does higher education give a man?
8:12The ability to site sources. Thank you,
8:14Visa. go to Corvo, we're going to talk
8:16about you later in this video. Anyways,
8:18where was I? I don't think that any part
8:20of Zapkovski's writing would say that a
8:23woman is not as strong as a man. It's
8:26kind of the opposite in his writing,
8:28guys. Just Anyways, in terms of
8:30nonecanon things that never happened,
8:33the actual larger problem that I have
8:35with Siri undergoing the mutations from
8:37a book's perspective is that it's said
8:39by Geralt in Something More, that it's
8:40believed that a child of surprise
8:42wouldn't require the mutations. And
8:44another bigger issue, more so than the
8:46mutations, to me at least, is that Siri
8:48can suddenly use the power again, can
8:51draw from nodes of power, even though
8:53she renounced this entirely in time of
8:54contempt. Does this make sense? No.
8:57However, it does look like a really fun
8:59game mechanic. So, they get a pass from
9:01me. You see how this works? Inside you,
9:03there are two wolves. One is gay and the
9:05other is also gay. What? No. The one
9:08really cares about the Witcher lore, and
9:10the other wants to play the fun Witcher
9:11game. For me, the books and the games
9:13are two separate cannons. The game
9:15narratively positions itself as a
9:17continuation of the books. It uses the
9:19books as inspiration, but it's not the
9:21books. And this is set a project we're
9:23talking about here. I think that they
9:25also want to make something that
9:26generally follows the books and the
9:28previous games and will build upon what
9:30has already been established. Although I
9:32believe that there have been some
9:33missteps in their game writing over
9:35time, in general, stuff that they write
9:38makes more or less sense with the books.
9:41at least when compared to um other
9:44people who have purchased the Witcher
9:46IP. Anyways, onwards and upwards.
9:50Speaking of the importance of citing one
9:52sources, I realized that I should
9:53probably introduce the clips you'll be
9:55hearing from soon, which I reference
9:56across the video. These are from the
9:58podcast episode interviews and behind
10:00the-scenes features about The Witcher 4
10:02and The Witcher 4 cinematic. Also
10:04throughout the video I start referring
10:05to the opinions in these clips as
10:07belonging to Terra Protect but the
10:09cinematic was created in collaboration
10:11with Platim. So not everyone speaking in
10:13these next clips is from Ter to be clear
10:16by generalizing it that way. I just
10:17meant as in the official production
10:19behind The Witcher 4 like this is a
10:21Terra sanctioned opinion like this is an
10:23official thing that the creator said. So
10:25anyways, in these clips you'll be
10:26hearing from Pavl Buja, Sebastian Kmba,
10:29Malu Jaata, and I think I also have a
10:32quote from Kayan Kapushitzki on the
10:35Terap side and Tom Suvalski and
10:37Magdalena Ruditka on the Plateiz side.
10:40But with all of that disclaimer out of
10:41the way, let's get into The Witcher 4.
10:43Aside from the war discrepancies with
10:45the books, I'm interested in the story
10:47here because Siri getting her own game
10:49means Siri's journey as a character
10:51being explored. I'm interested in what
10:53we've heard from the developers from
10:54interviews and behind the scenes
10:56features on who Siri is and how that may
10:59translate into how the story will evolve
11:01in the Witcher 4. And Siri is a very
11:03well-known herctor. The saga I mean the
11:06books are about Siri starting from saga
11:08when you read it in the books. A very
11:10strong one, a very strong female, but
11:12it's not about this. She's an amazing
11:15layer character. It's not about being
11:16female. It's about being a very strong
11:19character with very complicated past.
11:21She's been through a lot. The emotional
11:23damage for sure. She's younger. She had
11:25her opinion. She's rebellious about it.
11:27The whole story with the rats, what
11:29happened with Bone Heart, which left a
11:30scar on her. It's different than than
11:33what girls would do.
11:39She has a strong moral compass. I would
11:41say she's connected with herself.
11:42Emotionality that she has is a very
11:45important thing.
11:54As a books fan, this has me excited.
11:57Siri, as the dual protagonist of the
11:58Witcher saga, with Geralt being the uh
12:01other edge of the blade, she has a ton
12:03of canon depth to explore in such a game
12:05and a whole new trilogy. Siri's response
12:07to her morally ambiguous world defines
12:09her because although Kante then Geralt
12:11and Yennefer raised her with virtue over
12:14the course of the books she loses her
12:16ethics and belief and good as she
12:19experiences great pain and only more
12:21painfully does she recover them by the
12:23end of the series. Siri in the books is
12:26indeed emotional because she is a
12:28teenage girl confronted with the reality
12:30and the cruelty of the world. She is
12:32unwilling to accept injustice. Somewhat
12:34unlike Geralt, who can reconcile with
12:36the state of the world and understand
12:38his place in it. Although yes, Geralt
12:40moves forward to fight against evil and
12:42is pained and rashes around with
12:44futility when he can't rid the world of
12:45it all, as a Witcher might, he can
12:48ultimately accept his place in it and is
12:50resigned to the dismal reality that they
12:52live in. Owing to her youth, Siri cannot
12:54accept it so easily. Hi there. I'm
12:57editing right now and I want to add a
12:58bit of extended commentary on the
13:00differences between Geralt and Siri's
13:02philosophies on neutrality versus taking
13:04action. Because the first thing to
13:06understand here is that Geralt's
13:07philosophy fluctuates a lot throughout
13:09the books. This is what his entire
13:11character arc is about. How he changes
13:13from trying to remain neutral to taking
13:15action. His perspective on neutrality is
13:17not the same in the beginning of Blood
13:19of Elves as it is in the middle of
13:20Baptism of Fire as it is at the end of
13:22Lady of the Lake. Because Geralt has a
13:24naturally heroic disposition and has had
13:26the inclination to fight against
13:27injustice and save people since he was a
13:30young man. But he was taught very early
13:32on that the world will not reward his
13:34heroism. It will punish him for it.
13:36Thus, since then, he's tried to swallow
13:38his desire to act. He tries to remain
13:41neutral and on this note stay out of
13:43politics, but he always ultimately fails
13:45in this regard. As his heroism surfaces,
13:48he ends up doing the right thing and in
13:50the process gets caught up in chaos and
13:52violence. Most notably, this happened in
13:54the lesser evil with him not wanting to
13:55choose between evils at first, but then
13:57by the end of the story deciding to
13:59choose the lesser evil and stop Renfrey.
14:01It happened in Time of Contempt when he
14:03didn't want to pick political sides when
14:04Vilka Force confronts him in chapter 3,
14:06but then ends up fighting to save Siri
14:08in chapter 4 when it's already too late
14:10to save her. It happens in Baptism of
14:12Fire when in chapter 2 he says he
14:14doesn't want to get involved in the war
14:15and isn't going to defeat Nilgard. But
14:18then by the end in chapter 7 to save
14:20Melva he fights on the bridge with Kahir
14:22against Nilfgard. And finally it happens
14:25in Lady of the Lake where in the end
14:27defeated and beaten from the recent
14:28events he's trying to prevent himself
14:30from sticking his neck out for anyone
14:32anymore having renounced any and all
14:34violence. But then he dies defending
14:36innocence in the pogram. So I have to
14:38point out here that Geralt like Siri
14:41also always gets involved and always
14:44chooses. But the key here is that he
14:46does it too late leading to tragic
14:49circumstances. This is what happened
14:50with Geralt and Siri's relationship even
14:52because he abandoned her and broke not
14:54wanting to affect her life and then as a
14:56result destiny came and [ __ ] them both
14:58up. So saying that Geralt remains
15:00neutral while Siri doesn't is really an
15:03oversimplication of his character and
15:05overlooks all of his development in the
15:06books. It's kind of like reading the
15:08first part of the lesser evil but not
15:10reading until the end to see what
15:12happens. Because yes, while Geralt
15:14starts from this square one in the very
15:16beginning of Blood of Elves, while he
15:17used to believe in remaining neutral, in
15:20the end, the point of the saga is that
15:22the world demands us to choose between
15:24evils no matter if we want to or not, no
15:26matter if we decide to or not. And it's
15:29better to choose between them earlier
15:31rather than later. However, I think that
15:33said a project probably gave everyone
15:35talking points here to describe Siri and
15:36Geralt for a few reasons. For one, this
15:38is just what's done with professional
15:40marketing teams. It's what's called
15:42media training. As a brand, they want
15:43everyone working there to be able to
15:45give consistent descriptions of the
15:47characters. And to be clear, media train
15:49is a good thing. Without it, brands tend
15:52to turn into big messes. So, no matter
15:54if their interpretations are 100%
15:56accurate to the books or not, I'm just
15:58pointing out that there's not a lot of
16:00room for personal interpretation here
16:01when you're working in a company to sell
16:03a product, which is fine, by the way,
16:05because The Witcher 4 is a product. So,
16:07this is all expected. So, I'm just
16:08speculating that they were all probably
16:10handed some really simple lines to
16:12return to and reference when talking
16:13about Siri. This is probably why they
16:15start saying the same things over and
16:16over again, like, "It's about Siri's
16:18emotionality. It's her personality.
16:20She's never neutral. She's not like
16:22Geralt." For people who don't know
16:23anything about the Witcher or Siri,
16:25they're creating the sense of the
16:26differences between the main characters,
16:28and it makes people want to play the
16:29game because Siri is something new and
16:31interesting. Their descriptions of
16:33Syrian Geralt have got to be simple
16:34because all of this, the behind the
16:36scenes, the interviews, and even the
16:38podcast are marketing for the game, and
16:41you don't want your marketing going off
16:42the rails with someone's personal
16:44interpretation of The Witcher Books,
16:45which you can't control and might not
16:47align perfectly with the official vision
16:49of the game that they're selling.
16:50Personal interpretation is what fan
16:52channels like this one are for, not the
16:54official channels. Secondly, of course,
16:56they don't want to entirely spoil the
16:57books because they want to cast a wide
16:59net for audiences that include people
17:01who don't know the Witcher yet. And to
17:02get into and explain Geralt's entire
17:04character journey from Blood of Elves to
17:06Lady of the Lake would just be a ton of
17:08spoilers. And thirdly, Setup Prey
17:10probably wants to emphasize a contrast
17:12between Geralt and Siri in order to
17:14market The Witcher 4 by allowing
17:16audiences to understand on a very basic
17:18level how these two characters contrast.
17:20So they went with the square one
17:22characterization of the beginning of
17:23Blood of Elves with emphasizing Geralt's
17:25neutrality versus series emotionality,
17:28which is pretty funny because Geralt
17:30obviously also has emotions and in the
17:33books is actually very emotional and
17:35sentimental. But it is also true in some
17:37regard, I think, especially regarding
17:39chapter 3 of Blood of Elves, meaning in
17:41the very beginning of the saga and in
17:43both of their character developments,
17:45that Geralt initially believes in
17:47remaining neutral, and Siri demands
17:49emotionality and choice. Like the part
17:51where Tris is like, "You've killed the
17:53emotions in yourself, but don't you dare
17:55kill them in the child." Meanwhile, girl
17:57is like, "Stop talking to me, Tris. I'm
18:00having too many emotions." This is a
18:02part of Blood of Elves that I think that
18:04their comments are really accurate in
18:05response to. However, like this, yes,
18:09Blood of Elves, yes, they are accurate.
18:11Baptism of Fire, not so accurate.
18:14Because in Baptism of Fire, Geralt's
18:16emotions come out full swing. Geralt is
18:18indeed emotional, and he indeed chooses.
18:22It did kind of bother me that they
18:23started explaining Siri's character as,
18:25"Oh, she's very emotional and always
18:26chooses between good and evil because
18:28Geralt, Geralt also does that, too.
18:30They're no different in that regard.
18:32Geralt just does it too late because
18:33he's a Geralt. Can't I can't say that
18:36about Geralt. I I respect him too much.
18:38I like him too much. You're a strange
18:39man, Geralt. To be clear, it's not an
18:41insult. Okay. Anyways,
18:44so I think that that part is what
18:46they're specifically referencing with
18:47all this talk. But also the point of
18:49this in the books that I have to note
18:51here is that Siri's entry into Geralt's
18:53life forces him into rejecting
18:55neutrality because suddenly everything
18:57matters personally to him because she's
19:00his daughter and he will he will protect
19:02her as best he can. He will kill he will
19:05kill mercilessly. You know the ending of
19:08chapter 6 what else? So Idk bro doesn't
19:10sound very neutral to me. So that's how
19:12Geralt changes over the course of the
19:13books. And Siri also changes over the
19:15course of the saga as she loses
19:17everything, becomes embittered, and
19:19starts to seek a bloody revenge.
19:21However, this thirst for revenge doesn't
19:23make Siri inherently good as a
19:25character. She becomes consumed by it.
19:27Her desire to avenge and repay evil
19:30stops making sense when it turns out
19:32that the world is more complicated than
19:34she realized, that it's not painted in
19:36black and white, but in shades of gray.
19:39For example, her overwhelming thirst for
19:41blood when it came to the uh not
19:43Nilfgardian knight disappeared when she
19:45realized that he had become powerless
19:47and terrified as her. And what's more,
19:50her desire for violence didn't disappear
19:52so easily in other situations.
19:54Oftentimes in the saga, her inability to
19:56accept injustice became selfishly
19:58motivated. By that I mean she herself
20:01acted unjustly in response to the
20:03injustice that she had suffered. She
20:06begins to harm innocents, begrudging
20:08them, holding a terrible bitterness in
20:10her heart. Siri, unlike her father,
20:12hasn't always been inclined to acts of
20:14heroism. Kind of actually for a period
20:16in the books, uh, the opposite. Siri,
20:19from the end of Time of Contempt to
20:20chapter 2 of Tower of the Swallow, joins
20:22the group of bandits, the rats, under
20:24her alias, Fala, and she dishes out
20:27death and suffering. Feeling cheated of
20:29the destiny which was promised to her
20:30and embittered for the pain and betrayal
20:32she's undergone. Her character becomes
20:35this black hole of suffering. She's a
20:37much more morally gray character than
20:39Geralt in my opinion because through the
20:41horror she endured the hatred in her
20:43heart in her acts of revenge to avenge
20:46what she suffered. She is also made into
20:49a monster. This is how Andre Subkovski
20:51described her character arc in an
20:53interview from 2001. I meant for Siri to
20:56be a monster. I wanted to show how
20:58people turn other people into monsters.
21:00Siri is evil. Evil incarnate. Everyone
21:03makes a monster out of her. The rats,
21:05the sorceresses, Bonheart, and even her
21:08own father, Doney. She is already
21:10unconsciously taking revenge on
21:11everyone. Riance, the people in the
21:13swamp. With these fingers, were you
21:15going to teach me pain, Riance? She
21:17says, with these hands, they all teach
21:20her pain. When she comes to the village
21:22in the swamps with black eyes, the old
21:24man asks her, "Who are you?" She
21:27replies, "I am death." The last act of
21:31Tower of the Swallow is basically a
21:33horror movie where you are rooting for
21:35the monster. And I think that this is
21:37what makes Siri so compelling as a
21:39character. We see her pushed to extremes
21:41and she goes with what she desires, what
21:44she believes is justice, and that's
21:46natural and emotional, but also
21:49dangerous. This is why in Tower of the
21:51Swallow, Visogota has to hold her back,
21:54reintroduce her to ethics. Siri is
21:57motivated by her own definition of
21:58ethics, which can only develop over time
22:00as she ages, grows, and has more
22:03experiences. But in her innermost self,
22:05she has the sense of justice of a child,
22:08which is virtuous in a sense, but
22:10hindered by her naivee and inexperience.
22:13This is something that's so integral to
22:15Siri's character that speaks to a
22:17diverse audience of both children and
22:19adults who also naively think that they
22:22have all the answers. The biggest
22:23example of Siri's philosophy is probably
22:25her repay evil monologue. And so it's an
22:28eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,
22:31blood for blood, and for that blood more
22:34blood, a sea of blood. Do you want to
22:37drown the world in blood? Oh, naive
22:39damaged girl. Is that how you mean to
22:41fight evil little Witcher? Yes, just
22:44like that. For I know what evil fears.
22:47Not your ethics, Visigota. Not sermons,
22:50not moral treatises about a worthy life.
22:52Evil fears pain, impairment, suffering,
22:56death, the end. When wounded, evil howls
22:59with pain like a dog. It rolls around on
23:02the floor and squeals, watching the
23:03blood spurt out from its veins and
23:05arteries. Seeing its bones stick out of
23:07stumps. Seeing its guts crawl from its
23:09belly. Sensing that with the cold, death
23:11is approaching. Then and only then does
23:14evil's hair stand on end. And evil
23:16finally yell, "Mercy! I repent of my
23:19sins. I'll be good and decent now. I
23:21swear. Just save me. Staunch the blood.
23:24Don't let me perish ignoriously." Yes,
23:26Omiter. That's how you fight evil. If
23:29evil wants to do you harm, inflict pain
23:31on you, anticipate it. Ideally, when
23:34evil isn't expecting it. If though you
23:36didn't manage to anticipate evil, if you
23:38were harmed by evil, then pay it back.
23:40Catch it ideally when it is forgotten.
23:43When it feels safe, pay it back twofold.
23:46Three-fold. An eye for an eye. No. Both
23:50eyes for an eye. A tooth for a tooth?
23:52No. All its teeth for a tooth. Pay evil
23:55back. Make it howl with pain so its
23:58eyeballs burst from its howling. And
24:00then looking down to the floor, you may
24:02confidently say, "What's lying there
24:04won't harm anybody any longer? It won't
24:06threaten anyone." For how can it
24:08threaten anyone without any eyes if it
24:10has no hands? How can it do any harm
24:13when his guts are trailing over the sand
24:14and the gore is soaking into it? And
24:17you, the hermit said slowly, "Stand with
24:20your bloodied sword in hand, and look at
24:22the blood soaking into the sand. And you
24:24have the audacity to think that the
24:25age-old dilemma has been solved. The
24:27philosopher<unk>'s dream has been
24:28attained. You think the nature of evil
24:31has been transformed? I do, she said
24:34defiantly. Because what's lying on the
24:36ground with blood gushing from it is no
24:38longer evil. Perhaps it isn't good, but
24:40it certainly isn't evil anymore. They
24:43say, Visigota said slowly, that nature
24:46abhores a vacuum. Whatever is lying on
24:48the ground, bleeding profusely, whatever
24:50died from your sword is no longer evil.
24:53What is it then? Have you ever thought
24:55about that? No, I'm a Witcher. When they
24:59were teaching me, I swore I would act
25:00against evil always and without
25:04thinking.
25:06Because when you start thinking, she
25:08added hauling. Killing stops making
25:11sense.
25:12Revenge stops making sense.
25:16And you can't let that happen.
25:20To me, as a teenager reading this for
25:22the first time, it actually sounded
25:24great. The point of it is though that by
25:26the time she reaches the end of the
25:27words, she's realized the flaws in her
25:30own logic. Hi, it's like 3:00 a.m. Um,
25:33but I have another edit here that I
25:34wanted to make. 3 a.m. thoughts about
25:36the Witcher just kind of how we do
25:37things around here. I guess it's about
25:39Siri being evil because I feel like this
25:42is a controversial topic in the fandom
25:44because I mean at least for me when I
25:46first read the series and then I read
25:48that quote from Sepovski that uh Siri he
25:51intended Siri to be evil and to be a
25:54monster I was just like what the [ __ ]
25:57are you talking about old man because
25:59the thing is like Siri is a traumatized
26:01young girl like what Visora says like uh
26:04you are a damaged young child or
26:06something like that right because Siri's
26:08evil and violent actions are just a
26:10reflection of what was done under her.
26:12But I think that that is kind of the
26:14point. But here's my realization that I
26:15want to insert quickly into this video.
26:17So, you know, the repay evil monologue.
26:19An eye for an eye. No, both eyes for an
26:21eye. The thing is that Siri says that
26:24[ __ ] and then Vilgaports literally in
26:27the next chapter says like nearly the
26:29exact same thing. Got my book here to
26:32prove it. Hi, Regis.
26:35I don't know why smiling with my teeth
26:38at Regis kind of just feels like mocking
26:40him, right? This is like from the part
26:42where uh it's a flashback from when well
26:45it's when he's thinking, "Oh, it's so
26:47cold out here. I bet Shirou was sitting
26:49in the warmth." Shirou died in a [ __ ]
26:52fire. That's why that line is funny.
26:55Anyways, it's a flashback of when
26:57Yennefer fell into their hands at the
26:58beginning of September and uh Vilgorts
27:01has her in his clutches and he is
27:04tormenting her and he's about to torture
27:06her with in the room. Uh but in this
27:08part he's complaining to her because he
27:10lost half his face including one of his
27:12eyes uh during the explosion of Torara
27:15in Time of Contempt chapter 4 uh during
27:19the Tanned coup. This is what he says. I
27:21vowed to myself that when I catch Siri,
27:24immediately after catching her, I'll
27:26order Riance to pluck out one of those
27:28huge green eyes with his fingers. With
27:31these fingers, as he likes to say.
27:34You're saying nothing, Yennefer. Perhaps
27:36because, you know, I'd also like to rip
27:38out one of your eyes or both. So, there
27:41you go. You know, both eyes for an eye.
27:43It's something that both Siri and
27:45Vilgforts have come to in their
27:47conclusions of how they're going to get
27:50revenge on those who have wronged them.
27:53Siri in her personal ethics here is
27:55literally mirroring the the very evil
27:58one of the very evil villains and
28:00antagonists of the series. So, I'm just
28:03saying the oh, repay evil. I'm going to,
28:06you know, get those [ __ ] guys. It
28:08sounds good coming from Siri, I guess,
28:10because we like her. Well, I like her.
28:13She's a protagonist. We want her to
28:15succeed and we want her to get revenge
28:17because we're on her side. However,
28:19doesn't sound so great coming from
28:21Vilgaports, does it? And this just
28:23reflects real life because we are the
28:25protagonists of our own lives. We
28:28believe that we are good and like I
28:30don't know Aristotle said something on
28:32this I remember. But everyone thinks
28:33that they are the hero of their own
28:35story. When someone thinks about getting
28:37revenge on another person, they believe
28:39that they are justified in that act.
28:41Otherwise, they wouldn't consider it
28:42revenge. They would just consider it
28:44violence. Like, The Witcher is all about
28:46how the nature of evil has changed from
28:48being chaotic to being lawful. That the
28:51greatest of these evils committed in
28:53life are committed by humans, not
28:55monsters. And that humans have a
28:57tendency to justify all of the evils
29:01they commit.
29:03That's a nice thought to head off to bed
29:04too with. Good night. This is an
29:07absolutely iconic scene and it's
29:09something that actually got me
29:10interested in reading The Witcher books
29:12after coming in from The Witcher 3. Her
29:14heightened emotionality, argumentative
29:16inclinations, and incredible
29:17stubbornness are all character traits
29:19that feel much more pronounced in her
29:21character in the books than her
29:23character in the game so far. In The
29:25Witcher 3, I've always felt like Siri is
29:27a much more tame kind of character.
29:30Although she's still feisty and
29:31difficult, I've always felt like her
29:33anger and reaction to injustice in The
29:35Witcher 3 is a lot more subdued. I
29:38chocked it up with some resignation to
29:39the fact that she's matured and is a few
29:41years older in the game than she is in
29:43the books. But from what we've seen so
29:45far, it feels like they're kind of
29:47bringing that back to her with The
29:49Witcher 4. It might not be as pronounced
29:51as it is in the books where she's
29:53incredibly vulnerable, powerless, and
29:55for that reason, constantly prayed upon,
29:58but Siri being strongly influenced by
30:00this past of hers, being aggressive,
30:03forceful as a character, and pushed
30:05again to emotional extremes, this is
30:08appealing to me because of what we know
30:10from her character already, and also
30:12because of who she could potentially
30:14become. Sebastian Kumba said something
30:16here that I really like. If she gives
30:19more room to be able to tell different
30:21stories here and there, we want to put
30:23player agency in the center. We want
30:25player to be able to really uh sense
30:28this opportunities and to go in depth
30:30when it comes to choice and
30:31consequences. This emphasis on player
30:34choice is promising to me because Siri
30:36is a much more open character than
30:38Geralt is both in her morality and in
30:40her destiny. I know it's like a huge
30:42meme in the Witcher fandom that despite
30:44Witcher 3 having a ton of replayability
30:46as a game, as the player, when replaying
30:48it, you just end up making all the good
30:50choices every time you play because you
30:52can't find it within yourself to make
30:53any of the evil ones. I felt that
30:55already. And then after reading the
30:57books, it was like, I literally can't
30:59make any other decisions than the good
31:01ones because it would be so out of
31:03character for Geralt. Like Geralt being
31:05a bad father, miss me with that. I mean,
31:07he might have abandoned Siri and broke
31:09on and trained her on equipment that
31:11gave her horrific bruising and lost her
31:13at tanned again. But but but the point
31:16is the point is it feels almost wrong to
31:20make any of the obviously evil choices
31:22in The Witcher 3 because of who you're
31:24playing as. But in The Witcher 4,
31:26playing as Siri, Siri does stop being
31:29evil by the end of the saga, yes, but
31:31I've always thought that being good is a
31:34constant constant effort. Yes, she
31:36becomes a Witcher at the end of the
31:37books. And a Witcher's Principium is to
31:39stride ahead, destroying evil
31:41encountered on a way, thus rendering a
31:43service to good. Sounds pretty morally
31:46simple, right? But if you consider it
31:48your duty to cut down evil, well, that
31:51just means that anything can be cut down
31:53if you consider it evil. What's to stop
31:56Fala from coming back? Going off of
31:59this, there's a core theme related to
32:00Siri that I think that Seda Project has
32:02correctly identified and is pursuing in
32:04the story writing for The Witcher 4.
32:07Siri always has been the child of
32:08destiny. This is something that she was
32:11fighting her entire life. Some someone
32:13always wanted something from her. That's
32:15why she cares so much. She's emotionally
32:18invested. She was also a subject of
32:20people trying to choose for her for
32:23multiple
32:24reasons. It's all about destiny, but al
32:27also the future that you can provide for
32:29yourself or for others with her. We get
32:31to talk about her and her choosing her
32:34own path. Siri tells the villager, "You
32:37chose her. It's not the destiny. It's
32:39the people who make choices." This is
32:42the dilemma between self-sacrifice and
32:44destiny versus self-preservation and
32:47free will. This is what Siri's role in
32:49the books becomes about by Lady of the
32:51Lake because she is a symbol of the
32:53grail, a powerful artifact that has the
32:55potential to redeem or to destroy.
32:57Sapovski deconstructs this fantasy
32:59formula, making his grail a person, a
33:02girl rather than a cup or a ring, and he
33:05gives her a voice. Siri wants and
33:07deserves a say in how her power is used.
33:11Unfortunately, and here's where the
33:13conflict stems from, she's often robbed
33:15of that say. Her role in the world in
33:17the prophecy as either the restoer or
33:20the destroyer means that she can either
33:22save the world by sacrificing herself or
33:24leave it to its demise while remaining
33:26free. By sacrificing herself, I mean
33:28sacrificing her freedom. Uh here's where
33:31some retcon/etric
33:33fanfiction stuff comes into play. Siri
33:36doesn't want to sacrifice herself, which
33:37she would if she were to bear an heir.
33:40Since, according to the sources in the
33:41books, it is her descendant, not Siri
33:44herself, who will have powers a hundfold
33:47of hers, and will thus be able to save
33:49civilizations from the White Frost. Not
33:51by defeating the White Frost itself,
33:53because I don't know how people expect a
33:55single teenage girl to save the world
33:56against climate change. It really needs
33:58to be kind of a group effort. But Siri's
34:00powerful descendant, the descendant of
34:02the revived Lara gene, would be able to
34:05teleport not just herself through time
34:06and space, but entire civilizations.
34:09Thus, this descendant would be able to
34:11save entire worlds by simply moving them
34:14somewhere else out of the path of the
34:16white frost, but not stopping the white
34:19frost itself directly. However, Ted
34:22Project recconed everything here and
34:23simplified it so that Siri herself is
34:26not only the one to save, but also that
34:28she can somehow defeat the White Frost
34:30by walking through a snowstorm. In my
34:32opinion, this was probably recconed
34:33because the capturing Siri for her
34:35genetic material stuff was too
34:37disturbing for general audiences, even
34:39though it was kind of important as a
34:41commentary on the sanctity of a woman's
34:42choice. But, okay. Uh anyways, what
34:45happens at the end of the saga is that
34:47Siri does not consent to any of this
34:49exploitation and leaves her world
34:51forever, condemning it to death. In her
34:53freedom, having lost everything but with
34:55everything before her, she becomes a
34:57Witcheress. She presumably either stays
35:00in the Arththeran world or eventually
35:02leaves it with Galahad since she is the
35:04Grail. And traditionally, Galahad leaves
35:06his world with the Grail. Subkovski
35:08submits his Siri into the cannon of
35:09fantasy works by sending her into the
35:11Arththeran world. But he leaves her fate
35:14open and before them was everything. So
35:17this question of save the village or
35:19save yourself. You must save them. Save
35:21the village. Save yourself. Totally goes
35:24back to Siri's character from the books
35:26and it makes me happy that they've
35:27understood that about her character and
35:29will be pursuing it. And another thing
35:31is that Sedap has wanted to pursue this
35:34with Siri before and they kind of did it
35:36in The Witcher 3, but they didn't get a
35:37chance to fully develop it. We know this
35:39because there is a more detailed
35:41version, a previous draft of the script
35:43of act three and the end of the game
35:45which really explored this for series
35:47character. This was all compiled by some
35:49awesome fans and I'll leave a link to it
35:50in the description. But the parts I'm
35:52talking about are what goes down with
35:54Avaloc and the Witcher ending. Like in
35:56the final version of the game, Geralt
35:58tracks down Siri with Avaloc and
36:00confronts them. But unlike in the final
36:02version, the sacrifice of Siri was way
36:04more material, less theoretical. In this
36:08previous draft, she's made the decision
36:10to complete a ritual suicide with Avaloc
36:12in order to save the world from the
36:14White Frost, and Geralt can attempt to
36:16persuade her out of it. Siri will 100%
36:18die if Geralt allows her to go through
36:20the ritual. But if Geralt convinces her
36:22not to, they both face off against
36:24Avaloc in a boss fight. Then if the
36:26player hasn't affiliated her with
36:28Nilfgard, they'll receive the Siri is
36:30free, aka the Witcher ending. But it's
36:33not an ending that's as wholly positive
36:35as it is in the final game. The cut
36:37ending starts with Siri and Geralt
36:38taking on Witcher contracts together,
36:40but Siri has difficulty adapting to the
36:42life of a Witcher. And yes, indeed,
36:45during this ending, they fight a
36:46manticor together. They've wanted to do
36:48manticores for a long time. But the most
36:50significant thing here is that it ends
36:52with Siri leaving Geralt because she's
36:54conflicted that she abandoned her
36:56responsibility to save the world. I feel
36:58like a lot of these notes are being
37:00reprised in what Setup Project is now
37:02doing with The Witcher 4 here. But time
37:04will only tell how the music plays.
37:06Finally, the last thing that I want to
37:08talk about as what's got me excited
37:09about this game is the community that it
37:11will create. When that cinematic trailer
37:13opened, I just thought, "Oh [ __ ] it's
37:16the Witcher. Let's go." Maybe because
37:18after suffering for so long with
37:20Netflix, to see something official that
37:23just looks like The Witcher was a big
37:26relief. It may not seem like much, but
37:28Netflix's version of it, which has just
37:30taken over the cultural definition of
37:32Witcher here in the US and is totally
37:35unrecognizable as The Witcher to me, I
37:37am so ready for The Witcher 4 to bring
37:39Tetra's version of The Witcher back into
37:41the cultural stream over here. But it's
37:43more than just Slavic aesthetics, of
37:45course. I'm also excited because I think
37:47that Polish identity will show up in The
37:49Witcher 4's writing. During the podcast
37:51in which they discuss the story
37:52direction for the cinematic trailer,
37:54they touch on this topic of tradition
37:56versus modernity, old versus young in
37:58new ways. Know she showcases this the
38:01strength of her personality already in
38:03the village. You can tell that you know
38:04all of the villages are like against her
38:07already. You can tell that they are also
38:09driven by the fear. It's like a culture
38:10of fear in this village. What's really
38:13also tragic about the story, it's not
38:15the monster that killed her. It's the
38:17people because they couldn't just get
38:20rid of their beliefs like their fate,
38:22their superstition which was completely
38:25wrong, you know, which is just like
38:27holding on to something that's just not
38:29true. They were like so into that that
38:32they had to fulfill the destiny which
38:35which they themselves put on on the
38:38village. You can see this parallel a lot
38:40in the modern world as well, which is
38:43which is what I also love about what we
38:46were able to do is just have those
38:48parallels with with the current side
38:51guys as well. To me, that feels like a
38:53very specific kind of story and conflict
38:55inspired by real life changes in Polish
38:57society. It kind of goes back to
38:59something that I talked about in my
39:00previous video, but in my opinion, The
39:02Witcher works best when it engages both
39:04something culturally distinct and unique
39:06about itself while also being able to
39:09engage a broader international audience.
39:12And I'm seeing that duality in the
39:13development team's direction. They're
39:15embracing The Witcher as a cultural
39:16landmark. The understanding of what The
39:18Witcher is because this is like our, you
39:20know, national goodie, right? It's in
39:23our DNA. We're born into it as an
39:25established world. I think it also plays
39:27very much to the way Subkovski was
39:30crafting his Witcher stories. It's also
39:32very in our history European mentality
39:35that like those shades of gray
39:37everywhere while also engaging a broader
39:40audience. Even if you don't know
39:41anything about it, you don't know the
39:43Witcher, you are supposed to understand
39:46it from the first minute to the last and
39:48it and you have to understand the story.
39:50And that is really hard to balance. I
39:53mean, even just for me, when I'm making
39:55my little YouTube videos, I'm always
39:57wondering, how much should I cut here?
39:59How deep should I go into explaining
40:00this? Will people even get what I'm
40:02trying to say? It's a struggle because I
40:04want to engage new fans, too. But then I
40:06kind of give up and I'm like, if you
40:07haven't read the books, just go do that
40:09already and come back to me. But here's
40:11the thing. My problem with the Netflix
40:13show, oh, okay, one of my many, many
40:16different problems of it was that it
40:18didn't understand what The Witcher is
40:20about. And the cause and effect of this
40:21is that The Witcher got reinterpreted in
40:23this way which led to an influx of
40:25people who were treating it like it was
40:27a disposable fantasy property and just
40:30thinking of it really shallowly. Now,
40:31there were fans who got into the books
40:33after watching the show and unlearned
40:34all of the random fake crap that the
40:36show made up. I I see you. I love you. I
40:39respect you. But why I'm excited for The
40:41Witcher 4 is that it seems to be hitting
40:43similar notes to the books in a way that
40:45will grow a very naturally invested
40:47community. a community of fans that
40:49wants to engage with the series with the
40:51books and the games on a deeper level
40:53and not just throw them out when a new
40:54plastic show grabs their 5-second
40:56attention span. In my opinion, it's
40:58about finding your audience. The Netflix
41:00show tried to change everything that The
41:01Witcher was and in doing so alienated
41:04all of their potential audiences by
41:06trying to make it for everyone. They
41:08made it for no one. And we can see that
41:10with the amount of people who've moved
41:12on entirely from that show, not just in
41:14the Witcher fandom, but in the general
41:16cultural sphere. Why I'm excited about
41:18The Witcher 4 is that it looks like Seta
41:20Project are looking to engage an
41:22audience that cares. They're demanding
41:24that their audience cares. There's one
41:25more quote from the podcast that I want
41:27to share which got me really really
41:29excited about what they're cooking up. I
41:31love slow burns. I love I love like when
41:33the story has its own individual pacing,
41:36you know, and I don't believe that the
41:38audience has to be know bombarded in the
41:41first 5 seconds otherwise they will just
41:44skip it. The audiences kind of want to
41:46go back to the roots in a sense like
41:48they want something more mature, more
41:50like explicit even and like something
41:53that can really uh be meaningful for
41:55them on a deep level and you you can't
41:57do this with just you know bombarding
41:59with with actions. I think that this
42:01writing direction is going to be an
42:03entry point not just for new Witcher
42:05fans, but for new lifelong Witcher fans.
42:08It feels like Ted Project knows what
42:10they have on their hands and are working
42:11to invest in their community's
42:13potential. That's why I'm excited for
42:15The Witcher 4, because we're all going
42:16to get to experience this together,
42:18including Siri. That's pretty much all I
42:21wanted to talk about today. So, thank
42:22you for watching. And if you'd like to
42:24see more videos like this, consider
42:26subscribing. This is a Witcher channel
42:28after all. If you want me to cover other
42:30topics about The Witcher 4, let me know
42:31in the comments below. I actually ended
42:33up cutting a lot from this video,
42:35including stuff about the setting of the
42:36game and some speculation and theories I
42:39have uh and also my story wish list for
42:41how the game might unfold. So, I
42:43definitely have some other Witcher 4
42:45videos in me. I might not dress up for
42:47all of them, though. Finally, before we
42:49sign off, I have a bit of housekeeping
42:50for the channel that I wanted to share
42:51with you. First, I wanted to thank you
42:53for all the positive feedback on the
42:55previous video and note that I'm still
42:57answering comments on it. If you haven't
42:59checked that video out yet, it's about
43:01why The Witcher matters so much to me
43:03and it was a very personal video to
43:05make. So, I'm very grateful for the
43:07kindness and support that I have
43:08received. Secondly, there have also been
43:10a ton of other Witcher things happening
43:12within this past week, including The
43:14Witcher in Concert going on sale and the
43:16Vja Yasuki audio drama. So, make sure to
43:19follow me on Instagram for the most
43:20recent updates. And finally, maybe even
43:23most significantly, we just reached
43:254,000 subscribers on this channel. I
43:27know that this may seem like a small
43:29milestone to some, but for me, it means
43:31a lot. And I'm excited for what's to
43:33come. Thank you to all of my supporters
43:34on coffee. And if you'd like to donate,
43:36too, the link is in the description. So,
43:38thank you for watching, and I'll see you
43:40next time on a Navy VR.

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