Ep. 74 — 104 "Of Mages, Malice, and Monstrous Mayhem" from Netflix's Blood Origin
Danny from the US and Lucie from London join Alyssa for our discussion of Netflix’s The Witcher: Blood Origin Episode 104 "Of Mages, Malice, and Monstrous Mayhem". Very important bits include: the thesis of ‘Blood Origin’, the public reception to the show, how Ithlinne’s prophecy has come to pass, how ‘Blood Origin’ expands the Witcher Universe, and the limited series’ impact on our bridge characters, Jaskier and Avallac'h.
This episode is available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.
In this Episode
[00:00] Cold Open
[00:44] Introduction
[00:56] Doug Cockle and Peter Kenny are coming to the podcast!
[05:00] Guest Introductions
[17:02] Episode Highlights & Lowlights
[31:19] ‘Tidings from Toussaint’, Mid-Episode News Segment
[36:48] How has Ithlinne’s prophecy come to pass?
[40:46] What is the thesis of ‘Blood Origin’?
[45:46] How do ‘Blood Origin’’s elves differ from contemporary humans?
[57:19] Can ‘Blood Origin’ stand on its own?
[01:01:47] How does ‘Blood Origin’ expand the Witcher Universe?
[01:07:17] How might this affect Jaskier in Season 3?
[01:10:22] What are the implications of Avallac'h’s mid-credits scene?
[01:18:49] Closing Thoughts
[01:21:15] Outro & Credits
Relevant Links
Transcript
Cold Open
Transcript to come.
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]
Introduction
ALYSSA: Welcome to Breakfast in Beauclair, a global Witcher Podcast. My name is Alyssa from GoodMorhen, and I’ll be your host as you, I, and our international hanza accompany Geralt of Rivia and his destiny, Cirilla of Cintra, across the Continent.
[Announcements]
Special Episode: A Conversation with Doug Cockle & Peter Kenny (April 2023): This April, join us for a conversation with Doug Cockle, the voice of Geralt of Rivia in CD Projekt Red’s video game trilogy, and Peter Kenny, the English narrator of the Witcher audiobooks. In this mid-break episode, we’ll discuss voice acting across different mediums, the Witcher, and more! Plus, get a sneak peek at the upcoming audio fiction series, ‘Peculiar Radio.’
‘Breakfast in Beauclair’ Season 5: This episode, Episode 74, will be the last of Season 4. We’ll be back for the next full season of Breakfast in Beauclair on Thursday, July 6, 2023 with Season 5 of the podcast covering Andrzej Sapkowski’s Time of Contempt!
Stay in Touch: Over the break, keep in touch with the hanza on the Discord at bit.ly/thehanzadiscord, on Instagram or TikTok at @breakfastinbeauclair, and on Twitter at @beauclairpod.
Have a great spring, thanks for the birthday wishes, and see you in Australia and New Zealand this April!
[Patron Announcements]
Welcome Deanna and Rivia of Vengerberg to our hanza on Patreon! Thanks as always to our patrons and producer-level patrons: Luis of Kovir, The Owner of The Churlish Porpoise, Katie (The Redhead of Toussaint), Jacob B., Ayvo of Gulet, Bee Haven of the Edge of the World, Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye, RedKite, The Original Roach, Codringher’s Cat, Libby, John of Ryblia, Tom from Australia, Jill Cate, The Tabby Witch, Olle from Sweden, James Carson III, Psilocybe Sorcerer, A Toussaint Knight, Miriam of Temeria, and Softie.
Between the seasons, catch up on all 40 patron-only posts, which include things like our Patreon-exclusive quiz show, “The Quiz of Surprise”, deleted scenes from previous episodes, and even highlights from Andrzej Sapkowski’s Q&A at Lucca Comics and Games Festival in 2019.
[Episode Details]
As for this episode, Danny from the US and Lucie from London call in for Netflix’s The Witcher: Blood Origin Episode 104 "Of Mages, Malice, and Monstrous Mayhem". Join us as we discuss the thesis of ‘Blood Origin’, the public reception to the show, how Ithlinne’s prophecy has come to pass, how ‘Blood Origin’ expands the Witcher Universe, and the limited series’ impact on our bridge characters, Jaskier and Avallac'h.
In our mid-episode news segment, “Tidings from Toussaint,” Lars from Witcherflix shares some insights into Season 3 of ‘The Witcher’ on Netflix and the new spin-off series we can expect in the coming years.
Without further ado, let’s get to our discussion of Netflix’s ‘The Witcher: Blood Origin’ Episode 104 "Of Mages, Malice, and Monstrous Mayhem".
Discussion
[Breakfast in Beauclair stinger by MojoFilter Media]
Transcript to come.
ALYSSA: Today, we’ll continue our discussion of Netflix’s ‘The Witcher: Blood Origin’ with Episode 104 ‘Of Mages, Malice, and Monstrous Mayhem’ in which Merwyn forges an uneasy alliance to achieve her plans for Elfkind, the battle begins in Xin’trea, Éile finds her voice, and Fjall loses control.
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): In Episode 104, Merwyn sends Balor, Eredin, and a scouting party into a new world. There Balor betrays them; finally making his true sacrifice of Fenrick, unlocking his access to chaos magic, and sending Eredin into the void between worlds.
Disguised, the seven sneak into Xin’trea and begin a lowborn rebellion against the empire. They fight their way through the palace as the lowborn cause chaos in the streets. Fjall is brought before Merwyn, where she reveals her betrayal of the clans to him. His anger causes him to transform in the throne room. He kills the guards and takes on Balor’s Beast. Éile and Merwyn finally meet. After pitting their philosophies against each other, Éile stabs Merwyn and leaves her to die. Merwyn makes her way to the ravaged throne room, where she pulls the knife from her body and bleeds to death on the throne. With his new mutations, Fjall is able to slay Balor’s beast… at the expense of his self-control. He is ultimately killed by Éile, fulfilling Ithlinne’s prophecy: “A great beast born shall be slain by your blade. Balor returns to Xin’trea with chaos magic and goes toe-to-toe with Zacaré and Syndril. With Zacaré’s help, Syndril merges himself with Balor and uses their combined powers to shatter the monolith, killing them both. The power released causes the Conjunction of the Spheres and the merging of worlds.
After the battle, Brian mourns Eredin who is lost between worlds, Scían is reunited with her ancestral sword, Zacaré and Brother Death return to their forest and honor Syndril, and Éile says goodbye to Fjall before returning to Innis Dubh with Meldorf. There, Ithlinne gives the next great prophecy: “The time of the spheres is upon us. Aen Seidhe lost across the skies. Cast adrift in time. Ever searching for love lost and left behind. The Lark’s seed shall carry forth the first note of a song that ends all times, and one of her blood shall sing the last.”
Jaskier is returned to the Temerian camp with the story of the Seven.
Through Syndril’s Book of Monoliths, Avallac’h discovers that—beyond travel to new worlds—the monoliths may also be capable of traveling through time. In a mid-credits scene, it’s shown that Avallac’h had successfully traveled to S1 Cintra.
Transcript to come.
“Tidings from Toussaint”
[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by MojoFilter Media]
LARS FROM WITCHERFLIX: Hey, it's Lars from WitcherFlix and this is "Tidings from Toussaint". Welcome back everybody. The post-production for Season 3 of the Witcher main show is well on its way, but there is almost next to nothing to report about the new season. Therefore, this is a good time to sum up what we already know about The Witcher's Season 3:
As confirmed by Netflix, the new season is currently set to release in Summer 2023. We know that this will be Henry Cavill's final season as Geralt of Rivia. From Season 4 on he will be replaced by Liam Hemsworth. The filming for Season 3 took place in several countries in Europe and Africa: Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Morocco and the production's homeland of the United Kingdom.
Season 3's official synposis reads as follows: "As monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her, Geralt takes Ciri of Cintra into hiding, determined to protect his newly-reunited family against those who threaten to destroy it. Entrusted with Ciri’s magical training, Yennefer leads them to the protected fortress of Aretuza, where she hopes to discover more about the girl’s untapped powers; instead, they discover they’ve landed in a battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery. They must fight back, put everything on the line — or risk losing each other forever."
About adapting the book Time of Contempt into Season 3, showrunner Lauren Hissrich has the following to say: "What is so interesting is that season three, to me, is the closest thing that we've done as a one-to-one adaptation of the books. […] Obviously, we can't do every page, but Time of Contempt gave us so many big action events, plot points, defining character moments, huge reveals of a big bad. There's so much to do that we were able to stick really, really closely with the books." Fittingly, we already know that Season 3's first episode will be called "Shaerrawedd". This is the name of a legendary elven palace in Kaedwen that got destroyed by the elves themselves to prevent humans from entering it hundreds of years before the times of Geralt. In one of the later chapters of the book Blood of Elves, Geralt and Ciri have a very interesting scene in the ruins of Shaerrawedd. It looks like we will see this moment on screen next season.
Moreover we can expect more than only a handful of new characters in Season 3 of The Witcher. Among the most important new roles in the new season are Meng’er Zhang as Milva, Christelle Elwin as Mistle (a member of a gang of criminals named the Rats), Robbie Amell as Gallatin, a Scoia’tael elf created for the show, as well as Hugh Skinner as Prince Radovid, a spin on Radovid from the books and King Vizimir of Redania's brother. In addition we can expect various new smaller characters from the books in season 3, including several mages like Keira Metz, Margarita Laux-Antille, Artaud Terranova or Gerhart of Aelle, minor characters from the city of Gors Velen like Fabio Sachs or the dwarven banker Molnar Giancardi, or other well-liked book characters like the royal messenger Aplegatt, an older version of Crach an Craite as well as Falka, one of the most feared historical characters on the Continent.
Again, we only have to wait about six more months until a new season of The Witcher will hit our TV screens.
But due to a new Redanian Intelligence report we have learned a lot about one of the new Witcher spinoffs that Netflix is currently working on. After the mixed reviews for the first Witcher spinoff miniseries ‘Blood Origin’ that was released back in December 2022, this report states that the spinoff about the Rats is still in development. As already said, the Rats are an infamous group of young criminals in the books (and in Season 3 of the main show) that will play a very important role in Ciri's storyline. This new spinoff will almost definitely be a prequel as it is set before the Rats appear in Season 3 of the main show. Just like ‘Blood Origin’, the Rats prequel miniseries has the purpose to keep us busy between the Witcher main show's Season 3 and 4. But now, on to more substantial news about this spinoff.
According to the Redanian Intelligence report its current working title is ‘Riff Raff’. Moreover, it's planned to being filmed from April to September 2023 in South Africa, but mostly in the Cape Town area. So, Netflix's the Witcherverse continues filming in Africa after Season 3 already made a stop in Morocco. Redanian Intelligence adds that the miniseries could consist of 6-8 episodes. ‘Riff Raff’’s showrunner is Haily Hall, she is writer of The Witcher episodes ‘Rare Species’ and ‘Turn Your Back’ from Seasons 1 and 2.
Thanks to the report we already know the show's synopsis as well: "Six teenage thieves must rely on their criminal skills as they plan the biggest heist of their careers against the most dangerous crime ring in the kingdom." Last but not least, we already know about the actors and actresses for four of the six Rats as well, as they are already cast for The Witcher Season 3 and are therefore likely to appear in the spinoff. These include Christelle Elwin as Mistle, Fabian McCallum as Kayleigh, Aggy K. Adams as Iskra and Juliette Alexandra as Reef. We don't know when "Riff Raff" will be released on Netflix. A release date in mid or late 2024 is possible.
Anyway guys, that's it for me for today. We'll talk again in the next season of Breakfast in Beauclair. I hope you all stay safe and well. Until then, thanks again for listening and good luck on the path!
[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by MojoFilter Media]
Discussion
[Breakfast in Beauclair stinger by MojoFilter Media]
Transcript to come.
Outro & Credits
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]
ALYSSA: Thanks for joining us at the breakfast table! For show notes, transcripts of each episode, and a complete list of our social platforms and listening services, head over to breakfastinbeauclair.com.
Breakfast in Beauclair is created by Alyssa from GoodMorhen. It’s hosted by Alyssa with the “Tidings from Toussaint” News Segment by Lars from WitcherFlix. The show is edited by Alyssa with music by MojoFilter Media.
Breakfast in Beauclair is produced by Alyssa in New York City with Luis of Kovir, The Owner of The Churlish Porpoise, Katie (The Redhead of Toussaint), Jacob B., Ayvo of Gulet, Bee Haven of the Edge of the World, Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye, RedKite, The Original Roach, Codringher’s Cat, Libby, John of Ryblia, Tom from Australia, Jill Cate, The Tabby Witch, Olle from Sweden, James Carson III, Psilocybe Sorcerer, A Toussaint Knight, Miriam of Temeria, and Softie.
Special thanks to Danny and Lucie for joining us for this episode and our international hanza for their support.
Transcriptionist: Charlie Lim
Editor: John Matthew Sarong, Krizia Marrie Casil