“Betrayer Moon” | Around The Table: The Lore, Culture, and History Behind The Witcher
The world of Andrzej Sapkowski and Netflix’s The Witcher draws inspiration from real life history, folklore, and culture.
Join Alyssa from GoodMorhen, the host and producer of Breakfast in Beauclair, and Witcher content creators Anita and Karolina of Witcher Kitchen, Brett from Whispers of Oxenfurt, Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye, Cyprian from Berlin, and Lars from Witcherflix in this episode as they share facts and tidbits about similarities between The Tower of the Gull at Aretuza and the Paris Catacombs, the Law of Equivalent Exchange, parallels to Greek and Roman mythology, differences between the adaptation and the original source material, and details from author Andrzej Sapkowski about the backgrounds of his characters and the development of the world.
Transcript
ALYSSA: How realistic is the appearance of a modern kitchen staple in this episode? How might you rid yourself of a striga according to Polish and Slavic folklore? Welcome to Breakfast in Beauclair’s “Around The Table,” a segment where we go around the Beauclair breakfast table with other Witcher content creators sharing facts and tidbits about the production and real life history, folklore, and culture behind an episode of Netflix’s The Witcher. This week we’re diving into Episode 103, “Betrayer Moon”.
CYPRIAN: Hey! This is Cyprian from Berlin. One detail that really stuck me was the body covered in salt Geralt and Triss inspect in this episode. While it would probably have worked to preserve the body, salt was rather expensive to fill up a casket just to put a body in it. Most of the time, embalming fluids and creams were used for such occasions. Alongside various herbs, spices, alcohol, mercury, drying, and/or just placing the body somewhere cold.
BRETT: Hey, this is Brett from Whispers of Oxenfurt. Okay, who wants to learn about incest and inbreeding!? The Habsburgs is—and I say “is” because they are still around—one of the most well-known noble dynasties in Europe. They ruled numerous countries from the 15th century through World War I. So now that the niceties are out of the way, let’s get to why I, primarily, remember them: the Habsburg Jaw. This was a genetic deformity in which the lower jaw outgrows the upper, resulting in an under or crossbite. The most notable victim was Charles II of Spain. And if you Google his picture, you will understand just how noticeable it was.
LARS: Hey! It’s Lars from Witcherflix. Did you know that the scenes taking place outside of King Foltest’s old palace were shot at Kreuzenstein Castle near Vienna in Austria? Foltest’s palace and Kreuzenstein Castle share a similar history. At least kind of. The origins of Kreuzenstein Castle date back to the 12th century. It was destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War, when the castle was conquered by the Swedish, who blew up big parts of it in 1645. Just like Foltest, who abandoned his old palace and built a new one in Vizima, Kreuzenstein Castle was rebuilt in an entirely different style of architecture over 200 years later. Whether a striga was the actual reason for the Swedish to destroy the original castle is lost in history.
CHARLOTTE: Hi, this is Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye. In Episode 3, we see Geralt confront a striga, who turns out to be a cursed princess. Now, a striga is usually a female demon, somewhat similar to a vampire in Slavic and especially Polish folklore. People who were born with two hearts or two sets of teeth, were usually believed to be striga. Somnambulics or people without armpit hair could also be seen as strigas apparently. During epidemics, people were getting buried alive and those who managed to dig themselves out of their graves, often weak with mutilated hands, were said to be striga as well. And there’s some interesting methods of protection against striga according to Polish and Slavic folklore. When a person believed to be a striga died, you could decapitate the corpse and bury the head separately from the body. And that’s believed to prevent the striga from rising from the dead. You could also bury the body face down with a sickle around its head and that was believed to work as well. Other methods of protection range from hammering nails and stakes into the body, putting small objects in the striga’s grave to make it count them, or scattering poppy seeds in the shape of a cross in every corner of your house.
ANITA: Hello! It’s Anita from Witcher Kitchen. It certainly caught your attention during watching the series or reading the books, how much female roles are exposed in the Witcher Universe. And, of course, it’s for a particular reason. Although Geralt, at first glance, is the main character, Sapkowski also wanted to feature leading woman roles. When female characters appear, their role is to break stereotypes and their stories are presented in a bold and unconventional way. From Sapkowski’s point of view, a woman is an even more interesting hero because it hasn’t been used in literature as frequently as men.
ALYSSA: Thanks for sharing breakfast with us in this installment of “Around The Table.” The Witcher Universe has so much to uncover! Let us know in the comments below what you found interesting from today’s segment and if you have something new to share with our hanza about this episode. We’ll see you after the next episode of Breakfast in Beauclair.