The Witcher: Blood Origin has suffered harsh criticisms from fans and critics alike causing many to wonder exactly what went wrong for this Netflix original series. Blood Origin is a prequel to The Witcher, set some 1200 years before the events of the main series. Blood Origin attempts to explain the Conjunction of the Spheres, a supernatural clashing of worlds and timelines that leads to the arrival of humans and other viscous monsters on the Continent, as well as the origins of the very first witcher.

Part of Blood Origin's struggles might be that the series came at a poor time, with the loss of Henry Cavill causing an uproar within the fandom. However, The Witcher: Blood Origin has mostly suffered based on its own mistakes and short-comings as a series. With the news that Cavill is departing The Witcher and Blood Origin tanking, Netflix's once blossoming franchise may be in serious trouble of losing its fan base. The Witcher season 3 will need to avoid the following mistakes made in Blood Origin or risk losing the fan base altogether.

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Blood Origin's Cut Episodes Led To Critical Underdevelopment

Michelle Yeoh in The Witcher Blood Origin

The problem that underscores the entire series is that there simply was not enough time for the characters or the plot to mature over four episodes. The Blood Origin ending does not feel earned because the plot is so badly underdeveloped and the characters follow woefully generic arcs. One of the biggest issues with the episode cuts is that there is very little time for world building. With 1200 years separating Blood Origin from Geralt of Rivia's world, there is much to be explained about the world at that time, especially considering the Continent did not even have humans on it yet.

Unfortunately, with the time restraints created by the episode cuts the world building is limited to a few vague descriptions of a "Thousand-year war," a Golden Empire that seems to sprout from nowhere, and a mysteriously important, yet largely unexplained, deceased Elven leader named Solryth, who lived early in the Blood Origin timeline. Beyond that, the series tries to create a low-born vs. high-born duality to provide depth to the world, but that theme is critically under-explored. Blood Origin does well to set up the social hierarchy, and it remains present throughout the series, yet they fail to explain how it works or adequately explore the complex ethical issues of social hierarchy.

The Witcher: Blood Origin also seems to have rushed through its production, which constitutes another case of underdevelopment. The unnamed monster that wipes out the monarchies during the pilot episode is a particularly bad example of CGI. The CGI issue is present throughout the series, though there are some good animations as well. The series does also contain some gorgeous scenes in beautiful shooting locations, however the production as a whole comes off a bit corny when paired with generic writing. In the end, the series' limited episode count led to an overall feel of inadequacy that even bled into the things the show did well.

Blood Origin’s Characters Lack Depth

The Witcher Blood Origin Fjall with Axe

Another critical issue for The Witcher: Blood Origin is that the characters come off as one-dimensional stock fantasy characters. A large part of this, as mentioned earlier, is due to the episode limitations. However, unoriginal characters still come down to poor writing. The majority of Blood Origin's characters are new, meaning they do not come from Andrzej Sapkowski's novels. As such, these new characters require time on screen and relevant dialogue to set up their backstories and make the audience care about them. Instead, they are given vague and generic backstories that provide minimal depth and cause the show to feel unimportant, creating a massive problem for Netflix.

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For example, Éile, also known as The Lark, is given a very vague story about needing to redeem herself to her clan. However, it is never clear what exactly she needs redemption for. Moreover, The Lark's clan, as well as all the other clans, are never explained in any detail. Instead, they are simply thrust into the story to provide a paper-thin form of background. Without more information about the Lark's past, she comes off as just another fantasy warrior seeking some sort of ambiguous redemption. In fact, virtually all the characters in Blood Origin come off that way.

Fjall Stoneheart, who ends up becoming the first version of a witcher, is given the same amount of minimal background. In the span of perhaps his first 5 minutes of screen time, Fjall goes from a quick battle scene, to sleeping with Princess Merwyn, to being expelled from his clan. His arc is accelerated so much that his story is unable to take on any individual meaning. Fjall is essential to the plot of Blood Origin, as The Lark is, however, neither of them is important on their own because of their lack of depth. The characters ultimately come off as placeholders in a loose framework of overused fantasy tropes.

Blood Origin Lacks Originality

mirren mack as merwyn in the witcher blood origin

The aforementioned lack of depth, in terms of the show's characters, the plot, and the world building, causes The Witcher: Blood Origin to come off as painfully unoriginal. Blood Origin uses narration in an attempt to provide depth and make the show feel more important, but this is simply disastrous. Jaskier appears briefly as the narrator's audience, but that does little to make the show feel relevant, or make the narration any less corny. The mysterious narrator also seems to be used in self-defense of the show's lack of originality in a conversation with Jaskier, but its defense only serves to underscore its lack of creativity.

Unfortunately for Blood Origin, the narration actually exacerbates the feeling that this has been done a hundred times. The series succeeds in providing a smidgen more depth to the main series, The Witcher, however the show fails to create any real meaning of its own. The themes are yet another aspect of the show that are underdeveloped, and it contributes to the feeling that none of it really matters. The Witcher: Blood Origin ends up feeling like a collage of worn-out fantasy tropes driven by a skeletal plot.

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The Witcher: Blood Origin's negative reviews underscore the lack of an original plot. The show just ends up as yet another story about a group of outcasts taking on an evil empire to save the common people. Without the aforementioned character depth, the plot just feels meaningless and recycled. Moreover, the show leaves more questions unanswered than it answers. Ultimately, everything from the generic plot to boring character arcs, displays the show's singular underdevelopment in all aspects of writing and production.

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