Warning: the following contains SPOILERS for The Witcher.
The Witcher showrunner, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, explains that major death in season 2, episode 2 was originally meant for another, much less beloved character. Based on the work of Andrzej Sapkowski, Netflix’s The Witcher premiered in December 2019 before becoming one of the streamer’s biggest first seasons of television ever. While season 1 adapted stories from The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, season 2 looks to Blood of Elves—which is considered to be the true beginning of Geralt (Henry Cavill), Ciri (Freya Allan), and Yennefer’s (Anya Chalotra) story.
In episode 2, Geralt and Ciri arrive at a very significant location in The Witcher universe: Kaer Morhen, the old Witcher keep and Geralt’s childhood home. There, they meet/reunite with the elder Vesemir (Kim Bodnia) and fellow witchers, including Lambert (Paul Bullion), Coën (Yasen Atour), and Eskel (Basil Eidenbenz)—all of which remain fixtures of Kaer Morhen throughout the books and video games. However, like Yennefer’s arc and the Deathless Mother, The Witcher season 2 makes some serious alterations to the source material. Perhaps the most egregious of which regards the fate of Eskel, who is transformed into a random monster and killed in the halls of Kaer Morhen before audiences (and Ciri) ever get the chance to know him.
During The Witcher Unlocked, via The Witcher Netflix on YouTube, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich revealed that Eskel’s death in episode 2 was originally meant for John. On top of that, Schmidt Hissrich was asked to explain the decision to kill off Eskel so soon given what the character means to longtime fans of the IP. Read what she had to say below:
“Well, we knew we had to kill someone in that episode. We knew that we wanted a monster to enter Kaer Morhen and have something to do with Ciri, and both Geralt and Vesemir and the brothers realize that bringing this girl into their Witcher keep is going to fundamentally change things. And in all honesty, the very first version of the script we wrote was a brand new Witcher that we’d never met before, we’d never heard of, and all of a sudden, we were like, Oh. Our audience is going to meet Coen, Lambert, Eskel, and John. Who’s going to die? John is going to die. So, we thought about it really hard, and I know that there are fans who love Eskel and who feel like, why would we do that? But honestly, his death is what changes everything for Geralt, and I think it propels Geralt’s need to find out what’s going on with Ciri and to do it fast because he knows that he knows he’s gonna risk losing her and his brothers if he doesn’t.”
In addition to his premature death, The Witcher season 2 changes many aspects of Eskel’s personality, portraying him as resentful and belligerent as opposed to being jovial in the books. Worse, his time with Ciri is brief, and his history with Geralt is little more than alluded to. In the books, Eskel plays a role, albeit a minor one, in both Ciri’s upbringing and the larger story. In the show, he’s used as little more than a plot device to introduce mutated monsters and monoliths. One can certainly argue Eskel’s death motivates Geralt and Vesemir in the show, but those motivations could’ve easily been achieved by killing off a different character. In episode 2, that’s exactly what Eskel feels like for readers: a completely different character.
In Sapkowski’s books, Lambert and Eskel are responsible for Ciri’s training. When Geralt and Ciri first arrive at Kaer Morhen in Blood of Elves, Eskel is skeptical but quickly overcomes these doubts due to him viewing Geralt as a mentor as well as his history with his own Child of Surprise. In more ways than one, Eskel adds to Kaer Morhen’s dynamic. For a show that claims adherence to its source material, The Witcher's decision to kill Eskel (and tourniquet Yennefer/Ciri’s mother/daughter relationship) seems misguided. There are, no doubt, many fans who would’ve rather seen John become a tree.
Source: The Witcher Netflix