#brehen

I was SO SURPRISED when I finished TWN season 4 and then got around to watching The Rats: A Witcher’s Tale a few days later. (What is a good acronym for this … The Rats:AWT. TRAWT….)

I fucking love The Rats movie. It is easily my second favorite episode of TWN season 4. (The first being Joys of Cooking, of course).

This is minor-ly spoilery for the movie with basic plot outline but not a lot of specifics, but with references TWN season 4.

A few reasons why this is my second favorite episode of season 4:

I was unspoiled for the casting in this and it fucking knocked my teeth out with glee when I saw who was playing the washed-up Cat witcher. (More about this under the cut)

Character-building, interpersonal dynamics are SO FUCKING GOOD in this, the plot and pacing was great, and it was showing more of the worldbuilding for the southern part of the Continent.

The Rats Persuade A Washed-Up Cat Witcher Into Their Gang with the promise of money, but end up with the power of friendship, character growth, and tragedy instead.

It’s!! A flashback episode! In the streaming era of television!!! banging pots and pans It’s a gift and treasure in that respect!

It's absolutely fascinating to see on a streamer something so episodic. I vaguely remember reading about the The Rats being pitched as full mini-series, and it sounds like the production got cut short and repackaged into the 82 minute movie-episode.

I’m duly impressed with how well you can watch season 4 without having watched the movie (which takes place before season 4) and still get a great feel for the Rats and who they are and their personalities and whatnot.

The movie really fleshes out character and story and motivations in that way that episodic television was able to do prior the streaming era.

There are juicy tropes and engaging characters: heist plot!!!, stinky old witcher riddled with grief and has no purpose!!! Ragtag anti-heroes, the horrors of war and imperialism, and yes, we have some more narrative parallels they are building into the show as an adaptation; we get backstory for Mistle - they’re adding thematic fuel to the fire here. It's what they’re putting down for the adaptation and I am picking it up and nodding like a bobblehead. I see what they’re doing and I think the movie is a successful addition to the story they’re trying to tell.

The movie is also setting the southern Continent stage as Ciri and Geralt make their way south. Showing us more of the culture, the atmosphere, the people and social norms from Nilfgaard’s environs.

I really appreciated getting more of a taste of that world, since I know what Bonhart is taking Ciri into in season 5, and I know what types of people Geralt will be encountering in the final season.

But also the tragedy and dramatic tension of going into the movie and knowing exactly already how the Rats are going to end up, because we’ve already seen their death. It’s heartbreaking, cathartic in that cathartic TV way.

I really love the depth of regret and sorrow Christelle Elwin brought to season 4 with her Mistle performance. Particularly her scenes with Ciri, and when she's vaguely referring to What Happened to Ciri. Then getting to see more of the how and why Mistle's life got upended, why she's so fervent on leaving things in the past (even though the past can't always leave you).

Ahhhhh, Christelle fucking nailed it, the movie was so captivating and heartbreaking for her (and the others, but SO MUCH HER! oh my god).

Okay, going to foam at the mouth a little under the cut about ye old casting.

Brehen

Chest: Brehen never considered saving the princess. Even if the myths were true⁠—and he seriously doubted it⁠—breaking the curse would be a lot more work and certainly more dangerous. The risk just wasn’t worth the reward. Besides, witchers were made for killing and Brehen had no intention of exhausting himself any more than he had to. The bounty would still stand if he claimed self-defence and no one else would be around to prove otherwise. So, on the next full moon, with weapons prepped and decoctions consumed, the Cat of Iello crept into the vaults beneath the forsaken palace, ready to end the murderous reign of the striga once and for all. Upon seeing her muscular physique, deadly-sharp claws, and hideous form, Brehen showed no fear nor concern. On the contrary, he scoffed at the sight of the cursed princess and sneered mockingly: “You’re not my first royal.” Alas, she would be his last.

Scroll 1: As a member of the Feline witchers, Brehen’s training focused on speed, precision, and agility—a skill set perfect for the nefarious acts of assassination ofttimes connected to the School of the Cat. So, despite his versatility during combat, one could say the most flexible thing about Brehen was his morality... and they’d be right.

Scroll 2: Like most of his kin, Brehen was a rogue and an outcast. Prone to bouts of heightened emotion and erratic behaviour—attributed to the school’s warped mutation process—Brehen’s volatile nature was infamous. Mostly due to his hand in the massacre at the town of Iello, which forever branded him with the shady moniker: Cat of Iello.

Scroll 3: Upon travelling to Vizima—where he intended to claim the reward for curing King Foltest’s daughter of her monstrous curse—Brehen had a chance encounter with Geralt at The Wild Boar and Stag tavern. Believing the rival witcher was out to steal the bounty for himself, Brehen confronted the White Wolf. Whether it was confidence in his own fighting prowess, or the knowledge that Geralt was currently unarmed, Brehen attempted to coerce his opponent into a duel, declaring that only one of them would make it out alive.

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game - Brehen

Lore-Only Gwent Cards Cat Witchers (Named)

→ Voicelines

School of the Cat

Masterpost

Card Art from Gwent.One My Edit

Card Texts under the Cut

Griffin | Bear | Viper

Maybe someone uses this as a reference for their Witcher OC’s. Excuse my chaotic organization, I quickly put it together to have something to rely on while creating YET ANOTHER oc. :)

Stygga Castle

The Feline witchers did not stay in Stygga Castle for long. Nor anywhere else, actually.

A vast citadel located on a cliff overlooking a lake somewhere in Ebbing. (One of the largest states dependent on the Nilfgaardian Empire, though officially operates as an autonomous and self-governing kingdom. Situated at the junction of rivers and bordering the Great Sea, it is known for its marshes and swamps.)

Second part of Bee’s “Overlooked Witchers” slide series

- Cat and the Lone Wolf Edition

✦ thirsty's fav gwent cards (453/∞) Brehen