#brokilon forest

Aa much as I enjoy the Netflix witcher series I am ASTONISHED at how BADLY they BUTCHERED Brokilon Forest. While it is not inherently a bad thing for movie and show adaptations to differ from their source content, I think that it can be counterproductive (or even actively harmful) to change it too much or undermine the source material. (Spoiler alert for the books and series)

My favorite part in the books is when Geralt comes across Ciri while going through Brokilon forest to see some Dryads. The netflix series completely leaves this out and does not explain for it in any way. Here's why that's bad:

Ciri is only about 8 years old the first time she finds herself in Brokilon forest, and the Dryads don't kill her or fire a warning shot (more on this later) because they think she's fae or a nymph. Geralt finds her while journeying into Brokilon, because he's on good terms with the Dryads, he knows who she is and takes care of her!! Brings her home!!

This interaction between geralt and Ciri is HUGELY important to contextualizing and characterizing their relationship. Geralt immediately falls into the role of Caring Father, being firm but gentle with Ciri's princess brattiness in a way she hasnt experienced because everyone tiptoes around her and Calanthe. She totally responds to this, laughs at Geralt's jokes, brings him out of his shell, it's so cute!! She even rides on his shoulders, "as long as [Ciri] promises not to pull [Geralt's] hair" (omg)

All of this happened long before the fall of Cintra, but is an important precursor to Geralt coming to terms with his child surprise. It would have done wonders for his character development to include this in some way, the show as is hinges much of his trauma on Renfri and almost nothing else (except like a 2min convo with Visenna in the last episode?). Surprise surprise, Geralt is a complex character whose arc doesn’t rely on sexy ladies and romantic interest!

The reason Ciri found her way into the forest is because there was a Big Royal Event nearby and she just ran the fuck off. There's a gigantic search party that lasts like 2 days (the princess of Cintra is missing and all that) before Geralt brings her back. Not only is this important in characterizing who Ciri was as a child (fiesty, intelligent!) and what her upbringing was like, it's important that she just WANDERED into the VERY NORMAL LOOKING FOREST. It wouldn't call to her with some freaky magic spirit shit, it's not a hidden tropical mystical land in wintertime, it's just a regular ol forest with no clear border.

On that note, the fact that the Dryads' land, the boarder of indigenous land Brokilon forest keeps shrinking and getting pushed back because white people humans claim it as their own land IS AN IMPORTANT DETAIL IN THE COLONIALISM ALLEGORY CLEARLY PRESENT IN ALL CANNON WITCHER CONTENT. The netflix creators botched it!! Real bad!! File this thought next to how they screwed up Geralt and Jaskier’s run in with Filavandrel (”go somewhere else, rebuild!” uhhh imagine telling that to indigenous people? very gross, hard no)

The fact that they made it a freaky magic forest thing seems kinda racist to me*!! Yeah it's cool that the actors are people of color and they absolutely should be, but why are they painted as Amazonians in a Rainforest Drug Cult? We couldnt just get a complex society of badass indigenous women living their best lives trying to reclaim colonized land? Thanks, I hate it

*I’m white, take everything I say about race and the depiction of IBPOC in the witcher universe with a grain of salt! I am not an authority on this subject!

Some other factual inaccuracies that really bugged me, that they could have included in the show:

Dryads never ever ever miss a shot. They fire a single warning shot either at a nearby tree or at your feet when you reach their boarders. If you keep going after that, they kill you immediately. No ifs ands or buts. In other words, Dara would never have gotten an arrow in the shoulder. He would be dead.

They dont carry spears. They have bow and arrows. There would never be more than a single dryad (maybe two) to reprimand trespassers, but dara and Ciri are greeted with like a dozen? Um no

On that note, the Dryads are a tribe of ALL WOMEN. They would NEVER let a man within the boarders (like I said Dara would have been killed almost immediately) LET ALONE LET HIM DRINK THE WATERS?? If they did tolerate his presence, it would be to procreate with him a few times and then let him go!!

Dryads are incredibly close to nature and the trees, the trees are their home, they have individual lives, they create and sustain life for literally everything in the forest. Dryads do not cut down trees or even collect twigs to burn fires. There's absolutely no fire allowed in the forest. They cuddle with each other to keep warm. This "you must drink from the source" shit where Eithné stabs a tree and the waters trickle out?? COMPLETE HORSESHIT!! Would never ever ever happen in a million fucking years in Brokilon. Come on, Netflix. 5min on Witcher Wiki would tell you that.

It is true that the Waters of Brokilon forest is an incredibly strong hallucinogenic, and that girls drink it to become Dryads, and that it's a special sacred thing, but it does NOT erase your memories. At all.

THE WATERS OF BROKILON FOREST DO NOT WORK ON CIRI. AT ALL. "Drinking from the source" or not, she is not affected by it at all, has no dreams or visions, nothing. Ciri's vision in the series adds fucking nothing to the story but weak foreshadowing, even if it did and the creators really wanted it in there, they could have been done in other ways!! Ciri regularly has freaky visions and dreams and prophecizes anyways!!

I repeat, I think the Netflix series is fun and I enjoy it! But I don’t even watch the parts with Brokilon forest. I feel like they had the ability to include almost all of these details and make it much closer to the source material, it bums me out that they went with heavy eye makeup and giant flashlights instead.

On that note, tv and movie adaptations dont have to copy every detail perfectly from the source materials. It's cool and good to shake things up. For example, at Pavetta's wedding feast in the book there was only one long table and a lot less guests. Calanthe gave her blessing to Duny and Pavetta much later and in private, which is where everyone found out about Pavetta’s pregnancy too. Geralt shows up under the name Ravix of Fourhorn to hide his identity, and it generally works until the situation escalates, and Dandelion isn’t there or involved at all. The way they changed those details made it more viewer friendly and still effectively characterized Geralt, Calanthe, Pavetta, and Geralt&Jaskiers relationship. I think it worked really well. Importantly, it did not alter or undermine fundamental aspects of plot and character.

However, Netflix's changes to Brokilon forest absolutely did undermine fundamental aspects of that particular part of the Witcher universe, and completely changed really important aspects of society in ways that will eventually affect the plot. How they will reconcile this in S2 or a potential S3 is a mystery, and one I'm not excited for.

Anywho, rant over. Read the books. Brokilon forest and all the Dryads who live there absolutely SLAP and deserve better

Mousesack: No, because she only fell asleep after you coddled her. Because she mutters your name and searches for your hand in her sleep...you will not escape.

Geralt: From destiny?

Mousesack: From her.

Ciri: Geralt! Don't go, don't go, don't go!

Geralt: I have to, because I always do.

Ciri: You can't run away. I'm your destiny.

🌿 Brokilon Forest