Jaskier will no doubt enjoy hearing about the seven travelers, a group which includes a formidable leader Scian (Michelle Yeoh), warriors from rival clans Éile (Sophia Brown) and Fjall (Laurence O’Fuarain), and a feisty dwarf Meldof (Francesca Mills). The story even has a proper villain in the authoritarian druid chief Balor (Lenny Henry) who announces menacingly in The Witcher: Blood Origin trailer, “I have taken control of the entire continent. Faced with chaos the people will always choose order… no matter the cost.”
When Éile implores others to “rise up” against the empire, it’s hard not to picture a Star Wars-like scenario in which a ragtag group of heroes takes on an impossibly powerful enemy. We hear about the monoliths that “are causing tears between worlds,” the same monoliths that lay broken in The Witcher season 2 as remnants of the conjunction of the spheres when the worlds of humans, elves, and monsters collided, only now the towers are whole and imposing, foreshadowing the disaster that’s about to occur.
As a terrible creature appears inside a portal, it’s easy to wish that Jaskier could transcend time and bring Geralt with him to defeat the monster. But witchers don’t exist yet in The Witcher: Blood Origin, and we can only assume that when Syndril (Zach Wyatt) says, “We need to use a beast against him, merge the creature’s power with one of you,” he means to create a new race of monster-person hybrid to battle the new threat. Sounds like a witcher is about to be born!
So no, Jaskier will not be a participant in The Witcher: Blood Origin, but a mere audience member like the rest of us. However, a surprise may be in store for how the centuries old tale will be relevant in the bard’s own time. Can he “sing a story back to life” to inspire a new generation of elves suffering under a different form of oppression? Or do his musical skills serve an even higher purpose only known to Seanchai?
We’ll have to tune in to the four-part miniseries on December 25, 2022 to find out for ourselves, but one thing is almost certain. Jaskier will eventually sing another The Witcher banger.
