The Witcher’s first spinoff series, is already drastically changing the saga’s timeline. Announced in July 2020, Blood Origin will work as a prequel to The Witcher and, according to the official synopsis, it will take place during the Golden Age of Elves. While Blood Origin will mainly be an original story based on The Witcher’s lore, the show’s placement in The Witcher’s book timeline will have major implications for Netflix’s version of the story – including a retcon regarding the Witchers themselves. Netflix’s official The Witcher: Blood Origin synopsis reveals that the show will take place 1,200 years before the events of The Witcher.
Therefore, Netflix’s The Witcher: Blood Origin will get to show a world before the Conjunction of the Spheres, an unprecedented cataclysm that reshaped the universe and create the world as audiences see in The Witcher. The timeframe for the Conjunction of the Spheres is already a significant change from the books by itself, as that happened 1,500 years before the events of The Witcher according to the novels. Still, the most significant The Witcher: Blood Origin retcon is that it will depict the arrival of “the very first Witcher” as described by the first official synopses. In the books, it is said that the Witchers only came to be 300 years before Geralt, which means Blood Origin is adding additional 900 years to the timeline.
Blood Origin’s Timeline Completely Changes The Witcher
Though the change from 1,500 years before the events of The Witcher to 1,200 years is not that significant, especially considering how the Conjunction of the Spheres serves more as a background story for The Witcher's universe, exploring the origins of the Witchers so far back in the timeline completely changes the saga. In the books, the history of the Witchers as a species is relatively small compared to how long that world has existed. Only 300 years separate the creation of the Witchers from Geral’s birth in the books, which not only makes Geral’s story more special but also makes the Witchers more mysterious as they are a relatively new part of that world. Netflix’s The Witcher had so far not contradicted that part of The Witcher’s lore, which is now about to change with The Witcher: Blood Origin.
Why Blood Origin’s The Witcher Timeline Change Could Still Work
While the world of The Witcher is far more than just the Witchers, it makes sense for a prequel show to try to connect with the franchise’s most recognizable characters. Although those who are familiar with the Witcher novels and games will instantly recognize the world and the time period Blood Origin deals with, it may not be so easy for the casual audience to connect with this new The Witcher. As such, adding the origins of the Witchers into the story allows Blood Origin to have a stronger link with the Henry Cavill-led Netflix show. It is also possible that The Witcher: Blood Origin features some sort of time jump, which would reduce the difference between the Netflix timeline and the books’ timeline.
How exactly The Witcher: Blood Origin’s timeline will play out remains to be seen. The fact is that Netflix’s The Witcher universe is taking creative liberties when it comes to the novels’ lore, which will now continue in Blood Origin. Still, those changes might be for the best if The Witcher: Blood Origin delivers a solid prequel that works both for those who know the books' lore and those who don’t.