The Witcher Blood Origins “Of Dreams, Defiance, and Desperate Deeds” Review

“In need of coin to fund their quest, Eile, Fjall, and Scian hatch a risky scheme that leads to a firestorm of trouble. Merwyn stumbles on a secret.”

Let's get back to the world of the Spheres, following Eile, Fjall, and Scian as they begin their plan to bring down the Golden Empire. Within the Golden Empire, we see Balor and Eredin scheming as well as Merwyn's ambitions to seize real power.

Balor and Eredin are both dealing with problems. Eredin is dealing with the martial (and day to day) problems of the Empire. The high defections didn't help and the Guilds taking thorough advantage of the situation is even less of a help. Balor is managing the politic side to a degree, but it's clear he's the real figure on control of the Empire, not Merwyn. The Palace is comfortable and would like stay that way until a revolt came through. There's plenty happening there until then, and it's all conversation and intrigue.

Balor presents something unique, his benefactor explains something about Chaos Magic. That is comes with a cost. It's in taking the lives of twins that he find the power of magic. This entity from beyond speaks in riddles to him, but its clear what it means. To truly gain Chaos Magic, he has to make a true sacrifice. He has to give up something he truly cares about. He has the deaf assistant or there is something else that he would need to offer up to the shrine of power. We're likely to see the proper origins of Chaos Magic here, or some version of it.

Merwyn is the “figurehead” but she also is aware of this. She's smart and a bit ambitious. But she is also relentless in her pursuit of knowledge. She does want to actually make a different and truly be a steward of her people across all of the empire. She's not prepared for what's happening in the streets even in the capital. But this leads to an interesting chance meeting. This is what leads to her finding a secret. She leverages it to good effect, offering an alliance and getting someone on a council in her pocket (if she can enact it). Merwyn has truly impressive hairstyling. It's something that has been true since the first episode and continues throughout. When she does get some leverage, she does work to apply it in the best possible way. Alliances can be fragile, so the better the leverage, the more productive it can be. When she is saved from a kitchen hand trying to kill her, she recruits an apprentice Mage to work as her protector, Avallach (Samuel Blenkin). The young man is very flustered and overwhelmed being recruited into this role. He does immediately understand the danger he's gotten into at least. She's fairly quick to try to build up something of a power base here. It's a good question of how long it could last...

We also meet some of the remaining members to join up with the crew. Brother Death (Callan) stalks the Eilen, Fjall and Scian. He offers a potential cure for Scian who's been stabbed by a blade with Corpse Oil. This also leads to the very impressive scene in the Mists. We see things that Eilen and Fjall have done. But through the mists is someone helpful, with the mages we heard of at the start, the Celestial twins: Zacare; and Syndril, played by Lizzie Annis and Zach Wyatt respectively. Zacare is more a nature mage, and her magic has weakened from the dimension leakage from the Monoliths that have been raised and used. Syndril is more focused on learning about the Monoliths, but sees that they are something that needs to be buried again, or destroyed.

There is also Meldof, who had been hunting a sergeant, One-Eye, for something he'd done to her love: Gwen. She definitely took advantage of his tastes to get close. She's the one we know will join up, but hasn't just yet.

This is also the episode where we get introduced to monsters properly, however briefly. Eile sees a lure and gets distracted by it. Then the creature attached to it lunges out to eat her. The episode ends as they scramble through a portal to safety. It's the first threat that wasn't someone in their world. I hope we get to see more than just the hydra and this lure beast before the show is over.

There is something that remains a bit off so far. We've been collecting people with a diverse set of skills. This episode was also 2 of 4. For something about the origins of the Witchers themselves, it's had very little to do with them. The Clan Names allude to the styles that the Witchers use. But nothing within this tale is leading there or leaning in that direction just yet. It does feel like the order is going to be established only in the last episode so far. A nuisance, but something in the back of my mind.

It was a good building episode. We got more characters introduced with Brother Death, Meldof (and Gwen), Zacare, and Syndril. Meldof got the least amount of time with her just tearing her way through a brothel. But it was also a bit of a funny time since she did that so casually. We also got introduced to something new, with Celestial twins. These are children born to different parents, but at the same time under a celestial event (a comet, an eclipse, etc). This just seems to add a bit to the world, because it doesn't seem to offer much of anything to them beyond, “it's rare” so far. This concept needs a bit more build-up. There's also the relationship between Callan (Brother Death) and Zacare. It's just a nice to see a healthy relationship in a world like the Witcher. Don't get too many of those generally. I remain enamored with the music of the series for sure. It works very well and is just a pleasure to hear. Haven't said too much on it, but it is a great part of the show and I do recommend listening to it (or using it in a live TTRPG). Curious to get onto the next episode very soon.