You’ll have to wait until December 17 to watch Season 2 of The Witcher, but Netflix will tide you over until then with The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, which releases on August 23. The anime film introduces Geralt’s mentor and adoptive father, Vesemir, who will be voiced by Theo James (Divergent and Castelvania). Kim Bodnia will also play the character in the live-action show.
While Vesemir is a grey-haired veteran by Geralt’s time, in this film he’s a young and dashing swashbuckler earning his fortune by slaying monsters… But he’s forced to confront his past and a monster that’s preying on a kingdom already dealing with political discord.
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With the first teaser trailer for the anime now out, let’s break it all down to see what adventures await us in this latest installment of The Witcher franchise, which was written by Beau DeMayo and directed by Kwang Il Han of Studio Mir, the animators of The Legend of Korra and Young Justice: Outsiders.
You can keep scrolling for all the clues, Easter eggs, and references we found, or simply click through the following slideshow:
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Kaer Morhen
The Witchers of the School of the Wolf, including Geralt and Vesemir, train and spend their winters at the mountain fortress of Kaer Morhen. It’s a ruin by the time we see it in The Witcher Season 2, having been destroyed by a mob and a group of mages who considered Witchers to be monsters themselves. Here we see the keep in its former glory, but the ominous voiceover hints at its future fate.
Theo James’ Vesemir and a Witcher Message
Here’s Vesemir perusing the message that’s being read at the beginning of the trailer. A journal entry in The Price of Neutrality module for the original Witcher game notes that “various publications defamatory of Witchers” were responsible for inciting the attack on Kaer Morhen. Presumably this is one of them.
Gold Eyes
A close up on Vesemir shows the gold eyes that mark Witchers who have undergone the Trial of the Grasses, an extremely dangerous and painful alchemical and medical procedure that kills most potential initiates. Those who survive gain the ability to see in the dark along with enhanced senses and reflexes. They also age significantly slower than a normal person. These mutations are one of the main reasons so many people fear Witchers.
Oiled Blade
Witchers can coat their swords with oils to make them more dangerous, often tailoring them to be particularly nasty against specific types of monsters. Presumably a Witcher is coming to this kid’s defense prepared for battle.
Sign of Aard
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf introduces a few new characters including Deglan (voiced by Graham McTavish of The Hobbit and Castlevania). He’s Vesemir’s mentor who claimed him based on the Law of Surprise. Here he’s using the Sign of Aard to blast a woman. She is likely actually a bruxa, a very powerful vampire with the ability to take on the guise of a dark-haired human. In The Witcher 3 expansion Blood and Wine, the Sign of Aard is the best way to kill bruxa as the telekinetic attack will knock them back and allow you to slay them with a single sword blow.
Obligatory Bathtub Scene
Apparently all Witcher stories need to show their protagonists taking a luxurious bath. We don’t make the rules.
Bloody Medallions
This appears to be an entire bag filled with bloodied Witcher medallions, the necklaces worn by all Witchers that alert them to the presence of monsters or magic nearby. It seems like besides incensing the populous through rhetoric, someone may be actively hunting the monster slayers.
Vesemir With Wanted Sign
A smug looking Vesemir poses with a sign offering a reward for a dark haired witch as people throw money at him, eager to enlist his services. The wanted woman could be the bruxa or a sorceress who’s run afoul of the locals. Either way “fear and ignorance are good business,” Vesemir says with a wink.
Vesemir and Tetra
Tetra (voiced by Lara Pulver of Sherlock and DOTA: Dragon’s Blood) is another new character. She appears to be a skilled archer who teams up with Vesemir. It’s possible she’s the “witch” he was initially after.
Wanted Posters
Geralt often struggles to find paying work, but Vesemir seems to have no such problem. Both monsters and Witchers were more common in the past, but monster populations declined as humans conquered more of the Continent. It seems this area has a werewolf problem and Vesemir is on the case.
Vesemir Fights Ghouls
Ghouls wander in packs eating corpses and living humans or livestock. They can be killed by a silver sword, but fire is one of the most effective ways to dispatch a group of them. Vesemir is looking pretty confident as he takes the monsters down with flame and blade.
Lots of Ghouls
That is a whole bunch of ghouls shambling around. Presumably that’s how the fight starts before Vesemir sets them all on fire.
Drinking a Potion
Beyond the Trial of the Grasses, Witchers also make and drink potions that can further enhance their senses, resistances, and stamina. Vesemir’s chugging one that gives him the same black and veiny eyes that Geralt sports in The Witcher.
Wraith
This appears to be some form of wraith, a ghost entirely motivated by its hatred of the living. Like ghouls, they’re often found around cemeteries, so it’s possible this is part of the same fight scene we saw earlier.
Wolf Sigil
This is the School of the Wolf symbol warping to look more like a wolf’s skull. Considering the name of the film is Nightmare of the Wolf, this could be some sort of prophetic warning of the devastation to come.
Alp
The naked woman here is an alp, a type of vampire similar to a bruxa but less powerful. She’s fighting alongside some form of draconid, reptilian monsters with bat wings that can serve as guard animals. Tetra asks Vesemir if they’re his friends and he blithely responds that the Alp is a “friend of a friend,” which could imply that they’re after his mentor Deglan, or perhaps that they’re minions of the bruxa Vesemir is hunting.
Whatever the situation is here, it’s probably not gonna end too well for those creatures facing off against Vesemir!
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What other details did you notice in the teaser trailer for The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf? Let us know, and be sure to also check out our breakdown of The Witcher: Season 2 trailer!