Netflix’s fantasy drama ‘The Witcher’, starring Henry Cavill, has stolen everyone’s hearts with its beautiful dialogue writing. Here are a compilation of the top 10 most heart-rendering quotes from The Witcher
Netflix’s decision to remake the novel-cum-game series into a fantasy web series has resulted in great success. ‘The Witcher’ is currently reigning the fantasy genre, and its second and upcoming season is highly anticipated by millions of fans all over the world. The show is centered around the travels and adventures of Geralt of Rivia (played by Henry Cavill) across the eastern European-ish and medieval-ish lands collectively called “The Continent”. The show made its debut on the streaming platform back in December last year, with 8 episodes forming the first season. Among the many memorable and iconic quotes from ‘The Witcher’, here are the top 10 that we thought were absolutely the best.
1) “If I have to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”
Even while Geralt likes to play the emotionless and cold character, he is truly an enigmatic and complex character. This quote, especially, is the best at depicting Geralt’s moral judgment. At the top of the day, he won’t choose if choosing means opting between bad and worse. He won’t commit a criminal offense simply because it’s slightly less bad than the other choice.
2) “In the face of the inevitable, good leaders should always choose mercy.”
Queen Calanthe, a strong warrior character, displays what it means to be the ideal monarch in the initial episodes of the series. She teaches Ciri exactly what it means to be a compassionate and wise ruler. Her words are deep and ring true for anyone who’s ever been in such an ungrateful situation.
3) “But a promise made must be honoured. As true for a commoner as it is for a queen.”
Geralt of Rivia tells this to Queen Calanthe after she tries to deny fate and, therefore, the promise that her husband had made to the knight Duny. Duny had saved the life of Calanthe’s husband, asking reciprocally only that he abide by the “Law of Surprise”. The surprise, in this case, was that Calanthe’s daughter is pledged in marriage to Duny, a pledge which she tried to break when Geralt quotes this dialogue.
4) “We have to cling to something. If we don’t, the world descends into chaos.”
While Geralt has a fever dream after being bitten by a ghoul, his mother appears to him and tells him these words, asking him to live by the family code. It’s interesting on many levels, as Geralt may be a man who clearly lives by and adheres to a code, whereas his mother literally embodied chaos as a sorceress. Whether it is a hallucination or a memory, it’s nice to witness a revelation about what it’s that makes Geralt such an emotionally complex and grounded character.
5) “I bow to no law made by men who never bore a child.”
This quote from the Lioness of Cintra highlights one of the many underlying themes in this series. Women in power are denied the right to control their own fertility and ownership of their bodies (much like real life). One scene sees a noblewoman being chased down by an assassin for failing to deliver her king a male heir. On the other hand, sorceresses are rendered infertile in exchange for their power and magic
6) “There is not a person alive who does not look in the mirror and see some deformity … except for us.”
While all people must check out themselves and accept their human flaws, this is often not so for sorceresses who have the power to change their appearances according to their will. This is also something everyone can learn from and take solace in. Tissaia said this dialogue to Yennefer to help her put aside the trauma and burden she has carried all through her life because of her deformed and unpleasing appearance, and embrace her new artificial appearance as a sorceress.
7) “Sometimes the best thing a flower can do for us is die.”
Another quote from Tissaia de Vries. She says this dialogue after she is confronted by Yennefer, who’s shocked to her core when she finds out that her peers were turned into eels upon failing the ascension ceremony. She uses this quote to console and calm down Yennefer by making it seem that her friends are serving the cause to the best of their abilities as conduit eels in the pool.
8) “Respect doesn’t make history.”
This was quoted by the bard Jaskier when asked – “Where’s your newfound respect?” – after he admitted that he had gained a newfound respect for the elves. Jaskier replies with the quote – “Respect doesn’t make history”. The dialogue highlights the fact that even though Elves were a noble and admirable race, they were soon to be wiped off the face of history. Jaskier as a singer and songwriter seeks to create history in form of ballads and rhymes and not ideate on the fallen and forgotten of history
9) “Evil is evil … lesser, greater, middling. It’s all the same.”
In the first episode “The End’s Beginning”, Geralt of Rivia is recruited by Mage Stregobor to kill a lady named Renfri. Renfri, having been born under the Black Sun, was accursed. Stregobor described her as a violent woman who robbed and murdered people on the road, saying that to kill her was the lesser evil. Geralt fires back with this dialogue so that the mage understands where Geralt stands morally on the issue.
10) “They took my choice. I want it back.”
This is an excellent line that works on so many levels. Yennefer has been sterilized by Tissaia, who taught her the way of the sorceress. Her solution to the problem is to kill a green dragon and cut out its heart to use during a spell to revive her fertility. When Geralt expresses his doubts regarding her plan and tries to pull her back from it, she responds to that in the form of this quote.
There are many more such quotes in the show that make you stop and think for a while, and feel it out before moving ahead. Head over to the comment section below and let us know what your favourite quote from ‘The Witcher’ is!
