Create a multiverse of madness, introduce a character that hunts monsters for a living, cast Henry Cavill for the role and let the world go crazy about the series – about sums up ‘The Witcher’ series on Netflix. As much as I want to talk about the series – its completely mental plot and the storyline, I want to make this article about the one factor that set The Witcher apart – the narrative structure.
Experiments with narration techniques are as old as visual content itself. The Witcher uses non-linear narrative structure with intersecting timelines that makes the viewer wonder if he’s lost all ability to comprehend complex storylines. Episode after episode we are left wondering how one character that was set decades later shows up in a setup much before its presumed time. It takes 5-6 episodes before we can realize that a non-linear timeline was at play and then everything falls into place, though not without some effort on the viewer’s end. There are a number of well known movies in the past such as Memento (2000) and Pulp Fiction (1994) that have used non-linear narratives but The Witcher is a league apart in terms of complexity and execution.
Non-linear narrative structures are usually opted for when unusually large time spans are to be covered in a movie/series. Not everything can happen chronologically in such plots but the more important reasons directors chose this technique is to incorporate a mystery in the cause and effect factors of the storyline. Traditional understanding of the cause and effect storyline is challenged in a non-linear, or even branching narrative (which The Witcher uses too, but mostly in the game version), making the series way more engaging than it otherwise would be. The three main characters – Geralt (The Witcher), Yennefer (the sorceress) and Ciri (the Princess) are connected to one another from completely different timelines in the series. Each one gets his and her own backstory that we assume is unfolding simultaneously until at a certain point the assumption is challenged, and everything seems chaotic. Until the very end of the first season, the timelines don’t meet and we remain wrinkled faces, trying to figure who’s landing where and when.
The script of The Witcher (which is derived from a book of course) deserves all the praise we can give it. The assumed concurrence of the timelines at the beginning, the confusion in the middle and their convergence at the end are simply brilliant. The three characters and their associates’ destinies are so entwined that they end up together at the end of the season from three different timelines that have now converged.
The choice of such complex non-linear narrative structure allows The Witcher to create a multiverse and character arcs with great detail and range. It also gives the viewer a satisfaction of sticking till the end because it would be quite easy to give up when the confusion begins.
A Polish author named Andrzej Sapkowski created The Witcher initially, which laid the foundation for the Netflix series. However, it was the series that employed the non-linear narrative structure to the extent it has and made the show a class apart. While a lot can be said about the plot, characters, aesthetics and setups in The Witcher, I found the narrative technique to be its trump card in season 1. While the storyline continues to be engaging enough in the next seasons, I missed the narrative style. And its a shame that Henry Cavill won’t be playing Geralt anymore. I’d like to see more experimentation with techniques in the upcoming seasons that’ll most likely star Liam Hemsworth in the role. When the foundation has been so well set, the makers have the scope to go crazy a little – I hope they do. But how well Liam Hemsworth will live upto to the hype and fill Henry Cavill’s (rather large) shoes is a matter of conflicted interest.
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