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yellowspiralbound · 10 months

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The Witcher & why fanon and canon are not as separate as they are in other medias

Okay so I just answered and reblogged this poll about what parts of the Witcher you interact with (fanon vs canon) and it made me realize that a lot of fans might not be aware of the fact that fanon and canon are not neatly seperated when it comes to the Witcher. It’s kind of a clusterfuck actually. So allow me to attempt to explain it. Before the post, let me make sure everyone understands that I am referencing the translations of the books. I have not read them in the original Polish. If anyone has and some of what I say is inaccurate, please let me know. Extremely long post ahead.

First, we have to accept the fact that we are working with not one but three different canons. The books are, of course, the original canon. It is what everything else stems from. The games are often considered a follow up but are not necessarily canon to the books and were not intended to be. The original Witcher game was never intended to be a sequel to the books - that’s why Yennefer and Ciri are basically never mentioned. However, as the second and third game developed, the creators shifted gears and focused on creating a cohesive story set after the events of the books, Now, many if not most fans forget this. Then there is the show canon, which draws from the books but is largely it’s own thing.

So what is the “real” canon? For some, the answer is anything written by Sapkowski...but there are stories set on the Continent and written by Sapkowski that are, by and large, considered superfluous to canon such as the Something Ends, Something Begins short story which Sapkowski wrote as a wedding gift for some friends. Beyond that, there is debate as to whether Sapkowski’s final depiction of Geralt is well...Geralt. While many book fans tend to believe that the Geralt met by Nimue at the end of Season if Storms is an illusion, I have spoken with many who believe it to be the real Geralt. So which is it? Sapkowski certainly hasn’t said as far as I am aware, so good luck figuring it out. And if Sapkowski’s work is the be all end all of canon...what are the games?

Are they a form of fanon that Sapkowski has given his blessing to? Nope. Sapkoski hates video games. Like there are decisions he made in Season of Storms (published after the first two Witcher games) that I’m fairly certain he made specifically to fuck with the game producers (like Dandelion being a blonde for example). Everything I’ve ever learned about the man suggests he would do this. And yet Season of Storms also hands the game producers their golden goose: a Sapkowski-written ending where Geralt doesn’t die, where he continues to travel and hunt monsters. Which is exactly what Geralt did in the games. And after that Sapkowksi actually met with some of the producers for the third game, something I don’t believe he did for the first two (feel free to correct me if he did). So did Sapkowski take inspiration from the games for this ending? It’s possible. I personally don’t think it likely but we know it’s possible because of a certain character in Season of Storms: Brehen.

Brehen, for those of you who may not remember/know, is a Cat witcher that Geralt meets at the very end of Season of Storms. Now this is important, Geralt’s meeting with Brehen is the first time ever that Sapkowski insinuates there are different schools of Witchers. And you might be thinking “What about the medallions of different animals that Bonhart had?” It isn’t ever really implied they’re from different schools. Coen, who has a griffon, is shown with the wolves all the same during Blood of Elves. Of course, the game producers had already decided to take the different medallions as representations of schools but It is only when Brehen begins to use the word “us” that there is a confirmed implication of schools by Sapkowski. Is this proof that Sapkowski used the games as inspiration for Season of Storms? Not at all. What it is, is solid evidence that both the game producers and Sapkowski had been influenced by a third party: the pre-CDPR comic run.

Now, this is where things get interesting. The pre-CDPR comic run is not that well known outside of Poland (and perhaps even in Poland, I am not sure). I discovered their existence on the Witcher subreddit and promptly read the fan translations of them that you can find online. Only one of the six comics released between 1993 and 1995 is an original story. This comic, Zdrada or Betrayal, is where the story of the Cat and Wolf tournament often is from. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go read basically any fanfiction with Aiden in it. It will more than likely be brought up. This comic is the first instance of a school system like the one we have now. Now, this comic was based on an idea by Sapkowski. He gave the author of the comic run, Maciej Parowski, a basic idea and Parowski expanded upon it. To what extent Parowski expanded the idea isn’t really known. The schools could be entirely his own invention, but it is more likely that Sapkowski suggested them. It is extremely likely, however, that Parowski’s characterization of the Cats as a school influenced Sapkowski - especially considering the 18 year gap between the publication of Zdrada and the publication of Season of Storms. So when did Parowski’s fanon interpretation of Sapkowski’s outline become canon? Did it become canon? I personally consider it canon but not everyone does.

Essentially what it boils down to is that there is a high chance that Parowski’s fanon directly influenced both Season of Storms and the Witcher games. And yes you can argue that Parowski’s work isn’t fanon because it was based on an idea by Sapkowksi but...that’s what all fanworks are - stories based on the original ideas of the author. The same can be argued about the show. Large parts of the show are Lauren Hissrich’s fanon interpretation of Sapkowski’s work yet it is a canon in its own right.

In conclusion, Sapkowski never avoided fanwork like say, Neil Gaiman. In fact, he actively encouraged it in the case of Parowski and Hissrich. Whether or not he ever encouraged the game producers in any capacity is...highly debatable. There’s some serious tension there guys. I personally think that he did with his choice in how to end Season of Storms but that’s just me. From what I know of Sapkowski, the man is, quite frankly, far too proud to ever admit to being wrong about video games and the producers so draw your own conclusions on that one.

But yeah, fanon has had a serious influence on canon in the case of the Witcher and there are so many different canons that separating the two entirely is more or less impossible. And I haven’t even talked about the pre-CDPR TTRPG, the CDPR TTRPG, the mobile gwent game, or the CDPR comic run, all of which fall into the liminal space of “not fanon but not canon either.”

Please feel free to correct me if any of this is wrong or if you have read the original Polish copies of the books and some stuff I’ve talked about is translation error. Also if anyone has a translation of the pre-CDPR TTRPG stuff please contact me. I would do unreasonable things for a translation of them and would be eternally in your debt.

#the witcher #the witcher books #the witcher games #the witcher comics #the witcher ttrpg #canon vs fanon #and the way those two intertwine when it comes to the witcher #i could probably talk about this for a lot longer #but i am tired #spiral's thoughts #media analysis #the witcher spoilers #the witcher book spoilers

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cultofthewyrm · 9 months

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Brehen by Wayne Wu

#fantasy art #the witcher

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fangirleaconmigo · 2 years

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Hey! I'm not sure if this is technically a fanon or canon ask, but a question that's been nagging me for ages is does Aiden show up in the books? I'm wondering if he's mostly made up of a few lines of dialogue we heard about him or if he actually shows up somewhere in a canon

Thanks and hope you have a good one!

Hi Nonny, Thank you for the ask!

I have been asked about Aiden before, so I’m going to take the liberty of expanding on your ask and doing a full character breakdown. I hope that’s ok.

Witcher Aiden Character Breakdown

I’ll answer the following questions (roughly)

Who is Aiden?

Is Aiden in the books?

What part of Aiden is canon and what is fanon?

Why does the fandom love him?

How do fic writers write him?

Why is Lambert x Aiden so popular?

Will Aiden be in the Netflix show?

Who is Aiden?

Aiden (deceased) was a cat witcher and a friend of Lambert’s. We learn about Aiden in a TW3 supporting quest called Following the Thread, where Lambert asks Geralt to help him avenge Aiden’s death.

Does Aiden appear in the books?

No.

When I google his name, there is a website that has a notation of ‘the witcher books’ next to Aiden’s name. However, I’ve read all the books twice and the Kaer Morhen chapters of Blood of Elves like ten times, and I have never seen any references to him. Until someone actually gives me a page number and quotation, I’m sticking with my answer.

So who created Aiden?

Aiden is technically a CDPR creation, meaning he is created by the games. However, he does not actually physically appear in the games, since he is already dead when the story begins.

So, any visual character design you see in fandom, is a fanartist creation. Any personality/characterization you read in a fic, is a fic writer creation.

Aiden occupies this liminal space between canon and fanon. Canon, but not completely. Fanon, but not strictly.

So then where the hell are people getting their characterizations of Aiden in fics?

I’m glad you asked. They are reverse engineering him.

How the fuck do you do that?

(I will now let you inside the twisted mind of a fic writer. But please please keep in mind that this is all 🚨 SUPER SUPER INDIVIDUAL AND PERSONAL AND SUBJECTIVE🚨 Other people who write Aiden might be like...fuck. That isn’t why I connect with him at all. Or WHAT THE FUCK I DO NOT DO THAT AT ALL. So I do not consider myself the expert here. This is just me sharing my own thing.)

Ok that being said, reverse engineering a character is so fucking fun.

You start with what you know, identify anything intriguing about it, and invent your own explanation for it.

For example, with Aiden, we know that Aiden is a cat witcher. According to book canon, (Season of Storms) cat witchers murder people and act as assassins. We learn that they are not allowed to winter in Kaer Morhen, and when Brehen (the cat witcher we meet in the books) complains about that, Geralt is like...you fucking know why that is.

Dandelion explains to a third party that cat witchers' mutations are “failed” , that they are “psychopaths and sadists”, and “aggressive, cruel, unpredictable, and impulsive.”

So, we know that they pass their winters hard, cold, and hungry, and that Geralt, who is no pacifist, and is perfectly willing to kill people in defense of self and others (and frankly, can be pretty flexible about that) thinks their methods are evil. They are notorious.

CDPR, the comics, and other games (rpg, gwent) have added to that canon, but I am no expert on those, so I’ll stick to what I know.

What we know already creates an intriguing picture. Keep this cat witcher stuff in mind when I say that in TW3, Lambert says that Aiden was the best man he ever knew. I would like to remind the dear readers that Lambert knows Geralt and Eskel, two of the best men on the continent! That’s a high bar, folks. A cat witcher is the best man Lambert has ever known. When Geralt mentions that cats take human contracts, Lambert says that Aiden did not take human contracts and did not murder humans.

So, as fic writers, we ask ourselves questions about Aiden and explain them ourselves. For me what I ask is:

What kind of person is raised by dog-eat-dog people who teaches him that it’s cool to kill both humans and other witchers for financial gain, and yet grows up to be a person who refuses to kill humans or other witchers?

What kind of person experiences a failed mutation, then lives in constant hardship against the elements, facing chronic cold and hunger, and instead of resenting the Kaer Morhen wolves for the warmth of their castle and the family support they enjoy, literally attaches himself to the grumpiest one and loves him for life? (The romance may be fanon, but the friendship is canon, and friendship is love. People like to forget that.) By comparison, Brehen fucking hates and resents the Kaer Morhen wolves. He calls them hypocrites and blames his suffering on their refusal to let him stay there. But Aiden clearly did not.

What kind of person grows up around people like Brehen, who were obviously at least somewhat willing to kill Aiden for a contract (Brehen attempts to kill Geralt for a contract in Season of Storms), always having to look out for himself, yet manage to turn out so good?

And

How would a person turn out if they had to buck their community, the only survival options offered to them, and every last one of the ‘values’ they were taught, just to be true to themselves?

I think even the little bit we have so far points to a person with a deep well of compassion and kindness but also a whole lot of grit and spine. Like, he had to rebel to be a decent human being.

Fic writers fucking love that shit. A little structure, but a lot of room for creativity. Best writing prompt ever.

But let me be clear THERE ARE NO RULES EVER!!! WRITE HIM HOWEVER YOU WANT!!!!

Why do they love him then, if they mostly made him up?

You just answered your own question. It’s the freedom to craft your own lovingly wrought narrative about not belonging in the community where life has placed you, about struggling to break out of it, and about being true to yourself. I mean go back and read that sentence again and tell me that shit isn’t RIFE for queer narratives. RIFE I tell you. It is not a surprise to me that this is very popular with queer writers. (Ie, most fic writers, tbh)

Yes, but a lot of people just write him as a pairing for Lambert. They aren’t writing long character studies.

Yes, but even a PWP has character work, even a PWP has personalities and I’d argue with Aiden they all do by necessity since we don’t have his personality in canon. And JUST having him interact with Lambert tells us a whole lot about his character.

So when we write Lambert x Aiden we ask ourselves...

What kind of person can get past Lambert’s spikiness? His defenses?

What kind of person can get a famously loyal Lambert to invite tension between himself and Geralt or Eskel, who have past traumas with cat witchers?

What kind of person can inspire that kind of trust in a slow-to-trust Lambert?

What kind of person can impress the not-easily-impressed Lambert?

Basically this cat motherfucker strolled up to the hardest case, the most sarcastic, defensive, pissy wolf witcher, and won his literal undying devotion.

Who can do that???? And how??

It’s fun to imagine. It compels me. I’m compelled. And we all know that the spikiest character is the mushiest inside, and that’s exactly what fic writers love. We wanna crack open that egg and study the yolk.

It also creates the beginning of a personality all on its own.

For example, (again this will be different for everyone, this is just what I came up with) it would be difficult to write a spiky Aiden. Lambert is already spiky. Two spiky closed off people are difficult to get together because SOMEONE has to reach out first.

It would be difficult to write an Aiden who is easily intimidated or cowed. You have to be strong to deal with Lambert.

It would also be difficult to write an Aiden who is quick to anger. Lambert is sarcastic, so if you put him with someone who had thin skin or got pissed off easily, then you’re just writing them fighting all the time. I mean, you can! But most people want to get to the good stuff.

So you often end up with an Aiden who is not intimidated by Lambert AT ALL. There is often confidence there. Comfort in his own skin.(he’s had to develop that to break away from his community as it is, so that fits well anyway). You usually have an Aiden who is perceptive. Who swaggers up to Lambert and immediately sees how soft he is inside, then instinctively has the patience and flexibility to stick around long enough to prove himself.

You usually end up with an Aiden who is easy going and affectionate but also stubborn as fuck with a spine of steel.

You end up with something like that. At least I do. And a lot of other fic writers do.

So again, you’re reverse engineering. It is the most fun writing exercise ever.

So, why is this ship (Lambert and Aiden) so popular? Why would a character who is essentially an OC, be such a popular pairing with Lambert?

Well, ok. Three things.

One, you answered part of your own question. People who love Lambert get to lovingly craft the exact person they want to inflict upon him.

BUT

ALSO

Two. The revenge quest for a lost love just begs for fic to be written. It gets down on its knees and begs.

The quest Following the Thread, even though it is about a friendship, contains multiples INCREDIBLY popular romance tropes.

Two people from opposing sides of a conflict falling in love. Think sharks and jets. Think Capulets and Montagues. No, I’m not kidding. Yes, there are inherent tension and unjust external forces pulling them apart, creating space for a love so strong, they both go against their respective communities to be together. Half of the Lambert/Aiden fics are “Aiden goes to Kaer Morhen and challenges the other wolf witchers ideas about cats (also triggering their trauma and bringing up their bad memories of being betrayed by cats)”.

Tragic death/fixing a tragic death. This is a HUGELY popular romance trope. The other half of Lambert x Aiden fics are about Lambert either grieving Aiden’s death, or overcoming it somehow. (Ghost Aiden, curse lifted Aiden, crawls back from hell Aiden)

Avenging a lost love. This is very very romantic. Aiden is already dead in TW3. He can’t be touched or impressed by the fact that Lambert is avenging him. Lambert just loves him so much he NEEDS to in order to go on with his life. A quest to avenge a lost love is a super popular trope.

And three, it just fits perfectly for Lambert to have a fellow witcher as a love interest, who understands instinctively what he’s gone through, so it doesn’t require him to be super expressive of his pain, but NOT a wolf witcher, who may be connected to his own trauma.

Though it doesn’t always have to be about Lambert’s issues. The one I’ve written kind of centers around Aiden’s trauma with breaking away from his community and calls a bit more for Lambert to nurture him. And of course I’m not the only one who has approached it that way.

I did do a rec thread once for medium-rare witcher pairs and I have some Lambert x Aiden recs on there.

But let me tell you some of the absolute best writers in the fandom write them. So, just go in the tag and mosey around.

Will Aiden appear in The Witcher Netflix series?

It is highly unlikely, though technically not impossible.

So, whenever you adapt an existing property, you have to pay the original creator of that property. Like with Star Wars, the movies came first. SW was created by the filmmaker Lucas. So if you want to do anything Star Wars, you run him his money.

The witcher universe was created by the witcher book author. They began as short stories. So, the author owns the IP. He sells permission (usually limited by time, region, language etc) for the witcher universe to be adapted into other formats. He sold CDPR the rights to adapt it into a video game. He sold Netflix exclusive rights to make it into a show.

So Netflix has already paid the author.

So, say they want to use something that CDPR created new for the games.

They have to pay them too.

But, wait, you say. The show already includes game elements!

Yes, but they are VERY VAGUE elements so that they do not get a letter from CDPR’s attorneys with an invoice. CDPR does not own jokes about trolls. They do not own witchers sitting in bathtubs. They do not own handlebar mustaches on witcher mentors. (I used these examples in another post, but I can’t think of new ones lol)

So, they could have a character named Aiden. CDPR doesn’t own the name Aiden. But the more things they added to that character (cat witcher, Lambert friend) the more likely they are to get that letter from CDPR.

I can think of zero reasons they would do that for a character they don’t need. Kaer Morhen only appears in one book. If the show follows the book saga plot, it will never return there. So Lambert (unless they drastically change the books) will not appear anymore except via flashbacks or memories. Nothing bad has happened to him, the plot just leaves Kaer Morhen behind.

So they don’t need to pay to use a CDPR character that will have zero bearing on the plot.

Now, if they just pull a whole different plot out of their asses and want to have Lambert there and then want to give Lambert a friend, then hey. Maybe. I just don’t see why they would.

Ok, I think that’s all I have to say about Aiden!! If you’ve read to the end, hey, *Points at you* you’re a nerd too.

Feel free to flail with me about Lambert or Aiden. Or anything else! Add to it! Share why you love him and tell people I got it all wrong 😆 whatever.

#the witcher #witcher aiden #lambert #lambert x aiden #Aiden #lambden #laiden #meta #character analysis

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sergedehaes · 2 months

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Je serai présent ce DIMANCHE 17 mars de 14h à 18h pour l'exposition "Coup d'oeil: Philippe de Kemmeter & Serge Dehaes" à l’Espace d’Art "Le Neuf" 9 Rue Brehen - 1350 Orp-Jauche (Marilles)

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lenkalost · 1 month

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Cedric and Axel are as different as night and day. Yet, they somehow became friends, a fact Cedric isn't unhappy about. But when Axel starts flirting with him, things become complicated. And between contracts and the everyday trouble that is Dyn Marv, Cedric doesn't need any more complications.

Hey folks! Here's the new chapter, I hope you enjoy it. Happy Easter to those who celebrate and a happy weekend to those who don't!

#What words cannot convey #Dyn Marv #The Witcher #witcher fanfic #school of the Cat #Witcher Axel #Witcher Cedric #Axel #Cedric #Lexandre #Brehen #my writing

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dukeofdogs · 1 year

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Master post for Gwent lore pt 2 (Seasonal)

Part 1 | General tag for all seasonal stuff | Gwentify backgrounds

Season of the Wild Hunt

Caranthir Ar-Feiniel

Winter Queen

Season of the Wolf

Geralt of Rivia

Vesemir

Season of Love

Dandelion

Vespula

Season of the Bear

Vernon Roche

Ivo of Belhaven

Season of the Elves

Aelirenn

Ida Emean aep Sivney

Season of the Viper

Letho of Gulet

Kolgrim

Season of Magic

Keira Metz (It’s about Triss & Yennefer for some reason)

Stregobor

Season of the Griffin

George of Kagen

Jerome Moreau

Season of the Draconid

Saskia

Myrgtabrakke

Season of the Dryad

Morenn (It’s about Triss for some reason)

Aglaïs

Season of the Cat

Ciri

Brehen

Season of Mahakam

Zoltan Chivay

Percival Schuttenbach

#gwent: lore #gwent: seasonal #gwent #long post #took some time #now i need to figure out how to tackle journeys #I need to dig all the ones I rebloged already from elis and then figure out what to do with the rest

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stillness138 · 3 months

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As a companion post, i also redid my least favourite Gwent card art into a top 20, though i daresay a lot of the technical complaints are universal. I'll try not to be too mean.

Also under the cut.

My (but i am objectively correct) top 20 least favourite Gwent card arts:

They can't all be precious...

There's a certain amount of "why is she naked" or "why is she dead" or "why is she dead and naked" kinda art, but then Karol Bem rolled up and somehow made the card pool so much worse. At least Whoreson Jr. is technically impressive.

20: Ciaran aep Easnillen by Bryan Sola ...however i'm still allowed to not like it when my blorbos suffer on their card arts. Bryan is a great artist and i'm sure he didn't mean malice, unfortunately this is Ciaran's most memorable (read: literally only) scene. This is mostly personal bias.

19: Milva by Bartłomiej Gaweł To be nice! I like the tiled floor, that's a nice level of detail. I like her practical outfit in the spirit of the old minigame art, too. Heck, even the tragic irony of the scene wouldn't be so bad - she clearly shot before getting shot... If only this wasn't Milva's only card art for years and if she wasn't a well-explored book character with plenty of scenes to choose from. It could've been way worse too i guess.

18: Chapter of Wizards by Maciej Łaszkiewicz Listen. Maciej is a cool artist with a very distinct, also quite "classical painting" style. I like a lot of his pieces from the last card sets. But. Whose idea was to solve the question of representing a historically changing organization with a statue of its founders? Furthermore, who thought people are gonna be blown away by the in-game avatar this inevitably spawned? :D It's just funny more than anything. I guess I can appreciate the Lord of the Rings reference.

17: Mammuna, also by Maciej Łaszkiewicz This one is unfortunately not that funny. I'm not sure i can explain it; it's a Monsters card, offputting things are the name of the game. This is one of the artworks that definitely, or probably, fall under completely personal reactions, or at least i never heard loud complaints about it the same way say Coup de Grâce is widely considered one of the best Nilfgaard card arts. Maybe i don't like how the character design seems a bit random, maybe i'm tired of the tired witch=hooked nose trope, maybe it's the color scheme and weirdly unpleasant looking textures. I guess it's just very much not for me.

16: Selfeater by Alicja Użarowska Similar case as previously. I don't even mind a lot of gross art - the infamous Parasite (the parallels now that bg3 is out lol) isn't on this list - and the Monsters faction is there to go crazy with this type of stuff. And yet, i can't stand this little abomination, and neither can most of the Gwent playerbase. It's not even the toe-in-mouth that really makes it bad, at least for me it's the texture and stretching of its skin. It simultaneously looks like it's melting and about to tear apart. Just an overall no thanks.

15: Miner by Christof Grobelski Christof is my new, excuse the zoomer language, pogchamp, because i think he is severely underrated given the crazy impressive lengths he went into with card art like Vivaldi Bank and even Phooca, and Miner isn't really bad. Unfortunately, fear of depths.

14: Doppler by Bartłomiej Gaweł Bartłomiej loves himself some dirt and mud and wet beast wednesday, and i can appreciate that. But this one isn't it. The palette, the scene. This, beside Dudu's card art, is the only way dopplers are represented in the game, and that's a shame. Leave the poor soul alone :(.

13: Brehen by Oleksandr Kozachenko I'm sorry to say, this is the weakest Way of the Witcher art. I appreciate it's the one scene everyone knows Brehen for, but why must he look like the village lowlife parents tell you not to talk to? I mean, not that Brehen could be trusted with kids. He's despicable, but that doesn't need to be communicated by making him look unappealing. On the other hand, wouldn't his personality have more impact if he was comparatively good looking? Or maybe i'm a shallow bitch who'd rather some eye candy... To give some credit to the character design though, the fact the lady is wearing the opposite of revealing clothes is a welcome refreshment. And i quite like the shading on her clothes too.

12: War Chariot by Grafit Studio There are a couple of more fairytale-like, bright and whimsical card arts, and there are arts with smoother, almost glossy textures, neither is really my issue with this. What rubs me the wrong way is the scene itself. It comes off as showing the elves as something grotesque, the butt of a joke, and, sure, this is a Northern Realms card, but it still feels... unserious in the wrong way. Admittedly i am biased.

11: Toad Prince by Marek Madej It's again a matter of personal taste in the Monsters faction, because in essence, everything i don't like about it can really be justified by having the red faction sticker. But he still looks like a formless mass of vaguely green snot to me. And his comparably thin little arms look like he's wearing long sleeves that also got covered in green snot. Which, admittedly, was the case for the whole sewer in Hearts of Stone, so who am i to complain. It's far from the worst, maybe it shouldn't be this high on the list, at least this piece mostly fades into obscurity and Marek is an actually skilled artist. I'm saying this because Bem's time draws near.

10: Vilgefortz by Nemanja Stankovic Full personal bias. Technically very much fine between the different textures, little drama in the lighting and fire particles borrowed from Bryan Sola. Look at the crazed look in Vilgefortz's face, lore accurate. Then look at the gloves of the guy he's melting into paste. And then suffer with me.

9: King Radovid V by Nemanja Stankovic and Radovid: Judgment by Valeriy Vegera Ok, this is a special case. I'm lumping them together because my issue with them is the same; their metatext. CDPR has a very obvious boner for Radko and despite writing him to be a complete cringefail idiot, they keep pretending like he's the coolest mf this side of Yaruga. If they actually allowed him to be the 17yo grooming victim he is with some nuance and without the thinly veiled nationalism projected onto the worst possible candidate with no self-reflection, i'd hate his ass (at leas the Gwent one) a lot less. Also the second art is the stupidest decision in the last card drop. Calanthe died for this. Literally.

8: Saov Ainmhi'dh by Ivan Vilmant Price of Power's infamous outsourcing of card art led to this unfortunate letdown. The artist tried! You can tell. But, in a spark of bitter irony, the spectral deer ended up looking as plastic as the Hobbit movies it references.

7: Temple of Melitele by Karol Bem This should be higher and would be if i didn't have to go through some more "please don't do this, good artist". But trust, this is one of Karol's worst crimes against good card art. From afar it looks alright! Cute piece with maybe even a bit of an old postcard vibe. Then you look closer and it falls apart completely. From the top; some roofs have texture, some don't. Some windows and arches don't line up or have ever so slightly off perspective. In places that are unexplainably sharper or blurrier than others, it's apparent Karol used extra assets. And on the very left, the foliage just sort of blends in until it disappears, because Karol doesn't understand depth. As a cherry on top, check out the little wooden bridge making no sense. The more and closer one looks, the more of a mess it is. Karol, you bloody hack.

6: Savvy Huckster by Siarhei Hlushakou This one, surprisingly enough, is more bearable upon closer inspection, but something about it used to absolutely grate my nerves when i still played or watched the game somewhat regularly. I don't know if it's the odd use of its color palette, the kind of obsolete idea of a card to begin with or the weird rocks on the tray unpleasantly standing out, or all of the above, but i can't stand looking at it for too long. But again. At least the artist actually painted something. Right, Karol?

5: Kerack Cutthroat by Valeriy Vegera Technically alright, if only too dark and washed up. Then again, the scene itself is tired too. The "why is she naked and dying?" And actually, taking the premium into account, why must she be getting stabbed over and over infinitely? Y'all didn't think this one through, did you. I'm sorry Valeriy, i still love your art, but this one really wasn't it on pretty much any front. But, even for this one, like every other legitimate artist on this list, you get the honorary "not a hack" badge.

4: Saint Gregory and Rosa and Edna var Attre by Karol Bem These two don't necessarily have all the same issues, but i guess there isn't enough slots in the universe to describe Karol's astonishingly low levels of competence. St. Gregory suffers from Karol's lack of depth understanding, but moreso it's a good example of that thing he does where he applies atrocious amounts of noise or grain onto everything. Enlarge and look at the area of and around the center left guy in the forefront. I'm also really not a fan of the magic fire glow this thing has. Rosa and Edna deserved so much better. To get the carelessness out of the way, check out Rosa's thumb in the foreground. What. Both their faces are inhumanly smooth, someone said they might be 3D models painted over and i wouldn't be surprised. Even in such a detail as the texture of the wooden sword you can kind of tell Karol relies on outsourced assets and thelike a lot; he doesn't have that much of a personal style (other than the awful grain) so when a unique texture shows up, it's probably safe to assume he pasted it in. To top it all off, the lighting of this piece is atrocious.

3: Yaga by Bogdan Rezunenko and Lesser Witch by Karol Bem Fatphobia. Just don't. That's to Bogdan. You, Karol, quit trying to fit in with the cooler kids, and by that i mean you should've long since quit making Gwent art by the time this unfortunately saw the light of day. I did promise i'll try not to be too mean, but there really isn't much to say about these two. Bogdan is a capable artist who should maybe check his biases or maybe just think about whether the way too estabilished visual shorthands for evil are faulty (they are). Karol Bem wouldn't know believable illusion of perspective and good texturing if they smacked him across the face.

2: Artaud Terranova by Katarzyna Bekus Molegion actually tried to explain this one to me. And, sure, having terrible characters with terrible traits represented by doing terrible things is fine on paper. For once we got a book scene, too (god why are most of the book scenes in Gwent all the painful stuff), that's cool. Making the canon pedo fat, i think less so. It's otherwise technically a good artwork with merits, i like Ciri's hair, the textures in the columns and the color palette. The pose, as much as i hate it, makes anatomical sense (this will become relevant in a short bit). But i can't get over how in the premium Ciri has to wriggle around waiting for Geralt who just won't show up. In the end, did Terranova have to exist in Gwent at all? Since this was in the Thanedd drop, why not a Nilfgaard Isengrim card? That would've been cool. He actually has a few usable book scenes.

"Honorable" mention: Little Bird by Karol Bem Karol's worst tendencies: the card. A pile of assets, none of which are fitted, or in the case of the stuff hanging from the ceiling, even cropped well. Misunderstanding of depth, the hanging herbs are blurry but the guys under them are sharp, the items in the foreground are blurry again but way too much. Strands of the girl's hair straight up cut off in the middle and then resume again. And, of course, a noise effect to try to cover it all up. I swear to god Karol.

1: Vereena by, of course, Karol Bem I hate to hate it. Because it could've been another book-adjacent scene and the color scheme is actually a rare moment of brightness for Karol, because usually, Vereena is put in colder tones. But unfortunately, he bungled this one in a whole new kind of spectacular fashion. The leg. The leg is very obviously, undeniably, comically, anatomically...incorrect. The rest of her isn't very good either, the front hand looks awkward, her neck and shoulders aren't properly built. The foot is too small. Even the hair is made in a way that makes it look like a weirdly solid mass. The drapery doesn't make sense in the waist area. On a vibe or depicted scene level, there are probably pieces i loathe more than this one, but as an artist and a person with legs, the painfully obvious anatomy issue of this one earns it the title of worst Gwent art in my book. Karol Bem is a hack, which is why this happened at all. I'm willing to believe he's not a malicious person either, but he should probably stop seeking work in a field he clearly has to fake his way through. Perhaps he'd make a better graphic designer?

To add something more positive at the end of this list as a whole, Gwent has a card pool of, i believe, a little over a thousand and a couple hundred, and the strong majority of it are incredibly stunning works of art. The overall quality is of its own kind, and it's much easier to choose 20 amazing and impactful pieces than find 20 that are bad enough to be ripped apart online. The existence of premiums is cool, but the static art on its own is some of the best modern fantasy art to be found. That's really heckin cool for an obscure game set in a relatively obscure universe.

#shut up elis #the witcher #gwent: the witcher card game #bem gave me a tummy ache it's nearly 4am and i'm about to peace out #read peace as pass btw #(im fine)

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