The year 2022 saw the prequels of some incredible franchises. We already had prequels like “The Rings of Power” and “House of the Dragon,” and now Netflix has released “Blood Origin,” the miniseries, and a prequel to “The Witcher.” “Blood Origin” illustrates the origin and purpose of the first ever witcher. This story takes place 1200 years ago when Cintra was known as Xin’trea under Elven rule. Humans and monsters had not yet entered the world of the elves, but some wizards were planning a catastrophe for their own gain, which caused a doorway to open through which they entered and changed the Elven world forever. So, let’s look at these episodes to get a better understanding of what was going on in the witcher universe 1200 years ago.
Spoilers Ahead
Where Was Jaskier? Who Were Lark And Fjall Stoneheart?
Episode 1 of “Blood Origin” begins on a battlefield, where we find Jaskier completely bewildered in the middle of a war and terrified to death with every step. But he became even more perplexed when an elf took his shape and appeared in front of him. Seanchai, the elf, then reverted to her own form and greeted Jaskier, dispelling his doubts. Jaskier was attacked by the Temerians (warriors from the northern realm Temeria) and saved by the Scoia’tael (the non-human freedom fighters), and amid the war, Seanchai pulled him out to a mysterious place. According to her, Jaskier was a valuable and deserving person to listen to her story because he cared about the elves and their struggles in life. But elves couldn’t win anything if they were fueled by rage and pain, and they needed hope. Seanchai wanted Jaskier to hear a 1200-year-old story about elves, who were the first settlers in this world before humans and monsters arrived. Among these elves, the seven warriors created the first witcher to bring down Queen Merwyn’s anarchic empire. Jaskier was captivated by the story and began writing it.
A Lark by the name of Eile lived in the far northern seas, somewhere in Inish Dubh. She was a former warrior of the Raven clan, guardians of King Midir of Pryshia, but she left her clan to become a wandering bard. She performed in bars and won the affection of the locals. But one day, while she was singing her “Black Rose” song in a tavern, a middle-aged man attempted to assault Ithlinne, the tavern keeper’s daughter. Eile couldn’t stand bad manners and counterattacked the guy with knives she kept hidden in her lute. Ithlinne inquired as to her true identity, to which she replied that she was the daughter of Lady Cathlenn, the head of the Raven Clan and a royal bodyguard to King Midir. Meanwhile, in Xin’trea, when King Alvitir was newly crowned, his one trusted mage, the chief sage Balor, plotted to overthrow him and sent a group of assassins to kill him and Princess Merwyn, but the royal bodyguard of the Dog clan, Fjall, saved the queen and killed all the assassins. Fjall was more than just a protector; he was also Princess Merwyn’s lover. She enticed him to be intimate with her, but unfortunately, both of them were caught by Fjall’s father and sister, who decided to expel Fjall from the clan for breaking his oath. Protectors of the King were usually lowborn and only meant to be the king’s guards, so if they slept with the princess, the punishment could be death. But Fjall’s father did not let him die; instead, he exiled him and abandoned him in the forest to suffer in solitude.
In the meantime, King Alvitir was preparing a treaty between his rival kingdoms, Pryshia and Darwen, so that the years of hostility could be brought to an end and so they wouldn’t have to battle anymore. To bring about peace and prevent famine in his empire, he believed in this treaty. So, he decided to arrange for her sister, Merwyn, to marry King Midir, but neither the chief general, Eredin, nor anyone else from the empire was willing to accept the treaty. In order to overthrow Alvitir’s kingdom and usher in a new era through the coronation of Queen Merwyn, Eredin shook hands with Balor. Balor and Eredin both wanted Queen Merwyn to take the lead so they could use the queen as a puppet of their hand. But Queen Merwyn didn’t intend to be a simple pawn; instead, she desired to establish her own monarchy and bring culture, art, and science to her realm. She also conspired with Balor and Eredin to kill her brother in an effort to gain freedom and establish her own rules, but she was unaware that Balor was a danger to her and the entire kingdom. Queen Merwyn also dreamed of a new world and a golden age for her empire, and she discovered that only the mage Balor could grant her those wishes by opening the monolith. However, Balor had no intention of using the gateway to inaugurate a brand-new era; instead, he wanted to acquire chaos magic, which would give him great power and enable him to rule independently. However, when the three different kingdoms arrived at Xin’trea for the treaty, just as King Alvitir was about to present the treaty, a gigantic winged beast appeared in the sky and killed everyone by turning them into a bloody mist. Only Merwyn, Balor, Eredin, and a few others remained alive.
Why Did Eile And Fjall Want To Kill Merwyn?
When the king’s armies captured the Eile in a chamber, she discovered the Dog clan warrior, Fjall Stoneheart, there as well. We deduced from their conversation that there was a strong rivalry between the Raven and Dog clans and that they might even kill each other at some point. However, Fjall’s father, Osfer, bailed out his son and asked him to return to Xin’trea to protect the king until the treaty was approved. But Fjall refused to leave. He had a silver locket that he had stolen from a Raven clan warrior; Eile slyly took it from him and opened the chamber’s lock to flee. She discovered that she had been called back to Pryshia and that her sister had arrived to bring her home. She initially refused, but according to Ithlinne’s prophecy, she believed that she would get her redemption if she slayed a beast to save her clan. So she went home with her sister, but her sister was killed by one of the warriors sent from Pryshia, Darwen, and Xin’trea. Fjall appeared at the same time to take his silver pendant back, but he ended up saving Eile. Eile understood that these warriors were sent to prevent her from returning to her clan, but she couldn’t figure out who had sent them. They decided to go to Pryshia to find out, and Fjall decided to accompany her so that if another attack came their way, they could defend themselves as a group.
Fjall and Eile learned at a nearby tavern in Pryshia that three of the empires had been destroyed and that Merwyn and Balor had been responsible for the deaths of all of their clans. But since the monsters were nonexistent in the world of elves, they were baffled to believe that a monster had killed all of them. Fjall’s heart was also broken when he discovered that his lover, Merwyn, was responsible for his family’s death. They fled the pub and vowed in their blood that they would not spare anyone who had murdered their families. They made the decision to take down Queen Merwyn and her empire. We discovered Syndril was imprisoned in Xin’trea’s prison cell, where he regretted his decision to dig up and open the monolith. He wanted to usher in a new era for good reasons, but with Balor’s betrayal, It ended up being a terrifying mess. Balor handed him the monolith book and asked him to complete his final calculation so that he could open the rest of the monoliths all around the empire. We saw Balor enter a world that was darker and reassembled hell. He asked a mysterious voice to grant him access to chaos magic, but the voice alerted him that doing so would require him to give up a personal asset. Balor agreed to do so.
Who Was Scian Of The Ghost Tribe?
Eile advised Fjall that they would need an army to overthrow the queen’s empire, so she thought about approaching her sword master, Scian, the last of the Ghost tribe. They came upon a group of Xin’trea locals looking for a place to settle while they were on their way to find Scian. One of them recognized the Lark and asked her to sing “Black Rose” to them because they had lost all hope in their lives. The Black Rose was a song full of hope and motivation for the lowborn elves, and it astounded Fjall that a song could have such power to unite people. After her sister’s passing, Eile no longer wanted to be known as a Lark because she believed that if she hadn’t left the clan and turned into a Lark, she might have been able to save her life. She didn’t even sing the song before moving on to search for Scian because, in her mind, there was only retribution to be had.
Finally, Scian showed up, but she wasn’t entirely in favor of Eile’s plan. Eile then told her about the Soulreaver, the ghost tribe’s lost sword, which was on display in Xin’trea’s palace. Eile invited her to join them for the sake of their ancestors, but Scian didn’t trust her or Fjall because she was the only survivor when Xin’trea poisoned her entire tribe and removed them from history. Her mind was changed when she discovered that Eile was truthful about her desire to exact revenge on Merwyn, but she also wanted to test Fjall and his abilities. So, she enticed him to fight her. She discovered that Fjall was emotionally uncontrollable but that with Eile’s support, he fought well. So, she reconsidered and agreed to accompany them. Fjall assured her that, despite the tight security, there was a secret passage to the palace, which inspired Scian to seek vengeance on Xin’trea and retrieve her sword. When Scian, Lark, and Fjall joined forces at the end of “Blood Origin” episode 1, they became a group that shared the same desire to overthrow the queen. However, three people weren’t enough, so they sought to find more people who would share their ambition to kill Merwyn. We will learn more about Xin’trea’s fate in the upcoming episodes.
See More: ‘Blood Origin’ Episode 2: Recap And Ending, Explained: What Was The Significance Of The Monoliths?
