While we wait for the official Dungeons & Dragons movie to make its debut, fans of the tabletop game have something else to tide them over: a fantasy series that hews closely to its source material. No, not Games of Thrones – which forged its own unique path – but The Witcher. Please note that this discussion involves spoilers.
Meet The Witcher
The Witcher, created by author Andrzej Sapkowski, is one of the most popular fantasy series in Poland. It has turned into a transmedia franchise in its own right in video games, novels, movies, and the most recent series on Netflix. It follows Geralt of Rivia, a white-haired monster-hunter with powers deriving from his “mutations” which range from superhuman strength to the ability to see in the dark. The series is so popular in Poland that, when former President Barack Obama visited, the prime minister gave him a copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.
Watching the Netflix series makes it clear that The Witcher borrows several tropes from Dungeons & Dragons wholesale, enough that it’s less of a homage and more a part of the series’ DNA. Let’s start with the characters.
Classes & Archetypes
The Witcher Netflix series references several characters by class names that will sound familiar. Screenrant assigns a class to each, but in some cases the series itself names them outright: Jaskier is a bard (complete with lute and bawdy lyrics), Mousesack is a druid, and—although this is controversial—Geralt could originally have been a drow, complete with white hair, swordplay, darkvision, and magic. And like any good adventurer, Geralt’s constantly chugging potions to give him an edge.
Of the species that populate the world of The Witcher, there are dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings. All of those species together do not appear in most fantasy works—Tolkien used “gnome” differently than D&D does—until the tabletop game. The term “halfling” was embraced by TSR after legal problems arose due to the usage of “hobbits," as explained in Art & Arcana:
The creatures the characters encounter provide a much stronger hint about The Witcher’s D&D roots however.
The Creatures
It’s episode 6 where D&D’s influence is most apparent: dragons. The Witcher world features the full range of chromatic dragons: black, green, red, and white. In episode 6, a shapeshifting “golden dragon” is introduced and it follows the peculiar evolution of D&D’s gold dragon, which morphed from its original incarnation as an Asian-inspired serpentine beast to a more Western-style winged dragon with gold scales. The shapeshifting in particular strongly identifies this dragon as having tabletop gaming roots.
The ghouls in episode 8 that attack Geralt look very similar to D&D’s ghouls (themselves inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s portrayal) and have a bite that incapacitates the witcher; while not quite paralyzing him, it does knock him out with vivid hallucinations. And then there’s the “doppler” in that same episode, a shapeshifter that has blue skin that bears a striking resemblance to D&D’s doppelganger in later editions of the game.
There are also monsters that haven’t yet appeared in the Netflix series that are noted by The Witcher wiki to be inspired by D&D, like the treant—a species unique to D&D because the original name, “ent” was contested by the Tolkien estate. Ironically the one species that the wiki conflates with a D&D monster (vodyanoy as inspired by sahuagin) were in fact inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s deep ones. The reference to Dagon is a strong clue as to their origin.
Just How Much Influence Did D&D Have?
This is not to say that The Witcher owes its entire existence to D&D. Part of what makes The Witcher so appealing is how it combines fairy tales with traditional fantasy tropes. The series gives a modern veneer to fantasy, using “mutations” (a word that might sound modern to traditionalists) and freely weaving swear words into each episode. And what does Sapkowski have to say?
Meet The Witcher
The Witcher, created by author Andrzej Sapkowski, is one of the most popular fantasy series in Poland. It has turned into a transmedia franchise in its own right in video games, novels, movies, and the most recent series on Netflix. It follows Geralt of Rivia, a white-haired monster-hunter with powers deriving from his “mutations” which range from superhuman strength to the ability to see in the dark. The series is so popular in Poland that, when former President Barack Obama visited, the prime minister gave him a copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.
Watching the Netflix series makes it clear that The Witcher borrows several tropes from Dungeons & Dragons wholesale, enough that it’s less of a homage and more a part of the series’ DNA. Let’s start with the characters.
Classes & Archetypes
The Witcher Netflix series references several characters by class names that will sound familiar. Screenrant assigns a class to each, but in some cases the series itself names them outright: Jaskier is a bard (complete with lute and bawdy lyrics), Mousesack is a druid, and—although this is controversial—Geralt could originally have been a drow, complete with white hair, swordplay, darkvision, and magic. And like any good adventurer, Geralt’s constantly chugging potions to give him an edge.
Of the species that populate the world of The Witcher, there are dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings. All of those species together do not appear in most fantasy works—Tolkien used “gnome” differently than D&D does—until the tabletop game. The term “halfling” was embraced by TSR after legal problems arose due to the usage of “hobbits," as explained in Art & Arcana:
In the second episode, Geralt encounters elves. These elves are less Tolkien-esque and more like D&D’s elves—common enough that they are somewhat exotic but not so rare that they live separately from humanity. Yennifer, the sorceress, is herself a half-elf. There are also dwarves, who are similar to D&D dwarves—miners with a fondness for pickaxes and hammers in the third episode.
The creatures the characters encounter provide a much stronger hint about The Witcher’s D&D roots however.
The Creatures
It’s episode 6 where D&D’s influence is most apparent: dragons. The Witcher world features the full range of chromatic dragons: black, green, red, and white. In episode 6, a shapeshifting “golden dragon” is introduced and it follows the peculiar evolution of D&D’s gold dragon, which morphed from its original incarnation as an Asian-inspired serpentine beast to a more Western-style winged dragon with gold scales. The shapeshifting in particular strongly identifies this dragon as having tabletop gaming roots.
The ghouls in episode 8 that attack Geralt look very similar to D&D’s ghouls (themselves inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s portrayal) and have a bite that incapacitates the witcher; while not quite paralyzing him, it does knock him out with vivid hallucinations. And then there’s the “doppler” in that same episode, a shapeshifter that has blue skin that bears a striking resemblance to D&D’s doppelganger in later editions of the game.
There are also monsters that haven’t yet appeared in the Netflix series that are noted by The Witcher wiki to be inspired by D&D, like the treant—a species unique to D&D because the original name, “ent” was contested by the Tolkien estate. Ironically the one species that the wiki conflates with a D&D monster (vodyanoy as inspired by sahuagin) were in fact inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s deep ones. The reference to Dagon is a strong clue as to their origin.
Just How Much Influence Did D&D Have?
This is not to say that The Witcher owes its entire existence to D&D. Part of what makes The Witcher so appealing is how it combines fairy tales with traditional fantasy tropes. The series gives a modern veneer to fantasy, using “mutations” (a word that might sound modern to traditionalists) and freely weaving swear words into each episode. And what does Sapkowski have to say?
Perhaps Sapkowski never played tabletop games but read the books. Given that D&D is now so ingrained in fantasy culture, it’s started to refract back on itself in a recursive loop (yes, there’s a Witcher RPG) that muddles the origins of common tropes. But if the chromatic dragons, halflings, and treants are any indication … The Witcher may well have been inspired by D&D.
