The Witcher: Blood Origin Trailer Reveals Unexpected Connection to Original Series

This article contains spoilers for The Witcher.

With a little over a month until The Witcher: Blood Origin hits Netflix on Dec. 25, a teaser trailer has finally been released. Set 1200 years before the events of The Witcher, this four episode special event is set to tell the story of the conjunction of the spheres – the event that brought the realms of Elves, Humans, Dwarves, and Monsters together and reshaped the Continent. While we don’t know much else about the plot of this limited series, the trailer for The Witcher: Blood Origin shows an unexpected connection to The Witcher – music.

The trailer opens with a hauntingly beautiful song that plays for the duration as we see glimpses of the pre-conjunction Elven world that the series is set in. Near the end, it is revealed that the song is sung by Éile (Sophia Brown), a warrior of the Queen’s guard who leaves to become a traveling musician. Even though it’s highly likely that Éile’s role in the series will be more important than simply providing entertainment, the inclusion of her song in the trailer reminds us of the importance of music in this world.

While this song is more melancholic than the ballads of the bard Jaskier (Joey Batey) in The Witcher, we see Éile singing it around what appears to be a campfire. Even though we can’t see who is there with her, it appears to be a rallying moment for whatever conflict is on the horizon. In The Witcher, Jaskier’s music helps break the tension of the series, providing both comic relief and a connection to these characters.

In season 2 of The Witcher, Jaskier performs his ballad, “Burn Butcher Burn,” about the Butcher of Blaviken a.k.a Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) to a tavern full of people like he’s Taylor Swift singing the full ten-minute version of “All Too Well” in front of Jake Gyllenhaal. This performance is the perfect way to show us how Jaskier has changed since we last saw him in season 1 – not only is he still hurting from Geralt leaving him behind, but he is also taking more risks than the nervous bard we saw before. He’s created an underground network to help Elves escape persecution and he is using his performance as cover so that Elves can escape through the tunnels of the tavern and find sanctuary in Nilfgaardian-controlled Cintra. 

The songs of The Witcher universe are important expository elements that offer a lighthearted reprieve from some of the heavier themes of the series (like war, racism, genocide) but they are also just straight up bangers that are almost impossible to get out of your head. Jaskier’s most popular songs in the series, “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” and “Burn Butcher Burn,” are available to stream on Spotify, and “Burn Butcher Burn” even has an official lyric video on YouTube, showing that fans connect with and enjoy listening to these songs even when they’re not watching the series. Feel free to check out the lyric video below, but I’m warning you now: the song is incredibly catchy.

The inclusion of a character with musical talents in the core cast of The Witcher: Blood Origin further emphasizes the fact that music is the connective tissue of this universe. Music brings people both within and outside of this world together in ways that dialogue and actions can sometimes fail to. Aside from Éile’s haunting melody in the trailer, I can’t wait to see how music will factor into Blood Origin. Even if her songs aren’t as campy as Jaskier’s ballads, they’ll likely be just as impactful.