Dhruv Sharma
Tamal Kundu
While the Geralt of Rivia embarks on his routinely monster hunting quest, very subtly, Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ unfolds a deeper intricate storyline that foreshadows a war and a dark underlying prophecy. If you’re an ardent fan of Sapkowski’s work with the original books or if you’ve spent your entire childhood playing the critically acclaimed games of the series, you have a lot to look forward to in the first season of ‘The Witcher.’
That being said, as expected, ‘The Witcher,’ being the R-rated show that it is, does not hold not back when it comes to portraying graphic sex and nudity, especially in the first half. Here’s a list of all the sex scenes of The Witcher and how they play a role in its overarching storyline. Read on!
9. Reunion (Season 2 Episode 6)
When the second season of ‘The Witcher’ began streaming on Netflix, many fans were disappointed by the lack of nudity and sex compared to season 1. However, according to the series creator Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, this was completely intentional. She believes that sex, violence, nudity, and similar things have to be story-driven and doesn’t want to employ them just for shock value. Hissrich said in an interview that the second season was all about the evolution of family. And this is indeed true. Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer become a family by the end of the season.
While Hissrich and her team wanted to avoid gratuitous depictions of sexual activities, the second season isn’t completely devoid of it. Unconfirmed reports about a sex scene between Geralt and Triss Merigold floated around in the months leading up to the release of the second season. Given that it isn’t there, we can safely assume that it was kept out if it was filmed in the first place.
In season 2 episode 6, titled ‘Dear Friend,’ Geralt leaves Caer Morhen with Ciri. During a fight with the Chernobog that appeared in the previous episode, Geralt’s horse Roach suffers mortal injuries, and the Witcher is forced to kill it as an act of mercy. He then takes Ciri to the Temple of Melitele, where he reunites with Yennefer. In season 2, Hissrich and her team handle things much more subtly. Ciri walks in when Geralt and Yennefer share a kiss. She later quickly slips out of the room, realizing that these two need some time alone with each other. The scene shifts and we catch up with other characters. A considerable time has passed by the time we return to Geralt and Yennefer. We can only hope that they spent it rehearsing their intimate knowledge about each other.
8. Power Play (Season 2 Episode 7)
Vilgefortz of Roggeveen and Tissaia de Vries are two extremely powerful magic users and members of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. After the Battle of Sodden Hill, Tissaia believes that Yennefer is dead and struggles to deal with the ensuing grief. She finds a comrade and lover in Vilgefortz, likely not realizing that he has ulterior motives for getting close to her. In season 1, he kills a Northern sorcerer. The implication here probably is that he is pursuing his own interests. With Tissaia’s help, he becomes the leader of the Brotherhood.
In one of the earlier scenes of Season 2 episode 7, titled ‘Voleth Meir,’ Tissaia is seen standing on the window of her room. Vilgefortz, also in the room, observes that Tissaia has far too many clothes on and asks her to come back to bed. When she doesn’t, he joins her at the window. It’s an interesting scene. Once more, the writers employ implications and dialogues to denote a sexual encounter.
7. The Butcher of Blavikin (Season 1 Episode 1)
It all starts off when Geralt enters the city of Blaviken with the head of a kikimora. Hoping that he would be able to earn a few bucks in exchange for it, he meets Stregobor in his mansion. This is when ‘The Witcher’ adds a shade of nudity where, as soon as Geralt enters Stregobor’s mansion, he finds himself in the middle of magical illusion. He finds Stregobor surrounded by the veritable garden of Eden in which naked young women pick up apples.
Showing no interest in the carcass of the kikimora, Stregobor tells him all about The Curse of the Black Sun—a curse that primarily affects princesses and turns them evil due to certain mutations since birth. He tells him about it because he expects him to look for a princess named Renfri, who is under the influence of the curse and is out looking for him.
However, Geralt believes that there is no lesser evil and he disagrees to kill her. Much later, in the woods, Geralt runs into Renfri again and she tells him all about the atrocities she had to go through because of Stregobor and her own stepmother. The Witcher still claims that there is no lesser evil and even convinces her to leave Kovir. She agrees and that’s when the two end up having sex out in the woods. There is nothing explicit about this sex scene, and unlike most others in the series, it portrays no form of nudity. However, it does hold a lot of significance in the overarching plot. After the two of them make love, Geralt gets visions of Renfri telling him about “a girl in the woods who is his destiny.” Renfri leaves in the morning and with the events that follow, Geralt acquires the title of “The Butcher of Blaviken”
6. Homecoming (Season 2 Episode 2)
In season 2 episode 2, titled ‘Kaer Morhen,’ Geralt and Ciri finally arrive at the eponymous castle, the home of the Witchers. The monster hunters return to Kaer Morhen every year. They spend the winter there before returning to the Path once more. When Geralt and Ciri get to Kaer Morhen, most of the Witchers are already there. Eskel arrives later than others and arranges a party, inviting sex workers from down the mountain. One of them even recognizes Geralt.
Before arriving at the castle, Eskel fought a leshy and suffered an injury. He doesn’t know that he is changing into a leshy himself. After he gets into a confrontation with Geralt, one of the women drags him away. Later, as they start to get intimate, Eskel transforms and kills the woman.
5. A Mere Coincidence (Season 1 Episode 3)
While episode 2 takes a step back from all the nudity and violence to heavily focuses on the development of Yennefer’s character, Episode 3 brings in some much-awaited boundary-pushing sex scenes. However, it does so by using sex, both as a theme and a secondary plot point.
The episode starts off with a scene in which Geralt is in bed with a prostitute. In the first scene, there is no actual sex and except for some frontal nudity, it isn’t all that graphic either. Even so, this scene again plays a key role in moving the plot in the right direction. The prostitute Geralt sleeps with tells him about another Witcher who fled from Temeria after being confronted by a beast that is haunting King Foltest’s kingdom. In the events that follow, Geralt sets out to Vizima to deal with this beast himself.
4. Power and Acceptance (Season 1 Episode 3)
‘The Witcher’ first introduces us to Yennefer’s tragic past and all the events that lead up to her discovery of her magical abilities. After unknowingly teleporting herself, she meets Istredd for the first time, who tells her that the sorceresses of Thanedd Island will now start looking for her. After being taken away to the Island by Tissaia de Vries, who is a very strong sorceress, to hone her magical skills, she meets Istredd all over again. It is Istredd who eventually makes her believe in herself and even accepts her the way she is.
Episode 3, marking the beginning of their relationship, portrays a gratuitous sex scene in which Istredd and Yeneffer make love. It is, by far, one of the most striking sex scenes of the first season as it boldly displays full nudity. Apart from being mildly titillating, this scene also subtly reflects on Yennefer’s lust for being in control. The pent up passion between the two rapturous characters is pretty evident in this scene, but more than that, it also shows how she wants to be more powerful and in control of her life.
3. A Magical Orgy (Season 1 Episode 1)
It’s almost surprising how so many TV shows these days are dauntlessly portraying group sex scenes. If you think about it, nailing an orgy on screen is no piece of cake. Showing too much in scenes like these can easily come off as borderline porn and showing too little, well, most people may not even notice it. And then, of course, the background score and the camera angles in scenes like these can make all the difference in the world.
‘The Witcher’ nudges on this trivial trend and depicts its own version of an orgy. Now, this scene isn’t as graphic as the one in ‘Sense 8’, neither is it as upscale and creepy as the one in ‘True Detective.’ Even so, it perfectly captures the essence of all the power that the sorceress holds. Backed up with visuals of masked figures, this scene, though it does not really hold any significance in the overarching plot, is quite hilarious.
2. The Last Wish (Season 1 Episode 5)
After getting their hands on a sealed amorpha, Geralt and Jaskier are able to conjure a djinn. However, soon after this, things don’t go as planned and the djinn tries to strangle the Bard. Geralt takes him to Yennefer, who uses her sorcery skills to cure him and with this, the Bard drifts into a peaceful sleep. While he’s at it, the mage and the Witcher share a steamy moment in a bathtub (the much-awaited scene with “Tub Geralt”). Yennefer even claims that his company in itself is enough to pay for what she did for Jaskier. The rest of the episode brims with full frontal nude scenes in which Yennefer tries to bind the djinn with her spells. But little does show that all this while, the djinn was granting Geralt’s wishes and not Jaskier’s.
Later, when she forces Geralt to make his final wish to the djinn, Geralt realizes that the djinn will only kill Yennefer if he does not do something about it. With this, Geralt makes his final wish and the djinn leaves them under the rubble of their Inn. In a matter of seconds, Yennefer and Geralt start making love and to Jaskier’s relief, “they’re very well alive.” This scene again is not as a graphic as one would expect it to be. It, in fact, has a tinge of mirth to it. However, it drops hints on what Geralt’s last wish could have been and also marks the beginning of a flimsy relationship between him and Yennefer.
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1. A Consequence (Season 1 Episode 6)
Yennefer and Geralt cross paths again, and this time around, they do not hold themselves back from expressing what they truly feel for one another. Geralt, a witcher, who is supposed to be devoid of any feelings or emotions, boldly tells Yennefer how much he missed her. Yennefer reciprocates to his confession and they end up making love again. This scene does not really portray any sex at all. It starts with an intimate conversation between Geralt and Yennefer and ends with the two lying next to each other in bed. But we’re still considering it as it holds some gravity in context with the overarching plot. In the same episode, Geralt ends up revealing his “last wish” to Yennefer and she realizes that her feelings are more or less of a consequence of what he wished for.
In the episodes that follow, ‘The Witcher’ makes hefty revelations but sidelines all the sex scenes for a while. Episode 7 and 8 have no nudity or sex which is not really surprising as most TV shows, as they progress further, often dwindle the frequency of nudity.
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