By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
It was only five years ago that The Witcher was the hottest series on Netflix and poised to become the next big fantasy franchise on the back of Henry Cavill’s performance as Geralt of Rivia. Since then, Cavill left, and the fans followed as it became clear that the series was doing its own thing and wasn’t going to adapt any of the hit Polish books or even the massively successful game, The Witcher 3. That’s why when The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, the latest animated entry in the franchise, was released, fans knew not to have their hopes up, and even with the lowered expectations, it managed to disappoint fans of the series, fans of the games, and especially, fans of the novels.
Sirens Of The Deep Butchers The Original Story
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep allegedly adapts the short story A Little Sacrifice, a hauntingly beautiful tale of love, both between a King and a mermaid and between the bard Essi and Geralt. In the story, Geralt has to translate between King Agloval and the mermaid Sh’eenaz, with neither wanting to give up their life to be with the other, yet they can’t help but yearn for another. Meanwhile, Essi quickly falls madly in love with Geralt, but she’s not Yennifer, and so the Witcher does not return her feelings.
Everything comes to an end when Sh’eenaz makes the little sacrifice of the title and gives up her tail for legs to live on land with Aglova, while Essi cherishes the pearl she received from Geralt for the rest of her life, even if she never sees him again. The story ends with Dandelion composing a new song about a Witcher and a bard that he only sings one time, unknowingly to a werewolf wandering near the camp who hears the song and becomes entranced, deciding not to attack that night. None of this is a spoiler for The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, which takes the poetic fairy tale and puts the emphasis on all the wrong parts while jettisoning the tragic tale of Essi completely.
Netflix Has Destroyed Everything Good About The Witcher
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is another reminder that Netflix can’t be trusted with the franchise but turning the tragic story into a generic anime about a war between land and sea, going so far as to include entire battles. The pearl that Essi cherishes so much never appears, not even as a fleeting nod to book readers, and the tragic ending of the book is left out completely, replaced with a happy ending. Everything that makes A Little Sacrifice a beloved story has been replaced with random fighting, characters behaving so differently they might as well be entirely new creations by Netflix, and voice acting performances that make Peter Dinklage’s line-reading from Destiny of “that wizard came from the moon” sound like Shakespeare.
Fantasy fans are used to being disappointed by book adaptations, whether it’s The Wheel of Time doing its own thing (though it’s getting better with every season), The Watch twisting Terry Pratchett’s Discworld into something unrecognizable, or even Rings of Power, which wanted to show fans a different age of Middle-Earth but needed one and a half seasons to hit its stride. The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is another reminder that Henry Cavill, a huge nerd, and fan of the original books, left because he felt the producers weren’t respecting the source material. If movies like this are what fans can expect from Netflix going forward, it won’t be long before all of the show’s fans walk out behind him.
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is now streaming on Netflix, but you can find the original short story, A Little Sacrifice, as part of the collection, Sword of Destiny.
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