Look, right. We all know some people will complain about anything, especially on the internet. But when people - let's not, and never, call them fans, please - kicked off about the look of the Nilfgaardian armour in Netflix's The Witcher, well, maybe they had a point. It did - it does - look kind of silly.
I've been playing Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales recently, now that it's on Switch (I even wrote about it), and the Nilfgaardian armies are a right bunch of bastards in that game, just as they can be in The Witcher 3 (albeit, by that point of the chronology, to a significantly lesser extent). In the Netflix show, the Black Ones from the south of the Continent press steadily northwards, conquering all in their path, burning entire cities just for a laugh.
Or, at least, they try to. As the final episode of the first season depicted, sometimes these invaders get their arses handed to them. Sometimes being the operative word, as if there's one thing the story of The Witcher 3 tells us, it's that Nilfgaard are the baddest of asses when it comes to military might in this particular fantasy world.
But that armour, in the TV show? With all those ripples, those waves? I mean, it was a look, for sure, and I can dig it in and of itself. But it never really screamed: unstoppable war machine. Kinda more: I forgot to get the iron out and now I have to attend a job interview for said unstoppable war machine in this crinkled outfit, aw dang.
Well, now The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has good news for those angry, angry boys who really didn't enjoy the Nilfgaardians' attire in season one. She spoke to Flickering Myth, on its Writer Experience podcast, and said that "the Nilfgaardian armour will be totally different".
Hissrich explained that season two of the show allowed The Witcher team to "course correct" certain aspects. "Season two is exciting," she said. "It's a chance to look at the mistakes we've made in season one and do it better, tell stories better, improve some things, look at what didn't work, get rid of it, and start over."
And that armour? It's one of those "mistakes" - well, more a choice than a mistake, but in some eyes, blergh, right? Said Hissrich: "The Nilfgaard armour will be totally different. You have that opportunity [in season two] to go back and course correct if you want to."
We reached out to Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach for a comment on the new gear he's expected to be wearing when season two of The Witcher comes out in 2021, but as he's a fictional character, an invention of the imagination of writer Andrzej Sapkowski, I guess we'll be waiting a while for a reply.
Featured Image Credit: NetflixTopics: The Witcher