The Hexer (TV series)

The Hexer (Polish: Wiedźmin) is the international title of both a movie (2001) and a television series (2002) based on the witcher short stories by Andrzej Sapkowski, although it is more commonly referred to as The Witcher by fans since the release of The Witcher computer game. Both the movie and the television series were directed by Marek Brodzki, written by Michał Szczerbic, and produced by Lew Rywin. The role of Geralt was played by Michał Żebrowski, and the music was composed by Grzegorz Ciechowski.

Consisting of 13 episodes, the TV series came out one year after the movie. It was much more coherent than the confusing movie, but was still considered a failure mostly due to the film's already bad reputation and due to vast changes to the source material.

Cast
Main characters:
 * Michał Żebrowski - Geralt of Rivia
 * Zbigniew Zamachowski - Dandelion (Jaskier)
 * Marta Bitner - Ciri
 * Grażyna Wolszczak - Yennefer of Vengerberg
 * Maciej Kozłowski - Gwidon/Falwick

Recurring characters:
 * Ewa Wiśniewska - Calanthe
 * Anna Dymna - Nenneke
 * Jerzy Nowak - Vesemir
 * Wojciech Duryasz - Old Witcher
 * Kinga Ilgner - Renfri
 * Aleksander Bednarz - Mousesack (Myszowór)
 * Magdalena Warzecha - Visenna
 * Agnieszka Dygant - Toruviel

List of episodes
The Hexer theatrical movie is a compilation of material from various episodes.

Differences between the books and the series
The makers of the TV series and movie made many changes to the plot of the Witcher short stories, the major ones being:
 * In the books, Geralt was given to the witchers by his mother, Visenna and never knew his father. In the series, he was taken from his parents by the Witchers through the Law of Surprise.
 * In the books, there was no actual witcher code, although Geralt made up a code of his own. In the series, the witchers have a code that allows them only to fight in an "honorable" way (even with monsters).
 * In the books, Vesemir was a witcher. In the series, he is a priest. Some of the characteristics of Vesemir the witcher were given to the Old Witcher in the series.
 * In the books, Geralt was never treated as an outcast by other witchers, while he is in the series.
 * In the books, there are no female witchers, while a school of female witchers exists in the series.
 * In the books, Geralt first met Ciri in the Brokilon forest, not in the Melitele temple in Ellander, as in the series, although she does spend some time in the temple in Blood of Elves.
 * Falwick's role was greatly expanded in order to make him a worthy nemesis for Geralt in the series.
 * In the books, The Order of the White Rose was not as prominently present as in the series and had no ties to Nilfgaard nor Renfri.
 * In the books, Nenneke and Iola didn't die.

Online release
The series has been unofficially released with English subtitles on the Internet. Watch the videos here.