Medievalist world of The Witcher (2007) Video Game

34: “You are pure, you shall live!”: Religious fanaticism and the End of the World in the Medievalist world of The Witcher (2007) Video Game

Juan Manuel Rubio Arévalo, @jmrubio120, Central European University

The Witcher (2007) is a game in which the player embodies Geralt of Rivia, a witcher, a professional and mutated monster slayer. The main narrative revolves around Geralt’s quest to recover the secrets to witcher mutations from a crime syndicate called Salamandra. The Continent, the geographical location where the game takes place, is a neomedievalist space: it features kings, knights, castles, and all the violence and dirt characteristic of gritty medievalism, similar to other fantasy productions like Game of Thrones. However, the presence of modernity of The Witcher is disorienting; although all the aesthetics of the game point to the medieval past, this is a world that has crime syndicates, illegal narcotics, environmental activists, human experimentation, cops and private detectives, etc.

Religion is the exception. In a world with so many modern attitudes, religion remains eminently medievalist: fanatic, intolerant and dangerous. People are shown worshiping demon-deities and the Church promotes mob violence in multiple scenarios. The Order of the Flaming Rose is the army of the Church of the Eternal Fire.; both serve as allegories for the Templars and the medieval Catholic Church, which in the game dedicate themselves to the persecution of “heretics” and non-humans. Although sworn to protect the weak and innocent, the Order is only seen on the game fighting nonhumans (elves, dwarves), who are persecuted more for racial than religious reasons; in fact, there is no clarity about what this “religious conflict” is about. In fact, religion is intertwined with race. Various races seem to have different cults, and throughout the streets of Vizima racial discrimination is evident: non-humans hang from the Order’s barracks, they are placed in the quarantined area so they might die of the plague, and at some point nobles discuss impaling an elf In this way, the Order is at the same time a monastic order, anti-guerrilla unit, and racial police. The fact that no matter what the player does the Order will always be the end villain further reinforces the game’s approach to medieval religion.

Religion works in opposition to magic and alchemy, which are shown as useful scientific knowledge. Sorcerers and alchemists know about genetics, atoms, have laboratories, and their knowledge serves concrete purposes while religion is often rejected as superstition. Religion is shown as useful when it is able to channel magic like in the case of druids, the Lady of the Lake, and the evil god Dagon. However, the Order and the Church are unable to do this, which highlights the superstitious nature of medieval religion in the game. The Order’s Grand Master and constant final villain, Jacques de Aldersberg, embodies this premise. He is powerful because he can wield magic, but dangerous because the zealotry of his religious ideas led him to engage in murder, kidnapping, and human experimentation. This narrative point is further reflected in the gameplay. Geralt can use alchemy to craft potions and bombs and wield magic to aid in combat, but religion has no practical use for the player. In fact, the main characters more often than not dismiss religion and prophecies as superstition

To conclude, even if the cruelty of the world of The Witcher is derived from its modernity (war, gangs, racism), the existential danger derives from the “medievality” of “Catholic” religiosity whose fanaticism channels the worst human impulses in the game.

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