One of the most confusing changes the Netflix show made is the armor for Nilfgaard. The stuff in the games is so detailed, and looks amazing, the stuff from the show is atrocious.
I think they explained it as wanting it to look like nothing that we've seen before. I guess they succeeded. I've never seen armour shaped like a scrotum made from trash bags and a tiny dickhead sallet before. It overall is a crying shame that we have Wild Hunt and the expansion DLCs and compare that to a Netflix production with probably comparable budget looks like a bad school theater production.
Virtually everything about the show pales in comparisons to the games. Even Cavill's Geralt, being the best part of the show, still falls short of the games' take imo.
Netflix did the dirty trick where they make the 1st episode really good and the rest mediocre as fuck. That end battle of season 1 was so bad. The way the mages do their spells was like a kids film. Also Geralt barely uses his signs or potions
Nilfgaard is quite obviously inspired by the Roman Empire. People from overseas settle in an area, where they form a society with the local population, going on to create a republic, which would be overthrown by a military dictator, who rebuilds it into an empire. Meanwhile, the people of the country’s original heartland see themselves as true citizens and everyone else as conquered people, but the line between citizen and foreigner grows ever more blurry with time. Also, the nation is able to conquer it’s equally, or even richer neighbors, due to their unmatched military prowess, but fail to conquer a far-away backwater due to supply issues and local resistance.
Sapowski even talked about how nilfgaards wars with the North is a reimagened version of romes invasions of central and western Europe, but in a medieval fantasy setting
@@BruhMoment-cs6tj I think aesthetically they’re based on the Holy Roman Empire (the devs are polish, so that’s a must), but culturally and politically, Nilfgaard is more similar to the original Roman Empire, as the HRE was more of a regular medieval realm than an actual empire, where the emperor held little real power outside his personal domain and the local lords acting as practically independent, something you don’t see in Nilfgaard.
I love how Nilfgaard conduct war. Extremely smart and ruthless. Not saying they never make mistakes and loses. But they are that one very competent enemy whom you know to be not just strong but cunning also.
In one of the Gwent game information on Nilfgaard, it is revealed that the economy of Nilfgaard is built on military footing. That means that the Emperors are forced to expand the realm in order to keep the economy and society running in its current form. By the way, if my memory does not mislead me, at least in the games, the Empress Ciri ending also hints at a marriage between Morvran Voorhis and Ciri. Personally, he is one of the most likeable Nilfgaardians so I would be fine with that. :)
I'm always a sucker for empires with aspects of rome. Also the imperial German overtones to their ascetics. Chefs kiss! Love y'alls lore vids. Im delving back into Conan Exiles, mainly because of Neebs gaming along with the urge to build and conquer lol. I wouldnt mind seeing you cover some Conan lore.
@@the_dropbear4392 Especially in the games it's very obvious to me that the inspiration behind Nilfgaard is the HRE. I mean the Northern Kingdoms = Poland and the eastern European states right? And who threatened those states all the time? That's right, the HRE. Aside from that, most of the Nilfgaardian character names are obvious variants of old German / Dutch names. What they added to that are some fictional names that invoke the same vibe. Same goes for the language. Its fictional stuff, but to me it sounds very much like they tried to give it that old Northern European feel. In contrast, neither the Nilfgaardian names nor the language sound anything like ancient Roman to me, and I had Latin in school for 6 years. In the games, some of the Nilfgaardian accents in the games are so close to the Dutch accent that I can just tell that they sometimes hired Dutch voice actors and told them to just go with it in their original accent. Oh and the similarities to the Roman Empire..you do realise that HRE = Holy Roman Empire because they wánted to present themselves as (the successor to) that state? If you have good arguments for proposing that Nilfgaard is yet based on the original Roman Empire though, I am quite curious to hear them. Maybe there's some things that I have overlooked..
@@lf2208 Hm, Nilfgaard is also based upon the duchy of Burgundy in the 14th and 15th century. Hence the estetics of armours, buildings, uniforms. Hence the Dutch/Flemish sounding names, hence the language which is quite readable for native Dutch/Flemish speakers. It has elements of the Roman empire (take the sun, sol invictus for example) and HRE too.
Nilfgaard is my favorite faction. I love that their language is an Elf and man hybrid. Their armor is some of the coolest armor. I’m not even talking about the fancy impera brigade armor. I’m talking about the ones the poorer infantry wear. That look like metal horns on their helmet. The only helmets I like better are Skelliges. Not the ones with horns but the Roman helmets with the metal pieces on top that look similar to the Nilfgaard helmets. Would love to see Nilfgaard adopt those Roman looking helmets.
People saying Nilfgaardians are not the bad guys in the Northern Wars clearly didn't read the books. Nilfgaard is portrayed much more favourably in games than in books, where it is descrbed how Nilfgaard pursues a regular policy of cultural genocides on conquered territories, not to mention a system of mass slavery. None of those are present in the North. With all the faults of the Northern Realms, they are not an aggressive and imperialistic power, while Nilfgaard is. North wages a just war in defense of their land and customs, while Nilfgaard wages a war of imperial aggression. Radovid III did nothing wrong. Long live Redania.
Pogroms happened a lot in the Northern Kingdoms. Some were justified, some were not. Practically the humans in the north were suspicious of the non - humans and the mages for a reason; because they supported Niflgaard in the wars. Long live Redania.
@@Manchevo also there are no non humans in nilfgaard and if you read the book named "civil war in toussaint" you will understand that nilfgaardian ancestors weren't that tolerant. they also commited genocide in vergen.
Wouldn't it be amazing if the next topic covering the World of the Witcher is about a certain Northern Kingdom? Perhaps the one with white lillies on its banner...
It's an eyeopening video to a Gwent player. Many of images in this video are in the card of Gwent like the Amnesty, Bratheen curse, etc but I have never known the context. Ty for this video
Thank you for this really good explanation! It kept us really confused on all of the references to the usurper but it never really explained anything. This makes that side of things make much more sense.
It's a shame you didn't mention any of the future facts about Nilfgaard and Northern Realms from the books. Some of them even contradict the endings of the Witcher 3
@@souhaib2347 ohhh, I don't remember clearly anymore. I was fresh from reading the books when I came back to the Witcher 3 i search for things that don't add up. So, offhand: 1. Ciri haven't appeared in the history books after she disappeared in the Lady of the Lake. 2. The Northern Realms were still around about 100 years after the saga ended. This and the previous fact makes the Empress ending of the game questionable. 3. Morvran became an Emperor after all. There was a lot more, but I don't recall anything else off my head.
@@kikosawa Also, emperor Emhyr was dethroned if I remember correctly. Also, they were teaching about war against the Nord similarly as Nazis about WW1 - they were talking about dagger to the back or something similar.
@@kikosawa So basically Radovid's ending is canon. Emhyr is assassinated by Nilfgaardian nobles and merchants and Morvran Vooris becomes the new Emperor. Makes sense. Gwent game also makes Radovid winning canon.
This was a grand video, I was always confused when it came to the origins of the Nilfgaard Empire, I suppose its not clear cut in general. Still, was a very good and informative video on the matter, since I really loved the Witcher 3.
Yeah just looking at their soldiers you can see the overmatch. All of them have heavy, metal armor, clearly of good quality. Nothern soldiers very often have only cloth armor at best.
@@Tom_Cruise_Missile IRL you could just run circles around an army all clad in heavy armor... torch their cities and forts on the run, and wear them out on the march before hitting them when they're weak. Heavy armor is only a boon when your enemy rides out to meet you without pulling such tactics first.
In the Witcher world, chaos and violence rules. Radovid is a tyrant...and insane. Emhyr var Emreis is an autocratic monarch and fully capable of terrible acts...but he's NOT insane. The Nilfs commit atrocities, but then so does every other kingdom and race. As overpowering and totalitarian as the Nilf Empire may be...they have rules. Hard, absolute rules but unless you run into them in the no man's lands or encounter mercenaries hired by the Nilfs, you can pretty much know what you're dealing with. Nilf logic says "These are the rules. Obey and everything will be orderly and fine...take Toussaint as an example. But...transgress and you die." Pure, simple and not chaotic. Perhaps Emhyr's early life and the curse he was under formed his outlook...he does not like chaos. "Disobey and you do the hemp fandango, but bend the knee, pay your taxes and you get to keep what's yours." You get a glimpse of it in White Orchard when you encounter the commander of the Nilf garrison and his actions with the grain farmer. You get it when you visit the Army Group "Center" camp in Southeast Velen. To the petty lords and semi autonomous strong men of the Northern Kingdoms, these iron rules may seem insane. But they aren't. Emhyr may be ruthless but he has a cold grasp of facts. He rarely if ever lets his emotions interfere with his intellect, unlike Radovid, who is just bug-nuts. Emhyr may wipe out a village, but it's strategic...he doesn't do it because his horse stumbled or a bug bit him on the butt. He may burn a sorceress...but he would because of something she did, not simply because she's a sorceress.
It’s truly amazing when someone who has actually has read the books and knows what he is talking about then makes a video that accurately describes what actually happens in the books from the NILFGAARDIAN point of view without putting any new and pointless things in it .. If you look at the Witcher 3 you will realise that it basically is following the plot of the last 3 books in one game yes 5 years after the books have ended but it’s all most exactly the same
@@saekisadako2118 all war is wrong it’s not a matter of point of view Did you even realised the NILFGAARDIAN empire and the Roman Empire are very similar ..between the 2 empires to the way they were formed their politics, their technologies down to the point to who rules them with the one exception being there, Empre give his throne to his daughter and less my history is fairly rusty. No woman ever ran the Roman Empire.
The nilfgaard nobles were angry whit emir for not choosing a partner from their houses, also they had fallen from grace and wanted to rebuilt the senate were they would be the ones ruling the empire, Considering all the options nilfgaard winning is the least worse endings
2:07 It's not certain the Black Seidhes were a thing. The Aen Seidhes themselves don't seems to acknowledge their existence. The only elves in Nilfgaard are the Wood Elves who are not different from their Northren cousins for what we know. 8:59 What is your source ? It's the first time i heard Gaunter was involved with the Ursuper. 11:49 It's also worth mentioning the mage of the Ursuper butched his curse hence why Emhyr transformation wasn't complete and broke at midnight tp come back at dawn. 17:43 The prophecy also mention that Ciri child was to rule over the whole continent and lead humanity to safety when the time of the White Frost came over. I'm not sure why he thought it was so important that he was the father of that child... 18:22 It wasn't just the mages though, the Four Kingdoms also sent a vast army. And Nilfgaard also had mages, Fringilla Vigo was there among other Nilfgaardians sorcerers. And 13 mages died at Mount Sodden, not 8. 27:08 I honestly can't expresse how relieved i am that Emhyr gave up that absurd idea. Fallen for the false Ciri might be too strong of a word though, it was mostly to permanently bound Cintra to Nilfgaard. Your videos are quite good and well informed. Very few mistakes here and there but that happen to the bests. I too was wrong about some things in TW. All in all, you're doing great and i love it^^
Emhir launched the invasion of the north with one, and only one goal in mind. To marry Cirilla. His entire plan revolved around it. He learned of the legend of the elder blood, which was a bloodline of powerful magic users basically sheared by the sorcerers, with the two most famous members being Lara Doren and the rebel leader Falca. Anyway, he learned from a wizard that the bloodline of Callante will produce a powerful mage that will be able to control space and time at will with minimum effort, that mage was or is to be Cilrilla's son, which he was going to turn into the next emperor. After seducing Pavetta and producing an offspring, he hatched plan to fake his death and eliminating his uncomfortable spouse at the same time, then he managed to to take back the throne and launched his northern campaign. During his second campaign his agents managed to capture Cirilla, however the girl turned out to be a look alike planted as a decoy, a fact only Emhir knew, later he wed this girl to cement his rule over Cintra (Which for anyone else was the real reason to hunt the girl, the mission was not secret at all, only the intent) and abandoned his goal of capturing the real Cirilla on basically a whim.
Did Emhyr marry Pavetta in the books? Or was he just a secret lover? ...I would never understand from watching the Netflix show why Emhyr would have to do all the effort to conquer Cintra, if he'd have a claim to the Cintran throne anyway by marrying Pavetta
@@nymphey the books are more complicated, emhyr marries pavetta, after around a decade or so, he kills her with the help of vilgefortz. The rest, ill let you to learn of if you read the books cause the complications are very interesting
Events in Witcher 2 and 3 are supposed to be far more complicated, cause many storylines from the main story are not continued, the remakes hopefully emphasize on this part, cause the entire trilogy needs an overhaul in the political aspects of the story and continue after the situations the realms of the north were left off in during the end of the lady of the lake book.
@@Swedishmafia101MemeCorporation yeah. also gnomes and dwarves, vrans, unicorns and other sentient species which went extinct up to the books. Elves are *mean*
It is possible the allies that brought him to power bared him from killing the child. Especially after the child was deformed and cursed. As following a Byzantine style fashion being deformed significant weakens their claim.
Nilfgaard is my absolute favourite Faction in the Witcher franchise ( Gloir aen Ard Feainn, Gloir aen Deithwen ) but where in the Lore is it stated that the Usurper got the "help" of Gaunter O'Dimm ? It wouldn't surprise me in the least if O'Dimm thought it'd be loads of fun to overthrow the Var Emreis dynasty, but i don't ever recall reading about it. I also don't think the Usurper just kindly "exiled" young Emhyr. Typically when you murder a Ruler and take over, you don't leave his relatives alive to come back and seek vengeance. And the Usurper doesn't strike me as someone who'd be above killing a child after torturing his Father, most likely in front of him, and then letting a Mage torture said child and curse him for shits and giggles. From what i gathered, Duke Ardal aep Dahy helped Emhyr escape to the North because he was most likely going to be killed, and while with Aep Dahy learned from a Mage ( Xarthisius ) that a cure to his curse would be found in Cintra. Chances are the Usurper sent agents after Emhyr too, but once beyond Nilfgaardian borders, they lost track of him. Just a shame that many years later Ardal would himself be part of a conspiration against Emhyr, who doesn't take kindly to betrayal. Also, personally, i think that Nilfgaard winning the War is the best outcome. Redania is the only thing that stands between Emhyr and complete conquest of the Northern Kingdoms. Once Redania's off the picture, the rest will surrender and collapse, effectively ushering the Continent into a new era of Peace and prosperity, under some kind of "Pax Nilfgaardia". Because without Nilfgaard coming to knock on the Northern Kingdoms' gates every few years, they pretty much spend most of their time trying to invade each others. If Nilfgaard wins, it's the last time the Continent will know War for a long long time.
Regarding O'Dimm, it's shown in the expansion trailer of Gwent: Master Mirror, but i don't know how canon can it be considered. Personally, I really like it as a concept.
The Netflix witcher series has had a 300 million dollar budget, and everything in that show fails in comparison writing, cgi, costumes, and design. I truly think that shows nowadays are just laundering schemes
Why didn't you mention the book canon, that the North will eventually fall? Delannoy, Flourens, linguist and historian, b. 1432 in Vicovaro, in the years 1460-1475 secretary and librarian at the imperial court. A tireless researcher of folk legends and tales, he authored many treatises considered classics of ancient language and literature of the Empire’s northern regions. His most important works are: “Myths and Legends of the Peoples of the North”, “Fairytales and Stories”, “The Surprise, or the Myth of the Elder Blood”, “The Witcher Saga”, and “The Witcher and the Witcheress, or the Never-ending Search”. From 1476 professor at the Academy of Castel Graupian, where d. 1510. Effenberg and Talbot, Encyclopaedia Maxima Mundi, vol. IV
it doesn't say that the north will fail. as for the empire's northren regions, it means northren parts of the empire like cintra, nazair, and attre, not the northren kingdoms
I think they're just as bad as each other. Nilfgaard engages in state-sanctioned slavery, but most of the Northern kingdoms regularly engage in state-sanctioned genocide of minorities. Take your pick lol.
Emphyr as a Witcher 3 only player doesn’t make much sense even after reading the lore for him in game but since when did he want to marry and bone ciri
I don't believe that the Nerf Guardian Emperor was going to marry and impregnate his own daughter I mean why would he do that what would he get out of it
Long live Redania, long live the North. My couple playthroughs I could never not put Djikstra on the throne. Radovid is Hitler, Emyr is Hitler without the overt racism and my darling Ciri needs to follow her father and become a Witcher. Hes reasonable, puts an end to the unnecessary non human hunts puts Redania back on the path of fostering the brightest minds on the continent while reforming existing systems to better the lives of peasants all while saving (whats left) of the north from an extremely aggressive imperial empire. I don’t like him personally but he’s the best option.
@@muslimayupov yeah I know, he doesn’t have the overt racism is what I said. He still replaces the populations of the north with Nilfgardian settlers and commits their population to slavery
@@kingt0295 it also applies to non humans, which is why the dwarves helped the north. also ironic there are many non human settlers in the north whereas nilfgaard dont have them. replacing is the same as killing. not to menton nilfgaard also deindustrializes conqured lands to make them dependant on nilfgaardian capital city
The kings of the north were fools the Mages were the only Advantage they had over the Guardians they should have tried to have as many Majors as they could I just said she can train them in combat magical combat or whatever using this ranged Warfare
@Radonatorr Except killing Non humans and mages. Radovid was a massive piece of shit which only a loser would look up too. Dijkstra also wasn't the best person but atleast he was smart and competent. Would have chosen him if he didn't try too kill Roche.
@@pjishomo except? Learn the lore pal. Radovid hunting the non-humans and sorceress is the best thing a ruler can do for the North. Radovid is the best choice to rule the North.
Hope you all enjoy some Witcher lore! I got many more topics I want to cover so let me know if there’s any you’d like to see!
Skellige would be fun, love The Witcher verse lol so pretty much anything is great stuff as far as I'm concerned
Glavitzen provocation
Battle of Brenna
Nilfgaard economy and dumping prices in the North
Witcher schools
You just give away the biggest spoiler from the books
Do more Witcher! Make it a series of all the kingdoms/realms within the Witcher, say skellige, temeria and Redania
One of the most confusing changes the Netflix show made is the armor for Nilfgaard. The stuff in the games is so detailed, and looks amazing, the stuff from the show is atrocious.
I think they explained it as wanting it to look like nothing that we've seen before. I guess they succeeded. I've never seen armour shaped like a scrotum made from trash bags and a tiny dickhead sallet before.
It overall is a crying shame that we have Wild Hunt and the expansion DLCs and compare that to a Netflix production with probably comparable budget looks like a bad school theater production.
@@l0rfahahahahaha. Best. Description. Ever.😂
The entire show is atrocious
Virtually everything about the show pales in comparisons to the games. Even Cavill's Geralt, being the best part of the show, still falls short of the games' take imo.
It was probably to expensive for the shiwrunners. Armor is really expensive.
Ah Nilfgaard, if the Holy Roman Empire was actually Roman, spoke Dutch and was outfitted by Hugo Boss.
lol Holy Roman Empire was basically the eu
This is worth more than the entire netflix series.
I’m available if they wanna chat!
Netflix did the dirty trick where they make the 1st episode really good and the rest mediocre as fuck. That end battle of season 1 was so bad. The way the mages do their spells was like a kids film. Also Geralt barely uses his signs or potions
I've been looking for this for ages
I lernt more about nilfguard here than the entire netflix series to date lol great work!
I only saw first 50 seconds of this so far but I am already sure that you are right
Nilfgaard is quite obviously inspired by the Roman Empire. People from overseas settle in an area, where they form a society with the local population, going on to create a republic, which would be overthrown by a military dictator, who rebuilds it into an empire. Meanwhile, the people of the country’s original heartland see themselves as true citizens and everyone else as conquered people, but the line between citizen and foreigner grows ever more blurry with time. Also, the nation is able to conquer it’s equally, or even richer neighbors, due to their unmatched military prowess, but fail to conquer a far-away backwater due to supply issues and local resistance.
Sapowski even talked about how nilfgaards wars with the North is a reimagened version of romes invasions of central and western Europe, but in a medieval fantasy setting
I thought it was based on Holy Roman Empire
Germany
@@BruhMoment-cs6tj Becouse it was too.
@@BruhMoment-cs6tj I think aesthetically they’re based on the Holy Roman Empire (the devs are polish, so that’s a must), but culturally and politically, Nilfgaard is more similar to the original Roman Empire, as the HRE was more of a regular medieval realm than an actual empire, where the emperor held little real power outside his personal domain and the local lords acting as practically independent, something you don’t see in Nilfgaard.
Ngl, turning the graves of your enemies into the floor of a ballroom is a gigachad move of unfathomable proportions.
I am a simple man, I see a Nilfgaard lore video and I upvote
are there many Nilfgaard videos?
This isn't reddit
like*
You also are totally original...
@@warnerro10mf chronically online
Its raining its pouring, Emperor Emphyr is snoring, he went to bed and wept himself come morning!
Now listen careful. You’re never to sing that rhyme again. Never. And you’re not to play with Chetty no more.
@@WiseFishit’s raining it’s pouring, Emperor Emphyr is snoring, he went to bed and wept himself come mourning!
@@TroyTheCatFish* hangs everyone in the entire village *
Who makes Emphyr wet his panty? Cavalry from Nimnar valley!
Pam puram Pam Pam
I seriously did not expect gaunter o'dimm to have any kind of tie in with nilfgaard's rise
Nilfgaard is the Roman Empire, so Gaunter o'dimm must be Jesus.
@@PaciatNo, he is the guy that adviced Octavian to avenge Caesar.
@@Paciat sol invictius makes more sense for o’dimm
@@Paciat Gaunter is Satan :)
As far as i know, Gaunter o dimm is 100 percent a creation of CD Projekt(probably best villain in history), and does not appear in the books at all
I love how Nilfgaard conduct war. Extremely smart and ruthless. Not saying they never make mistakes and loses. But they are that one very competent enemy whom you know to be not just strong but cunning also.
Ngl i think the Nilfgaardians are my favorite faction in The Witcher, their whole schtick is just so cool. Especially their designs in the games!
Suddenly the "MILFGUARD" advertisements around town in Cyberpunk 2077 makes a little more sense.
In one of the Gwent game information on Nilfgaard, it is revealed that the economy of Nilfgaard is built on military footing. That means that the Emperors are forced to expand the realm in order to keep the economy and society running in its current form.
By the way, if my memory does not mislead me, at least in the games, the Empress Ciri ending also hints at a marriage between Morvran Voorhis and Ciri. Personally, he is one of the most likeable Nilfgaardians so I would be fine with that. :)
So they are just parasites who deindustrialize other nations
Definitely not military, their economy works by having the manpower and resources to undercut their opponents and flood the market of other nations.
@@the_dropbear4392 that's why they deindustrialized aedirn and many other northren kingdoms so it's safe to say that it's military as well.
It seem like nazi germant :P
appearances can be deceiving, i don't trust Nilfgaardian nobles to be really kind.
I'm always a sucker for empires with aspects of rome. Also the imperial German overtones to their ascetics. Chefs kiss! Love y'alls lore vids. Im delving back into Conan Exiles, mainly because of Neebs gaming along with the urge to build and conquer lol. I wouldnt mind seeing you cover some Conan lore.
Little bit of HRE stuff in there too
@@itnotmeitu3896basically based on HRE
@@djocharablaikan8601it's based on the roman empire
@@the_dropbear4392
Especially in the games it's very obvious to me that the inspiration behind Nilfgaard is the HRE.
I mean the Northern Kingdoms = Poland and the eastern European states right?
And who threatened those states all the time? That's right, the HRE.
Aside from that, most of the Nilfgaardian character names are obvious variants of old German / Dutch names.
What they added to that are some fictional names that invoke the same vibe.
Same goes for the language. Its fictional stuff, but to me it sounds very much like they tried to give it that old Northern European feel.
In contrast, neither the Nilfgaardian names nor the language sound anything like ancient Roman to me, and I had Latin in school for 6 years.
In the games, some of the Nilfgaardian accents in the games are so close to the Dutch accent that I can just tell that they sometimes hired Dutch voice actors and told them to just go with it in their original accent.
Oh and the similarities to the Roman Empire..you do realise that HRE = Holy Roman Empire because they wánted to present themselves as (the successor to) that state?
If you have good arguments for proposing that Nilfgaard is yet based on the original Roman Empire though, I am quite curious to hear them.
Maybe there's some things that I have overlooked..
@@lf2208 Hm, Nilfgaard is also based upon the duchy of Burgundy in the 14th and 15th century. Hence the estetics of armours, buildings, uniforms. Hence the Dutch/Flemish sounding names, hence the language which is quite readable for native Dutch/Flemish speakers.
It has elements of the Roman empire (take the sun, sol invictus for example) and HRE too.
I heckin love Nilfgaard, my favorites faction in Gwent.
Continue this and make it a series about the kingdoms within the Witcher universe!
Nilfgaard is my favorite faction. I love that their language is an Elf and man hybrid. Their armor is some of the coolest armor. I’m not even talking about the fancy impera brigade armor. I’m talking about the ones the poorer infantry wear. That look like metal horns on their helmet. The only helmets I like better are Skelliges. Not the ones with horns but the Roman helmets with the metal pieces on top that look similar to the Nilfgaard helmets. Would love to see Nilfgaard adopt those Roman looking helmets.
People saying Nilfgaardians are not the bad guys in the Northern Wars clearly didn't read the books. Nilfgaard is portrayed much more favourably in games than in books, where it is descrbed how Nilfgaard pursues a regular policy of cultural genocides on conquered territories, not to mention a system of mass slavery. None of those are present in the North. With all the faults of the Northern Realms, they are not an aggressive and imperialistic power, while Nilfgaard is. North wages a just war in defense of their land and customs, while Nilfgaard wages a war of imperial aggression.
Radovid III did nothing wrong. Long live Redania.
Its nice to see a person who knows the lore. The nords and the dwarves built Vergen together and those nilfgaardian bastards commited genocide there
Who said imperialism is bad?, Piss off nordling
Pogroms happened a lot in the Northern Kingdoms. Some were justified, some were not. Practically the humans in the north were suspicious of the non - humans and the mages for a reason; because they supported Niflgaard in the wars.
Long live Redania.
@@Manchevo also there are no non humans in nilfgaard and if you read the book named "civil war in toussaint" you will understand that nilfgaardian ancestors weren't that tolerant. they also commited genocide in vergen.
Are the books and games in the same canon?
Wouldn't it be amazing if the next topic covering the World of the Witcher is about a certain Northern Kingdom? Perhaps the one with white lillies on its banner...
FOR TEMERIA!!
It's an eyeopening video to a Gwent player. Many of images in this video are in the card of Gwent like the Amnesty, Bratheen curse, etc but I have never known the context. Ty for this video
38 min master piece. Dang if i wasn't at work id warch this twice.
Amzeing vid as always mr.wisefish
Thanks for checking it out! Best of luck with work
I am at work, and watching this between while taking phone calls. 😅
@@mitwhitgaming7722 tell them the good word about Nilfgaard won’t you?
Thank you for this really good explanation! It kept us really confused on all of the references to the usurper but it never really explained anything. This makes that side of things make much more sense.
Dude your lore videos are awesome😁
I wish I could side with Dijkstra but I can’t kill Ves or Roche it’s not worth it
It is worth it. Roche wanted to terminate Iorveth and Geralt in Loc Muinne
It's a shame you didn't mention any of the future facts about Nilfgaard and Northern Realms from the books. Some of them even contradict the endings of the Witcher 3
So what Happens in the Future in the Books?
@@souhaib2347 ohhh, I don't remember clearly anymore. I was fresh from reading the books when I came back to the Witcher 3 i search for things that don't add up.
So, offhand:
1. Ciri haven't appeared in the history books after she disappeared in the Lady of the Lake.
2. The Northern Realms were still around about 100 years after the saga ended. This and the previous fact makes the Empress ending of the game questionable.
3. Morvran became an Emperor after all.
There was a lot more, but I don't recall anything else off my head.
@@kikosawa ok thanks for the Answer
@@kikosawa Also, emperor Emhyr was dethroned if I remember correctly. Also, they were teaching about war against the Nord similarly as Nazis about WW1 - they were talking about dagger to the back or something similar.
@@kikosawa So basically Radovid's ending is canon. Emhyr is assassinated by Nilfgaardian nobles and merchants and Morvran Vooris becomes the new Emperor.
Makes sense. Gwent game also makes Radovid winning canon.
This was a grand video, I was always confused when it came to the origins of the Nilfgaard Empire, I suppose its not clear cut in general. Still, was a very good and informative video on the matter, since I really loved the Witcher 3.
Well, in fact, Nilfgaard is the first Empire this world have seen so far. We only heard about rumours about Ophir xP
Well to be fair they are more military Organized than the northern realms
Yeah just looking at their soldiers you can see the overmatch. All of them have heavy, metal armor, clearly of good quality. Nothern soldiers very often have only cloth armor at best.
@@Tom_Cruise_Missilepretty much poor quality of armor meanwhile Heavy Armor has a lot much better protection than cloth
@@Tom_Cruise_Missile IRL you could just run circles around an army all clad in heavy armor... torch their cities and forts on the run, and wear them out on the march before hitting them when they're weak. Heavy armor is only a boon when your enemy rides out to meet you without pulling such tactics first.
@@majorpwner241bro they're not all 100% heavy infantry
@@majorpwner241 Until the Nilfgaard cavalry arrive and skewer whatever simpletons that thought they can outmaneuverver the Empire on foot.
PLEASE do more videos on the other nations in The Witcher universe!!!
Then Netflix come in and say: You know what ? what if we make this bad as shit.. and then we got the neflix version of nilfgard
As a member of a Nilfgaardian LARP group called Nazair Brigade I really appreciate this 🖤
Is it lef by a guy with a small mustache and a penchant for political speeches?
@@Ghaztoir Mugabe?
Regardless of their origins and history we can all agree they did nothing wrong
I agree! I can't stand uncivilized properganda against them!
So, the history of Nilfgaard is essentially a combination of the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and the successors to the Holy Roman Empire.
In the Witcher world, chaos and violence rules. Radovid is a tyrant...and insane. Emhyr var Emreis is an autocratic monarch and fully capable of terrible acts...but he's NOT insane. The Nilfs commit atrocities, but then so does every other kingdom and race. As overpowering and totalitarian as the Nilf Empire may be...they have rules. Hard, absolute rules but unless you run into them in the no man's lands or encounter mercenaries hired by the Nilfs, you can pretty much know what you're dealing with. Nilf logic says "These are the rules. Obey and everything will be orderly and fine...take Toussaint as an example. But...transgress and you die." Pure, simple and not chaotic. Perhaps Emhyr's early life and the curse he was under formed his outlook...he does not like chaos. "Disobey and you do the hemp fandango, but bend the knee, pay your taxes and you get to keep what's yours." You get a glimpse of it in White Orchard when you encounter the commander of the Nilf garrison and his actions with the grain farmer. You get it when you visit the Army Group "Center" camp in Southeast Velen. To the petty lords and semi autonomous strong men of the Northern Kingdoms, these iron rules may seem insane. But they aren't. Emhyr may be ruthless but he has a cold grasp of facts. He rarely if ever lets his emotions interfere with his intellect, unlike Radovid, who is just bug-nuts. Emhyr may wipe out a village, but it's strategic...he doesn't do it because his horse stumbled or a bug bit him on the butt. He may burn a sorceress...but he would because of something she did, not simply because she's a sorceress.
It’s truly amazing when someone who has actually has read the books and knows what he is talking about then makes a video that accurately describes what actually happens in the books from the NILFGAARDIAN point of view without putting any new and pointless things in it ..
If you look at the Witcher 3 you will realise that it basically is following the plot of the last 3 books in one game yes 5 years after the books have ended but it’s all most exactly the same
their point of view is wrong tho
@@saekisadako2118 all war is wrong it’s not a matter of point of view
Did you even realised the NILFGAARDIAN empire and the Roman Empire are very similar ..between the 2 empires to the way they were formed their politics, their technologies down to the point to who rules them with the one exception being there, Empre give his throne to his daughter and less my history is fairly rusty. No woman ever ran the Roman Empire.
The nilfgaard nobles were angry whit emir for not choosing a partner from their houses, also they had fallen from grace and wanted to rebuilt the senate were they would be the ones ruling the empire,
Considering all the options nilfgaard winning is the least worse endings
I am a simple man, I see a Milfguardian lore video and I upvote
Damn you are going to make me download Witcher 1, 2 and 3 again!
Morvran became emperor and the northern kingdoms were still around 100 years after the books. "Radovid won after all."
I didnt know O’Dimm was involved in this 😳
Nice bro!
We need more nilfgaard in dept video's. Keep on doing the good work!
2:07 It's not certain the Black Seidhes were a thing. The Aen Seidhes themselves don't seems to acknowledge their existence. The only elves in Nilfgaard are the Wood Elves who are not different from their Northren cousins for what we know.
8:59 What is your source ? It's the first time i heard Gaunter was involved with the Ursuper.
11:49 It's also worth mentioning the mage of the Ursuper butched his curse hence why Emhyr transformation wasn't complete and broke at midnight tp come back at dawn.
17:43 The prophecy also mention that Ciri child was to rule over the whole continent and lead humanity to safety when the time of the White Frost came over. I'm not sure why he thought it was so important that he was the father of that child...
18:22 It wasn't just the mages though, the Four Kingdoms also sent a vast army. And Nilfgaard also had mages, Fringilla Vigo was there among other Nilfgaardians sorcerers. And 13 mages died at Mount Sodden, not 8.
27:08 I honestly can't expresse how relieved i am that Emhyr gave up that absurd idea. Fallen for the false Ciri might be too strong of a word though, it was mostly to permanently bound Cintra to Nilfgaard.
Your videos are quite good and well informed. Very few mistakes here and there but that happen to the bests. I too was wrong about some things in TW. All in all, you're doing great and i love it^^
I enjoyed the video until he brought up Gaunter O'Dim, which makes it clear that the video mixes book lore with game lore...
Emhir launched the invasion of the north with one, and only one goal in mind. To marry Cirilla. His entire plan revolved around it. He learned of the legend of the elder blood, which was a bloodline of powerful magic users basically sheared by the sorcerers, with the two most famous members being Lara Doren and the rebel leader Falca. Anyway, he learned from a wizard that the bloodline of Callante will produce a powerful mage that will be able to control space and time at will with minimum effort, that mage was or is to be Cilrilla's son, which he was going to turn into the next emperor. After seducing Pavetta and producing an offspring, he hatched plan to fake his death and eliminating his uncomfortable spouse at the same time, then he managed to to take back the throne and launched his northern campaign. During his second campaign his agents managed to capture Cirilla, however the girl turned out to be a look alike planted as a decoy, a fact only Emhir knew, later he wed this girl to cement his rule over Cintra (Which for anyone else was the real reason to hunt the girl, the mission was not secret at all, only the intent) and abandoned his goal of capturing the real Cirilla on basically a whim.
Did Emhyr marry Pavetta in the books? Or was he just a secret lover? ...I would never understand from watching the Netflix show why Emhyr would have to do all the effort to conquer Cintra, if he'd have a claim to the Cintran throne anyway by marrying Pavetta
@@nymphey the books are more complicated, emhyr marries pavetta, after around a decade or so, he kills her with the help of vilgefortz. The rest, ill let you to learn of if you read the books cause the complications are very interesting
they have always been my favourite faction
May the Great Sun light your path, all roads lead to Nilfgaard
Events in Witcher 2 and 3 are supposed to be far more complicated, cause many storylines from the main story are not continued, the remakes hopefully emphasize on this part, cause the entire trilogy needs an overhaul in the political aspects of the story and continue after the situations the realms of the north were left off in during the end of the lady of the lake book.
Now do Redania!
A work of art, thank you and I can't wait for more and more about the witcher universe.
Liked and subscribed.
Please do the Northern Kingdoms next.
I personally feel sorry for the non-humans in the series, since they are always use as a scapegoat constantly by various of human factions.🐱
They weren't the "good ones" either, though. Elves also waged war and genocide on multiple species
@@kikosawa"Humans back to the sea!"
@@Swedishmafia101MemeCorporation yeah. also gnomes and dwarves, vrans, unicorns and other sentient species which went extinct up to the books. Elves are *mean*
Fuck elves, but dwarves are pretty cool
Knife ear
Why the usurper would be so stupid as to exile a claimant to his throne rather than killing him is beyond me
It is possible the allies that brought him to power bared him from killing the child. Especially after the child was deformed and cursed. As following a Byzantine style fashion being deformed significant weakens their claim.
They have some pretty badass armor. Shame that in the netflix show thwy are literally styled to look like pënîses smh 🤦
If they ever make an adult version of The Witcher, there would be Milfgaard.
Nilfgaard armor is completely badass !!
Nilfgaard is my absolute favourite Faction in the Witcher franchise ( Gloir aen Ard Feainn, Gloir aen Deithwen ) but where in the Lore is it stated that the Usurper got the "help" of Gaunter O'Dimm ?
It wouldn't surprise me in the least if O'Dimm thought it'd be loads of fun to overthrow the Var Emreis dynasty, but i don't ever recall reading about it.
I also don't think the Usurper just kindly "exiled" young Emhyr. Typically when you murder a Ruler and take over, you don't leave his relatives alive to come back and seek vengeance. And the Usurper doesn't strike me as someone who'd be above killing a child after torturing his Father, most likely in front of him, and then letting a Mage torture said child and curse him for shits and giggles.
From what i gathered, Duke Ardal aep Dahy helped Emhyr escape to the North because he was most likely going to be killed, and while with Aep Dahy learned from a Mage ( Xarthisius ) that a cure to his curse would be found in Cintra. Chances are the Usurper sent agents after Emhyr too, but once beyond Nilfgaardian borders, they lost track of him. Just a shame that many years later Ardal would himself be part of a conspiration against Emhyr, who doesn't take kindly to betrayal.
Also, personally, i think that Nilfgaard winning the War is the best outcome. Redania is the only thing that stands between Emhyr and complete conquest of the Northern Kingdoms. Once Redania's off the picture, the rest will surrender and collapse, effectively ushering the Continent into a new era of Peace and prosperity, under some kind of "Pax Nilfgaardia". Because without Nilfgaard coming to knock on the Northern Kingdoms' gates every few years, they pretty much spend most of their time trying to invade each others. If Nilfgaard wins, it's the last time the Continent will know War for a long long time.
Regarding O'Dimm, it's shown in the expansion trailer of Gwent: Master Mirror, but i don't know how canon can it be considered. Personally, I really like it as a concept.
Well, now I know which ending I should try to get in Witcher 3
The Netflix witcher series has had a 300 million dollar budget, and everything in that show fails in comparison writing, cgi, costumes, and design. I truly think that shows nowadays are just laundering schemes
Will you be doing the other nations of the world of the Witcher?
Great video!
Why didn't you mention the book canon, that the North will eventually fall?
Delannoy, Flourens, linguist and historian, b. 1432 in Vicovaro, in the years 1460-1475 secretary and librarian at the imperial court. A tireless researcher of folk legends and tales, he authored many treatises considered classics of ancient language and literature of the Empire’s northern regions. His most important works are: “Myths and Legends of the Peoples of the North”, “Fairytales and Stories”, “The Surprise, or the Myth of the Elder Blood”, “The Witcher Saga”, and “The Witcher and the Witcheress, or the Never-ending Search”. From 1476 professor at the Academy of Castel Graupian, where d. 1510.
Effenberg and Talbot, Encyclopaedia Maxima Mundi, vol. IV
it doesn't say that the north will fail. as for the empire's northren regions, it means northren parts of the empire like cintra, nazair, and attre, not the northren kingdoms
Damn gaunter had a hand to play how cool
It was Philipa who ordered assasination of Vizimer II.
'piss off, Nordling.'
Master Mirror always stirring the pot.
Usurper is the best Emperor nilfgaard ever had imo. Nilfgaard conquered many kingdoms and became the world dominating power under him.
For some reason I read this as Milfguardian Empire :D
That's all well and good, but what about the Milfgaardian Empire?
thx for Guarding all the NILF's for us boys
Nice ❤
So basically the story of the Roman Empire
Can't go wrong with an empire called MilfGuardian.
they need to make a witcher tottal war like they did warhammer fantasy
all so menno coehoorn is the best because i have the same first name haha
Cool idea and seems actually possible
Can you do a video on the history of the Wicher 3 eternal fire as you do history onh all things Wicher 3 I will be looking out for it
This deserves over a million views
5:35 he is the Senate
" There will alway be an Empire, There will always be an Emperor "
Great video
Nilfgaard aren’t the bad guys they just get bad press.
The northern realms are worse in their own way.
Tbh that’s true. Weirdly Nilfgaard are far more open to different races than the North. That said neither are that pleasant tbh
I think they're just as bad as each other. Nilfgaard engages in state-sanctioned slavery, but most of the Northern kingdoms regularly engage in state-sanctioned genocide of minorities.
Take your pick lol.
Less bad by comparison doesn’t make them good. Just ask their slaves.
Greater, lesser, middling. If i had to choose one evil over another, I'd rather not choose at all.
@@loganwoods1590Thank you for this reference. I love The Last Wish. ❤️
nice vid
You have a great voice. I really like to listen to you
Gloir aen ard feainn! Hael Ker’zaer!!
A man of culture I see!
@@WiseFishonly true fans know Nilfgaardian.
Google translate actually flagged this as a foreign language. 🤣
For SIGMAR! kind of vibes
Northern factions too!
That was fucking great
have you ever thought of doing videos about real history? The way you push information across would teach alot of people!
Boring and overdone tbh
So, its the Roman Empire. Got it.
Nilfgaard Forever!!!
Very,very Roman-esk. I dig it.
Temeria next ⚜️⚜️⚜️
Emphyr as a Witcher 3 only player doesn’t make much sense even after reading the lore for him in game but since when did he want to marry and bone ciri
I don't believe that the Nerf Guardian Emperor was going to marry and impregnate his own daughter I mean why would he do that what would he get out of it
Name of the music my dear friend
gaunter o' dimm is such a rascal
Long live Redania, long live the North. My couple playthroughs I could never not put Djikstra on the throne. Radovid is Hitler, Emyr is Hitler without the overt racism and my darling Ciri needs to follow her father and become a Witcher. Hes reasonable, puts an end to the unnecessary non human hunts puts Redania back on the path of fostering the brightest minds on the continent while reforming existing systems to better the lives of peasants all while saving (whats left) of the north from an extremely aggressive imperial empire. I don’t like him personally but he’s the best option.
emhyr is worse tham radovid lmao
@@muslimayupov yeah I know, he doesn’t have the overt racism is what I said. He still replaces the populations of the north with Nilfgardian settlers and commits their population to slavery
@@kingt0295 it also applies to non humans, which is why the dwarves helped the north. also ironic there are many non human settlers in the north whereas nilfgaard dont have them. replacing is the same as killing. not to menton nilfgaard also deindustrializes conqured lands to make them dependant on nilfgaardian capital city
Jesus Christ, i just read thumbnail as Milfgaard.
I mean, i wouldnt complain 😂.
The kings of the north were fools the Mages were the only Advantage they had over the Guardians they should have tried to have as many Majors as they could I just said she can train them in combat magical combat or whatever using this ranged Warfare
The Black Sun Has Risen
E'er y Glòir 👋 (Honor and Glory [ a phrase or a greeting towards comrades.])
Long live Radovid! But respect and upvote to the video 😂
Fuck Radovid. I'm glad I killed him in the game
Radovid III did nothing wrong. Long live Redania!
@Radonatorr
Except killing Non humans and mages. Radovid was a massive piece of shit which only a loser would look up too. Dijkstra also wasn't the best person but atleast he was smart and competent. Would have chosen him if he didn't try too kill Roche.
@@pjishomo except? Learn the lore pal. Radovid hunting the non-humans and sorceress is the best thing a ruler can do for the North. Radovid is the best choice to rule the North.
@@jacquesdealdersberg2452
Please explain in more detail how that is the best for the north ?
Never understand why they didn't hold the walls