I actually loved everything they put together, apart from the Nilfgaard pieces, they seemed slightly off-kilter compared to the rest. They aren't barbaric people sweeping the land with plundering and pillaging, they're closer to the ancient Roman empire, oppressive and domineering. The games did a much better job representing that I believe.
Yeah they portrayed Nilfgaardians as simplistic evil clowns. It was nothing like this in books and games. And they 'armor' to top it up... Weakest part of the show, which i otherwise mostly liked.
@@krzysztofkolodziejczyk4335 agreed, so much thought and effort gets put into other parts of the show which was lovely, but the portrayal of the nilfgaardians was really a let down.
Yeah, honestly whenever I think about it I think I'd like to see the Nilfgaardians more like WW1 soldiers than... well, whatever they were in the show. Like, just helmets and cloth uniforms. Weapons that look less like swords and more like tools, shovels and fireplace pokers and meat cleavers, that sort of thing. They're scary because there's thousands of them, and they don't care how expensive your armor was, they'll overwhelm you and stab you in the eyes.
The comments about the Nilfgaard sword being a realistic design that would work in real life almost seem like they're specifically made to contrast with the silly armour design.
The ballsack armor design was made by the costume designer & actually was not even followef the concept arts. As of now, it's safe to say that costume designer basically got sacked.... (pun intended)
For my money swords are overrepresented in the Witcher, unfortunately. They slash through armor that doesn’t look like it could be slashed through and they’re often used just by themselves, without shields and such. Makes sense for Geralt, not for everyone. Edit: In case it looked that way, the comment wasn’t meant to diminish the competence of Nick, Tod or any of the other craftsmen, I admire it very much
That's a common gripe i have with movie armies, in general, too. Nick makes an interesting point around the 7:00 mark that addresses that. It's easy to make a bunch of rubber swords that won't hurt anyone, but if you give extras a couple dozens of rubber polearms you know some yob is going to flail that thing around and poke someone's eye out. I'd love if productions did more often what Colin Farrell's Alexander did. Train a large number of people on proper drill and handling and then use them as stunt performers instead as simple extras.
Yeh, the booms go into great deal about how Mace's crush armour, and sword users go for the gaps etc. Understand Netflix isn't appealing to any dort of combat/history/book buffs, but with the amount of effort they put into some elements its strange how weak they are in others
Agreed, though they've shown a decent variety of weapons most characters shown in the show so far wouldn't last a second against Geralt with a decent sword. Though to avoid spoilers from the books: Bums and thieves with hatchets and spears will eventually be met upon the road
Thanks for the clip reminding me about scrotum nilfgaardian armors. Series dropped the ball heavily in quite a few places and Nilfgaard is definitely one of those. Most professional army of the setting is likened to brigands, good job netflix.
EXACTLY! The Wild Hunt uses two-handed falchions, I had discussions about it with a blacksmith that has a PhD in archeology (medieval european weapons, specifically - his name is Dr. Fabrice Cognot, check him out) as I am having a sword inspired by their blades forged myself. Honestly the netflix nonsense is all over the place thematically, while I am sure the man with Tod here knows his weapons, he certainly is not well versed in The Witcher.
tv (and cinema) always pisses out of the pot. Forgive the french. i bet they ll give the wild hunt some kind of uruk hai square tip bar of iron or worse -.- nah hopefully not. fingers crossed.
I like to think of it this way, the nilfguard pieces are designed for intimidation and are mass manufactured, that reads imperial to me, though an empire with a very particular ideology (more like the Assyrians than the Persians or the Romans). Actual brigands I would expect to have an assortment of different gear taken or traded from people of different cultures, all of it looking well used.
Nilfgaard is misrepresented in the series. They are not an absolute evil that should look like as if they were straight from Mordor. Nilfgaard is an expansionist empore internally simillar to Habsbourg Empire\ absolutist Russian Empire. In fact they are a lot more tolerant compared to the "medieval" Northern Kingdoms.
i made nilfgaard win the war in my witcher 3 playthrough... hard to fathom but they actually look like the good guys compared to say redania which is a chaotic mess
Plus living standards in Nilfgard is higher for common people then in the north. In the books, far in the north lies Kovir and Poviss, both kingdom has best features if Nilfgard and four northern kingdoms.
"In fact they are a lot more tolerant compared to the "medieval" Northern Kingdoms" That is mentioned in the show. Also, the show does not present Nilfgaard as absolute evil. All empires that conquer other countries look evil to those countries.
@@Einygmar Got it. Allegedly the visual appearance was mucked up because there was no time to switch to a different costume designer. A simple black gambeson would have been better than the crumpled leather.
5:56 “…but you could also kill a village with them” “Lovely” Made me chuckle! Great video, and just goes to show, yet again, how much thought and effort is made with these props (and keeping actors safe)
Having loved the series (and the equipment in it), I strongly agree with many here: *Nilfgards equipment really bothered me!* a) Thugs? NO! They are an empire - organized and merciless, but not uncivilized. b) *WHY do their soldiers go to battle with only a sidearm?* That made utterly no sense and severely disturbed my suspension of disbelief. Spears? Shields? Crossbows? Come on, give me something!
It's not up to the weaponmakers to decide how Nilfgaard should be depicted. They can only work as the art director and the showrunner guide them, you can't really rebel against the vision of your superiors. Blame the art director, not Tod.
@@SMiki55 No one's blaming Tod; didn't you listen to the video? Tod didn't even make the Nilgaard stuff. And the Nilfgaardian army is being presented really poorly in this show, so yeah... people are gonna be disappointed.
@@SMiki55 I mean you can totally tell them that they’re wrong that they have no idea what they’re doing and that they like almost everyone in Hollywood or a bunch of incompetent retards who need to get the stick out of their ass put some glasses on and do some learning for once about what people actually like
"...they'll also just go and kill a village with them." "um, lovely." Ah yes, I too enjoy a good village slaughtering. I know it wasn't intended, but I found that line funny.
I find the amount of thought and work that goes in to tv and movies props to be completely amazing. It is great fun seeing these two discussing that work.
i love every film where you and nick just get together and just really talk about the props you've made, it fills me with love and appreciation for everything the props and armoury departments do for the media we love.
The brilliant premise of the Witcher story was how Ciri's perception of Nilfgardians changed as the story progresses and she gets older. From stereotypical bad guys, boogey-man like personas, she has nightmares about to simply ruthless, professional but ultimately human military men. Portraying them like caricature brigands from the start robbed the makers of the opportunity to tell that story.
Not _necessarily._ it will just be more obvious, now, if they do it. Or, if not made clear enough, it might seem like Nilfgaard changed rather than her perception of it changing.... Regardless, IMO, that's the least of the show's fundamental issues _(ehem, Geralt, Yen, and Ciri's relationships...)._
This and a hundred other problems: None of them the fault of Henry Cavill or these fine weapon prop makers. Hopefully Season 2 will be more true the books, and more linear with less jumping around the short stories and more trying to stick to telling the story from the novels in a way that non-readers will be able to follow and enjoy more.
@@AMpufnstuf Well of course it would. The first book was exactly like this. A bunch of stories told none linearly. The rest of the books are a lot more straight forward.
@@OctagonCookies Yeah that's why if you want to make a TV show and not a series of short stories you could just write in the ones that can form a coherent, linear story. See: The video games already proved this. Go look up how much money Sword of Destiny made before Witcher 3 came out. Now ponder why Witcher 3 will permanently be the most popular and successful piece of The Witcher world ever to exist
@@AMpufnstuf Oh I didn't argue that the none linear story structure was good, even as a Witcher fanatic I was confused almost the entire time I was watching. I just said that there's no reason for the next seasons to be made this way since the rest of the books weren't either.
I cannot express how happy I am that Tod gets to work with the Witcher staff and team and give us such a great insight into the creation of one of my favorites series. I've played the games, read the books, and watched the show and watching Tod cover the Witcher is one of my favorite behind the scenes. Amazing job as always Tod!
Hi Tod! It was nice to hear our names in your content. Actually, both of you guys are very professional entertainers. It was a pleasure to work with you guys, one of my best memory in this with or without you business
Huh, i have never considered hollywood crossbows being _completely_ inoperable. I always thought it was just a really weak bow with an extra long string to make it as weak as possible while still working for action shots. And the bone sword reminds me of a Chinese dao. Love the behind the scene secrets.
Beautiful work. I must say though, that I disagree with the show's interpretation of the culture of Nilfgaard. That's the fault of the showrunners however, and is not a criticism in any way of the craftmakers.
Very often we see oversimplification of complexity when mediums change. Nilfguard plays imperialists who are antagonistic sometimes? Create a caricature of it for simplicity.
Though in this case the guy in charge of the armor kinda went rogue and made the "ballsack" look. He has since been sacked, though the studio and Netflix did try and defend him before that.
Agreed, lots of people complaining in the comments, but I think he did a great job of creating weapons to represent the Nilfgaard *of the show* The show just did a terrible job of representing the Nilfgaard *of the books* / games
Now, I understand why it had to be changed a simplified a bit, as in books you have paragraphs and chapters to explain things as plainly as you want, whereas in a show you need to show it and/or have it be explained plainly. But. That doesn't mean I agree with the _ways_ they changed it. Especially with Cahir.
I had absolutely no idea just how detailed, and intricately each little part is considered. And I really didn't think I'd find these videos about a fictional show could be so fascinating and informative. Even though I watch the show. Excellent work gentlemen, you're both very good at explaining and making it so interesting. (And obviously very knowledgeable and talented in your crafts). Keep it up, and I look forward to season two of both the show (which I'll probably watch with a different perspective and noticing more), and more content from you about it. 👏👏👏
The one prop I take an issue with is the bone-bladed "falchion." I think there's a reason that you don't see anything like that in history. The dagger is fine, you can certainly take a piece of bone, file a sharp point on it, and make a weapon that will be effective and quite deadly for stabbing. But a blade that is going to cut needs and edge, and I don't think that bone can hold or even take the kind of edge you'd need for a sword. A cutting sword depends very much on its keen edge for its effectiveness. Once it's blunt, it becomes a very light, and therefore not very effective impact weapon. For a people with no metal, I think it would have been better to draw inspiration from historical weapons made by peoples with no metal, and given their fighters war clubs, stone-headed axes, bone or stone-headed spears (maybe even short spears like the short Zulu assegai, but with a head made from antler, bone, or stone), or maybe something like an Aztec macuahuitl.
Once again I am Geeking out Hardcore watching Nick on Tod's Workshop Like Whaaaaat!!! I Love the Witcher and Love this Channel and Nick is Awesome, Geek OVERLOAD!!!
Man I love the detail and thought you guys put into the weapon props, I really wish the series had done a better job at showcasing them on screen. I enjoyed the series, it was fun for what it was, but I enjoy seeing the props on their own more. Haha. Cheers!
Amazing work. I really like all the pieces, though I must say the showrunners sold you short. Dryads could easily have metal weapons (lotting for example), and you could have done SOO much more with it. Making a metal sword and bows, but still maintaining that wood people feel. Same with Nilfgaard. That was just menacing and had the obvious bad guy feel (although they obviously are the bad guys in the setting, but as a society not as individuals), they could have made a concept that had a lot more finesse to the design. It would fit it better I think. I must say I really appreciate you showing and discussing issues that us average people have no idea of. It's very educational and shows how you guys have to be really smart to work around all the minutiae of film prop design, manufacturing and usage.
I absolutely LOVE the bone-bladed weapons! They're exotic and fantastical, yet at the same time they look practical, wonderful balance between the two! I wish this was something done more often in fantasy, especially videogames but also on film, or book covers, comics etc. Most fantasy weapons tend to look either too realistic or too silly...
Also all the wood annoys me, Dryads NEVER cut down trees, and they'll kill you if you do. They have their bows which are presumably stolen or made from deadfall, but wood on everything makes zero sense
@@AMpufnstuf Pl as Polish or Poland, but don't thank me for Witcher. Thank Sapkowski, by bying his books or CDProject for popularising his creation with their games.
Hey Tod! I love your videos and your craft. That's all :D been watching for a while. big fan. Just giving positive feedback that you bring so much joy to people. I'm inspired by your work and making things of my own.
The amount of planning, research, preparation, expertise, professional courtesy and respect in these videos is at the same time astounding and refreshing. Gentlemen explaining interesting things with passion. Great.
The weapons are really nice. Great atmosphere and it is all very well considered. Perhaps the costumes department should take notes. Personally I don't think the Nilfgaardians need to look like thugs, the writers just need to show them as morally distastful and doing actions like murdering civilians, taking slaves, raping(probably alude to this) a pillaging. I do like the falchions. Like 2 minutes ago when I saw the banner, I didn't but I'm warming to them already. The blackening is a great idea, I can imagine all standard issue Nilfgaard gear being blackened for intimidation and practical reasons(I can imagine most nobles running with the cultural asthetic, but also throwing on some gold/silver trimming). The Nilfgaardians are not barbarians or thugs they're just arseholes.
Nice work, Tod! Love the bone weapons. I love The Witcher. I’ve played all three games, plus Gwent, read all the books, and watched the series (which was over FAR too quickly). I eagerly away Season 2 (and beyond)!
What caught my eye was the slight surface translucency you captured in the faux bone items. (I don't know if the camera's fooling me but it looks real to me.) Would you be interested in doing a tutorial on that? I don't want to steal all your secrets... it's just that faking bone is REALLY hard IME.
Very nice video. It's interesting to hear from Nick the kind of considerations that goes into making weapons for cinematography, and the things on the mind of an art director to create a believeable culturally diverse world.
I loved all the props and stuff for the varied cultures in the show, except Nilfgaard. I HATE the Nilfgaard esthetic, from the bizzare human BlackBerry armour's to the swords that look like they stole from LoTR Goblin props room. They just look so stupid and really detract from any scenes they are in. That being said I did really really like the Cintrans and Gerlats stuff alot
I love when he brings this guy on! I do wish they used other weapons more in movies. But the average person has been taught to love nothing but swords. But I bet they would get real excited if they saw a main character use something else though!
As someone mentions below - the Nilfgard armour is odd at best. One thing that (I think) gets lost is the Empire's motivation. I don't think of Nilfgard as savage. They may do some savage things, but like the Persians and Mongols before them, they think they are making the lives of subjects (ultimately) better by bringing them into the empire. I feel the novels and game brought some subtleties lost in the current adaptation.
The weapons in Witcher TV series are simply great & it's nice to see a blend of historical swords turn into mean looking falchion for the nilfgaard armies.
That's the thing with dryads and druids in fantasy. If they can't harm plants but can't harm animals... how do they, like, eat? it has to be one or the other, and it should preferably be consistent in a given world. To my memory, in the books (namely, _Sword of Destiny_) it mentioned the dryads never cutting down any plants or at least trees; their houses were actually grown that way "naturally." But it's been a while, so I don't remember. And I have _no_ idea about weapons. I don't believe they care as much for animal life, and certainly not for humans.
The design of Nilfguard may make sense thematically, (the do look villainous) but it also cheapens the overall experience. They look silly not menacing, not dangerous. As they maybe should. The games did a great job at making them look distinct, but also believable. (copying, at least in part, from that style may make it easier for long time fans to transition from one medium to the other, without things seeming out of place) Believability also being something the show seems to struggle with a lot in general. In the show Nilfguard just comes across as silly and cartoonish! This kind of fantasy only works it you ground the experience enough to allow for the suspension of disbelieve. I do want to like the show, but I cant too many things just seem wrong and out of place!
@@neoaliphant Especially when stone is available. Stone daggers, stone arrow heads, even stone bladed swords similar to ancient central american weapons. Not to mention stone maces and hammers which have existed.
I wonder if an Atlatl and Macuahuitl would be a good fit for the Dryads; both metal free and can be easily made using natural materials, and particularly without metal?
I can see Tod trying really hard not to correct him every time he says "fire a bolt/projectile" rather than "shoot". Congrats on being a very polite host!
Is that actual bone for the blades? I presume it's something like resin a material but if it is in fact bone, might i ask what animal bone did you use? I think this is a fascinating concept and would like to experiment, i have used natural materials for tools and weapons including bone before but not on that scale, i wonder if there is an animal bone out there that would lend itself to such use? (like the supposed jawbone 'knife') (PS I'm aware that parts of the props are bone, such as the very interesting knuckle pommel)
Would a bone blade work at all? Can it keep an edge and does it have the strength to do be useful? I would imagine that stone (something like European Neolithic or Mesoamerican) weapons would make a lot more sense. Is there any evidence for bone blades in real history?
Aginst flesh (i.e monsters & animals) I'd expect it to work reasonably well as long as it's made thick enough not to shatter. The main problems you'll likely face is that they'll chip easily and be utterly useless against even the simplest of armour. Realistically it'd make much more sense to use spears or even something like a macuahuitl.
I totally agree. And no... a bone blade as depicted here wouldn't work well at all. Why is is shaped like a metal sword when it doesn't have the properties of metal... poor edge ...not as sharp and not nearly as durable and much lower density. Personally I think bone would work much better for stabbing weapons. And I am speaking as someone who is both a mechanical engineer and martial artist. I am rather disappointed that the design wasn't thought through better.
An interesting choice was to give the dryads crossbows instead of bows, as is common for forest dwelling magical races. I would have liked to know more about that.
that guy's voice is so deep, it sounds like from Sims 4 when you put the voice to the lowest thing possible :D but very sympathetic people none the less, nice video
Curious if the same department did all the armor or if costume did that. It's clear that a hell of a lot of work and thought went into it (even those unorthodox Nilfgaardian ones)
I really wanted to know what driven the producers to make that nilfgard Armour. It have that design that you either love or hate (if you read the books, you probably hate it lol), but know why the design choice was made would be interesting
I'm curious. Is there a reason why dryads use bones and sinew but not hide/leather ? My guess would be simply to make them more distinct on screen to the rest of the cast, but I wonder if there's something else to it.
the blades & bamboo scabbards looks definitely inspired by traditional weapons in SEA region/countries. I can definitely say most of those weapons stashed in bamboo or hard wood scabbard for durability in which the materials are also abundance. Meanwhile leathers are rather rare & more likely to be a clothes or some type of arts.
using crossbow actually fine & make sense since hunters do need to wait a lot on the targets. Also, a longbow have a lot of draw weight & that's simply harder to draw in a long time. That's like saying elves only use bows no matter what & dwarf only use crossbow no matter what, which is pretty dumb imo.
I actually loved everything they put together, apart from the Nilfgaard pieces, they seemed slightly off-kilter compared to the rest. They aren't barbaric people sweeping the land with plundering and pillaging, they're closer to the ancient Roman empire, oppressive and domineering. The games did a much better job representing that I believe.
Yeah they portrayed Nilfgaardians as simplistic evil clowns. It was nothing like this in books and games. And they 'armor' to top it up...
Weakest part of the show, which i otherwise mostly liked.
@@krzysztofkolodziejczyk4335 agreed, so much thought and effort gets put into other parts of the show which was lovely, but the portrayal of the nilfgaardians was really a let down.
I mean, it's a Netflix show, you can't really expect villains or villain like characters not to be over the top or cartoon like.
Luckily the Nilfgaard will look a lot more fitting in the second season, most importantly the scrotum armor is gone.
Yeah, honestly whenever I think about it I think I'd like to see the Nilfgaardians more like WW1 soldiers than... well, whatever they were in the show. Like, just helmets and cloth uniforms. Weapons that look less like swords and more like tools, shovels and fireplace pokers and meat cleavers, that sort of thing. They're scary because there's thousands of them, and they don't care how expensive your armor was, they'll overwhelm you and stab you in the eyes.
Too bad he was only in charge of weapons and someone else came up with infamous foreskin armor
The comments about the Nilfgaard sword being a realistic design that would work in real life almost seem like they're specifically made to contrast with the silly armour design.
foreskin armor is quite nice name for it. For me it more looks like gentleman's private areas.
I believe 'foreskin' armor was designed as a psychological deterrent to discourage opponents from grappling...a very sophisticated strategy.
Testicle armour, I'd say, rather than a foreskin.
The ballsack armor design was made by the costume designer & actually was not even followef the concept arts. As of now, it's safe to say that costume designer basically got sacked.... (pun intended)
"They will fight a battle with them but they'll also just kill a village with them"
Tod: *l o v e l y*
That made me laugh so hard I had to immediately stop the vid and look for this comment xD
lol
And with that attitude British had made their empire!
I'm kidding... slightly kidding but still.
For my money swords are overrepresented in the Witcher, unfortunately. They slash through armor that doesn’t look like it could be slashed through and they’re often used just by themselves, without shields and such. Makes sense for Geralt, not for everyone.
Edit: In case it looked that way, the comment wasn’t meant to diminish the competence of Nick, Tod or any of the other craftsmen, I admire it very much
That's a common gripe i have with movie armies, in general, too. Nick makes an interesting point around the 7:00 mark that addresses that. It's easy to make a bunch of rubber swords that won't hurt anyone, but if you give extras a couple dozens of rubber polearms you know some yob is going to flail that thing around and poke someone's eye out.
I'd love if productions did more often what Colin Farrell's Alexander did. Train a large number of people on proper drill and handling and then use them as stunt performers instead as simple extras.
Yeh, the booms go into great deal about how Mace's crush armour, and sword users go for the gaps etc. Understand Netflix isn't appealing to any dort of combat/history/book buffs, but with the amount of effort they put into some elements its strange how weak they are in others
@@CanalTremocos Even if you can't do polearms as much, it'd be nice to see more hammers, maces, clubs …
Agreed, though they've shown a decent variety of weapons most characters shown in the show so far wouldn't last a second against Geralt with a decent sword. Though to avoid spoilers from the books: Bums and thieves with hatchets and spears will eventually be met upon the road
That edit is unnecessary. Only an emotional dummy could interpret your comment that way. No reasonable person would.
Thanks for the clip reminding me about scrotum nilfgaardian armors. Series dropped the ball heavily in quite a few places and Nilfgaard is definitely one of those. Most professional army of the setting is likened to brigands, good job netflix.
Yeah... they really screwed up when it comes to Nilfgaard. I'm definitely not a fan of how they're being portrayed here.
When I first saw the nilfgaurd sword, I thought it was meant to be a Wild Hunt sword. The nilfguards where imperial, not brigands.
EXACTLY!
The Wild Hunt uses two-handed falchions, I had discussions about it with a blacksmith that has a PhD in archeology (medieval european weapons, specifically - his name is Dr. Fabrice Cognot, check him out) as I am having a sword inspired by their blades forged myself.
Honestly the netflix nonsense is all over the place thematically, while I am sure the man with Tod here knows his weapons, he certainly is not well versed in The Witcher.
@@Vedlom my thoughts exactly, the Dryads were famous for their archers too, not their crossbows...
That would actually be a fantastic design for the wild hunt. It's very.. "metal" looking.
tv (and cinema) always pisses out of the pot. Forgive the french.
i bet they ll give the wild hunt some kind of uruk hai square tip bar of iron or worse -.-
nah hopefully not. fingers crossed.
I like to think of it this way, the nilfguard pieces are designed for intimidation and are mass manufactured, that reads imperial to me, though an empire with a very particular ideology (more like the Assyrians than the Persians or the Romans). Actual brigands I would expect to have an assortment of different gear taken or traded from people of different cultures, all of it looking well used.
Nilfgaard is misrepresented in the series. They are not an absolute evil that should look like as if they were straight from Mordor. Nilfgaard is an expansionist empore internally simillar to Habsbourg Empire\ absolutist Russian Empire. In fact they are a lot more tolerant compared to the "medieval" Northern Kingdoms.
i made nilfgaard win the war in my witcher 3 playthrough... hard to fathom but they actually look like the good guys compared to say redania which is a chaotic mess
Plus living standards in Nilfgard is higher for common people then in the north. In the books, far in the north lies Kovir and Poviss, both kingdom has best features if Nilfgard and four northern kingdoms.
"In fact they are a lot more tolerant compared to the "medieval" Northern Kingdoms"
That is mentioned in the show. Also, the show does not present Nilfgaard as absolute evil. All empires that conquer other countries look evil to those countries.
@@quintoblanco8746 I was talking only about their visual appearance. I agree that the show is pretty accurate story-wise.
@@Einygmar Got it. Allegedly the visual appearance was mucked up because there was no time to switch to a different costume designer.
A simple black gambeson would have been better than the crumpled leather.
Always love these discussions between the two of you. Really interesting.
Fascinating, a huge thanks to Nick for his time and to you, Tod, for sharing this ... always a pleasure!!
5:56 “…but you could also kill a village with them”
“Lovely”
Made me chuckle! Great video, and just goes to show, yet again, how much thought and effort is made with these props (and keeping actors safe)
Having loved the series (and the equipment in it), I strongly agree with many here: *Nilfgards equipment really bothered me!*
a) Thugs? NO! They are an empire - organized and merciless, but not uncivilized. b) *WHY do their soldiers go to battle with only a sidearm?*
That made utterly no sense and severely disturbed my suspension of disbelief. Spears? Shields? Crossbows? Come on, give me something!
Yeah, my jaw dropped when I heard "thugs". WTF? It's the Nilfgardian Empire. They're the Rome of Witcher.
It's not up to the weaponmakers to decide how Nilfgaard should be depicted. They can only work as the art director and the showrunner guide them, you can't really rebel against the vision of your superiors. Blame the art director, not Tod.
@@SMiki55 No one's blaming Tod; didn't you listen to the video? Tod didn't even make the Nilgaard stuff. And the Nilfgaardian army is being presented really poorly in this show, so yeah... people are gonna be disappointed.
@@SMiki55 I mean you can totally tell them that they’re wrong that they have no idea what they’re doing and that they like almost everyone in Hollywood or a bunch of incompetent retards who need to get the stick out of their ass put some glasses on and do some learning for once about what people actually like
These videos are so much fun to see, love the spotlight on these pieces that only may show for short glimpses on screen
"...they'll also just go and kill a village with them."
"um, lovely."
Ah yes, I too enjoy a good village slaughtering.
I know it wasn't intended, but I found that line funny.
I find the amount of thought and work that goes in to tv and movies props to be completely amazing. It is great fun seeing these two discussing that work.
i love every film where you and nick just get together and just really talk about the props you've made, it fills me with love and appreciation for everything the props and armoury departments do for the media we love.
The brilliant premise of the Witcher story was how Ciri's perception of Nilfgardians changed as the story progresses and she gets older. From stereotypical bad guys, boogey-man like personas, she has nightmares about to simply ruthless, professional but ultimately human military men. Portraying them like caricature brigands from the start robbed the makers of the opportunity to tell that story.
Not _necessarily._ it will just be more obvious, now, if they do it. Or, if not made clear enough, it might seem like Nilfgaard changed rather than her perception of it changing.... Regardless, IMO, that's the least of the show's fundamental issues _(ehem, Geralt, Yen, and Ciri's relationships...)._
This and a hundred other problems: None of them the fault of Henry Cavill or these fine weapon prop makers. Hopefully Season 2 will be more true the books, and more linear with less jumping around the short stories and more trying to stick to telling the story from the novels in a way that non-readers will be able to follow and enjoy more.
@@AMpufnstuf Well of course it would. The first book was exactly like this. A bunch of stories told none linearly. The rest of the books are a lot more straight forward.
@@OctagonCookies Yeah that's why if you want to make a TV show and not a series of short stories you could just write in the ones that can form a coherent, linear story. See: The video games already proved this. Go look up how much money Sword of Destiny made before Witcher 3 came out. Now ponder why Witcher 3 will permanently be the most popular and successful piece of The Witcher world ever to exist
@@AMpufnstuf Oh I didn't argue that the none linear story structure was good, even as a Witcher fanatic I was confused almost the entire time I was watching. I just said that there's no reason for the next seasons to be made this way since the rest of the books weren't either.
I cannot express how happy I am that Tod gets to work with the Witcher staff and team and give us such a great insight into the creation of one of my favorites series. I've played the games, read the books, and watched the show and watching Tod cover the Witcher is one of my favorite behind the scenes. Amazing job as always Tod!
I have never seen Tod this beard free.
Maybe he's going to a wedding?
It's upsetting
I was trying to figure out what was wrong, thanks!
You havn't seen enough 😉
It makes me uncomfortable.
2:39 way to go Nilfgaard - from the greatest human empire to brigants
Hi Tod! It was nice to hear our names in your content. Actually, both of you guys are very professional entertainers. It was a pleasure to work with you guys, one of my best memory in this with or without you business
Good to hear from you Tamas and again it was a pleasure to meet and work with you
Huh, i have never considered hollywood crossbows being _completely_ inoperable. I always thought it was just a really weak bow with an extra long string to make it as weak as possible while still working for action shots.
And the bone sword reminds me of a Chinese dao. Love the behind the scene secrets.
Beautiful work. I must say though, that I disagree with the show's interpretation of the culture of Nilfgaard. That's the fault of the showrunners however, and is not a criticism in any way of the craftmakers.
Very often we see oversimplification of complexity when mediums change. Nilfguard plays imperialists who are antagonistic sometimes? Create a caricature of it for simplicity.
Sh*tty hack writers.
Though in this case the guy in charge of the armor kinda went rogue and made the "ballsack" look. He has since been sacked, though the studio and Netflix did try and defend him before that.
Agreed, lots of people complaining in the comments, but I think he did a great job of creating weapons to represent the Nilfgaard *of the show*
The show just did a terrible job of representing the Nilfgaard *of the books* / games
Now, I understand why it had to be changed a simplified a bit, as in books you have paragraphs and chapters to explain things as plainly as you want, whereas in a show you need to show it and/or have it be explained plainly.
But. That doesn't mean I agree with the _ways_ they changed it. Especially with Cahir.
I really like that you show such appreciation for the work and craftsmanship of others too, rather than just focusing on your own (spectacular) work.
I had absolutely no idea just how detailed, and intricately each little part is considered. And I really didn't think I'd find these videos about a fictional show could be so fascinating and informative. Even though I watch the show. Excellent work gentlemen, you're both very good at explaining and making it so interesting. (And obviously very knowledgeable and talented in your crafts). Keep it up, and I look forward to season two of both the show (which I'll probably watch with a different perspective and noticing more), and more content from you about it. 👏👏👏
I’m loving all these Witcher videos!! Please keep them coming!
The one prop I take an issue with is the bone-bladed "falchion." I think there's a reason that you don't see anything like that in history. The dagger is fine, you can certainly take a piece of bone, file a sharp point on it, and make a weapon that will be effective and quite deadly for stabbing. But a blade that is going to cut needs and edge, and I don't think that bone can hold or even take the kind of edge you'd need for a sword. A cutting sword depends very much on its keen edge for its effectiveness. Once it's blunt, it becomes a very light, and therefore not very effective impact weapon. For a people with no metal, I think it would have been better to draw inspiration from historical weapons made by peoples with no metal, and given their fighters war clubs, stone-headed axes, bone or stone-headed spears (maybe even short spears like the short Zulu assegai, but with a head made from antler, bone, or stone), or maybe something like an Aztec macuahuitl.
it's a magic monster bone
I love these behind the scenes videos/ Thanks :)
Once again I am Geeking out Hardcore watching Nick on Tod's Workshop Like Whaaaaat!!! I Love the Witcher and Love this Channel and Nick is Awesome, Geek OVERLOAD!!!
Man I love the detail and thought you guys put into the weapon props, I really wish the series had done a better job at showcasing them on screen.
I enjoyed the series, it was fun for what it was, but I enjoy seeing the props on their own more. Haha.
Cheers!
Amazing work. I really like all the pieces, though I must say the showrunners sold you short. Dryads could easily have metal weapons (lotting for example), and you could have done SOO much more with it. Making a metal sword and bows, but still maintaining that wood people feel. Same with Nilfgaard. That was just menacing and had the obvious bad guy feel (although they obviously are the bad guys in the setting, but as a society not as individuals), they could have made a concept that had a lot more finesse to the design. It would fit it better I think.
I must say I really appreciate you showing and discussing issues that us average people have no idea of. It's very educational and shows how you guys have to be really smart to work around all the minutiae of film prop design, manufacturing and usage.
I absolutely LOVE the bone-bladed weapons!
They're exotic and fantastical, yet at the same time they look practical, wonderful balance between the two!
I wish this was something done more often in fantasy, especially videogames but also on film, or book covers, comics etc.
Most fantasy weapons tend to look either too realistic or too silly...
Why would the Dryads not be able to source leather/hide, if they have access to bone and sinew? They're all from animals/monsters are they not?
Also all the wood annoys me, Dryads NEVER cut down trees, and they'll kill you if you do. They have their bows which are presumably stolen or made from deadfall, but wood on everything makes zero sense
I’ve never seen the show but really enjoy these videos. Would love to have one of the bone swords to hang on my wall, very neat pieces all around.
This is an awesome overview. So many details how to write weapons for fantasy settings!
Great stuff! already looking forward to next season!
I love that Centra(sp?) arming sword, and I always have since the beginning!
Cintra.
@@PobortzaPl Cintran sword technically, but from Cintra yes. It's nice, probably the closest to what I imagined from the books on the table
@@AMpufnstuf You might be right.
Being non-native English-speaking person I don't even try to create adjectives.
@@PobortzaPl No worries I'm just being a nerd not giving you a hard time. Pl as in Polish? Great country, thanks for The Witcher!
@@AMpufnstuf Pl as Polish or Poland, but don't thank me for Witcher. Thank Sapkowski, by bying his books or CDProject for popularising his creation with their games.
I learnt so much about arms and armour in movies from these videos!
Thank you!
Hey Tod! I love your videos and your craft. That's all :D been watching for a while. big fan. Just giving positive feedback that you bring so much joy to people. I'm inspired by your work and making things of my own.
Kind of sad seeing so much work and thought put into it, when the actual story just doesn't deliver the same.
Shitty Hack writers.
You can tell that here's quite a bit of work and passion put into the show.
Unfortunately, none of it was at the writer/director/producer level.
The amount of planning, research, preparation, expertise, professional courtesy and respect in these videos is at the same time astounding and refreshing.
Gentlemen explaining interesting things with passion. Great.
Happy to see the swords up close, having commented myself on the ties to Venetian pommels and Italian storta in nilfgaards swords
The weapons are really nice. Great atmosphere and it is all very well considered. Perhaps the costumes department should take notes.
Personally I don't think the Nilfgaardians need to look like thugs, the writers just need to show them as morally distastful and doing actions like murdering civilians, taking slaves, raping(probably alude to this) a pillaging. I do like the falchions. Like 2 minutes ago when I saw the banner, I didn't but I'm warming to them already. The blackening is a great idea, I can imagine all standard issue Nilfgaard gear being blackened for intimidation and practical reasons(I can imagine most nobles running with the cultural asthetic, but also throwing on some gold/silver trimming). The Nilfgaardians are not barbarians or thugs they're just arseholes.
¿Why those Driads don´t use the leather of those monsters? they just use the bone... I don´t know.
Nice work, Tod! Love the bone weapons.
I love The Witcher. I’ve played all three games, plus Gwent, read all the books, and watched the series (which was over FAR too quickly). I eagerly away Season 2 (and beyond)!
8:37 Tamás (Taamash), Ferenc (Ferents), Bálint (Balint).
Nick: they would also go and kill a village with it
Tod: Lovely!
Love these videos, please keep making them after season 2
What caught my eye was the slight surface translucency you captured in the faux bone items. (I don't know if the camera's fooling me but it looks real to me.)
Would you be interested in doing a tutorial on that? I don't want to steal all your secrets... it's just that faking bone is REALLY hard IME.
Those weapons are very interesting. I'm glad to know so much thought was put into the designs
Very nice video. It's interesting to hear from Nick the kind of considerations that goes into making weapons for cinematography, and the things on the mind of an art director to create a believeable culturally diverse world.
I loved all the props and stuff for the varied cultures in the show, except Nilfgaard. I HATE the Nilfgaard esthetic, from the bizzare human BlackBerry armour's to the swords that look like they stole from LoTR Goblin props room. They just look so stupid and really detract from any scenes they are in. That being said I did really really like the Cintrans and Gerlats stuff alot
Love the Witcher .. Love Tod.. Great vid as usual 👍
I love when he brings this guy on! I do wish they used other weapons more in movies. But the average person has been taught to love nothing but swords. But I bet they would get real excited if they saw a main character use something else though!
Shout out for Tamás and the gang for the lovely bone arrowheads!
As someone mentions below - the Nilfgard armour is odd at best. One thing that (I think) gets lost is the Empire's motivation. I don't think of Nilfgard as savage. They may do some savage things, but like the Persians and Mongols before them, they think they are making the lives of subjects (ultimately) better by bringing them into the empire. I feel the novels and game brought some subtleties lost in the current adaptation.
Curious, do you guys ever use Alex A. from Black Raven Academy for leatherwork?
Whats the point (sorry) of a scalloped back edge? Strengthening some of the impact points?
The weapons in Witcher TV series are simply great & it's nice to see a blend of historical swords turn into mean looking falchion for the nilfgaard armies.
did i miss something or are the dryads really inconsistent with their usage of animal products?
no leather, but they use bone and sinew for weapons...
That's the thing with dryads and druids in fantasy. If they can't harm plants but can't harm animals... how do they, like, eat? it has to be one or the other, and it should preferably be consistent in a given world.
To my memory, in the books (namely, _Sword of Destiny_) it mentioned the dryads never cutting down any plants or at least trees; their houses were actually grown that way "naturally." But it's been a while, so I don't remember. And I have _no_ idea about weapons. I don't believe they care as much for animal life, and certainly not for humans.
Thanks for brought this, love it!
The design of Nilfguard may make sense thematically, (the do look villainous) but it also cheapens the overall experience. They look silly not menacing, not dangerous. As they maybe should.
The games did a great job at making them look distinct, but also believable. (copying, at least in part, from that style may make it easier for long time fans to transition from one medium to the other, without things seeming out of place) Believability also being something the show seems to struggle with a lot in general.
In the show Nilfguard just comes across as silly and cartoonish! This kind of fantasy only works it you ground the experience enough to allow for the suspension of disbelieve. I do want to like the show, but I cant too many things just seem wrong and out of place!
Nomarl swords: to short
And then bone swords instead of stone spears
Crossbows instead of slings, blowguns and javelins in a pre-metal working society....and what about bone boomerangs?
@@neoaliphant Especially when stone is available. Stone daggers, stone arrow heads, even stone bladed swords similar to ancient central american weapons. Not to mention stone maces and hammers which have existed.
A very very cool video and display! Thank you for sharing!
I wonder if an Atlatl and Macuahuitl would be a good fit for the Dryads; both metal free and can be easily made using natural materials, and particularly without metal?
I'd be interested to know if a bone blade could hold a useful cutting edge.
Thanks for bringing this to us very interesting.
I can see Tod trying really hard not to correct him every time he says "fire a bolt/projectile" rather than "shoot". Congrats on being a very polite host!
Is that actual bone for the blades? I presume it's something like resin a material but if it is in fact bone, might i ask what animal bone did you use?
I think this is a fascinating concept and would like to experiment, i have used natural materials for tools and weapons including bone before but not on that scale, i wonder if there is an animal bone out there that would lend itself to such use? (like the supposed jawbone 'knife')
(PS I'm aware that parts of the props are bone, such as the very interesting knuckle pommel)
Would a bone blade work at all? Can it keep an edge and does it have the strength to do be useful? I would imagine that stone (something like European Neolithic or Mesoamerican) weapons would make a lot more sense. Is there any evidence for bone blades in real history?
Aginst flesh (i.e monsters & animals) I'd expect it to work reasonably well as long as it's made thick enough not to shatter.
The main problems you'll likely face is that they'll chip easily and be utterly useless against even the simplest of armour. Realistically it'd make much more sense to use spears or even something like a macuahuitl.
I totally agree. And no... a bone blade as depicted here wouldn't work well at all. Why is is shaped like a metal sword when it doesn't have the properties of metal... poor edge ...not as sharp and not nearly as durable and much lower density. Personally I think bone would work much better for stabbing weapons. And I am speaking as someone who is both a mechanical engineer and martial artist. I am rather disappointed that the design wasn't thought through better.
the s crossguard on the falchion is both a practical and stylish design. It also gives it a Swastika look.
Very cool! I'll have to watch the series again.
I like the look of the Nilfguard Cavalry falchion!
An interesting choice was to give the dryads crossbows instead of bows, as is common for forest dwelling magical races. I would have liked to know more about that.
Very cool videos. Finally a fantasy maker doing grounded functional designs instead of something that came out of the budk mall ninja catalogue.
music link in the description is broken Tod! Help!!
I love when fantasy items look like they could exist in real life.
Haven't been watching Witcher, thought it would be stupid ....but if Tod recommends it, I will be watching it tonight. Tod is amazing!
Love these episodes. Can't wait for Season 2 of the Witcher.
Would the Nilfgaard sword be any good as a double edged weapon. I've been unable to find anything in historic record.
The weapons looks so Great but that nilfvaard Amour looks hilarious
that guy's voice is so deep, it sounds like from Sims 4 when you put the voice to the lowest thing possible :D but very sympathetic people none the less, nice video
5:30
The "..kill a village" phrase struck my ear. It must have been labor intensive unskilled work, that. :d
really relaxed video!
Your channel is so goddam cool dude.
Curious if the same department did all the armor or if costume did that. It's clear that a hell of a lot of work and thought went into it (even those unorthodox Nilfgaardian ones)
I really wanted to know what driven the producers to make that nilfgard Armour. It have that design that you either love or hate (if you read the books, you probably hate it lol), but know why the design choice was made would be interesting
check the early life section of any of the producers' wikipedia articles
I am definitely going to check out the Witcher over a cold beer.
I'm curious. Is there a reason why dryads use bones and sinew but not hide/leather ?
My guess would be simply to make them more distinct on screen to the rest of the cast, but I wonder if there's something else to it.
the blades & bamboo scabbards looks definitely inspired by traditional weapons in SEA region/countries. I can definitely say most of those weapons stashed in bamboo or hard wood scabbard for durability in which the materials are also abundance. Meanwhile leathers are rather rare & more likely to be a clothes or some type of arts.
My name is Nick and hearing Todd say my name just warms my heart :)
What happened to the beard and hair Todd?
Great as always🤙
So, what actual kind of bone or material did you use to make the dryad dagger and sword?
Would love to know why they've gone Crossbow instead of Bow for the Dryad. Probably not Nick's decision but it makes no sense in my opinion
using crossbow actually fine & make sense since hunters do need to wait a lot on the targets. Also, a longbow have a lot of draw weight & that's simply harder to draw in a long time.
That's like saying elves only use bows no matter what & dwarf only use crossbow no matter what, which is pretty dumb imo.
@@crozraven fair point. But in the books the driads are renowned for their archery. It's like Legolas using a crossbow, wouldn't feel the same
Really hope we see some of Tod's crossbows in the next season
Nick: [...] But they'll also just go and kill a village with them.
Todd: emmm.. Lovely
xD
Why always touch the blade of the sword ?
Why do the dryads use bone and sinew? My understanding was they were basically vegan, and those materials would be abhorrent to them?
What do dryads eat? I know I've fed quite a bit of fish and bone meal to my garden...
i thought the nilfgardian swords here more resembled the wild hunt swords from the 3rd game
I must say i really like the wooden swords for some reason. They look really nice.
Please have him bring that la beidana sword from the first episode. I'd love to see a better look at that.