All language subtitles for Netflix Presents- The Witchers Bestiary Part 2 - Netflix

- [Narrator] The Witcher's
world is teaming with monsters

both the human and big pointy teeth kind.

In fact, it's so full of the latter

that we couldn't cover all
of them in just one pass.

But you guys totally
supported our last piece.

Thank you so much.

So like we promised we're back to dig

up the real world origins of the monsters

in the second half of "The
Witcher"'s first season.

(monster growling)

♪ Toss a coin to your Witcher ♪

♪ It's monster mythology ♪

(dramatic music)

Well,
(record needle skipping)

there's a tiny little problem

with the first monster
we see in episode six.

No one ever says its name.

- Let's get on before the
beast gets hungry again.

- [Narrator] And we
only get a short glimpse

of this toothy raptor-like
disembodied head.

So first we'll have to
solve a monster mystery.

By going back to "The Witcher" books.

This episode is based

on "Sword of Destiny"'s
"Bounds of Reason".

And Geralt starts that
by hunting a Basilisk.

And just to be safe, we
checked with show runner

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich who
said, "Yes, it is a Basilisk."

One of many subspecies that might

or might not be in development.

Oo, scoop.

Although proportions vary by the tail

the Basilisk is typically
portrayed as some mixture

of reptile and chicken.

Born of a rooster's egg, yes, rooster,

that was incubated by a toad

which admittedly sounds really silly.

But, counterpoint, isn't
a T-Rex kind of a mixture

of a chicken and a reptile?

And like the T-Rex, the
Basilisk is considered a king.

The little king of the serpents in Greek.

But you can argue that
it's formidable arsenal

of monstrous weapons makes
it way more dangerous

than these beasts and or puny dinosaurs.

Like a dragon it could breathe fire

and it's hiss could kill.

So could its odor.

In fact, it was so very toxic
that its venom was known

to travel up a man's spear to kill him

and the horse he rode on.

And scholars thought its native habitat

of Libya was actually a verdant paradise

until Basilisk toxins
turned it into the Sahara.

And we haven't even gotten
to its famous death stare yet

which even rivals Geralt's.

The Basilisk's stare was
thought to be instantly fatal.

Humans in antiquity went to great lengths

to protect themselves from it.

For instance, in Warsaw in 1587,

the citizenry sent a convicted felon

into a suspected Basilisk
lair wearing a suit

of mirrored armor.

Like he was on the Basilisk
bomb squad or something.

By the way, Warsaw now has
this cool Basilisk statue

which we thought you might like to see.

Aside from Geralt who
kills them pretty easily

without the aid of mirrors,

the Basilisk did have one powerful enemy

that the dinosaurs didn't have.

You may have seen it earlier.

It's the weasel.

Yes, despite all those
instant kill weapons,

a smelly weasel could
somehow take out a Basilisk.

Some even think that this bloody
mythical rivalry originated

in the real life enmity
between cobra and mongoose.

But whenever it's origins and weaknesses

these pheasants possess a
certain amount of wisdom

about the Basilisk.

- It's been an hour.

Let's get on before the
beast gets hungry again.

- [Narrator] The Hirikka is a
rare creature within the world

of "The Witcher".

And unfortunately it's even more rare

after the incident in episode six.

But it's also the first
monster we've encountered

that was created out of thin air

by Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski.

As far as I can tell, it's only mentioned

in "The Sword of Destiny"
and there just two times.

- Blame destiny.

- [Narrator] But we do
get important information

that the Hirikka is so endangered

that Geralt won't accept
a contract on one.

The show expands on that.

The exceedingly rare
Hirikka lives in the forest.

It changes from something
cute to something frightening

but it's harmless if given food.

- It's probably starving.

Sheath your weapons.

- [Narrator] Oh yeah, and
absolutely do not eat it.

- (farting) Oh shit.

- [Narrator] That said,
I'm not the only one

that sees some passing
resemblance between the show's

Hirikkas and the more
modern form of gremlins.

They're both rare
creatures with giant eyes

and ears that undergo some transformation

that humans find terrifying.

And they also have a few
important dietary rules.

Although you'll probably
never see Gizmo like this.

RIP Hirikka.

And now we get to the
granddaddy of all monsters,

the dragon.

If you've only seen certain
fantasy shows, dragoras,

an intelligent likable dragon
like Borch Three Jackdaws

may not be so familiar to you.

But the thing about the dragon is

that it has arisen separately
in so many cultures

that it's not just one thing.

In the West, the dragon
is typically depicted

as an evil beast but even that
doesn't mean it's been static

over the course of its history.

Even the Greek name has multiple meanings.

Serpent on its face but trace that back

and you get to see clearly.

And in the time of the ancient Greeks,

dragons were the worst
literal enemies of the gods.

Typhon fought and fell to Zeus.

The wyrm Nidhogg gnawed on the roots

of the world tree in Scandinavia.

And of course the book
of Revelations prophesied

that the Christian devil would come back

as a multi-headed red dragon.

That didn't help the dragon's image.

But when spinners of tails
started writing about dragons

as creatures on earth,
they weren't necessarily

what we associate with our
familiar Western dragons.

- Roll a saving throw
against Dragon's breath.

- [Narrator] Pliny the Elder,
a Roman natural historian

who would influence generations,

wrote about dragons as
almost boa constrictors,

killing with their powerful tails.

So strangely there's almost a millennium

of accounts of dragons hunting elephants,

their supposed favorite prey,

that are straight out
of nature documentaries.

Ah, the now wary elephant

and her calf move swiftly
to the depths of the river,

giving the hungry dragon
no other option than

to seek new feeding grounds.

And dragons of this era were terrified

of the supposedly godly panther.

You don't see that much anymore.

Getting away from that early
depiction seemed difficult.

Beowulf's famous dragon
flies and breaths fire

and hoards treasure like
future dragons would

but it's also said to coil

and to possess a venomous
bite like a snake.

In fact, it wasn't until the 1200's

that the first known modern dragon appears

in a manuscript.

A winged four logged
fire-breathing red dragon

that would become part of
many a knight's stories.

- For kingdom and glory.

- [Narrator] But even
then the bestiary varied

by author spawning amazing now forgotten

dragon facts like this one.

It was thought that dragon urine

which obviously would
rain down from the sky,

would putrefy human tissue upon contact.

Anyway, that's just the West.

Because the East has had its own distinct

dragon culture maybe
since the year 3000 PCE

and they're not evil at all.

In fact, they're considered
powerful and lucky,

revered as celestial beings
that could control the rain

among other aspects of reality.

They were even adopted as
symbols of the Chinese emperor.

And while they are still
largely flying serpents

the Eastern dragon is typically
believed to include parts

of nine different beasts.

Plus they were known to change size

and shape shift into human form.

So perhaps the Witcher's
gold dragon was influenced

by them as much as the West.

Of course, we don't know why dragons arose

in this many cultures.

Scholars site misunderstood
evidence of dinosaurs

or a deep fear of crocodiles.

But I do know I always love to see them.

Which is why Lauren
Schmidt Hissrich's idea

that there are gold dragon Witchers

that protect other dragons

from humans should
immediately be green lit

by my superiors at Netflix.

Thank you for your consideration.

Some thought that the
nasty monster who's bite

poisoned Geralt in the
final episode was a Necker,

originally a dangerous
type of water spirit

in Northern European folklore.

But Lauren confirmed for us
that this was indeed a pack

of Ghouls we saw burrowing

through the corpse strewn battlefield.

And maybe the most
surprising thing I've learned

in the course of researching
all these monsters is

that the original Ghouls isn't undead.

What are you doing to me
D & Ds monsters manual?

Belief in the Ghouls
began pre Islam in a sort

of mythological exchange
between the societies

of Mesopotamia and Arabian nomads.

But the Ghoul was probably helped along

when the Hadith, a book
of the prophet's sayings,

not always but sometimes,

acknowledged the creature's existence.

Rather than being undead though,
they were a dangerous class

of the already volatile spirits called Gin

which we saw in episode five, remember.

And as if that wasn't bad enough

they had been corrupted by
Iblis, the devil of Islam,

so as to exact revenge on humanity.

It wasn't such a hard task
considering their ability

to shape shift from their disease
bearing clawed animalistic

forms to that of seductive women.

Although their hoof like
footprints could give them away.

Nor were they easy to kill.

You had to do it in one perfect stroke

or they could come back.

Ghouls prowled for travelers
in forgotten places

like wastelands or derelict
buildings or graveyards.

But in the original incarnation,

they didn't actually eat the dead.

They love living human flesh, true.

And strangely there are accounts

of Ghouls going crazy for dates.

But it's worth mentioning
that the reason we

all believe that Ghouls
eat the dead is because one

of the early translators
of "1,001 Arabian Nights"

embellished and it caught on.

Of course, this is all
probably rather academic

if you're dying a painful
death from a Ghoul bite.

Still, even a surly Witcher
would agree that it's important

to know your monster.

And there it is.

All of the monsters that made it

into "The Witcher"'s epic first season.

The only question is what
creatures do you wanna see

in the second season?

Let us know in the comments.

For me, I think I want a Chort.

Until then happy hunting.

♪ Toss a coin to your Witcher ♪

♪ A friend of humanity ♪

(upbeat organ music)

For anyone wondering
there was one monster left

on the cutting room
floor according to LSH.

Geralt originally took a contract

for a Polevik in episode six,

but Yennefer beat him to
the punch, obviously leading

to them, you know. (clears throat)

Anyway, in Slavic mythology,
the Polevik is a grassy haired

field spirit that can
change size depending

on the surrounding plants.

But it can be hostile, especially
to those who fall asleep

in the fields.

The only way to get in good with one was

to offer it two eggs and a
rooster that could no longer crow

while no one was looking.

LSH says the show version
was, and I quote, "So cute."

Maybe next time.