The Witcher: The Real Reason Geralt Hates Portals

Netflix is continuing its split season release style with Season 3 of "The Witcher." Being that the third season is set to be the final run for star Henry Cavill in the central role of Geralt of Rivia, the titular monster hunter, it makes sense that the streamer may want to get as much mileage out of the latest batch of episodes as possible, but that doesn't necessarily take the sting out for fans.

Either way, something that remains consistent about Geralt across the books by creator Andrzej Sapkowski, the popular video game series, and Netflix's own take on "The Witcher" is that the character does not like to use portals. Though they allow for much faster travel than nearly any other means in the fictional universe that the story is set in, there are good reasons why Geralt doesn't trust them very much.

The main reason why Geralt doesn't like to use portals in "The Witcher" comes from an old adage about learning from the mistakes of others when you can rather than through direct experience. Essentially, Geralt has seen firsthand how badly teleportation spells can go, as he once witnessed a man cut in half by a portal after the magic failed him.

Reddit user u/Finlay44 explained why Geralt is distrustful of such unstable magic in "The Witcher" by using a direct quote from Andrzej Sapkowski's sixth book in the dark fantasy series, "Season of Storms," on the r/witcher subreddit. The story, as told by a third-person narrator, paints a pretty grim and convincing portrait of the practice and why Geralt doesn't like it.

"The worst portal failure Geralt had ever witnessed had occurred near the beginning of his witcher career — and it had forever made him an opponent of teleportation," the quote explained. "Back then, it was a fashionable travel method among upstarts, wealthy nobles, and rich kids, and some mages provided such entertainment in exchange for hefty amounts of coin."

"One day — when the witcher had been present — a teleportation enthusiast had appeared through a portal, cut exactly in half vertically," the narration continues. "He had looked like an open double bass case. Then all his insides had fallen out and spread across the ground. After this incident, the popularity of teleportation dropped considerably."

It's an appropriately grisly story of how convenient magical spells can sometimes go horribly wrong when they are not treated with the respect that they deserve in the dark fantasy universe of "The Witcher." As such, it definitely makes sense why the incident left such a lasting impression on Geralt and why his character still remains wary of portals to this day, regardless of the situation.