How Geralt From Netflix's The Witcher Should Really Look

Netflix's 2020 streaming adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's book series "The Witcher" follows Henry Cavill as the titular Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, who slays terrible monsters for coin and makes being a reluctant father figure look incredibly compelling. The show, which also stars Freya Allen, Anya Chalotra, and Joey Batey, was, at the start, criticized for poor world-building, but Season 2 was much better received and both fans and critics alike were thrilled by Cavill's portrayal of the grungy Witcher with a heart of gold.

The "Man Of Steel" star's dedication to detail became the topic of much discussion, as Cavill was vocally enamored by the "The Witcher" video games and desperately wanted to create a faithful adaptation that honored all of the source material. His hard work absolutely paid off, so it's interesting to note that Cavill's Geralt was missing a few key visual details compared to the source material. Here's what Geralt of Rivia was supposed to look like, based on his descriptions from Sapkowski's story.

In Sapkowski's novels, Geralt of Rivia is described as having a thin frame with sinewy muscles and battle scars. Careful observers will notice that at no point in Henry Cavill's career has he ever been described as "thin." Cavill's physique is better compared to ancient Greek statuary. Basically, the man's a tank with legs. Sapkowski also described Geralt as terrifying, but Cavill nailed that qualifier with his formidable performance. In fairness, the Netflix series gave him a great deal of battle scars, but not the one most noted by gamers. In the video games, Gerakt has a grizzled slash across his left eye, but that scar isn't canonical to the books.

Another detail that varies from the source material is his ability to change the shape of his pupils into cat-like slits to better see in the dark. In the game series, this detail was translated to permanent slitted pupils with yellow irises, although at no point was Geralt's iris color mentioned in the books. The Netflix series takes it one step backward where Cavill's Geralt has golden irises, but normal pupils. Sure, they change when he consumes potions, but that's to an inky black. Even without "the eyes of a viper" (Sapkowski's words), though, the Netflix adaptation received the author's approval. Sort of.