My last musical post featured 1917’s film score. This time, I’d like to highlight a favourite game Soundtrack – Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (“The Witcher”). Questions facing the composers in both genres are similar: they must consider characters, setting, atmosphere and narrative. However, game soundtracks have to be responsive to players' actions, and a game as complex as The Witcher needs far more music than most films.
In short, The Witcher, based on Andrzej Sapkowski's fantasy novels, follows the story of the monster hunter (Witcher) Geralt. On his path, he experiences loss, alienation, love and everything in-between while slaying monsters. It's quite a challenge for any composer, but Marcin Przybylowicz, Mikolai Stroinski and others went above and beyond in bringing the story to life through music. Now that Witcher’s Netflix adaptation has become such a mainstream success, it might be worth remembering what the game has to offer. Here are 10 of my favourite tracks from the world of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
1. Spikeroog
The Witcher features several regions, each with disparate social, religious, and cultural identities. It would have been easy to write with a general medieval aesthetic and call it a day, but the composers refused to do that. Each region’s idiosyncrasies are reflected through differing orchestration and motifs. ‘Spikeroog’, an island from the fictional archipelago of Skellige, has both Celtic and Norse influences. The track features string swells under recorder and bagpipe solos. It is one of the more melodically hopeful pieces, a great soother, and will likely give you a hankering to sit on a mountain somewhere.
2. Ladies of the Woods theme - Child of the Elder Blood
As mentioned above, music for the three key regions in Witcher – Skellige, Novigrad and Velen – sound very different. Skellige has an aethereal Celtic feel (think Lord of the Rings Council of Elrond). Novigrad, characterised by its organised and restrictive religion, is more sophisticated, with male-dominated choral vocals and ominous bells in some tracks. However, the score for Velen must evoke a near-uninhabitable marshland, occupied only by war survivors and the monsters that plague them. Velen is wild and pagan, reflected by general ‘otherness’ in the score*: guttural female Slavic vocals, drones, and unusual instruments like the Kemenche, hurdy gurdy, gusli and Saz. In Velen, a cruel natural justice prevails: the titular ‘Ladies of the Woods’ are ancient beings who protect some Velen villages, but at an awful cost - an ear here… a few orphans there… In truth, this is a monster’s theme, with persistent, menacing repetition building tensionthroughout. This performance is particularly chilling.
3. Geralt of Rivia
This is the first track heard on starting the Witcher, and it effectively sets the stage for our game. In the first few bars, an E minor cello solo starts, signifying Geralt, our protagonist – note that cello solos are used to represent Geralt in other tracks, like the Wolf and the Swallow. The melody develops and bounces around the orchestra, but battles with menacing chromatic brass (later used with augmented 4ths in the big bad Wild Hunt’s theme). However, Geralt’s theme triumphs, with full orchestra and driving string rhythms. This is kitchen-sink, epic writing at its best, and brilliantly paints a picture of our hero's struggle.
4. Silver For Monsters…
One of the soundtrack’s important jobs is to cue responses from players – this can mean alerting them to characters, locations, or dangers. ‘Silver for Monsters...’ warns players that some battle or hunt is happening, in a gut-punch collaboration between Przybylowicz and the Polish folk metal band ‘Percival’. It begins with kemenche drones, percussion and rhythmic saz strumming, before female vocals enter with what can only be called a battle cry. Gamers fondly know this as the ‘lelele song’, due to the lelele lyrics of the syncopated vocal melody, based on the Romanian minor scale (aka Ukranian Dorian Scale). The singers here often use "white voice", a traditional and strong Eastern European technique, powering the music forward. Sibilant chants, unusual vocals and rhythm together make ‘Silver for Monsters...’ some of the best combat music out there.
5. Kaer Morhen
We rarely come across major keys in the Witcher soundtrack. This is partly because of medievalism, but also because the soundtrack reflects a bleak world in which morally difficult decisions are regularly made. The Witcher ‘universe’ often deals with the ‘lesser evil’, unintended consequences, and the conflicting feelings of its characters. Our witcher, Geralt, lives a lonely life on the road, but coming home to ‘Kaer Morhen’ is still bittersweet. This is reflected in the music. Our once majestic ‘Geralt of Rivia’ theme is re-orchestrated with a sopranino recorder solo over strings and hammered dulcimer. It's familiar and pleasant, but hollow in comparison with its earlier envisioning. This reflects Kaer Morhen perfectly: a serene and beautiful mountainside fortress, that ultimately lies empty as Witcher numbers dwindle, and drinks are shared amidst empty tables. Now now, no tears…. sniff…
6. The Musty Scent of Fresh Pate
In an interview, the Witcher’s lead composer Marcin Przybylowicz remarked on the creative leeway the team was allowed when writing. Since the world of the Witcher features medieval European and folk influences, so too did the soundtrack. However, as Przybylowicz pointed out, folk music from the Middle Ages wasn’t written down, so accurate, authentic folk music would be difficult to replicate. In fact, the aural tradition of medieval music is represented in the Witcher 'universe' through the famous bard characters, Dandelion and Jaskier - novel/game and television characters respectively - who tell tales of woe and adventure in taverns. Without being bound by strict accuracy restrictions, the composers then used the biases of their listeners to write ‘illustrative music’ and evoke a sense of the period. ‘The Musty Scent of Fresh Pate’ is likely the clearest example of this. It calls to mind images of minstrels, mead, and draughty castles. It also makes me hungry, but I’m not sure that was intended.
7. Farewell old Friend
As we’ve already established, stakes are high in the world of the Witcher. This is never more apparent than when, in one awful scene, a close mentor of our protagonist is killed. Key characters gather for the funeral, accompanied by ‘Farewell Old Friend’, a sombre and lyrical string piece. As noted by Przybylowicz, music should not only support the game, but also work autonomously. ‘Farewell Old Friend’ certainly does both. In the context of the story, it will have many bawling over their controllers. Independently, the mournful kemenche solo with string accompaniment is still rare and beautiful – well worth a listen.
8. The Slopes of the Blessure
Time for a more optimistic turn! In the Witcher soundtrack, both motifs and orchestration change depending on the current storyline. This track comes from the story ‘Blood and Wine’, set in yet another fictional area: Toussaint. Toussaint is supposedly famous for its wine, and developers cited inspiration from Provence in France, Renaissance Italy, and Poland. The ‘Blood and Wine’ music feels somewhat lighter than that of the main story: it makes use of fun instruments like the accordion (standout performance by Rafal Grzaka) and hurdy gurdy. ‘The Slopes of the Blessure’ epitomises this, with accordion solo, lush violin harmonies and a slight ‘oom-pah’ feel. Melodic and rich, the track makes me wish I could visit Toussaint – not something I would say of most Witcher regions.
9. You’re… Immortal?
Outside a burning manor, witcher Geralt battles a man and leaves him looking like Nearly Headless Nick from the Harry Potter series. Imagine his surprise when his opponent casually applauds and pulls his head back onto his shoulders. As with much of the combat music in the game, this track relies on saz, kemenche, percussion and female vocals to create atmosphere. However, it matches the unusual fight onscreen with changes in pace – in this live rendition, the band Percival speed to a dizzying finish. Folk metal and throaty vocals amplify the rather elegant, but nevertheless gritty and violent brawl. Strange, but effective. It’s earned its place on the list.
10. The Trail
For many, ‘The Trail’ is what comes to mind when they think of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – it was the music behind the game’s trailer. It also establishes many of the key elements present throughout the rest of the soundtrack: medieval instrumentation, female vocalist duets, minor key, and heavy use of percussion. It’s a dizzying mix of dissonant choir, menacing brass and strings that pushes the listener to get going, whichever trail they’re on.
If you made it this far, thank you! There is so much to be said about the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Soundtrack, I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface. I could have spent far longer writing if I’d explored the Wild Hunt’s or Elven themes, and music accompanying the game inception of Gwent. There is such a huge volume of music, it’s no wonder the soundtrack took nearly 3.5 years to be completed. My goodness was the time and effort worth it though.
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The Witcher Official Soundtrack was released in 2015, credited to Marcin Przybylowicz, Mikolai Stroinski and the folk band, Percival Schuttenbach. Although much music is not on the official release, the vast majority of key themes have been included (e.g. Ladies of the Woods theme listed as Child of the Elder blood), and are available on Spotify. If you aren’t a gamer, but want to know more about the world of Witcher, you can find the novels on Amazon or try the Netflix series.
Sources
*Witcher3 | Sounding Out! (soundstudiesblog.com)
VideoGame Show - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Concert 1080p - YouTube
The Witcher 3 Behind the Scenes: Writing the Music | Culture.pl
Where was Toussaint in Witcher 3 based on? - Quora
What's the guitar-like instrument used in much of The Witcher's music? : witcher (reddit.com)