Henry Cavill likes swords. So much so that after playing Geralt of Rivia in Netflix‘s series ‘The Witcher’—a role he left halfway through the series to pass the baton to Liam Hemsworth—he will soon premiere the reboot of ‘Highlander,’ the iconic 1980s film starring Connor MacLeod. However, the British actor’s experience with his particular vision of The Witcher was always negatively marked, for one reason or another. He never felt comfortable with either the plot or the production itself. The sword fight choreography was also complicated, and he even suffered a dangerous injury.
Sword expert analyzes the fights in ‘The Witcher’
That’s why even a sword expert wanted to share his impressions of the different fights in the series. David Rawlings, a member of HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts), analyzed the different fight scenes in the Netflix fantasy series, concluding that they have much room for improvement: “From the perspective of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), the combat scene analyzed presents several successes and several questionable technical decisions,” says the expert. So much so that Rawlings begins to analyze point by point all the technical aspects of the fights in ‘The Witcher’:
“I have problems with this particular fight because there is a lot of reverse grip with the sword held backwards down here; it’s not a good way to use the sword, you sacrifice your ability to defend yourself above,” explains the expert. However, he praises Henry Cavill’s physical fitness, as the actor personally performed most of the combat and stunt scenes in the series; although not everything is positive: “Henry Cavill is very good physically, and what is shown in this fight scene is probably the most disappointing fight scene in ‘The Witcher’ for Henry, an 8. In terms of fight quality, the scene is a 4,” the expert continues in his video.
“I appreciate that, in many moments, the weapon is kept in front of the fighter and is used to actively close the distance. Also noteworthy is the use of spinning movements and wide angles to manage multiple opponents, a technique debated in HEMA but functional in combat against multiple rivals. In summary: good physical performance by the actor, but overall choreography below the expected technical standard,” concludes the sword fighting expert. And having seen the fourth season of ‘The Witcher’, it doesn’t seem like Liam Hemsworth is doing much better than Henry Cavill, so David Rawlings will surely have something to say about that.
‘The Witcher’ is available to watch on Netflix with all four seasons already released; the series is expected to end with a fifth and final season, given the increasingly disappointing reception of any news about it.
