'The Witcher' VA Doug Cockle Responds To 'The Witcher 4" Being Described As Woke: "That's Just Stupid. It's Not Woke"
Doug Cockle, the voice of Geralt of Rivia, in CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher video game series responded to the Witcher 4 being described as woke saying, “That’s just stupid. It’s not woke.”
In a video for the Fall Damage YouTube channel, Cockle reacted to various Witcher memes. One of them wasn’t really a meme, but more a comment from X user StealthyBosmer that stated, “the entire Game Awards chat spamming ‘woke’ because the Witcher 4 has you playing as Ciri, a woman, is everything that is wrong with gaming culture.”
Cockle reacted to this saying, “I wouldn’t say that’s everything that’s wrong with gaming culture, but I do think that’s stupid. It’s not woke. There’s nothing woke about it. It’s a cool character from The Witcher and they’re going to focus on that character. I think that’s awesome. We can’t just have Geralt for every single game for The Witcher ad nausem out for eternity.”
“Besides we’ve seen the end of Geralt’s journey, Blood & Wine was supposed to wrap up Geralt’s journey. I celebrate Ciri. I celebrate her being the protagonist,” he declared. “So all you people who think it’s woke (he derogatorily sticks his tongue out and blows). If you read the books then you understand why CD Projekt went down this avenue. There is a whole rich world of stuff to explore with Ciri that they didn’t do when they put her into Witcher 3 because the story was about Geralt, but she hints at it. If you think it’s woke read the damn books. They’re good, first of all. And secondly, you won’t think it’s so woke after all.”
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The Witcher 4 has all the markings of a woke game. Mainly because it takes a male-led property and turns it into a female-led one. This is exactly what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been doing for years. Furthermore, it rejects the lore of the books to make the female lead into a witcher.
This was confirmed by CD Projekt Red’s Head of Studios Adam Badowski who wrote on X back in December, “Dear, if you're wondering how Ciri may be on the path as a witcher, well, there's the story of the Witcher IV to tell that tale. A huge thank you for the respect and love for the lore created by Andrzej Sapkowski. Hugs!”
In the books, specifically Blood of Elves, novelist Andrzej Sapkowski does show Ciri taking part in Witcher training, but she does not partake in the Trial of the Grasses and undergo the mutations to become a witcher. Instead, she is taken to the Temple of Melitele where she received magical instruction from Nenneke and Yennefer.
Sapkowski wrote, “The ashblonde girl who, here in Kaer Morhen, they want to turn into a witcher. A real witcher. A mutant. A killing machine, like themselves. … They want to mutate the child, subject her to the Trial of Grasses and Changes, but they don’t know how to do it.”
Furthermore, Triss states, “Ciri must not be allowed to grow wild. She has to have contact with the world. With her peers. She has to be decently educated and prepared for a normal life. Let her wave her sword about for the time being. You won’t turn her into a witcher without mutation anyway, but having a witcher’s training won’t harm her.”
Additionally, in The Sword of Destiny novel Sapkowski makes it clear that anyone drinking a Witcher potion would die unless “inured to it from childhood.”
He wrote, “The mixture which helped the witcher gain full control of his body was chiefly made up of veratrum, stramonium, hawthorn and spurge. The other ingredients had no name in any human language. For anyone who was not, like Geralt, inured to it from childhood, it would have been lethal poison.”
Nevertheless, in The Lady of the Lake novel it does end with Ciri referring to herself as a “witcheress,” but nowhere in any of the novels does it indicate she underwent the Trial of the Grasses and became a mutant. Sapkowski wrote, “The devil, she thought, why not? I bet any money that this world has jobs for a witcheress.”
In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Ciri is referred to as a witcher in the Blood and Wine DLC. After Ciri explains she slew a Garkain, Geralt asks, “Being a Witcher anything like you imagined?”
Ciri replies, “Geralt, I didn’t have to imagine anything… Remember, before we parted we walked a good stretch of the Path together… I’m still a long way from mastering anything. But I am trying. Anyway, I did learn from the best.”
When asked about her battle with the Garkain, Ciri also notes she took a dose of Black Blood in order to combat the creature’s increased strength in the battle. She defeats it by feigning a dodge, and letting the monster drink her blood, which by consuming the Black Blood potion had turned to a lethal poison.
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The base game also features an ending where Geralt gives Ciri a silver sword and she seemingly accompanies him as a witcher. Geralt even calls her a witcher.
In fact, a narration at the end states, “Cirilla Fiona Ellen’Rianon, heir to Nilfgaard’s throne, chose the life of a witcher, on the Path. Geralt taught her all he knew, every skill he possessed, then each set off on their own. Soon word of the ashen-haired witcheress had spread throughout the North, from the Yaruga to the mountains of Kovir…”
However, there are multiple different endings for The Witcher 3. In one of the endings it’s implied that Ciri dies, but it is left ambiguous. There is a possibility that she just chose not to return.
However, it’s unclear if the Witcher 4 will follow any of this given Game Director Sebastian Kalemba told IGN, “We want to let players try to define her. She's about to form her own codex on her own terms. The way she actually deals with the monsters, the way she deals with quests, the adventures, it's her own unique way.”
He continued, “[We’re giving] more tools for players' disposal, to be able to not only play and go with the consequences narratively, but also gameplay-wise. We want to give players more opportunities to be able to feel that they define their experience.”
In that same interview with IGN, Executive Producer Malgorzata Mitręga said, “We want to aim for the new players.”
She elaborated, “The wider audience, and also the people that know the franchise but who maybe do not play our games.”
On top of all of this, CD Projekt Red has embraced numerous woke policies. The company has a Diversity & Inclusion page on its website that states, “Our purpose is to create revolutionary role-playing games with memorable stories that inspire gamers. We can only deliver on these goals and promises with an amazing, passionate team whose talents and professional skills reflect the breadth of experience in the world. A diverse and inclusive work environment boosts creativity and innovation, which is exactly what we need in order to push the limits of technology and storytelling.”
The company also notes it engages in “Equitable Practices.” It states, “We’re not afraid to stand for what we believe in. By implementing inclusive benefits and creating a space where everyone can be themselves, we create a positive example for other companies and help effect positive social change.”
Furthermore, it adds, “Healthy teams are ones where all team members feel good, valued, and safe — and these are the teams we want to empower inside RED by introducing various initiatives.”
One of those initiatives is called The Diversity Charter. CD Projekt Red explains, “We’re among the companies that signed the Diversity Charter (Karta Różnorodności), a document committing to non-discrimination in the workplace as well as to the introduction of policies that create and promote diversity. We were also listed as one of the top employers in Poland in terms of managing diversity and inclusion.”
Furthermore, the company also boasts that it is “committed to promoting social change and being an example of it. All of our efforts aimed at meeting this goal can be found here.”
Finally, one of the initiatives also includes a scholarship program that excludes men from participating through a partnership with Girls in the Game!
What do you make of Cockle’s comments?
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So says every single woke developer who has made a cruddy woke game.
And the voice actor is likely under contract not to say anything negative about the game.
Zero trust. Woke developers make woke games. The trailer was filled with it.
Every. Single. Time.
Or you could believe your own eyes and not buy woke garbage by a DEI studio.