A fantasy series that surrounds politics, a war-torn country, and a single hero upon whom depends the fate of thousands. Sounds familiar? For most, this description might ring a bell known as Game of Thrones, but there are many other shows that fit the description. The two most popular and beloved ones of which are The Witcher and Vikings. However, which of the two is better?

Theme

The Witcher, though based in medieval Europe, takes more than just a dip into the supernatural. The foundational theme of the show isn’t politics or history, it is magic. This is very much unlike Vikings, which barely has any “magical” elements in it, mostly relying on historical accuracy to appeal to its viewers.

Protagonists

The Witcher follows the story of Geralt of Rivia, a mutant monster-hunter. With the powers that he possesses, he ends up entangled in messes that could potentially destroy or make an entire nation. Despite his general ignorance and lack of will to do anything “good,” he manages to stay away from “evil” as much as he can. Geralt’s moral compass isn’t unwavering, but he does make for a compelling morally gray protagonist who is wonderfully interesting to watch.

On the other hand, there is Vikings. While it seemed that Ragnar was the protagonist, he takes the back seat in the final seasons of the series. While Vikings doesn’t focus on a single character as much as it does on Kattegat. Despite Ragnar alone being interesting enough to watch for 6 full seasons, the show’s shifting focus from Ragnar to Lagertha and his sons made Vikings extremely fascinating.

Direction

Though this cannot be blamed upon the directors or producers of Vikings, The Witcher is the clear winner in this field. Half the essence of any historical or medieval ages based show is the action. More than anything else, fans look forward to battle cries and sword fights. With a relatively small budget, Vikings has skipped out on this. There are many battles of which we only see a beginning and end, having missed out on the midst entirely.

The Witcher is a Netflix Original. This entails having a great production house not tight on the budgetary needs of production, making for numerous action scenes that are undeniably one of the best in the field.

Overall

All things said and done, one point to be noted is that Vikings has had 6 successful seasons and has ended while The Witcher is in its initial stages on Netflix. The plot will build and there will be inevitable changes in the direction, for better or worse. Nothing can be said of that yet.

But the one thing that is obvious is that both these amazing shows deserve attention. While there is all the hype in the world about season 2 of The Witcher, fans must indefinitely check out Vikings and its spinoff series Vikings: Valhalla.