Following the release of The Witcher Netflix series on December 20, 2019, "Toss a Coin to your Witcher" appears to have dominated its popularity online — whether the bard song is remixed into other genres like heavy metal or simply crossed with other properties in popular culture. However, Reddit user shadowclone515 saw an opportunity to cross the newest fantasy streaming sensation with The Lord of the Rings without relying on that song, and did so in a rather clever way.
Netflix's The Witcher stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter who must deal with ferocious beasts and humans alike. It's based on a series of books of the same name from the 90s, which has also spawned a series of popular video games from CD Projekt (most recently 2015's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt).
Shadowclone515's video picks up at a point very early into the Netflix series, with Geralt of Rivia (not to be confused with Geraldo Rivera) battling a massive spider monster in a swamp. The show's titular protagonist loses his sword underwater during the scuffle, but manages to reach for the weapon before succumbing to drowning or a sharp spider leg to the gut.
However, thanks to a simple cut, Geralt finds not his sword; but the One Ring to rule them all from Middle-earth: The precious piece of jewelry pined after by Gollum, who currently has a video game of his own in the works.
While the video is perhaps a little rough around the edges thanks to the different color gradings between The Witcher and Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, it's a premise executed with a short and to-the-point video. In that regard it's quite appealing, as both a little bit of fan service in the moment and also as an imaginative spark for what else could be done by mixing the two properties.
Yet, since it was posted to both the r/witcher and r/lotr subreddits on January 2, the video has received little fanfare. This might be a symptom of over-saturation in the crossover market, as Netflix's The Witcher has been mixed with everything from The Mandalorian to the 2019 Joker film.
That kind of immense response on the Internet is a very clear sign that Netflix has a big hit on their hands, however, so it's a good problem to have. In fact, the streaming show has breathed new life into both The Witcher 3 and the original line of Witcher books since its release.
Perhaps shadowclone515's video has gotten the short end of the popularity stick so far, but that should by no means turn fans away from a solid take at crossing The Witcher with The Lord of the Rings.