CD projekt red: Geralt dresses like a normal person
Netflix: fuck it he's goth now
In the games, Geralt mostly wears brown due to his leather armor, as well as a smattering of red and blue in some of the textiles, like gambeson, shirts, robes, scarves, etc. These are normal medieval colors and would be accessible to the common person.
But in Netflix adaptation, he wears black and ONLY black, which is crazy because, black was actually considered a luxury dye in the middle ages because of how complicated the dying process was. And even then, you wouldnt get a true black; it was going to be blue/black, red/black, or yellow/black. It wasn't until the 17th century that true jet black was possible with the introduction of logwood from Central America.
But Geralt's clothing and armor in the Netflix adaptation IS a true black. And these aren't even clothes for any special occasion?? It's just his normal day to day wear. Like can you even imagine??? This random guy walks into town wearing the most expensive textiles you've ever seen and then says he's going to go fight monsters in them?? What a damn flex.
Geralt who buys normal leather:
Geralt who only buys expensive Luxurious Black leather:
Alternate scenario, considering the amount of Unidentified Black Ichor spilled by various monsters throughout: Geralt: hey can you help me? this damn stain won't come out of my good leather armor A Textile Worker Who's About To Change Geralt's Whole Business Model: holy fucking shit dude
i raise you: this has been Known (tm) for a long time, that monster ichor is a good black dye, if you can afford it.
Witchers dress entirely in black as advertisement of their role as monster hunters, because for them, it is relatively easy to acquire.
if they have a chance, they will collect small amounts and sell it, but they tend not to bother unless they have new clothes or armor they need dyed, and then sell the rest to the person treating their clothes, which makes it still pretty rare/expensive for everyone else.
And that's why people always know Geralt's a witcher even before they get a close look at him, because he's in all black and that's basically the Witcher uniform.
Also I forgot to add: If they wear all black, with all that black ichor, they don't have to worry about looking super gross and unkempt bc of ichor stains.
Granted, they still can look gross and unkempt for other reasons, but it won't be bc of ichor stains they can't get out.
I love this hot take @ruffboijuliaburnsides and I am 100000% behind this. Amazing. 10/10. Good shit!
