Who Is Radovid in ‘The Witcher’ Season 3? Meet Hugh Skinner’s Character

The storyline of ‘The Witcher’ on Netflix continues as we are about to see Henry Cavill’s final stand as Geralt of Rivia before he gives the sword to Liam Hemsworth. Of course, the third season’s first part allowed us to see new characters that will be important in the storyline. One such new character is Radovid, who we met early in the season during one of the scenes involving Redania. So, who is Radovid in ‘The Witcher?’

Prince Radovid is the younger brother of King Vizimir. He is the smarter of the two brothers and is apparently smitten by Jaskier’s singing and personality. Radovid is also his brother’s most trusted adviser, as he trusts him more than Dijkstra. He is portrayed by actor Hugh Skinner.

It might be true that Radovid doesn’t have the most important role in season 3 of ‘The Witcher,’ but he did have quite a few important scenes that allowed the storyline to progress. He is also important in Jaskier’s own character arc in season 3 of ‘The Witcher.’ Now, let’s look at what we know about Radovid in ‘The Witcher.’

Radovid’s background explained

One of the things that we learned before the release of ‘The Witcher’ season 3 was that Redania would play a bigger part in the affairs of the Continent, especially after the Redanian Intelligence was introduced back in season 2. The thing about Redania, however, is that the Redanian Intelligence mostly runs it due to how weak the king is. That is why Dijkstra is most likely the most powerful man in Redania even though he is merely the spymaster of the kingdom.

Season 3 of ‘The Witcher’ allowed us to get to see more about Redania and the inner workings of this kingdom. We learned that it was run by King Vizimir, who wanted to marry Ciri but ended up marrying a different woman due to the failure of Redania to secure the Cintran princess.

Nevertheless, Redania still wants to acquire Ciri, which is why Vizimir gave the task of finding the princess to Dijkstra and Philippa, the resident mage of the kingdom.

But while Vizimir trusted Dijkstra and Philippa to do their job, he trusted one other person more than he trusted his spymaster and mage. We are talking about Prince Radovid, who was introduced as someone who might not look incredibly smart but is actually quite sharp. But who exactly is Prince Radovid?

In Netflix’s adaptation of ‘The Witcher,’ Prince Radovid is the younger brother of King Vizimir. Unlike his older brother, who seems quite dumb and dense, Radovid hides a deeper level of intelligence that Dijkstra often refuses to acknowledge. Nevertheless, Philippa found him useful during the earlier part of the storyline when they went to Jaskier to confront him and demand that he helps them get to Ciri.

Upon meeting Jaskier, Radovid was awestruck because he was always fond of his songs and tales about Geralt of Rivia. While Philippa tried her best to threaten Jaskier into helping them out in the matter related to Ciri, it was ultimately Radovid’s interest in Jaskier’s work that allowed the bard to consider working with Redania.

Later in the storyline, Jaskier goes to Redania, where Radovid is ready to greet and welcome him with open arms. Radovid wanted Jaskier to sing a few songs about Geralt, and that was when he saw the deeper side of the bard’s personality. The prince realized that Jaskier had a way of seeing through people and was great at conveying his feelings through his music. And this aspect of Radovid got Jaskier hooked on him in a way that he got confused about his feelings for him.

Radovid continued to work with Philippa in handling the affairs of Redania and the matter involving Ciri. However, Dijkstra didn’t want to acknowledge that the prince was useful and more than just a pretty face. That was why he often underestimated Radovid and even plotted against King Vizimir concerning his position with the Nilfgaardian Empire.

Dijkstra eventually murdered Queen Hedwig of Redania, making it appear as if the Nilfgaardian Empire did it. It was also Radovid’s manservant that delivered the box that contained the queen’s head. In that regard, Dijkstra could keep Radovid in check by making it seem like he and his manservant had something to do with the queen’s murder. This prevented the prince from telling King Vizimir that Dijkstra had killed his wife.

Near the end of part 1 of season 3, Yen and the mages of Aretuza planned on hosting a ball and a conclave, to which Philippa was invited. Vizimir ordered Philippa to attend the conclave and even allowed both Dijkstra and Radovid to attend it. However, neither Philippa nor Dijkstra wanted Radovid to attend the ball, so he snuck out and met up with Jaskier for a steamy evening.

Is Radovid in the video games and the books?

Like many of the different characters in ‘The Witcher,’ Radovid was based on a character from the books and the video games. In the source material, he is King Radovid V. And while he may be the brother of King Vizimir in the series, he is the son of Vizimir and Hedwig in the original source material.

This means that the series showrunner changed yet another aspect of the source material by changing Radovid into the younger brother of Vizimir. Of course, as of this writing, we are yet to see the logic in this departure from the source material, but it does make sense to portray Radovid as a younger brother that didn’t have any interests in the throne instead of a son that was set to inherit the throne from his inept father.

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