Season 2 of The Witcher has been hotly anticipated based on the reflections of the previous season, which was ambitious despite its flaws, but the new film is already facing sharp criticism. While series star Henry Cavill and the cast have said in interviews that he is a walking encyclopedia (he has worked with the series' writers to make the live-action adaptation as close to the book as possible), there is one major problem.

Indeed, it is so frustrating for fans that one can't help but wonder where Cavill was when the screenwriters decided to make the drastic changes to the central characters.

Spoilers for The Witcher season 2, episode 2.

In The Witcher, Season 2, Episode 2, Gerard of Livia returns to Caer Morhen with Siri. There he is reunited with his former Witcher friends, including fan-favorite character Eskel.

However, Eskel, as adapted by Netflix, is not the warm big brother type that appears in the books and the game series. In the books, Eskel also has a "surprise child" like Geralt. Instead, the Netflix Eskel is a bit creepy, rude, short-tempered and womanizing.

In the second episode, things get worse when Eskel makes the foolish and careless decision to invite a brothel to Care Mochen to party with the Witchers. After nearly getting into a fight with Gerard, he elopes with one of the women. Unfortunately, he is infected by a tree-like monster named Reshen, who kills her and begins to wreak havoc. Desperate, Gerardt is forced to kill Eskel before he can do more damage.

And just like that, an important character in Witcher lore is killed, given no character development, and sent to a grave far removed from the man fans knew him to be.

Also, because Eskel plays such an important role in future events in the books and games, his death is shocking. This has led many fans to question what the screenwriters were thinking and whether they cared about staying true to the original vision of Andrzej Sapkowski. Not only that, but why did they choose Eskel for this story and not the numerous other nameless wizards associated with Kale Mochen?

There are several threads on Reddit that attempt to answer these questions. User prazulsaltaret believes that the screenwriters did so for shock value.

User Franiu_ also believes that there was no major reason to kill Eskel, writing that "they could have taken any of the made-up witchers and replaced Eskel with Reshen in the story. It was a real shame that we never got to see the real Eskel. I loved the contrast with the other Witchers in Kjell Mochen."

The RRMs.

In another Reddit thread, user Deep-Doughnut-9423 wrote, "Totally agree. They could have called him anything but Eskel. It's like calling the devil Jesus."

TheHarkinator also makes a good point, "It's like killing him and proving you knew the right way all along. Why make a mistake with Eskel and then correct him in a flashback?

Cavil, whom fans rely on as the savior of the show, feels he only has so much power over the final production.

"Sadly, the simple fact is that the show is poorly scripted," says user AlwaysKindaLost. Henry Cavill can do a lot of things, but he can't make a screenwriter into anything other than a sci-fi hack."

User Jagick said in another thread that he is not surprised by what the screenwriters have put together. Since season 1, there have been "ridiculous changes" to characters, lore, and story arcs. Now the show has better production values.

"I really, really wanted the show to be good. Cavil is a big fan of the books and the game, so I'm hoping that he's trying to encourage it to be better."

Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who often interacts with fans on Twitter, said she is open to talking about Eskel: "Sending love to everyone watching @witchernetflix and also to future Sending excitement for the Reddit discussion. So, like it or not, keep the passionate opinions coming. And yes, let's talk about Esquel."

Fans on Twitter, as well as on Reddit, have also thrown their criticisms about the Netflix adaptation.

Still, some fans are hopeful that this is a red herring rather than a misstep by the writers. One Reddit thread posits that what we saw of Esquel's death was a Doppler. This is because the Witcher knows how to kill Reschen easily, but it took Eskel six hours to do it. Another Twitter user has the same theory:

In any case, fans seem to be divided on Netflix's "The Witcher" season 2 so far. Universal praise has been given to Cavill for his portrayal of Geralt. They are divided about the rest of the casting.

As for Season 2, fans seem to like it better than Season 1, with the exception of Episode 2. Whether the writers can satisfy this passionate and dedicated fan base remains to be seen.