There's an official rap version of Toss a Coin to Your Witcher that you might get to hear someday

(Image credit: Netflix)

Possibly the biggest pop-culture touchstone to emerge from The Witcher on Netflix isn't a battle or a bathtub, but a ballad. Toss a Coin to Your Witcher has inspired memes, at least one mod, and some remarkable covers across a broad range of styles. The creators of that song (and all the others in the show), Giona Ostinelli and Sonya Belousova, recently told GamesRadar that they also put together a number of different styles of the song for possible inclusion in the show—including a rap version.

"For every song we wrote for Jaskier we had about five or six versions, because all these songs were written before the show even entered production," Belousova said. "We wanted to make sure when we were presenting songs to Lauren we were presenting her a whole spectrum of different styles and genres. We tried to go from something very medieval and renaissance to something very contemporary."

Even though the rap version of the song didn't make it into the show, Jaskier's performance feels very contemporary—unexpectedly so in a show that's ostensibly a swords-and-sorcery fantasy tale. But that's apparently intentional too: Belousova equated Jaskier to the Freddie Mercury of the Witcher world, and the music is intended to represent his growth from a simple singer to a full-blown rock star.

"That's why when we just meet his character and he sings the song 'You Think You're Safe,' it's a very simple song—just voice and lute—and the reason for that is we wanted to create this musical evolution of his character," she said. "So when he sings 'Toss a Coin To Your Witcher,' musically you can see that journey that he goes through from the tavern to becoming the rockstar of the continent."

Toss a coin to your Witcher - YouTube

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.