In the last episode of The Witcher season 3, part two, Geralt managed to survive the attack from Vilgefortz despite being badly injured. Yennefer tried to comfort Tissia, who was deeply traumatized by her lover’s betrayal. Meanwhile, after a massive explosion in Tor Lara, Ciri found herself in the dangerous desert of Korath. The place was full of monstrous creatures and chaotic magic, making every step she took perilous. During her journey, she encountered Falka, her ancestor, who encouraged her to embrace the magic of chaos. However, Ciri was scared of the potential consequences of using such power.
Spoilers Ahead
Why did Tissia commit Suicide? What happened to Radovid?
In episode 8, Yennefer stepped up to lead the Brotherhood, as Tissia had already drained all her energy and youth by summoning the powerful Alzur’s Thunder. Gathering all the remaining mages, Yennefer searched for Ciri at Vilgefortz’s abandoned castle, but instead of Cirilla, they found all the missing girls who used to be the students in Aretuza. These girls were tragically turned into a monster and lost their life at Geralt’s hands. Philippa also joined the mages, and together they performed a ritual to bring peace to these deceased girls’ souls, but Triss believed they deserved a proper burial. Back at the Brotherhood, Tissia was devastated by her failure of judgment and her blind faith in Vilgefortz, which resulted in the tragic fate of her students. She was deeply traumatized and was on the verge of giving up. She asked Yennefer to attend the funeral while she wrote a letter, making Yennefer the new head of the Brotherhood. Tragically, Tissia succumbed to the immense pain she was in and took her own life.
Dijkstra and Philippa returned to Redania after failing to “purge” the Brotherhood. King Vizimir was furious and ordered Dijkstra to kill Philippa as punishment because someone had to pay for such a failure. However, Dijkstra couldn’t betray his friend, Philippa, who saved his life back in Aretuza, so he contemplated taking his own life instead. But Philippa had a clever plan in mind. As Radovid returned to Redania safe and alive, he informed Vizimir that he didn’t want to stay in the kingdom, because his heart belonged to Jaskier, and he wanted to pursue that connection. However, Philippa saw a different destiny for Radovid. She learned about Vizimir’s order to kill her and took matters into her own hands. She orchestrated an attack on the king, resulting in Vizimir’s death. In the aftermath, Radovid was crowned as the new king of Redania, thanks to Philippa and Dijkstra’s quick actions.
Is Vilgefortz Alive?
Fringilla and Francesca arrived in Nilfgaard and met with the White Flame, Emhyr. However, Emhyr was not pleased to see Fringilla due to her previous failure to bring Ciri. Despite this, Francesca negotiated for a place to be officially assigned for the elves, but Emhyr demanded she leave the Scoia’tael army in exchange for providing her the place. Both Fringilla and Francesca wanted to find Ciri and use her power to escape the continent. But Francesca surprised Fringilla by deciding to follow Emhyr’s rule and abandon the Scoia’tael. This scared Fringilla, leading her to confess a hidden truth: Emhyr was the one who had killed Francesca’s child. Shocked and furious upon learning the truth, Francesca vowed to take revenge on both the White Flame and Fringilla.
As expected, Vilgefortz was still alive despite the injuries he suffered due to the explosion in Tor Lara, but one side of his face was burned from the explosion. Meanwhile, Ciri was seen heading towards Nilfgaard, where she was welcomed by the court and the audience. However, to our shock, the person who entered the court was not actually Ciri but Teryn, who was the previous experimental clone that Vilgefortz had made with his dark magical power. This unexpected event raises questions about why a fake Ciri was brought to the court, as both the Emperor and Vilgefortz would not want to risk their plans. It appears that Vilgefortz had a cunning plan to replace Teryn with Ciri, possibly to gain massive support for Nilfgaard and shift the war’s tide in favor of the invaders. There’s more to this situation than meets the eye, and Vilgefortz seems to have a hidden agenda at play.
Did Geralt recover from his injuries?
Yennefer met with Geralt and urged him to recover quickly because they needed to save their daughter, Ciri, together. Despite thorough treatment from the dryads, Geralt was still not strong enough to get up and head toward the jungle to find Ciri on his own. A helpful dryad archer named Milva assisted him in getting better, and eventually, Geralt was back on his feet. He took Jaskier with him and set off for Nilfgaard to find Ciri.
During their journey, Geralt and Jaskier came across Nilfgaardian soldiers who were extorting money from common people in exchange for passage to Nilfgaard. Seeing the soldiers tormenting the innocent, Geralt couldn’t ignore the injustice. Despite Jaskier’s advice to avoid trouble, Geralt couldn’t just stand by and attack the soldiers, knocking them unconscious to clear the way for the common people to proceed to their destination. We see Geralt breaking his neutrality and going against Nilfgaard for the sake of Ciri’s protection, which would be explored more in the subsequent installment of Witcher.
Where Was The Real Ciri?
In the meantime, we find that the real Ciri was captured by locals who planned to sell her to the kingdom of Nilfgaard. While the local men rested and had some drinks in a tavern, Ciri was held captive. However, she found herself next to a guy named Kayleigh, a member of the robbery group named the Rats. With Ciri’s help, Kayleigh cleverly freed himself, and soon other Rats stormed the tavern, defeating most of the captors. They rescued Ciri and encouraged her to fight the man who had captured her. Reluctantly, Ciri fought and killed the man, even though she didn’t want to commit murder. Impressed by Ciri’s amazing swordsmanship, the Rats asked for her name, and in response, Cirilla told them that she went by the name Falka.
The reason why Ciri named herself Falka isn’t mentioned in the series, but this incident marked a significant change in her persona. Ciri had always believed in neutrality between elves and humans and had never been a murderer before. However, after encountering Falka and taking her life, she started to feel a fiery rage within herself, akin to Falka’s. This realization troubled her, and she feared that the darkness within her might consume her identity as Cirilla forever.
Season 3 concluded with an open ending, leaving room for more developments in a potential fourth season. However, the future might bring a significant change, as Geralt of Rivia could be portrayed in a completely different manner. The Netflix series might either gain immense popularity or face a decline, as the audience may find it challenging to connect with the new Geralt, possibly played by Liam Hemsworth.
