Ciri is a real Witcher now? 🕊 The Witcher IV Thoughts
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- As per The Game Awards last week, Ciri is a real witcher now. I defnitely have some The Witcher IV thoughts associated with what was presented... here's my initial reaction and thoughts on what was presented!
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Tags: #thewitcher #henrycavill #thewitcher4
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Reminder! This is a ✨book✨ channel NOT a Witcher channel. The Witcher is definitely the most important series in my life so it does get a larger focus than any other book/series, but the Witcher videos are spread out.
Seeing lots of people saying that I think Geralt and Yen should choose for Ciri whether she does the trial or not. I DO NOT SAY THAT. **i say that she's an adult and can make her own choices.** in my interpretation of her character i think she would ask them for ADVICE. We don't know why she wants to take the mutations. If she just randomly decides one day that she wants to be real witcher just because I don't see G&Y saying the Trial is a good idea and I don't see her going rogue in that case. If it's for a reason like Neon Knight proposes to protect herself from people wanting to use her as a pawn again bc of the prophecy/Elder Blood (which would be a really compelling idea!!!), then i totally see it going a different way. The point that I'm trying to make is that we don't know anything about this game substantial enough to make a judgment either way. All i want is a compelling story behind it all and the devs have been nothing but reassuring! I am not trying to infantilize her or take away her agency. I don't think asking your parents for advice is either of those. And i definitely DO NOT think that Geralt/Yen should make her choices for her. I am relatively new to this. I'm still learning how to formulate my thoughts. Please be kind.
Also, an article has since come out that only reassures me more: www.eurogamer.net/the-witcher-4-dev-cd-projekt-red-talks-ciri-fan-reaction-playable-geralt-coyness-and-if-the-game-will-honour-your-previous-choices
And this is a great video from a lore perspective: ua-cam.com/video/hq-sfefAvFA/v-deo.html
Also also I'm less confident with my claim that the sword is the same one Geralt gives Ciri after rewatching the trailer more times. oopsie. just a girl 🎀
Also also also I made a mistake!! The Polish voice actress IS DIFFERENT! Should've double checked... she really just sounded so so similar to me that i mistook them for the same person.
@valliyarnl i'm kinda jealous of the fact that you speak polish so the polish actress playing her again is a great callback so to speak. It kind of threw me off when I heard her VA in english has changed but so far the new actress sounds promising.
@valliyarnl but the sword has the same hilt no ?? It could be zerieal
It better be the same sword. I mean they could have changed it a bit because so many years have passed but it cannot not be it.
@TheMrGiannisgr I mean we would probably replace it in game with a generic silver sword with higher stats 🤣
@@anosvoldigoat3351 yeah the hilt looks the same but the blade at the hilt looks different so I'm not too sure. i hope it is tho!
Wind's howling
I don't think there's a single Witcher video on youtube, that doesn't have this comment.
Looks like rain
Place of power must be
So long
thank you for showing up Jerald
I LOVE that you pointed out the Polish Identity aspect in both the games and Netflix show. It was so much more than missing the story beats.. the show simply failed to acknowledge the cultural influence from Sapkowski’s written narrative.
We sure got a lot of Zerrikanian representation in the show…
A hollywood show blatantly disrespecting foreign cultures? I am shocked.
Any American adaptation of any European material seems to totally miss the mark in regards to its cultural roots
@ yep, we couldn’t even accurately copy The Office.
@@enemystand2981 It feels like a lot of americans think that Europe is just one place with one culture; or something like America but a little different. While in fact Europe is a huge continent with so much diversity between countries and cultures that it's hard to even know all of those cultures. Even countries that share a border are totally different, while in American when you cross a state border, it is not that much different in the next state.
"Cautiously optimistic" is the only way to feel about it. One thing I've been forced to learn in the last few years is that just because it's the same company making something, doesn't mean it's the same people making it. No preorders, lads.
absolutely.
Arkahm knight - incredible
Suicide squad - awful
Glad to see this channel getting the attention it’s long deserved 🇵🇱📚
Thank you for the donation 💞💞💞
I love your take on Ciri and the Wichter (4) ; I also have to say that "Neon Knight" did an awesome job on this topic, lets all be patient and w8 for the Wichter 4 to surprise us all:); unfortunately everybody has to screem out loud, before researching and beig rational; so thank you for putting weight into your arguments by referering to the actual source material:)!
Merry Christmas and a happy new year 🎉
Thank you so much! And I am glad that what you said comes across! When I make mistakes I write them in the pinned comment. We are all fallible after all :) and yeah I love Neon Knight! His video was amazing 🤩
@valliyarnl
Thanks a lot for this video and the passion!!! I can't reveal any spoilers, but we definitely won't take the trial lightly - it's a huge deal, and how this could even work for Ciri, and how others react to this happening, is definitely a huge part of the story we're going to tell!
nice to know !
Thank you for this! Not gonna' lie, this is the thing that might be a deal breaker for me (which won't be a huge surprise to you, I think that a lot of players and fans in general feel the same way). Wishing you the best of luck in creating great new stories in this incredible world.
That's good to hear, it would be nice if you could reveal something more about the endings of w3, e.g. the political situation on which we had influence. Will w4 take our choices into account? Or at least he didn't deny it?
Just a friendly reminder, in case it's not too late. Looking through the Americanized "freedom of choice" lens is not the only lens through which to look at freedom from oppression. The choice is not the important part, it's the oppression, and being free from it.
You made the best choice for this game. Happy cooking!
8:18 ... when Ciri is asked about who's money she took, the "camera" abruptly pans over to the Father who has a guilty look on his face.
idk im not too sure if it is "guilty" esp given the voice over
@valliyarnl fearful is the right word
It can be either way. He also could have guilty face anyway.
She’s also bringing the head back as proof that the contract was completed.
With the monster head being brought back and the *“Witcher, whose coin did you take?”* _[camera cuts to the father, father looks down in shame]_ my instinct is telling me the father hired her in secret.
When we’re in the game, I think the right decision will be to tell her to run away and never go back, or maybe wait for us outside the cave. It’s definitely not telling her to go back to the village without us, lol.
@@Pårchmēntôswhat makes you so sure that this is gonna be an in-game quest? I’m assuming it’s gonna be more like the Witcher 3 ‘killing monsters’ (and other) trailers where they take place before the events of the game, and the player has no control over them.
Another outstanding video...well done
wow David I am really taken aback. Once again I am so grateful and I'm so happy that you think the video was of value. I hope you're having a beautiful day :)
My personal hypothesis for Ciri becoming a real witcher is that she wanted to get rid of her elder blood powers, so nobody will ever be able to abuse her powers for evil. Perhaps a trial of grasses could potentially alter her biology enough to permanently block her from using her time and space magic.
Don't forget the trial of grasses sterile the witchers.she would be the last elder blood's carrier
I haven't read the lore but shouldn't she be in the clear now after the wild hunt and the end of the witcher 3?
15:50 I think the point is “Realistically” Ciri wouldn’t have gone to ask for yen or Geralt’s advice. I completely agree they would never approve- but ciri is older, she’s on her own, she’s been traveling as an honorary Witcher for years and most importantly she’s ciri- a hot headed young lass who wants to pave her own path. I think she is smart enough to know that her parents would disapprove… and so she didn’t need to ask because she already knew what she wanted to do. I think that’s the whole point of going forward with ciri as a character- she isn’t just “all grown up” she’s probably older than anyone in this comment section! She can be reckless and make dangerous decisions without getting permission first
12:15 - That's not correct, there is a new voice actress for Polish dubbing - It used to be Anna Cieślak, and now it's Jagoda Jasnowska
It sounds very close tho.
Really? That sad but still very simillar
true
gosh that's an embarrassing mistake on my part! Should've double checked. It sounded really similar to me so I just believed the comment I saw. Thank you so much for the correction!
Anna Cieslak has a very youthful voice. She often dubbed children's voices. She wouldn't suit the more mature Ciri. And on top of that, the trailer foreshadows her dark moments during what I think are Ciri's struggles to reverse her destiny (what destiny?).
absolutely loved this take, nuanced and not too extreme on either side, acknowledging some concerns without just dismissing them but without being a doomsayer either
that's exactly what i was aiming for! glad it came across :)
@GnasherGeartake it up with Sapkowski for writing the Witcher books that way 😊
@GnasherGear Geralt's story was done and the previous game set up ciri as the most likely candidate for the next games. Female protagonists have always been a thing and their existence isn't automatically political. Also CDPR cannot be a "leftist company" when their main goal is to make money for their shareholders, while making their employees work crazy hours to release games by a specific deadline.
@@juinano he didn’t write her like this new game, that’s why everyone’s annoyed 😅
The only reason I can think of why Ciri would want to be a full witcher and go through the trial of grasses is maybe she doesn't want to use her natural elder blood magic. swearing it off as using that magic could only attract the attention of world-ending foes like that of the wild hunt. This would cause her to rely on weaker mutated magic like the witcher's magic.
I get so weirded out by the game fandom’s weird sexualization of Ciri given your role as her surrogate father in the story. I have a daughter, so it’s a detachment I can’t make.
Same, but I don't ha a daughter yet
This last week has seperated casual witcher fans from competitive ones
lmao, indeed!
And normal ppl from the “woke” grifting morons who can’t conceptualize playing a game as a woman
yes
"Competitive" ones? You're not competing against anyone. Do you mean maybe diehard lore fans? That's not competitive.
@cya.9700 So...Ciri (a woman) is now head of the witcher series, and y'all have lost your minds to the point of wanting the company that produced the games you loved so much to go under? Y'all are nuts.
My reaction was pretty much the same as yours, initially I had a huge problem with Ciri's eyes because I thought it meant we would start the game with her after the trial. But after a few dev interviews they put emphasis on the game representing the "way of becoming a witcher". So I really hope we get to experience her decision, because as you said her whole witcher family is basically against creating more witchers and also lacks the mutagens to do it, so undergoing a probably deadly experiment done by people you don't know (lynx school) sounds quite a stretch. That being said, my suspicion would be that it's a school in Kovir - since (if I remember this correctly) originally mages performed the trial in Kaer Morhen and a lot of them went to Kovir. Also in the end sequence of W3 the narrator said the "ashen haired witcher was known from the Yaruga to Kovir" .. and lastly I simply would like to see Esterad Tyssen and Suleika ^^
oh my gosh Kovir and especially Lan Exeter have been my dream Witcher locations ever since i read the books so i am hooooopppinngggg that we see some of it
@valliyarnl Kovir means we get more Queen Triss content ;)
I hope that will be done by playing Geralt in the intro to the story part, making Ciri a Witcher and personally handing over the swords.. or something like that.. :)
If they go at all in the direction TLOU 2 did i will come personally to Poland to meet some dev's..
@@gingerbaker_toad696isn't CDPR in California now?
My guess is we'll start after she took the trial (important gameplay wise as new players need to learn the mechanics) and then go back to see what happened later in the game.
Thanks Wera, good stuff!! 😊
wow troszkę mnie zatkało haha! 🤩
dziękuję, że Pan obejrzał filmik no i że skomentował. Wesołych Świąt!
mówmy sobie po imieniu :)
świetnie prowadzisz kanał, pozdrawiam i Wesołych Świąt 😊
I am a 69 year old British Witcher fanatic living in Sweden and love the game, the TV series and the books. Totally agree with you that the Slavic atmosphere should be there and the Witcher doesn't become a melding of Americana/Euro Gerald World. Your take on Witcher 4 is great. Keep it up, love your site and your comments on the fact that this world is a Polish world from the beginning and that is so important.
Really hoped and thought that The Witcher 4 would be a fresh story. Continuing the old one feels bad since it was finished.
I love that Ciri is using the Manticore gears, which is my favorite set in witcher3
I like that Geralt is using a longsword, as it is the closest in length to what would be a period-accurate hunting tool a boar spear. Which was one of the main points of critique of his tools for work. The useful range of a longsword 120mm held in one hand (presuming you have enough strength to do so) is similar to 210m when held with botwo hands.
@@HanSolo__ "presuming you have enough strength to do so" Have you ever had such a sword in your hand? Weight is about 2-3 kg. Weight is not a problem, just the length of the sword and the balance point to fence effectively with one hand
@@HanSolo__ holding a sword in two hands shortens the effective reach of the user, not lengthen it, due to how body mechanics work.
Wielding a sword one handed gives the user more reach, due to being able to tilt your body sideways and reach out fully with the arm.
I have no idea where this "120mm becomes 210mm when two handing" is coming from. How the hell does the swors suddenly grow by 90cm just because you hold it in two hands!?
And actual longswords aren't heavy either.
I don’t think it is, but it’s a nice mix of several sets
@@HanSolo__wtf is this comment
I think you missed one thing, where ciri uses a falling stream of water as a source to cast a spell when she's held back to the wall. The spell is not a witcher sign, not a heliotrope, not aard and it looks like its Alzur's lightning spell or ball of lightning spell which were mentioned in previous games and books. The trailer doesn't only callback Geralt, it's also Yennefer callback, where she taught Ciri how to get energy from sources and cast spells. It was believed that Ciri renounced magic powers after fire magic on a desert fiasco, but here together with quen signs it seems that she has magic power back different than her elder blood powers. Anyone else noticed that in a trailer?
edit: also nice video as always Wera
I noticed, it's confirmed in the trailer breakdown, too "[...]we are showcasing something special about Ciri. Ciri is a powerful Source. She can drain the energy out of the elements in this world and catalyze it into the very powerful spell."
Yes that was my first though as well seeing her draw from the waterfall. Glad to see you mention it, as I was wondering if I was making up it's relevance.
I assumed she lost the magical powers of the elder blood at the end of Witcher 3. So she doesn’t have all her busted teleportation powers.
@misiojab yes she's clearly using traditional magic.
Which means this version of her is even more removed from her original character, as ciri was unable to use magic because she was a living source.
They have removed everything that made ciri unique.
@@patrickkinnear8625 well, original character of ciri was able to cast spells and conjure magic in the books (during stay at melitele monastery she demolished the shed magically) but she had difficult time doing that probably because she was learning the ropes or maybe it was hard because elder blood but that is a largely speculative angle of interpretation. So pretty much the trailer makes sense that ciri could be conjuring spells. The two most controversial things are "she's a woman, so she can't pass trial of the grasses" and "she renounced the magic power" during desert chapter in the book. These two bases are pretty weird in itself if looked at them logically and it would be best to ask the author about them. Cd project took those two loose "rules" and made some excuse for breaking them which we are going to see in 4th game - question is how they approached this as it is not an easy thing to explain really along with the lore. Idea for breaking them is good for the game as it unleashes potentially new way of gameplay and nicely shows both Geralts and Yennefers hand in raising Ciri but how it ties with the lore? We may just wait and see I guess
12:00 Not so fun fact: It's actually not the same voice actress. They changed the VA to Jagoda Jasnowska. She has a deeper, richer voice and i love it because she kept [ at least in the trailer ] the core elements that made Anna Cieślak's performance so iconic, while also adding new elements. The "NIEEEE" in the trailer was soo reminiscent of Anna Cieślak that i couldn't believe that it's not her. But CDPR confirmed it.
yeah i made a mistake, really sorry. kind of embarassing on my part. I edited my pinned comment to point out my mistake. thank you!
deep voice women.....
@valliyarnl It's totally okay and understandable. I had to do a lot of digging to actually find the info myself.
I love how passionate you are about the Witcher series. I hope readers of my novels will one day be as excited as you are. Great breakdown.
I think the witcher mutations that she undergo is corrupting the elder blood genetics, that's why she only able to use signs and some kind of magic (the watery then become lightning thing).
And the reason why she wanted the mutations is because, in some scene in TW3 in Novigrad, Ciri said to Geralt that she wanted to be "normal" without the Elder Blood powers, well, in my theory the witcher mutations corrupted her genetics, and give her that (the part "without the Elder Blood powers, not the become "normal" part tho).
And, how she able to undergo mutations is because, Yennefer still knows the recipe for the Trial of the Grasses (the scene of lifting Uma's curse with the Trial of the Grasses, turning it back to original Avallac'h), and even the mutagens (maybe?) to make a Witcher. But, the reason why Yennefer would agree to that, is still remains a mystery.
Also, in the scene of lifting Uma's curse with the Trial of the Grasses, Yennefer able to do stabilizing spells to increase the survival rate of the Trial of the Grasses. This (maybe?) can increase the survival rate from 3/10 to better rate like 9/10.
And, in the TW3 B&W DLC, there is a side quest in Toussaint where Geralt receive a letter from Yennefer about Professor Tomas Moreau’s research. The research is about Witcher Mutations and how to reverse it, but instead make the mutations even stronger and more powerful (proven by Geralt that gained new powers). There is should be some detailed informations about Witcher Mutations (that can be used to make new Witchers, maybe even new and more powerful witchers?) in Professor Moreau’s secret lab that Geralt visited.
So, based on TW3 lore alone, there's a continuity to the story and lore itself. What’s your opinion about my theory?
Pardon my bad english.
yeah tbh i can totally see that being foreshadowing for W4 and a way that the devs tie the two stories together! Definitely would be very interesting. The watery magic I think is part of her Source powers that she has in the books (though she gives them up in a desert, but is able to access them once or twice afterwards if I remember correctly). I could see the mutations reawakening them tho!
Thank you for the donations and your English isn't bad at all!
Have a lovely day :D
I just looked up your currency bc I was like what the fuck. Five bucks. 80k for a handful of quarters is wild to me
Great comment!
My personal theory for the mutations is that the School is the Cat is involved. A mix of the book and CDPR's lore gives space to believe their caravan may still be active and possibly Manticore. Cat is also stated as being prone to creating experimental mutations. Given the process is as much science and magic it could be refined.
How and why Ciri might work with them is in the air if she is aware of their reputation. Perhaps the School of the Lynx is a splinter group of former Cat Witchers who survived the attack on the caravan.
This theory, if true, would help CDPR set the foundation for the Witcher multiplier game that has been hinted at, allowing a continuation of thr story after Ciri and give players the opportunity to make their own witcher. The Golden Age is, like she said harder to do and risks compromising the integrity of the lore that takes place earlier.
@@apexfenix9623 yea bro I know
I really like your theory! I hope they went with it or something similar, so that it doesn’t feel like if Superman pointlessly took steroids
I love your videos! You're obviously very in love with the lore, and your Polish background adds a layer I wouldn't have on my own. I am SO EXCITED for this game and seeing our little girl all grown up 😍
thank you!
Lowkey one of the coolest part of Ciri being the protagonist is we can finally explore a lot of elements the games never went over. Like Kelpie as the horse instead of Roach; or meeting the Unicorn again. Also maybe she can use magic better than most witchers since she was trained by the Lodge
yes yes yes!
Honestly one of the first thoughts I had was: Ciri as the protagonist. Means we will be riding a horse named Kelpie. And we had better get a blood and wine sort of mission, Where we get to talk to Kelpie. (Talking to roach was one of my top 3 moments in Witcher 3).
@@motocross_cooperI hope we get a mission where we visit toussaint and have a father daughter monster hunt with Geralt. See yen on the vinyard. Catch up on what Ciri has been up to.
For me personally though, the question remains: what happened to her elder powers? She never used it once on the trailer, only the usual witcher-type magics. Is her confronting the White Frost has something to do with it?
@@anut8733 I think she chose to get rid of them either by purpose or by accident cause she wanted to be sterile (witcher trials) to be done with the whole prophecy thing once and for all. So she can actually live and not get hunted for all her life. Thats just a theory though but we will have to wait and see.
Unrelated but I’m reading the lesser evil and my favorite line is something like “that’s not a good prediction, all good predictions rhyme” 😂😂. Hoping you’re going to continue with the series!!
I dont want a rpg female main character. I dont want to romance a guy, but i dont want to play with a lesbian either.
@ why do I give a fuck lol
@@gregorgerzson1767 Well you do have the embarrassment of the choice, with the vast majority of RPGs out there featuring a male lead. Also we women have been playing RPGs with straight male leads for ages, and we've been perfectly fine with it.
@@talvituhkat5099 how about let us create our own character and make Ciri a fckable companion?
@@gregorgerzson1767 Ciri has always been the real main character anyway. In the books, she is the main focus, we only see the events through the eyes of Geralt. It's only natural that she now has a trilogy for herself, she's not a common "fckable" NPC
Finding your channel has been such an awesome discovery. After watching your plot breakdown and now this I'm absolutely hooked. I'm Polish but born and raised in Canada. Unfortunately despite just about everyone else I'm related to being fluent, my sister and I were never taught(something I've always resented). These videos gave me the kick I needed to say screw it and just start trying to learn on my own so I truly thank you. Gained a new subscriber and lifelong fan🖖
I don't know how UA-cam sent a video of yours to me who's in Brazil, but it's really cool to have had access to someone directly from Poland talking about Witcher since the origins are there. Congratulations and success, I don't know if the translation will come out in an understandable way
One of VERY few people who's opinion on this I was waiting for, thank you!
Here before comment section turns to a batterfield.
ngl batterfield should 100% have been the title for Great British Bake Off
@@tenou213YES
for my mental health and sanity i hope it doesnt :)
😂😂😂
Batterfield, huh.
Appreciate all your videos about the Witcher! Haven’t seen anyone on UA-cam with better expertise on the Witcher universe!
Looking forward to more videos!
Great video! Can't wait for your part 2 on Witcher story
1:36 Exactly the Witcher 3's intro scene at Kaer Morhen with Geralt in the bathtub and Yennefer sitting there is unforgettable and iconic!!!
Great video and great perspective. Three things to add:
1. In the books, Ciri is said to have been fed mushrooms at Kaer Morhen with some mutagenic properties. This was apparently something that young would-be witchers underwent before taking the Trial of the Grasses and could therefore have been a way of boosting their chances of surviving the Trial.
2. Before the fight with Eredin at the end of the Witcher 3, a second Conjunction of the Spheres happens. Monsters of all kinds fall from the sky, and one can surmise that this happened elsewhere in the world too. If a whole host of new monsters were added to the world, this means that witchers suddenly become more useful than they were before, which perhaps is another point of encouragement for the very principled and good-hearted Ciri to go down this path.
3. One sorceress in particular I can think of that would help Ciri become a witcher to try to gain influence over her is Philippa Eilhart. She's known to do literally anything to increase her personal power.
I love your channel; keep up the good work!
great points!
Ur mixing cannon with non cannon game occurrence. Ciri was missing the operation which actually made her a witcher. This amounts to her being a special monster hunter but not officially a witcher. However for all intents and purposes be called a Witcher for effect as her powers can allow her to be just as if not more powerful than most Witchers. So I’m not a huge fan of the choice but I’m not against it. It’s one of the most logical pathways for the story to go. But I’d prefer older Geralt.
@@yesman866 while Ciri never underwent the Trial of the Grasses, I was making the point that the mutagenic mushrooms she was fed at Kaer Morhen, combined with her other witcher training, would make it easier for her to undertake the Trial of the Grasses, which it appears she now has. It remains to be seen why she did this, but I suspect it has something to do with her wanting to escape the destiny of her Elder Blood (i.e., Ithlinne's Prophecy). As much as I love Geralt, the old man is retired now and deserves his rest, so I'm happy with Ciri as the main character.
Will Ciri now get *really* boycotted ? *OR :* will the Witcher Series be continued in a worthy way ? Find out only in the next Episode of *+2020 Video Ball Z~ee !!* 😆🤣
Those are good points. However in the recently revealed TW3 cut contents that we got, Yen ended up betraying The Lodge to Emhyr (Triss was the only one that she saved) after they're able to locate Ciri at the last part of the main game. So, it's highly debatable if The Lodge end up surviving their punishment and Philipa was the one that actually helped Ciri through the trial.
Love this video and the passion behind the breakdown, as someone who's also read (and loved) the books in parallel to the games. I think this is a lovely place to share my thoughts and theories on several ideas (especially why Ciri becoming a proper Witcher is brilliant and actually follows a discussion & fight Geralt & Vilgefortz once share), so something I'd like to add to the overall discussion is:
1. Ciri isn't really supposed to be conventionally beautiful as per the books - and I remember this constantly being observed by characters in the books (even Yennefer keeps referring to her at the start as “my ugly one” - although I think the meaning with which she says it as the books progresses changes - taking on the opposite tonality). So, from that perspective, I think they've got her new look bang on. I still think this Ciri looks pretty - so I was confused by the comments - but I'm definitely glad she doesn't look like she's ready to start ramp walking…
2. I think the Witcher games did the impossible, wherein they took on the impossible task of continuing a story that supposedly ended (the story of Geralt) - and everyone (even without the author's approval) just accepted it, because they did the story so brilliantly, authentically, honoring the source material, and still being original. In 10 out 10 cases, such a project isn't supposed to work. Now they're doing the same thing with Ciri, wherein they are giving us an imagining of what would happen if her story continued, and I'm definitely rooting for them to get it right. For me, the Witcher games are epic because it's like someone took the LOTR ROTK and continued Aragorn's story, and I wasn't mortified and pissed to death (terrible example - because unlike Sapkowski, Tolkien pretty much summarized everything that is meant to happen in his world till kingdom come/judgement day - quite literally)
3. Ciri has always - in the books (as far as I remember) - identified with being a Witcher more than the Child of Elder Blood. While I think it's lore breaking to say that she actually becomes a Witcher - trial of grasses and all - I also think it's pretty ballsy, and it's what I would do as a writer. It's not that complicated, honestly, sciences constantly evolve - so why do the Witcher sciences get the pass to be so eternally fixed? In fact, I always thought that the brutality of the Trials of Grasses was rather backward, and something primitive people came up with and then just didn't try to evolve it, despite how deadly it was (kinda like the primitive ideology of the village folk in the trailer - who think the only way to keep the beast at bay - is to feed someone to the beast). That's how the study of medicine works, you always try to find better formulations with lesser side-effects. So, the answer is simple, Ciri (and maybe Geralt) find a way to make the Witcher Trials less deadly... maybe they chance upon this while trying to revive the Witcher schools...
4. To support my theory, if you simply do a web search of Lynx symbology/mythology - the first Wikipedia line reads - "it often symbolizes the unravelling of hidden truths", so I feel that kinda fits with my theory
5. Witchers always felt like a limited version of Wizards/Witches, in name and ability. In Geralt's fight with Vilgerfortz in the book - it comes out pretty clear which of the two are more powerful. Speaking of which - Vilgerfortz and Geralt have a brilliant philosophical conversation, wherein Vilgerfortz tries convincing Geralt to become a Wizard and says that he can help him become one. I think Ciri being a Witcher, a Witch, and someone with Space/Time abilities - feels like a powerful and epic combination to put in the hands of a gamer - especially with the newer technology. When I saw this Unreal Engine 5 showcase a couple of years ago and with female protagonist flying through the screen - from one end to the other in a matter of seconds, I couldn't help but think of a Witcher Game with Ciri - ua-cam.com/video/qC5KtatMcUw/v-deo.html
I don't think people are fully understanding or appreciating how significantly different, dynamic, expansive, and evolved gameplay can be compared to the previous Witcher games - with Ciri and her abilities...
Luke Stephens?? He really sucks when it comes to actually having smart takes. He's probably ones of the worst ones out there. He's nice guy though and quite charismatic so that's where he gets his audience
He's also a plagiarist
Great video!! I wonder if Geralt kind of looks like Vesenair now, that he is older? 😊 it would be cool to see.
Love how the creators are responding to your concerns! Love your channel
The game director, Sebastian Kalemba, posted a coin as a tease on Twitter days after the trailer. The runic alphabet was translated by people and it says "Days and nights pass and the blood remains the same." I've been seeing what others have been theorizing and I agree with them. Ciri wanted to do the trial so that it could depower her elder blood and so that people could stop coming after her just because of it. However, based on the translation, the elder blood is still there and is most likely just dormant, for now. Additionally, in an interview, Kalemba said that the monster in the trailer is called a Bauk and it can "smell your fears" and "play with your traumas." When the Bauk said "fate cannot be changed," I thought it was talking about the fate the girl being sacrificed at first, but now this means it was actually talking about Ciri herself. Ciri tried to change her fate but it can't be changed and the elder blood is still there. I think all of this is very plausible.
16:44 i think what we're going to end up seeing is that ciri looks at the elderblood as a bit of a curse now, her father wanted to basically bread her for a son of prophecy, vilgaforts wanted to run experiments on her to make her power his own, the wild hunt chased her for years, the lodge wanted her, kings conspired against her, i think she probably wanted to become a witcher fully to make sure the bloodline ends with her and never cause a child the same life she had
It’s really refreshing to hear someone more concerned with WHY Ciri would want to undergo the mutations instead of HOW. This is definitely the part of the equation that I am more invested in getting a satisfying answer to. Ciri not being able to undergo the mutations serves a narrative purpose in the books, if the situation changes and it serves a different, compelling narrative purpose now, then who cares?
I hadn’t heard the “keeping people from using her as a pawn” theory but i REALLY like that. That was a huge part of the books: Villgefortz, Emhyr, Philippa Eilhart, and the Wild Hunt were all fighting over using her to achieve their ends, and even though half of those threats are neutralized, this is very very familiar territory. Also from a gameplay perspective would be a good way to nerf her a little bit. I don’t know how fun a game where you’re THAT powerful from minute 1 would be.
Love your energy!! Great video thank you!!
Loved this video, and your observations and attitude! I discovered your channel when the algorithm gifted me your video on the first Witcher book right after the reveal trailer came out, and I’ve been really enjoying watching your videos, both Witcher-related and other topics.
I imagine the change in voice actress was because they want someone who can do a trilogy of games and also possibly do the motion capture as well throughout that time. I don’t know if this would have led to conflicts with Jo Wyatt’s schedule or whether because Wyatt is getting older it would have made things too difficult, but I can understand the thought process I think. They needed someone they could guarantee could do all of the required work for the new saga. Honestly I was uncertain at first but I think I actually quite like this new voice actress, obviously it’s a very different voice but from what’s been shown so far she’s meeting all the right beats in terms of range. I’m excited to hear/see more of her performance, I hope Ciara Berkeley nails it!
I honestly don’t get the concerns about the new character model though lol. She genuinely looks gorgeous to me, and most importantly she looks like Ciri. I know she’ll probably look a bit different graphically in the final product but I hope the overall character model remains the same.
Edit: I could be completely misremembering but I do believe in one of the books they specify that girls can become witchers but because they have such a lower rate of survival compared to boys, the trials are no longer attempted with them. I could be wrong though! SUPER interesting to see how they go about it either way.
She's already special because she has elder blood.
In my opinion they don't have to make her a Witcher just for the sake of having "The Witcher" sequel.
I'm pretty sure even if they make a sequel without using "The Witcher" brand people would buy the game all the same since Ciri is quite popular ever since The Witcher 3.
As one of the comments above mentioned, if the Witcher mutation took away her elder blood powers, it would fit really well in the lore, Ciri never liked her bloodline powers, in fact most of her life is defined by a series of bad things happening to her because of her blood, or people being « nice » only because they want to control her
I’m so glad I found this channel. This is THE BEST take I have seen on this whole thing yet. Thank you! I’m going to be showing this video to many people. 😅
SECONDLY, if you watch the Witcher 4 trailer, when the peasant man says “Witcher! Whose coin did ye take?!” He looks directly at the father of the girl who is to be sacrificed. And he sort of turns away. Also! When Ciri returns with the beasts head and hears the girl being killed and runs to the commotion, she kneels down with the grieving father and they lock eyes for a moment, and to me, it seems like a look of familiarity. I would like to believe that Ciri took a contract from the father. It was his coin that Ciri took.
to note i dont think ciris sword is the same as the one geralt could give her in one of the endings from at least how i compared it.
also thing i picked up on was ciri didnt take coin for the job in the trailer, leads me to believe they wanted to showcase her feeling responsible of new monsters coming in due to conjuncture in the end of witcher3 thus her becoming a real witcher aswell its just my theory.
Interesting POV, I never thought about that in that way
Great video! I haven’t read any of the books or played any of the games but the Witcher 4 trailer got me incredibly interested in the series.
It’s always fun to be on the outside of a community and to see the passion of someone like you about a subject. I think after watching this I’m a lot more likely to finally start the Witcher 3 and maybe even read the books.
Odkrylem Twoj kanal bardzo niedawno i w bardzo duzej mierze Tobie zawdzieczam fakt ze zaraz skoncze czytac cala sage wiedzminska po czym zabieram sie do wszystkich trzech gier bo poki co ogralem tylko trojke. Takze ten... dzieki!❤😁
I think we gotta wait and see, the devs have said Ciri undergoing the trial is pivotal to the story and wasn't a decision taken lightly.
Eyes never shut
When the guy asks "who's coin did ye take" the camera pans to the Father who looks down in shame, classic body language if you've done something you're not suppose to. Also as a side note, unreal 5 and meta human will make for some phenomenal facial expresions.
OH yeah, it is amazing... Especially in STALKER 2 which is UE5 too! (sarcasm)
Don't assume they'll implement every tech libraries that UE5 comes with. It's quite probable, yes, but not guaranteed.
I just hope they'll not assume everyone has raytracing capable graphics card and at least 10th gen cpu (dunno what equavelent for AMD) as the minimal requirements for this game.
@@Hiddenus1 Witcher 3 was really well optimised as evidenced by the fact that I was able to play it on my utter potato of a PC I had back in 2015, with variable settings.
And I expect the same thing with this next game. I expect them to apply everything they learned from the disastrous launch of Cyberpunk and not repeat any of the mistakes.
@@mujexzilla Well yes. It was extremely well optimized...REDEngine. Not Unreal Engine. Switching engines can cause challenges (not that the RED team failed on learning and improving, as ie. Witcher 3).
As for optimalisation. STALKER 2 alone (which is UE5 as we know) runs in 40-288 for my friend with far better PC than mine, while I run it on 13-78 on semi-minimal requirements (while running on high-epic xD).
STALKER barely used benefits of Nanite, which was supposed to be the gamechanger of this engine, but isn't well used yet.
Lumen is used in game, but it is... Well... it requires improvements otherwise it's like relying on AO maps but instead of instant switch depending on scenario it tries to blend them along with calculating htem on the fly. It failed in all games I had chance to use it in them (which isn't many... Satisfactory and Stalker only :| ).
Meta Human is yet another in-engine tech. You need meshes designed to be used with said Meta Human. Or made with it. I do 3D stuff that isn't SFW so I know how expecting the engine being able to handle some rig stuff isn't equal to making everything in that engine looking perfect.
Another reference example can be Source engine and it's own expression system and models that weren't designed for this engine, merely ported to it. So if you port it from different engine, it's gonna be a problem. (something I suspect that occured to Stalker 2 development in those 15 years). You can modify a bicycle to look like a car, but it will never be a car.
Also "fuck you". I'm going now to get stuck on Velen quests now... again. xD
On a side note. I think current games are made in UE4 first then they switch to UE5 and that's why it sucks harder than Sasha Gray did for her whole carrier combined.
with CD Project working on both Cyberpunk sequel and now Witcher 4 at the same time i wonder how much they’ll crossover easter egg wise
There was a small reference to Ciri visiting a modern setting in the Witcher 3. Unless she lost her "lady of time and space" powers, I could see her popping in Night City for like three seconds during a cutscene
Nah she’s not got those interesting powers anymore, she’s just a basic Witcher now, they’ve nerfed her.
how come you only have 30k subs? you are brilliant in term of explaining your points, and you have decent editing skill. With this quality, I expect the video is from hundreds/millions sub channels. I just subscribed, keep up the good work. Im looking forward to hearing more about other series. I grew up learning english via Witcher book. As an Asian myself, it isn't just language I learnt, it is also the whole western culture. We in the East have vastly wealthy culture and back stories with lots and lots of book series. But for Western culture, I enjoy Witcher, Harry Potter, Lord Of the Rings a lot.
I appericate this break down, it gave me some new insights about Ciri from another prospective.
The only issue I have with the model is she looks like she's had "work done." Like we are so accustomed to seeing actresses getting cosmetic work done as they age, they did it to Ciri's lips. Her lips look like a 40 year old actress who got a lip injection. That was the first thing that stood out to me about the model.
I have the EXACT same reaction to her going through the mutations. I keep saying it, it's like Batman found a young Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) raised her, and she used gold kryptonite (which perminatly takes her powers away) to be Batwoman.
I always saw it as Ciri didn't need it, she was more powerful than a witcher.
I think that would have had a MUCH more interesting dynamic. Ciri, a witcher who isn't a mutated witcher, but more powerful would make waves. Imagine that dynamic where she's an outcast and other witcher schools are not fond of her for that fact. To me that is a better story than trying to make up some reason as to why a woman in her 20s would go through the trial of grasses. They can always make new mechanics. They can evolve the gameplay, if you're going to retcon, you can retcon or expand on Ciri's powers.
I'm kind of disappointed by that.
It's a CGI trailer so I'm not too concerned about Ciri's face. They are also changing engines for this game and they had the exact same issue with going from W1 to W2 - you can look up first screenshots from W2 and how terrible Geralt's face looked.
I do think that they made life much more difficult for themselves than they could/should with choosing Ciri as a protagonist and making it a direct sequel overall. They no longer have as much consumer trust as they had in the W3 era.
People will (sometimes unfairly) scrutinize this, because the entire AAA gaming industry has been going downhill for several years now, so overall trust in big gaming corporations is down significantly.
I do hate the english voice, she sounds more like a Crone than a 20-something woman and I hope that the polish voice actress remains unchanged and doesn't try to be batman.
Ciri undergoing mutations will cause lore issues regardless of how they explain it. Mutations are not a risk anybody in the lore has ever taken of their own free will. Ciri's own power was already beyond mutations and potions. I think they were forced to make her undergo them so that gameplay-wise it would stay similar. I do not believe it can be explained sensibly within the lore. This comes back to issues with making a direct sequel to a closed story in general.
I don't think that many people care about the gender of a game's protagonist on its own, but there have been plenty of games in the recent past that overly focused on the gender of a protagonist and related issues, rather than on telling a good story. Some people started associating female protagonists with that. I don't think it's fair, but heuristics rarely are.
Overall I don't like that they seem to be making the witcheress ending of W3 canon. I got it and I thought it didn't fit the tone of the game or of previous stories at all. I considered it a gimmick created for a game's purpose, because some people will want a "best ending". Incidentally it's an issue I had with CP77 - there is no significant difference in tone or outcome between the endings, so why bother - the Kurt Cobain option is just as valid as the others and less people flatline.
P.S. If this is an elseworld story I'm going to slightly exhale from my nose and never care about any Witcher media ever again.
I mean. Geralt retired. Would rather it be Ciri being the main protagonist than just undoing Geralt’s journey for cheap fan service.
THIS
considering Luke Stephens a good source of info for... anything is lowkey kinda sad
i recoiled
i like his healthy skepticism. i think he gives really balanced takes.
@valliyarnl I can see why you'd think that if his content is the only thing you watch.
But even if you like his "skepticism" there are other youtubers that have the same takes that actually do research. Everything i've ever seen out of him is either surface level, misinformed/lying, or a combination thereof. That and the length is artificially padded (classic 20 minutes of saying nothing).
In my eyes he's nothing more than a content mill, and that's overlooking his past. Unfortunately nothing beats doing your own research by using multiple sources
@@banbranmuffinsyeah his content is just clipped from streams of him regurgitating things said online and from his stream chat, changing it into a video format and talking about it long enough to get it past the 10 min mark even if he isn't actually saying anything of note. I found him randomly and subbed but after a few vids you can really tell what he's doing.
@@banbranmuffins exactly, well put my friend
I've recently stumbled upon your channel and I must say I really admire your passion. Great quality content, so nice to listen to you as well. Keep doing what you're doing!
Man, I love how passionate you are over this series and how excited you get over these characters and lore.
I have a Theory regarding her going through the Trial of the Grasses.
I don't think the only reason she becomes mutated would be presented simply as her choice, CDPR isn't that naive to do that. My Theory is that she might go through a near Death experience, a cataclysm or something dangerous where the only choice is to go through the mutations or something more to urge her supporting characters to take that choice. Maybe by going against a Powerful character? Maybe the Main villain would be introduced that way?
There can also be the reason she didn't use her elder blood powers here related to that Danger
Its the only thing that pseudo makes sense. Because ciri being an adult up or not doesnt matter. Yenn would literally bind her in Dimeritium before allowing her to attempt the trial of grasses which is for all intents and purposes a death sentence just bc "she wants to". So if its just "ciri wants to do it" thats bad writing. It would also be bad writing in the sense that Ciri loves yenn and geralt and wouldnt under take a suicide mission to take the trial just "bc she wants to" knowing theres a good chance she would die and theyd be devastated.
If you get the good ending in Witcher 3 the Wild Hunt then you know whats up with Ciri. I got the bad ending so i had to load a save from like 20 hours earlier to get the good ending. It was well worth it.
I share some of your cautious optimism, but I have to admit I’m deeply concerned about the creative direction under CDPR, especially with people like Cian Maher now involved in shaping the lore. This is someone who has openly defended The Witcher Netflix series and even Blood Origin, productions that most fans agree strayed far from the heart of Sapkowski’s work, not to mention their complete disregard for Slavic roots and authentic storytelling.
Cian has a documented history of openly hating gamers, even going so far as to say he would punch them, calling them "manbabies," and mocking the very audience that cares deeply about The Witcher franchise. It's worrying to think someone with so much disdain for the core fanbase, and who has defended lore-breaking adaptations, is now in a position to influence the narrative direction of The Witcher.
With the Trial of the Grasses retcon and other questionable creative choices already surfacing, it’s hard not to feel like this game might prioritize catering to modern trends over respecting the integrity of Sapkowski’s universe. I hope CDPR proves me wrong, but the signs are troubling. The Witcher deserves better than to fall into the hands of people who don’t respect its legacy or its fans.
Just wanted to say: I love all your videos and your takes on books and shows.
:)
Nice video. Just appeared in my feed. I personally did not even know Witcher 4 was in the works. Best of luck with your channel.
"I've grown up reading the Witcher", that's quite a series to be reading while being a wee child
just eastern europe stuff 🤷♂
well i grew up surrounded by it. i first read it at age 13 if i remember correctly
IKR?
See you on the path again, Wiedziminka! 🐺 ⚔️
#NoGodsOnlyMonsters
To be fair, my canon explanation for how she got mutagens to undergo Trial of the Grasses etc. is that she travelled through space and time to contact wizards that created witchers, get mutagens, find out how to safely undergo the mutation, etc. It's not impossible, it just needs careful management, especially her denouncing the powers of Elder Blood, because it should be a given that she won't be teleporting in the game.
Your passion makes these 24 mins feel like 2 mins😭also thank u for your last videos cuz I understood so much about this gorgeous story/world
I discovered your channel right after the trailer dropped. Perfect timing. I think i'll enjoy watching your vids leading up to the game.
I love when people have nuanced opinions about adaptation. faithfulness can be good, but changes are necessary and most of the time, they make things better. I can't wait to see where they take the story and I can't wait to hear what you think about it!
13:29 the problem of Ciri as main protagonist is solely with 'anti-woke' part of gaming community. It's not that she's bad looking or not fitting the setting( because objectively she's looking modest-to-good, just regular slavic woman), it's just we're in dawn of 2024, where whole western gamedevs proven that "correctness and inclusivity" is main focus of game's design. So woman as main protagonist in fourth settlement of so far male protagonist' franchise does this neuron activation. Especially when you dive a bit deeper to find that CD Projekt is kinda-woke developer and simply fans don't want to get hurt as fans of Dragon Age got. Unfortunately being "just" a reader doesn't give you whole picture of "Ciri as the new witcher" problemacy, but don't get me wrong: your insight as a one who've eaten up all of books many times reader is more than of value :)
Thank you for the donation!
@valliyarnl Uczynić coś dla kogoś. A może dla siebie? Bo tak naprawdę, to zawsze płacimy sobie, nie komuś; zatem cała przyjemność po mojej stronie ;)
The thing for me is I don’t remember anything explicitly saying a woman CANNOT become a witcher. The Trial of Grasses is essentially an ingestion of herbs that is tailored specifically to men, and is still extremely dangerous with low survivability. They generally don’t do it with women because the survivability is even lower, and women generally don’t bother enough to refine it better or have a better estimate. It’s the same practice as the Joining in Dragon Age, an equally dangerous ‘survival is random and not guaranteed in any way’ trial that gives you a needed advantage to be what you’re trying to become.
It feels like because they just don’t really bring them in or there are no notable women as witchers, it’s assumed as a given it’s just not possible. Unlikely is not impossible. No representatives does not mean from now until the future it can never change. It’s like a lot of things, people assume because there’s no evidence of something, it cannot exist. History has shown that to be false too often for people to close off possibilities. Remember when it was a fact that you could literally sail off the edge of the world?
It should also bear mentioning that Ciri was not really reliable with using her powers. The endings alone show trying to use them to any real extent could kill her. And outside of that, she may even have a biological advantage in the trials due to her heritage. It’s strange to me that people bring up her power, yet immediately ignore it as a potential hardiness factor when someone mentions the trials.
+ what i remember what was mentioned in game (also herd its in books) is strong elder blood make person immune to the change, so even if she were a guy trials wouldn't work on her
@NBAdux i just remember it was in the game that's all
This is such a good video. Your passion is obvious and infectious, and you cover all sides of every topic with great thought and depth. I'm glad I discovered this channel and you definitely earned my sub!
You are also very beautiful, I hope you don't mind my saying that 🙂
You have amazing passion for the Witcher series. Its good to see this amount of detailed analysis of the trailor. I look forward to more content on this great universe of the Witcher.
Some thoughts about the announcement:
1- Ciri as the main protagonist:
After CDPR offered us Cyberpunk 2077 i secretly hoped that i was going to be able to create my own witcher and go wild on a skill tree of my own while navigating a sophisticated built in morality system as i sink +200h in this world but hey... That's a gamer's expectation and a problem i created for myself x) Totally okay to play with Ciri, it comes from a natural progression tbh though i secretly hope that for one reason or another... We get to play with Geralt for some anecdotal bits here and there!
2- The trailer in itself:
In my opinion (and please don't insult me): The Witcher 3 killing monsters trailer is one of the best trailers ever made for anything, okay? imo it was lazy to reuse kinda the same theme, situation and dialogue... Yes, i know that it is the core of this universe: There are literal monsters but humans are the real monsters through their cowardice, perversions and ignorance. The rest of the trailer was fire so made me excited because i was not expecting it.
3- Staying cautious:
Lots of CDPR OGs went away after the Cyberpunk fiasco. It is going to be a real challenge to match the absolute masterpiece that is The Witcher 3. Cyberpunk's redemption is real, it is now a very good game and a testimony that CDPR are not gods: they can fuckup and they can learn. So for all W3 fans and CDPR lovers: Be hopeful but be mindful of all the variables.
Open to the conversation with all you guys!
Yes, the Witcher IV trailer echoes Killing Monsters; it also echoes the opening cinematic to the Witcher 1. I think these echoes are strengths, linking the series together.
Generally I agree, but one thing to note is that Witcher 3 also had a lot of performance issues when it launched - not as catastrophic as Cyberpunk, but it was still bad. However, the story was so good that it kept people playing, whereas Cyberpunk's story wasn't as popular (not saying it's good or bad, but statistically speaking it was not as successful as Witcher 3). So it's likely that there will still be significant performance issues when Witcher 4 launches, but everything really depends on the quality of the writing and the core gameplay.
I also agree that Witcher 3 was masterful, but I think a lot of that greatness comes from the DLCs. Without them, I don't think the game would be remembered nearly as fondly as it is today. For Witcher 4, succeeding base game Witcher 3 is doable, but throw in the DLCs and that challenge becomes near impossible. I'm also staying cautious, but ultimately I'm inclined to believe that CDPR has learned from their mistakes with Cyberpunk and will hopefully succeed with Witcher 4. At least, I hope so...
The trailer is imo meant to show the differences between ciri and Geralt but also focus on the similarities between them because they are father and daughter essentially with the callback to killing monsters, the chain. But also showing ciri will actively involve herself in the matter of the people if she feels like it unlike geralt who will try not to.
Your third point is odd, most of the senior/lead from TW1/2 are still at CDPR, some left and even rejoined and it's silly to expect every single Witcher 1 dev to stay 17 years at a studio 🤷🏻♂️
If we use TW3 as an example of good CDPR, well most of those people are still at the studio anyway.
So your third point feels like fear mongering due to ignorance of the state of the studio.
The lead writer, art director, story director, lead character artist, senior quest designers, lead environment artist are all from TW1.
I'm not going to list every original dev but feel free to search them up if you're uneasy.
@@Simp_Supreme The narrative director, Philipp Weber, is also at the company for 10+ years and worked on W3. He's even here in the comment section saying they took the explanations very seriously and it won't be handwaved.
14:15 As far as I know, it was never said that women *couldn't* become witchers, It was only stated that there weren't any female witchers before, which from the way I understand it is just because they never really tried to make a female witcher.
the trial is made specifically for males that's why witchers are called vedymin, "the witchman", and not "the witchwoman" or smth lol, and iirc it is stated in the books that no female survived any attempt at it, unless CDPR introduces some plot in where they made a new trial for females its just a DEIfication of the Witcher
@xiami11 As far as I know, the reason why there are no female witchers it’s not because it is impossible to survive it. It's because they just didn’t do the trial on women since they got sickly earlier and didn’t do as well later on so they stopped trying to make a female Witcher. As far as I know, it has NEVER been said that it is IMPOSSIBLE for women to become witchers.
Edit: Nobody cares about DEI, they care about good media.
Edit again: Ciri is referred to as a Witcher in the books and in the Witcher 3, specifically calling her a “Witcher girl” so it doesn’t seem like it’s that strange of an idea to them, plus in the books Ciri goes to Kaer Morhen and receives witcher combat training for a year while being guided by 5 witchers AND she is fed the same fitness accelerating herbs that witchers are given before undergoing their mutations and Ciri had developed the internal fitness of a witcher, Triss even tells the Witchers to stop giving the accelerants to Ciri so often because they may have side effects, if any woman were to be the first witcheress, it would be Ciri
I think that they tried to make female Witchers but the all died in the process.
@@maen7674 lol I know you watched that neon Knight video
it is never explicitly stated that a girl cannot become a witcher. However, the lack of female witchers in the stories stems more from tradition and the structure of the witcher schools than any outright biological or magical prohibition. given Ciri and how basically Geralt became like a father to her and the training she took at Kaer Morhen I think it was only a matter of time before she would attempt the trial.
this is also not something you can really answer with the book says this or that as these event would take place after the book series and her magical time traveling 😂
I think you missed the point of the entire Witcher 3 plot by bringing up that she would agree with Geralt and Yen to not undergo the trials. I mean throughout the entire plot she is basically doing the opposite of what Geralt wants from her, or at least tries to. And we have established already that the burden of being the Hen Ichaer is not received well by Ciri, and i genuinely believe that she would rather be a Witcher than go through the same shit again [ running away, running away, running away.... oh have i mentioned constantly running away? } That's the whole point of Witcher 3. She didn't want to be the chosen one [ for lack of a better word ] anymore.
It's also a point in the books, she's literally traveling between worlds constantly just to escape
At the end of the game though she stops running and faces her destiny with Avallac’h. Personally I like the Empress ending the most as that would allow Ciri to have the maximum impact and influence on the continent. I also think this ruins the ending of The Witcher III a little bit as there is now a concrete canonical ending, personally I prefer the openness of choosing your own story and ending.
@@SleeperJoe2024 I believe the developers said they would account for all three endings. I assume it would operate the same way “life paths” operated in Cyberpunk(although, hopefully more in depth).
I think i'm misunderstanding something. I never said she wants to be a chosen one. i know she doesn't. i read the books and its never clearer. i don't see how that relates whether or not she would take Geralt and Yen's advice.
@valliyarnl It's complicated because for me at the same time it relates to it very much but actually not at all. All im saying is that it would be pretty logical [ at least for me ] if they went that way.
Hey Wera, just wanted to say I'm a new fan and I'm really loving your videos so far. I'm having a huge resurgence in Witcher fandom right now and your content is really hitting the spot. Much love
this video is perfect, you managed to adress 100% of the thing I tough about the trailer, plus providing background info. 10/10
I wish CDPR went in a different direction. Rather than making her a real witcher, they should have made her a symbolic witcher and greatly enhanced her TW3 powerset. Honest I wish they didn't make a sequel. That send off to Geralt was soo good.
Not read the books but the game seems to stress the idea that undergoing the Trial of the Grasses strips the Witcher of many of their emotions, yet Ciri seems in full possession of all of ‘em! So CD project are gonna have to address that too.
Ciri looks so badass...I'm stoked to play her.
Mam taki sam zgrzyt fabularny, jeśli chodzi o próby traw i Ciri. Kobiety w lore nie mogły być wiedźminami. Właśnie o to chodzi, że nie jest jej to potrzebne, oraz, że jej przybrani rodzice nie dopuściliby do tego. Jest jeszcze sprawa jej zdolności magicznych, oraz tych "specjalnych" zdolności starszej krwi i planu eugenicznego (jak u Franka Herberta). NIKT nie pozwoliłby zniszczyć plan czarodziejek snutych od setek lat - czyli, że nawet czarodziejki nie chciały bezpłodnej Ciri. Nie chciała tego Ciri, jej rodzice, jej przyjaciele, nie chciały tego wszystkie czarodziejki i wreszcie nie chciał tego sam cesarz Nilfgardu. To, że z dziecka stała się kobietą (nawet z szerszą szczęką), że jest główną protagonistką - to spoko. Tylko czemu próbują zrobić z niej sterylnego mutanta i Geralta 2.0? To już było. Taki rozwój postaci będzie nudniejszy, niż jakby miała magię + swoje extra moce + fach zabójcy potworów. Były by 3 ścieżki rozwoju i ich liczne rozgałęzienia. A tak, to dostaniemy znerfowaną bohaterkę i te same zdolności co Geralt + łańcuszek (bo kobiety lubią najwyraźniej biżuterię). Słabe to. Ciri może być. W nawigacji też wolę kobiecy głos. A jeśli będziemy mieli taki rzut ekranu na postać, jak w wieśku 3, to też spoko, bo kobiety mają ciekawszy "tył", niż faceci. Taka prawda. Kobiety są piękne.
Great video and analysis :) inspiring passion! Thanks!
Thank you for watching 💞
And thank you for the amazing cinematic!!
Totally agree with everything except for the part about the Trial of the Grasses and becoming an actual witcher. You captured Ciri's personality perfectly. I think it’s entirely plausible that Ciri would want to undergo the Trial of the Grasses to become a 'full' witcher. Regarding compensation, it seems she may have lost her ability to teleport. As for the School of the Lynx, it makes sense since Geralt wouldn’t initiate it, and Ciri likely wouldn’t ask him. Turning to Lambert and Keira feels like a logical choice.
Regarding Ciri being a witcher and undergoing the Trial: maybe you Wera will be able to verify it, as I've read the Saga quite some time ago, but I remember that there was a conversation, where Vesemir remarks, that it's believed, that if someone is destined to be a witcher, the Trials of Grasses would not be necessary?
We also know from Rozdroże Kruków, that the white hair is rare thing that happens to some witchers during the Trials. And When when Geralt and Ciri are leaving the castle they fought Vilgefortz in the last book of the Saga, Geralt notices a white strand in her hair, which were supposed to be 'mysie', and he's hilding his anger, as he does not want this life for her. In W3 we see her with a full head of white hair, which would mean, that her 'natural' transformation to a witcher is more or less complete by then.
I thought Ciri's white hair was more attributed to her family heritage and lineage like with the green eyes as her mother Pavetta had silver hair and Calanthe did too. I know Geralt's white hair is a result of a side effect of the Trial but Ciri always had white hair, I could be wrong though.
I went to bat for CDPR on all my socials 😂. I think it is despicable how quickly people are to turn their backs on a beloved character just because she's the star of the show now. It's not woke, it's not trying to push an agenda, it's the logical direction for a new Witcher saga to go in. I have no doubt CDPR will do her and the entire fanbase justice in this new game. I loved Geralt, he's one of if not, my favorite RPG protagonist ever but his story has concluded. Anyways, the music in the trailer was marvelous and if done right, this could be the greatest RPG of all time. No hyperbole. So excited.
Side note, an interview with CDPR confirms we're getting Gwent and Romance. Geralt's two loves will live on!
This is the best channel to come to for witcher opinions as this channel respects and understands the lore, characters and themes the best imo
really enjoy your take on the witcher, especially as someone who read the books in their original language which is so incredible and im jealous. witcher 3 was my first introduction to the witcher but then read a couple of the books and i love those too,
also your channel is getting me back into reading!
would you make videos of playing witcher 3? or will you for 4? anyway i subscribed great videos!
The fact that female witchers dont exist, doesn't mean that it is not possible. It is said that the first magician that mad eexperiments in witchers also tested womans in first glance, but for lack of positive feedbacks from the pacients, he stoped and just kept with men, it is NEVER said once that woman witcher are not possible to be created.
are you doing the part 2 of the last video?
probably in February.
Hello! New Subscriber here. I'm from Hungary and a big fan of the books read them 3 times each and even though Hungary is not a Slavic country we have similar "colours" of our landscapes and our history and overall Polish and Hungarian are friends. Anyway as a book and also a game lover is it somewhere mentioned that a Woman especially and adult Woman can go through the Trial of Grasses? Because for me it feels not lore friendly but please correct me if I'm wrong but that aspect felt a little wrong for me. (only my thoughts and opinion I don't want to hurt anybody).
It’s not said that there CANT be female Witchers but the Trial as it is now it is tailored for young boys. So I’m not at all against the idea (esp since it is Ciri), I just want an explanation ☺️
@valliyarnl YES. I hope they will give us a good explanation because I always wanted to play Ciri as a protagonist to be honest but I thought we will use her "Lady of Space and Time" powers. Anways the trailer looks frickin' amazing now we only have to wait about 1 or 2 years. :D
Hey! I just finished the game for the second time and tought it was time for some more witcher lore. So i decided to watch your video about the witcher books and i now decided to order them. I never read books so i applaud you for convincing me! 😅
That's a very good point on Ciri’s choice-making moving forward while making it believable. It will definitely be interesting to see how they make us interact with her character.
I personally think CDPR have forced themselves into an interesting challenge, and a hard one at that. Simply put, Ciri is not an easy person to role-play, especially with the way she made choices when she was younger (W3). That being said, she’s older now, but how much of it is going to be believable? It is going to be interesting to see how they tackle that.
Lastly, there’s the whole (somewhat controversial) masculinity/feminity stuff - while the ciri we saw in W3 had a form of sweetness to her, she really felt for people and how her actions affected others - however, her somewhat arrogant personality stemmed from the realities her blood forced her into, making her decision making quite tricky at times, that’s why your choices in W3 affected how Ciri will act at the end of the game. Whereas being Geralt made sense; he was forced to go through the Witcher trials as a child, saw his kid friends die, and we had the ultimate (again Forced into) killing machine. In this new trailer however, she seems a tad bit overboard with her masculine and dominant demeanour especially with the villagers - yes, we’ve seen her do similar before, but here it’s with like a lot more hatred, which didn’t make sense to her character ark - maybe she went through some dark phase or something?
That being said, Ciri is royalty; Ciri has a STRONG personality, as she’s very outspoken; Ciri is probably a famous person in that world if not more than even Geralt being an EMPEROR's daughter. Her ashen hair doesn’t help with that, either. Ciri is trained in sorcery to an extent, I think, and she has this super blood which can make travel to other universes.
I’m just worried this whole thing of her being a witcher isn’t forced onto us Because SHE wasn’t forced into trials and super intense training as a kid. And now all of a sudden she has all those abilities + some additional sorcerer magic abilities alongside it.
Damn it will really be interesting to see how CDPR explain to us this her while being a Witcher thing, because I just can’t see it being justified THAT easily.
Lastly, this one might be the most controversial, and I don’t mean it in a sexist way, but the majority of gamers, maybe 90% of the player base that will play this game, will be males. Males generally prefer male protagonists because they can better see themselves in that male protagonist's shoes-(it’s why we play games, at the end of the day) and why we watch and enjoy shows/films with strong male archetype heroes.
What am I trying to say here, you ask? Again, CDPR has a TOUGH job making Ciri a character we enjoy playing. I'm not saying they won’t pull it off, but will they make it as good as Geralt? it’s hard to say, to be honest.
I'm looking forward to the fantastic world they create though, as CDPR has mastered that! But I want the story to be more enjoyable if anything.
If any female character was going to survive the mutations it would be ciri
Shure survive yes maybe. But would it have any effect on her? Why did the waters of Brokilon have no effect on her then?
@@toondemaere3080I dunno, I haven't played the game blud 😭
I remember in a voice of reason, Geralt told the story of the first thing he did as a witcher was saving a child from grown men (including her father). This shattered Geralt's expectations, and he understood from then on how empty the witcher life is. Ciri on the other hand knows what to expect, has a good support network and chose to be a witcher. The former experience kind of shaped Geralt's cynical view, but Ciri's experience has formed stronger principles.
This follows the optional ending that Geralt understands that Ciri needed to go to another dimension to save us all. Ciri did this and Geralt thought that she died. Ciri came back and became a Witcher
That was honestly the best ending in the game given its realism. So retconning that as the canon ending would honestly piss off the fewest people if they just chock it up to "she lost her powers and had a long treck to find geralt again" in the meantime he thought she was dead but wasnt imho
It's very refreshing to see someone who actually understands the books as well as the games. You pretty much had the exactly same thoughts as I did on this topic and you summarized them perfectly. Well done!🤩
I really hope we get a good explanation on HOW and WHY Ciri decided to go through with the mutation process like who was the mage or sorceress involved with the process (because I don't think Yennefer would have the heart for it) and why would she even want to do that because being a witcher isn't exactly a desirable thing to be and many of them hate or really dislike what they are (including Geralt to some extent).
I'm totally up for Ciri being the protagonist but I would have preferred her not having the mutations but I won't complain too much until we get the game and see what they'll do with her.
This is a fantastic video! I discovered The Witcher through the first game back when it released and love all three games. I’ve read several of the books and love them as well.
Also a big fan of Luke