Warning: Spoilers for The Witcher Season 3 Vol. 2 ending are ahead. Come back once you’ve watched the full season!
Well, after several months of wondering not only how The Witcher will wrap things up in its latest season, but how star Henry Cavill will depart his role as Geralt of Rivia, fans have finally been able to binge the final episodes and see where we leave Ciri, her gruff protector, Yennefer, and a host of other characters.
The Witcher Season 3 Vol. 2 ending has helped the show land back at number one for those with a Netflix subscription (despite the previous downturn in viewers for the first part, released in June), and brought our characters to some very new emotional territory after the events of the Vol. 1 ending. Let’s dig in, shall we?
How Ciri Escaped Capture
Well, poor Ciri has been on the run for a full three seasons now, so I suppose no one should be surprised that she had to escape three times over the course of Vol. 2’s three episodes. First, after heading to Aretuza and finding both Yen and Geralt in the midst of the coup, she had to escape from Vilgefortz. That saw her magically transported to the middle of the desert in Korath, where she wandered for several days and finally got close enough to civilization (with the help of a unicorn and visions of legendary elven leader Falka) to…get captured by a group of folks looking to win the reward for taking her to Emhyr in Nilfgaard.
Ciri awoke in a tavern, tied to a post while a young man was tied to another, as her captors took a break before heading to the emperor. As they discussed her with other patrons, we hear someone tell them that Ciri couldn’t be Ciri, because word has come from Emhyr that she’s already on her way to the palace (though it turns out that Vilgefortz has delivered Teryn to the emperor, the Aretuza apprentice Geralt had earlier rescued from experiments).
During their conversation, she manages to get one of them to come over and feed her, allowing her to steal a knife so that they can cut themselves loose. When a fight starts between the patrons, we’re introduced to the young man’s friends, a group known as the Rats, and when they’ve dispatched most of the patrons, they have Ciri fight the man who’d fed her and then held her at knife point during the melee.
The princess wins, making her first human kill, and when a Rat asks who she is, she tells them to call her Falka, making it seem that Ciri will be with them for a while.
Yennefer’s In Charge Of The Mages Now
The Thanedd Coup killed/seriously injured a lot of mages, and left Tissaia white haired and somewhat broken after using some last resort magic to clear out the last of their elven attackers. Several of the female mages who’ve survived journeyed to where Geralt fought the creature made of the apprentices Vilgefortz experimented on, undid the magic that bound them and took them back to Aretuza for burial.
Yen had been hoping to find Ciri there, but, of course, had no luck. The trip did help to cement everyone’s desire to get back what they’d lost during the coup, and once they’re back at Aretuza, Yen tries to convince a guilty Tissaia that Vilgefortz’s betrayal wasn’t her fault. Unfortunately, her teacher/mentor doesn’t listen, and kills herself. Yen then heads to Brokilon, where Geralt is recovering from his near-fatal fight with the traitorous mage, and heals him enough to really get him back on his feet, making him promise they’ll see each other again.
When she’s back at Aretuza, Yen rallies the remaining high-ranking female mages in an effort to finally take down Vilgefortz, and, without Tissaia or the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, her mission now is to lead them.
How Henry Cavill's Geralt Ended Season 3
This has been the big question since we found out that Cavill was leaving, and would be replaced by Liam Hemsworth, in October 2022. We were promised a “heroic sendoff” for his Geralt amid rumors of some pretty serious creative conflicts between him and the team behind the fantasy hit, but I doubt that many fans would see his last scene that way.
As noted, Geralt’s beach-front battle with Vilgefortz left his sword destroyed and him (literally) broken and close to death, with the hero nearly drowning until Triss found him and took him to Brokilon so the dryads could work on healing him in a safe place. He’s desperate to hear some word of Yen and, especially, Ciri’s whereabouts, since he had to send her fleeing from the beach before the fight and didn’t know what happened to her.
When Jaskier finds him, he’s eventually able to tell a slowly recovering and very stubborn Geralt about Emhyr’s declaration that Ciri is headed to Nilfgaard. Once Yen heals him enough to get him fully upright, he and Jaskier begin to make their way to Emhyr’s stronghold. However, after managing to get the Nilfgaardian guards to let them through, Geralt takes exception to the family behind them being turned away.
The White Wolf heads back and kills nearly all the guards at the checkpoint, then deals a final blow to his neutrality by telling the one remaining guard to give Emhyr the message that he “will free Ciri” before he, Jaskier, and the elven archer Milva (who’d secretly followed them out of Brokilon to help) take some of the guards’ horses and continue on their way to Nilfgaard.
So, what does this mean? This means that our last shot of Cavill as Geralt is him and his cohorts (and their horses) walking away from the camera. Which was…a definite choice that’s not quite the “strong” Cavill exit many were probably hoping for. Though, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich explained to Tudum that his battle with the soldiers and parting words for Emhyr are what matters most, and said:
What we witnessed at the end is Geralt finally picking a side. His side is Ciri and Yen, and he will do anything. He will kill anyone. He will get involved in anything he has to get into in order to make that happen.
We’ve been teased that it’s possible some multiverse-esque explanation will be given for Geralt looking completely different in The Witcher Season 4, but we now have a good wait ahead of us before we find out whether or not that comes to pass. If anything, we can certainly say that Geralt, Yen, and Ciri will, once again, face some new challenges whenever the fourth season finally rolls around.
