The Witcher Season 2 centered on a show-only character called Voleth Meir – the Mother
of Forests – the Deathless Mother. Like other monsters, including humans, the Deathless
Mother arrived to the planet during the Conjunction of Spheres. She used this dagger to kill one
of the first witchers named Klef. Other Witchers were able to bound her deep in the Forest.
However, when Ciri screamed at Cintra, she woke the Deathless Mother because Ciri is
the Master of Times and Places. So Ciri is the key to the Deathless Mother going home.
But first, she had to escape from the Forest. Here’s how she did that.
The Deathless Mother exploits people’s greatest weaknesses and leverages them to get people
to work for her. She did this with three people: Francesca Findabair, Fringilla Vigo, and Yennefer
of Vengerberg. Fringilla’s biggest weakness is that she
craves power since she has always been a sycophant. So the Deathless Mother told Fringilla to
rebuild her army by aligning with the elves. As a result, Fringilla invited Francesca and
her Elven people into Cintra, and Francesca agreed since the Deathless Mother had told
her to go live amongst humans at Cintra. Some of the Nilfguardian generals hated Elves,
so they killed some as suspected spies. The hatred and the pain fed the Deathless Mother.
She also convinced Fringilla to kill the Nilfguardian generals. And that pain also fed the Deathless
Mother. Last, but not least, Francesca gave birth to the first baby elf in many years.
That gave the Elven people hope of a future. Hope with a capital H. But Emhyr var Emreis
sent an assassin to kill the baby, and that destroyed their hope, causing them a lot of
pain and hatred towards the humans. Since the Deathless Mother feeds off of that, she
was able to break free of the Forest that the witchers had trapped her in.
The second step to her plan involved Yennefer and Ciri.
During the Second Battle of Sodden, Yennefer annihilated the Nilfguardian forces with Fire
Magic. But in doing so, she burnt herself out. She lost her ability to do magic. Yennefer
had given up on having a child. And she had lost hope in her love for Geralt. So at this
point in her life, Yennefer considered her magic to be everything that she had. As a
result, the loss of her magic was her greatest weakness. The Deathless Mother told Yennefer
that she would get her magic back if she brought Ciri to the shattered black door at Cintra.
And even after she found out that Ciri was Geralt’s Child Surprise, she did just so.
She tricked Ciri into going to Cintra. But at the very last minute, Yennefer changed
her mind. But it was too late. The Deathless Mother was already free. So she took over
Ciri as her Vessel. The Deathless Mother put Ciri’s mind into a fake world with her family.
Meanwhile, she grabbed the dagger that she had used to kill Klef back in the day, and
she killed some of the Witchers while they slept. She almost killed Vesemir, but Geralt
and Yennefer got back to Kaer Morhen just in time to stop her.
Earlier in the season, Nivellen killed his love, Verena, so as to save Geralt and Ciri.
And even more importantly, Geralt killed his brother and best friend, Eskel, to save Vesemir.
This second example of a Leshy taking over Eskel paralleled the Deathless Mother taking
over Ciri. So Vesemir made the argument to Geralt that they had to kill Ciri. But, one
of the first lessons that Vesemir had ever taught Geralt was that witchers do not kill
out of fear. They kill to save lives. Geralt taught that to Ciri. And in the finale, Geralt
reminded Vesemir of that. So when the Deathless Mother began her attack, Vesemir and Vartok
used the Yrden sign to shield the Deathless Mother so that Geralt could negotiate with
her. The Deathless Mother told Geralt that Ciri was the future and he was in her way.
Then she attacked. Geralt began to plead for the Ciri inside to hear him and fight the
vision. Meanwhile, the rest of the witchers fought
some new and very deadly basilisks. A basilisk killed a witcher and another yelled for help,
so Vesemir order Vartok to drop his shield and go help. But then Vesemir heard Vartok
yelling for help, so Vesemir dropped his own shield as well, which meant that the Deathless
Mother was once again free. When Vesemir saw one his dead sons, he had
had enough. So he approached the Deathless Mother to kill her, but Geralt blocked him.
Geralt then fought off Vesemir in order to save Ciri.
And Ciri began to hear Geralt, telling her that she could fight it. To stay strong and
to not give in. But then an even bigger basilisk emerged from another sphere and knocked Geralt
outside. So the White Wolf had to take out a White Basilisk.
Unfortunately, that gave Vesemir the opportunity to stab the Deathless Mother. Of course, she
is very powerful. So she healed herself. That’s when they realized that normal weapons would
not do the trick. And that is where Yennefer and Jaskier came into play.
Yennefer had given Jaskier a rock of Active Jasper and told him to give it to Geralt,
saying that Geralt would understand. As is normal, Jaskier fell and dropped the rock.
But Geralt had heard Jaskier mention warmth, energy, and balance. And Voleth Meir foolishly
showed her cards by saying that the poor witchers feel everything, especially hatred. Since
Jasper gives courage to rectify wrongs, Geralt put two and two together and realized that
their hate is the pain that the Deathless Mother needed to grow stronger. So Geralt
encouraged his brothers to not give her what she wanted, and he pleaded for Ciri to come
home. Unfortunately, Ciri was inside the vision with her parents. So she was happy.
But then they all started speaking to her. Coen told Ciri to come back. And Vesemir told
her that he believed in her. And that he was sorry for what he did. But Voleth Meir fought
back by having Ciri’s fake mother and father tell her to stay with them. And it worked.
Ciri felt at peace. Now, we get to the final step. Geralt realized
that Voleth Meir’s hut had burned. So if she were to leave Ciri, she needed another
Vessel. Yennefer then realized that her wounds would never heal because magic wasn’t what
she was truly missing. Yennefer had always wanted a child. That is what she was missing.
And now, she looked at Ciri as that child. Keep in mind, Nivellen’s curse was lifted
when he sacrificed his love Verena to save Geralt and Ciri. And the curse was lifted
because Love and Blood both possess a mighty power. But it has to be True Love.
And Yennefer has that for both Geralt and Ciri. Yennefer slit her wrists for the second
time in her life, and offered up herself as a new Vessel. True Love. And as a result of
that sacrifice, Yennefer’s wounds healed. She got back her magic and cast a spell in
the Elder Speech. Yennefer told Ciri that she deserved everything.
To let Yennefer give her everything she has. And Ciri’s grandmother and Mousesack began
to fade. Geralt then reminded Ciri that what she was seeing in there was not real, and
Ciri’s mother and father began to fade. Ciri’s father said that they belong together,
and at the same time, Geralt said that they belong together. It may not be perfect, but
it’s real. And it’s hers. That they are her family and they need her. That did it.
Ciri told her fake mother and father that she had to go home.
So the Deathless Mother was booted from Ciri and took over Yennefer as her new vessel.
This was very poetic. After all, Yennefer once offered up her body as a Vessel to the
djinn in hopes of having a child. But this time, Yennefer offered up her body as a Vessel
so as to save her child. Ciri. Ciri then used the lessons that she had learned
from Yennefer to send the Deathless Mother back to her own sphere. That sent Yennefer,
Ciri, and Geralt to the other Sphere. And it worked. The Deathless Mother left Yennefer’s
body. But she reformed as one of the Red Riders. One of the Wild Hunt. And the Wild Hunt rode
forth to capture Ciri. Luckily, she teleported them back to home just in time.
Since Yennefer had her powers back, she healed Coen and the others.
Geralt then told Vesemir that he had to leave with Ciri, so Vesemir was heartbroken, thinking
that Geralt hated him for having tried to kill Ciri. But Geralt clarified that both
mages and royalty alike will be looking for Ciri. That’s why he, Yennefer, and Ciri
had to go. Now, the ending.
The Wild Hunt wants Ciri. That is bad news. But as Geralt suspected, they are not the
only ones. Triss saw what Ciri could do and it scared
her. So Triss told Tissaia, and Tissaia told Vilgefortz. Vilgefortz snapped at Tissaia,
so he is clearly very interested in Ciri. King Vizimir of Redania also wants to use
Ciri. But Vizimir does not know about her Elder Blood. Vizimir wants to get Ciri since
she has a claim to the Cintran throne. Redania is already one of the most powerful kingdoms
in the Northern Realms. If he gained Cintra, he would become even more powerful.
Therefore, Tissaia met with other Kings and Queens of the Northern Realms and told them
about Ciri. And they all agreed to put a bounty on her head as well as the heads of anyone
that helps her. Little does Tissaia know, she just put a bounty out on her figurative
daughter Yennefer. Now let’s look at the most interesting players.
Will in the Dol Durza with Triss, Ciri heard overlapping voices ask her: “What are you,
child?” The same voices and question that she heard when she drank from Shan-Kayan Tree,
the Source Tree at Brokilon. “What are you, child?” So they are interested.
Then we’ve got Stregobor. Stregobor has a history of going after princesses with power.
So he will want to kill Ciri, especially if he determines that she is a descendant of
Falka. The monsters targeted Ciri, but Ciri told
Geralt that she had the feeling that the monsters were not going to hurt her. Geralt also found
Ciri’s scarf pulled inside a wall by a Leshy. So basically, the monsters were probably being
sent out by someone to bring Ciri to them. While investigating the Cintran monolith,
Istredd heard Ciri’s voice call out to Geralt through the stellacite. So Istredd met up
with Codringher and Fenn and they all figured out that Ciri is the 10th generation of Lara
Dorren. In other words, Ciri is a prophesied generational weapon. Istredd has a soft spot
for the elves, so he told Francesca about her. So now Francesca believes that Ciri is
the key to Elves survival. In her owl form, Philipe Eilhart overheard
Istredd tell Francesca that Ciri has the Elder Blood. So even though Philipe is technically
aligned with King Vizimir, Philipe is a very powerful and ambitious mage. She may go after
Ciri for her own reasons. Then we’ve got Rience. Rience stole the
Elder Blood witcher Mutagen from Triss and Vesemir, and he gave it to Lydia. Lydia performed
blood tracing. So they will be able to find Ciri, and they are working for someone. Someone
very important. Last, but not least, Emhyr var Emreis did
not conquer Cintra for the land or for power. He conquered for Ciri. So Emhyr var Emreis
was the first to look for Ciri. At least, the first on this planet to look for Ciri.
Geralt wondered the right question. How did he know before everybody else? Well, supposedly,
Ciri’s mother and father died at sea. But the Witcher Season 2 revealed that Emhyr var
Emreis, the White Flame, Emperor of Nilfguard, is Ciri’s father – Duny. So he has known
for a long time, possibly even, since before her birth.
So that’s that. Everyone wants Ciri. Some want her alive. Some want her dead. Some want
to use her for political moves. And some want to use her for her power.
“The girl … yours?” “Mine.” “You are a part of her, she a part of you.
But it's not enough.” “Find what is missing in the girl. Then, maybe, you stand a chance
of helping her.” “Us three will help each other. What is
destined cannot be avoid.” “And it shouldn’t be.”