The Witcher Season 3 Volume 2: What Can We Expect from the Second Part?
Now that we are all shocked by the conclusion of The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1, we are all thinking the same thing: what will this season have in store for part two? Netflix will release it on July 27, and it will consist of 3 episodes, so we have a whole month to wonder how our favorite Witcher will fare. The Witcher Season 3 Volume 2 is about to get a lot darker. The series follows Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) as he works to protect his pupil, Princess Ciri (Freya Allan), from harm. Season 3 has, thus far, followed these lines as Geralt watches over her from an imminent threat and, with the help of Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), guides her to learn how to defend herself and use her powers. However, with The Witcher Season 3 serving as Cavill’s final episode as Geralt, part 2 is expected to have a tragic and game-changing ending.
After season 3, Cavill will step down from his role as Geralt of Rivia for good, handing the reins to Hemsworth. The showrunners reportedly considered casting another Witcher entirely but ultimately chose to recast the role to stay true to the books. Hemsworth will star in seasons 4 and 5, with the latter seemingly confirmed by a casting agent. WARNING: to talk in detail about what we could expect from the second part, we will be forced to make spoilers about the first. For this reason, in case you haven’t seen the 5 episodes yet, we suggest you come back to this article later.
The Witcher Season 3 Volume 2: Cavill’s Last Three Episodes!
There’s a lot for The Witcher Season 3 Volume 2 to wrap up, starting with this magical waltz tour of Vilgefortz, Dijkstra, and who knows how many other sorcerers plot a coup during what was meant to be the continent’s most ordinary conclave. Thanks to the detective work of Geralt and Yennefer, we know that it was not Stregobor, but the charming Vilgefortz who played with portals and mind-controlled the half-elf girls, trying to convince them that they are Princess Cirilla… a powerful sorceress (with blood ancient) that Geralt and Yennefer attempted to teach to make the most of her abilities. What purpose were these “false Cirillas” supposed to serve? What will happen to the one that Geralt managed to save, whose original name was Teryn? In the books (spoiler warning), a “false Ciri” ended up uniting the realms of Nilfgaard and Cintra by marrying the emperor, even though she knew she wasn’t the real Ciri all along. Is the TV series planning a similar twist, but in a more indirect way?
With all the uncertainty surrounding The Witcher Season 4, season 3’s dark themes could help ground the show around cruel characters, horrific monsters, and truly heartbreaking themes. Also, going back to his roots could be a way to draw Hemsworth into an arc, helping him fit into the show naturally. The implications of his chaotic and dark roots are a big sign for the future of The Witcher, no matter how uncertain it may be. By the way, where is Ciri while all this is going on? She and Jaskier were left behind in the woods, while Geralt and Yennefer headed to the party, so they’re presumably safe from whatever the Nilfgaardians and the Brotherhood are planning. But King Vizimir has sent his brother Radovid with Dijkstra to the conclave, and he and Jaskier have a little date that night. Is Radovid there because he wants to be there? Or is all this part of Dijkstra’s plan? Ciri is safe for now, but that probably won’t last long.
Approaching Ciri is the fiery wizard Rience, who also works on behalf of Vilgefortz, as well as Cahir and the elves, who have allied themselves in the search for Ciri. Cahir and his emperor Emhyr, secretly Ciri’s father, want her back on the throne of Cintra, and the elves believe she has been prophesied to take them out of the realm of humans, where they are relentlessly persecuted, and back to their rightful home. This brings us to the last big plot point we’re likely to see played out in part two: the Wild Hunt. Remember the ghostly apparitions riding skeletal horses that tried to capture Ciri earlier this season?
Those “boys” are elves from another sphere, whose magic grants them the ability to travel between worlds using their portals. Their elven realm is based on the labor of slaves gathered from other spheres by a group of knights known as the Red Knights, who appear in the Witcher’s realm as ghostly knights in dark cloaks, known to ward off the unfortunate who are touched by them. They focused on Ciri because they can sense her ancient blood. In the books, they attempt to use her bloodline to rekindle the blood of their elven kingdom. Furthermore, they are at war with the unicorns in their kingdom: speaking of these creatures, Ciri finally finds a unicorn friend (and dear Netflix, it would not be bad to see in the series Ihuarraquax).
Unicorns and Goodbyes!
In the third season of The Witcher, Geralt (Henry Cavill), Ciri (Freya Allan) and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) are together again, forming a semblance of a family during their lives on the run from the enemies of the Princess of Cintra. Their union doesn’t last long though, as Geralt soon splits up to hunt down the fire wizard named Rience (Chris Fulton), Ciri’s new antagonist. At the end of The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 of the fantasy series, Ciri is hidden in Aretuza for safekeeping; Yennefer is following Tissaia (MyAnna Buring), whom she fears may be in danger; and Geralt is definitely in danger, as he ends episode 5 with a knife to his neck. A lot is going on, but what brought our main characters to this point? Let’s talk about what happened while we wait for the final episodes of season 3.
Why is Rience chasing Ciri? It turns out that Rience isn’t the biggest villain of the season. He’s just a puppet: someone else is teaching him to persecute Ciri. Who? Well, for most of these five episodes, we don’t know. Rience gets her orders from another sorceress named Lydia (Aisha Fabienne Ross), who refers to the mysterious puppeteer as “My Lord” — but it’s unclear who is above her in the chain of command. During his relentless pursuit of the princess, Rience falls into a trap set by Ciri and Geralt breaks his wrists in a fight. But he survives, and a cloaked figure heals her fractured bones, allowing Rience to continue pursuing her.
We know that there is someone who commands both Rience and Lydia and that this same person is responsible for other peculiar happenings during these first five episodes: the girl who claims to be Ciri, who turns out to be a novice sorceress named Teryn (Frances Pooley) who is under the influence of magic; the disappearance of several Aretuza’s novices who happened to all be half-elves; the theft of an immeasurably powerful book about time travel and portals, first noticed by Istredd (Royce Pierreson). The wizard Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen), known for disdaining elves and harming young girls, is Geralt and Yennefer’s prime suspect.
However, at the end of episode 5, Yennefer recognizes a painting in the Brotherhood Hall from a place she visited after dark magic interfered with a portal she had opened. Earlier, Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu) had told Geralt that the painting was one of his favorites; this helps the two to put the pieces together and that Vilgefortz is the one who pulls all the strings. We come to our conclusion on what to expect from the second part of The Witcher Season 3 by answering one simple question: who is Vilgefortz? Vilgefortz is an experienced wizard who collaborates with Tissaia (as well as being connected romantically and politically). While we don’t see Vilgefortz play the puppeteer in The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1, at the end of episode 5 we learn (along with Geralt and Yennefer) that it was he who worked with Nilfgaard, exerting a malevolent influence and issuing orders to Lydia and Rience. In the final scene of episode 5, Geralt hears a commotion that sounds like a fight. He comes over to investigate before being stopped by Dijkstra (Graham McTavish), who is holding Geralt at knifepoint.
