The Game Awards is always the most exciting event of the year for the gaming community, but fans of The Witcher franchise got a special treat to open the ceremony. In a surprise trailer for The Witcher 4, Geralt of Rivia’s ward, Ciri, is revealed as the protagonist, placing one ending from the third game above the rest.
As finding Ciri is an integral part of the Witcher books and later the third game, the three main endings regarding the Child of the Elder Blood all satisfy a years-long quest, where she becomes a witcher, becomes Empress of Nilfgaard, or dies. Yet The Witcher 4 decisively turns her into a professional monster slayer.
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The Witcher 4 Makes Its Core Themes Clear
The Witcher 4’s TGA trailer shows clear-cut themes that put Ciri on a story path following in the footsteps of the one Geralt set before her.
To CDPR, Ciri was Destined to be a Witcher
The Witcher 4 Cements Canon on the Path
The trailer for The Witcher 4 isn’t technically the first time CD Projekt Red has pushed Ciri to the life of a witcher. Aside from the feelings Ciri herself expresses about it, the witcher ending is largely considered the “good ending” of The Witcher 3. This is especially considering she either dies, which results in a heartbreaking ending for a grieving Geralt, or Ciri becomes empress, which can only be achieved by making self-serving choices towards her throughout the game.
In 2017, CDPR released the Witcher franchise’s 10-year anniversary video thanking fans, where Geralt reminisces at his Corvo Bianco estate. The video opens with Ciri arriving in her rough traveling gear as opposed to fine Nilfgaardian robes, implying which ending she got. Considering several characters appear from other Witcher stories, such as an alive-and-well Olgierd von Everec from the Hearts of Stone DLC, this video appears to subtly canonize certain endings. The Witcher 4 merely cements Ciri’s anticipated fate on the Path.
One of Ciri’s swords in the trailer is also of note. It’s the very same Geralt gifts her in the witcher ending’s epilogue, her first silver sword, dubbed Zireael. This will likely be the starting gear for Witcher 4 players.
At any rate, it’s fitting that a woman consistently characterized as stubborn and fiery is wielding a sword and scolding humans for their twisted morality and questionable rituals. The latter is also surely a callback to The Witcher 3’s cinematic trailer with Geralt’s iconic line, “Killing monsters,” referencing a common Witcher theme that humans can be more monstrous than the actual beasts they hunt.
Ciri’s Future as a Witcher Possibly Calls Back to Book Lore
Ciri being the protagonist of the next Witcher saga likely isn’t all that surprising to fans of the books. The core of The Witcher’s plot, which The Witcher 3 tethers itself to, is how Ciri’s destiny is intertwined with Geralt’s. And Geralt, Vesemir, and the other witchers take her in when she is orphaned, becoming her found family and admired mentors.
This is her life from the age of 10. Ciri is essentially a master duelist for the entirety of The Witcher saga, using her sword where possible. On one hand, she was necessarily taught to protect herself, but on the other, she puts herself in danger numerous times throughout the series, displaying a distinct thirst to prove herself.
In the final book, she kills her enemy, Bonhart. Bonhart was renowned for being the only living human to go toe-to-toe with several witchers and live to tell the tale, keeping their medallions as trophies. After slaying him, Ciri takes the medallion of the School of the Cat, which she can be seen wearing on her belt in The Witcher 3 (which has become the School of the Lynx in TW4). This more or less makes it canon that Ciri prefers the life of a witcher.
For only a six-minute cinematic trailer, there’s a lot to unpack about The Witcher 4 and Ciri’s role on the Continent. Set in the franchise’s characteristically gloomy medieval world with Ciri herself displaying new powers, The Witcher 4 is nonetheless sure to thrill.
The Witcher IV is a single-player, open-world RPG from CD PROJEKT RED. At the start of a new saga, players take on the role of Ciri, a professional monster slayer, and embark on a journey through a brutal dark-fantasy world. Powered by Unreal Engine 5, it aims to be the most immersive and ambitious open-world Witcher game to date.