Ciri Was The Best Choice For The Witcher 4’s Protagonist

The Witcher 4’s cinematic trailer at The Game Awards confirmed what a lot of fans already suspected: Ciri would take Geralt of Rivia’s place as the series’ new central protagonist. Director Sebastian Kalemba later broke down the trailer and shared that the game will follow Ciri on her journey towards becoming a Witcher.

As is often the case with announcements like this, a contingent of angry gamers took to the internet to complain. Some people said that she wasn’t attractive enough, which is ridiculous, because she’s objectively hot, and also, that shouldn’t really matter. During the trailer, the chat was spamming “woke” because you’re playing as a woman now. Most people are being normal about it, but it seems there are plenty who think Ciri shouldn’t have been the focus, especially if she wasn’t going to look like Eve from Stellar Blade.

Ciri Being The Next Protagonist Was Already Set Up

It’s hard to take this vocal minority seriously, of course, because this perspective comes from a desire for games to never change, or evolve, or tell new stories. It’s especially silly because The Witcher 3, which directly precedes the fourth entry, is very much about Ciri and what happens to her.

As Cian Maher, franchise and lore designer at CD Projekt Red (and former Features Lead at TheGamer) told IGN, “I think ‘The Witcher’ as a title refers to both Geralt and Ciri and always has.” In his eyes, “She’s arguably more important to the plot than Geralt himself is.” After all, The Witcher 3 revolves around Geralt’s search for Ciri, who is simultaneously being pursued by the Wild Hunt.

She was already playable in that game, and one of the endings – in many people’s view, the best and canon ending – has Geralt helping her fake her death and giving her his sword. And these endings are largely determined by how much Geralt helps Ciri come into her own. If he treats her like a child, she appears to die. If he teaches her independence and strength, she survives. Ciri was already being positioned to take on a bigger role, as she does in the books. If you didn’t see this coming, you weren’t paying enough attention.

A more understandable complaint is that the lore isn’t adding up. The games don’t seem to fit perfectly into the narrative of the books, but that view interprets the games as an extension of the books, when really they (like the TV show) are a similar but separate adaptation. It doesn’t really matter if the games don’t slot perfectly into the timeline put forward by the novels.

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Ciri Is A Better Protagonist For The Series Moving Forward

I’d argue that not only does it make sense for Ciri to be the new protagonist, but it was the best possible option. The Witcher 3 came out nearly a decade ago, meaning that The Witcher 4 will likely be gunning to reach newer gamers who might never have played other games in the series. Placing Ciri as the protagonist offers a connection for existing fans while allowing new players to see the beginning of a new saga and a new origin story of sorts.

But more than that, I think Ciri is a more interesting character, or at least, more of a blank slate that allows for increased player agency in making decisions as her and more room for exploration. From the reveal trailer alone, we can see that CDPR’s interpretation of her is fiery, even vengeful. There’s potential for a very different kind of storytelling here because of how different Ciri is from Geralt, and that potential is much more interesting than knowing more or less what we’re going to get.

This also offers an opportunity to mix things up gameplay wise. Ciri has stronger magical abilities than Geralt, and considering we see her using different kinds of magic in the trailer, this is probably going to play a huge part in how it feels to play as Ciri. We could get more build flexibility, especially considering that CDPR has learned quite a bit about that from Cyberpunk 2077 since The Witcher 3 was launched. Could we even be allowed a stealthier playstyle?

I’m just speculating at this point, but a Ciri-led follow-up offers a wealth more potential than a Geralt-led one. People upset about Ciri being the face of the game should consider that what we end up getting might be a lot more interesting than what we would have got otherwise. I’m not one to get too hyped about games long before release, but I have to say, I’m excited for this one.

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.