During The Game Awards, the highly anticipated The Witcher 4‘s trailer hit the big screens, unveiling Ciri as the new protagonist. It appears this is only the first step in executing the next phase of the series, as there are rumors about the developer’s plans to create a trilogy around Ciri’s lore.
Among the teasers CD Projekt Red has fed its fan base, a series of images featuring coins have been making the rounds and sparking intense speculations. Sebastian Kalemba, the game director of The Witcher 4 project, released the first image of the coin after announcing that the game has now entered the full-scale production phase. Since then, more developers on the project have teased the community with these coin images. It’s still unclear what this coin means, as well as its implications for the upcoming game, as most of the related posts have been without context.
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The Coins Are Likely A Nod To Elements Synonymous With The Witcher Franchise
Most of the discourse around the shared images of the coin emanated from the detailed runes engraved on it. There is a crescent moon shape that runs along the borders of the coin, and its center is adorned by what appears to be a mountain with an entrance right beneath it. Right on top of it sits the sun, partially eclipsed by the moon, letting out dying rays of light across the sky.
While these elements are intriguing, this is not the first time they have appeared in The Witcher franchise. When the Official Gwent Artwork came out for the standalone game in 2020, it featured many similar elements (the mountains, the moon, and the cave’s entrance), with the eclipse as the sole exception.
It is also worth noting that Sebastian Kalemba is the Head of the Art Department for the Gwent game, which might explain some similarities. On his X (formerly known as Twitter) account, Sebastian revealed the other side of the coin, which reads “Days and nights pass and the blood remains the same” in Tolkien runes.
Although it is up to debate what that line references, the monster showcased in the trailer reaffirms to Ciri that destiny cannot be changed no matter how hard one tries.
The Coins May Represent Key Storylines In The Witcher Lore
Of all the speculations, the most prevalent one links the solar eclipse on the coin to the Curse of the Black Sun, otherwise referred to as the Black Sun. The prophecy of the mage Eltibald describes an eclipse that signals the beginning of the end of humanity. According to him, sixty girls would be born under this Black Sun, and the curse would turn them into treacherous monsters who would facilitate the return of Lilit, the goddess of the night, and end the world.
Doubts surrounded the authenticity of the prophecy, with many suggesting the words were the idle ramblings of a madman. Thus, the prophecy eventually came to be referred to as the Mania of Mad Eltibald. However, the Dauk menhirs writings, the Wozgor necropolises tombstones, and the weretots legends, gave credence to Eltibald’s prophecy.
Each of these pieces of lore spoke of Lilit and the end of the world orchestrated by the sixty women wearing gold crowns born under the Black Sun. Since the words of the prophecy and the coin’s depictions share a significant overlap, it stands to reason that The Witcher 4‘s coin reference could hint at the apocalypse.
Another bit of speculation gaining traction among the fan base is that the coins are a reference to a coming Conjunction of the Spheres. The coin, which sports celestial bodies and the stones, could be construed to represent an arrangement of the monoliths stacked closely together, as opposed to the mountain depiction from the earlier theory. This cataclysmic event occurred 1,500 years before the events in the story when the realms of the multiverse collided. It will be interesting to see which direction CDPR ultimately takes, as they are multiple narrative devices that a potential Ciri trilogy can be built upon.
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.