#vysogota

[revoevokukil]

Several Underappreciated Details About Aen Elle

1. Auberon is over 1500 years old in “human time”.

The Aen Elle left the Continent before the Conjunction of the spheres (1500 years ago). Time passes differently in the world of the Alder Folk than on the Continent. Time does not matter in their world (e.g. Tir na Nog was a land of everlasting youth). Therefore –

2. Knowing Ones (plural!) possess the same abilities Ciri, or Ciri’s descendant (x 1000), possesses. Which is – moving their own individual person between worlds.

“...the gene that was specially constructed by us, may save the denizens of that world. We have reason to believe that the descendant of Lara–and of you, naturally–will possess abilities a thousandfold more powerful than that which we, the Knowing Ones, possess. And which you possess in rudimentary form. You know what this is about, don’t you?” “In short, it concerns the possibility of transferring between worlds not only oneself, one’s own–indeed–insignificant person. It concerns the opening of Ard Gaeth, the great and permanent Gateway, through which everyone would pass. We managed to do it before the Conjunction, and we want to achieve it now.” – Avallac’h

“At that time (before the Conjunction) – you’ll be astonished by what I say – one could move quite freely between worlds. With a little talent and skill, naturally. Beyond all doubt you understand what I have in mind.” – Auberon

“The Conjunction came and even more worlds were created. But the door is closed. It is closed to all apart from a handful of chosen ones.” – Auberon

Aen Saevherne (e.g. Avallac’h & Auberon) carry Aen Hen Ichaer.

Due to carrying Aen Hen Ichaer, they are participants as well as conductors of the elves’ most ludicrous genetic engineering project.

3. Avallac’h kept an eye on Ciri on the Continent.

“News spreads astonishingly quickly. Astonishingly far. And astonishingly deep.” – Geralt

This is enabled by the scrying Aen Saevherne are able to do via special substances. The walls of Tir ná Béa Arainne allow this (“The walls of Tir ná Béa Arainne have special qualities. And I, though I say it as shouldn’t, have special abilities.”) as well as magic mirrors which show Ciri the present-future in Lady of the Lake (“Here are your friends! Have a look.” He turned around and abruptly tossed the fisstech-strewn looking glass to her. At first she only saw her own, blurred reflection in the dirtied glass. But almost immediately the looking glass brightened up milkily, filled up with smoke. And then with an image.).

At Tir ná Béa Arainne, scrying works like this: “Think intensively. About how much she needs you right now. Declare, so to speak, the mental willingness to help. Think about how you want to run and rescue her, be beside her; something like that.”

One wonders how many times Avallac’h applied the same means to see how Ciri was doing, but from his speech it is clear he has done so.

‘Firstly, it’s too late now, the serious evil has already occurred; you’re no longer in a position to save the girl from it. Secondly, now that she has taken the right road, the Swallow will cope wonderfully by herself. She carries too mighty a force inside her to fear anything. She doesn’t need your help. And thirdly… Hmmm…’ ‘I’m still all ears, Avallac’h. All ears!’ ‘Thirdly… Thirdly, someone else will help her now. You can’t be so arrogant as to think that the girl’s destiny is exclusively bound to you.’

Two observations follow:

When Avallac’h comments about humans taking no issue with dying just as long as they get to f*ck beforehand, this is carried – alongside his disdain for Cregennan & contempt for humanity’s prodigious ability to reproduce – by likely having witnessed through the walls of Tir ná Béa Arainne (or a magic mirror) Hotspurn’s & Ciri’s first/last moments.

‘Stay with me. I’ll keep my word, Snow Queen. I’ll cover you with emeralds… I’ll shower you in them…’ ‘Indeed, this is a wonderful time for making jokes.’ ‘It’s always a good time for jokes.’ Hotspurn suddenly seized her, pulled her close and began to undo her blouse. Unceremoniously, but unhurriedly. Ciri pushed him away. ‘Indeed!’ she snapped. ‘A wonderful time for that too!’ ‘It’s always a good time for that. Especially for me, right now. I told you, it’s my spine. There may be complications tomorrow…’

Ciri’s & Vysogota’s conversations in the Pereplut swamps were not private.

During their talks Sapkowski employs a very pointed literary framing device. With tiny variations, for 7 times up until the chapter where Geralt meets Avallac’h (!), it goes like this:

“Had someone crept up to the cottage with the sunken thatched roof that night, had they peered through the slits in the shutters, they would have seen in the dimly lit interior a grey-bearded old man and an ashen-haired girl sitting by the fireplace.

But no one could have seen it. For the cottage with the sunken, moss-grown thatched roof was well hidden among the fog and the mist, in a boundless swamp in the Pereplut Marshes where no one dared to venture.”

It's almost so on the nose in its repetition as to be intentionally misleading. Which it somewhat turns out to be, since we learn under Mount Gorgon that it is possible to see what is happening with the people you wish to see. Given the Aen Elle's overarching plotline of driving the Blood of Elves back into their hands, it also seems appropriate that you would have actors "behind the scenes" keeping an eye on things.

These conversations culminate with Ciri & Vysogota digging around in elven legends, becoming convinced Ciri is the “chosen one” & finding a way to the Tower of the Swallow. Which seems to be a pre-arranged “co-incidence” in its own right.

4. Before Ciri meets Avallac’h in person on the other side of the Tower of the Swallow, she learns about his existence from a Dutch explorer called Buyvid Backhuysen, who wrote the apocryphal work focusing on mythical locations (& characters).

This is highly ironic, considering Avallac’h’s statement: “Everything has been foretold.” But also trollishly in-character for him.

An elf who can predict the future accurately plays a tour guide to humans a century or more before Ciri’s birth so said humans would write a book about him so Ciri would one day find the said book & gain directions to the Tower of the Swallow & become encouraged in her destiny as the “chosen one.”

The elf’s vanity does not allow him to not sign his chef d'oeuvre; he tells Ciri after her arrival: “You came here yourself. But not of your own will. You were led here by destiny, helped a little by us.”

5. As an Aen Saevherne – one of the handful of chosen ones with similar abilities to Ciri – i.e. transporting one’s individual person between worlds – Avallac’h can move around the Continent.

“We trekked perhaps four hundred furlongs southwards from the ancient and far-famed city of Assengard, to a land called Centloch. ... Our guide, the elf Avallac’h, ordered us to seek among those dispositions one calling to mind a cloverleaf. And, in truth, we espied one such. ... Meanwhile, the mysterious Tower of the Swallow, in the elven tongue Tor Zireael, was said to rise up at its northern margin. At first, nonetheless, we saw nothing save fog. I was readying myself to ask the elf Avallac’h about the tower, when he gestured me to be silent and spoke these words: ‘Await and hope. Hope shall return with the light and a good omen. Gaze at the endless waters; there you shall discern the envoys of good tidings.” – Buyvid Backhuysen, Peregrinations along Magic Trails and Places, Tower of the Swallow

In the aforementioned book Ciri & Vysogota read:

“The elf Avallac’h marked our awe and spake: “This is Tor Zireael, the Tower of the Swallow. This is the Gate of Worlds and the Threshold of Time. Feast your eyes on this sight, man, for not to everyone nor always is it given.” ‘But when asked if we might approach and from proximity gaze on the Tower or propria manu touch it, Avallac’h laughed. “Tor Zireael,” he spake, “is for you a reverie, and reveries may not be touched. And a good thing it is,” he added, “for the Tower serves only the few Chosen, for whom the Threshold of Time is a gate of hope and rebirth. But for the profane it is the portal of nightmare.”

In short, the unicorn’s quote in Lady of the Lake is misleading:

“The Fox and the Sparrowhawk cannot seize power over Ard Gaeth, the Gateway to the Worlds. They captured it once. They lost it once. Now they can do nothing more than wander, roam among the worlds taking tiny steps, alone, like spectres, powerless. The Fox to Tir ná Béa Arainne, the Sparrowhawk and his horsemen around the Spiral. They can go no further, they don’t have the strength. Which is why they dream of Ard Gaeth and power.”

The Continent goes unnamed in the Saga. Therefore the unicorns refer to the world Ciri was born in for the reader’s sake by the last location in which Avallac’h appeared. However, this is not the only location in which he has appeared or can appear.

6. The Wild Hunt can move around the Spiral like spectres rather than as spectres.

“Now they can do nothing more than wander, roam among the worlds taking tiny steps, alone, like spectres, powerless.”

In chase of Ciri after her escape from Tir na Lia, the Red Riders portal into a Spiral world as themselves, without the ghastly guises.

This makes the Wild Hunt’s ghostly appearance effectively “a party dress.” A horrifying “glamour” (e.g. reverse of Pratchett’s Lords & Ladies).

7. Eredin Bréacc Glas’s name references the manner in which he breaks the “glass” veil between worlds upon traversing the Spiral.

“Something creaked, just like canvas being torn. The terns rose with a cry and a fluttering, for a moment covering everything in a white cloud. The air above the cliff suddenly vibrated and became blurred like glass with water spilled over it. And then it shattered like glass. And darkness poured out of the rupture, while riders spilled out of the darkness. Around their shoulders fluttered cloaks whose vermilion-amaranth-crimson colour brought to mind the glow of a fire in a sky lit up by the blaze of the setting sun. Dearg Ruadhri. The Red Horsemen.” – Lady of the Lake

In turn, this references the “twisted looking glass” nature of the parallels/differences between the characters & setting in the Continent & in the World of the Alder Folk.

8. The Wild Hunt appears near Brugge, on the trail of False-Ciri.

Eredin pretends not to know Ciri upon first meeting her, despite having seen her on several occasions; even briefly getting on the trail of False-Ciri due to physical similarity.

9. Avallac’h & Ciri breakfasted together seemingly on the regular at Tir na Lia.

“Next morning she went at once to the stables without even eating breakfast. She didn’t want to meet Avallac’h, didn’t want to talk to him.”

10. (Meta-humour) In Arthuriana, the Lady of Avalon is often called the Lady of the Lake. Avallac’h is another name for Avalon. Avallac’h calls Ciri Lady of the Lake & insofar as Ciri is seen as the successor of Lara Dorren, who was supposed to be the Lady of Avallac’h...

11. Cregennan of Lod’s & Lara Dorren’s acquaintance & romance was relatively brief.

Falka is born.

1 year post-Falka’s birth, Vridank divorces Beatrix of Kovir, and marries Cerro.

At an unspecified point in-between the divorce and Falka’s Rebellion 25 years later, Lara meets Cregennan of Lod for the first time. (“Falka had been born before Lara had even met Cregennan.” By way of this “even” in Fransesca’s sentence, it seems there was considerable way to go from meeting Cregennan to becoming pregnant by him.)

They strike up a friendship, probably on grounds of investigating the differences between elven and human magic, and sympathies toward elven human co-operation (in magic & life). The friendship goes on for some time as just that – friendship. “The friendship – and later romance – between the two of them was at first joyfully acknowledged by both races, but there soon appeared opponents to their union.”

Friendship culminates in romance. Lara becomes pregnant.

Cregennan is assassinated. Lara is hunted down by humans, dies, giving birth to Riannon. Cerro takes Riannon in.

25 years after Falka’s birth, Falka’s Rebellion takes place.

Riannon is pregnant during that time (Riannon is younger than Falka).

So Lara knew Cregennan relatively briefly in elves’ and magicians’ terms. It also seems to me things progressed relatively fast once their romance began: from it becoming known they had become romantic to pregnancy to Cregennan’s assassination to Lara’s exile and death.

12. Elder Blood - a bloodline of the sailors of time & space.

Skelligers know that when someone of Elder Blood dies, the sea rages.

"The blood of the queens of Cintra,’ Crach began, ‘is uncannily bound to the sea. When one of the women of that blood dies the sea falls into sheer madness. It’s said that Ard Skellig bewails the daughters of Riannon. For the storm is so strong then that the waves striking from the west squeeze through crevices and caverns to the east side and suddenly salt brooks gush from the rock. And the entire island shudders. Simple folk say “See how Ard Skellig sobs. Someone has died again. Riannon’s blood has died. The Elder Blood”."

Equally, a thunder storm breaks out over Tir ná Lia upon Auberon's death - the demise of a carrier of Elder Blood. Interestingly, Auberon Muircetach's name reveals more. Muircetach is quite definitely from Irish Muirchetach, which means "mariner." It is symbolically appropriate, as elves did sail the seas of space and time quite freely before the Conjunction, and in such capacity Auberon might as well have lived up to his name.

13. Ciri read/heard about the mythic figure of the Alder King.

In line with how Ciri discovers how she herself is nothing but a legend, it is casually revealed in Time of Contempt that she has either read or heard about a figure called the Alder King.

"A furious gallop, her eyes watering from their speed. Lightning sliced the sky, and in its flash Ciri saw alders and willows on either side of the road. But they weren’t trees. They were the servants of the Alder King."

---

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[endiness]

what if ciri's first scene in s4 is when vysogota finds her 👀

[hanzajesthanza]

the scene i find most relatable in all of the witcher saga is ciri in the korath desert, and idk what that says about me, but… probably nothing good 😅🙃

[limerental]

the witcher books as an elaborate means for andrzej sapkowski to write varying scenarios with background cats in them.

[clairedelune-13]

Ciri: *rehashing her morbid life story to Vysogota and gets to the head-sawing part*

Vysogota:

[arlathhan]

old illustrations for the witcher books by Alexander "Sych" Rutchkin Emhyr - Yaruga - Vysogota - Nilfgaard - Geralt

[cirimanga]

Realistic portrait of Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon.

Just a couple of times I tried to draw Ciri in a realistic style and couldn't say that I was completely satisfied with the result. It seems that the moment has come when the attempt is successful. I used her image from chapter 10.📖 Again, I want to say that when I developed the image of Ciri for the comic, I relied on the description made by Vysogota of Corvo in book as latest one. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 Read manga here: https://ciri.the-comic.org Manga on Russian language : https://ru-ciri.the-comic.org/ Also you can support the project on Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/yagihikaru Or Boosty : https://boosty.to/hikaruyagi

[witch-and-her-witcher]

"Why should I give up revenge? On behalf of what? Moral principles?

"...I know what evil is afraid of. Not your ethics, Vysogota, not your preaching or moral treaties on the life of dignity. Evil is afraid of pain, mutilation, suffering and at the end of the day, death! 

"...When evil wants to harm you, inflict pain - anticipate them, it's best if evil does not expect it.

"....An eye for an eye? No! Both eyes for an eye! A tooth for a tooth? No! All their teeth for a tooth! Repay evil! Make it wail in pain, howling until their eyes pop from their sockets. And then, you can look under your feet and boldly declare that what is there cannot endanger anyone, cannot hurt anyone. "

-Ciri, ToTS

In case anyone was wondering Ciri's views on justice.

[essskel]

What are your feelings about game!Ciri as an adaptation of book!Ciri because while I don't dislike her character in the games, they definitely ignored most of the trauma congo line level whump she went through in the book saga and made her into "generic-macguffin-girl-who-just-wants-to-be-normal" and even her character personality seems less a lot more watered down to the tons of personality she had in the book, with a character so young, it ought to be easier to imagine she’s simply grown up since we saw her last, but so much of what’s changed about Ciri feels like a step back rather than forwards.

Sorry for the late response! Thanks for asking, and I think we’re in agreement. I enjoy her a lot in the game, I find her scenes engaging and emotional, I retroactively miss her in TW2, all that good stuff. But the influence of book lore and established character traits/arcs is….. it’s hard to find.

I understand of course that CDPR was telling a different story, that there was a big time jump, and that the games take on a different tone - generally a lighter one - but I would have liked a more clear explanation for the off-screen character arc Ciri appears to have gone through, as well as a more complex characterization than we got.

Geralt has this in part from his extensive Game 1&2 amnesia plot. That’s a big deal, it changed who he is, affected his relationships, his motives, his characterization, ect, there is a justification for the changes and, to me anyway, they don’t end up reflecting an ignorance of book material, just a distant respect and inspiration. CDPR wanted to write their version of Geralt, but they had to push him there, and they did. Not saying game!geralt is ‘just as good’ that’s a different can of worms, but the structural work of a character translation was not neglected, and he's still an interesting and compelling character to watch.

Ciri I can’t really say the same for. She’s been on her own, been on the run from the wild hunt, but that’s normal for her, nothing new. We’ve seen her react to this situation, and it wasn’t with the happy-go-lucky attitude she suddenly gained. It's like you said, “Maturity?” Is that it? That's the best we can do?

And I guess... in vague defense, her final book scene with Galahad does seem to imply a more emotionally sound Ciri than we saw with Vysogota, for example. She rides off towards a future she’s ready for. Her book character arc does not end with succumbing to her trauma and loss, but learning to live with it (but it's not ...gone??) I don’t think CDPR is completely off base to then portray her as a more controlled, loose, healed version of the character we’re used to, especially a few years down the line. Fine, she grew up, whatever, I get it I guess.

But still, why water down her temper? Why hold back on her emotional response to seeing Geralt or Yen again? Why make her (second) confrontation with the lodge so deeply underwhelming? Why not get personal over her past with Eredin? Why not address her bisexuality apart from an optional dialogue choice, especially when it’s so highlighted in the books? Why did she need Geralt’s permission to trash Avallach’s lab? Why didn’t she have more questions or insight about Geralt’s resurrection? Was there really nothing deeper or uglier to be done with her updated relationship to Emyhr?? I have questions!!!

So you’re right, it ends up feeling shallow at the end of the day. I understand that she matured, and that the trauma she endured from the books has not won out over her enjoyment of life - I don’t TRULY mind this, I DO want to see her grow and reach a better place emotionally - but there are ways to ‘mature’ a character’s personality without sanding it flat.

[vesemirsexual]

Ayyy I wanna figure out a proper scar for Ciri, but I don't really have many ideas. Here is a quick trace of a screenshot as the first concept I have, and I'd like to know what you'd change or add to this to make it match the book description better. Afaik, Eskel's scars in the books are described as "hook-shaped" (or semi-circular, smth like that) and I used that as a base for this concept because I wanted Ciri to match her uncle :)

the little shiny things under her eyes are medical staples. probably wouldnt be used right under the eyes, but I wanted to add some more "grit", since she kind of has been stripped of it for a while. inspired a bit by dabi from bnha

I love this!

I’ve had a hunt around because I do remember that Sapkowski describes the wound in quite a bit of detail, which I figured may be helpful to you developing what it looks like.

"Diagnosis: vulnus incisivum, an open wound, dealt with great force using an unidentified sharp instrument, probably a curved blade. It encompasses the left part of the face, beginning in the infraorbital region, running across the cheek and extending as far as the parotid plexus and masseter muscle. The wound is deepest–reaching the periosteum–in the initial part beneath the orbit on the zygomatic bone."

"Vysogota removed the last stitches three days later. He had every reason to be pleased and proud of his work–the line was even and clean, there was no need to fear a tattoo of dirt embedded in the wound. However, the satisfaction of the surgeon was spoiled by the sight of Ciri, in sombre silence, contemplating the scar in the looking glass held at various angles and trying vainly to cover it by pulling her hair over her cheek. The scar disfigured her. It was simply a fact. Nothing could be done. Pretending that it was different could not help in any way. Still scarlet, bulging like a cord, surrounded by needle punctures and marked with the scars from the stitches, the scar looked truly horrifying. There was a chance of it undergoing gradual or even rapid improvement. Vysogota knew, though, that there was no chance of the disfiguring scar vanishing."

This is a description of the wound when still fresh, so obviously scarring would be different. However she also only had a short period of time to lay low before she was back into it so I can imagine that it wasn’t exactly a perfect healing process + further fighting/movement would’ve strained it.

She’s hit with an Orion (a throwing star) when she’s on horseback and Skellen in on the ground, from the left side. The wound is described as deepest beneath the orbital zone/on the zygomatic arch, which would make sense - this area sticks out the most and probably got the worst of the initial contact.

The only thing I can really think of right now is maybe the addition of little stitch scars around the wound! Like you said, it would add a little more grit, and I think that in the deeper/wider parts of the wound it probably would’ve been a mission and a half to stitch back together!

[kuwdora]

January 15 - if you made a painting embodying a character, who would it be? @sassaffrassa

I cannot remember if I told you about this one specifically, sass, or just foamed at the mouth about my other art ideas. Can I describe this coherently? Guess we’ll find out.

I would love to paint Ciri from the witcher books. This is nothing in my skill set right now. And it it probablyyyyy too many ideas to fit into one piece and could probably be 2-4 pieces. But maybe it’s just one very busy single piece. But it's Ciri and lots of things from the witcher books.

Stylistically I want to make a painting that’s surrealist/eldritch horror with fantasy vibes. Composition-wise I’m, ahhhh, inspired by the old Star Wars posters and Bosch.

I want Ciri’s face with her very huge scar prominent to be a main focus. I want horrifyingly exaggerated uterus to be a focus as well, fallopian tubes reaching out with tentacle-like horrors, ovaries dripping with blood, with disdain and rage.

In the background behind Ciri rises the Tower of Swallows—or maybe Ard Gaeth behind her. Stars in the background. Space and time, you know.

Ciri is flanked by all the people pursuing her for good and ill, so Eredin and Emhyr and Vilgefortz on one side, Yen, Geralt and the Hansa on the right. The fallopian tubes are wrapped around Vilgefortz neck because fuck that guy (I can hold many different kinds of feelings about shitty villain characters). But really fuck that guy and choke him out with a fallopian tube. Or maybe wrapped around all of them, Eredin, Emhyr and Vilgefortz.

On the right Yen has a bloodied lip and messy hair a la her captivity scene, or maybe her scrutinizing expression I think she’s wearing when she’s speaking with Freya in Skellige. Geralt is below Yen and is looking exhausted and determined and wearing a headband, jowly and pale. And beside him is the rest of the Hansa. Cahir with wet eyes looking up at Ciri like she’s hung the moon. Regis looking poised and mindful at Geralt, Dandelion holding his memoirs. Milva cropped hair with her bow Angouleme with a cheeky expression and maybe a knife.

Also have a smaller Vysogota over one Ciri’s shoulder, and Kelpie over her other. Maybe Mistle somewhere, too. Definitely need Ihuarraquax somewhere because fuck yeah unicorns.

Below Ciri and her exaggerated uterus is maybe moment from Ciri’s final fight with Bonhart, her balancing carefully on the beam and Bonhart thinking he’s got her but we know he doesn’t but the stakes are still high.

And just below that is Ciri riding Kelpie over the lake, and Avallach standing on the edge of the water watching her. And if I continue to be maximal I’d want to find a place for some compositional elements about The Spiral. Maybe a reflection in the water of the lake, or something anchored to Avallac’h in the scene.

To layer it even more like this is a Bosch painting meets meets Kahlo and Dali, I would have Nimue with a magnifying glass that she’s looking through from the corner of the painting, examining this Whole Scene with a dreamy-eyed Tilly at her side. Maybe reaching through the looking glass into the scene. Throw in an ouroboros somewhere. Maybe framing the whole painting??

Anyway. This is a lot. My brain is a lot and it is what it is… and hey now! I made a post about it, so it’s out of my head! I cannot and will not paint this, but if anyone is inspired oh my god have at it and run with the ideas if it moves you.

January posting meme + claim a date - can still prompt me.

[dukeofdogs]

Ciri

Chest 1: How was it that the fates of Geralt and Ciri – a witcher and a princess of Cintra – became forever intertwined? The Law of Surprise. After the witcher had lifted the curse afflicting Duny, the Urcheon of Erlenwald, he was asked what he desired as reward. Geralt replied, "That which you find at home, yet did not expect." Shortly thereafter, Duny would learn that his wife Pavetta was with child - Ciri. Though Geralt had no intention of encforcing the Law, it had simply become a matter of destiny...

Chest 2: A dark period of Ciri's life came when she joined a bandit gang known as the "Rats." Constantly on the run, exhausted, Ciri had found a semblance of refuge among the young, cutthroat outlaws. At first, she refused to kill as they did, though her reluctance wouldn't last long. To her own horror, she enjoyed killing - and she was good at it. Eventually, however, her comrades were slaughtered to the last. Ciri barely survived and was nursed back from the brink of death under the care of a hermit, Vysogota of Corvo. Had events turned out differently, who knows... Perhaps Ciri would be known today not as a heroine, but as a villain.

Chest 3: Before Cintra fell to ruin, as a young princess, Ciri would spend her holidays on the Skellige Isles at the family estate of Clan an Craite. It was there with the jarl's children that she learned to ice-skate. As fate would have it, this skill would later save her life when confronted by Nilfgaardian assassins on the frozen waters of Tarn Mira. In a dense, milky fog, the assailants could only hear the eerie scrape of her skates, coming from all directions... Followed swiftly by blood-chilling screams of surprise and pain as they fell one by one to her blade.

Scroll 1: Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon. The Lion Cub of Cintra, Swallow, Zirael, Falka, Child of the Elder Blood, the Lady of Time and Space. An impressive collection of monikers for an impressive woman.

Scroll 2: Daughter to Pavetta and Duny, the young princess enjoyed an early childhood of royal splendor. But then everything changed... Cintra was engulfed in flames and violence, Ciri forced to flee from family and home...

Scroll 3: Eventually, she found a new home in Kaer Morhen, a witchers' fortress and seat of the School of the Wolf. There, under the watchful eye of Geralt of Rivia, she began a grueling training regimen. And it's good that she did, because this peace of her stay there would not last forever... And it couldn't, for after all, the Elder Blood flowed through her veins.

Scroll 4: Due to her lineage, Ciri was endowed with extraordinary gift - the ability to traverse time and space. However, she quickly began to see her ability not as a blessing, but as a curse. For many obsessively coveted her power and sought to exploit it at any cost...

[endiness]

just some speculation about how i think the last two seasons might break down. (contains both book and s4/s5 spoilers.)

~

i think chances are that ciri's storyline in s4 will be her time with the rats (beginning-mid season) then bonhart (mid-late season) then escaping from him and healing with vysogota before getting revenge (late season) and i think it is highly likely that the season will end with her teleporting. (i think the table read might've disproved me on this, but if i were showrunner, i'd start off with ciri recovering with vysogota and telling him about her time with the rats and bonhart through flashbacks. but if that were true, vysogota would've probably been at the table read. which afaik he wasn't. so. this probably isn't what the show is doing.) (unless! dun dun dun! stribog is also vysogota. which could happen as the RI summary of his character sounds like he's a time travelling storyteller which. idk, the show could use him in vysogota's place especially if ciri gets to tell her story like in the books and it'd be a cool parallel and 'full circle' moment with nimue.) and then as for s5, i'd think the beginning would revolve around her trapped in the aen elle world and everything that happens there before escaping sometime mid-season and then have at least an episode of time travelling, universe hopping adventures before she lands in stygga and the end of the book happens. (alternatively: end s4 with her getting revenge and declaring herself a witcher and start s5 off with her teleporting and then everything else i said happens.)

as for geralt, i'd think the beginning of s4 season would be the hansa slowly forming and travelling together (including introducing angouleme as there are rumors she'll be in this season), mid-late season would be refugee camp (imo if angouleme is introduced this season, i think it could happen here with her taking the place of the woman they rescue from being persecuted) and northern army camp and subsequent escape, and the season will probably end with the yaruga battle and geralt being knighted by meve. (given location spoilers, i also think it is quite possible that geralt's scene with avallac'h will take place this season too.) now, s5 is where i'm a bit unsure of what exactly the show will adapt and how because, honestly, a lot of stuff that happens with geralt in ttots is just... not that plot relevant imo and could easily be cut or adjusted especially given other changes the show has already made. like. i don't particularly see the show adapting geralt and the hansa escorting the caravan at all. or the spy storyline, at least as is, as i think it is extremely unlikely that the show will have yennefer falling into vilgefortz hands anytime before mid-late s5. so. maybe it'll be something like early season they're going to toussaint to find the druids which could help them find ciri only to be hunted down because they're being tracked (possibly through fringilla because of cahir? maybe somehow istredd?) and then that problem gets solved but the druids don't know where ciri is anyway and then mid season is toussaint and late season is travelling to stygga, stygga itself, and all the endgame book events.

and as far as yennefer goes… this is also where i feel like i can't quite speculate on what the show will do, either, as it's changed a lot and i think there are definitely storylines that the show is just not going to adapt, like the whole jade statue thing. (tbh if any character gets an equivalent of that 'arc,' it'll probably be istredd.) but that being said, i think yennefer will probably spend most of the season doing lodge stuff and searching for ciri until the end of the season at which point i think philippa will probably do something to push her out and take over. imo, given that the show does adhere to book canon despite whatever changes and additions it makes, i think it'll probably be because of philippa framing her or at least doing something to turn the lodge against her, likely due to her loyalty to ciri above all else, at which point either yennefer will be a fugitive or at least she'll be on the outs with the lodge and will probably seek refuge in skellige. and then i can see s5 for yennefer being looking for ciri (and probably investigating pavetta and duny's deaths and finding out thingsTM 'cause i feel like the show is not gonna do a last minute reveal like the books did lol) before ultimately winding up in vilgefortz's hands sometime around mid-late s5. and then it's stygga for probably at least an ep before geralt and ciri show up there and then reuniting with them and endgame book stuff.

i do have some other crack theories about things, but as far as 'realistic' speculation goes about the main characters, this is what i think makes the most sense.

[hanzajesthanza]

angoulême’s act

this post was on my fyp and unfortunately op made it unrebloggable but this is angoulême through and through

yes angoulême is funny, sassy, silly, and acts brave, but inside she is actually very terrified and vulnerable and 🤏 this close from having an outburst of panic and fear 👍

she’s actually very unstable, like ciri, but she has no vysogota (or rather her vysogota is, could so be, five people, if these five people choose to be)

and if you read the text you would see this grave-serious side of her come out every so often, the survival instinct she surpresses to preserve her veneer of indifference.

the way it works is that she’s joking, joking… and then something drops, reality sets in, and she starts freaking out. this happens even in the very first time we meet her, when she starts begging fulko artevelde to be hanged and not tortured.

her reaction is even physical, kneejerk, unable to be hidden by the mask of confidence. the blood drains from her face in fear. she has an outburst of panicked frustration.

it’s such a distinct shift in her behavior that even geralt comments on it, like “what the hell was that? what was she freaking out about?”

but this is far from the only time we see angoulême letting her mask slip.

of course, the infamed scene of milva hitting her with the strap and her breaking down mid-joke and uncontrollably sobbing (yeah that sounds like a truly confident and carefree girl to me /s):

but there’s even more subtle parts where her trauma, fear, and anxiety becomes plain on her face, such as when she remembers her past:

or even when faced with a tense situation. even when she has the protection of geralt and cahir, terror grasps her. she freezes for a second and drops the confident, sassy act, confiding in geralt and cahir how she truly feels, what’s really up:

note that directly after this moment of acute panic, of “oh shit, oh shit…” this is how she acts:

funny. sassy. provoking a reaction. it’s all distinctly on purpose. she’s turned that brazen and indifferent side of her on.

it’s a performance. but inside, she’s panicking.

this is probably the best example, the pièce de résistance of it all. because the text, the narration, openly admits that it’s all an act:

ineffectually = everyone could see her ‘bravery’ and ‘sass’ isn’t real, she’s convincing no one

pretending = it’s all a hopeless defense mechanism

she wasn’t afraid = she’s terrified.

[limerental]

tower of the swallows truly is the superior book. it's got kelpie. it's got the rats. it's got geralt and cahir fist fight. It's got a beautiful framing narrative. it's got vysogota. it's got several dandelion pov sections that make me chortle. it's got avallac'h intro featuring geralts "huge erect phalluses" line. it's got schirru who is a cool villain tbh everyone always forgets about him. it's got angouleme. it's got kelpie. YENNEFER skellige odinnifer dream sequence backstory goddess sequence. it's got bonhart being SO yucky. ciri gets a cool sword. um... kelpie.

[doberbutts]

Good guy Vysogota, literally the one person who talks any amount of sense in this book when it comes to Ciri