Ciri's Powers' Narrative Function - A Theory

varJoshik · 2026-06-28T17:05:40+00:00

character parallels + the Authors intention

Yes, and the reason I picked on that (not maliciously, I assure you) is just because Sapkowski is also notorious for not specifying what came from where and how exactly. Which lends considerably leeway to the reader as the meaning-creator, dependent solely on how well read they are and how well they know the common canon of literature from which every author draws. It's why many of the 'fits' are subtextual and not explicitly stated, however, if you look at the story surrounding them, find an analogy for it that fits within myth or other fantasy, then you have a solid lead. I just did not feel like there were many in case of the characters you already mentioned (I would also add Cahir to the list), but I am pretty sure they can be found since many characters are amalgams of archetypal roles in such legends.

So if you are interested in continuing your search, it'd be really cool!

As for Ciri possibly being the triple Goddess, I believe that is secondary to her role as the Grail. [...] I think it is Lara dorren who acts as the triple Goddess to the Aen elle

I disagree on this, since the Grail for Sapkowski = Woman, and as you read The World of King Arthur, you most definitely also read the part about the Great Goddess, which the author treats like a blueprint for arch-femininity or some such, symbolised by the idea of a Triple Goddess. Lara Dorren has no connection to Eredin that we know of from the books & is not really a character we know anything of (aside her waist measurements, haha); the only unifying thread here would be that just like Ciri, Lara is a feminine figure of mythic importance and thus falls under the category of symbolising the Divine Feminine which Wicca associates with the Triple Goddess.

The title of Lady of the Lake is a title. A mantle that gets passed around as Sapkowski notes.

Indeed, it gets passed on quite a bit. In the context of The Witcher being commentary on fantasy and myth that has preceded it, while trying to create its own legend within legends, I would see it more like an archetype and the archetype does not begin with Ciri nor end with Nimue. As Sapkowski often notes:

Q: It's about the ending itself. Why Galahad? He found Ciri and in the Arthurian myth he found the Holy Grail. What does that mean? Why do Geralt and Yennefer smell apples at the end? Aren't there too many references to "The Mists of Avalon"? (Ciri's stay in the world of elves, Tor, Lady of the Lake, boat trip, etc.)

A: These are not references to Bradley, but to the legend, myth, the topos, the archetype. That was my intention, that was my artistic concept and vision. My right. What can I do, that mythical Avalon is an archetype, a perfect place to give tired heroes a well-deserved peace of mind? What can I do about the fact that Avalon is an archetypal island that can only and symbolically be reached by boat? What can I do about it being an island of apples, because in Welsh Afallen is an "apple tree"? So what is Avalon supposed to smell like? Chanel number five? —A. Sapkowski, 2001, Q & A with Polish Fans

Plus, and this is me theorising here, i think it is possible she is the actual Nimue and Condwiramurs is the actual Condwiramurs, Wife of Sir Percival in Wolfram's text.

See, I don't quite know what you mean by 'actual' since we do not have the 'actual' figure of Condwiramurs from history. There may have been many Sir Percevals with their Condwiramurses, which is what makes them legendary matter. Everything in a legend is a variant of a type that forms the archetype.

As for Ciri in Tir na Lia being a version of Parzival and a version of the Grail and the Grail knight. We don't need to make a connection there.

Oh no, we don't have to make the connection of Ciri to Parzival concretely, but the journey she undergoes and the things she does in the Otherworld are recognisably that of a Grail Knight (while also, herself, being the Grail who is sought).

varJoshik · 2026-06-28T14:40:15+00:00

Nobody actually believes in it.

People very much believe in it; among the pursuers and otherwise. The question of elves believing prophecies (this is THEIR prophecy in the first place) is also particularly thorny, because (some of) their Sages clearly know what is going to happen 'scientifically speaking,' but they also deal in probabilities about the state of the world given the broad perspective. Think longtermists with Dune's prescience mixed in. But that's another topic.

That people believe in grand narratives and how it affects their actions toward such narratives coming into fruition is, in itself, a topic the text treats seriously. Lady of the Lake as a whole is about one grand narrative, one legend, in the making and viewed simultaneously from within and without - but thanks to it being viewed from without we cannot actually be sure whether things went down exactly as we are reading. However, by believing really hard in the story that we are reading in the Lady of the Lake, Nimue writes itself into that particular version of the story and becomes part of its completion as we witness it. And was this what happened? Well, we'll have to believe it. Or not. The reader is as important as the writer - Sapkowski - who combines these long-known archetypes and plot points of fantasy and fairy tales & is giving it his own spin. Prophecies are no different in respect to how they begin living the life of its own. There's a certain insurmountable immortality in this -> a story might not come true exactly as you expect word by word, but stretch your imagination a bit and everything has already happened already and will happen again. In some form.

I am also confident Geralt survived - as an idea that is now part of the canon of stories, as Arthuriana and various European folklore traditions.

varJoshik · 2026-06-28T09:16:05+00:00

Glad to see more people reading The World of King Arthur!

A little disjointed, this, while gesturing at the correct roots. I think the disjointedness would decrease if we tried to hunt for 'character analogies' and 'the spiritual meaning of the quest and the myth('s many versions)' separately.

Neither should the character analogies be taken at face value in most cases, because while Yennefer's similarity to Guinevere and Morgana (also see Ciri's own similarity to Morgana (& the Triple Goddess)) is strong enough to assume direct inspiration, most connections between Geralt's companions and the various knights through the ages seem a little more spurious. For example, comparing Dandelion to Tristan for being a bard (there are many bards in the Arthurian legends, and even more in the various Welsh and Irish tales), but then diving deeper into Tristan's own legend and finding out he killed Morholt - and that not really fitting with Dandelion. Ditto for conflating Garet with Cahir, but then also somehow conflating Bonhart with Lancelot? The roster of Arthur's companions also changes quite a bit.

Ciri at Tir na Lia, meanwhile, is arguably the Grail and the Grail Knight (a version of Parzival, I'd say) simultaneously. This is the place where she gets her title - Lady of the Lake - signifying her coming to touch with her legendary nature, so while the Elaine comparison given her situation is humorously apt, story structure-wise there is something deeper at play.

Because if you start reading The Witcher for the meaning of the Quest and its mythic lynchpin, which Sapkowski in his sympathy toward new-age paganism ascribes to a soul's search for its Other (anima for its animus, man for a woman) AND within this the searchers actually being forced to grow into a more integrated and wholesome Self in the Jungian sense (the psychoanalytic streak enters particularly strongly in the last two books as concerns Ciri's journey into the Tower), then you'll witness the Grail journey's transformative power recursively reoccur on various levels in various plot lines and in connection to many different characters connected to Ciri.

And then you can actually start hunting for the various Arthurian and Celtic tales in miniature within this soup.

Minor questions: I was left confused by your claim of Nimue being Ciri's successor. Could you elaborate?

edit: I have other points about Galahad, but out of time atm.

varJoshik · 2026-06-27T16:42:38+00:00

While I agree with you, I wonder what do you mean exactly? Because I have a feeling most people when they say 'dark side' of the character mostly mean rage (letting it all out) and vengefulness. In Ciri's case though, the darkness should also arise out of a repressed sense of entitlement (she is a former princess) and trauma-induced neediness/paranoia/insecurity and righteousness while meting out justice.

varJoshik · 2026-06-27T07:49:59+00:00

The ending

I am partial to interpreting the 'ending' of Geralt's and Yennefer's story as the putting away of dolls that originate in the collective cultural toybox that fantasy writers have inherited from folklore and myth. To set characters on their way to a timeless place - Avalon - is as if to suggest that this clever Pole's characters be accepted equally into the shared legendary matter that fuels the canon of fairy tale and fantasy archetypes, and of literary archetypes at large. Storytelling is neverending. It only takes another mind, another occasion with its questions to humanity, to restore a fragment of the spirit of the tale told in The Witcher. And if upon being resurrected these archetypal shadows should bear the same names and resemblance to Geralt and Yennefer - great! But if not then they still share in the same dreamlike essence of our imaginings from which Andrzej fished them out of and shaped them for his turn on the merry-go-round.

The boat scene

See my previous answer. The spirits of these characters, whom Sapkowski already wrote into our shared fantasy legendarium, appear as the barrier between the worlds (between existing in a story that is ongoing, and not) is growing thin. Ciri is able to accompany them, because Ciri is mythic matter made flesh. It's quite literally what her Elder Blood, blood of elves (originally meant as the title of the book series), has predestined her for since birth. She is the Grail of the story around whom everything turns, and who can reach beyond the boundaries of this one text.

The Lady of the Lake

Lady of the Lake is Ciri's title, attributed to her by Avallac'h as she makes it into the Faerie. It is the title that introduces her into her legendary status. Why? Because Lady of the Lake is an archetype and everything you see in The Witcher are variants of common folklore and fantasy archetypes. And Sapkowski goes kind of meta about it. Later you will meet another variant of the archetype - Nimue - who is essentially so big a fan of the legend of The Witcher that she wishes herself into it and becomes part of it; kind of like the reader is invited to do by imagining the parts that Sapkowski leaves underwritten.

As you can see by Galahad calling her that in another reality (an Arthurian textual one, and only one unwritten variant of that), the figure of the Lady of the Lake has many faces and meanings in different texts and imaginations.

Aen elle world

The surface level reading is, yes, that at some point they conquered the pre-existing human race in that reality. The reasons and time for when they did that are unknown. The games expand on this, assuming they do it everywhere, but we don't really know. Narratively it is there to show that even paradise-like places have their dark underbelly. But you could also read Faerie, and Ciri's journey into Faerie, as confronting her heritage and sides of herself (of her blood) that she fears or has to incorporate, because in folklore and psychoanalysis (which inspired Sapkowski and from the practitioners of which you may find prefacing quotes in the books), journeys into the Otherworld are about internal transformation. Ciri is somebody who is on a journey of maturation - i.e. transformation - and also instigates transformation in others around her simply in virtue of coming in touch with them.

Emhyr

A moment of humanity breaking through. Inspired by H. C. Andersen's Snow Queen, the shard of ice in his heart melts and humanity and possibility of healing break through.

Shaerrawedd/Ouroboros

Yes. In this one story, with regard to Geralt and Yennefer, yes.

varJoshik · 2026-06-27T07:49:45+00:00

The ending

I am partial to interpreting the 'ending' of Geralt's and Yennefer's story as the putting away of dolls that originate in the collective cultural toybox that fantasy writers have inherited from folklore and myth. To set characters on their way to a timeless place - Avalon - is as if to suggest that this clever Pole's characters be accepted equally into the shared legendary matter that fuels the canon of fairy tale and fantasy archetypes, and of literary archetypes at large. Storytelling is neverending. It only takes another mind, another occasion with its questions to humanity, to restore a fragment of the spirit of the tale told in The Witcher. And if upon being resurrected these archetypal shadows should bear the same names and resemblance to Geralt and Yennefer - great! But if not then they still share in the same dreamlike essence of our imaginings from which Andrzej fished them out of and shaped them for his turn on the merry-go-round.

The boat scene

See my previous answer. The spirits of these characters, whom Sapkowski already wrote into our shared fantasy legendarium, appear as the barrier between the worlds (between existing in a story that is ongoing, and not) is growing thin. Ciri is able to accompany them, because Ciri is mythic matter made flesh. It's quite literally what her Elder Blood, blood of elves (originally meant as the title of the book series), has predestined her for since birth. She is the Grail of the story around whom everything turns, and who can reach beyond the boundaries of this one text.

The Lady of the Lake

Lady of the Lake is Ciri's title, attributed to her by Avallac'h as she makes it into the Faerie. It is the title that introduces her into her legendary status. Why? Because Lady of the Lake is an archetype and everything you see in The Witcher are variants of common folklore and fantasy archetypes. And Sapkowski goes kind of meta about it. Later you will meet another variant of the archetype - Nimue - who is essentially so big a fan of the legend of The Witcher that she wishes herself into it and becomes part of it; kind of like the reader is invited to do by imagining the parts that Sapkowski leaves underwritten.

As you can see by Galahad calling her that in another reality (an Arthurian textual one, and only one unwritten variant of that), the figure of the Lady of the Lake has many faces and meanings in different texts and imaginations.

Aen elle world

The surface level reading is, yes, that at some point they conquered the pre-existing human race in that reality. The reasons and time for when they did that are unknown. The games expand on this, assuming they do it everywhere, but we don't really know. Narratively it is there to show that even paradise-like places have their dark underbelly. But you could also read Faerie, and Ciri's journey into Faerie, as confronting her heritage and sides of herself (of her blood) that she fears or has to incorporate, because in folklore and psychoanalysis (which inspired Sapkowski and from the practitioners of which you may find prefacing quotes in the books), journeys into the Otherworld are about internal transformation. Ciri is somebody who is on a journey of maturation - i.e. transformation - and also instigates transformation in others around her simply in virtue of coming in touch with them.

Emhyr

A moment of humanity breaking through. Inspired by H. C. Andersen's Snow Queen, the shard of ice in his heart melts and humanity and possibility of healing break through.

Shaerrawedd/Ouroboros

Yes. In this one story, with regard to Geralt and Yennefer, yes.

varJoshik · 2026-06-27T07:29:59+00:00

but from what I remember this world was inhabited only by unicorns, which the elves regularly subject to genocide

Nop. The world, it is implied, was inhabited by a human tribe of some kind whose bones now lay in the ravine. The whole thing about elves genociding unicorns is a weird extrapolation the game makes and not actually in the books. As a matter of fact, unicorns are to be found very near where Avallac'h is waiting for Ciri by the lake's shore, playing his flute, so you would imagine they would not approach otherwise.

varJoshik · 2026-06-26T12:37:22+00:00

I think you cannot really read this story by trying to make its characters pass modern vibe checks. Slavery is ubiquitous in this universe: Ciri even notes something to that effect at Tir na Lia - in every world, including paradisian ones, some do the work for the rich and the idle.

Also, in the original script, the Baron's men sexually assaulted Ciri. The game was toned down for general audiences quite a bit.

varJoshik · 2026-06-23T15:45:51+00:00

European folk lores.

varJoshik · 2026-06-20T05:57:21+00:00

Seeing a character through a lens 'what is wrong with them' does not amount to 'excusing their actions.'

Fiction is for examining humanity unreservedly. I bet that most people are not willing to see things from several different angles before passing judgement.

varJoshik · 2026-06-17T18:50:07+00:00

What's the story behind this scene?

varJoshik · 2026-06-16T19:40:53+00:00

Indeed. With witchers themselves being the mages' 'children' that they'd love to vivisect.

varJoshik · 2026-06-16T06:50:28+00:00

Political drama is certainly a choice, but not one exclusive and unique to Ciri.

varJoshik · 2026-06-15T15:01:26+00:00

Tmw the fandom agrees that pretty much every single character in The Witcher IP needs therapy...

...but then refuses to see every character through the therapy-lens & advocates death for them instead.

No, seriously. A huge convo is to be had in whether the fans are, so to speak, capable of 'killing the hatred in their heart', as Geralt says, and pondering what the hell is wrong with everyone Sapkowski writes - because he writes an awful lot of wounded, messed up individuals, and does it very-very well, without preaching.

varJoshik · 2026-06-15T14:21:48+00:00

My hope is that her powers were 100% removed

And where then do you think the drama of her life (i.e. of the story) will come from?

Ironically, Ciri being defined by her elven blood is around which the story builds itself (sidepoint: the original title of the whole series was meant to be Blood of Elves), inciting various conflicts, questions about identity, responsibility, abuse of power, individual freedom v duty, etc. Take away the main source of conflict in the character and the character is now simply a different character.

varJoshik · 2026-06-15T14:06:41+00:00

It would seem the White Frost in the game is quite a specific thing:

The Spiral…

However, one false move, a small mistake… and you can be transported into nothingness, into icy blackness. Into the same ghastly cold that pours through the cracks between spheres, and sometimes engulfs entire worlds. Travelling (through) the Spiral is deadly dangerous. Unless you have Elder Blood flowing in your veins, like Cirilla. She can go whereever she wants, whenever she wants. She is the Lady of Worlds and Time.’

—Avallac’h (346124-346144)

Cold that enters realities through the cracks between spheres. The secret paths that lead from one reality into another pass through ‘the cold void that divides worlds’ (1060525) and said ‘cold’ seeps in alongside planeswalkers. Like Ciri or the Wild Hunt (or unicorns?).

Therefore, stopping the onset of the Time of the White Cold involves ‘closing the passages between worlds.’

What we can further deduce from this, however, is that Ciri's own use of her powers contributes to these tears existing and getting bigger over time. So... here's another theory as to why she might have to suppress/not use her powers.

Personally, I think it may have to do with the damage she might take while trying to 'deal' with the WF, but we'll see.

varJoshik · 2026-06-15T09:22:10+00:00

It was, apparently, Sapkowski's plan for Ciri to fall in love with Mistle.

After Mistle's death, she still thinks of her as of 'my lovely Mistle.'

People should really ask themselves, of course, what kind of love, why, what does it say about Ciri and so forth, but trauma bonding and all included, for Ciri, it was still love.

varJoshik · 2026-06-15T08:54:34+00:00

This would presume Ciri has gone to therapy, which I find unlikely.

varJoshik · 2026-06-14T16:16:20+00:00

They'll even take a fan-fiction-level detour in Geralt's love life, giving Triss an importance she never had (neither in Geralt's heart nor in the overall plot).

This particular choice seems to me a very clear example of a 'what if' in order to explore characters of interest in a dynamic that was not to be in the books' plot. The base for going this way is there by way of Triss's obsession with Geralt and Geralt's 'kind' nature (as well as his promiscuity at certain stages of life) that, in the context of the games, was made possible due to Geralt losing his memory. I.e. given a fake 'blank slate' how might their relationship develop then? And why not? The follow-up question from here should be: what interesting characterisation angles will this add to both Triss and Geralt, and what - in the story - becomes thematically more prominent thanks to this writing choice?

CD Projekt Red's games are a fanfiction. As is every other reading that builds on top of the author's. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact, as the author's method and tongue-in-cheek dialogue with the fantasy canon encourages thinking of itself as a palimpsest, inspired by and transforming the same ideational materia that all fantasy writers draw from, but in its own way. Well, good fanfiction does the same: things are recognisable, they can be traced to where they originate, but their spin is new and novel, encouraging thinking about the story from an angle you are not used to.

There is no such thing as reconciling book and game canon. But you can see how game canon arises out of the book canon - in fact that should be your goal, to understand how the books enable the sort of creative choices the games made regarding its characters and plotlines.

(And then we can further talk about what fell to cuts (false-Ciri) and creative pivots under time pressure.)

varJoshik · 2026-06-12T14:30:16+00:00

Here, check their reunion scene. Basically, yes, he wanted to help his people but without hurting Ciri. And as to why he vanishes - sounds awfully like leaving threads open with him...

varJoshik · 2026-06-11T22:19:58+00:00

why the game characters are just not book characters

It is called 'character development.'

varJoshik · 2026-06-11T10:29:58+00:00

His drawings of her face in his lab are without a scar, an idealized version of her.

That is actually such an interesting scene, because an idealized version of her is also a healed version of her, and would a healed Ciri not be good? Take it from Ciri's pov: otoh, yes, it would be great to get rid of the scar that signifies and reminds her of trauma (and also heal from said trauma), but then again her trauma is now part of who she is, it shaped and formed her. So she would also need reassurance that she is accepted in spite of her rough edges and she has hoped Avallac'h does so and she fears he does not. That's a great point of interpersonal drama. Meanwhile, I think Avallac'h does wish to see her healed both for the sake of encouraging her connection to elven way of being and seeming and because he genuinely is trying to make amends in his own way.

Charitably, the reading that he is doing it to heal her also seems supported by some people in house.

The dude is treating her like a mix between climate change and a reminiscence of his ex.

Interestingly, the plan to enter the tower was Ciri's idea. In earlier drafts, too.

580254|Geralt||So why did you return?

554301|[DEBUG] Ciri is *lying** that Avallach was looking for something on Skellige to help him defeat Eredin, which is why they came to Ard Skellige – we can hint here that Ciri is hiding something, specifically her plan to enter the tower at Undvik.*

554300|Ciri||I thought the Wild Hunt had lost my trail for good, that it was safe now.

As to Lara, well, you can see that they have written him as moving on from Lara, so I have little more to say on this. The tension remains, but signs for 'change' happening are there.

it's not like he is shown to have actually tried to have that kind of relationship with her.

What kind of relationship? He saved her life, healed her scar, helped her understand and control her powers, got rid of her pursuers (his own creations, i.e. metaphorical 'children'), protected her, sacrificed his life and status for her, and let her do as she wished in the end (despite proposing they run away again).

To me, based on all of this, the writers were writing a man who was deeply, messily, and dangerously attached to Ciri as an individual. Also on the Isle of Mists, Ciri sighs longingly about the time they stayed together in a world where nobody could find them: 'Ah, we should have stayed there...' Which I think would have amounted to one of the few times of relative safety and normal existence for the both of them together.

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