This post was originally published on Audible.com.
With the new season of Netflix's hit show The Witcher coming up this December, it's a good time to brush up on the saga’s lore and characters. The show, which is set in a fantasy kingdom beset with monsters and ongoing war, is based on Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski's series of fantasy books of the same name. Hailed by some as the Polish Game of Thrones, The Witcher Saga features dozens of fascinating characters, and while not every one of them made it into the Netflix adaptation, Princess Ciri of Cintra plays a major role. This article serves as an in-depth guide to Ciri, her backstory, and her powers, as well as introduction to her relationships with the other major characters in the show.
Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Witcher Saga.
Who is Ciri?
Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, commonly known as Ciri, is the princess of Cintra, one of the Northern Kingdoms. She is the daughter of Pavetta and Emhyr var Emreis (Duny), and the granddaughter of Queen Calanthe of Cintra, a monarch known for her bravery, beauty, and resourcefulness. Ciri is one of the main characters in both the books and the Netflix series.
Ciri and Geralt are bound by destiny; eventually, Geralt takes Ciri under his wing and treats her as his adopted daughter. Their relationship is a major plot line in The Witcher series. Before she came to live with Geralt, thanks to the Law of Surprise, Ciri was raised by her parents, Pavetta and Dunny, who died at sea before she turned five, and then entrusted to the care of her grandmother. Though Queen Calanthe tried to keep her granddaughter's destiny a secret from her, Ciri's nanny told her about it, so Ciri grew up knowing she would one day meet Geralt of Rivia and become a witcher.
What are Ciri’s powers?
Ciri's powers first become apparent during the fall of Cintra. The kingdom was attacked by the Nilfgaardian Empire; Ciri was one of the only survivors of the last battle. She managed to flee the city alive, but while holed up in the castle by her grandmother, she let out a scream, refusing to leave—a powerful, magical scream with the ability to shake the entire room.
This powerful scream is only one of Ciri's many powers. Ciri is a Source—a person born with rare magical abilities. However, these abilities are often hard for a Source to contain and control; usually triggered by stressful or dangerous situations, they manifest as chaotic energy. After escaping Cintra and meeting Geralt, Ciri encounters the mage Triss, who informs Geralt that she is a Source. Triss realizes that it is beyond her skill to help Ciri manage her powers. She and Geralt eventually send Ciri to the sorceress Yennefer for further training.
While being a Source doesn't come with any particular set of powers, just a natural affinity for magic, Ciri also carries Elder Blood, which marks her as a descendent of Elven sorceress Lara Dorren. Carriers of the Elder Blood usually possess extraordinary magical ability.
Is Ciri a Witcher?
Because of the destiny that binds them together, Ciri trains with Geralt to become a witcher. Soon after they find each other after the fall of Cintra, Geralt takes her to Kaer Morhen to begin her training. However, during physical exercises, she falls into several trances. These trances reveal to Geralt and the mage Triss that Ciri is a Source. Her magical abilities sometimes clash with her progression as a witcher. After training with Yennefer, Ciri gradually learns to better control her magic and has many adventures as a witcher and a Source throughout the books and the show. She gets into a lot of dangerous situations and uses her witcher abilities, her swordsmanship, and her magic to get out of them.
Key relationships and family tree
Ciri and Geralt
Ciri and Geralt are bound together by destiny. After rescuing Ciri's father, Duny, Geralt invoked the Law of Surprise. In exchange for saving Dunny's life, he requested something from Dunny that he did not know he possessed: his daughter Ciri. Though Ciri grew up with her parents, and then, after they died, with her grandmother Queen Calanthe, she always knew she was bound to meet Geralt and become a witcher.
Ciri meets Geralt for the first time after wandering into a dangerous forest as a child. She's almost killed by a giant centipede, but Geralt slays the monster, rescues her, and returns her to Cintra. It's not until after the fall of Cintra that Geralt takes Ciri under his wing for good.
Geralt comes to view Ciri as his adopted daughter. Ciri looks to him as a mentor and protector. Their relationship is not always easy, however. Ciri is a princess with a traumatic past; throughout both the books and the series, she is often running from her own fears and nightmares. Geralt is a trained monster hunter, often on the run. When they first meet, Ciri is a scared child, and Geralt is a stranger to her.
Though Geralt and Ciri go through many hardships, often separated by time and circumstance, they always fight to find their way back to each other. The father-daughter bond they form is loving and lasting. Later, when Geralt and Yennefer get together, the three of them create a kind of family.
Ciri and Yennefer
Ciri meets Yennefer soon after leaving Kaer Morhen. After realizing that Ciri is a Source, Geralt sends for Yennefer, a powerful sorceress, who takes the girl under her wing and helps her learn to harness her chaotic magic. Ciri trains with Yennefer at the Temple of Melitele, where she studies the Elder Speech, runes, history, and learns more about her abilities as a Source. Though her time with Yennefer is cut short due to violence and upheaval on the Continent, Yennefer and Ciri form a mother-daughter bond that lasts for a lifetime.
Ciri’s biological parents
Ciri is the daughter of Pavetta and Emhyr var Emreis, commonly known as Duny, the Urcheon of Erlenwald. Dunny, heir to the throne of Nilfgaard, traveled to Cintra under an alias as a young man, where he married Pavetta. Though Ciri grew up believing both her parents had died at sea when she was a girl, it is later revealed that Dunny did not die. Instead, he traveled back to his home and took up his inheritance as the Emperor of Nilfgaard.
Though Pavetta and Dunny play big roles in Ciri's backstory, neither the books nor the TV series focus on her relationship with them, instead exploring her relationship with her adoptive parents, Geralt and Yennefer.
Ciri in the books vs. Ciri in the show: major differences
The Netflix adaptation differs from the books in many ways, but Ciri's character is remarkably similar to the way Andrzej Sapkowski wrote her. There are, of course, a few key differences. Here are the major ways that Ciri in the series differs from Ciri in the audiobooks:
Her powers: In the Netflix adaptation, Ciri's powers are obvious from the beginning. Both she and her mother, Pavetta, are shown causing havoc with magic. In an early episode, Ciri's anger causes a room to shake. In the books, Ciri's powers only become apparent over time. It's not until the second novel in the series that Ciri displays the full depth and range of her magic.
Her age: In the books, Ciri is around 11 during the fall of Cintra. She meets Geralt soon after, at around age 12. In the series, Ciri is portrayed as slightly older, a young teenager rather than a pre-teen.
Timeline of her relationship with Geralt: In the books, Ciri and Geralt meet a few times before Geralt finally takes her under his wing. It takes him a long time to accept that their destinies are intertwined; the first time they meet, he promptly returns her to Cintra. In the series, this timeline is rather different. When Ciri and Geralt meet up for the first time, they stick together.
What books does Ciri appear in?
As one of the main characters in The Witcher, Ciri appears in the current and upcoming season of the Netflix series, and almost all of the Witcher audiobooks. She first appears in the short story collection Sword of Destiny, and becomes a main character in the five books that make up The Witcher Saga: Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow and Lady of the Lake. She also appears in the standalone novel Season of Storms and briefly in Something Ends, Something Begins, a collection of stories by Andrzej Sapkowski, mostly unrelated to The Witcher Saga, which has not yet been adapted for audio.
