“The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt” revolutionized the gaming industry with its exceptional open world and captivating high fantasy storyline. Back in 2015, CD Projekt Red, the developers, garnered a massive following with this game. Fast forward to the 2024 Game Awards, where they thrilled fans by unveiling the first trailer for “The Witcher 4.” Enthusiasts were taken aback when they noticed that the previous main character, Geralt, seemed to be replaced by Ciri from “Wild Hunt.” The surprise was further amplified when the trailer revealed that Ciri has transitioned into a Witcher herself.

Author Andrzej Sapkowski first introduced audiences to “The Witcher” universe with the release of the inaugural novel in 1990. Since then, he has penned a multitude of novels and stories within this universe, which have been translated into various languages and captivated readers worldwide. Owing to both the game series and TV adaptations, even those unfamiliar with the books have become acquainted with “The Witcher.”

The comprehensive “Witcher” timeline chronicles the journeys of both Geralt and Ciri, with Ciri emerging as a more pivotal character as the narrative progresses. Therefore, it isn’t entirely unexpected for Ciri to take the lead in “The Witcher 4.” Nonetheless, the journey to becoming a Witcher is incredibly arduous, leading some gamers to believe that it might be implausible for Ciri to achieve this in the new game. To explore this further, let’s delve into the books and examine some statements from the franchise’s creator to assess their validity.

To understand what happened to Ciri at the end of Andrzej Sapkowski’s “Witcher” series, you’ve got to know certain details from her history. Ciri has Elder Blood running through her veins, which gives her access to a wide range of powers that make her a formidable opponent even when she isn’t a Witcher. Her Elder Blood doesn’t give Ciri the same mutations as Geralt, but in the novels and in “The Witcher 3” game, her powerful abilities let her train and fight monsters alongside her adoptive father as though she were a true Witcher.

Ciri is known as the Lady of Space and Time because her abilities allow her to manipulate other dimensions to her advantage. In the “Witcher” book “The Lady of the Lake,” Ciri uses her powers to transport herself to our world, or at least a version of it. There, she meets Sir Galahad of Camelot, and she shares her tale and the end of Geralt’s story with him. When Ciri decides not to return to her homeworld, the series concludes with her riding off into the sunset toward Camelot with Sir Galahad.

“Witcher” creator Andrzej Sapkowski recently commented on the changes CDPR is making to Ciri’s storyline. Speaking at the Opole Book Festival in Poland, the author said that sometimes the developers reach out to him with questions about the story, but he said that the devs are such fans of “The Witcher” series that he imagines they know more about the universe than he does. In response to Ciri apparently completing the trials and attaining the Witcher mutations in the fourth game, Sapowski said (via The Gamer), “I never wrote that adult women can’t go through them, maybe someone did, but it wasn’t me. I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it.” Clearly Sapkowski isn’t bothered in the slightest that CDPR is making some changes to the source material.

According to franchise lore, most people who undergo the trials to become a Witcher die in the process. The trials are typically undertaken by young boys, but while the books specify that adults are all but guaranteed to die in the trials, they don’t say anything at all about women going through the process. As an adult, Ciri’s Witcher transformation is obviously something special, and judging by the way she fights in “The Witcher 4” trailer, becoming a Witcher may have cost Ciri her other magical abilities. The Netflix show has also made its own controversial changes to Ciri’s story, so CDPR’s decision here isn’t really unprecedented. Ciri was already a fan-favorite character from the previous game, and there’s little doubt that whatever story leads her to become a Witcher will be a good one.