The penultimate episode to The Witcher season 2 had a lot to offer, including revealing the real monster of the season. Ciri has been whisked away by Yennefer who has her own plans for the Child of Destiny. Geralt suspects these plans and seeks out the help of old friends to return his child surprise to his side. At the same time, the relationship between the elves and Nilfgaard comes to a crash.
Return To The Beginning
Ciri and Yennefer arrive via portal to Lilja, Adon and Zeke’s hut from season 1. Ciri, once considering this place to be a safe space, realizes that is not the case. Rience has been to the hut already in search of information on Ciri, leaving no survivors. It’s not the first time someone who has helped Ciri has died and certainly won’t be the last and Ciri is immediately consumed by grief and guilt, concerned for Geralt’s safety now that they are not together. Yennefer uses Ciri’s vulnerable state to convince her that Geralt might have been captured by Nilfgaard and held in Cintra, conveniently where the black door she needs to sacrifice Ciri is.
Bridges Collapse
On the road to Cintra to supposedly reunite with Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri come upon a collapsed bridge. Yennefer takes this as another moment to witness Ciri’s power and teaches her the incantation to raise and repair the bridge, though it soon becomes clear Ciri is not ready for this level of magic as she begins to bleed from her eyes. Ciri, unable to handle less than perfection, screams in frustration and we see the pair transported to the other side of the bridge. The pair share a telekinetic moment where Ciri discovers Yennefer’s true intentions with her — but Yennefer tells her to run away if she wants to because she no longer feels capable of handing Ciri over. Ciri, full of frustration, screams that she cannot trust Yennefer, which alerts Nilfgaard to their presence.
Following the birth of the first elvish baby in a long time, the elves have decided they would rather not fight for Nilfgaard, as they now have found hope within their own community and do not wish to be swallowed up anymore.
Fringilla’s Patience Runs Thin
Fed up with the continued brutishness from Hake, Cahir and company, Fringilla seeks out the advice of her Uncle Artorious in Aretuza. Artorious essentially becomes an echo chamber for Hake and Cahir, also telling Fringilla that he is glad she has realized she is not that powerful and is, in fact, out of her depth. Taking this as a threat and seeking to prove she is powerful and remind those around her why she shouldn’t be scorned, Fringilla uses a potion to paralyze Hake, Cahir and company. Paralyzing them is only temporary which simply isn’t enough, and Fringilla chooses to slowly kill Hake and company slowly. She chooses to spare Cahir, only so he can rave about her to Emporer Emhyr when he arrives.
Jaskier’s New Friends
Meanwhile, Geralt leaves the temple to seek out Jaskier who is currently locked up and part of an acapella group featuring himself and two literal mice. Completely forgetting his number one hit “Burn, Butcher, Burn”, Jaskier immediately embraces Geralt and the two share a tender hug. After making Geralt apologize for leaving him on the mountain back in season 1. The pair set off in search of Yennefer and Ciri, not before Jaskier reveals to Geralt that Yennefer vanished while muttering about a hut, confirming Geralt’s suspicions: they’re dealing with the Deathless Mother, Voleth Meir. She has been on the Continent since the conjunction and feeds on despair making her very old and very dangerous.
Jaskier isn’t the only friend from the mountain Geralt is reunited with, as the pair soon happen upon Yarpen Zigrin and his band of dwarves who decide to join them on their mission to rescue Ciri.
Voleth Meir
It is only about a day of bliss for Francesca and Filavandrel with their new baby before everything goes sideways, as one should probably expect by this point on the Continent. Voleth Meir, who feeds on despair, warned Francesca that if the elves remained aligned with Nilfgaard that her baby would be safe. Unfortunately, the elves decided earlier this episode that they no longer wanted to fight for Nilfgaard. Francesca is punished for this decision and their baby, Fiona, is murdered in the night. The pair are immediately overcome by grief and it’s clear that any amount of remaining alliance between the elves and Nilfgaard is over considering Francesca is definitely going to seek revenge for this.
Rescue Mission
The convoy lead by Geralt and consisting of Jaskier and a band of dwarves eventually catch up to Ciri and Yennefer who are fighting off Nilfgaardians outside of Cintra. Geralt naturally saves Ciri, immediately turning to fix his blade against Yennefer’s throat. Jaskier is instructed to return to Kaer Morhen with Ciri, who ultimately listens to Geralt despite not wanting to be separated from him again. Geralt, despite feeling betrayed by her, sets off with Yennefer in search of Voleth Meir. However, the pair are too late as the Deathless Mother has been set free after consuming enough despair from Yennefer, Ciri, Francesca and Fringilla and is on the search for the perfect vessel. Unfortunately, the perfect vessel is Ciri.
The Witcher season 2 is streaming now on Netflix.
