There needs to be a Ciri vs Geralt Gwent match in the game or I'll cry. Actually, I'll cry either way. But one is of happiness and joy, the other is of sadness and despair.
@LeleiTheTigress there should be a quest where you battle insane gwent masters in order and every time you defeat one they allow to fight the next one until finally they reveal geralt is the final gwent master. Would go so hard.
I'm going to skip this if they can't handle this piece of lore correctly: Geralt must be the final boss of Gwent 2. Canonically speaking my addiction to TW3 gwent means he is the greatest gwenter on the continent. Don't mess this up CDPR.
Same. I really hope there will be some kind of qwent tournament with a secret final opponent, and when you manage to get to the finals its revealed that its Geralt. 😂
It'd be a pretty based take if Ciri doesnt want to have children so she becomes a Witcher because she can't keep her legs closed. We'd probably get some Stellar Blade level armor skins in the game
I fucking hate that kind of people complaining about everything just from one damn teaser trailer, it's just insanity. In person, acting like that, would automatically put you into a fucking pscyh ward.
@@ImNotLuthien I swear, so many people claiming that the game will be 'horrible' and was 'ruined' by new hires from one singular trailer, that likely won't be in the game like many, many of TW3 trailers. People need to calm down, stop being angry for two seconds, and realize that this isn't even gameplay, and knowing CD Projekt Red, it will all be explained in an actually compelling way!
This video perfectly sums up how I feel. Despite everything, my biggest question was, "HOW can CDPR justify Ciri deciding to become a witcher?" In my mind, I surmised the same thing that you did (and I'm someone who didn't read any of the books). I only played TW3. Ciri literally spent her entire teen and young adult life running away from her fate, having to go into extreme isolation due to the destructive nature of her powers and because of her persuers, etc. It's understandable that she'd want to take her fate into her own hands and find a way to officially undergo the witcher mutations; possibly thinking that it would be a way to either greatly lessen or suppress her powers or get rid of them entirely, even if it meant there's a chance that she might not survive the necessary process. Now, is Ciri really living a better life as a witcher? Being a witcher pretty much offers its own kind of isolation, dangers, sacrifices, and hardships. How is Ciri handling and navigating her new reality? Is she grappling with some newly found inner conflict? I'm intrigued by how CDPR can expand upon her character and create more nuanced intricacies. From what we've seen so far of her, this current Ciri is already a stark contrast from the Ciri we've known so far.
All I can say is I can't wait to play the Witcher 4, been thinking about replaying the Witcher 3 again for the 5th time I mean I think I have 650 hours of play time on the Witcher 3 so yeah I d say it's way past time for a new Witcher game
The story in the trailer of the village girl being sacrificed because it's her destiny is a great parallel to Ciri's own story and helps raise the stakes for Ciri in this quest. They also said it would be a playable side quest in the game, which makes so much sense. Side quests that draws parallels to the main story line are amazing and very CD Projekt Red
I didnt really like because it felt like a step down in darkness/brutality in comparison to a few of the previous game trailers. I thought the trailer idea was to pay homage to the original feel of the witcher i.e "killing monsters" and while I understand that I thought the witcher 3s trailer was better executed in dialogue as well as brutality as well giving a good insight in the world as well as characters(vesimir and geralt) while this one feels more basic in comparison.
@@benmangerere358don’t pay attention to this guy, nothing he says makes sense. Literally everything he says is complaining about AnTi WoKe, whether your comment has said anything relevant to that or not. He’s just some DEI shill.
To tie into your idea that the crux of this story could revolve around Ciri running from her destiny I really like the idea that Ciris Elder Blood is what allowed her to survive the Trial of the Grasses but as a result her Elder Blood powers have gone dormant and part of the plot is her needing to slowly reawaken her powers and by extension accept her destiny and the responsibility that comes with it. This would be a great way to introduce an Elder Blood skill tree to the game and justify why she isn't as powerful as she was in The Witcher 3 as well as justify still needing to prepare for monster battles with potions, runes and oils for your swords, maintaining and upgrading your armor etc. This would allow for new magic and gameplay mechanics we've never had in these games before and still keep the foundation The Witcher has always had. This could also be how we bring Geralt and Yennifer back into the fold too, Geralt can teach her more swordfighting styles and techniques (kinda like having different styles to use in The Witcher 1) as well as how to make more complex potions and Yennifer can teach Ciri new and more powerful spells as you level up and become stronger.
additional theory: game begins as normal Witcher without elder blood, but behind the scenes her elder blood is fighting the mutations and as game progress we unlock elder blood skill tree, God of war style like Kratos unlocking his old demigod powers, oh yeah the elder blood abilities could also be like Kratos's rage of the titans with limited bar meter
@AhmadWahelsa interesting, that's a cool way of depicting her destiny literally at odds with her current choices, like having good and evil at war within yourself which has always been important for these games, figuring out what the right choice is in a world that rewards evil and punishes good.
@@AhmadWahelsa maybe even having two skill trees, the witcher and elder blood trees that lock the other out of some skills the higher up you go, possibly even replacing existing abilities. elder blood adds a passive health regen but makes you unable to drink swallow or other healing items, maybe even one that gets rid of witcher eyes and other features making NPCs more tolerant of your existence but you have a hard time actually convincing people you are a witcher when you really need to. The new main threat actively tracks and ambushes you in the open world but the witcher tree has an ability that prevents it at the cost of your dash ability.
@@memeaccount8095 This is definitely how I'd like progression to be handled especially if they plan on having progression carry over through each game in this new trilogy. For instance, if you choose to level up your ability to make stronger potions that make monster preparation easier you lock out Elder Blood abilities that deal more damage to monsters. Or if you choose to level up magic that allows you to dominate the mind you can avoid combat and even unlock new quests for yourself but this is more noticeable than if you were to use Axii which is more of a gamble but more discreet and as a result certain NPCs will be too afraid to talk to you. Blacksmiths could refuse your business entirely so you can't have them craft new weapons, herbalists won't let you buy or sell to them, and some Witcher contracts and Side Quests might be unavailable if the NPCs are too afraid.
I think you are right about Ciri. The developers have been posting coins as teases for the game. There's writing on one coin posted after the reveal that translates to "Days and nights pass and the blood remains the same." I think you are right on the idea of why Ciri wanted to do the trial to basically get rid of the elder blood, but as we'll learn in the game, the blood will remain the same. I've seen others have this same idea as well.
Except that she did get rid of it based on the trailer and the comments from the devs. You don't get it, they destroyed her entire character that was not only established in the books but also in their own games. Ciri would never go through this process willingly nor would Geralt, Yennefer or Triss would ever allow her character to do it.
@@rpgadventurer32 second book mentioned Ciri drank a potion but survives, thus leading her discovery about her elder blood i have a theory that game starts as Witcher Ciri without elder blood powers, but behind the scenes her blood is fighting against the mutation, and as game progress maybe we unlock elder blood skill tree, this trailer might be set just not far in the story campaign
@@AhmadWahelsa that's actually pretty interesting, I think BG3 did something similar with illithod powers, it works differently but the point is that you get an additional skill tree with effects the story.
@@madelinemcmillan4020the devs said Witcher 4 will focus more on sexism, identity politics than previous games. CDPR has more DEI hires compared to a decade ago. The devs on Twitcher preach "woke" nonsense and thats the lead designer
People liked the Witcher 3 because of the broad strokes- cool gruff guy slays monsters in a serious world and lays women. You and your ilk are gonna literally cry when no one wants to play as an old woman. Guaranteed to bomb. @madelinemcmillan4020
@@madelinemcmillan4020 Wasn't the point of contention that this is mainly a male series and due to the prevailing woke thought that is present that you need to insert a female in whatever successful franchise? Don't forget that is the reason people have a problem with it on top of witchers never being female.
Yeah, I agree-that would make the most sense. There needs to be a real necessity for her to undergo the mutations; otherwise, it just wouldn’t feel justified.
Like you said, it's not about her not being able to become a witcher but her even considering this. First thing that crossed my mind when I saw her eyes was "What about the prophecy?". Her trying to escape it through mutations would be very interesting take and would love to see how it ultimately fails. Because we all know that destiny always wins.
She can't do it though. It doesn't make sense with the established lore about the trials both in the books and in the games. The Witches will never help her get sterilized they are against doing it in the books and the same is true for the Witchers.
@rpgadventurer32 it's clear you haven't read the books. I guess you're also okay with the games lore changes too. This conflicts nothing, no Source ever took the Grasses. I'm sure if it was Alvin no one would give a damn
Partially, i would say another reason why Ciri wants to undergo trial of grasses, is because she hates elder blood and think it's curse and has brought her and others unimaginable suffering , and she LOVES being witcher, so she can give up on something she hates and become something she loves. I think the story will be on the idea that Ciri diminish elder blood power as result of the trial of grasses, but it still remains and she can't change that and her fate remains same.
@@Shockazulu12 Who cares what Yen wants? Did you play The Witcher 3? A big part of Ciris story is breaking free from the control of other people. Her whole life has been about other people making decisions for her and she wants to be free to make her own.
@@Shockazulu12 Yep, and by "never allow" I don't mean "no dear, you can't have a stuffed unicorn for christmas", I mean "no, you need me to find the recipe, source the ingredients, perform the magical mumbo jumbo on the ingredients to make them suitable, recreate all the scientific and magic equipment to make the mutagens and decoctions because all the relevant equipment we know of is lost, rework, test, trial and then produce the mutagens to work for an ADULT WOMAN, THEN do the complex and lengthy creation of the mutagens for a working dosage... then actually administer it according to Witcher requirements which involves another Witcher (probably Geralt who would also say no)... THEN to nurse you through the lengthy, excruciating and debilitating mutation process because you wouldn't be able to feed/toilet/care for your own health during the process... so no, dear, I'm not doing it". So yeah, "let her" may not be accurate in the most dumbed down sense, but refusal to participate basically equals "it isn't freaking happening". She may be special, but even Ciri isn't THAT special.
I'm gonna stress this: The key talents that had worked on Witcher 3 had left CDPR before Witch 4 even began production. So don't expect Witcher 4 to be as good as its predecessor. In fact, lower your expectations and expect changes that may divide the fanbase.
Dude, not sure if you saw the devs post on twitter about the other side of the coin and the translation of that text. Your last hypothesis is very likely to be right, even though she tried to suppress her elder blood its power still remains.
Imagine using a power that at any given time you use it that you leave a trail that can be followed by powerful beings. I'll be honest, I would lose my fucking mind.
@@jasonjohnson1697 Imagine having a power that makes you stand on par with powerful beings and deities and instead wanting to become like Geralt. Geralt is an outstanding Witcher, the best some may say, he is super powerful compared to humans; but he is nothing compared to both monsters, otherworld beings and "powerful beings" even comparatively to mages (like the one that mops Regis). Geralt is constantly complaining that he is doing a job, that admittedly he manages somehow through rather intellect and preparation like Batman some would say rather than power or pure skill. Now imagine knowing all this first hand as Ciri, and deciding: Yes, I want that. There is no logic there, if she is scared, she can stop using them all together. If she is tired, she can square up AND SHE CAN COME ON TOP. Hell, the only promising thing to me about these games if they somehow justify the lore is that she can rise up to threats and existances no sane witcher would, or could, like the Elder One even Geralt showed a hint of fear despite supposedly lacking emotions.
@@jasonjohnson1697 That would actually make for an amazing game. Running away from powerful beings while slowly becoming more powerful yourself, and eventually taking on those beings. Damn.
@Raizan-IO You forget the most important thing in the Witcher universe: the elder blood is more of a curse to Ciri than a blessing. She always WANTED to become a witcher. Her elder blood powers have only brought her pain. Even if she can "use it against powerful enemies", the ENTIRE point of the saga is that Ciri doesn't want to become the lady of time and space. She wants to be a witcher. And of course, there is a tragic undertone to all of this. It's called nuanced and complex character development.
I really want to play a ciri game.. but I'm really sad that they've made Ciri into a clone of Geralt.... I really liked Ciris character in the witcher 3.. n she's clearly strong enough without mutations, stronger than Geralt even.. but in the trailer her looks, behaviour mimic Geralt way too much to a degree that it makes it look like she's lost all her individuality... Ofcourse it was only a trailer, I hope the game doesn't do that
I don't think she felt that similar to Geralt here, I felt quite a lot of contrast actually, she seems to be still an impulsive, brave but assertive person, far more emotive than Geralt in almost all situations, which has seen it all as a seasoned veteran, but I do think there is a risk of her getting more similar throughout the game, as this feels like a young and hopeful witcher learning why the other witchers work the way they do the more she works and gain experience, it feels like the game will have her progress from impulsive to more mature and analytical, which then might steer her to being similar to Geralt
Yes... This!... I liked that she is a little bit more fragile but like you said she has her own powers due to her elder blood. They could've gone that route but no... they had to do the witcher thing. Then when I saw the trailer I first thought "Wow Ciri looks good and I like that she is dressed in Skellig Arm..... Oh nevermind it's not Ciri.." Then the Chin-Lady came and said something "cool" and it was a cringe fest for my taste and especially compared to the witcher 3 trailer. I really thought at first that the druids arm her in a ritualistic way with the cool mistletow crown untill I realized it's not her. (Which would've been bad*ss and would've shown her connection with Ard Skellige, the druids and the "an Craite's"... I was expecting too much I guess.
Au contraire, the game director said the following in an interview; “Geralt was famous for remaining neutral and as apolitical as possible when it came to the larger conflicts at play in the first trilogy of games. Those aren’t footsteps that Ciri necessarily wants to follow in, though. “She doesn't want to stay neutral,” Kalemba affirms. “She's way younger. She's still defining her own code and she's less pragmatic.” It’s a sentiment echoed by Mitręga: “I think that what makes her so special as a protagonist overall, [is that] she has so many layers, and the passion and engagement of being a witcher, but she wants to be the person that is always choosing a side. There is no neutral anymore in her. So this is a new path, right? And a new experience for the player as well.” By the mid-point of the trailer, it’s clear that while Ciri has taken on a paying job, she’s motivated more by saving Mioni from a ritual sacrifice than she is the profit. “She's actually going to enter this cave,” explains Kalemba, talking of the cave where Mioni will be sacrificed to… something. “And that's the point of no return. At this stage, she knows that she's committed. ‘I go there and for sure only one character will survive.’” “What's amazing about her is that she's not that well-defined”, Kalemba adds. “So we have this opportunity to let the player define her experience, this path, this journey. Since I can remember, we believed that for sure the next journey, the next saga belongs to Ciri as she's a super wide container for emotions, for the experience, for the journey.”
My biggest thing they need to address is regardless of how brutal the trials may be, I want to see them from ciris perspective. I want to see how she survived them and what were the immediate repercussions of this, did she immediately lose her elder blood powers? She’s already very proficient with a sword so was she made a mutant and just immediately start slaying monsters? Is she part of the school of the wolf? Etc etc. all of this stuff I want to see be addressed throughout the story.
@ then I have no concerns! I also kinda figured they’d have to address these things no matter what in order for the game to make literally any sense at all. I just really hope they don’t kill off geralt for no reason.
Yeah, I'd imagine it'll probably be incorporated in a similar fashion to how they take you through Ciri's journey in TW3. It would be sort of insane to incorporate a skip like that where so much insane stuff must have happened and just not elaborate or let you see any of it
I'd bet money it's the Rey approach. Shes just now a witcher killing monsters. No explanation. If modern games are anything to go by, she will probably hate geralt for some dumb reason. He will probably be the old pissy hermit who secluded himself.
Ciri as a witcher is problematic for one reason. Because it's a damn DOWNGRADE for her. She had immense power, power all the lodge was jelous of, mages, kings, elves, sages, everyone wanted HER powers and potential and then she's.... reduced to a witcher? I mean, witchers are not liked in this universe, they are outcasts, looked down upon, they risk their life for pittance and Ciri, who has a ROYAL backhround, had EDUCATION, has POWERS and she's like, eh, no, I'd rather choose the life of an outcast, I want to be a tattered vagabond, I want my "father's" life, I want to step in Geralt's footsteps (not that Geralt didn't complain about his life and being a witcher enough!) and boom, she's a fully developed witcher, now she can live her dream life of being spitted on, sleeping on the roadside and work for alms! Good job girl, your potential, powers, knowledge and importance in the world just flew out the window. That's why it's problematic. Her as a protagonist is obvious - her as a witcher is not. This way she's nothing more than a female Geralt honestly.
I am all for the idea of Ciri sterilzing herself to prevent her destiny. Especially once you take the Falka's Curse and the prophecy about the Destroyer into account. I mean knowing, that you'll be a mother of a man who will destroy the world may leave you a bit desperate. I guess some might say that there are less extreme ways of not having kids, but I guess becoming a witcher might be the most optimal from Ciri's perspective. And I absolutely wouldn't be surpised if the sterilization process didn't work, because either Elder Blood is too strong, or something during the mutations got botched, either way Destiny goes lol, lmao on Ciri. Also, the romances have already been confirmed, just putting it out there.
@@Mrm-7799- If they let Ciri get pregnant it means one of the cis gendered heteronormative males actually got to put hands on her and that is so not happening in their game for “ a modern gaming audience.” Nope! It’s sterilization and the Big Abby route for our Ciri because the male feminists at CD Projekt Red only know how to write that stoic wannabe man trope rather than writing an actual strong female character? Just like they manwashed Lady Galadriel in Amazons Rings Of Power and turned her into GUYladriel another stoic male action hero.
hard to believe this is the reason tho, there are easier ways to get sterilised that don't involve in incredibly high risk of mortality, and Ciri couldn't even be sure that becoming a witcher would sterilise her at at all, given that there have been no previous female witchers.
@@ottopi4949 yes, here is what the Director said in an interview with gamespot: "It's a part of the way we make games. It is a part of human nature. It's a very normal thing. Without that I think we wouldn't be able to tell the very full story." His last sentence makes me hopeful that the prophecy is going to happen anyway.
Just discovered your channel. This is great work. Been slowly reading the books over the past year or so, and you have inspired me to explore the Witcher universe in more depth.
I, for one, think that the way they are handling Ciri becoming a legitimate Witcher is a good one. I cannot imagine playing a whole game strictly as Elder Blood Ciri teleporting around in battle like you did in the Witcher 3. The move to bring her more to the legitimate Witcher side, while they will have to explain where that comes from, does seem to be a decent choice. It would be a sort of mood killer to play Ciri as she was in the Witcher 3, so it feels like a welcome change in my mind.
because there's no anti-woke people here, it's peaceful... hear that? the sound of civil discussions? I missed this 😢 Hearing everyone's POV on both the lore and how Ciri goes through the trials and what that means for the game is refreshing.
yea he shuts down people who thinks there was always have been a witcheress 1:48 (woke people mindset) and people thinking that ciri shouldn't be the protagonist cause shes a woman (anti-woke mindset). i like the idea that the witcher trials could be a way to stop her elder blood so she could try to prevent her destiny. i always thought it could either be Vesimer (making a prequel) or Ciri who would be the next protagonist once geralt retires.
@@dr_diddyThey're here allright. They're like the plaque, they'll always find their way to spread into every nook and crany to scream "DEI THE BIG BAD GAAAAYYY BLACK PEOPLE MADE MY WHITE WOMAN GAAAAAAY"
Not a fan of Ciri going through the trials, I would rather see her develop her own abilities and be a different type of pseudo-witcher. However, while watching your video I realized that Ciri can travel through space and time. If she learned to control the ability better, she could 1) go back to the creation of witchers to learn how to make them, and 2) go back to her younger self to apply the trials. 2 brings up sci-fi temporal issues, but it is a commonly used trope.
If she's already a witcher... why stress the issue with her going through the trials, potentially dying, and putting major emphasis on her being "an exception" because of her bloodline? It's a weak explanation and an unnecessary one. She's already powerful, witcher-trained and an honorary witcher by all counts. This way just created a rift in the fanbase for seemingly nothing.
Thanks for this video dude, I thought I was going crazy with the other videos on RUclips. I've been following you for years now, this channel is legit. Keep it up.
I never really cared whether or not Ciri was going to be a witcher or the new protag up until now. I was just indifferent. After this video, I'm actually interested and excited about it.
Now thinking more about possibility that Ciri is trying to "run away from destiny": that thing fails at stage, as early as second Witcher series book: "Time of Contempt". In it Ciri and Geralt end up in Brokylon forest, one of the last bastions of the dryads. There dryads try to turn Ciri into one of them and give her "Waters of Brokylon" that turns girls (exclusively girls, btw) into dryads and... It had no effect. Furthermore it's strongly implied that who Ciri is and her destiny are the reasons for it. The fact that essentially same ritual as "Trial of Grasses" not just failed - had not effect, makes this "Witcher Ciri" even more unlikely. Ciri and her destiny are just too OP.
Ciri becoming a witcher is a step down to her character in every aspect, she just self castrated her elder blood and is now in a dead end job. Even though Ciri's blood caused her issues sure but without it there was no way to combat the frost so even if she somehow depleted all her powers after stopping that calamity, isn't it stupid to destroy the only known power that can save humanity if this event happend again? This whole thing just feels off. Witcher series has showed us again and again that defying destiny will just make things worse for everyone around you, seems like ciri didn't learn from Geralts mistake.
I really dig your whole approach here, especially undergoing the trial being something that helps Ciri fleeing from her destiny which she obviously has never really liked and from the power she possesses and is afraid of. I would bet on that, sounds like a perfect cdpr route
It's just ciri was already more powerful than a Witcher so what's the point? Am I imagining her saving the bloody baron or what? Or killing a werewolf in Witcher 3 and 2 of the crones?
@sillylittlesheepjax6009 bro ciri could kill just about anyone hunting her. No one could make her do anything. The whole point of Witcher 3 was for to stop running and face her destiny not to fear the future.
@@Sekiryuutei96 It's not solely about killing everyone who is after her, I imagine she would have a hard time with Wild Hunt, because she wasn't at her full potential, it's about her being on a run and losing independence, that she so highly values. Don't criticize the game, without even seeing the reasoning - we have seen but one cinematic.
@@BRR42922 wild hunt is just one small army force of elves they are still there, then u have northern kingdoms and nilfgaard, then u have mages that want to use her power like philipa, then u have yet to come new bad guys from witcher 4. Whole point for her is to stop fighting for her life and ppl close to her being a target for others
He wasn't being reasonable he was being generous. They didn't say it couldn't be done is basically the answer but remember the contention is that this is a male series with only male witchers and also this modern ideology that every successful franchise needs a female counterpart against fans wills most times. Although if these female characters didn't fail so often then there wouldn't be much resentment.
@@5SecondsOfFrame It has nothing to do with a "modern ideology" tho, the only reason "female protags" fail isn't cuz of the fact that they're a woman, it fails because of bad writing. Or is Ripley from Alien somehow part of this "modern ideology," or Samus from metroid?
Another point is that the "trail" to become a dryad with the use of the Water of Brokilon failed because Ciri's "fate" was to strong to be changed why would the witcher process fair any better?
I’m super invested in Ciri after trying to save her for 250+ hrs (rookie hrs still I know). I’m STOKED to be playing her - as long as they make it make sense with the lore. I hope it will have something to do with her travelling to different worlds or timelines. I also hope she’s building a new Witcher school with Geralt. CPDR made my favourite game of all time - I trust them.
Speaking as a complete newbie in the Witcher world (I’ve only gotten thru The Last Wish and the W3 game) It’s funny that this video popped up in my feed. I started W3 again today. I noticed in the beginning when Ciri is training by herself….Vesemir and Geralt are talking. Vesemir says something along the lines of “She’s got to train if she is to become one of us” That’s not verbatim but he does say “if she is to become one of us” With all the outcry about Ciri in W4 going on, I saw in that moment that CDPR definitely had opened the door to her becoming a Witcher. Once again, I’m a newbie. I plan of getting into more of the books in 2025
I'm not even done with this video and I already appreciate it. This is what I have been debating the whole time and getting, well nasty responses. To me it just seems like being a Witcher is a step backwards. It's like Batman raising Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) and she takes golden kryptonite (forever losing her powers) to be Batwoman. I always saw her as being more powerful and exceptional than a witcher. It just seems like they took Ciri, and instead of exploring her as she was and her power, they just made her a female Geralt. Her personality, characters, powers, ability, and everything that set her apart is just replaced with Geralt's personality, characters, powers, ability. She doesn't seems a special anymore, she's just another witcher. So I'm just disappointed by it.
@@BiomechanicalBrickthen the writing is going in a bad direction. You guys seem to think this is real life or something. People are writing this terrible continuation of her character.
Where the hell do you guys get the "same personality as Geralt" meme? On top of the fact that it is just a 6 minute trailer, she was way angrier, emotional and prone to action than Geralt was ever shown to be in the games. Is it because of the "monsters" line? Even that was said with a different tone.
@@MountAverage28 I think he only got banned from seeing Geralt and Olgieird😂 also his final words were: "I can't be killed, I will be back." I really hope to see him in The Witcher 4
worth pointing out in the end of witcher 3 when ciri visits gearalt at corvo bianco she mentions killing a garkin and drinking black blood. idk if black blood is less toxic though
@@rpgadventurer32 Still drank a potion. :) Clearly that already kind of implies that her body can handle toxicity, maybe tied to her Elder Blood somehow.
black blood basically turns your blood highly acidic as we see in the blood and wine trailer where geralts blood drop hisses on the ground and dissapear.
@@bolg892 What it really implies, is that someone on the writing team made a mistake. Which is relevant to the topic -- I think it's healthy not to expect Witcher 4 to be consistent with either the books or the previous games. With the latest book, it turns out even Sapkowski can't keep some things straight (two swords on the back). Whenever there's a sequel (prequel, sidequel, whatever), lore shifts.
11:55 exactly, it almost seems like a reverse step for her since she’s always been exceptional. She was almost portrayed as beyond the need for the trials.
Finally, somebody being reasonable and knowledgeable. When it comes to why somebody already powerful like Ciri wants to be a post-Trials Witcher, with Elder Blood and unimaginable power, is as you stated by @13:00 point, it's her Elder Blood, and also the fact that she, albeit rebellious, wants to be a Witcher. She's admired the Witchers of Kaer Morhen, Geralt the most, whom she looks up to the most, and i think that she has always wanted to escape her Elder Blood and choose a life for herself. Witchers travel, they hunt, they kill. They solve problems and get paid. Ciri's life as a Witcher looks like freedom a opposed to one with her Elder Blood; constantly running away, always hunted, wanted to be bled dry just because of your ancestry. She would be the problem, and others paid to hunt her down. It's a life she never wanted, nor asked for. She was born in to it, likely resents it. And even in Witcher 3, couldn't realistically control those powers either. I mean, she could, but only to a degree. And it made her a huge target when she did use them. The Wild Hunt sniffed her out every time she cast a spell. Who's to say others can't? Why would she want to be trapped and hunted like she had for 24 years of her existence? And if not to alien races, then to her royal lineage either. No. She wants to choose a life for herself. To do something she actually feels is noble. And maybe, though this is speculation on my part, maybe she also wants a bit of revenge on the invading races. A Witcher lifestyle, mutations and all, solves every single one of her problems. And it's something, a lifestyle, that she has looked up to and admired before she was even 10.
I like the idea of her being the new protagonist I despise the idea of her undergoing the trial it's going to be a very hard thing to sell to Me. You may be able to disregard the how, and the ungodly low chances of success and just focus on why but I can't.
Yep, same. I'm I'm so, SO tired of this "oooh you don't know Ciri/you aren't a 'real' fan/you don't know the lore/you're sexist blah blah blah..." BS too. Yes I know the lore, I was reading the books before a lot of these kiddos were born. I know the TTRPG is (in 2024) far more respected now and considered "new canon" just like the games in a lot of circles (including - obviously CDPR or they wouldn't have made Ciri the protag)... I have no issue with them bending the lore to suite the needs of their games... But FFS don't mess with existing beloved characters to do it!! I'm so effing tired of games and TV/streaming studios doing this! Write your own damn IP if you want to do this shite, stop messing with existing characters and world states! There's a difference between bending the lore and smashing it to bits 😔 I love how everyone has conveniently forgotten that after W3 the devs literally said "the next witcher protagonist will be chosen by the players... will not be a character we have already met... will be from a different point in time to Geralt". The OG writers and devs did NOT say "Ciri will be the next protagonist". They DID heavily insinuate it would be a custom protag though.
The big question would be WHY would Ciri undergo the trial of the grasses? She's already trained in Witcher combat and was already way stronger in magic use than any witcher. And undergoing the trial of the grasses having a high probability of straight up killing her, it's just a very stupid choice. It's a whole lot of risk for not really any meaningful reward. She was already noticeably more powerful than Geralt in Witcher 3.
Have you seen the video? He literally talks about this and the possible reasons for it. And this is from an interview on IGN: “That was a huge thing for us, to make that call [to mutate Ciri], not only for her, but for the game,” explains Małgorzata Mitręga, The Witcher 4’s executive producer. “But then it's so important and still leaves so much space for imagination, like when it happened, how it happened. It's just a tease showing something, but you don't know where you will experience it and how in the game. I think it's a huge change and I hope people did not expect it.”
11:55 Ciri would choose to undergo the trials of the grasses to relinquish her elder blood. Her exceptionality is precisely what has caused her and so many around her pain and suffering. She has been chased and manipulated her entire life because she is literally the product of an interdimensional war-ravaging race of elves and power hungry maniacal mages. Why WOULDN'T she want to relinquish her curse and become a Witcher?
After what looks like a decade time skip shouldn't Ciri be chilling in King Arthur's Court? That aside, whatever powers the Trial gave her seem to be a major downgrade. You go from basically teleporting around dashing from one mob to the next to pretty standard combat with a few spells thrown in.
The games take place AFTER the books. In the Witcher 1, Geralt wakes up with amnesia after having been pitchforked by a peasant and dying (or being implied to have died) in the books. That's where his story ends in the books. He's stabbed by a mob while trying to stop a pogrom. So, Ciri going away with Galahad in the books ALSO took place BEFORE the Witcher 1. I would assume that maybe she came back. Maybe the Wild Hunt found her in Camelot and she had to go on the run again.....which is when we see her in Witcher 3.
@@MissSimsalot I can see that from a game mechanic perspective, but from a story perspective that is a big plot hole. Maybe they address it in game? Like she lost access to her Elder Blood magic and that's why she is using the normal magic she swore off. Still, it would have been a more consistent narrative to buff the monsters/antagonists than to remove or her powers.
@@colpul2103 Keep in mind that Geralt loses all his powers at the start of EACH Witcher game and then you spend the game advancing his skill tree as you gain experience.... Only to lose it again in the next game. Maybe Sorcery will be a skill tree, and you start at 0 and have the CHOICE to advance that skill tree as you gain levels?
Im another huge fan of witcher book series. Im glad some are excited about playing as Ciri, but im just not one of them. Ciri's story has been told, it has an ending. Its like Star Wars always dipping into the Skywalker saga when theres a whole other universe to explore. Give us a fresh story. Include Geralt and Ciri if you want to...but Ciri becoming a childless mutated witcher is such a bleak and disappointing continuation of her story. I agree she is a witcher in spirit but that made the rest of her life more interesting. An example being Bonhart recognizing that she had been trained at Kaer Mohren by her fighting style. Not a fan of middle aged Ciri being the main playable character and will probably not play this game
Would you say books are your favourite story telling medium? because that's what it sounds like. Mine is video games because I get both story and interaction. I only read the books after playing W1 and W2. And after finishing the books it was clear to me the games are definitely not canon lol (hint: Geralt, Yennefer, Regis). I personally dont need some super complex story justification, I just need SOME reason so that I can get to play this game and experience more dark, gritty stories in the witcher world.
I completely agree and I'm sorry people are being assholes lol. I did not want Ciri or Geralt. Their story is largely done, imo. There's still a prophecy, yes, but I just...don't care? I like the ending we have. I don't want to see Geralt or Ciri butchered to fit another game. I genuinely find the Witcher world and kore interesting outside of Geralt and his family. I want to see more of it, different times. When it comes out in a decade I'll see if it's good because I do enjoy the gameplay loop of the series and monster hunting, but I'm not hyped like I wojdl be with a game set before Geralt's time. A vesenir prequel before the Pogrom? Or even earlier?
With Avalach being the villain, triple twist, many worst villains rise with that conjunction going sideways or another conjunction, Ciri decides to end her bloodline at herself..and also a chance of loosing her powers so it can't be misused (but days and night shall pass while blood remains same, destiny can't be changed) Conjunction requiring new witchers & with new school lynx...they can make it safer....this is perhaps best foundation..we will see.
I have sort of a headcannon theory that following the lifepaths as it is in cyberpunk each has a specific reason for ciri deciding to undergo the trials and motivations for life afterwards. Good ending lifepath could be her getting lethally poisned by a monster or some faction/monster wanting or using the elder blood does something that forces her to undertake the trails as a last resort (maybe the elder blood got currupted or taken?) Hell maybe even ciri makes a deal to remove the elder blood but that deal causes problems or directly leads to her undergoing the trials. And now she seeks revenge on the diety that did this to her, she wanted to be a witcher her own way but was forced into a trial.Her becoming queen could be an assasination attempt or some magical way of takening the elder blood and simmilarly as a last resort, maybe willingly undergoes it voluntarily to save her life, and is now going on the waarpath towards nilfgaurd to reclaim her throne, or bare minimum take revenge on those (figurativley or litteral monsters that put her in that position), 3rd ending, maybe the monster lifepath or something is where, after certain events or visons during that unknown time where she doesnt appear and is assumed dead or failed (and maybe she did) and monsters kill geralt and many of her friends she goes out of her way to undergo it (maybe now that she lost her elder blood or the powers from the events at the end of the bad ending), as a way to get stronger to kill more monsters and maybe redeming herself. Idk i do hope for lifepaths and maybe like the previous games importing saves would have some lifepath effects and lore ramifications. Sorry for wall of text just wanted to put my hope out there lol
I think this is probably the most fair and reasoned analysis on this topic. I was somewhat indifferent to the reveal that Ciri was going to be the protagonist, in part because at least in the Witcher 3, she doesn't crack my top 10 favorite characters. Her becoming a Witcher when it was only ever successfully done on boys was another oddity (even though her Elder Blood can basically be written to do anything the writer wants), and the bigger thing that few are talking about (I'm glad you mentioned it) was that why she would feel the need to even become a witcher when her elder blood abilities make her outclass basically everything. I don't have the quote but there is a line from the books that describes Ciri as not a witcher, or a sorceress, but something unique to herself. Another thought I had was that I didn't want her powers being gimmicky abilities to fight monsters with, but then I saw a real rewrite of history. IGN's instagram comments (as well as Twitter/X, RUclips, Reddit, and other places) are full of people blatantly lying, such as the ones you quickly debunked in your video, but also ideas that "the whole point of the Witcher 3 was to have Ciri replace Geralt" which isn't close to being true, or that the Ciri sections were the best sections of the Witcher 3's base game. If people just said, "hey happy to play as Ciri again" I honestly wouldn't care, maybe I'd even agree. But this total rewriting of history and what the game is actually about screams that this is now a cause for tourists. I've even seen people say that the whole Witcher trilogy/book series is about Ciri taking over Geralt's role, which isn't the case, but maybe their only exposure to this world is the Netflix show. I was more looking forward to either a Witcher game set in the not so distant future or distant past, with an character that could be better defined by the player (maybe something like Commander Shepard from ME). I would also be fine playing as another witcher from the series but I understand that Eskel/Lambert would probably be unpopular. I also do not think this trailer was the best way to introduce the idea of Ciri being a Witcher (my favorite trailer is still the Witcher 2 boat attack) and in this current climate of lackluster game reveals, it often feels that the reveal that the character is female is meant to be the hook for certain people and a signal to leave for others (see Ghost of Yotei trailer). Tl;dr I was indifferent at first but the insane lore-smashing history-redefining support this choice made ticked me off. I really hope you are right and I think the idea that you posited about Ciri undergoing the trials to runaway from her destiny is a great concept. I just hope CDPR feel the same and didn't just do that to get Ciri to play more like Geralt.
Trying to run away from her destiny - which she did her entire life including in the Witcher 3 until she stopped running and fought back - would still not be a good enough reason to contradict the entire lore of the Witchers, the Witches, the trial and her character. She wouldn't be able to go through this process even if she wanted to. Geralt and the Witches would never willingly help her attempt this process.
@@rpgadventurer32 I’ve seen all sorts of comments from that Geralt and the others actually would allow it, to she’s just went behind their back to another Witcher school and adults can undergo the trials even though the fragment of one was nearly fatal to avalach. We shouldn’t have to justify the writer’s choices.
Just make a Siri Standalone game ,dont call it "Witcher 4" since we are not playing the Witcher we know and love That is the thing i dont like personally, whatever in game reason they give for her to fit that title, Id much prefer for them to give her her own spotlight
This argument is dumb. Should Red Dead Redemption 2 not have been called Red Dead Redemption because you don't play as John Marston like you did in the first one?
@prossnip42 no,the difference is the Witcher 1 2 and 3 set a pattern and a good one, anyway if you want an argument imagine calling a game "Batman" but you play as robin and batman is on the siedline
@@Gogsi90 Again, your argument is non existent. The latest Half Life game was still called Half despite the fact that you play as Alyx and Gordon doesn't even show up in the game till the very end
This is the first video I'm ever watching by you but I have to say, thank you for making this and putting this whole "controversy" into a more objective light.
At this point, I feel the ciri in witcher 3 and 4 have nothing else common other than their name. Seems like CD Project red is trying to recreate the character.
Look at the circumstances, she was constantly hunted and forced into a defensive position in Witcher 3, not able to develop further until the end of the game and still young. In the books she was always a lot more emotional and did some ugly stuff, so it is definitely in character to be ruthless when the situation drives her to be. Lore wise the Ciri from the current trailer, is actually far more near the original. Also we do not know how much time has past. It's quite possible that this scene happens 50+ years after Witcher 3 in theory at least.
@@AMnotQ I don't hate the new possible characterization though! It's the logical step for the franchise. Books end at Witcher 3. Ciri doesn't have any major threats. Based on the trailer it seems like she's a bit more mature now. So the old ciri that was stubborn, reckless and always on the run from threats, most likely changed. So she's a new person or at least in a new phase of her life.
i don't know why they corner themselves with the Ciri as a witcher that went through the trials story when they could simply nerf her elder powers a bit and make her a witcher mixed with her elder blood powers .Maybe she is going to do the trials and loose some of her power doing the trials ? Outside of that i don't see any possible and believable scenario where Ciri successfully finishing the trials and becoming witcher .Also if you remember in Witcher 3 during the novigrad quests when u are doing quests for that circus people to steal some horses Ciri said many times she wish she could get rid of her elder blood powers and have normal life .
Except that she would never be able to get rid of them. They are part of who she is. Turning her into a full Witcher doesn't make sense for her character.
@@rpgadventurer32 Yep and that is the only worry i had watching that trailer and for the rest i am just hoping than they can make her character believable ...somehow .
I've thoroughly hated the discourse on both sides of this discussion because both sides seem to be spouting nonsense. This is a good levelheaded take. I also think the biggest hill to overcome here with this game's narrative is the reason she became a Witcher in the first place because of how much of a down grade it is to her elder blood so, fingers crossed cd project red has a good script.
I think this whole lore thing is misdirection. The fact of the matter is that Ciri already had her power progression established in (and before) The Witcher 3, she is a Source and was starting to master that path, with all her pale aqua-colored speed-force abilities and whatever else. The idea of having Ciri continue down that (obvious and natural) skill tree was admittedly intriguing to me, but CDPRINO decided to downgrade her into a Mutant instead. Added to the fact that there isn't a single trace of her personality left (apart from the sanctimonious nagging, which is now grating instead of charming), and i could not have identified this character as Ciri if not for the scar and white hair.
IIRC the Trail of the Grass had a lot to do with hormones, and hormonal households between boys and girls are different worlds. One would hardly expect something developed for boys would work the same on girls. Whether Ciri might even be affected by the chemicals of the Trial of the Grasses at all remains to be seen. She drank from the Waters of Brokilon--which is how the Dryads turn girls onto new Dryads--and she simply said it was tasty water - no affect what-so-ever. Geralt thought Eithné--the queen of Dryads--was playing a trick and drank from the water himself and was immediately thrown into a psychedelic trip, as if he'd taken LSD. The Wiki describes the Waters of Brokilon as "a psychotropic, mutagen-containing substance which can turn human girls into dryads". So if the Waters of Brokilon have no affect on Ciri, one might on expect the Trial of the Grasses chemicals to have as little affect. On the other hand, the mushrooms the Witchers in Kaer Morhen and White Gull did have affects on her, but maybe because they are purely biological in nature. CDPR can twist and turn the story any which way they want. They have purchased that right from Sapkowski, but only as CDPR-Witcher-lore. The one thing I keep thinking about is Ciri's power over time and space. Basically by the end of TW3 she had complete control over it, ergo could blink out of the current time and place to blink back in to anywhere at any time, just like in the trailers for the Gwent stand-alone game where, when being attacked from behind she simply vanishes in and instant and then reappears directly behind her attackers less than a second later. Who needs Witcher abilities when you are the master of time and space? It's like the difference between 'I have a box of matches' and 'I have a nuclear power plant'. It will be interesting how CDPR deals with that, if at all. They might simply ignore it as if it never existed, or that after Cir returned from Tor Gvalcha, where she entered to fight the White Frost, she suddenly had lost her powers over time and space, which would be a huge twist in the lore of the books, which never spoke about the powers being dependent on the White Frost. We will see.
I never played the witcher so I have no skin in this game, but dont be surprised when gamr studios let you down as a huge fan of bioware watching dragon age and mass effect be destroyed after decades was heart breaking.
Still doesn't fit well with me. 'Female Witcher'. Especially when women in that universe have an upper hand over men when it comes to Magic abilities. I would have played the game if she was NOT a Witcher but just as someone on an adventure through different worlds and time, just like in the books!
When is it in any way stated, that women are better at magic? The reason we mostly see sorcerecess in the books and games is because of the Lodge of Sorceresses, who have a connection to both Yennifer and Ciri. There are a lot of male mages, Vilgefortz is still one of the strongest characters in the series, who can get rid of almsot immortal higher vampires and who managed to completely break Geralt with just his physical ability alone (granted he had a magical steel staff).
@@TheKarabanera and to your point, it would have made more sense for Ciri to be like Vilgefortz considering her magical potential, talent and training as a Witcher lends to her being similar in capabilities. But for her to trade that just to be slightly stronger than a man and cast meagre magic is surely a downgrade don’t you agree?
@@RodgerSkelton Why would Ciri cares about more power? Like do you even understand Ciri's character? She wants to get rid of her power, the power that a constant reminder of someone close to her suffered or death like Vesemir.
Glad to see someone go into more details about what is actually in the books. I've read the books twice and was nearly positive that it was never established anywhere that women couldn't become Witchers. And while the internet has been very confident about it not being possible, nobody has actually cited anything beyond, "It's somewhere in the books, I swear." For why Ciri becomes a Witcher, I have a guess... we don't know how exactly she stopped the White Frost and/or new conjunction of the spheres. It's entirely possible that doing whatever she did cost or greatly reduced her elder blood abilities, and CDPR has already come out and said she won't have her super OP abilities in the new game. If she lost those abilities but was still committed to becoming a Witcher (maybe feeling responsible for anything that came through in that new conjunction?), I can totally see her strong-arming Geralt, Yenn, Trish, and company with, "I'm hunting monsters no matter what... you can either help me become a true Witcher to give me a better chance, or I'm going to go out there with my bare minimum amount of Witcher sword play and magic skills I know and we'll just have to hope that's enough."
Another problem is that it is often mentioned that it doesn't matter what Geralt wants, it matters what Ciri herself would like to, because she is "strong, independant". Yeah, like she will do the Trial by herself. To conduct the Trial of the Grasses - you have to have a whole bunch of people who actually know what they're doing. It's not enough that Ciri says: "I wanna go through the Trial...".
I expect to get those answers from the game. All we have is a trailer yet, way too few infos to judge about why and how. I just hope we don't get another Joel situation with Geralt.
Ciri could take on monsters without doing the trial they just forced it so we could still use potions in the game. All this bending over backwards to make it lore friendly is kinda funny.
I think Ciri taking the trial makes complete sense for her character and doesn't break the lore at all. She has elder blood so her being the rare surviving girl of the trials makes sense and if Yennefer and Triss were involved in recreating the trial they could've improved it to a point the survival rate was much higher than the past trial or even made a trial that would work specifically for her. Her elder blood is still very much in effect and she is tapping into it when she is manipulating the water and it's reacting to the witcher potions with the way her eyes changed color too. If anything the mutations have only made her more op. Whatever the explanation is Ciri is the one character that can be an exception to what's been established already without it breaking Lore completely.
Didn't you not watch the video? The lore breaking part or at least the "makes no sense" part is Ciri is already more OP than witcher, it makes no sense for her to risk her life to gain something not that valuable Imagine you have already learned master level abilities, and you think its logical to risk your life to learn intermediate level abilities. Just because you think with the help from Triss and Yennefer, the success rate COULD be higher but how do you know that if you are the first subject? Without that knowledge that it could be higher, why would you even want take that risk? Honestly, if they make a new series centered around Ciri with her own character and elder blood abilities that have already been established, people would be far more accepting of the direction of it
@shikyokira3065 I was going to explain it but my comment was already long af but the reason it makes sense for her character is she would go that far to separate herself from her elder blood identity if it meant she was creating her own like he mentioned in the video, its 100% a decision she would make. She's already arguably made more life risking decisions (blindly going into a completely different dimension to stop a blizzard simply because she has a certain blood type). We also don't actually know the reasoning, so it could've been a necessity for her like a sickness or there's still 3rd party's looking for her and her using her power would act as a beacon for people to go after her so becoming a witcher let's her rely on something else other than her elder blood. What I think happened though is she fully embraced her power but something happens between games that makes her turn away from it and she becomes a fully mutated witcher because of that event and she goes off and starts her own witcher school and hides who she is so thats why she's not flashing her elder blood magic in the trailer.
@@dexter1009 I think you are missing the point of risk and reward. Just because she has done something more risky before does not mean she should take all kind of risky things even if the reward is very small
@shikyokira3065 like I said the circumstances of why she decided to go through with it and who helps her do it will be important but the decision itself is very much a direction she would go if it made sense to her is what I'm saying. I'm also saying if she did the trial and her side effects were completely different from past witchers or she didn't even experience any negative ones like loss of emotion or still being able to have kids it's not directly breaking lore because of how different she is.
@@dexter1009 What you are doing is stretching the lore. "Because she is special in 1 thing, we can pull any kind of exceptional card on her" is basically what you are doing Exceptionalism can be lore breaking depending on how you use it. If anyone can be the exceptional case anytime I want and its obvious that its always towards 1 direction, the term is "plot armor". What you know how "annoying" plot armor can get depending on how far it is being pushed You are also banging on "It might not make sense now, but trust me, everything will be made sense once the game is out". This is by far the weakest argument. Why would you want to make large part of your own fan base more confused about the game instead of more excited about the game with a marketing material like a trailer?
The best way game or movie makers can keep people happy with the sequels is to give us option to choose main character , man or female. These days you should be free to choose who you want to be main character.
YES if any woman can become a Witcher it would be Ciri because she is special with her Elder Blood. Ciri is the Lady of Space & Time. Meaning she's already more powerful than a Witcher. Why you'd nerf her by making her go through the trials is crazy to me.
There's no indication Elder Blood makes you physically stronger or would somehow give you better resistance to surviving the trials. If anything it seems to cripple your affinity for anything magical except for the powers it provides.
I don't think Ciri is necessarily looking to get stronger by going through the trials is the thing- she values independence and freedom over so many things, including her elder blood powers. Wouldn't she gladly welcome a "nerf" if she's giving herself a chance to really escape fate? Plus it would be really cool to see that blood slowly resurge within her
@@gamerdudegamerdude4961 more like ciri wants to be sterile so people stop trying to rape her all the time. she hates her elder blood and powers, she wants them gone
changing voice actors probably has nothing to do with how old her voice sounds. Doing this withcer trilogy means theres got to be a like 8 -10 years commitment , that will for sure involve a lot of mocaps, probably thats why they picked a closer in age actress that probably shares a lot of facial markers with the ingame character model.
We live in the era of outrage; the lines designating where extremism starts and moderation ends are blurred on both sides. At a certain point, no matter which side someone is one, they become the same in their outrage. It's interesting that he "ingrained a prejudice that he would never shake." The way it is read inferrs that there is something wrong with establishing prejudices in that context. He discovered that the mutation just outright kills Women: Why would he ever attempt it again on a Woman if the goal is to create Witchers and Men have a success rate?
I am so excited for them to finally explore the deeper trauma of Ciri`s character, the last third of W3 just makes her out to be "shes the chosen one princess that doesn't want to be a chosen one princess" which is a lot more boring than the much darker charcter she is in the books. I also dont understand why they made the white frost a magical thing that Ciri has to stop in the game, its supposed to be an inevitable thing in nature that will happen in the books, they should have gone with the original planned ending in that regard. I also wonder if CDPR will explore the more metatextual stuff from the books, like the stuff with Nimue and the fact that stories will change depending on who is there to tell or remember them
Ciri acting as a Witcher? I’m alright with that. It fits both book and game Ciri and her devoted love of Geralt and the Wolf school boys. Ciri getting the Trial of the Grasses? Ehhhh… not the best idea imho, just because she’s already got a set identity and skill set. Still hopeful for this game, I’m not inherently against anything that’s been shown so far.
Bro the Witcher is just a killing machine, like a walking corps, ripped of his humanity and many things. Ciri is much more, she has the elder blood, she has extremely powerful magic, she is kind, she is caring, who the fuck think reducing her to a mere Witcher is a good thing ? Or did politics already kill people's minds to this point ?
There's no issue with Ciri deciding to hunt monsters, since she's far more powerful than any Witcher, but the idea that she'd subject herself to a massive risk to life and health to downgrade her abilities is nonsensical. It's like telling Superman if he lets a kryptonite irradiated arachnid bite him, there's a 70% chance of death, a 29% chance of going mad/being crippled, and a 1% chance he could develop Spiderman's powers.
It's an interesting situation for sure that the devs decided to make Ciri into a full fledged Witcher. I just hope writers get the lore right to make sense of it, even if it has been hinted plenty of times that she was special enough to become a Witcher, if this is not approached with care, the ball may be dropped. However, I wasn't too fond of the trailer, because it just looked like devs, sorry for my french, busted their load before doing some proper foreplay. Ciri becoming a Witcher should be part of the story and not something you just reveal for the brand recognition like her wielding two swords, drinking potions, having cat eyes, etc. Devs just removed part of the mystique of her character development after W3... Imagine if Infinity War trailer just spoiled Thanos' snap, half of the intrigue would just evaporate into nothing. It's like "yea yea, Ciri was destined to become a Witcher, let's just get this over with, here she is as a Witcher, now clap"
Thing is, Cirilla is "the lady of space and time" overpowered as shit, you dont need witcher mutations when you can do what she does, specially in the games lol.
This is abt WHAT Ciri wants tho. You guys think abt it in simple video game terms ''omg she is imba why would she want to be weaker now ?'' maybe bec everybody still hunts her for her elder blood
Lovely video as always - I love your, very thorough, takes and consideration to source material! I saw an interesting quote on the mutation part from an IGN article: “That was a huge thing for us, to make that call [to mutate Ciri], not only for her, but for the game,” explains Małgorzata Mitręga, The Witcher 4’s executive producer. “But then it's so important and still leaves so much space for imagination, like when it happened, how it happened. It's just a tease showing something, but you don't know where you will experience it and how in the game. I think it's a huge change and I hope people did not expect it.” So it’s really interesting if they make it a part of the game itself!
For me it's not the issue of "Girl protagonist", or "girls can't be witchers too" but it's Ciri becoming a witcher in more than titular sense: she's so much more in many ways and already is considered by many a witcher, so what appears to be a shoehorning her character and story into basically "coming of just another witcher" is, I think, lame and reminiscent of WH40K Custodes situation. Running away from her destiny I don't think really works either, as she seemed to already came to terms with that at the end of The Wild Hunt. I'm looking forward to more detailed explanation than none at all, given in trailer breakdown. Still, controversy around Witcher 4 "Franchise & Lore Designer" comments on fanbase is... Concerning. PS: Speaking about darkness - it does seem a bit weird to me how Ciri who not only traveled multitude of worlds, seen a lot of that darkness and been on "the dark side" herself for a while, wouldn't figure that between fear for their lives and archaic way of thinking, villagers would do something extreme. I mean, she even, originally, lost her adoptive parents to a bunch of angry peasants.
Like, is there really no way to sterilize a woman in the Witcher universe without a less than a coin's flip chance of survival, permanent maiming, or debilitating psychological damage? What if Ciri survives the Trial, but pretty much loses the ability to defend herself or even survive by herself, e.g. she becomes catatonic, blind, or paralyzed from nerve damage. Wouldn't that be an even riskier situation concerning her prophecy? She's plenty powerful and capable enough already without taking such a dumb risk. And honestly, if you're sooooo concerned about the fate of the world, you might as well just detonate a a few grapeshots next to your head and save the world. Or does lore state that if Ciri dies, the bad guys win or something?
Finally, a video about Gwent's new upcoming expansion
Apparently there’s a game that comes with it but who cares GWENT TWO BABY
There needs to be a Ciri vs Geralt Gwent match in the game or I'll cry. Actually, I'll cry either way. But one is of happiness and joy, the other is of sadness and despair.
@@LeleiTheTigress papa Geralt gives his precious collection of gwent cards to ciri when she visits 🥹🥹
@LeleiTheTigress there should be a quest where you battle insane gwent masters in order and every time you defeat one they allow to fight the next one until finally they reveal geralt is the final gwent master. Would go so hard.
Finally someone who understands witcher lore 😂
I'm going to skip this if they can't handle this piece of lore correctly: Geralt must be the final boss of Gwent 2. Canonically speaking my addiction to TW3 gwent means he is the greatest gwenter on the continent. Don't mess this up CDPR.
Same. I really hope there will be some kind of qwent tournament with a secret final opponent, and when you manage to get to the finals its revealed that its Geralt. 😂
That would be such a fun ending.
It'd be a pretty based take if Ciri doesnt want to have children so she becomes a Witcher because she can't keep her legs closed. We'd probably get some Stellar Blade level armor skins in the game
Don't forget he's also the best fist fighter and the best jockey in all of the Northern Realms!
FR he should be a god-like gwent player 😂
It is nice to see a big voice in the Witcher community actually be thoughtful and reasonable instead of the usual misinformed or unstable people
I fucking hate that kind of people complaining about everything just from one damn teaser trailer, it's just insanity. In person, acting like that, would automatically put you into a fucking pscyh ward.
@@ImNotLuthien I swear, so many people claiming that the game will be 'horrible' and was 'ruined' by new hires from one singular trailer, that likely won't be in the game like many, many of TW3 trailers. People need to calm down, stop being angry for two seconds, and realize that this isn't even gameplay, and knowing CD Projekt Red, it will all be explained in an actually compelling way!
Plot twist. We get to make our own Witcher and ciri is vesimir role.
@@mundanephysics521 Doubt it.
@@mundanephysics521 "knowing CD Projekt Red, it will all be explained in an actually compelling way!"
Jesus you actually believe that.
This video perfectly sums up how I feel. Despite everything, my biggest question was, "HOW can CDPR justify Ciri deciding to become a witcher?" In my mind, I surmised the same thing that you did (and I'm someone who didn't read any of the books). I only played TW3.
Ciri literally spent her entire teen and young adult life running away from her fate, having to go into extreme isolation due to the destructive nature of her powers and because of her persuers, etc. It's understandable that she'd want to take her fate into her own hands and find a way to officially undergo the witcher mutations; possibly thinking that it would be a way to either greatly lessen or suppress her powers or get rid of them entirely, even if it meant there's a chance that she might not survive the necessary process.
Now, is Ciri really living a better life as a witcher? Being a witcher pretty much offers its own kind of isolation, dangers, sacrifices, and hardships. How is Ciri handling and navigating her new reality? Is she grappling with some newly found inner conflict? I'm intrigued by how CDPR can expand upon her character and create more nuanced intricacies. From what we've seen so far of her, this current Ciri is already a stark contrast from the Ciri we've known so far.
@@13BeachesInVenice take her fate into her own hands, like choosing to face the white frost?
DEI wokeness. What else would be the reason?
@@vincentlee7359witcher 3's best ending is having ciri become a witcher. The game set up ciri to become a witcher.
@@vincentlee7359 Bruh
@@vincentlee7359 grow up
“More Witcher 4 coverage in the coming DAYS” I’ll hold you to that Witcher
Days are still days, whether it is 3 or 730 of them, they're coming nonetheless 🙂
WEEKS! 😭, we need WEEKS 😢
Been waiting for your reaction to this
All I can say is I can't wait to play the Witcher 4, been thinking about replaying the Witcher 3 again for the 5th time I mean I think I have 650 hours of play time on the Witcher 3 so yeah I d say it's way past time for a new Witcher game
all the lore stuff and canon is quite irrelevant. this will be a bad game. because of the wuoksers and acticvysts.
they might even claim she is sterile . it goes well with modern women not having babies anymore🤣 you cant make this stuff up
@@nicechock F tier bait
@@nicechock Thank you for your very nuanced and constructive contribution.
The story in the trailer of the village girl being sacrificed because it's her destiny is a great parallel to Ciri's own story and helps raise the stakes for Ciri in this quest.
They also said it would be a playable side quest in the game, which makes so much sense. Side quests that draws parallels to the main story line are amazing and very CD Projekt Red
I didnt really like because it felt like a step down in darkness/brutality in comparison to a few of the previous game trailers. I thought the trailer idea was to pay homage to the original feel of the witcher i.e "killing monsters" and while I understand that I thought the witcher 3s trailer was better executed in dialogue as well as brutality as well giving a good insight in the world as well as characters(vesimir and geralt) while this one feels more basic in comparison.
@@benmangerere358 you would scream woke if it was ciri killing all those men just to save a poor girl in 'killing monsters'' geralt trailer
@@sillylittlesheepjax6009 I dont understand how you got to this conclusion nor what you mean exactly. Could you please explain?
It was the same side story in Witcher 3 when you fight an ancient Leshen
@@benmangerere358don’t pay attention to this guy, nothing he says makes sense. Literally everything he says is complaining about AnTi WoKe, whether your comment has said anything relevant to that or not. He’s just some DEI shill.
I've seen quite a number of videos on this issue and this is BY FAR THE BEST ONE YET....
FROM AN OBJECTIVE VIEW POINT!
Yeah so objective he's paid by a witcher ad. Do you know what the word objective means?
@@821lancevanceThe ad is for Naraka Bladepoint, it isn't a Witcher game lmao
To tie into your idea that the crux of this story could revolve around Ciri running from her destiny I really like the idea that Ciris Elder Blood is what allowed her to survive the Trial of the Grasses but as a result her Elder Blood powers have gone dormant and part of the plot is her needing to slowly reawaken her powers and by extension accept her destiny and the responsibility that comes with it.
This would be a great way to introduce an Elder Blood skill tree to the game and justify why she isn't as powerful as she was in The Witcher 3 as well as justify still needing to prepare for monster battles with potions, runes and oils for your swords, maintaining and upgrading your armor etc. This would allow for new magic and gameplay mechanics we've never had in these games before and still keep the foundation The Witcher has always had.
This could also be how we bring Geralt and Yennifer back into the fold too, Geralt can teach her more swordfighting styles and techniques (kinda like having different styles to use in The Witcher 1) as well as how to make more complex potions and Yennifer can teach Ciri new and more powerful spells as you level up and become stronger.
additional theory: game begins as normal Witcher without elder blood, but behind the scenes her elder blood is fighting the mutations and as game progress we unlock elder blood skill tree, God of war style like Kratos unlocking his old demigod powers, oh yeah the elder blood abilities could also be like Kratos's rage of the titans with limited bar meter
@AhmadWahelsa interesting, that's a cool way of depicting her destiny literally at odds with her current choices, like having good and evil at war within yourself which has always been important for these games, figuring out what the right choice is in a world that rewards evil and punishes good.
@@MrEffectfilms it could be similar to how the infamous games do it, where depending on if you chose good or evil your powers develop differently
@@AhmadWahelsa maybe even having two skill trees, the witcher and elder blood trees that lock the other out of some skills the higher up you go, possibly even replacing existing abilities. elder blood adds a passive health regen but makes you unable to drink swallow or other healing items, maybe even one that gets rid of witcher eyes and other features making NPCs more tolerant of your existence but you have a hard time actually convincing people you are a witcher when you really need to. The new main threat actively tracks and ambushes you in the open world but the witcher tree has an ability that prevents it at the cost of your dash ability.
@@memeaccount8095 This is definitely how I'd like progression to be handled especially if they plan on having progression carry over through each game in this new trilogy. For instance, if you choose to level up your ability to make stronger potions that make monster preparation easier you lock out Elder Blood abilities that deal more damage to monsters. Or if you choose to level up magic that allows you to dominate the mind you can avoid combat and even unlock new quests for yourself but this is more noticeable than if you were to use Axii which is more of a gamble but more discreet and as a result certain NPCs will be too afraid to talk to you. Blacksmiths could refuse your business entirely so you can't have them craft new weapons, herbalists won't let you buy or sell to them, and some Witcher contracts and Side Quests might be unavailable if the NPCs are too afraid.
I think you are right about Ciri. The developers have been posting coins as teases for the game. There's writing on one coin posted after the reveal that translates to "Days and nights pass and the blood remains the same." I think you are right on the idea of why Ciri wanted to do the trial to basically get rid of the elder blood, but as we'll learn in the game, the blood will remain the same. I've seen others have this same idea as well.
Except that she did get rid of it based on the trailer and the comments from the devs. You don't get it, they destroyed her entire character that was not only established in the books but also in their own games. Ciri would never go through this process willingly nor would Geralt, Yennefer or Triss would ever allow her character to do it.
@rpgadventurer32 did u watch the video?
@@rpgadventurer32 second book mentioned Ciri drank a potion but survives, thus leading her discovery about her elder blood i have a theory that game starts as Witcher Ciri without elder blood powers, but behind the scenes her blood is fighting against the mutation, and as game progress maybe we unlock elder blood skill tree, this trailer might be set just not far in the story campaign
@@AhmadWahelsa that's actually pretty interesting, I think BG3 did something similar with illithod powers, it works differently but the point is that you get an additional skill tree with effects the story.
She uses the elder blood abilitys in the trailer so😂
Thank you for ACTUALLY acknowledging the criticisms people have and being understanding of them. That's not as common as it should be.
while also calling out the people who just never paid attention
@@madelinemcmillan4020the devs said Witcher 4 will focus more on sexism, identity politics than previous games. CDPR has more DEI hires compared to a decade ago.
The devs on Twitcher preach "woke" nonsense and thats the lead designer
People liked the Witcher 3 because of the broad strokes- cool gruff guy slays monsters in a serious world and lays women. You and your ilk are gonna literally cry when no one wants to play as an old woman. Guaranteed to bomb. @madelinemcmillan4020
@@madelinemcmillan4020 Wasn't the point of contention that this is mainly a male series and due to the prevailing woke thought that is present that you need to insert a female in whatever successful franchise? Don't forget that is the reason people have a problem with it on top of witchers never being female.
Hey, Polish Witcher fan here. Fan of the channel also since like, 40k subs.
Your pronunciation of "Sapkowski" is pretty good!
How can their be Polish Witcher fans? It's an American IP. Piss off!
I almost hope the story is her discovering some problem that the witcher mutations will help fix/prevent, and that transformation is later in the game
Well, more than likely, considering this is years later, we might get lore talking about it, or her reminiscing about it with somebody in the story🤔
My theory is that among one of the many reasons is that she wants to be sterile and be free from the Elder Blood thing for good
Yeah, I agree-that would make the most sense. There needs to be a real necessity for her to undergo the mutations; otherwise, it just wouldn’t feel justified.
@benross9174nice idea if they use it in an lore accurately explain her mutations it will work, and as long as they keep the bullshit woke agenda
@@Weiswolfe Weis... what the fuck are you talking about?
Like you said, it's not about her not being able to become a witcher but her even considering this. First thing that crossed my mind when I saw her eyes was "What about the prophecy?". Her trying to escape it through mutations would be very interesting take and would love to see how it ultimately fails. Because we all know that destiny always wins.
She can't do it though. It doesn't make sense with the established lore about the trials both in the books and in the games. The Witches will never help her get sterilized they are against doing it in the books and the same is true for the Witchers.
She'll probably do it without them then@@rpgadventurer32
@@rpgadventurer32 Very easy to explain
Ciri: "help me through the trials and I'll teleport you to boob world."
Geralt: "say less."
@@rpgadventurer32 did you watch the video...
@rpgadventurer32 it's clear you haven't read the books. I guess you're also okay with the games lore changes too. This conflicts nothing, no Source ever took the Grasses. I'm sure if it was Alvin no one would give a damn
The reason Ciri went through the trial of the grasses is to become a childless cat lady
Partially, i would say another reason why Ciri wants to undergo trial of grasses, is because she hates elder blood and think it's curse and has brought her and others unimaginable suffering , and she LOVES being witcher, so she can give up on something she hates and become something she loves.
I think the story will be on the idea that Ciri diminish elder blood power as result of the trial of grasses, but it still remains and she can't change that and her fate remains same.
@@professorparadox795 Yen would never allow that
@@Shockazulu12 Who cares what Yen wants? Did you play The Witcher 3? A big part of Ciris story is breaking free from the control of other people. Her whole life has been about other people making decisions for her and she wants to be free to make her own.
@@Shockazulu12 Yep, and by "never allow" I don't mean "no dear, you can't have a stuffed unicorn for christmas", I mean "no, you need me to find the recipe, source the ingredients, perform the magical mumbo jumbo on the ingredients to make them suitable, recreate all the scientific and magic equipment to make the mutagens and decoctions because all the relevant equipment we know of is lost, rework, test, trial and then produce the mutagens to work for an ADULT WOMAN, THEN do the complex and lengthy creation of the mutagens for a working dosage... then actually administer it according to Witcher requirements which involves another Witcher (probably Geralt who would also say no)... THEN to nurse you through the lengthy, excruciating and debilitating mutation process because you wouldn't be able to feed/toilet/care for your own health during the process... so no, dear, I'm not doing it".
So yeah, "let her" may not be accurate in the most dumbed down sense, but refusal to participate basically equals "it isn't freaking happening". She may be special, but even Ciri isn't THAT special.
@@Johnspartan296So she decided upon a path where everyone dictates what she is going to do?
I'm gonna stress this: The key talents that had worked on Witcher 3 had left CDPR before Witch 4 even began production. So don't expect Witcher 4 to be as good as its predecessor. In fact, lower your expectations and expect changes that may divide the fanbase.
Dude, not sure if you saw the devs post on twitter about the other side of the coin and the translation of that text. Your last hypothesis is very likely to be right, even though she tried to suppress her elder blood its power still remains.
Who Posted it ? Can you pls tell me the acc Name. Want to read it
My biggest concern is why Ciri would want to undergo the trials as well.
Imagine using a power that at any given time you use it that you leave a trail that can be followed by powerful beings. I'll be honest, I would lose my fucking mind.
@@jasonjohnson1697 Imagine having a power that makes you stand on par with powerful beings and deities and instead wanting to become like Geralt.
Geralt is an outstanding Witcher, the best some may say, he is super powerful compared to humans; but he is nothing compared to both monsters, otherworld beings and "powerful beings" even comparatively to mages (like the one that mops Regis). Geralt is constantly complaining that he is doing a job, that admittedly he manages somehow through rather intellect and preparation like Batman some would say rather than power or pure skill. Now imagine knowing all this first hand as Ciri, and deciding: Yes, I want that.
There is no logic there, if she is scared, she can stop using them all together. If she is tired, she can square up AND SHE CAN COME ON TOP. Hell, the only promising thing to me about these games if they somehow justify the lore is that she can rise up to threats and existances no sane witcher would, or could, like the Elder One even Geralt showed a hint of fear despite supposedly lacking emotions.
Because she only heard good things about them from her mentors
@@jasonjohnson1697 That would actually make for an amazing game. Running away from powerful beings while slowly becoming more powerful yourself, and eventually taking on those beings. Damn.
@Raizan-IO You forget the most important thing in the Witcher universe: the elder blood is more of a curse to Ciri than a blessing. She always WANTED to become a witcher. Her elder blood powers have only brought her pain. Even if she can "use it against powerful enemies", the ENTIRE point of the saga is that Ciri doesn't want to become the lady of time and space. She wants to be a witcher.
And of course, there is a tragic undertone to all of this. It's called nuanced and complex character development.
Nice to see a sensible explanation. Good job man!
I really want to play a ciri game.. but I'm really sad that they've made Ciri into a clone of Geralt....
I really liked Ciris character in the witcher 3.. n she's clearly strong enough without mutations, stronger than Geralt even..
but in the trailer her looks, behaviour mimic Geralt way too much to a degree that it makes it look like she's lost all her individuality...
Ofcourse it was only a trailer, I hope the game doesn't do that
That I agree with
I don't think she felt that similar to Geralt here, I felt quite a lot of contrast actually, she seems to be still an impulsive, brave but assertive person, far more emotive than Geralt in almost all situations, which has seen it all as a seasoned veteran, but I do think there is a risk of her getting more similar throughout the game, as this feels like a young and hopeful witcher learning why the other witchers work the way they do the more she works and gain experience, it feels like the game will have her progress from impulsive to more mature and analytical, which then might steer her to being similar to Geralt
Yes... This!... I liked that she is a little bit more fragile but like you said she has her own powers due to her elder blood. They could've gone that route but no... they had to do the witcher thing. Then when I saw the trailer I first thought "Wow Ciri looks good and I like that she is dressed in Skellig Arm..... Oh nevermind it's not Ciri.." Then the Chin-Lady came and said something "cool" and it was a cringe fest for my taste and especially compared to the witcher 3 trailer.
I really thought at first that the druids arm her in a ritualistic way with the cool mistletow crown untill I realized it's not her. (Which would've been bad*ss and would've shown her connection with Ard Skellige, the druids and the "an Craite's"... I was expecting too much I guess.
Au contraire, the game director said the following in an interview;
“Geralt was famous for remaining neutral and as apolitical as possible when it came to the larger conflicts at play in the first trilogy of games. Those aren’t footsteps that Ciri necessarily wants to follow in, though. “She doesn't want to stay neutral,” Kalemba affirms. “She's way younger. She's still defining her own code and she's less pragmatic.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Mitręga: “I think that what makes her so special as a protagonist overall, [is that] she has so many layers, and the passion and engagement of being a witcher, but she wants to be the person that is always choosing a side. There is no neutral anymore in her. So this is a new path, right? And a new experience for the player as well.”
By the mid-point of the trailer, it’s clear that while Ciri has taken on a paying job, she’s motivated more by saving Mioni from a ritual sacrifice than she is the profit. “She's actually going to enter this cave,” explains Kalemba, talking of the cave where Mioni will be sacrificed to… something. “And that's the point of no return. At this stage, she knows that she's committed. ‘I go there and for sure only one character will survive.’”
“What's amazing about her is that she's not that well-defined”, Kalemba adds. “So we have this opportunity to let the player define her experience, this path, this journey. Since I can remember, we believed that for sure the next journey, the next saga belongs to Ciri as she's a super wide container for emotions, for the experience, for the journey.”
And as for the trailer, it’s very clearly an ode to the previous games.
My biggest thing they need to address is regardless of how brutal the trials may be, I want to see them from ciris perspective. I want to see how she survived them and what were the immediate repercussions of this, did she immediately lose her elder blood powers? She’s already very proficient with a sword so was she made a mutant and just immediately start slaying monsters? Is she part of the school of the wolf? Etc etc. all of this stuff I want to see be addressed throughout the story.
In an interview they said that the whole process of becoming a witcher is a part of the plot!
@ then I have no concerns! I also kinda figured they’d have to address these things no matter what in order for the game to make literally any sense at all. I just really hope they don’t kill off geralt for no reason.
Yeah, I'd imagine it'll probably be incorporated in a similar fashion to how they take you through Ciri's journey in TW3. It would be sort of insane to incorporate a skip like that where so much insane stuff must have happened and just not elaborate or let you see any of it
@@atyaatdsau13 more like forced diversity
I'd bet money it's the Rey approach. Shes just now a witcher killing monsters. No explanation. If modern games are anything to go by, she will probably hate geralt for some dumb reason. He will probably be the old pissy hermit who secluded himself.
Been waiting for your thoughts, was intrigued to see what you had to say. For myself, I’m super excited to play as Ciri
Hopefully she is a woman and not pretending to be something else
is all I would say...
That's because you suffer from autogynephilia.
Ciri is committed to the 4B movement.
good
Ciri as a witcher is problematic for one reason. Because it's a damn DOWNGRADE for her. She had immense power, power all the lodge was jelous of, mages, kings, elves, sages, everyone wanted HER powers and potential and then she's.... reduced to a witcher? I mean, witchers are not liked in this universe, they are outcasts, looked down upon, they risk their life for pittance and Ciri, who has a ROYAL backhround, had EDUCATION, has POWERS and she's like, eh, no, I'd rather choose the life of an outcast, I want to be a tattered vagabond, I want my "father's" life, I want to step in Geralt's footsteps (not that Geralt didn't complain about his life and being a witcher enough!) and boom, she's a fully developed witcher, now she can live her dream life of being spitted on, sleeping on the roadside and work for alms! Good job girl, your potential, powers, knowledge and importance in the world just flew out the window. That's why it's problematic. Her as a protagonist is obvious - her as a witcher is not. This way she's nothing more than a female Geralt honestly.
I am all for the idea of Ciri sterilzing herself to prevent her destiny. Especially once you take the Falka's Curse and the prophecy about the Destroyer into account. I mean knowing, that you'll be a mother of a man who will destroy the world may leave you a bit desperate. I guess some might say that there are less extreme ways of not having kids, but I guess becoming a witcher might be the most optimal from Ciri's perspective.
And I absolutely wouldn't be surpised if the sterilization process didn't work, because either Elder Blood is too strong, or something during the mutations got botched, either way Destiny goes lol, lmao on Ciri. Also, the romances have already been confirmed, just putting it out there.
I really hope that's the case. I really want to see this prophecy as a plot for the next Witcher games and If Ciri becomes infertile it 's all wasted.
@@Mrm-7799- If they let Ciri get pregnant it means one of the cis gendered heteronormative males actually got to put hands on her and that is so not happening in their game for “ a modern gaming audience.”
Nope! It’s sterilization and the Big Abby route for our Ciri because the male feminists at CD Projekt Red only know how to write that stoic wannabe man trope rather than writing an actual strong female character?
Just like they manwashed Lady Galadriel in Amazons Rings Of Power and turned her into GUYladriel another stoic male action hero.
hard to believe this is the reason tho, there are easier ways to get sterilised that don't involve in incredibly high risk of mortality, and Ciri couldn't even be sure that becoming a witcher would sterilise her at at all, given that there have been no previous female witchers.
Have the romances been confirmed?
@@ottopi4949 yes, here is what the Director said in an interview with gamespot: "It's a part of the way we make games. It is a part of human nature. It's a very normal thing. Without that I think we wouldn't be able to tell the very full story." His last sentence makes me hopeful that the prophecy is going to happen anyway.
Leaving a comment for the algorithm. Thank you for clearing this up, Neon! I've been binge watching your Witcher vids since 4 was announced.
FINALLY HE POSTED LFGGG
Just discovered your channel. This is great work. Been slowly reading the books over the past year or so, and you have inspired me to explore the Witcher universe in more depth.
I, for one, think that the way they are handling Ciri becoming a legitimate Witcher is a good one. I cannot imagine playing a whole game strictly as Elder Blood Ciri teleporting around in battle like you did in the Witcher 3. The move to bring her more to the legitimate Witcher side, while they will have to explain where that comes from, does seem to be a decent choice. It would be a sort of mood killer to play Ciri as she was in the Witcher 3, so it feels like a welcome change in my mind.
this is the most calm rational take I've seen on RUclips. good shit bro
because there's no anti-woke people here, it's peaceful... hear that? the sound of civil discussions?
I missed this 😢 Hearing everyone's POV on both the lore and how Ciri goes through the trials and what that means for the game is refreshing.
@@dr_diddy nah man they're here and it's insufferable 😆
yea he shuts down people who thinks there was always have been a witcheress 1:48 (woke people mindset) and people thinking that ciri shouldn't be the protagonist cause shes a woman (anti-woke mindset).
i like the idea that the witcher trials could be a way to stop her elder blood so she could try to prevent her destiny. i always thought it could either be Vesimer (making a prequel) or Ciri who would be the next protagonist once geralt retires.
@@dr_diddy Anti-woke people aka normal people.
@@dr_diddyThey're here allright. They're like the plaque, they'll always find their way to spread into every nook and crany to scream "DEI THE BIG BAD GAAAAYYY BLACK PEOPLE MADE MY WHITE WOMAN GAAAAAAY"
Not a fan of Ciri going through the trials, I would rather see her develop her own abilities and be a different type of pseudo-witcher. However, while watching your video I realized that Ciri can travel through space and time. If she learned to control the ability better, she could 1) go back to the creation of witchers to learn how to make them, and 2) go back to her younger self to apply the trials. 2 brings up sci-fi temporal issues, but it is a commonly used trope.
It would have made a lot more sense for her to be like Vilgefortz, because that mirrors the books, games and previous events better.
If she's already a witcher... why stress the issue with her going through the trials, potentially dying, and putting major emphasis on her being "an exception" because of her bloodline? It's a weak explanation and an unnecessary one. She's already powerful, witcher-trained and an honorary witcher by all counts. This way just created a rift in the fanbase for seemingly nothing.
Thanks for this video dude, I thought I was going crazy with the other videos on RUclips. I've been following you for years now, this channel is legit. Keep it up.
I never really cared whether or not Ciri was going to be a witcher or the new protag up until now. I was just indifferent. After this video, I'm actually interested and excited about it.
Now thinking more about possibility that Ciri is trying to "run away from destiny": that thing fails at stage, as early as second Witcher series book: "Time of Contempt".
In it Ciri and Geralt end up in Brokylon forest, one of the last bastions of the dryads. There dryads try to turn Ciri into one of them and give her "Waters of Brokylon" that turns girls (exclusively girls, btw) into dryads and... It had no effect. Furthermore it's strongly implied that who Ciri is and her destiny are the reasons for it.
The fact that essentially same ritual as "Trial of Grasses" not just failed - had not effect, makes this "Witcher Ciri" even more unlikely. Ciri and her destiny are just too OP.
Ciri becoming a witcher is a step down to her character in every aspect, she just self castrated her elder blood and is now in a dead end job. Even though Ciri's blood caused her issues sure but without it there was no way to combat the frost so even if she somehow depleted all her powers after stopping that calamity, isn't it stupid to destroy the only known power that can save humanity if this event happend again? This whole thing just feels off. Witcher series has showed us again and again that defying destiny will just make things worse for everyone around you, seems like ciri didn't learn from Geralts mistake.
Love you man. I look forward to alot to more, and a long journey together with the new game and all ❤
I really dig your whole approach here, especially undergoing the trial being something that helps Ciri fleeing from her destiny which she obviously has never really liked and from the power she possesses and is afraid of. I would bet on that, sounds like a perfect cdpr route
It's just ciri was already more powerful than a Witcher so what's the point? Am I imagining her saving the bloody baron or what? Or killing a werewolf in Witcher 3 and 2 of the crones?
bec she doesnt want to run anymore or everybody wanting to have her kid
@sillylittlesheepjax6009 bro ciri could kill just about anyone hunting her. No one could make her do anything. The whole point of Witcher 3 was for to stop running and face her destiny not to fear the future.
@@Sekiryuutei96 It's not solely about killing everyone who is after her, I imagine she would have a hard time with Wild Hunt, because she wasn't at her full potential, it's about her being on a run and losing independence, that she so highly values. Don't criticize the game, without even seeing the reasoning - we have seen but one cinematic.
@@sillylittlesheepjax6009 Who is she running from? The wild hunt is dead and she stopped the white frost.
@@BRR42922 wild hunt is just one small army force of elves they are still there, then u have northern kingdoms and nilfgaard, then u have mages that want to use her power like philipa, then u have yet to come new bad guys from witcher 4. Whole point for her is to stop fighting for her life and ppl close to her being a target for others
Looking forward to KCD 2 videos from you!
I really hope they bring Avallac’h back. His character arc was way too rushed. I really need them to explore Ciri’s heritage and Destiny more.
If Avallac'h will be back, I'm 99% sure he'll be a villain. Let's meet here in 2-3 years when the game will be out and we'll see if I'm a prophet.
@@panpawe9738 I hope so.
@@panpawe9738in the 2012 version of the story, Avallac'h was a boss fight
@@moonknightish yup, I know - that's one of the reasons I think he might have a bigger role to play.
I hope Tir Na Lia is explorable this time
Thank you so much for being incredibly reasonable. I was looking forward to you comment on this and was not disappointed!
He wasn't being reasonable he was being generous. They didn't say it couldn't be done is basically the answer but remember the contention is that this is a male series with only male witchers and also this modern ideology that every successful franchise needs a female counterpart against fans wills most times. Although if these female characters didn't fail so often then there wouldn't be much resentment.
@@5SecondsOfFrame It has nothing to do with a "modern ideology" tho, the only reason "female protags" fail isn't cuz of the fact that they're a woman, it fails because of bad writing. Or is Ripley from Alien somehow part of this "modern ideology," or Samus from metroid?
She had her own powers why would they ruin that and make her a Witcher it's a huge missed opportunity
What powers? Her screaming really loud?😂
@scubasteve3032 her blood gives her un explored powers they could of went with that
@@austinhendrick7128 hopefully they do explore and develop her character rather than just making her a Mary sue.
@@scubasteve3032 exactly bro all I'm saying why make her just another Witcher she is unique why ditch that
Another point is that the "trail" to become a dryad with the use of the Water of Brokilon failed because Ciri's "fate" was to strong to be changed why would the witcher process fair any better?
Making ciri as main protaganist will go badly for cdpr
I’m super invested in Ciri after trying to save her for 250+ hrs (rookie hrs still I know). I’m STOKED to be playing her - as long as they make it make sense with the lore. I hope it will have something to do with her travelling to different worlds or timelines. I also hope she’s building a new Witcher school with Geralt. CPDR made my favourite game of all time - I trust them.
If it took you 250+ hours to finish The Witcher 3 I don't think you even qualify as a rookie.
You are such a breath of fresh air and voice of reason around all this. Instant sub.
Speaking as a complete newbie in the Witcher world (I’ve only gotten thru The Last Wish and the W3 game)
It’s funny that this video popped up in my feed. I started W3 again today. I noticed in the beginning when Ciri is training by herself….Vesemir and Geralt are talking. Vesemir says something along the lines of “She’s got to train if she is to become one of us”
That’s not verbatim but he does say “if she is to become one of us”
With all the outcry about Ciri in W4 going on, I saw in that moment that CDPR definitely had opened the door to her becoming a Witcher.
Once again, I’m a newbie. I plan of getting into more of the books in 2025
I'm not even done with this video and I already appreciate it. This is what I have been debating the whole time and getting, well nasty responses.
To me it just seems like being a Witcher is a step backwards. It's like Batman raising Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) and she takes golden kryptonite (forever losing her powers) to be Batwoman.
I always saw her as being more powerful and exceptional than a witcher. It just seems like they took Ciri, and instead of exploring her as she was and her power, they just made her a female Geralt. Her personality, characters, powers, ability, and everything that set her apart is just replaced with Geralt's personality, characters, powers, ability.
She doesn't seems a special anymore, she's just another witcher. So I'm just disappointed by it.
I undestand your point, but i think we need to play the game first to know if she is just female Geralt
according to the video not being special anymore could be ciri's goal
@@BiomechanicalBrickthen the writing is going in a bad direction. You guys seem to think this is real life or something. People are writing this terrible continuation of her character.
@@Rodrigo-n4o going in a bad direction? the witcher 3s story wasnt good
Where the hell do you guys get the "same personality as Geralt" meme?
On top of the fact that it is just a 6 minute trailer, she was way angrier, emotional and prone to action than Geralt was ever shown to be in the games. Is it because of the "monsters" line? Even that was said with a different tone.
I hope Gaunter O’Dimm makes an appearance!
isnt he like bannend from the human world for thousands years or something dont remember exactly
@@MountAverage28 I think he only got banned from seeing Geralt and Olgieird😂 also his final words were: "I can't be killed, I will be back." I really hope to see him in The Witcher 4
He was an excellent character. I hope so too
kinda overdone imo
I hope he's romanceable. "I can fix him".
worth pointing out in the end of witcher 3 when ciri visits gearalt at corvo bianco she mentions killing a garkin and drinking black blood. idk if black blood is less toxic though
Except that she's not a full Witcher at that ending. She has her green eyes and teleportation powers intact. She's the same Ciri.
@@rpgadventurer32 Still drank a potion. :) Clearly that already kind of implies that her body can handle toxicity, maybe tied to her Elder Blood somehow.
Yea a LOT of people forget this part
Idk why anyone thought we weren't getting ciri as the next protagonist
black blood basically turns your blood highly acidic as we see in the blood and wine trailer where geralts blood drop hisses on the ground and dissapear.
@@bolg892 What it really implies, is that someone on the writing team made a mistake. Which is relevant to the topic -- I think it's healthy not to expect Witcher 4 to be consistent with either the books or the previous games. With the latest book, it turns out even Sapkowski can't keep some things straight (two swords on the back). Whenever there's a sequel (prequel, sidequel, whatever), lore shifts.
11:55 exactly, it almost seems like a reverse step for her since she’s always been exceptional. She was almost portrayed as beyond the need for the trials.
I was so excited for ur video!
They can definitely combine all the endings with something big like Avalach being The villain and conjunction...
Finally, somebody being reasonable and knowledgeable.
When it comes to why somebody already powerful like Ciri wants to be a post-Trials Witcher, with Elder Blood and unimaginable power, is as you stated by @13:00 point, it's her Elder Blood, and also the fact that she, albeit rebellious, wants to be a Witcher. She's admired the Witchers of Kaer Morhen, Geralt the most, whom she looks up to the most, and i think that she has always wanted to escape her Elder Blood and choose a life for herself.
Witchers travel, they hunt, they kill. They solve problems and get paid.
Ciri's life as a Witcher looks like freedom a opposed to one with her Elder Blood; constantly running away, always hunted, wanted to be bled dry just because of your ancestry. She would be the problem, and others paid to hunt her down.
It's a life she never wanted, nor asked for. She was born in to it, likely resents it. And even in Witcher 3, couldn't realistically control those powers either. I mean, she could, but only to a degree. And it made her a huge target when she did use them. The Wild Hunt sniffed her out every time she cast a spell. Who's to say others can't? Why would she want to be trapped and hunted like she had for 24 years of her existence? And if not to alien races, then to her royal lineage either.
No. She wants to choose a life for herself. To do something she actually feels is noble. And maybe, though this is speculation on my part, maybe she also wants a bit of revenge on the invading races. A Witcher lifestyle, mutations and all, solves every single one of her problems. And it's something, a lifestyle, that she has looked up to and admired before she was even 10.
Thank God, I’ve been waiting for this. Thank you NK for all your work.
I like the idea of her being the new protagonist I despise the idea of her undergoing the trial it's going to be a very hard thing to sell to Me.
You may be able to disregard the how, and the ungodly low chances of success and just focus on why but I can't.
Yep, same. I'm I'm so, SO tired of this "oooh you don't know Ciri/you aren't a 'real' fan/you don't know the lore/you're sexist blah blah blah..." BS too. Yes I know the lore, I was reading the books before a lot of these kiddos were born. I know the TTRPG is (in 2024) far more respected now and considered "new canon" just like the games in a lot of circles (including - obviously CDPR or they wouldn't have made Ciri the protag)... I have no issue with them bending the lore to suite the needs of their games...
But FFS don't mess with existing beloved characters to do it!! I'm so effing tired of games and TV/streaming studios doing this! Write your own damn IP if you want to do this shite, stop messing with existing characters and world states! There's a difference between bending the lore and smashing it to bits 😔
I love how everyone has conveniently forgotten that after W3 the devs literally said "the next witcher protagonist will be chosen by the players... will not be a character we have already met... will be from a different point in time to Geralt". The OG writers and devs did NOT say "Ciri will be the next protagonist". They DID heavily insinuate it would be a custom protag though.
thank God this is not game fo' u bud.
The big question would be WHY would Ciri undergo the trial of the grasses? She's already trained in Witcher combat and was already way stronger in magic use than any witcher. And undergoing the trial of the grasses having a high probability of straight up killing her, it's just a very stupid choice. It's a whole lot of risk for not really any meaningful reward. She was already noticeably more powerful than Geralt in Witcher 3.
Have you seen the video? He literally talks about this and the possible reasons for it.
And this is from an interview on IGN:
“That was a huge thing for us, to make that call [to mutate Ciri], not only for her, but for the game,” explains Małgorzata Mitręga, The Witcher 4’s executive producer. “But then it's so important and still leaves so much space for imagination, like when it happened, how it happened. It's just a tease showing something, but you don't know where you will experience it and how in the game. I think it's a huge change and I hope people did not expect it.”
11:55 Ciri would choose to undergo the trials of the grasses to relinquish her elder blood. Her exceptionality is precisely what has caused her and so many around her pain and suffering. She has been chased and manipulated her entire life because she is literally the product of an interdimensional war-ravaging race of elves and power hungry maniacal mages. Why WOULDN'T she want to relinquish her curse and become a Witcher?
After what looks like a decade time skip shouldn't Ciri be chilling in King Arthur's Court? That aside, whatever powers the Trial gave her seem to be a major downgrade. You go from basically teleporting around dashing from one mob to the next to pretty standard combat with a few spells thrown in.
The games take place AFTER the books. In the Witcher 1, Geralt wakes up with amnesia after having been pitchforked by a peasant and dying (or being implied to have died) in the books. That's where his story ends in the books. He's stabbed by a mob while trying to stop a pogrom. So, Ciri going away with Galahad in the books ALSO took place BEFORE the Witcher 1. I would assume that maybe she came back. Maybe the Wild Hunt found her in Camelot and she had to go on the run again.....which is when we see her in Witcher 3.
@@PaulLefebvre At any rate, again Ciri's powers seem to be a major downgrade from the Witcher 3.
@colpul2103 tbh I think thats a good thing. Ciri would have been very OP if she would still have her teleportation abilities at the start of w4
@@MissSimsalot I can see that from a game mechanic perspective, but from a story perspective that is a big plot hole. Maybe they address it in game? Like she lost access to her Elder Blood magic and that's why she is using the normal magic she swore off. Still, it would have been a more consistent narrative to buff the monsters/antagonists than to remove or her powers.
@@colpul2103 Keep in mind that Geralt loses all his powers at the start of EACH Witcher game and then you spend the game advancing his skill tree as you gain experience.... Only to lose it again in the next game.
Maybe Sorcery will be a skill tree, and you start at 0 and have the CHOICE to advance that skill tree as you gain levels?
Im another huge fan of witcher book series. Im glad some are excited about playing as Ciri, but im just not one of them. Ciri's story has been told, it has an ending. Its like Star Wars always dipping into the Skywalker saga when theres a whole other universe to explore. Give us a fresh story. Include Geralt and Ciri if you want to...but Ciri becoming a childless mutated witcher is such a bleak and disappointing continuation of her story. I agree she is a witcher in spirit but that made the rest of her life more interesting. An example being Bonhart recognizing that she had been trained at Kaer Mohren by her fighting style. Not a fan of middle aged Ciri being the main playable character and will probably not play this game
THIS
im also sad that females exist in real world and they become video game protags, that rly hurts
ok karen
Would you say books are your favourite story telling medium? because that's what it sounds like. Mine is video games because I get both story and interaction. I only read the books after playing W1 and W2. And after finishing the books it was clear to me the games are definitely not canon lol (hint: Geralt, Yennefer, Regis). I personally dont need some super complex story justification, I just need SOME reason so that I can get to play this game and experience more dark, gritty stories in the witcher world.
I completely agree and I'm sorry people are being assholes lol. I did not want Ciri or Geralt. Their story is largely done, imo. There's still a prophecy, yes, but I just...don't care? I like the ending we have. I don't want to see Geralt or Ciri butchered to fit another game.
I genuinely find the Witcher world and kore interesting outside of Geralt and his family. I want to see more of it, different times. When it comes out in a decade I'll see if it's good because I do enjoy the gameplay loop of the series and monster hunting, but I'm not hyped like I wojdl be with a game set before Geralt's time. A vesenir prequel before the Pogrom? Or even earlier?
With Avalach being the villain, triple twist, many worst villains rise with that conjunction going sideways or another conjunction, Ciri decides to end her bloodline at herself..and also a chance of loosing her powers so it can't be misused (but days and night shall pass while blood remains same, destiny can't be changed)
Conjunction requiring new witchers & with new school lynx...they can make it safer....this is perhaps best foundation..we will see.
I have sort of a headcannon theory that following the lifepaths as it is in cyberpunk each has a specific reason for ciri deciding to undergo the trials and motivations for life afterwards. Good ending lifepath could be her getting lethally poisned by a monster or some faction/monster wanting or using the elder blood does something that forces her to undertake the trails as a last resort (maybe the elder blood got currupted or taken?) Hell maybe even ciri makes a deal to remove the elder blood but that deal causes problems or directly leads to her undergoing the trials. And now she seeks revenge on the diety that did this to her, she wanted to be a witcher her own way but was forced into a trial.Her becoming queen could be an assasination attempt or some magical way of takening the elder blood and simmilarly as a last resort, maybe willingly undergoes it voluntarily to save her life, and is now going on the waarpath towards nilfgaurd to reclaim her throne, or bare minimum take revenge on those (figurativley or litteral monsters that put her in that position), 3rd ending, maybe the monster lifepath or something is where, after certain events or visons during that unknown time where she doesnt appear and is assumed dead or failed (and maybe she did) and monsters kill geralt and many of her friends she goes out of her way to undergo it (maybe now that she lost her elder blood or the powers from the events at the end of the bad ending), as a way to get stronger to kill more monsters and maybe redeming herself.
Idk i do hope for lifepaths and maybe like the previous games importing saves would have some lifepath effects and lore ramifications.
Sorry for wall of text just wanted to put my hope out there lol
Algorithm comment for the algorithm gods 🙏
Praise the Algorithm Omnissiah!!!!
Praise be the Algorithm 🙏🙏
It's tradition. Chosen it is. By the gods.
There are no gods here. Only algorythms.
Algorithms howling
I think this is probably the most fair and reasoned analysis on this topic. I was somewhat indifferent to the reveal that Ciri was going to be the protagonist, in part because at least in the Witcher 3, she doesn't crack my top 10 favorite characters. Her becoming a Witcher when it was only ever successfully done on boys was another oddity (even though her Elder Blood can basically be written to do anything the writer wants), and the bigger thing that few are talking about (I'm glad you mentioned it) was that why she would feel the need to even become a witcher when her elder blood abilities make her outclass basically everything. I don't have the quote but there is a line from the books that describes Ciri as not a witcher, or a sorceress, but something unique to herself.
Another thought I had was that I didn't want her powers being gimmicky abilities to fight monsters with, but then I saw a real rewrite of history. IGN's instagram comments (as well as Twitter/X, RUclips, Reddit, and other places) are full of people blatantly lying, such as the ones you quickly debunked in your video, but also ideas that "the whole point of the Witcher 3 was to have Ciri replace Geralt" which isn't close to being true, or that the Ciri sections were the best sections of the Witcher 3's base game. If people just said, "hey happy to play as Ciri again" I honestly wouldn't care, maybe I'd even agree. But this total rewriting of history and what the game is actually about screams that this is now a cause for tourists. I've even seen people say that the whole Witcher trilogy/book series is about Ciri taking over Geralt's role, which isn't the case, but maybe their only exposure to this world is the Netflix show.
I was more looking forward to either a Witcher game set in the not so distant future or distant past, with an character that could be better defined by the player (maybe something like Commander Shepard from ME). I would also be fine playing as another witcher from the series but I understand that Eskel/Lambert would probably be unpopular.
I also do not think this trailer was the best way to introduce the idea of Ciri being a Witcher (my favorite trailer is still the Witcher 2 boat attack) and in this current climate of lackluster game reveals, it often feels that the reveal that the character is female is meant to be the hook for certain people and a signal to leave for others (see Ghost of Yotei trailer).
Tl;dr I was indifferent at first but the insane lore-smashing history-redefining support this choice made ticked me off. I really hope you are right and I think the idea that you posited about Ciri undergoing the trials to runaway from her destiny is a great concept. I just hope CDPR feel the same and didn't just do that to get Ciri to play more like Geralt.
The IGN interview with CD project red made me lose all hope.
Trying to run away from her destiny - which she did her entire life including in the Witcher 3 until she stopped running and fought back - would still not be a good enough reason to contradict the entire lore of the Witchers, the Witches, the trial and her character. She wouldn't be able to go through this process even if she wanted to. Geralt and the Witches would never willingly help her attempt this process.
@@rpgadventurer32 I’ve seen all sorts of comments from that Geralt and the others actually would allow it, to she’s just went behind their back to another Witcher school and adults can undergo the trials even though the fragment of one was nearly fatal to avalach.
We shouldn’t have to justify the writer’s choices.
Just make a Siri Standalone game ,dont call it "Witcher 4" since we are not playing the Witcher we know and love
That is the thing i dont like personally, whatever in game reason they give for her to fit that title,
Id much prefer for them to give her her own spotlight
Exactly what it should have been
This argument is dumb. Should Red Dead Redemption 2 not have been called Red Dead Redemption because you don't play as John Marston like you did in the first one?
@prossnip42 no,the difference is the Witcher 1 2 and 3 set a pattern and a good one, anyway if you want an argument imagine calling a game "Batman" but you play as robin and batman is on the siedline
@@Gogsi90 Again, your argument is non existent. The latest Half Life game was still called Half despite the fact that you play as Alyx and Gordon doesn't even show up in the game till the very end
This is the first video I'm ever watching by you but I have to say, thank you for making this and putting this whole "controversy" into a more objective light.
At this point, I feel the ciri in witcher 3 and 4 have nothing else common other than their name. Seems like CD Project red is trying to recreate the character.
Look at the circumstances, she was constantly hunted and forced into a defensive position in Witcher 3, not able to develop further until the end of the game and still young.
In the books she was always a lot more emotional and did some ugly stuff, so it is definitely in character to be ruthless when the situation drives her to be. Lore wise the Ciri from the current trailer, is actually far more near the original. Also we do not know how much time has past. It's quite possible that this scene happens 50+ years after Witcher 3 in theory at least.
You have seen a single trailer where she speaks like 3 sentences. What are you, a fortuneteller?
@ it's an opinion not a prediction or forecast!
@@y_0_1_0your opinion kinda sucks tbch
@@AMnotQ I don't hate the new possible characterization though!
It's the logical step for the franchise. Books end at Witcher 3. Ciri doesn't have any major threats. Based on the trailer it seems like she's a bit more mature now. So the old ciri that was stubborn, reckless and always on the run from threats, most likely changed. So she's a new person or at least in a new phase of her life.
Best explanation on the internet surrounding this entire discourse and i really love your mellow voice too
i don't know why they corner themselves with the Ciri as a witcher that went through the trials story when they could simply nerf her elder powers a bit and make her a witcher mixed with her elder blood powers .Maybe she is going to do the trials and loose some of her power doing the trials ? Outside of that i don't see any possible and believable scenario where Ciri successfully finishing the trials and becoming witcher .Also if you remember in Witcher 3 during the novigrad quests when u are doing quests for that circus people to steal some horses Ciri said many times she wish she could get rid of her elder blood powers and have normal life .
Except that she would never be able to get rid of them. They are part of who she is. Turning her into a full Witcher doesn't make sense for her character.
@@rpgadventurer32 Yep and that is the only worry i had watching that trailer and for the rest i am just hoping than they can make her character believable ...somehow .
I mean if they really wanted this female Witcher stuff why not introduce a new character and have ciri stay the way she was
I've thoroughly hated the discourse on both sides of this discussion because both sides seem to be spouting nonsense. This is a good levelheaded take. I also think the biggest hill to overcome here with this game's narrative is the reason she became a Witcher in the first place because of how much of a down grade it is to her elder blood so, fingers crossed cd project red has a good script.
I think this whole lore thing is misdirection. The fact of the matter is that Ciri already had her power progression established in (and before) The Witcher 3, she is a Source and was starting to master that path, with all her pale aqua-colored speed-force abilities and whatever else. The idea of having Ciri continue down that (obvious and natural) skill tree was admittedly intriguing to me, but CDPRINO decided to downgrade her into a Mutant instead. Added to the fact that there isn't a single trace of her personality left (apart from the sanctimonious nagging, which is now grating instead of charming), and i could not have identified this character as Ciri if not for the scar and white hair.
IIRC the Trail of the Grass had a lot to do with hormones, and hormonal households between boys and girls are different worlds. One would hardly expect something developed for boys would work the same on girls.
Whether Ciri might even be affected by the chemicals of the Trial of the Grasses at all remains to be seen. She drank from the Waters of Brokilon--which is how the Dryads turn girls onto new Dryads--and she simply said it was tasty water - no affect what-so-ever. Geralt thought Eithné--the queen of Dryads--was playing a trick and drank from the water himself and was immediately thrown into a psychedelic trip, as if he'd taken LSD. The Wiki describes the Waters of Brokilon as "a psychotropic, mutagen-containing substance which can turn human girls into dryads".
So if the Waters of Brokilon have no affect on Ciri, one might on expect the Trial of the Grasses chemicals to have as little affect. On the other hand, the mushrooms the Witchers in Kaer Morhen and White Gull did have affects on her, but maybe because they are purely biological in nature.
CDPR can twist and turn the story any which way they want. They have purchased that right from Sapkowski, but only as CDPR-Witcher-lore. The one thing I keep thinking about is Ciri's power over time and space. Basically by the end of TW3 she had complete control over it, ergo could blink out of the current time and place to blink back in to anywhere at any time, just like in the trailers for the Gwent stand-alone game where, when being attacked from behind she simply vanishes in and instant and then reappears directly behind her attackers less than a second later. Who needs Witcher abilities when you are the master of time and space? It's like the difference between 'I have a box of matches' and 'I have a nuclear power plant'.
It will be interesting how CDPR deals with that, if at all. They might simply ignore it as if it never existed, or that after Cir returned from Tor Gvalcha, where she entered to fight the White Frost, she suddenly had lost her powers over time and space, which would be a huge twist in the lore of the books, which never spoke about the powers being dependent on the White Frost. We will see.
Boy oh boy I have been waiting for this for a long time
I never played the witcher so I have no skin in this game, but dont be surprised when gamr studios let you down as a huge fan of bioware watching dragon age and mass effect be destroyed after decades was heart breaking.
Much more exited about The Blood of Dawnwalker, current CDPR has lost the plot.
Still doesn't fit well with me. 'Female Witcher'. Especially when women in that universe have an upper hand over men when it comes to Magic abilities. I would have played the game if she was NOT a Witcher but just as someone on an adventure through different worlds and time, just like in the books!
When is it in any way stated, that women are better at magic? The reason we mostly see sorcerecess in the books and games is because of the Lodge of Sorceresses, who have a connection to both Yennifer and Ciri. There are a lot of male mages, Vilgefortz is still one of the strongest characters in the series, who can get rid of almsot immortal higher vampires and who managed to completely break Geralt with just his physical ability alone (granted he had a magical steel staff).
@@TheKarabanera and to your point, it would have made more sense for Ciri to be like Vilgefortz considering her magical potential, talent and training as a Witcher lends to her being similar in capabilities.
But for her to trade that just to be slightly stronger than a man and cast meagre magic is surely a downgrade don’t you agree?
@@RodgerSkelton That makes it a much more interesting choice on her part
@@RodgerSkelton hardcore for the most, f* her imba ability in witcher 3, how do u even suppose to play rpg game like this in witcher 4!
@@RodgerSkelton Why would Ciri cares about more power? Like do you even understand Ciri's character? She wants to get rid of her power, the power that a constant reminder of someone close to her suffered or death like Vesemir.
YAYYY you posted, been waiting for this!!! I'm personally looking forward to Ciri being the protagonist in the witcher 4
Glad to see someone go into more details about what is actually in the books. I've read the books twice and was nearly positive that it was never established anywhere that women couldn't become Witchers. And while the internet has been very confident about it not being possible, nobody has actually cited anything beyond, "It's somewhere in the books, I swear."
For why Ciri becomes a Witcher, I have a guess... we don't know how exactly she stopped the White Frost and/or new conjunction of the spheres. It's entirely possible that doing whatever she did cost or greatly reduced her elder blood abilities, and CDPR has already come out and said she won't have her super OP abilities in the new game. If she lost those abilities but was still committed to becoming a Witcher (maybe feeling responsible for anything that came through in that new conjunction?), I can totally see her strong-arming Geralt, Yenn, Trish, and company with, "I'm hunting monsters no matter what... you can either help me become a true Witcher to give me a better chance, or I'm going to go out there with my bare minimum amount of Witcher sword play and magic skills I know and we'll just have to hope that's enough."
Another problem is that it is often mentioned that it doesn't matter what Geralt wants, it matters what Ciri herself would like to, because she is "strong, independant". Yeah, like she will do the Trial by herself. To conduct the Trial of the Grasses - you have to have a whole bunch of people who actually know what they're doing. It's not enough that Ciri says: "I wanna go through the Trial...".
I expect to get those answers from the game. All we have is a trailer yet, way too few infos to judge about why and how. I just hope we don't get another Joel situation with Geralt.
@@Geffi01 IMHO the most logical answer is that this is the direct effect of massive layoffs in CDProjekt. Including the original writers of Witcher.
@@Stoigniew666 the head writer and half the writing team for the witcher 3 is still there. It'll be fine.
Ciri could take on monsters without doing the trial they just forced it so we could still use potions in the game. All this bending over backwards to make it lore friendly is kinda funny.
I think Ciri taking the trial makes complete sense for her character and doesn't break the lore at all. She has elder blood so her being the rare surviving girl of the trials makes sense and if Yennefer and Triss were involved in recreating the trial they could've improved it to a point the survival rate was much higher than the past trial or even made a trial that would work specifically for her. Her elder blood is still very much in effect and she is tapping into it when she is manipulating the water and it's reacting to the witcher potions with the way her eyes changed color too. If anything the mutations have only made her more op. Whatever the explanation is Ciri is the one character that can be an exception to what's been established already without it breaking Lore completely.
Didn't you not watch the video? The lore breaking part or at least the "makes no sense" part is Ciri is already more OP than witcher, it makes no sense for her to risk her life to gain something not that valuable
Imagine you have already learned master level abilities, and you think its logical to risk your life to learn intermediate level abilities.
Just because you think with the help from Triss and Yennefer, the success rate COULD be higher but how do you know that if you are the first subject? Without that knowledge that it could be higher, why would you even want take that risk?
Honestly, if they make a new series centered around Ciri with her own character and elder blood abilities that have already been established, people would be far more accepting of the direction of it
@shikyokira3065 I was going to explain it but my comment was already long af but the reason it makes sense for her character is she would go that far to separate herself from her elder blood identity if it meant she was creating her own like he mentioned in the video, its 100% a decision she would make. She's already arguably made more life risking decisions (blindly going into a completely different dimension to stop a blizzard simply because she has a certain blood type). We also don't actually know the reasoning, so it could've been a necessity for her like a sickness or there's still 3rd party's looking for her and her using her power would act as a beacon for people to go after her so becoming a witcher let's her rely on something else other than her elder blood. What I think happened though is she fully embraced her power but something happens between games that makes her turn away from it and she becomes a fully mutated witcher because of that event and she goes off and starts her own witcher school and hides who she is so thats why she's not flashing her elder blood magic in the trailer.
@@dexter1009 I think you are missing the point of risk and reward. Just because she has done something more risky before does not mean she should take all kind of risky things even if the reward is very small
@shikyokira3065 like I said the circumstances of why she decided to go through with it and who helps her do it will be important but the decision itself is very much a direction she would go if it made sense to her is what I'm saying. I'm also saying if she did the trial and her side effects were completely different from past witchers or she didn't even experience any negative ones like loss of emotion or still being able to have kids it's not directly breaking lore because of how different she is.
@@dexter1009 What you are doing is stretching the lore. "Because she is special in 1 thing, we can pull any kind of exceptional card on her" is basically what you are doing
Exceptionalism can be lore breaking depending on how you use it. If anyone can be the exceptional case anytime I want and its obvious that its always towards 1 direction, the term is "plot armor". What you know how "annoying" plot armor can get depending on how far it is being pushed
You are also banging on "It might not make sense now, but trust me, everything will be made sense once the game is out". This is by far the weakest argument. Why would you want to make large part of your own fan base more confused about the game instead of more excited about the game with a marketing material like a trailer?
The best way game or movie makers can keep people happy with the sequels is to give us option to choose main character , man or female. These days you should be free to choose who you want to be main character.
YES if any woman can become a Witcher it would be Ciri because she is special with her Elder Blood. Ciri is the Lady of Space & Time. Meaning she's already more powerful than a Witcher. Why you'd nerf her by making her go through the trials is crazy to me.
not to mention geralt & yenefer would never allow their child get sterilized & suffer like they did from not having a child.
There's no indication Elder Blood makes you physically stronger or would somehow give you better resistance to surviving the trials.
If anything it seems to cripple your affinity for anything magical except for the powers it provides.
@@goblez5900 I'm not saying that it would, merely stating one way they could in theory go with it. I'm very skeptical of how CDPR will do this.
I don't think Ciri is necessarily looking to get stronger by going through the trials is the thing- she values independence and freedom over so many things, including her elder blood powers. Wouldn't she gladly welcome a "nerf" if she's giving herself a chance to really escape fate? Plus it would be really cool to see that blood slowly resurge within her
@@gamerdudegamerdude4961 more like ciri wants to be sterile so people stop trying to rape her all the time. she hates her elder blood and powers, she wants them gone
the ONLY thing about the trailer I didnt like was Ciri's changed voice actor😭 I get she's prob 10+ years older but her voice is just SO different lmao
changing voice actors probably has nothing to do with how old her voice sounds. Doing this withcer trilogy means theres got to be a like 8 -10 years commitment , that will for sure involve a lot of mocaps, probably thats why they picked a closer in age actress that probably shares a lot of facial markers with the ingame character model.
We live in the era of outrage; the lines designating where extremism starts and moderation ends are blurred on both sides.
At a certain point, no matter which side someone is one, they become the same in their outrage.
It's interesting that he "ingrained a prejudice that he would never shake." The way it is read inferrs that there is something wrong with establishing prejudices in that context.
He discovered that the mutation just outright kills Women: Why would he ever attempt it again on a Woman if the goal is to create Witchers and Men have a success rate?
I am so excited for them to finally explore the deeper trauma of Ciri`s character, the last third of W3 just makes her out to be "shes the chosen one princess that doesn't want to be a chosen one princess" which is a lot more boring than the much darker charcter she is in the books.
I also dont understand why they made the white frost a magical thing that Ciri has to stop in the game, its supposed to be an inevitable thing in nature that will happen in the books, they should have gone with the original planned ending in that regard.
I also wonder if CDPR will explore the more metatextual stuff from the books, like the stuff with Nimue and the fact that stories will change depending on who is there to tell or remember them
I'm looking forward for Cirillas Trilogy
Ciri acting as a Witcher? I’m alright with that. It fits both book and game Ciri and her devoted love of Geralt and the Wolf school boys. Ciri getting the Trial of the Grasses? Ehhhh… not the best idea imho, just because she’s already got a set identity and skill set. Still hopeful for this game, I’m not inherently against anything that’s been shown so far.
Bro the Witcher is just a killing machine, like a walking corps, ripped of his humanity and many things. Ciri is much more, she has the elder blood, she has extremely powerful magic, she is kind, she is caring, who the fuck think reducing her to a mere Witcher is a good thing ? Or did politics already kill people's minds to this point ?
There's no issue with Ciri deciding to hunt monsters, since she's far more powerful than any Witcher, but the idea that she'd subject herself to a massive risk to life and health to downgrade her abilities is nonsensical.
It's like telling Superman if he lets a kryptonite irradiated arachnid bite him, there's a 70% chance of death, a 29% chance of going mad/being crippled, and a 1% chance he could develop Spiderman's powers.
It's an interesting situation for sure that the devs decided to make Ciri into a full fledged Witcher. I just hope writers get the lore right to make sense of it, even if it has been hinted plenty of times that she was special enough to become a Witcher, if this is not approached with care, the ball may be dropped.
However, I wasn't too fond of the trailer, because it just looked like devs, sorry for my french, busted their load before doing some proper foreplay. Ciri becoming a Witcher should be part of the story and not something you just reveal for the brand recognition like her wielding two swords, drinking potions, having cat eyes, etc. Devs just removed part of the mystique of her character development after W3... Imagine if Infinity War trailer just spoiled Thanos' snap, half of the intrigue would just evaporate into nothing. It's like "yea yea, Ciri was destined to become a Witcher, let's just get this over with, here she is as a Witcher, now clap"
Thing is, Cirilla is "the lady of space and time" overpowered as shit, you dont need witcher mutations when you can do what she does, specially in the games lol.
This is abt WHAT Ciri wants tho. You guys think abt it in simple video game terms ''omg she is imba why would she want to be weaker now ?'' maybe bec everybody still hunts her for her elder blood
@@sillylittlesheepjax6009so making herself weaker is thee stupidest possible thing she can do.....
GTA 6, Ghost of Yotei and now Witcher 4. I can't be the only one noticing a pattern here.
Yup. Games that look cool are upsetting losers
@@krasmasov6852facts
@@krasmasov6852 I'm sure you're a real winner and not an npc
@@theodorherzl4695 Winner is when you cry that a game has a woman protagonist?
You should’ve been noticing this “pattern” about 20 years ago. But it’s fine if you’re slow and still need time to catch up.
Lovely video as always - I love your, very thorough, takes and consideration to source material!
I saw an interesting quote on the mutation part from an IGN article:
“That was a huge thing for us, to make that call [to mutate Ciri], not only for her, but for the game,” explains Małgorzata Mitręga, The Witcher 4’s executive producer. “But then it's so important and still leaves so much space for imagination, like when it happened, how it happened. It's just a tease showing something, but you don't know where you will experience it and how in the game. I think it's a huge change and I hope people did not expect it.”
So it’s really interesting if they make it a part of the game itself!
if there are female witchers, mages in that universe wouldnt be as important
Exactly
Care to explain?
@@MissSimsalot imagine if Sodden Hill was fought by Female witchers instead of Female mages.
@@Rayeskie27that battle was won by giant magic fireballs not swords
@@BiomechanicalBrick wuuuut? ahahah oh you obviously watched that phoenix moment right ROFL and not yen getting owned by Fingila lol
For me it's not the issue of "Girl protagonist", or "girls can't be witchers too" but it's Ciri becoming a witcher in more than titular sense: she's so much more in many ways and already is considered by many a witcher, so what appears to be a shoehorning her character and story into basically "coming of just another witcher" is, I think, lame and reminiscent of WH40K Custodes situation.
Running away from her destiny I don't think really works either, as she seemed to already came to terms with that at the end of The Wild Hunt.
I'm looking forward to more detailed explanation than none at all, given in trailer breakdown. Still, controversy around Witcher 4 "Franchise & Lore Designer" comments on fanbase is... Concerning.
PS: Speaking about darkness - it does seem a bit weird to me how Ciri who not only traveled multitude of worlds, seen a lot of that darkness and been on "the dark side" herself for a while, wouldn't figure that between fear for their lives and archaic way of thinking, villagers would do something extreme. I mean, she even, originally, lost her adoptive parents to a bunch of angry peasants.
Like, is there really no way to sterilize a woman in the Witcher universe without a less than a coin's flip chance of survival, permanent maiming, or debilitating psychological damage? What if Ciri survives the Trial, but pretty much loses the ability to defend herself or even survive by herself, e.g. she becomes catatonic, blind, or paralyzed from nerve damage. Wouldn't that be an even riskier situation concerning her prophecy? She's plenty powerful and capable enough already without taking such a dumb risk.
And honestly, if you're sooooo concerned about the fate of the world, you might as well just detonate a a few grapeshots next to your head and save the world. Or does lore state that if Ciri dies, the bad guys win or something?
They Lied to with cyberpunk 2077 release I'm not gonna Trust them
They even delayed Cyberpunk's release because a violent felon died while resisting arrest. They're not good people.