Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD for The Witcher Season 3, Vol. 1. Go vanquish an aeschna, take a bath, and return once you’ve caught up!
Well, if you are anything like me, you spent the last days of June (and/or the first days of July) using your Netflix subscription for one thing and one thing only: binging The Witcher Season 3, Vol. 1. After a wait of about a year and a half, we’ve finally been able to pick back up with the tale of Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer, as the trio try to outrun the many different dangerous factions revealed by the Season 2 ending who are looking to capture the young Lion Cub of Cintra and use her for her still unpredictable powers.
Obviously, our fearless White Wolf, the sorceress, and their eager-to-learn pupil have known for quite some time that they were being pursued, but the first five episodes of the third season drove home just how the political machinations of everyone looking to capture Ciri worked as the war between the kingdoms of the north and Nilfgaard continued to brew. A big question has been who sent the “fire fucker,” a.k.a. fire mage Rience, to steal Ciri away from her protectors, and Season 3, Episode 5 (the final installment of Vol. 1) finally revealed the answer. So, let’s get into who Rience is working for, what his boss wants, and why I mostly agree that the volume’s final episode wasn’t that great.
Who Sent Rience To Capture Ciri?
As could likely be expected from a show where nearly no one can be fully trusted and most characters have political allegiances that are unknown to many of their closest compatriots, this answer is easy (it’s just one person), but was hard to come by. Episode 5, “The Art of the Illusion,” sees Geralt and Yen head to Aretuza for the ball the mages agreed to hold the night before their usual conclave.
The reunited couple had come to the conclusion previously that the mage Stregobor was the one controlling Rience (seeing as how he’s proven himself to be a nasty piece of work before), so they set about attending together to find the proof of his guilt they need to expose him at the conclave. Over the course of the night, Yen and Geralt talk to several of the mages, as well Redanian spymaster Dijkstra, and get what seems like important info from Triss and Istredd, who used magic to find out that Stregobor is in possession of the incredibly dangerous Book of Monoliths.
Geralt picks a very public fight with Istredd at the ball to create a distraction, which allows Yen to get into Stregobor’s office and safe. She located evidence to show that he was behind the kidnapping and experimentation on the part-elven students who’ve gone missing from Aretuza, but once everyone convenes in his office, Stregobor only admits to trying to get the girls out of the way (he hates elves), but not experimenting on them or going after Ciri. Plus, he was definitely confused by the Book of Monoliths being in his safe, but he’s held for questioning anyway.
It takes until the final moments of the episode, as Yen and Geralt are preparing for the conclave the next morning, for them to realize that while Stregobor is certainly a dick, he’s not the one who sent Rience after Ciri, but Vilgefortz is. There were many clues throughout the episode, including Tissaia’s boyfriend giving her a bracelet made from a stone only found in the same location where Geralt found the young elven women who’d been experimented on. Lydia (who’s the only one we’ve seen give Rience orders so far) wore jewelry of the same material to the ball, and Philippa told Yen that Lydia followed everything her lover told her to do. Plus, the one whole, living part-elven student Geralt found revealed that Rience worked for a woman with a “funny voice” that she recognized from Aretuza.
Hence, Vilgefortz is our bad guy. But, it’s now too late to easily change course, because when Geralt leaves the room to reveal what they know, not only is it obvious that something is very wrong at Aretuza, but Dijkstra stops him with a knife to his throat.
What Does Vilgefortz Want With Ciri?
Well, this is the million dollar question, isn’t it? It’s pretty easy to guess that he wants her untold power, but why would he go through such lengths? We will have to see what his reasoning is when The Witcher returns for Vol. 2 on July 27, but considering that those behind the fantasy drama have said more than once that it’s the one season so far that’s as close to the book it’s based on as possible, it’s probable that the answer lies there. So, if you don’t want BOOK SPOILERS, step away now!
Ready?
OK, show fans know that Duny, Ciri’s long-thought-to-be-dead dad, is not only actually alive, but the mysterious White Flame, Emhyr var Emreis, the leader of Nilfgaard. He’s determined to have absolute power over the Continent, and believes that Ciri and her powers are the final piece of that puzzle. As such, he’s got spies all over the place, including in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, and Vilgefortz is one such high-ranking mage. Emhyr employed Vilgefortz to both stage a coup in order to remove all mages who oppose Nilfgaard, and also put his best magical man in charge of locating Ciri.
END SPOILERS!
Simply put, Vilgefortz wants Ciri because his boss does, and he tortured several innocent part-elven girls in service of his efforts.
Why I Agree That Episode 5 Isn't That Great
A lot of fans have had trouble with everything on The Witcher from the somewhat confusing timelines of Season 1, to Yen betraying Geralt and Ciri in Season 2, but I don’t know if any one episode has divided viewers more than Episode 5 of Season 3. There are two main things that most people either love or hate: the way the episode was organized (the same event told three times, with more information being given in each telling), and the reveal of Vilgefortz as the one controlling Rience. While I don’t, by any means, think this is the worst episode of the series so far (that’s literally what many are saying, including some critics), it definitely isn’t the show’s best.
Like I said, lots of people are bothered by the way the episode is set up, with the events and conversations of the mages' ball being visited more than once, as Yen and Geralt take a break from their, um, bed sport, after the party to talk over what happened. There was absolutely too much repeating of what we’d seen earlier going on. On our second time through, I did wonder when new and important details were going to be revealed, and it took a while, meaning I totally agree that the episode doubles back on itself too much.
Now, as for the reveal of Vilgefortz as Rience’s boss? Those who had a problem with it are mostly saying that it wasn’t news, because they pegged him as our guy early in the season. That’s not the case for me, but it also wasn’t the major shock I think it was supposed to be. This is The Witcher, y’all. There are roughly seven people we can completely trust, and even among those we haven’t been able to trust them all the way through every season!
It made perfect sense for a grade-A++ ass like Stregobor to actually not be the one giving Rience orders, but someone who seemed trustworthy, especially since finding all the evidence needed to blame the whole thing on ol’ Streggy was way too damn easy. Also, I haven’t quite trusted Vilgefortz since Season 1, so I was not surprised to see he was behind it!
All in all, I think the episode was fine. We got some cutesy/sexy stuff from Yen and Geralt (A joint bath! Geralt smiling! Geralt finally telling Yen he loves her!), and found out who’s been sending Rience on his Ciri missions. Episode 5 didn’t thrill me the way some others have (or the way I think it was meant to), but I do feel perfectly primed for Vol. 2 and a long-awaited battle for book fans, so that’s good enough for me.
