Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Witcher” Season 4.
“The Witcher” Season 4 put all the main players in pretty dire circumstances leading into the fifth and final season.
Geralt (Liam Hemsworth), Yen (Anya Chalotra) and Ciri (Freya Allan) are spread across the corners of The Continent. The Witcher — hurt from his battle with Vilgefortz in Season 3 — has decided to get involved in the dealings of humans and track down his family. All the while Yen is rallying sorceresses to face off against the traitors of The Lodge, and Ciri facing an uncertain fate along with the band of young ruffians known as The Rats.
Things are pretty up and down as Geralt and his own group of misfits search for the other two as war rages around them. Season 4 put all the pieces in place for a final installment, but here’s what it all meant and where it might be going.
What happened to Geralt?
Geralt and his remaining Hanza – Jaskier (Joey Batey), Regis (Laurence Fishburne), Cahir (Eamon Farrer) and Zoltan (Danny Woodburn) head up the Yaruga River after departing from the rest of their company. They watch as Nilfgaardian and Northern Kingdom soldiers fight on both banks and try to gain access to the group’s ferry.
After almost being taken out by soldiers, Milva (Meng’er Zhang) returns to the group having decided to keep her baby rather than terminate the pregnancy. The happy reunion is shortlived when the crew finds the Northern Kingdom soldiers dug in trying to stop Nilfgaard from taking a bridge that would allow them to funnel troops across the river fast.
Geralt, Jaskier and Zoltan decide to help the soldiers and rally them against the Nilfgaardians, while Regis tends to Milva who is beginning to miscarry after some fighting. Despite wanting to stay out of the Continent-spanning war, Geralt and the others bolster the Northerners defense and repel the Nilfgaardians.
Afterward, the ragtag bunch are approached by Queen Meve, who honors Geralt by knighting him as a sworn fighter for Rivia — becoming a full circle moment for The Witcher, who always wanted to be a white knight and often referred to himself as “Geralt of Rivia” to sound more imposing.
Now he’s sworn to the service of Rivia and Queen Meve and all is well – except he needs to continue hunting for Ciri and instead of being a dream realized has tangled him deeper into the War and trapped him.
What happened to Yen?
Yen dealt a major blow to Vilgefortz in Season 4. She managed to wrestle his control of the portals away from him during the Battle of Montecalvo. Afterward, she helped lift up the remaining sorceresses to reform The Lodge. But it is not her journey to lead with them. She is hell bent on finishing off Vilgefortz once and for all.
Triss helps Yen use some of Vilgefortz’s blood to track him and while the rest of the sorceresses are busy building back up The Lodge she goes hunting. Triss warns Yen that the portals may still be unstable and it could toss her out somewhere dangerous but Yen goes anyway.
Spoiler: Triss was right. Yen comes through the portal and is deposited into the middle of the sea during a raging storm and is being drawn toward a whirlpool. Even if Yen manages to get out of this, Vilgefortz ends the season planning for her arrival by preparing a spell that calls for a large number of human body parts.
What happened to Ciri?
Ciri’s season ends in a nightmare. She tried to separate herself from the band of young ruffians called The Rats, but was drawn back to them after learning that the vile Leo Bonhart (Sharlto Copley) had tricked them into squaring off. The Rats show up to face Leo and are killed one by one.
Ciri arrives to the bloodbath and manages to hold her own for a while against Leo before being subdued. The season ends with Ciri caught and presumably being taken to her father Emhyr to be married to him so he can strengthen his claim to power. She remained tied up as Leo cut off the head of each member of The Rats in front of her and tossed them in a barrel.
What does Emhyr give that monster?
The season ends with Emhyr going down in to the dungeons and speaking to an unseen monster. He gives a brooch that belonged to Geralt to the beast and tells it to use the scent to track The Witcher down and kill him once and for all.
The brooch belongs to Renfri — a woman Geralt fought and killed in the series premiere of the show. The Witcher has carried the brooch ever since as a reminder to stay out of human affairs and only bother himself with monster hunting.
Now, Geralt is embroiled in the war after fighting in The Battle of the Bridge and his lost brooch – his reminder – is being used against him for his actions meddling with humans.
“The Witcher” Seasons 1-4 are now streaming on Netflix. It has been renewed for a fifth and final season.
