Kaer Morhen
Episode 2 of The Witcher Season 2 begins with Yennefer and Fringilla taken as prisoners. Their captors happen to be a whole legion of elves. They’re both led to an Elder, where Yennefer understands their language and claims to be an elf too. They’re wise to her lies though and debate about whether to kill her or not. For now, they’re kept captive with Fliavandrel, the man who – according to the Bard’s songs anyway – is King of the Elves. After failing to beat Calanthe though, the elves turned instead to Francesca to lead them forward. Now, they’ve been suffering from dreams about a robed man – but so too have Fringilla and Yennefer. Unlike the others, Yennefer’s dreams include a red robed man rather than black. Their dreams are enough to pique the interest of both Francesca and Filavandrel, who question what they dreamt of. Well, they’re eventually led to a hut with no doors – part of the prophecy foretold on an ancient tomb. However, when the hut turns to show two bright, orange windows, the trio wind up experiencing visions. Francesca is warned that the world will be renewed after the blood of elves. She’s told to live among men. Fringilla is manipulated into gaining allies. Yennefer’s vision simply taunts her magic wielding and how useless she is. Meanwhile, Ciri and Geralt make it to Kaer Morhen. Vesemir is there to greet him, as this small band of Witchers toast to another winter shared together. Late to arrive is Eskel, a war-torn Witcher who appears with a severed limb from a Leshy. Fire to the heart is the only thing that takes these creatures down, and after an epic 6 hour battle, he’s come out victorious. Alone, Yesemir speaks to Geralt about Ciri and the Law of Suprise. He’s brought her there to learn more about who she is – and to keep her safe. Yesemir warns that she could be more than he bargained for. Ciri is desperate for revenge but Geralt reminds her that they only kill to save lives. That night though, something stirs at Kaer Morhen. With Cirilla in her chamber, Geralt and the other Witchers begin searching the grounds to find the creature. And as foreshadowed earlier in the episode, it’s the Leshy… or is it? It turns out the creature before him is actually Eskel, who makes short work of the Witcher and pins him down. He’s been infected with something, but just before it hits Geralt with a killing blow, Yesemir shows and saves him. Eventually the pair take out Eskel, although this clearly affects them both. Meanwhile, the visions our trio experienced soon lead to a new path being forged. Francesca believes that the old gods want an alliance between elves and Nilfgaard, and Fringilla is going to trust her faith and follow her in this endeavour. Yennefer though calls them fools and contemplates her own destiny. So what of Yennefer? Well, she seems more lost than ever, screaming to the heavens. As she does, we cut back to Geralt one more time who hands a sword to Ciri and begins teaching her the way of the Witcher.
The Episode Review
Finally we’re getting somewhere with the Ciri storyline, while the tease of the Wild Hunt continues to bear over the main plot of this story. Of course, fans of the games will be well aware of the implication around this and how epic the storyline actually is. Interestingly though, Yennefer is still a wildcard in all this and Triss Merigold is almost non-existent at this point. Most of the chapter settles on the Witchers over at Kaer Morhen, with plenty of intrigue about their adventures. Seeing Geralt forced to dispatch one of his own is certainly tough for him but it also reinforces that sometimes evil isn’t just outside the walls of the place he calls home (in the winter, anyway!) It seems Geralt is preparing to train Ciri now, as the show looks to be moving away from the episodic monsters and more toward a serialized story involving the Wild Hunt. The Witcher continues to deliver decent drama though and we’ll have to wait and see what’s in store for our characters next.
