The Witcher season two is coming on Netflix this week, on December 17 and that means we should prepare for another action-packed eight episodes.
Regardless of whether you are acquainted with The Witcher from Andrzej Sapkowski's series of novels, the game or if you discovered it through the Netflix adaptation, the plot isn’t the easiest to follow as the events simultaneously occur in three different timelines. So, with Season 2 almost here, here is a quick recap of where season 1 left the viewers.
The Witcher Season 1 tells the story of the kingdom of Cintra invasion by Nilfgaard. The sole princess of Cintra, Queen Calanthe's granddaughter is left alone after her grandparents are killed in the invasion. She is left fighting for her life through almost the entire season as he is pursued by Cahir, a Nilfgaardian knight. Meanwhile, in a very distant past timeline, a young peasant girl named Yennefer is trained to become a sorceress. She plays a big role in the season, eventually, she and Geralt become lovers.
Yennefer unleashes chaos in the Battle of Sodden Hill
At the beginning of the season, the three main characters are set very far away in time from each other. Yennefer's begins a few decades before Geralt's, and Geralt's begins approximately a couple of decades before Ciri.
In the season finale, "Much More," all three storylines catch up and converge around the Battle of Sodden Hill where when all seems lost, an injured Yennefer decides it is now her turn to save the Continent. Making her stand for one last time, the sorceress absorbed the inferno that was consuming the keep and unleashed her chaos (a sorcerer's access to magic is referred to as "chaos” in The Witcher) on the Nilfgaardian army before seemingly disappearing from the battlefield.
Destiny prevails for Geralt and Ciri
After losing Yennefer’s affections and pushing his best friend, Jaskier away in a moment of fury, the monster-hunter found himself thrown into a dungeon when he arrived at Cintra to invoke his Law of Surprise and claim Princess Cirilla to protect her from the inevitable Nilfgaardian invasion. When Nilfgaard attacked, Geralt managed to escape and tried looking for Ciri, only to realize that she was long gone.
Continuing his search for Ciri, Geralt came across a merchant and defended the latter from ghouls, but was wounded and lost consciousness. In his delirium, Geralt dreams of Yennefer, Renfri, and his mother Visenna, who abandoned him as a child, before waking up to find himself on the merchant’s cart.
Meanwhile, Ciri, who has been fending for herself after escaping Cintra, was discovered by old friends who turned on her. In the ensuing struggle, Ciri suddenly releases a magical pulse and speaks a prophecy before blacking out. She is later awakened by a woman she met earlier and realizes that the clearing had been pulverized, with her attackers lying dead around her. The woman brought Ciri back to her farm, and that night, Ciri dreams of Geralt calling out for Yennefer in his dreams.
As fate would have it, it turns out that the merchant who saved Geralt is actually the woman’s husband, and upon hearing about a girl heading into the woods, Geralt follows suit, where the duo finally meets.
Then, Ciri looked up at Geralt and delivered the final line of the season - “Who is Yennefer?”
Destiny beacons in season 2
In the upcoming season, Geralt , believing that Yennefer’s life was lost at the Battle of Sodden, brings Ciri to the safest place he knows, his childhood home of Kaer Morhen. As for Yennefer, it is soon revealed that the sorceress is still alive but taken prisoner by Fringilla and what remains of the Nilfgaardian army.
