CD Projekt Red's 'Witcher 4' Trailer Decried For Seemingly Turning Ciri Into A Witcher And Abandoning The Lore Of The Novels
CD Projekt Red released the first trailer for the Witcher 4, which depicts Ciri as a Witcher, which is contrary to the lore of creator Andrzej Sapkowski’s original novels as well as certain endings in CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
In the trailer, seen below, Ciri is shown seemingly wielding the abilities of a Witcher by drinking a potion as well as casting what appear to be signs. However, in the books Ciri never becomes a witcher.
Sapkowski’s The Sword of Destiny novel makes it clear that anyone drinking a Witcher potion would die unless “inured to it from childhood.”
He wrote, “The mixture which helped the witcher gain full control of his body was chiefly made up of veratrum, stramonium, hawthorn and spurge. The other ingredients had no name in any human language. For anyone who was not, like Geralt, inured to it from childhood, it would have been lethal poison.”
In Blood of Elves, Ciri undergoes Witcher training, but she does not partake in the Trial of the Grasses and the mutations. Instead, Geralt and Triss take her to the Temple of Melitele where she receives magical instruction from Nenneke and Yennefer.
YouTuber Aydin Paladin explained in a post reacting to the trailer, “Ignoring the ‘uglification’ of Ciri, which is just par for the course now, nothing about this makes sense. Women cannot drink Witcher potions because females cannot survive the Trial of the Grasses. Barely any males can. Ciri was trained briefly in combat by the Witchers at Kaer Morhen, but mostly because they had no idea how else to raise a child. They gave her herbs to enhance her strength, but they never gave her the mutagens. I say she was trained briefly because when she reached puberty, the guys similarly had no idea what to do with a teenage girl, and given that her uncontrolable magical powers started manifesting at the same time, Geralt asked Triss for help, but there wasn't much she could do either. She was then briefly taken in by Yenn and trained in magic, largely unsuccessfully. No more Witcher training.”
She continued, “Ciri IS skilled in swordsmanship, as evidenced by her time surviving in the Rats, but she is neither a Witcher nor a Witch. She's Hen Ichaer, a universe-traveling elf-blood that is a conduit of raw magic, which is why she cannot use Witcher signs either despite repeated attempts to teach her. Perhaps even more importantly, after Geralt and Yenn's deaths, Ciri dips out of the entire Witcher universe and into that of Arthurian legend in disgust with her home world. She doesn't just leave the Continent, she leaves the entire damned setting. This is the lore of the books, I've not bothered to watch the show, but idk how you can read Lady of the Lake and even fathom this being Ciri's future.”
Paladin wasn’t the only one. X user Stig lamented, “I assume there is a new ‘writing’ team for The Witcher IV. Since the lore and continuity gets completely shattered right in the teaser-trailer.”
He added in a subsequent post, “It not only contradicts The Witcher novels, but also the first 3 games. A stunning achievement.”
Another X user wrote, “Insane levels of historical revisionism and lore breaking already. Apparently the titular Witcher was always Ciri and is more important than Geralt despite not even appearing in the first 2 games. Also she took the Trial of the Grasses despite it not working on females or adults.”
Another wrote, “All the shills are out hyping up Witcher 4. All the honest people saw they made the main character a woman who breaks lore in her new role AND who was made significantly uglier than she used to be. Both are red flags for an extremely woke game.”
YouTuber WNR also posted, “Everyone bitching about her face when there's like a dozen lore inaccuracies in the trailer. She looks fine. I'm more disappointed that she seems to be a generic witcher instead of something new. Just ignoring that the Trial of Grasses only worked on men, I guess.”
In a subsequent post, he added, “Ciri was hopeless with magic in the books, same with signs. I was hoping to see her powers more fleshed out, not just ‘She a witcher now’. That's just kinda boring.”
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While Paladin and others point to the lore of the books, in The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt Blood and Wine DLC, Ciri is referred to as a Witcher by Geralt.
After Ciri explains she slew a Garkain, Geralt asks, “Being a Witcher anything like you imagined?”
Ciri replies, “Geralt, I didn’t have to imagine anything… Remember, before we parted we walked a good stretch of the Path together… I’m still a long way from mastering anything. But I am trying. Anyway, I did learn from the best.”
When asked about her battle with the Garkain, Ciri also notes she took a dose of Black Blood in order to combat the creature’s increased strength in the battle. She defeats it by feigning a dodge, and letting the monster drink her blood, which by consuming the Black Blood potion had turned to a lethal poison.
The base game also features an ending where Geralt gives Ciri a silver sword and she seemingly accompanies him as a witcher. Geralt even calls her a witcher.
In fact, a narration at the end states, “Cirilla Fiona Ellen’Rianon, heir to Nilfgaard’s throne, chose the life of a witcher, on the Path. Geralt taught her all he knew, every skill he possessed, then each set off on their own. Soon word of the ashen-haired witcheress had spread throughout the North, from the Yaruga to the mountains of Kovir…”
However, there are multiple different endings for The Witcher 3. In one of the endings it’s implied that Ciri dies, but it is left ambiguous. There is a possibility that she just chose not to return.
What do you make of The Witcher 4 trailer showing Ciri wielding witcher abilities and seemingly being a witcher in contrast to the lore of the books as well as a number of endings in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt?
It's clear that these people working on this Game never read the Books. It's well known the Potions and Concoctions used in The Trial Of Grasses was never written down and passed on by teaching. There are no more new Witchers because of things like the Seige of Kaer Morhen where all those who knew the Recipe for the Potions died. Even some of the Herbs used in the Grasses didn't even have Names in the Human Language, only Elven.
These people making Witcher 4 are Diversity Hires and ruined a once amazing Studio.