Now that the first half of the Netflix series has come to an end and the confusion is high, here is The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 ending explained to clear it all up. Created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, this series stars Henry Cavill as the titular Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, Freya Allan as Princess Cirilla of Cintra, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer and Joey Batey as Jaskier.
Other cast members include Eamon Farren, MyAnna Buring, Cassie Clare, Aisha Fabienne Ross, Hugh Skinner, Bart Edwards, Mimi Ndierni, Anna Shaffer, Lars Mikkelsen, Tom Canton, Mexia Simson, Mahesh Jadu, Graham Mc Tavish and Ed Birch. Stephen Surjik, Bola Ogun and Loni Peristere directed the episodes in this part of the third season. They were written by Haily Hall, Mike Ostrowski, Tania Lotia, Rae Benjamin and Clare Higgins. There are five episodes in the current volume, each ranging from 50-65 minutes.
The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 Plot Summary
The season begins with Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri all fleeing from Kaer Morhen after the events involving the old witch possessing our favourite princess. They have been living in multiple places, but people keep finding them even though they pay a lot of money for discretion. Eventually, they find a good spot, where they multiple months. Yennefer has been teaching Ciri magic, and the latter returns the favour by teaching the former ice skating. They have been building their skills slowly, but it is not quick enough for Ciri to become proficient.
Seeing this, Yennefer asks Geralt to take a breath and allow Ciri to take a break before they start training well again. The couple’s relationship is strained, but they are slowly mending their trust, urging each other to open up. There is a whole montage showing the three of them in domestic bliss, starting to find a rhythm with each other. During the festival of Belleteyn, the trio make their way to the village to celebrate. It is both Ciri’s and Yennefer’s birthday.
However, there were other people plotting the return of the princess. A jackapace finds Ciri, and they start fighting it. Geralt is able to kill it, but it becomes clear that they will have to move again. Instead of doing that, Ciri suggests that they use her as bait in order to trick some of these pursuers into coming to her. In order to keep the others off their guards, Geralt suggested that they invite Jaskier to act as a chaperone.
He comes over, but he has been speaking with the spymasters of Redania, who have been asking him to get Ciri to the kingdom so King Vizimir can marry her (he’s already married, but she dies after the spymasters interfere). The king’s brother Radovid is also involved in this search. Knowing that all these people are looking for Ciri, Yennefer tells Geralt that she will take the princess to Aretuza so she can train in peace without any qualms.
Geralt says that he will go find the firefingers guy, Rience, who has been working for an uber-powerful mage looking to use Ciri for his plans. While he is on his quest, he comes across a castle that the Codringher told him about. They didn’t know who the mage was, but they were aware of where he was operating from. When Geralt when there, he found a girl and a concerning monster made of melted human torsos. Interestingly, the girl was more concerning than the monster because she insisted she was Ciri.
After Geralt’s friend removed the enchantments from her mind, they realised that her real name was Teryn. Geralt leaves her at his friend’s place so he can go after Ciri. She ran away from Yennefer when she realised that the mage had a different personality around her Aretuza friends. However, they all come together and share information. Yennefer explains that Tissaia is ready to take in Ciri, and Geralt explains everything about the castle. The two of them make up and kiss. Jaskier and Ciri watch this from a distance, happy with the result.
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To keep everything light and buy her position at the Brotherhood, Yennefer suggests unity for the North and the mages by inviting all the witches from every corner of the continent. She is successful in inviting all the important players, including Phillippa, one of the spymasters. There is an event before all of this, starting the conclave with a celebration. However, the one group that is not celebrating at this moment is the elves from Nilfgaard. Francesca lost her brother, and right now, the whole group of elves is mourning. Cahir manages to rally them together for the kingdom and the White Flame.
The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 Ending Explained
The party before the conclave is the linchpin of the previous episodes. After extracting information from every person possible, Yennefer and Geralt come up with a plan to draw Stregobor out. According to them, the member of the Brotherhood has been kidnapping little girls and conducting experiments on them. They use the party as their intelligence-collecting event, speaking to everyone about Ciri. The spymasters even directly ask Geralt for Ciri’s hand, but he deftly refuses.
After a whole night (and morning) of ruminating about the events of the party, they realise that there were a lot of reasons why Stregobor could not have been the experimenter. The major one was that he had nothing to do with the woman with no voice. But she was wearing earrings with the same material as Tissaia’s bracelet, which was given to her by Vilgefortz. Additionally, Yennefer was transported to a black sea by a corrupted portal which just happened to be his favourite scene. By the time, Geralt goes out to confront him, Dijkstra holds a knife to his throat, which is how the volume ends.
The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 is currently streaming on Netflix. The second volume comes out on July 27, 2023.
What do you think of this season of this show? Do you think Geralt will be able to catch Vilgefortz? Let us know in the comments, and check out the review of this season below.
Also Read: The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 Review: Bait and Switch Dating Back to the Conjunction of the Spheres