Two women with secrets, facing overwhelming obstacles alone. Meanwhile, two other women flourish in an unexpected partnership.
The Witcher Season 2 Episode 3 thoroughly examines the major female characters and their various circumstances.
Each woman struggles with her own situation, but Fringilla and Francesca, united by Voleth Meir’s advice, seem to deal better than Ciri and Yennefer do on their own. Well, at the very least, they aren’t bloody or fugitives at the end.
In many ways, Yennefer’s return to Aretuza parallels Geralt’s return to Kaer Morhen on The Witcher Season 2 Episode 2.
In both cases, they were assumed dead and, therefore, not expected.
In both situations, they are given the goods by their compatriots upon arrival the way long-time friends do. Yennefer’s catty-but-kind sister mages tease her precisely the way Geralt’s witcher brothers razz him.
The difference lies in what the prodigals are willing to share.
There’s no way Geralt can hide Ciri from Vesemir and the other witchers, so he’s pretty upfront about his Child of Surprise, while Yennefer’s loss of her magical ability is not a truth she has yet accepted herself.
Triss may carry her Sodden scars on the outside, but Yennefer’s still bleeding from her damage, figuratively speaking. And it’s salt in the wound that she must stand aside and let the victory at Sodden be used for Tissaia and Vilgefortz’s political games.
Your actions turned the tide at Sodden Hill. You are a hero to me and many others. But we need to let Vilgefortz carry the mantle of victory for now.
Tissaia
Yennefer’s exclusion from the higher seats of Aretuza seemed appropriate when she was only training and learning, but, after all her travels and accomplishments, it’s clear that it is her elven heritage that bars her way and continues to be viewed with suspicion and prejudice.
The mages’ political squabbling is easily the least interesting aspect of The Continent’s world-building to me.
It makes it too easy to view Stregabor and his supporters as cartoonishly evil, power-obsessed villains. Irredeemable monsters with unstoppable influence.
Except for Tissaia, they all seem just awful. Vilgefortz is acceptable by association with Tissaia, but he hasn’t really earned any confidence as of yet.
(By the way, for those of you inclined to jump down the rabbit hole of fantasy lore, it’s worth taking a peek at the information available on his character in the game. Potential #spoilers, but adaptations often play it fast and loose with the source material.)
Cahir: It isn’t the end I’d hoped for, no.
Yennefer: I hate to break it to you, but you won’t meet an end here.
Cahir: Well, Yennefer of Vengerberg, it seems mages are merciful.
Yennefer: No, we’re practical. Death must serve a purpose.
The Council’s demand that Yennefer execute Cahir to prove she is not a spy further feeds that impression of a group of indiscriminately cruel sadists.
It is rather satisfying that, even with her powers, she’s able to throw their plans into disarray.
Istredd’s interference manages to shine a brief spotlight onto the historian who, I have to admit, I’d forgotten was even a going concern. Based on his scene with Stregabor and interest in Yennefer, I suspect he’ll be more memorable this season.
Ciri’s options are more basic. Give up. Or don’t.
And honestly, looking at it from her perspective, there isn’t a choice. Either she sucks it up, risking life and limb, and proves herself to the witchers (and herself), or she cowers in the keep until the next monster comes looking for her.
While the witchers pour one out for Eskel, Vesemir tries to solve the mystery of how the leshy managed to infect him, and Geralt deals with his own regret and guilt about killing him. It’s a pretty comprehensive look at the faces of mourning.
With all the brutal training (and falling and bleeding and crashing) sequences, one could almost forget Ciri’s supernatural gifts.
Was I the only one surprised when the bug monster dispatched the leshy?
I was all geared up for Geralt to take down the tree as a tribute to Eskel. Closure, redemption, all that jazz.
Then, out of nowhere, the crazy bug monster just ends that, and it becomes an escape-or-die situation since bugs move a lot faster than trees.
It’s also interesting to note that although Ciri’s been running and hiding from all these monsters, we know she has it in her to blast them all to bits.
If she could just figure out how to tap into that ability on demand, things could get a lot more exciting in a hurry.
In Cintra, the newest field of play mashed into the narrative, Francesca and Fringilla have a unique situation going: an honest partnership.
It would be practically idyllic if only the men who keep sticking their noses into things would buy into it.
We are looked upon as imperialists. People, they see our black armor and they assume that we are here to destroy the world. But we’re not. We are trying to feed, to house, to liberate.
Fringilla
The alliance between Nilfgaard and the elves seems to really bother some people. And not only in Fringilla’s army. We saw the way Stregobor taught his lesson on historical elven foes.
At the same time, Francesca has her hands full calming Filavandrel’s distrust of humans. This is a marked change in attitude from when she ordered Fringilla and Yennefer executed on The Witcher Season 2 Episode 2.
There is a natural suspicion that Voleth Meir’s suggestion for the two women to ally their forces would have a nefarious goal. So far, that doesn’t seem to be the way of it. But it’s early days.
The creature’s insistence that her victims explicitly ask for what they want seems very deal-with-the-devil-esque. What is unclear is what Voleth Meir gets out of the asking.
Filavandrel: I’ve never known a human to give out of the kindness of his heart.
Francesca: Yes, there’s a cost. But if it saves our people, it’s one I’m happy to pay.
Filavandrel: You say that now.
Francesca: Because I stand in the here and now.
Many questions are left unanswered here.
What will Yennefer and Cahir do now since Yennefer has no powers and Cahir has no army?
Will Ciri continue to punish herself for the things about herself she does not understand? Can Geralt get through to her before it’s too late?
How long can the Nilfgaardian-elven honeymoon last?
Take refuge in our comments section, and throw us your most burning questions to mull over.
Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.