Summary
- Ciri’s storyline in The Witcher Season 3 sets up her development into the Lady of Space and Time, with hints of her world-jumping powers and growth of her magical abilities.
- Despite relinquishing her powers, Ciri can still access her magic due to her Elder Blood gene, and world jumping will inevitably happen in future seasons of The Witcher.
- Ciri’s world-jumping powers will have a significant impact on The Witcher Season 4, shifting the focus away from characters like Geralt and Yennefer and bringing the Wild Hunt closer to Ciri, making for a brand new story.
Ciri is known for a specific power in the The Witcher books, and the Netflix series has already begun to hint at its reveal in season 4. So far, the Princess of Cintra’s story has gone in a few different directions, many of which have been significantly different than her canon story. This, as well as several other changes, has caused the show to receive heavy criticism. However, the events of The Witcher season 3 seemed aimed to guide Ciri back to the storyline book fans are more familiar with, with references to her future arc and growth of power spattered throughout her journey through the desert.
After Geralt’s loss to Vilgefortz in The Witcher season 3, Ciri made an explosive escape, winding up in the Frying Pan—the name given to the Korath desert. There, she wandered for days, experimented with fire magic, and was spooked into relinquishing her powers. Thankfully, this isn’t the same as Yennefer losing her chaos in The Witcher season 2, since this was entirely by Ciri’s choice. Additionally, these moments align well with the character’s canon story, which is a hopeful sign that going into The Witcher season 4, we may get to see Ciri’s most prominent magical skill—world jumping.
Ciri’s World Jump Powers From The Books Explained
In The Witcher books and video games, Ciri has the ability to jump between worlds. In all, this is a lot like the portals and teleporting seen thus far in the series. However, thanks to the Lion Cub of Cintra’s Elder Blood gene, she has virtually no limits on her jumping ability. She can travel to various worlds, some of which are like alternate versions of her own. In the Witcher books, she travels to a world where the Elves never lost power and where her own family faced a different fate. In the video games, she mentions traveling to a science fiction-like world where people travel through the sky in massive metal ships.
Like in Netflix’s version of The Witcher, Ciri wasn’t simply born knowing how to do this. In the books, it wasn’t until after the Princess’ journey through the Korath desert and stint with the Rats, the group of rather misbehaved children seen in The Witcher season 3, that she began to dive into this ability. Then, it takes her quite a while to get the hang of it, and she jumps wildly from world to world, getting herself into even more trouble before she finally gains control. Once this happens, she becomes known as the Lady of Space and Time.
The Witcher Season 3 Has Already Set Up Ciri’s World Jump Storyline
Though Ciri’s story has taken a few detours, The Witcher season 3 has begun to set up her canon development into the Lady of Space and Time. In the Korath desert, she ran into a unicorn she named Little Horse, and the two helped each other find water and kept each other company. Of course, this ended with Little Horse being injured and Ciri using fire magic to heal him. This spooked the creature, who ran off, leaving Ciri to survive alone.
Despite his departure, this unicorn is much more critical to Ciri’s story than The Witcher season 3 made it seem. The animal’s proper name is Ihuarraquax, and after Ciri accidentally world jumps for the first time, he assists her in doing it again. The two jump from world to world, dimension to dimension, until Ciri finally masters the skill well enough to return to her own world and time. Since Netflix’s The Witcher has already demonstrated how the Wild Hunt exists in another dimension, and Ihuarraquax has officially been introduced, it’s only a matter of time before Ciri’s world-jumping adventures begin—which means some pretty significant changes for her The Witcher character.
Ciri Can Still Access Her Powers (Despite Relinquishing Them In Season 3)
Of course, the fact that Ciri gave up her powers in The Witcher season 3 seems to damper her magical development. After saving Little Horse with fire magic, she became concerned about how this kind of power could influence her—especially with Falka looking over her shoulder. Ultimately, this was an important decision. Ciri is doomed to follow a somewhat darker path in The Witcher season 4, as seen with her first kill in the season 3 finale. The last thing she needs to add fuel to the fire is the temptation to burn the world to the ground.
Thankfully, Ciri’s decision to relinquish her powers isn’t entirely permanent. Her Elder Blood gene makes it impossible for her to permanently give up magic, and world jumping will happen regardless. In short, she still has access to chaos, even if she can’t wield it the way she had before. It’s possible that The Witcher season 4 will elaborate on this further and perhaps see her gain mastery of her typical powers in a different way as she comes out of her “Falka” identity. Regardless of how the Netflix series goes about this, it can be assumed that Ciri will continue to be the most powerful character in the Witcher universe.
How Ciri’s World Jump Powers Will Impact The Witcher Season 4’s Story
The Witcher season 4 should see a significant shift compared to the previous seasons. Not only has Geralt been recast thanks to actor Henry Cavill’s departure, but Ciri’s dive into darkness means a somewhat different character than audiences have grown used to. The fact that she will be able to eventually travel between dimensions, some of which could contain different versions of all the familiar characters, is only going to increase the feeling that this is a brand new story.
This is supported by the news that The Witcher season 4 will no longer see Geralt as a main character. The Lady of Space and Time is the true center of the Witcher universe, and Ciri mastering the power will drive this fact home. Ultimately, world jumping will bring the Wild Hunt a few steps closer to Ciri, see her character come into her own, and pull the focus away from characters like Yennefer and Geralt. Since The Witcher is on wobbly legs after a couple less than satisfactory seasons and Cavill’s departure, this change for Ciri may be precisely what is needed to elevate the series to a different level.