The Witcher season 1 introduced some of the most notable characters from this universe, among them is Renfri, who had a brief appearance but a major impact on Geralt’s life. But who is Renfri i The Witcher? The team behind Netflix’s The Witcher decided to approach Andrzej Sapkowski’s stories differently by focusing on three characters whose stories were set in different places and times where their paths converge. These characters are Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer of Vengerberg, and Ciri. But before Geralt found Ciri and met Yennefer, he encountered another female character who gave him a big clue of what was to come.
Clean character i The Witcher appeared in the first episode of the series, where Geralt, after fighting a kikimora, entered the city of Blaviken. Soon, Geralt found himself in the middle of a conflict between Renfri and the wizard Stregobor, as they wanted Geralt to help them kill the other. In an attempt to prevent her from killing Stregobor, Geralt killed her men and fought Renfri, mortally wounding her. Renfri’s last words told him of a girl in the forest who would be his destiny forever, referring to Ciri. Just like in the books, Renfri was a cursed princess turned bandit that Stregobor had been hunting for years.
Who Renfri was in the Witcher books
Renfri appeared in Witcher the story “The Lesser Evil”, found in The last wish, and she was the daughter of Fredefalk, Prince of Creyden, and stepdaughter of Aridea. Her story is a darker version of Snow White’s as Renfri was born under the Black Sun, a predicted eclipse that would bring the end of human civilization at the hands of 60 girls born under it. Through Nehalenia’s mirror, Queen Aridea learned that Renfri wanted to kill her and many others, and so she told the Council, who sent Stregobor to investigate.
Stregobor reportedly saw her torturing and harming other beings and after some tests concluded that she was a mutant and cursed from being born during the eclipse. Aridea later hired a thug to take her into the forest, kill her and bring back her heart and liver, but the thug robbed and raped her instead. Renfri killed him and fled, and over the next four years she became known as “Shrike” because of her habit of impaling her victims. Aridea hired another assassin to kill her, but Renfri survived each attempt – Aridea died on the other side of poisoning, and Stregobor believed that Renfri was to blame.
IN The Witcher series, Renfri continued to rob, and at one point lived with a king, but she ended up leaving to go after Stregobor. When she arrived at Blaviken, she met Geralt, who came by. The rest of her story happened pretty much the same as in the Netflix series, with her and Stregobor trying to get Geralt to help them kill the other. Geralt killed her after he cut one of her leg arteries and he threatened to kill Stregobor if he touched her as the wizard wanted to perform an autopsy on her body.
However Witcher The Netflix series gave Renfri a deeper connection with Geralt, aside from warning him about his Child of Surprise: Geralt took her cloak brooch and put it on the hilt of his sword, as a reminder that he “should not interfere in men’s affairs” because they always lead to his own pain (in the book, Renfri used her brooch to kill the thug who raped her). Although Netflix’s The Witcher didn’t give Renfri enough time for her full story to be known, it made her an unforgettable character by having her remind Geralt of his destiny and by adding something personal to Geralt’s sword.
Why Renfri Was So Important to Geralt (According to The Witcher Showrunner)
The Pure One The Witcher character had a lasting impact on Geralt’s character despite how short-lived her appearance in the series was. In the very first episode of Making Witcher, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich informed the audience about not only the process of the series’ fleshing out, but also the meaning of Renfri and exactly what she means to Geralt. Hissrich explains that killing Renfri was not necessarily a choice for Geralt, but her importance lies in it “what she leaves him with.” In this aspect, Renfri is instrumental in leading Geralt to Ciri. But her character also has other consequences.
Hissrich suggests that Renfri made Geralt question his behavior and demeanor The Witcher. Renfri is arguably the only character in the series so far to fully understand the humanity beneath Geralt’s mutant exterior, and in her life and death she encourages him to seek that humanity in every possible situation. Hissrich says Geralt isn’t sure he made the right decision at the end of The Witcher season 1 episode 1 and Hissrich reminds the audience that “Geralt carries Renfri’s death with him for the rest of the season.”