The Witcher is a show’s that as captivating as it’s utterly confusing. As you’ve surely seen online, fans have argued at length about the series’ timeline, which was seemingly interpretive up until today. Now, however, we have an official answer to the questions that have been plaguing us ever since the first few episodes, as Netflix recently released the official timeline that explains when everything happened.
The very helpful graph – seen below – starts with Yennefer being sold to Aretuza in episode two, which is shown to take place in 1210. This is the farthest back that we go. Shortly after Yenn’s body gets transformed, Geralt becomes the Butcher of Blaviken in the pilot. Not too long after this occurs, he and Jaskier are both captured by elves in the next episode.
Are you still with us so far? Good. Everything is pretty straightforward again until episode four when things jump to 1249. Ciri’s mom agrees to Geralt’s claim of the Law of Surprise (keep in mind that Ciri isn’t even alive yet), while the next episode happens to be when Geralt finally gets to meet Yennefer.
From there, things get easy again. In episode 7, the timeline leaps ahead to 1263 and Geralt returns to claim Ciri at Cintra. When the protagonist is imprisoned in Cintra, we’re introduced to an older version of Ciri. It isn’t too much longer then until Cintra falls, which coincides with Calanthe giving Ciri to Mousesack and Geralt then starting his journey to find her. During Yennefer fighting at the Battle of Sodden Hill, Geralt and Ciri finally meet and the season comes to an amazing conclusion.
Hopefully, the above timeline and subsequent explanation is enough to clear up all of the confusion surrounding this awesome new show. And if you haven’t checked it out yet, know that the first eight episodes of The Witcher are currently streaming on Netflix, and are well worth your time.