Those familiar with Ciri from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt may have been thrown by her appearance in the first season of Netflix’s The Witcher. In the game, she’s a swashbuckling adventurer, wearing an outfit suited to a dangerous quest that takes her across the land. But, as played by Freya Allan in season 1 of the TV show, Ciri was scared, vulnerable and weak – a princess plucked from her cozy castle and tossed into a threatening world.
Now, though, it’s looking like the upcoming second season is set to show off a tougher, battle-ready Ciri. We got a glimpse at this last week in some leaked set pictures and today, the show’s official Twitter page has released a still of her in action as well as a photo of her weapon, which were accompanied by a short rhyme that reads:
“She gave tearful goodbyes on a most violent night. Now this child of surprise is preparing to fight.”
Judging by the wooden sword and determined expression on her face, Ciri is presumably midway through her training at the Witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen. I’d imagine that Geralt is playing a big part in imparting his knowledge, too, though seasoned Witcher Vesemir is also likely to begin showing her some tough love and Yennefer may be on hand to help her hone her magical powers as well.
We recently got confirmation that a third season is moving ahead, so my thinking is that in the second run we’ll see Ciri learning the basics of swordplay, going through some key trials and climactic moments where she has to put her new skills into action (possibly during the big Kaer Morhen battle sequence that we’ve heard about). Fans of both the books and the games will know that she has perilous times ahead of her, but I can’t wait to see the transformed Ciri kicking ass and taking names.
The Witcher season 2 won’t land until mid 2021 at this point, but it certainly looks like it’ll be worth the wait.