Как на англ пишется цири

«Я знавал людей, утверждавших, будто сразу, с первой же встречи они ощущали дыхание смерти, исходящее от этой девочки. <…> я настойчиво пытался усмотреть, обнаружить, почувствовать в ней необычность. Но ничего не заметил и ничего не почувствовал. Ничего, что могло стать сигналом, предчувствием либо предвестником позднейших трагических событий. Причиной которых была она. И тех, которые вызвала сама».
— Лютик

Цирилла Фиона Элен Рианнон, более известная как Цири (ориг. Ciri) — один из центральных персонажей литературной саги и второй протагонист игры Ведьмак 3: Дикая Охота.

Дочь цинтрийской принцессы Паветты и князя Дани, внучка Калантэ и Рёгнера из Эббинга, королей Цинтры, дитя Старшей Крови, потомок Лары Доррен аэп Шиадаль и Крегеннана из Леды.

Предыстория

Раннее детство

Цирилла родилась в мае 1252^[1] года в семье пятнадцатилетней принцессы Цинтры Паветты и её мужа Дани. На радость всем, девочка растёт весьма бойкой и активной. Ко всему прочему, ей передалась красота своей матери, которая, отразившись в её утончённом лице, больших зелёных глазах и длинных, типичных для их рода пепельно-серых волосах, обещала сделать из неё завидную невесту. Игнорируя привычные девочкам её положения и возраста занятия, она всё больше предпочитает компанию мальчишек-сверстников, с которыми проводит большую часть времени, играя в их игры. Уже с малого возраста Цири путешествует меж королевств. Будучи ещё совсем крохой, она, вместе с бабушкой, множество раз отправлялась в плавание на острова Скеллиге к дяде Краху ан Крайту, где подолгу гостила.

Когда ей исполняется около пяти лет, в море пропадают её родители, а бабушка, разозлившись на ярла Скеллиге, запрещает посещать уже полюбившиеся ей острова. Но Цири особо не возражает, поскольку её бабушка становится единственным родным ей человеком. Со временем она привязывается к ней, восхищается ею и старается во всём походить на неё. Ко всему прочему, немилости Львицы из Цинтры хватило лишь на полгода. Затем девочка снова проводит на островах долгие месяцы.

С малых лет её няни рассказывают, что она является ребёнком-неожиданностью, предназначенным некому беловолосому ведьмаку. Девочка видит, что эти сплетни весьма не нравятся её бабушке Калантэ, но чем больше она ругает нянь за подобные истории, тем больше укрепляется в маленькой Цири уверенность, что рассказанные ими истории правдивы. Едва девочке исполняется десять лет, с согласия бабушки Цири показывают портрет будущего претендента на её руку из Вердэна. Ей он нравится, и она с благоволения Калантэ отправляется в замок Настрог.

Участие в литературной cаге

«Меч Предназначения»

Но девичьи мечты о прекрасном принце рассыпаются, едва Цири переступает порог замка. Мальчик с портрета оказывается едва ли похожим на оригинал. Толстый, глупый, со скверным запахом изо рта — Цири видит в нём одни лишь недостатки, которые выводят её из себя. К своему негодованию она узнаёт, что её любимая бабушка уже договорилась об её обручении с Кистрином. Цири не может пойти против воли Калантэ, но и обручаться с сыном владыки Вердэна, которому она даже не нравится, тоже не желает. Идея о побеге возникает практически сразу. Цири благоразумно решает, что раз она кому-то предназначена, почему бы и не поторопить события и встретиться с ним самой. Оценив свои шансы на побег и воспользовавшись лошадью, она решает обратиться к оруженосцу рыцаря Воймира Марку. Мальчик неплохо к ней относится, а выслушав её историю, с блеском в глазах соглашается помочь. Выбрав подходящее время, он, усадив её на лошадь, скачет прочь из замка. Спустя некоторое время они понимают, что заблудились. Во время скачки по словно из ниоткуда возникшему лесу, лошадь спотыкается и ломает ногу. Потеряв единственное средство передвижения и не зная куда идти, дети отправляются вглубь лесной чащобы, где практически сразу же теряют друг друга. Цири не особенно волнуется о судьбе оруженосца. Куда больше её беспокоит то, что, куда бы она не направилась, лес становится только гуще и непроходимее. Цири сутки болтается по лесу, пока не набредает на огромную сороконожку, которая оказывается не прочь ею закусить. Беспомощно закричав, девочка пытается укрыться, прижавшись к дереву. На её счастье, к ней на помощь приходит беловолосый воин, появившийся вместе с духобабой. Вместе они убивают чудовище.

Переведя дух, Цири снова впадает в панику. Решив, что это её преследователи из замка, она пытается бежать, но духобаба едва не попадает в неё из лука, и Цири не остаётся ничего иного, кроме как отдаться на волю «пленителей». До последнего она пытается сопротивляться ведьмаку, но это не приносит ей результата. Он хочет отправить княжну обратно в Вердэн, а духобаба решает уйти в лес, в некий Дуэн Канэлл. Моментально сориентировавшись в ситуации, Цири напрашивается пойти с ней, и Геральту приходится отправиться вместе с ними. Беспокоясь за раненую ногу, он берёт девочку к себе на плечи и так несёт вплоть до привала, где уже под вечер по её просьбе рассказывает сказку про лисицу и кота. В пути Цири уверяется, что это и есть тот самый беловолосый ведьмак, о котором ей рассказывали няни и которому она предназначена. Принцесса решает временно ничего не сообщать ему.

На следующий день она вместе с Геральтом, бредущим с повязкой на глазах, и дриадой Браэнн добираются до сердца Брокилона — Дуэн Канелла. Там она встречает своего неудавшегося преследователя Фрейксенета. Из их с Геральтом разговора Цири узнаёт, что последний является знаменитым ведьмаком. Она окончательно решает остаться с Геральтом, но её планам не суждено сбыться. Её бывшая спутница, дриада Браэнн, несмотря на её возражения, хочет показать ей весь Дуэн Канэлл. Тут она понимает, что теперь ей суждено навсегда остаться в Брокилоне. Не в состоянии сдержать нахлынувшие слёзы, она подчиняется воле вошедшей в помещение госпожи Эитнэ и уходит прочь вместе с Браэнн и окружившими её дриадами.

После прогулки она в обществе той же Браэнн попадает в дом владычицы Брокилона. Вскоре к ним присоединяется Геральт и Эитнэ. На глазах Цири происходит борьба убеждений ведьмака, который желает взять её обратно во внешний мир, и непоколебимостью Эитне, уже решившей, что девочка станет дриадой. Не желая оставлять всё как есть, Цири приводит повелительнице свой последний аргумент, сообщив ей, что именно с Геральтом связано её предназначение. Эитнэ слова впечатляют, она бледнеет, но не отпускает её. Догадываясь, что сейчас с ней произойдёт, Цири просит Геральта остаться с ней до конца. К её облегчению, он соглашается, и она, подчинившись воле Эитнэ, пьёт воду Брокилона. К удивлению окружающих, с ней ничего не происходит, и на последующий за этим вопрос Эитнэ отвечает, что хочет следовать за своим предназначением. После этого она вместе с Геральтом теряет сознание.

Придя в себя уже за границами леса, она будит лежащего рядом Геральта. Подтвердив его догадки о её происхождении, Цири воодушевляется, гадая, куда теперь отправится вместе с ним, но ведьмак снова рушит её планы. Они направляются обратно в Цинтру. Немного разочаровавшись, княжна решает последовать его словам. По неведомому наитию она знает, куда идти, а ведьмак решает следовать за ней. По дороге Цири и Геральт встречают людей, представившихся Эрвилловой дружиной. Они оказываются не теми, за кого себя выдают, завязывается бой, и Цири, будучи не в состоянии помочь и следуя совету ведьмака, убегает прочь. Вспомнив рассказанную им сказку о коте, она взбирается на макушку дерева. Спустившись, она видит дядю Мышовура, который к её ужасу рассказывает о ждущем её наказании. По пути обратно она засыпает в карете, а проснувшись, уже не застаёт ведьмака, который решил оставить её. Тем не менее она уверена, что ещё встретится с ним.

«Нечто большее»

Проходит год, Цирилле исполняется одиннадцать лет. Наступает очередная зима, которую она проводит на островах Скеллиге. Девочка славится своим превосходным катанием на коньках и безрассудством. Привыкшая принимать вызовы мальчишек, она участвует в так называемом «Прыжке Лосося», где в очередном состязании на Ард Скеллиге прыгает дальше признанного всеми чемпиона Хьялмара Кривоустого, сына Крах ан Крайта. Чтобы снять позор, Яльмар решает побить её рекорд. Прыжок не удаётся, а сам мальчик тяжело калечится. Чувствуя за собой вину, Цири не отходит от кровати 15-летнего парня, всё время рассказывая ему сказки и держа его за руку. В конце концов девочка влюбляется в Хьялмара и, как вскоре узнаёт Цири, её чувства оказываются взаимными. Вместе они решают обручиться. Узнав об их намерениях, Калантэ в срочном порядке приплывает на острова и, не смотря на скандалы и слёзы девочки, забирает её обратно в Цинтру.

Проходит лето, затем осень и ей становится уже не до романтики. Нильфгаард нападает на Цинтру и её столицу. Во всеобщей панике юную княжну по приказу Калантэ пытаются вывезти из города, но тщетно — отряд попадает в засаду врагов. Едва не погибнув от городского пожара и произошедшей там битвы, она в полуобморочном состоянии оказывается спасённой нильфгаардским рыцарем, который выносит её из города. Покинув гибнущий город, она дожидается, пока он уснёт, и сбегает, очутившись в районе Заречья. Две недели княжна скитается по лесам, боясь малейшего шороха, пока не присоединяется к сиротам и бегущим из княжества беженцам. Ещё месяц Цири живёт практически впроголодь, вкалывая на тяжёлых работах за кусок хлеба. Вскоре она попадает в руки к друидам, помогающим по мере своих сил таким же, как она, бедствующим цинтрийцам. У них её замечает Златулина. Жене пропавшего купца отчаянно нужны были ещё одни женские руки, помогающие по хозяйству, а бойкая зеленоглазая девчушка выделяется из толпы бродяг. У неё Цири живёт более полугода, работая по хозяйству и в полях. Всё это время ей снятся кошмары, начавшиеся ещё за год до войны и усилившиеся после встречи с чёрным рыцарем, делая и так небольшие перерывы на сон ещё меньше. Но девочка не жалуется, так как уже привыкла и к снам, и к тяжёлой работе.

В один прекрасный день Златулина вместе с детьми выходит на крыльцо, чтобы встретить вернувшегося мужа по имени Йурга. Проследовав за ними, девочка узнаёт, что вместе с купцом прибыл Геральт. Крепко обняв девочку, он обещает больше не покидать её. Геральт забирает Цири в древнюю крепость ведьмаков Школы Волка — Каэр Морхен.

«Кровь эльфов»

Совершив вместе с ведьмаком путешествие в Каэдвен, Цири наконец достигает Каэр Морхена. Весь путь до крепости ей беспрестанно снятся кошмары о нильфгаардце, вытащившем её из города. Единственным утешением девочки становится обещание Геральта не покидать её. Очутившись в замке, она знакомится там с оставшимися на зимовку ведьмаками. Её страх перед неизвестным уходит, и Койон, Весемир, Ламберт и Эскель, наравне с Геральтом, становятся её друзьями и наставниками. Начав с малого, она постепенно совершенствуется во всех воинских дисциплинах. Несмотря на многочисленные падения и удары, Цири с завидной стойкостью, присущей только представителям мужского пола, переносит боли в опухших и налитых синяками местах. Более того, это ей безумно нравится. Однако девочку продолжают мучить кошмары и внезапные трансы, после которых она ничего не помнит, а на лицах ведьмаков читается беспокойство. Кроме того, Цири постепенно взрослеет, и её тело начинает приносить ей неудобства. Так проходит её двенадцатый год жизни, проведённый в Каэр Морхене.

Зима 1265 г. Во время очередной пробежки по «Пути», Цири сталкивается с девушкой, и к тому же чародейкой. Представившись как Трисс, путница убеждает Цири сопроводить её в замок, и возле дверей поражает девочку красотой своих пышных волос. Отведя Трисс к ведьмакам, она под присмотром Ламберта продолжает свои занятия по владению мечом. На следующий день Цири делится с Трисс деталями своей жизни в крепости и рассказывает о физиологических изменениях в её организме. Трисс приходит в негодование от несообразительности ведьмаков и дарит Цири кулон, решив взять девочку под свой контроль. Трисс объясняет Цири изменения, происходящие с её телом. Кроме того, она учит, как следует вести себя с остальными ведьмаками, если у неё критические дни и она не может упражняться.

Спустя некоторое время после их разговора, Цири после игры с Койоном около костра решает выпить воды. То, что она выпивает, оказывается «Белой Чайкой», которую ей специально подсунула чародейка, чтобы наладить с ней психический контакт. После этого девочка надолго уходит в сон, а проснувшись, боится снова засыпать. Кошмары, мучившие её уже долгое время, не только не прекращаются, но и усиливаются. Каждую ночь она просыпается с криком и плачем, засыпая только после убаюкивания Трисс, которая, словно ожидая худшего, не отходит от неё ни днём, ни ночью. Это длится в течение десяти дней, после чего кошмары полностью проходят. Её обучение в крепости далее проходит уже без эксцессов. Одновременно обучаясь ведьмачьим приёмам у наставников, она не забывает наведываться к Трисс, с которой крепко сдружилась и которая обучает её Старшей Речи и всевозможным женским хитростям, включая макияж. Так, незаметно для девочки, наступает февраль, в котором происходит её первая ссора с Геральтом. Цири отправляется в Элландер, в храм Мелитэле.

Весна 1265 г. Во время пути у Трисс возникают серьёзные проблемы с животом. Тактично не обращая внимания на её позывы, Цири старается по мере своих сил вместе с Геральтом ухаживать за ней. Во время пути Цири знакомится с Ярпеном Зигрином и его дружиной, состоящей из краснолюдов. Крепко подружившись с ними, Цири не перестаёт восхищаться простыми манерами и своеобразной философией этого народа. Ей надоедают постоянные замечания Геральта, и она на время сбегает от него в лес. Там она натыкается на прошедший рядом с ней отряд скоя`таэлей. Волнуясь за неё, ведьмак находит девочку. Геральт показывает ей Шаэрраведд, попутно рассказывая историю о Аэлирэнн. Слушая его, Цири наконец понимает, что означает пресловутый ведьмачий нейтралитет. Взяв розу, лежащую на алтаре Шаэрраведд, она случайно ранит палец. Вместе с мыслью о боли её посещает видение о бое и попавшей в беде Трисс. Не теряя ни мгновения, она, подгоняя свою лошадь по кличке Каштанка, скачет к оставшейся позади группе. Там она застаёт сражавшийся со скоя`таэлями отряд. Несмотря на всю свою подготовку в Каэр Морхене, девочка оказывается не в состоянии вытащить свой меч, чтобы убить кого-либо. На её глазах убивают Вильфрида Венцка и ставшего уже её другом Паулье. Её саму от смерти спасает Геральт, едва успевший зарубить эльфийку, пытавшуюся убить девочку. Очнувшись от кратковременного забытья, уже после боя, Цири узнаёт правду об обозе Ярпена и прощается с розой из Шаэрраведда, не давшей эльфийке сразу зарубить её. На момент приезда в Элландер Цири исполняется 13 лет.

Лето 1265 г. Прибыв в Храм Мелитэле, Цири сразу попадает под опеку старшей жрицы Нэннеке, которая, скрыв настоящее прошлое девочки и прося молчать о нём Цири, выдаёт её за одну из многочисленных внебрачных дочерей рыцарей. Обучение, начавшееся в крепости с Трисс, продолжилось в уже большем объёме в обители Мелитэле. Девочка, приобщившись к внешнему миру, находит подружек в лице Эурнэйд, Катье и Иоли и вместе с ними разделяет как ученические, так и хозяйственные обязанности. Она скучает по ушедшему от неё Геральту, что выливается в многочисленные письма, написанные под присмотром Нэннеке и адресованные ему. Спустя некоторое время её передают на обучение пришедшей в храм Йеннифэр. Несогласная с этим и неосознанно ревновавшая её к Геральту девочка изо всех сил пытается противиться ей. Но всё выходит в точности наоборот, и её ненависть к чародейке оборачивается преданностью и благодарностью. Во время испытаний Йеннифэр Цири постепенно привязывается к ней, находя её общество всё более приятным, а её рассказы о магии — захватывающими. В один из этих разговоров чародейка избавляет девочку от мучивших её кошмаров, заставив взглянуть в сновидении на собственный страх. После этого начинается её долгое обучение магии. Её подружки, замечая, что она всё больше находится с чародейкой, начинают подшучивать над ней, рассказывая о недостатках её «девичества» и прочих смущающих её вещах. В конце концов Йеннифэр, устав от непрекращающихся расспросов об этой весьма объёмной теме, просит Цири переселиться со всеми вещами в её комнату. Это естественным образом сближает их ещё сильнее, и она больше не видит в ней ту ненавистную загадочную женщину, коей ей вначале казалась чародейка. Цири становится с ней всё более откровенной, и, отвечая на её вопросы, она вспоминает всё больше из прошлого, о котором она решила забыть. У неё появляется первый ухажёр: Шестнадцатилетний писарь Ярре, с которым она любила общаться в его башне, начал на неё весьма странно засматриваться. Она понимает, что нравится ему, более того, она уже целовала его, и её это смущает. Ведь она совершенно не рассматривает его, как объект своих воздыханий. Так в сложной учёбе с Йеннифэр, которая непременно разбавлялась хозяйственной работой, порученной матерью Нэннеке, проходит едва ли не два года её жизни. Когда она уезжает с чародейкой из храма, ей идёт 15-й год (июнь 1267 г.)

«Час презрения»

Сославшись на сбор чародеев, который должен был проходить на острове Танедд, Йеннифэр приказывает Цири отправиться в долгое путешествие. В пути выясняется, что чародейка намерена отправить её в Аретузу — школу, где обучают девочек её возраста магии. Ей это весьма не нравится, но сама Цири ничего поделать не может. Она слишком хорошо знает свою наставницу, чтобы противостоять её аргументам, к тому же ведьмачка не теряет надежды увидеть Геральта, к которому, как она предполагает, направляется Йеннифэр и с которым она уже не виделась долгое время. Её надежды рушатся, едва они достигают Горс Велена. Чародейка настроена решительно и любые попытки Цири сопротивляться её отправлению в школу мгновенно пресекаются. Смирившись с судьбой, она вместе с Йен сразу по приезде в город отправляется в местный банк Джианкарди. Там девушка присутствует при разговоре Мольнара Джианкарди и Йеннифэр, в результате которого она выясняет, что ведьмак находится в районе Хирунда. Там же её знакомят с Фабио Сахсом Младшим. После представления Йеннифэр он становится её провожатым в городе. В процессе прогулки по городу девочка узнаёт о местоположении её будущей школы, а также то, что сады Хирунда находятся от города не так уж и далеко. Едва узнав об этом, девочка заметно повеселела. Для неё не всё было потеряно. Вместе с Фабио она посещает центральный рынок города. Ей он совершенно не нравится. Душно, тесно, к тому же местный жрец начал лапать её задницу. От тяжёлой расправы того спасает едва подоспевший к ней Фабио, вручивший ей пончик и оттащивший её подальше в сторону. Моментально забыв об инциденте, она натыкается на представленное публике чудовище. Опознав в нём виверну вместо сказанного глашатаем василиска, она во всеуслышание сообщает об этом. Взбешённый её речами владелец представления, просит её доказать свои слова, на что она не моргнув глазом соглашается. Гордится своей победой она недолго… Клетка ломается и взбешённая виверна вырывается на свободу. Тренировки в Каэр Морхене не прошли даром, она убивает чудовище, а дабы скрыть своё деяние, вручает меч попавшему под руку оруженосцу. Активировав подаренный Йеннифэр амулет, она скрывается ото всех, уходя в улочку, на которой Цири договорилась встретиться с Фабио. Там её настигают две чародейки, спутавшие её с ученицей Аретузы.

Выслушав объяснение Фабио, они протаскивают обездвиженную магией и испытывающую страшное унижение Цири через полгорода, обратно к банку. Там ей приходится краснеть перед Йеннифэр, которая после слов своих подруг одаривает её одним из своих знаменитых взглядов. Из их разговоров она узнаёт, что поймали её Тиссая де Врие и Маргарита Ло-Антиль, носящиеся по Горс Велену в поисках сбежавших учениц Аретузы. Её наставница принимает их приглашение, в результате чего Цири оказывается в самой роскошной гостинице города, вынужденная прислуживать трём чародейкам. Там она становится свидетелем прихода командира Райлы, которая после короткого разговора с чародейками приказывает открыть ворота гостиницы. Видя с каким усердием хозяин выполняет приказы Райлы, она задумывается о побеге, но вновь возвращается к ждущим её с кувшином вина чародейкам. Ей надо было одеться и как следует подготовиться к уходу.

Дождавшись их очередной просьбы сходить за кувшином, она, оставив записку Йеннифэр, направляется сразу к хозяину гостиницы. Стараясь подражать тону своей наставницы, она приказывает открыть ворота. Тот слушается, и она, вскочив на коня, рысью скачет в непроглядную ночь в Хирунд, к Геральту. Во время бешеной скачки на неё снова нахлынывают воспоминания из Цинтры, а чёрный рыцарь оборачивается королём Дикого Гона, который вместе со своей свитой преследуют её, дабы присвоить Цири себе. Увидев вскинувшего меч Геральта, она было направляется к нему, но её останавливает заклинание Йеннифэр, попавшее в наездников Гона. Материализовавшаяся чародейка оказывается позади неё, в то время как Геральт спереди. Цири не находит другого выхода как изобразить обморок, чтобы сплотить их. На следующий день она, выскользнув из постели, вместе с присоединившимся к ней Лютиком подглядывает за примирением Геральта и Йеннифэр. После этого она в их компании направляется прямиком на Танедд во дворец Локсия, где, оставшись наедине с Геральтом, весь день проводит в разговорах с ведьмаком. Её разочаровывает разговор. Ведьмак был немногословен, сдержан, неспокоен и явно не откровенен. Их беседы обрывались, увязали в неоконченных, прерванных на полуслове фразах и вопросах. Глаза и мысли ведьмака убегали от неё и уходили далеко–далеко. Цири знала, куда именно. К её наставнице, к Йеннифэр. В очередную ночь на Локсии она просыпается в поту, её снова посещают видения и кошмары. Цири замечает, что защитные заклинания, поставленные Йеннифэр, исчезли. Послушавшись внутреннего голоса, она оделась и, взяв свой кортик, вышла из дворца к ожидающей её наставнице. Очнувшись от транса, Цири смутно вспоминает свои предсказания, данные чародеям в общей зале. Йеннифэр, держа окровавленный кинжал, извиняется перед ней и просит бежать к Маргарите. Девушка подчиняется и нехотя убегает прочь. Благополучно избежав захвата двух эльфов, в конце концов она попадает в лапы Терранова. Её снова спасает Геральт, перерубивший ему шею. Короткий миг их встречи прерывает сам ведьмак, оставшийся, чтобы задержать преследующих её людей. Попросив напоследок у него свой меч, она снова убегает прочь. В конце концов она сталкивается со своим страхом, материализовавшимся в образе чёрного рыцаря. Будучи загнанной в угол, Цири приходит в ярость, которую вымещает на рыцаре. Воспользовавшись знаниями из Каэр Морхена, она опрокидывает противника и снимает шлем, чтобы нанести смертельный удар, но… не совершает его. Взглянув на лицо темноволосого юноши, она опускает меч. Бросив оружие на брусчатку, она, вскочив на вороного коня, продолжает свой бег. Вскоре после бешеной скачки её конь падает замертво. Следуя наитию, она решает не идти по серпантину, а подняться ввысь к Башне Чайки. Уже там она понимает, что загнана в угол и ей ничего не остаётся, кроме как воспользоваться порталом на вершине башни. Приходит в себя она уже в пустыне.

Очнувшись, она вспоминает события на острове и её отчаянный прыжок в портал, обернувшийся появлением в нескольких метрах над поверхностью пустыни. Осознав всю серьёзность своего положения, она решает идти, чтобы выжить. Поход оборачивается для Цири многодневным изнуряющим кошмаром. Чтобы выжить и добыть немного воды, она вынуждена слизывать утреннюю влагу с камней, есть насекомых, яйца ящериц и неизвестные растения. Её рвёт, она множество раз теряет сознание, отчаивается, ревёт, но девушка упорно встаёт и продолжает идти, ориентируясь по солнцу и звёздам. В момент, когда она уже обессиленная и доведённая жарой практически до безумия падает на песок, около неё появляется единорог. Последовав за ним, она находит скрытый под песком источник воды. Мутная и полная песка вода спасает её от неминуемой смерти. Далее она следует по пустыне уже в компании своенравного единорога, взаимно помогая искать пропитание. Двигаясь к виднеющимся на горизонте горам, они в конце концов попадают в ловушку к пустынному монстру. Едва отбившись телекинезом, Цири остаётся жива, в то время как её спутник, которого она прозвала Коньком, оказывается тяжело раненым. В отчаянии девушка пытается его вылечить магией, притронувшись к запретной энергии огня. Почувствовав могущественную силу, она исцеляет единорога, но в то же время теряет себя. Её сила требует жертв, и Цири испугавшись отрекается от неё, впав в прострацию на долгое время. В таком состоянии её и находит нильфгаардский рыцарь в сопровождении Ловчих. Но ей уже всё равно, она стала совершенно безразлична к своей судьбе.

Наевшись и напившись, она постепенно приходит в себя, осознавая, что находится в плену у нильфгаардцев, которые самым невероятным образом сумели найти её в пустыне. Прикинувшись глуповатой и немой, она, избегая расспросов грубых с ней Ловчих, внимательно следит за их лагерем, надеясь придумать план побега. На следующий день она пробует использовать самое лёгкое колдовство, которому её учила Йеннифэр — телекинезу. Её опасения подтверждаются: в ней нет больше магической силы. Осознав это, она снова впадает в апатию. Так продолжается вплоть до её встречи с Голубым Рыцарем. Едва тот приблизился к отряду, вспыхивает бой между нильфгаардским командиром и Голубым Рыцарем. В результате погибают оба, а Цири, наблюдавшая за ними всё это время, решает сбежать. Но удача не стремится показаться девушке лицом. Её берут в плен Ловчии, решившие сами взять награду за неё у префекта Амарильо. По пути туда они заскакивают в Глысвен. Вынужденная подчинятся их лидеру по имени Скомлик, она раз за разом испытывает одно унижение за другим. Так и сейчас, заставив её молчать, он за шкирку затаскивает её в корчму, а после краткого разговора с посетителями для надёжности привязывает к столбу, рядом с которым уже был связанный Кайлей. Мальчик оказался её возраста и, как чувствовала Цири, невероятно злым. Он берёт шефство над трясущейся от страха девушкой и, приказывая, что делать, организовывает побег. Ворвавшаяся в корчму банда Крыс перебивает всех находящихся внутри, а Цири, освободившись и выйдя во двор, под одобрительный гул вступает в бой со Скомликом. Тот оказывается лёгким противником, но девушка всё же не убивает его. Оценившие её фехтование Крысы, вскочив на лошадей, приглашают её присоединиться к ним, и Цири недолго думая соглашается. Во время ухода из деревни один из поселенцев, вынув арбалет, подстреливает её лошадь. Вскочив на другую лошадь, где был Кайлей, она приближается к кмету и убивает его. Едва сдержав подступившую тошноту, она догоняет остальных членов банды. Остановившись в их убежище, она попадает под расспросы членов банды о её прошлом. Разозлившись, она уже было решает уйти прочь, но вдруг Крысы, говоря свою клятву, принимают её к себе. Она называется Фалькой. Ночью с ней пытается заняться любовью Кайлей, но от его прикосновений её начинает бить дрожь от страха. К ней на помощь приходит Мистле, которая отгоняет парня с её ложа, после чего сама ложится рядом с ней, успокаивая её. Она чувствует, что теперь она не одна. Влившись в банду, Цири теряет страх, стыд и милосердие. Теперь она разбойница под именем Фалька. Ей идёт уже 15-й год.

«Крещение огнём»

За время, проведённое с бандой, Фалька старается забыть о той одинокой Цири, попавшую в эти края. Её одиночество скрашивает Мистле, которая заботливо ухаживает за ней. Она относится к их дружбе с ней как к очередному развлечению, необязательной связи, без которой она, впрочем, оставаться безумно боится. Ко всему прочему у неё возобновляются кошмары, показывающие её уже бывших родных. Цири уже похоронила их на Танедде, и сны только раздражают, сгоняя с неё напускное веселье. Проведя долгое время в бесконтрольном грабеже аристократов, она научилась убивать. Применяя навыки, полученные в Каэр Морхене, она забирает жизни с такой лёгкостью, что это начинает ей нравиться. Фальку легко вывести из себя и поплатиться за это.

Со временем её начинает раздражать отношение к ней попавших в их облавы аристократов. Фалька не забыла, что она всё ещё княжна Цинтры из уважаемой семьи. Вынужденная скрывать своё истинное происхождение, Фалька легко приходит в ярость, которую она срывает на ничего не подозревающих людях.

«Башня ласточки»

Во время очередной гулянки, которая сопровождалась вином и фисштехом, Фалька решает наколоть такую же татуировку, как у Мистле. В место, где они развлекаются, приезжает Хотспорн, сообщивший всей банде о находящемся рядом Бонарте. Как и остальная банда, она не воспринимает угрозу всерьёз, гораздо больше её заинтересовывает сообщение о том, что на престол Нильфгаарда взойдёт некая Цирилла. Девушка возмущена до глубины души и изо всех сил старается опровергнуть этот факт говорившему об этом Хотспорну. Цири отвратна мысль, что её положением и только ей позволенной роскошью пользуется шарлатанка. Ласково попрощавшись с Мистле, она решает догнать Хотспорна, а узнав у него дорогу, направиться в Цинтру, чтобы самой взойти на престол и после этого вернуться к своей подруге. Догнав купца, она пару дней путешествует с ним, надеясь на его обещание сопроводить её к ближайшему к Цинтре городу. Во время пути они разговариваются, и девушка понимает, что несмотря на то, что внешне Хотспорн ей не нравится, она не прочь с ним переспать ради интереса. Планы рушат бандиты, выскочившие из леса и ранившие купца. Её неудавшийся любовник умирает, держа голову у неё на груди, породив в ней лишь одно чувство — разочарование. Вынужденная переждать крутящихся вблизи бандитов, она проводит вблизи трупа ночь, а наутро, взяв его лошадь, которую нарекла Кельпи, она отправляется в Ревность. Догадавшись о подстроенной купцом ловушке, она надеется перехватить Крыс по пути, но войдя в деревню, она понимает, что опоздала. Все Крысы, включая её Мистле, оказываются мертвы. Взбешённая и убитая горем Фалька вступает в краткий бой с охотником на головы, проигрывает ему, а после оказывается связанной. Оставив её в живых, Бонарт заставляет девушку смотреть на то, как он поочерёдно отрубает головы всем членам банды… Это случается 9 сентября 1267 г.

После этого Цири снова уходит в себя, не реагируя ни на его побои, ни на его эксцентричные просьбы раздеться перед людьми. С ошейником на шее она фактически становится его рабыней. Но следующие события несколько озадачивают девушку. Отказавшись отдать её людям барона Касадея, на которого и работал, Бонарт по только ему ведомым причинам везёт её в Фано. Едва не умерев по пути от усталости, она 12 сентября 1267 г. под конвоем Бонарта заглядывает к мечнику Эстерхази. Там она перебрав пару мечей и безуспешно сразившись с Бонартом, получает свой новый меч — Зираэль, отправившийся до поры к охотнику. Очевидно поняв что-то, мечник предлагает ей поистине королевское преподношение, отдав задаром.
15 сентября 1267 г. приехав к Хувенагелю и услышав про некое представление, до Цири начинает доходить к чему её готовят. Она начала искать любой повод, любую возможность, которая поможет ей в побеге. Безуспешно. Заставив принять наркотики, её выбрасывают на гладиаторскую арену. Несмотря на то, что она не хотела сражаться на потеху публике, она вынуждена это делать. Убив нескольких пришедших по её душу людей, она, отчаявшись, собирается покончить с собой. У Цири ничего не выходит, а Бонарт, уже догадывающийся о её обучении в Каэр Морхене, после боя пытает её. Так он узнаёт всё о прошлом Цири. Уже будучи в подвале и после пыток, девушке снится вещий сон о Геральте. Так она узнаёт, что ведьмак жив. Спустя некоторое время после допроса, она так же с ошейником и на цепи отправляется с Бонартом в деревню Говорог. Уже там она встречает Скеллена и знакомого ей по Танедду Риенса. Последний, мельком сообщив о том, что пытал Йеннифэр, угрожает ей повторением судьбы её наставницы. Цири остаётся безучастной к его словам. Уйдя в себя и будучи привязанной к столбу, девушка равнодушно наблюдает, как они ушли совещаться о её судьбе в дом, предполагая, что вскоре её убьют. Она устала быть в ожидании худшего, она желает лишь, чтобы это поскорее закончилось.

Помощь приходит откуда её не ждали. Девушка, состоявшая в группе Скеллена, решив «прозондировать» Цири, случайно открывает в ней магическую силу, от которой она отказалась в пустыне Корат. Отбросив женщину и заставив истекать кровью всех окружающих, её освобождает Нератин Цека, решивший предать Скеллена. Взяв меч и вскочив на подогнанную им Кэльпи, Цири уходит от погони. 23 сентября 1267 г. преследователи её нагоняют, и в безуспешной борьбе девушка получает от Скеллена увечье, едва не оказавшееся фатальным. Сама того не зная, Цири, спасая себя, пользуется своим природным даром и прыгает во времени на шесть дней вперёд.

27 сентября 1267 г. на болотах, где ранили девушку, её находит местный отшельник по имени Высогота. Он в течение шести дней выхаживает находящуюся при смерти Цири. Очнувшись, девушка болезненно воспринимает весть отшельника о её ужасном шраме. Немного оправившись, она пытается, несмотря на предупреждения Высоготы, уйти восвояси, дабы не подставлять отшельника. Впрочем, это ей не удаётся, и она, осознавая всю серьёзность её текущего состояния, решает остаться в доме отшельника на некоторое время. Она корит себя за гибель банды, особенно Мистле, и боится своим присутствием в доме подставить приютившего её человека.

Во время очередного с Высоготой разговора она узнаёт историю отшельника, в свою очередь Цири постепенно рассказывает свою. Так в долгих разговорах и совместном с ним промысле на угрей она проводит в его доме осень, вылечиваясь и набираясь сил. Всё это время ей снятся вещие сны о её родных. Вскоре она узнаёт от него о существующей связи между Башней Чайки на Танедде и Башней Ласточки, которая считается утерянной. Вместе с ним она, разбираясь в древних фолиантах, находит местоположение Tor Zireael. Спустя некоторое время она решает наконец покинуть своё временное обиталище и отправиться в Стоозёрье.

Подготавливаясь к отъезду, она узнаёт, что люди, ищущие её, остановились в близлежащей деревне и творят там что хотят. Решив разобраться с ними по своему, она несмотря на категорические возражения Высоготы, узнаёт о Дун Даре, местечке, где они остановились. Поругавшись с отшельником, она уходит ночью, но вскоре, остыв и придя в себя, возвращается обратно, чтобы закончить свой рассказ и отправиться в дорогу. По пути в Стоозёрье она заглядывает в Дун Дар, где, по её представлению, разбирается со злом. 31 октября 1267 г. она убивает всех солдат в корчме.

Несмотря на погоню Бонарта, Скеллена и других, она одурачивает их, а в процессе убивает ещё и ненавистного ею Риенса. Наконец Цири достигает Башни Ласточки и благополучно попадает в неё. Она видит череду образов, рассказывающих о её силе, которой подвластны время и пространство, а спустя мгновение попадает в другой мир, где её уже ждали… Ей уже 16 лет. На дворе 19 ноября 1267 г.

«Владычица озера»

Оказавшись в другом мире (январь 1268 г.), Цири спустя некоторое время понимает, что является пленницей башни, в которую она по своей воле попала. Несмотря на королевское отношение к ней она несколько раз пытается сбежать, но все попытки проваливаются. На восьмой день к ней приходит Аваллак’х и говорит об условии, после которого девушку выпустят обратно в её мир. Узнав о том, что эльфам нужно родить от неё ребёнка, она приходит в ярость, а успокоившись, отказывается от предложения, уже твёрдо решив покинуть это место любым способом. Вскоре Цири понимает, что без оговоренного условия она не вернётся к друзьям и, приняв решение отдаться королю Ольх, направляется в его покои, чтобы быть через некоторое время отвергнутой. Раз за разом она направляется в его спальню, но результат остаётся всё тем же, Ауберон уходит из спальни, так и не прикоснувшись к ней. После очередного провала она во время скачки по предместьям башни встречает стадо единорогов. Мысленно связавшись с ней, один из единорогов предупреждает её о нависшей над ней опасностью. В нём она с удивлением узнаёт единорога, с которым она прошла долгий путь по пустыне Корат. Доверившись его словам, она решает воспользоваться предложенным им планом побега. Во время побега на её руках умирает король Ольх, а его убийца, решивший оставить Цири при себе, вынуждает её ввязаться в бой на плывущей лодке. Не без хитрости победив его и узнав об истинном обличии мира эльфов, она вместе с сопровождающим её Иуарракваксом на Кельпи исчезает из него, чтобы вернуться к Геральту. Пройдя через многие миры и времена, она с помощью Нимуэ всё же отыскивает единственно верный путь, ведущий в нужное ей время и место, к замку Стигга, на выручку к Йеннифэр.

Попав в убежище Вильгефорца, она проcит мага освободить заточённую у него чародейку, добровольно согласившись стать его пленницей. Она вскоре понимает свою ошибку. Чародею не нужен её ребёнок, по крайней мере живым. Он намерен искусственно оплодотворить её, а после взять плаценту едва сформировавшегося плода. На счастье Цири, Вильгефорц не успевает осуществить свои планы — на выручку девушке приходит Геральт и его дружина. В суматохе девушка сбегает, а встретив так ненавистного ей Лео Бонарта, убивает его. Когда Геральт, Йеннифэр и Цири уже, казалось бы, одержали победу, в замок прибывает нильфгаардская армия с Эмгыром вар Эмрейсом во главе. К всеобщему удивлению, он не стал забирать Цири с собой, а оставил её на попечении чародейки и ведьмака.

После этого Геральт, Йеннифэр и Цири отправились по памятным для девушки местам. 2 мая 1268 г., временно расставшись с чародейкой, Цири вместе с ведьмаком выручает из беды в Туссенте Лютика. Спустя некоторое время Цири и Йеннифэр принимают участие в заседании Ложи Чародеек, где Цири, хоть и с трудом, но соглашается с планами Ложи насчёт её будущего с Танкредом в роли его фаворитки, но берёт отсрочку, чтобы принять окончательное решение и встретиться с Геральтом. 6 июня 1268 г. Цири и Йеннифэр в обществе Трисс Меригольд оказываются в Ривии, где находился в тот момент Геральт. Оказавшись в гуще разъярённой толпы, Цири находит уже находящегося при смерти ведьмака. Став очевидицей безуспешных попыток Йеннифэр его вылечить, она с горечью признаёт, что если бы не отказалась от своей силы она, возможно, спасла бы его. Появление из тумана Иуарраквакса Цири воспринимает как должное. С его помощью она открывает портал в другой мир, куда она, предварительно попрощавшись со спутниками Геральта, на лодке переправляет ведьмака и чародейку.

Оставив их наедине, она покидает их и, пройдя сквозь время и пространство, оказывается в совершенно незнакомом ей месте. Там она встречает рыцаря Галахада, который к её смущению и удивлению принимает её за могущественную волшебницу — Владычицу Озера. Разговорившись с ним она решает рассказать ему всю свою историю, разбавляя ту фантазией, чтобы отринуть прошлое и идти в будушее…

Игра «Ведьмак»

Глава IV

Трактирщик в таверне Темноводья рассказывает Геральту сюжет Саги, а в частности жизнь Цири, даже называя её имя. Геральт на это никак не реагирует — сказывается потеря памяти.

Игра «Ведьмак 2: Убийцы Королей»

Пролог

На допросе Роше в подвалах замка Ла Валетт Геральт вспоминает свою смерть в Ривии и то, что его тело и тело Йеннифэр спасла таинственная девушка с пепельными волосами.

Глава I

В воспоминаниях об Острове Яблонь, Геральт вспоминает как Йеннифэр сказала, что Цири ушла в «в другой мир, где она счастлива», напоследок подарив ведьмаку и чародейке «их остров».

Игра «Ведьмак 3: Дикая Охота»

Во время скитаний Цири по другим мирам, Красные Всадники под видом Дикой Охоты настигают её, после чего она пускается в бега. Король Охоты смог захватить Геральта в плен, и ведьмачка сразу же бросилась вызволять своего приёмного отца. Отбив ведьмака у Охоты, она телепортировала его к Каэр Морхену (начало первой части компьютерной саги). После этого Дикая Охота получила чёткий след, и скрываться от преследователей стало намного труднее.

Спустя два года после спасения Геральта, Цири решает вернуться в родной мир и просить помощи у близких. К несчастью, по прибытии на Скеллиге их сразу же настигает Охота, и Эредин проклинает Аваллак’ха. Тем не менее Знающему удалось дать отпор Всадникам, и они с Цири сбегают в телепорт. Ведьмачку выкидывает в Велене, посреди Кривоуховых Топей, прямо у логова Ведьм. Там её чуть было не захватил один из генералов Охоты Имлерих.

Раненая и измученная Цирилла попадает к Кровавому Барону — нильфгаардскому наместнику в этих землях. Тот дал ей крышу над головой и приютил у себя. Но долго отдыхать не получилось, так как во время совместной охоты на группу Барона нападает василиск, и Цири была вынуждена воспользоваться своей силой, чтобы спасти наместника. Понимая, что это привлечёт Дикую Охоту, она покидает Замок Вроницы и отправляется в Новиград.

Там она планирует найти Трисс Меригольд, а с её помощью связаться с Геральтом и Йеннифэр, а заодно узнать о способе снятия проклятия с Авалак’ха. Но из-за занявших город охотников на колдуний сделать это стало невозможным. Лютик, который встретился с ней в городе, предложил обратиться за помощью к одному из местных преступных главарей — Ублюдку Младшему. Тот в свою очередь заявил, что поможет с поиском информации, если они принесут ему казну Сиги Ройвена. Ограбление прошло почти идеально, но Цири и Лютик нарвались прямо на Калеба Менге, главаря охотников, и друзья были вынуждены бежать. Понимая, что нельзя дать себя схватить, Цири телепортируется из Новиграда.

Первым местом, о котором она подумала, стало побережье Хиндарсфьялля, где она часто бывала с Хьялмаром. На месте её ждал Аваллак’х, так как, используя свои силы, Цири оставляет магический след, который умеют находить Aen Elle, в том числе и Эредин. Знающий оставил ведьмачку в деревне и дал ей указания прийти на встречу, как только она окрепнет. Увы, Цирилла слишком долго пробыла в деревне. По её следу пришла Дикая Охота и уничтожила всё на своем пути. С помощью жителя деревни Скьялля ей удалось сбежать и встретиться с Аваллак’хом. Эльф сразу же применил заклинание, которое замедляло её жизненные процессы, и спрятал девушку на таинственном Острове Туманов. Сам он больше не мог противиться проклятью и превратился в Уму. Спустя некоторое время Геральт прибывает на остров и находит свою подопечную.

После встречи на их след сразу же бросается Дикая Охота, и герои вынуждены телепортироваться в Каэр Морхен, где идёт подготовка к обороне. Защитники крепости дали бой захватчикам, но Охота смогла прорваться внутрь. Эредин почти смог захватить Цири, угрожая ей смертью Весемира. Но старый ведьмак понимал, что девушку нельзя отдавать Дикой Охоте и принёс себя в жертву. Смерть наставника вызвала у Цириллы всплеск силы, превосходящий тот, что вырвался из Паветты и чуть не убил всех на пиру в Цинтре. Остановить поток магии смог лишь окрепший после снятия проклятья Авалак’х. После погребения Весемира герои начали разрабатывать новый план по борьбе с Охотой. Ведьмачке он не понравился — согласно нему, она должна была скрываться, пока другие рискуют, защищая её. Тем не менее всё уже было решено. Она вместе с Геральтом и Аваллак’хом осталась в Каэр Морхене, где оба её наставника продолжили её обучение.

Спустя несколько дней, Цири решает отправиться на Лысую Гору и отомстить убийце Весемира — эльфу Имлериху. Вместе с Геральтом, они попадают туда, на шабаш, где у них есть шанс убить двух зайцев одним махом — ведьм и генерала Охоты. Пока Белый Волк занимался последним, ведьмачка убила Шептуху и Кухарку, а третья ведьма — Пряха, к сожалению, смогла сбежать.

После удачной вылазки герои отправляются в Новиград. Там Цири хочет отблагодарить тех, кто помог ей во время её последнего пребывания в городе. После этого команда отправляется на Скеллиге, где готовится дать финальный бой Дикой Охоте. В это же время Авалак’х и Цири готовятся исполнить свой план — открыть портал в башне Tor Gvalch’ca и победить Белый Хлад. Перед самым отбытием к Цирилле приходит Геральт и просит её не делать этого, так как она может не вернуться. Тем не менее Цири уже всё для себя решила и отправляется в опасное путешествие. Вернётся она из портала или нет — зависит от действий игрока по ходу игры. Если она вернётся, то, так же в зависимости от решений игрока, может стать императрицей или остаться ведьмачкой.

Запись в дневнике

Цирилла Фиона Элен Рианнон. Что я могу о ней рассказать? Что друзья зовут её Цири, появилась на свет она в 1251 году, у неё пепельные волосы и шрам на щеке? Всё это так. И с виду Цирилла, которую я хорошо знаю и которую впервые увидел много-много лет назад, была не сказать чтобы совсем обычной, нет, она была очень даже примечательной, но глядя на неё, нельзя было и представить, сколь она необыкновенна. Ибо Цирилла — умелая ведьмачка, наследница нескольких королевских тронов, последняя носительница Старшей Крови, могущественный Исток, обладательница исключительных магических способностей, Повелительница Времени и Пространства. Разве имеет значение цвет её волос и дата рождения?

Я мог бы сказать, что она приёмная дочь Геральта, но это было бы грубым упрощением. Цири для него нечто гораздо большее. Цири — его Предназначение, Дитя-Неожиданность, связанное с его жизнью тысячами неразрывных нитей.

Следуя вековой традиции ведьмаков, Геральт привёз свою воспитанницу в Каэр Морхен. Здесь они с Весемиром обучали её искусству убивать чудовищ. Здесь же впервые раскрыли её магические таланты, и ведьмаки узнали, что девочка — Исток.

Дар Цири оказался её проклятием, и однажды именно из-за него ей пришлось скрываться ото всех — даже от Геральта.

В жизни Цири была ещё одна большая тайна. Отцом ей приходился не кто иной как нильфгаардский император Эмгыр вар Эмрейс. Его слова подтвердили страхи, поселившиеся в душе Геральта после ночного кошмара: Цири вернулась и ей грозила смертельная опасность — по следам девушки неотступно мчалась Дикая Охота.

Йеннифэр поведала, что нужно Дикой Охоте от Цири: они ищут силу её Старшей Крови. Ещё она сообщила Геральту, что Цири видели в разрушенном войной Велене и в Новиграде — крупнейшем городе мира.

Подтвердились известия о том, что Цири видели во Вроницах. Она оказалась в этой небольшой крепостице по приглашению тамошнего самозваного властителя Филипа Стенгера, известного также как Кровавый Барон. Вопреки устрашающему прозвищу, обращался он с гостьей учтиво и уважительно.

Связанные квесты

• История Цири. Король Волков
• История Цири. Из тени
• История Цири. Бегство с болот
• История Цири. Скачки
• Затишье перед бурей
• История Цири. Визит к Младшему
• История Цири. Сломя голову
• В поисках Цири

Фильм и сериал

В сериале роль Цириллы играет юная актриса Марта Битнер. В отличие от литературной саги, она впервые встречает Геральта только в храме Мелитэле, расположенном в Элландере, оставляя при этом более сильный эмоциональный след в сердце ведьмака. После разорения храма и убийства Нэннеке с остальными монахинями, была пленницей Фальвика, однако сбегает, когда Геральт вступает в бой с рыцарями и наёмниками. Остаток сериала Геральт безрезультатно ищет её, пока в конце на спасает купца Йургу, и девочка во второй раз становится Дитём-Неожиданностью. Вместо Каэр Морхена, с которым сериальный ведьмак разорвал все отношения после бесчисленных попыток его убить, Геральт увозит её к друзьям в горы.

Участие в эпизодах:

• 09: «Świątynia Melitele» (Храм Мелитэле)
• 10: «Mniejsze zło» (Меньшее зло)
• 12: «Falwick» (Фальвик)
• 13: «Ciri» (Цири)

Сериал «Ведьмак» (Netflix)

Основная статья: Цири

В сериале 2019 года роль Цириллы исполнила актриса Фрейя Аллан, а на русском озвучила Александра Курагина.

Дополнительно

• На Старшей Речи имя Цириллы звучит как Zireael, что в переводе означает «Ласточка».
• В десять лет её портрет нарисовал придворный художник-краснолюд Руиз Доррит, назвавший картину «Инфанта с борзой». Картина впоследствии погибла при нападении на Цинтру.
• Цири является весьма высокой. Уже в тринадцать лет она выделялась ростом среди своих сверстниц. В пятнадцать лет её рост был 1,75 м, а вес 50,8 кг.
• В районе паха у Цириллы вытатуирована пунцовая роза на зелёной ветке с двумя листьями.
• Её боязливое отношение к постельным связям с мужчинами можно объяснить психологической травмой, полученной ей в возрасте одиннадцати лет. После спасения девочки Кагыр был вынужден её полностью раздеть, чтобы вымыть от грязи и крови. Она, очевидно, предполагая худшее, беспрекословно подчинилась. Позднее, при встрече с бандой Крыс, Кайлей пытался склонить испуганную девочку к соитию силой, но был спроважен Мистле (хотя фактически Мистле тоже склонила её насильно). Такой первый опыт, зачастую, имеет решающее значение в жизни людей. Всё это, вкупе с пережитым шоком от наблюдения за тем, как Лео Бонарт убивает банду Крыс, отрезая им головы, предположительно, отрицательно сказалось на психике девочки. Несмотря на роман с Мистле, она, возможно, имела роман с рыцарем Авалона Галахадом. Также в третьей части она может поцеловать Скьялля. Да и её детскую влюблённость в Хьялмара ан Крайта не стоит забывать. Автор литературной саги, как и разработчики игры, позволил фанатам самим для себя решать какой ориентации будет девушка.
• Цири стала единственным ребёнком, который, не будучи подвергнут мутациям, всё же заслужила право называться ведьмаком за её способности (скорость движений, реакция и другие).
• Если в оригинальной игре Геральт не строил отношения ни с одной чародейкой или же строил с обеими и в итоге остался один, но при этом выжила Цирилла, то девушка приедет в виноградник Корво Бьянко. Если Цири стала ведьмачкой, то она привезёт Геральту голову гаркаина из Ангрена, которого самолично убила на охоте. Если же она стала императрицей Нильфгаарда, то она расскажет, что медленно постигает науку управления империей, хотя и говорит, что власть — это не её стихия. И на вопрос Геральта о том, хочет ли она отказаться, отвечает, что ещё не знает, однако ничего не исключает.
• Монументальное изображение генеалогического древа Цириллы было создано Аваллак’хом в своём убежище.
• В русской версии игры Ведьмак 3: Дикая Охота Цириллу озвучивала Полина Чекан.
• Цири является нейтральным обликом лидера в игре Гвинт: Ведьмак. Карточная игра.

Видео

Галерея

Примечания

Правители Цинтры
Дезмод • Кербин • Коррел • Корам I • Корам II • Корам III • Корам IV • Корам V • Корбетт • Дагорад • Калантэ (Рёгнер • Эйст Турсеах) • Лже-Цирилла (Эмгыр вар Эмрейс)
Консорты
Бекка из Назаира • Эсчива из Соддена • Ригоберта из Лирии • Фиона из Темерии • Элен из Каэдвена • Адалия
Другие члены королевской семьи
Церан из Цинтры • Цирра из Цинтры • Паветта • Цирилла

Императоры Нильфгаарда
Торрес вар Эмрейс • Фергус вар Эмрейс • Узурпатор • Эмгыр вар Эмрейс • Цирилла (опционально) Морвран Воорхис • Ян Кальвейт
Императорские жёны и наложницы
Паветта (формально) • Айна Дермотт • Клара аэп Гвиндолин Гор • Дервля Трыффин Бруaннэ • Лже-Цирилла

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon (better known as Ciri), was born in 1252 or 1253,^[4] and most likely during the Belleteyn holiday.^[5] She was the sole princess of Cintra, the daughter of Pavetta and Emhyr var Emreis (who was using the alias «Duny» at the time) as well as Queen Calanthe’s granddaughter.

After Geralt of Rivia helped lift Duny’s curse, Duny asked what reward the witcher would like and Geralt invoked the Law of Surprise, as it turned out Pavetta was pregnant with Ciri, unbeknownst to Duny.

Biography

Ciri was born in Skellige in Belleteyn of the following year^[6] and initially, Calanthe ordered her advisor Mousesack to kill Geralt,^[7] wishing to break free from the Law of Surprise. Mousesack was ready to go, as nobody refused the queen, but when he was summoned a short time later Calanthe retracted the order without explanation.^[8]

Growing up, not much is known about Ciri’s relationship with her parents, though it appeared Pavetta adored her daughter, with others remarking how it was rare for her to be parted from Ciri. However, this didn’t stop Pavetta from secretly sending Ciri ashore just as the small family was set to sail out from Skellige to Cintra, against Calanthe’s wishes, who wished for them all to stay. Shortly after, Pavetta and Duny died at sea around the Sedna Abyss, making Ciri an orphan before she was 5 years old. Angry at her nephew-in-law, Crach an Craite, for letting them sail out, Calanthe then had Crach swear a blood oath that he’d always protect Ciri before deciding to forbid Ciri from visiting the isles again. However, this ban only lasted 6 months before Calanthe let Ciri visit Skellige once more every summer and winter.^[9]

Cintra’s Princess

With the death of her mother, Ciri was now the only remaining heir to Cintra and thus Calanthe took special care to raise her granddaughter. Despite Calanthe’s attempts to keep Ciri shielded from learning about being a Child of Surprise and that she was destined to be a witcher since birth, Ciri’s nanny told the young girl all about a white-haired witcher, and that he’d one day come for her to be taken away to be trained as one as well. When Calanthe found out she was furious but by then the seeds had been sown and Ciri began to firmly believe that was her destiny.^[8]

Then, 6 years almost to the day when Duny’s curse was lifted, Geralt returned to Cintra but Calanthe, not wishing to lose her only remaining descendant, hid Ciri amongst a group of boys and had them playing around in the moat outside the castle when Geralt dropped in, who erroneously believed Pavetta had a son and wondered which one «he» was in the group. Despite this, he refused to take any child with him and left without even learning the true identity of Pavetta’s child.

Entering Brokilon

Shortly after, Calanthe arranged an engagement between Ciri and Windhalm of Attre, a now 20 year old who once vied for Pavetta’s hand 7 years prior. However, Calanthe had a change in heart and called off the engagement years later^[6] before setting up another one, this time to Kistrin, the sole prince of Verden. However, the now 10 year old Ciri wasn’t fond of this idea or of Kistrin and, no sooner had she arrived in Verden in 1263 to meet her suitor and his family, did she escape with aid from a teenage squire. This plan went awry when they mistakenly ended up in the dreaded Brokilon region, a forest off-limits to anyone not friends with the dryads that lived there. While normally the dryads shot to kill on sight, Ciri wasn’t noticed by them, though the squire and the search party following them weren’t so lucky and were killed.

While she wandered alone deeper into the dangerous forest, she was spotted by a giant centipede and almost met her death there when her screams were heard by Geralt and Braenn who were coincidentally nearby. After they killed the giant centipede though, Ciri tried to take off but immediately stopped when Braenn nearly hit her with an arrow. Despite this, the young princess refused to answer them and went as far as stating she’d have both of them beheaded before eventually joining them in their trek to Duén Canell, all the while telling Geralt how she didn’t want a husband and threatening to bite Geralt to get him to answer her questions before the witcher threatened to whip her with his belt, making her behave politely the rest of the trip.

When the group arrived in Duén Canell, Ciri met the injured Freixenet, who also wished to beat the young princess for running away, before the governor revealed that Geralt was a witcher. Before Ciri could ask further on this, Braenn started to lead the princess away and Ciri realized they were preparing to make her a dryad and began to cry, though allowed herself to be led away.

A few hours later, Ciri sat with the dryad queen, Eithné, in her home. As Geralt arrived to discuss his reason for being sent to Brokilon, it eventually turned to Ciri, who was to be made a dryad. However, Ciri had already told Eithné something she hadn’t revealed to Geralt yet: that she was destined to be a witcher and on learning who Geralt was, she realized she was destined to him. As Geralt made to leave rather than watch the young girl drink the Water of Brokilon that’d erase all her previous memories, Ciri begged him to stay and so he did for her sake. As he watched though, Ciri didn’t show any of the normal signs after drinking the water and when the dryad queen asked the young girl who she wanted to go with, she revealed she still wished to go with Geralt, and thus the queen allowed the two to leave.

Geralt, now realizing Ciri was his Child of Surprise, traveled with her out of the forest, though when he took off east to Brugge Ciri appeared uncomfortable, remarking she felt they were going the wrong way, but followed anyways. A short time later it appeared she was correct: they ran into a group of King Ervyll’s soldiers who were staging a merchant robbery as an act by the dryads. Not aware of the situation, Ciri suddenly remarked the dryads couldn’t have done it as the tree was cut down, causing the men to try and kill her and Geralt, but Geralt held them off as he demanded she run. Instead of running far though, Ciri instead took an earlier story Geralt told to heart and climbed all the way up a tree. After the mercenaries were killed off by Geralt, nearby dryads, and the arrival of Mousesack, Ciri rejoined them, though the druid remarked Calanthe would probably be ready to spank the girl despite being sent by Calanthe to call off Ciri and Kistrin’s engagement.

That night though, Geralt tried to take off once more without Ciri, who awoke after he rode off and yelled after him not to go and that she was his destiny. However, Geralt didn’t turn around, leaving Mousesack to take her back to Cintra.^[8]

Adventures in Skellige

Shortly after Ciri traveled back to Skellige and at one point became extremely infatuated with one of the kingdom’s famous warriors, Olaf Stigvason. However, this love was never meant to be as he was 35 years old, married, and with children older than Ciri. Distraught at this, Ciri decided she’d commit suicide by drowning and waited for favorable weather conditions to do so. This took too long though and during the wait, she was able to overcome her infatuation with the warrior.^[6]

Sometime later that season, she saw some of the boys, including a 15 year old Hjalmar an Craite, playing a game on the ice where they’d try to see how many rocks in a row they could jump over while skating. Hjalmar held the current record until Ciri, extremely agile and fast, beat it. Not to be outdone, Hjalmar tried to beat Ciri’s record but smashed into the ice instead, breaking several bones in the process. Despite this, Hjalmar held no grudges against Ciri and the young girl regularly visited him while he healed. Being young and naïve, the two soon got «engaged» but as soon as Crach heard of this he promptly broke them up as Calanthe had other plans in the works to marry Ciri off and the young girl was dragged back home to Cintra by her grandmother.^[9]

Shortly after, Calanthe arranged Ciri’s third official engagement: this time to the 9 year old Radovid V of Redania. Before the children ever had a chance to meet though, Radovid’s father, Vizimir II, called off the engagement 6 months later.^[6]

Fall of Cintra

In 1263, the Nilfgaardian Empire, which had been taking over kingdoms in the south for some time, eventually decided to move on Cintra. During the final push, Ciri found herself barricaded in the capital’s castle with her grandmother and many of the nobles, with no chance of surviving as it was only a matter of time when the Nilfgaardian soldiers would break in. Unknown to her and her grandmother, there was also a Nilfgaardian spy in the castle and so when Calanthe had some of her soldiers try to flee with the young Ciri, the spy signaled to the invaders that she was escaping.^[9]

Ciri’s escorts ran into Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach’s group and a chase through the burning city unfolded before Cahir’s men eventually caught up with the Cintran guards and a fight ensued. As both Nilfgaardians and Cintrans alike died, a frightened Ciri was dropped to the ground and barely escaped from being stabbed herself. Still in a daze, Ciri soon found herself alone with Cahir, the only other survivor out of the fight and distinguished by his winged helmet. As he picked up Ciri, she began to scream before fainting. A short time later she came to as Cahir had managed to escape the city with her, but with Cahir not knowing her language, nothing helped ease her mind. Later that night, when the two went to sleep, she managed to slip away from him.

Now alone, Ciri ended up wandering the forests of Riverdell for two weeks, staying with a family of four in Kagen who taught her to spin yarn, before finding a group of fugitives and staying with them for a month^[10] before she was eventually taken in by druids, as they tended to take in homeless children as a result of the war.^[8] A short time later, Goldencheeks took her in and so Ciri moved in with the woman and her family in Lower Sodden. While Ciri didn’t reveal who she was and where she was from, Goldencheeks took a liking to the girl over the next six months,^[10] especially as she herself couldn’t bear anymore children and only had sons. As fate would have it though, Goldencheeks’ husband, Yurga, was out on a trip during this time and was rescued by Geralt, who didn’t know what else to ask for as a reward and so enacted the Law of Surprise. When Yurga brought the witcher back to his place in 1264 and learned of the unexpected girl his wife had taken in, Ciri suddenly spotted Geralt and cried out to him before the two ran to each other, reuniting once more.^[8]

Training at Kaer Morhen

In 1265, with Geralt now accepting Ciri as his destiny, he took the young girl with him to Kaer Morhen, both to keep her in hiding and to train her to be a witcher. During the trip there, Ciri was often plagued by nightmares of the knight with the winged helmet and Geralt had to reassure her everything was ok while holding her close until she fell asleep. When they finally arrived that autumn, the princess was initially afraid of the witchers but as soon as Geralt confirmed she was their destiny she began to see the small group as family and friends. That same night that they arrived though, the witchers quickly learned Ciri was no ordinary child. Thirsty, Ciri grabbed the nearest drink off the table, and before the witchers could stop her, she accidentally drank White Seagull which, combined with her Elder Blood, sent Ciri into a trance, speaking in another voice but incoherently.^[10]

A bit uneasy by this but not able to do anything else, the witchers, including Geralt, Vesemir, Lambert, Eskel, and Coën, began to train Ciri as a witcher. They used special mushrooms and herbs found in the valley to accelerate both her physical and hormonal progression as a witcher, allowing her much more strength and agility for her size. However, during one training episode she fell and once more went into an incomprehensible trance. It was only the third one, during one of her many nightmares, that she began to speak coherently, prophesying Coën’s and Geralt’s deaths. However like all the previous ones, Ciri never remembered them nor what she said so the witchers never told her about the episodes.

Regardless, the witchers needed help understanding what was happening to Ciri and so in 1265 they sent for the sorceress Triss Merigold, as Geralt didn’t wish to involve Yennefer due to how they last split up. By December, Triss arrived in time to see a now 12 year old Ciri running the Trail, an obstacle course around the keep, but as Ciri made to jump the Gullet portion, she landed wrong and Triss ran over. While initially scared of the unknown woman, Ciri eventually let the sorceress heal her wound before the two made their way to the keep. As they did so, Triss witnessed firsthand one of Ciri’s trances, this time predicting Triss’ death, before Ciri woke up, believing she’d fallen asleep.

The next day, Triss went with Ciri to her room to inspect the young girl while fixing up her clothes, which had been haphazardly put together by Vesemir. As they talked, Ciri eventually confided she was scared of some of the training equipment before revealing something she’d been too embarrassed to bring up to the men: her menstruation had begun and, with no other women around, had no idea what was going on. With Triss’ guidance, Ciri went and informed the witchers that she was «indisposed» and wouldn’t be doing any physical training until it’d passed. Then, following Triss’ earlier instructions, asked for Triss to be allowed to stay, before excusing herself. With that, Triss set forth a condition that the witchers stop feeding Ciri their special herbs and mushrooms as, while they helped with fitness and building muscle, they could have adverse effects on Ciri’s womanly attributes as she grew up.

On Midwinter night, as Coën kept Ciri distracted with a game, Triss revealed Ciri was a Source, leading to initial denial as the witchers pointed out Ciri couldn’t even do basic signs. However, Triss revealed that Sources were only transmitters of magic and therefore had no actual control over it: if they tried to force it nothing came out, but a strong emotion could unexpectedly flatten half a town. After the witchers revealed to Triss Ciri’s past trances, Coën came through with Ciri and Triss gave the young girl White Seagull to send her into a trance once more, with the aim to find out what was speaking through her. Triss soon learned though that whatever was speaking through Ciri was extremely powerful, too powerful for Triss to control and stop it if it ever burst through Ciri. Naturally, Ciri didn’t remember any of it and, despite not knowing enough Elder Speech to make sentences, as she was coming out of the trance she spoke in the tongue to say «something is ending.» Knowing they needed help from a more experienced mage, Geralt finally relented in asking for Yennefer’s help come spring, as they planned to take Ciri to Ellander’s Temple of Melitele for schooling.

As the winter went on, Ciri continued her witcher training while also taking Elder Speech lessons from Triss, the latter of whom kept an eye on the girl every day and night to make sure whatever spoke through Ciri didn’t come back, while also soothing her back to sleep when she woke up from nightmares. At one point the witchers even made a custom sword for Ciri to match her build.

One night in the middle of February 1266 though, Ciri slipped down and eavesdropped on a conversation Triss was having with the witchers in regards to their indifference to politics and went into detail about what happened during the Battle of Sodden Hill. As Ciri ran in, proclaiming she’d stand by Triss in fighting the Nilfgaardians as they’d killed her grandmother, Ciri revealed she thought she was training to kill, as she wanted to kill the winged helmet knight that haunted her dreams. Geralt sharply chastised her, informing her they were training her to save lives, not to kill out of fear and hatred, before sending her out of the room.

Distraught, Ciri ran out into the courtyard and stopped on the ledge of one of the walls where she inspected her sword. As Geralt and Triss approached, she cried out that nobody was going to take her sword from her, but as she moved, she lost her footing and almost fell to her death but Geralt caught her in the nick of time. After speaking comforting words to Ciri, the three agreed it was time to head south to the temple in Ellander.

Traveling to Ellander

As the trio made their way through Kaedwen, Triss suddenly fell ill from food poisoning, preventing them from being able to ride for very long as they had to keep making stops for her. At one point they reached an outpost that was overflowing with merchants and soldiers and, despite Geralt sending Ciri to look after Triss, the girl showed back up in time to overhear one of the commandants vehemently proclaiming all nonhumans were in cahoots with the Scoia’tael and Nilfgaard had been backing them. Before more could be said, the trio were asked to leave as, despite Triss not being contagious, the soldiers didn’t want to take the chance. One of the soldiers though pointed them in the direction of a convoy that was headed in the same general direction and who might be able to better assist Triss.

Within a day, they’d caught up with the convoy who were made up of old dwarven acquaintances of Geralt’s and were now following King Henselt’s orders to deliver a special order. As they traveled with Yarpen Zigrin and his group, Ciri eavesdropped a few times on their conversations, particularly when Scoia’tael were mentioned, as Yarpen was adamantly against them, despite being nonhuman himself.

At one point, when Geralt headed to the back of the convoy, Ciri sat up front with Yarpen and, after being shown how to steer the wagon, asked Yarpen about his earlier conversation with Geralt, namely what he meant by the witcher being indifferent before she figured out that Yarpen was between a rock and hard place: being nonhuman he wasn’t accepted by humans but by helping a human king, he was a traitor in the Scoia’tael eyes.

As the trip continued, she and Geralt both took care of the still ailing, but now recovering, Triss. However, Ciri became annoyed when the other dwarves wrongly assumed that Triss and Geralt were a couple, and was further annoyed with Triss when the sorceress appeared to try and snuggle up rather too much to Geralt when they helped bathe her. After being asked by Geralt to leave during one such episode, Ciri bumped into Yarpen and asked who was right in the fight between the Scoia’tael and humans. After a while, Yarpen finally noted that he’d like to live in a way where he didn’t have to ask for forgiveness and everyone would learn to live next to each other. With that, Ciri remarked how Yarpen wasn’t all that different from her.

The next day, Geralt let Ciri ride a bit ahead of the convoy but, being anxious just to run off for a short while, she galloped way ahead of the convoy to take in the silence and surroundings and soon made her way a bit off the main road. As she enjoyed the forest area she began to think how she’d never be indifferent, that she intended to save defenseless people from evil, like the horrors she saw during the war, and couldn’t understand why Geralt and the other witchers were neutral about it.

While thinking this over, she suddenly ducked down beneath a bush and none too soon as, across the clearing, a large band of Scoia’tael appeared and began to move through the area. When they were finally gone and she felt safe, Ciri popped back up only for Geralt to grab her to keep her from screaming in surprise. As Geralt instructed her back to the horses, he told her not to say a word of what she saw to the others and and that the trio would depart from the convoy tomorrow. Infuriated and not understanding his indifference in this, Ciri questioned Geralt about it, who calmly told her the Scoia’tael group wasn’t there for the convoy, but something else. He then led her to Shaerrawedd, an ancient elven palace now in ruins. However, in the center of the ruins still remained a statue of Aelirenn, an elf that’d tried to lead one last desperate battle against humans 200 years ago. While the elders didn’t wish to, feeling they could wait out humanity with their long lifespans, Aelirenn was able to rally most of the younger elves, and the only ones able to still have offspring. The fight ended in a massacre and thus doomed the elven race to annihilation.

Finally understanding that witcher neutrality wasn’t about being insensitive but rather to prevent more unnecessary massacres, Ciri then asked to take one of the special roses to remember. As she did though, she pricked herself and suddenly realized the rest of the convoy was under attack and the two galloped back to get to Triss.

As the two arrived, the convoy was indeed under attack by Scoia’tael and, ignoring Geralt’s orders to head into the woods, Ciri hurried to Triss and pulled her into cover while the fighting continued all around them. While initially protected by the others around her, soon Ciri found herself alone, face to face with an elf, and now without her sword. As the elf moved in though, she spotted Shaerrawedd’s rose on Ciri, causing enough hesitation for Geralt to come from behind and kill the elf before Ciri passed out. When she came to, the group had been rescued by Dun Banner, another Kaedwenian military unit, but soon learned the whole convoy had been a trap: wanting to test Yarpen’s loyalty, they were actually given common stone to transport while another tipped off the Scoia’tael about the «special» convoy so they’d attack it. As Geralt and Ciri looked on at the fallen acquaintances and Scoia’tael members, Geralt threw the now blood stained rose onto the elf he’d killed earlier to protect Ciri, with Ciri saying goodbye as Geralt asked for forgiveness.^[10]

Training with Yennefer

After the chaos with the convoy, the three had a far more peaceful trip to the Temple of Melitele and once there, Geralt left Ciri in Nenneke’s care, while he wrote to Yennefer about the situation and asked for her help in teaching Ciri.

While Yennefer made her way to the temple, Ciri was treated like any other pupil, sleeping in a dormitory with the other students, while learning about history, nature, poetry, prose, runes, the Elder Speech, and doing chores. When she could, she’d also write to Geralt to tell him about the goings-on.

After Yennefer arrived, Ciri at first openly didn’t like her as the sorceress was quite cold, though they quickly started to develop a mother-daughter bond, and she spent more and more time with the sorceress, doing chores only two days a week, and seeing her friends rarely. Yennefer pushed the girl putting her through many tests, and taught her about muscles and bones, about balance and how to control one’s breathing. She also taught Ciri about magic and Chaos and how to control it. One night, after being worn out from several days of intense training with Yennefer, she had a dream about Geralt, Shani and Dandelion, awaking to Yennefer arguing with Nenneke about the sorceress’ training methods, and so forced herself back to sleep. Some time later, while doing chores with her new friends Iola the Second and Eurneid, she was told about the rising political tension and the possibility of a second northern war, which made her curious so she went and saw Jarre, Nenneke’s ward. He told her of the geography of the area, and the potential of the second war, which he believed was unlikely. After Jarre’s awkward flirting started to make Ciri irritated, she ran to Yennefer who told her they were to leave the following morning, for solitude at the magic school of Aretuza.^[10]

Journey to Aretuza

In late June 1267, after a night at an inn in Ellander, Ciri and Yennefer were preparing to leave when Ciri entered a trance and foretold the messenger Aplegatt of his death on hot sands. The following night was spent at an inn in the Temerian town of Anchor. After three days more ride, they arrived in Gors Velen, where Yennefer hid Ciri’s identity so they could visit Giancardi Bank, where Molnar Giancardi told them of the politics of the continent and paid for Ciri’s tuition in Ellander, and her future tuition at Aretuza. Molnar then summoned Fabio Sachs, his apprentice who could take Ciri on a tour of the city. They saw the fish market and then Fabio showed her Thanedd Island from the city walls. Finally they went to the marketplace, where many great wonders amazed the girl, such as camels. After listening to a priest preach about the Aretuza mages, the holy man proceeded to grope Ciri, who screamed at him in the square, only calmed by Fabio taking her for food. As Fabio went to get his fortune told, Ciri lapsed into another trance and foretold his life as an explorer and death in an unnamed continent. While continuing to look through the market, the two came across a man advertising his «basilisk» from Zerrikania, which intrigued Ciri, so they went in. The basilisk ended up being a wyvern, which Ciri kept mentioning to the man, to the point of him of challenging her to survive the creature’s venom as a test. She freely walked up and proved the man wrong, though as she walked back the wyvern broke out of its small cage, attacking its owner. Ciri, using her training from Kaer Morhen, made quick work of the creature, and luckily protecting her identity, the crowd thought it was the work of a young squire standing nearby. Angry at her for «angering the beast», the crowd chased her away from the market, and she used the amulet given to her by Yennefer for disguisement, giving off magical interference that summoned Tissaia de Vries and Margarita Laux-Antille. They believed Ciri was an escaped student from Aretuza and so Tissaia put her under a paralysis spell and with Fabio’s advice carried the girl to Giancardi Bank, where Yennefer confirmed her identity.^[11]

Tissaia apologised and invited them to The Silver Heron inn, where they all proceeded to spend several hours bathing. As the sorceresses started to get drunk, Ciri left the cellar and convinced the innkeeper to give her a horse, left a note for Yennefer, and rode west toward Geralt’s last known location, Hirundum. Throughout the stormy trip she had flashbacks to Cintra and the black knight, to Shaerrawedd, and then even saw glimpses of the Wild Hunt attempting to recruit her. By the time she arrived at the farm and saw Geralt and then Yennefer, who followed her via portal, she was extremely exhausted and fainted. The following morning she snuck out of the Hofmeier house and eavesdropped on her two mentors talking, which was quickly caught onto by Dandelion, the bard friend of Geralt. Eventually things were summarised and Yennefer invited Ciri and the witcher to the Conclave of Mages on Thanedd.^[11]

Thanedd Coup

After arriving on Thanedd on the last day of the month, and after the Aretuza evening ball, Ciri awoke in the early hours of the morning to the sounds of fighting; the Northern allied mages were arresting the others secretly allied with Nilfgaard. Yennefer guided the young girl through the palace, until they reached Philippa Eilhart and Ciri, in a trance, confirmed the truth behind the attack in Dol Angra, where Demavend had attempted to incite a war against Nilfgaard. However, as it’d been a technical attack against the Empire, Emhyr’s troops answered back and began to push into Aedirn and Lyria. She then further revealed that King Vizimir II had been assassinated during the night. Following her recovery, a fight broke out in Garstang, and Yennefer and Ciri were forced to flee, only to be attacked by an elven assassin. Yennefer killed the elf and told Ciri to get down to Loxia, as she could find refuge their with Margarita Laux-Antille. Almost immediately after leaving the room, she was spotted by the mage Rience and two of his elven accomplances, and chased toward a high balcony where, using her nimbleness and bravery, she was able to escape their clutches. She was grabbed by Artaud Terranova, but she was rescued by Geralt and Philippa. Geralt got Ciri on her horse and set her out while he went to rescue Yennefer. Ciri was pursued by Cahir, but thanks to her training, she was able to defeat him in combat, but seeing him without his helm, seeing a normal man instead of a figure from her nightmares, she chose not to kill him, before fleeing. She entered Tor Lara and went through the portal in the tower, but because of it’s unpredictable nature, it randomly sent Ciri to the Korath desert.^[11]

Unaware of where she was and without obvious recourse, the girl decided to make her way out of the wasteland by heading west. Unfortunately she wandered around in circles for some time before deciding to use the stars as a guide. She nearly died of exhaustion, dehydration and starvation. Luckily for her she met a unicorn whom she nicknamed Little Horse that helped her out of the desert. She used Fire magic to heal her companion, and while other unicorns, quietly observing her actions, were unpleased with utilising its power, they decided not to kill her because of saving one of their own. Ciri went unconscious due to pyromantic visions. The experience in taping into such power and relinquishing it left Ciri psychologically numb.

The Rats

Next day, Sweers and his Trappers find her and (after a short conflict with one of Sweers’ sworn enemies) brought her to safety in Glyswen. Ciri, who was still undergoing an emotional tribulation, then helped the Rats, a group of ne’er-do-wells, to rescue their member Kayleigh. She named herself Falka after the woman she saw in pyromantic vision. In the night Kayleigh wanted to «thank» Ciri by trying to force her to have sex with him, but was stopped by Mistle who wanted Ciri for her own. Despite sexual assaults Ciri stayed with the rats and even developed a romantic relationship with Mistle even while sometimes claiming she did no longer like what Mistle had done to her.^[11]

During their travels, the Rats attacked a convoy of Baron of Casadei’s daughter. The baron hired a bounty hunter Leo Bonhart to capture her alive; however, Bonhart was already hired by Stefan Skellen who wanted her to be killed^[12] so that the monarchy could be overthrown.^[2]

Bonhart killed the Rats and cut off their heads after their deaths. The hunter neither killed Ciri, nor brought her to Baron Casadei, therefore not fullfilling both contracts. Instead he imprisoned her for some time, beating her, mistreating and forcing her to kill in the arena at Claremont, which belonged to his cousin Houvenaghel.

On Velen Ciri managed to escape with the help of Vattier’s spy Neratin Ceka when Bonhart had taken her to the village of Unicorn on the eve of the equinox. He had gone here to meet with Skellen and Rience and possibly negotiate some terms to release Ciri. Bonhart then killed Neratin, and Skellen seriously wounded Ciri, disfiguring her with an orion as she fled the village on her mare, Kelpie.

Later, she was found, near death by Vysogota of Corvo, who hid and healed her at his hermitage in the Pereplut swamp. She stayed with Vysogota until shortly after Saovine when she set off to find the Swallow’s Tower, believed to be a twin tower to Tor Lara, so that she could return to Thanedd. Together with Skellen and Rience, Bonhart tried to hunt her down on the order of Vilgefortz, but she managed to escape due to the intervention of the Wild Hunt which scared off Bonhart’s horse. Ciri entered the tower and was teleported to the world of the Aen Elle elves.^[9]

The Aen Elle

There she was greeted by Avallac’h, an Aen Saevherne. He explained to her that she had to ‘pay the debt’ referring to the perceived loss to the Aen Elle when Lara Dorren took Cregennan of Lod as her lover. The elves believed that the latter had ‘stolen’ Elder Blood from them by marrying Lara. To atone for that ‘crime’ Avallac’h wanted Ciri to beget a child with Auberon Muircetach, the king of the Aen Elle. That being the only way Avallac’h would let her return to her own world. On their way to Tir ná Lia, the Aen Elle capital, they met Eredin and his Dearg Ruadhri. Ciri was initially quite infatuated with him — he realized that and tried to use it to control her. They also came across a pack of unicorns which appeared to be at cold war with Aen Elle.

In Tir ná Lia Ciri finally met Auberon, who many times tries to conceive a child with her, however he could not — to him she was just a human, a being of no interest for an Aen Elle. Nevertheless, he was very proud and refused to admit it. Eredin suggested using a ‘potion’ which would improve Auberon’s performance and allow him to conceive a child with Cirilla. He also told her the truth (probably to gain her trust) — that Avallac’h would never let her go. Knowing this, Ciri found help with the unicorns where she also met Little Horse/Ihuarraquax, by then fully grown. The unicorns explained that both Fox and Sparrowhawk had once possessed The Gate of the Worlds, a mystical power known only to those of the Elder Blood but they had lost it. Now they wanted these powers back and for that they needed Ciri. This could not be allowed, however, and the unicorns explained to Cirilla how she should escape.

That same day Ciri once again visited Auberon only to find that he had drunk the ‘potion’ given to him by Eredin. Unknown to Sparrowhawk it happened to be too strong and killed Auberon. That night Ciri attempted to escape Tir ná Lia and its barrier by using a boat and swimming with the river’s current. She was stopped by Eredin who then revealed his true intentions, being the same as Avallac’h’s. The two battled and Ciri proved victorious due to the elf’s underestimation of her abilities — she wounded him and threw him into the river. Later on she mounted Kelpie and rode away from Tir ná Lia. She met Horsey, who was in fact named Ihuarraquax and offered his help (actually his being by Ciri’s side was a part of her bargain with the other unicorns). They came across a huge pile of bones.

To her horror, Ciri realized that the skulls had human teeth making them a pile of human bones. Ihuarraquax explained that it had been a human world until the elves led by Fox and Sparrowhawk arrived and killed them all — this also would be the fate of other worlds, including Ciri’s own, should Avallac’h and Eredin succeed in once again harnessing the power of time and space. Nevertheless, Ihuarraquax and Ciri realized that they were being chased.

Little Horse urged Ciri to jump to another world — the only way to escape. She, however, didn’t know how. The unicorn became her guide and they jumped. This led to the manifestation of Ciri’s strongest power, giving her the title of The Lady of the Worlds. That power allowed her to traverse space and time at will. Not being able to control it, however, Ciri had to journey through many different worlds to finally find her own. She traveled to Stygga Castle to give herself to Vilgefortz in exchange for Yennefer’s freedom. However, when she arrives there, he refuses to release Yennefer and instead reveals his plan to impregnate her and use her placenta to gain access to the Elder Blood. She was saved by Geralt and his hansa and later the Impera Brigade under the command of Emperor Emhyr var Emreis himself; during the ensuing battle, Ciri encountered and battled Leo Bonhart, using her training from Kaer Morhen to outmaneuvre, then seriously injure the bounty hunter. Bonhart seemingly succeeded in convincing Ciri to spare his life, insisting she was too noble to kill a beaten, unarmed man but Ciri ultimately killed Bonhart in self-defence when he made a last attempt to attack her from behind. While Emhyr revealed to Geralt that he too had intended to impregnate Ciri, after sending Geralt and Yennefer away, he instead informed Ciri that he is her father and leaves Stygga Castle.

Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri then set out from Stygga Castle and travel; first, they visit Jealousy, where she visits the graves of the Rats. Yennefer then left for Vengerberg, and Geralt and Ciri traveled to Toussaint. As they arrived, they found Dandelion, about to be executed for angering Anna Henrietta by falling in love with another woman. He was pardoned, and Geralt advised that they leave before she could change her mind and decide to order his execution again. Ciri was then summoned to Vengerberg by Yennefer, and Geralt told her to meet him in Rivia in six days’ time.

The Lodge

After traveling to Vengerberg, she and Yennefer were invited to the Lodge of Sorceresses in Montecalvo, where they revealed their plans to send Ciri to Kovir under a false name to have a child with Tankred Thyssen, the only son of Esterad Thyssen. She expressed that she wished to think it over during her travel to Rivia as she had already agreed to meet Geralt there. Philippa Eilhart proclaimed that her ability to leave Montecalvo and travel to Rivia is dependent on what the Lodge decides, so she put it to a vote; Sheala de Tancarville, Sabrina Glevissig, Keira Metz and Assire var Anahid voted against her leaving Montecalvo, while Triss, Margarita Laux-Antille, Francesca Findabair, Ida Emean aep Sivney, Fringilla Vigo, and eventually even Philippa Eilhart herself voted in favor of letting her leave. She then traveled with Yennefer and Triss to Rivia.

They arrive in Rivia in the midst of the Rivian Pogrom, and Ciri rushed into the crowd to try and find Geralt. After Yennefer and Triss released a hailstorm on the city and stopped the riot, they found Geralt impaled and bleeding out on the ground. After Ciri yelled at Yennefer because her magic was unable to save Geralt, the sorceress lost her consciousness. Ihuarraquax appeared on the lakeshore; his horn started emitting a light which was directed by Ciri on Geralt and Yennefer. The unicorn pointed to a boat; she put an unconscious Geralt and Yennefer in the boat and got in it with them. Geralt came to on Malus Island, and Yennefer informed him that Ciri had left.

After leaving Rivia with Geralt and Yennefer, she traveled to a different world where she met a knight by the name of Sir Galahad who invited her to King Arthur’s court at Camelot. She agreed, and the two rode off together, heading to Camelot through the lands of Y Dynan Bach Têg.^[2]

Returning Home

The following is considered game canon only and may contradict Andrzej Sapkowski’s works.

Having hidden in another world for over half a year the Wild Hunt found Ciri, forcing her to flee. At some point Ciri discovered that Geralt had been captured by the Wild Hunt and managed to free him and send him to the forests outside of Kaer Morhen although he lost his memory in the process. Several months later Ciri, along with an elf named Avallac’h, returned from another world and ended up in Skellige where the Wild Hunt found and attacked them. Avallac’h was cursed during this attack before the two could teleport away, but were split up in the process.

Ciri appeared in Crookback Bog where she collapsed and was found by the Crones. The Crones intended to give her to the Wild Hunt however, as she possessed Elder blood, they couldn’t decide whether to cut her up for her blood or not. Having overheard this, Ciri escaped and fled into the nearby forest, narrowly evading Imlerith. Traveling west into Velen, she encountered a young girl named Gretka who was lost and rescued her as well as a local man from a werewolf. She was then taken to Crow’s Perch and taken in by Phillip Strenger (known as the Bloody Baron) who alongside his men she befriended. During a race with Philip, the two are attacked by a basilisk and Ciri was forced to use her powers to save him. However, Ciri realized that Wild Hunt would sense her powers so she left Crow’s Perch and headed to Novigrad.

Ciri tracked down Dandelion to enlist his help in repairing a phylactery to lift the curse on Avallac’h, though she excluded the identity of her friend. After evading a trap set by the Temple Guard, Dandelion suggested going to Cyprian «Whoreson Junior» Wiley, who agreed to fix the phylactery in exchange for stealing Sigi Reuven’s treasure. Wiley later turned on them, capturing and torturing their friend Dudu. Ciri managed to rescue Dudu but her activities got the attention of the Temple Guard, who chased her towards Temple Isle. Just as a crossbowman took a shot at her, Ciri teleported herself to safety.

Ciri teleported all the way to Skellige, landing on the shores of Hindarsfjall, where she fell unconscious, dropping into a lake. Avallac’h and a native Skelliger, Skjall, found the injured girl and took her to Skjall’s home to recover. When she came to, Ciri accepted the invitation to heal at the local sauna. But soon as she prepared to depart, the Wild Hunt descended on the village, forcing Ciri to flee once more. She found her way to Avallac’h, who was waiting with a boat. But upon seeing Skjall being cut down by a Red Rider, she attempted to turn back to help him, but Avallac’h stunned her with a sleeping spell and took her on a ship.

Before Eredin’s curse fully triggered, Avallac’h managed to bring Ciri to the Isle of Mists and put Ciri in a death-like slumber to hide her from the Wild Hunt. Avallac’h then sailed back to Skellige but the curse took hold, rendering it impossible for him to tell anyone who he was or where he hid Ciri. While Ciri slept, seven dwarves found her in the cabin and hid there as well, though they believed she was dead.

Later on, Ciri was finally found by Geralt and once she was awakened by the magical firefly the witcher was given by a cured Avallac’h, the two embraced and caught up on all that’d happened when Ciri tried to return home, including what’d she learned: the Aen Elle world was facing annihilation and so the King of the Wild Hunt was trying to catch Ciri to use her to open a powerful enough portal to allow an army through to conquer their world.

As they prepare to leave, they discover the dwarves hadn’t bothered to wait and took Geralt’s boat to flee the Isle, before spotting the Wild Hunt’s flagship, the Naglfar, in the distance, forcing Ciri to teleport them directly to Kaer Morhen.

Upon arrival, Ciri happily reunited with Vesemir, Yennefer, and Triss. However, the time for celebration was cut short, as the Hunt would soon assault the aging keep. Despite wanting to fight in the upcoming battle, Ciri was ordered to remain inside the keep while everyone else defended her. However, Ciri defied this order when she saw Triss come under attack by Wild Hunt warriors and rushed to her aid. She later assisted Eskel against Caranthir, before the general heard a war horn signaling him to retreat.

As the Wild Hunt breached Kaer Morhen’s inner courtyard, they released a powerful blast of the White Frost, freezing everyone save for Ciri and Vesemir, who’d been behind a wall and thus weren’t touched by the blast. Imlerith then attacked the pair and managed to pin Vesemir down, forcing Ciri to drop her weapon and go with Eredin willingly or they’d kill the old witcher. However, not wanting Ciri to give herself up, Vesemir made one last attack at Imlerith, stabbing him and causing Imlerith to snap Vesemir’s neck, instantly killing the witcher. Distraught at this, Ciri’s Elder Blood powers suddenly broke free in an uncontrollable, crippling scream, making everything gravitate towards her while the intensity of the magic killed anyone that got too close. Nonetheless, Eredin futilely tried to get closer to try and capture Ciri but was dragged back from her by Caranthir and disappeared through a portal. A weakened Avallac’h then appeared from his room in the keep and managed to intervene and stop Ciri’s powers before they destroyed the entire keep and everyone else there.

Back in control of herself, Ciri attended Vesemir’s funeral pyre with the rest but started to regret returning to Kaer Morhen and, despite Geralt’s attempts to calm her, she snatched Vesemir’s medallion off the pyre and ran off. She returned a shor time later to find Geralt, Avallac’h, Yennefer, and Triss discussing reassembling the Lodge of Sorceresses to fight the Wild Hunt and became incensed that decisions were being made without her and left once more.

Trying to use the small window they had to recover, Ciri continued to train with Avallac’h but was disheartened that she wasn’t progressing well, especially with Vesemir’s death fresh on her mind.

Ciri later stirs Geralt early in the morning, revealing she had discovered Imlerith was attending a sabbath on Bald Mountain in Velen, as would the Crones, though she hadn’t told Avallac’h of her plans. Geralt can suggest visiting her biological father, Emperor Emhyr var Emreis, in Vizima first or go to Bald Mountain immediately.

If Geralt and Ciri go to meet Emhyr, the latter addresses her by all her titles as nobles and soldiers kneel before her. He then presents the second half of Geralt’s payment as thanks for finding his daughter. Whether Geralt accepts or not affects Ciri. Ciri then engages in a private conversation with Emhyr but later stormed out, angry at his attempts to buy her.

A few weeks later, Geralt and Ciri arrive at Bald Mountain and are forced to contend with the local celebration, which ends in them being sent to a sylvan named Fugas for execution. After slaying the monster, Ciri plays a game of rock, paper, scissors, to decide who will face the Crones and who would slay Imlerith. Ciri lost the game and thus went to confront the Crones. She interrupts them while they were stirring a cauldron full of human remains, prompting them to transform from beautiful women into their true, hideous forms. Ciri managed to slay Brewess and Whispess but Weavess managed to escape with Vesemir’s medallion.

Their mission a success, the pair head for Novigrad, where Ciri had a multitude of personal matters to take care of. With Geralt, she revisits all the people she had encountered in the city. She was also present when Geralt and Avallac’h bring Ge’els from the world of the Aen Elle to show him proof that Eredin murdered the previous Aen Elle king, Auberon Muircetach, so he’d stop supporting the regicide. Ge’els attempt to sow animosity between Ciri and Avallac’h, but it fails. Corinne Tilly, a oneiromancer, shows everyone through dreams of Eredin’s regicide.

After Philippa Eilhart and Margarita Laux-Antille are gathered, they ask to meet with Ciri. If Geralt accompanies Ciri to the meeting, it undermines her confidence. The sorceresses extended an invitation for Ciri to join the Lodge as an equal partner.

The party then travels to Skellige to find an elven artifact called the Sunstone to lure Eredin into a trap. Ciri then expresses her desire to investigate Avallac’h secret laboratory in the isles, suspecting the elf to be hiding something from her. She goes ahead with Yennefer to await Geralt’s arrival. After penetrating the laboratory, they find a genealogical chart of Elder Blood descendants; Avallac’h was studying all paths of Lara Dorren, even those thought extinct. They soon encounter a she-elf, claiming to be Avallac’h’s lover, who proceeds to insult Ciri, calling her a degenerate half-breed and that Avallac’h despises that he needs her. Her words anger Ciri so much that she wants to tear up the lab. Geralt can support her and aid in the ransacking, cheering her up, or calm her down and fasten Lara Dorren’s necklace around her neck, depressing her.

Once outside, Ciri asks to go to Hindarsfjall to see Skjall, only to be told of his death. If Geralt refuses, it depresses her. If he agrees to accompany her, they either meet up later or teleport there. Upon arrival, Ciri learns that Skjall was never buried, instead thrown on a corpse heap. After finding his corpse and giving it a proper burial, they are accosted by a band of villagers, who take issue with their defiance against their elders’ writ, as Skjall was dishonored and his name stricken. Ciri threatens retaliation if Skjall’s grave is disturbed and reveals Skjall’s role in saving her from the Hunt, restoring his honor.

The party then sail to Undvik to spring the trap, with the Nilfgaardian fleet preventing the Naglfar from fleeing by sea and the sorceresses blocking their attempts to teleport. As the battle started, though advised to remain on shore, Ciri realized that Geralt and his Nilfgaardian detachment were frozen and decided to go out and assist. Avallac’h advised her to find Caranthir and break the jewel on his staff to lift the spell. After fighting through Hunt warriors and hounds did Ciri engage Caranthir, eventually destroying his staff, though the effort seemingly knocked her unconscious. Caranthir then attempted to grab Ciri, only for her to teleport away.

After Geralt mortally wounded Eredin, the elven king stated that Avallac’h had tricked them both, pitting them against each other while he made off with Ciri. When Geralt confronts Avallac’h as another Conjunction of the Spheres begins, but Avallac’h drops his sword proving that he did not betray them but was just following Ciri’s wish to come here. Geralt then confronts Ciri who tells him that she has to go inside the portal to stop the White Frost. Depending on Geralt’s interactions with her, Ciri may either survive or die stopping the White Frost.

If Ciri survives and didn’t meet with Emhyr or met with Emhyr but Nilfgaard lost the war, Geralt will tell the Emperor that she died saving the world, before later meeting with Ciri to give her her witcher’s blade. If Ciri survives and had met with Emhyr and Nilfgaard won the war, when Geralt meets with her in White Orchard, she reveals that she has decided to take her place as Empress of Nilfgaard.

End of game canon content.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Journal entry

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon – what can I possibly say about her? That we call her Ciri for short, that she was born in 1251, that she has ashen hair and a scar on her cheek?

All true, and that’s the Cirilla I know best, the one I first laid eyes on those many years ago, the one who seemed thoroughly, well, not ordinary, but certainly not as extraordinary as she in fact is.

For Cirilla is also a highly-skilled witcher, heiress to several thrones, the last bearer of the Elder Blood, a powerful Source endowed with exceptional magic talent and the Lady of Time and Space. Her hair color and date of birth seem… rather incidental now, don’t they?

I could also tell you she is Geralt’s adopted daughter – but that would be a gross simplification. Ciri is much more. She is his Destiny, his Unexpected Child, someone bound to the witcher by Fate’s most inextricably tangled fetters.

Following age-old witcher tradition, Geralt took Ciri to Kaer Morhen when she came into his care. There he and Vesemir taught her in the ways of the professional monster slayer. It was then that her magic talents were first revealed, and they discovered she was a Source.

Ciri’s gift proved a curse as well. Because of it, she would one day have to hide from the entire world – even Geralt.

Ciri’s biography contained one more great secret. Her natural father was none other than the emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr var Emreis. His words confirmed the fears swirling in Geralt’s mind. Ciri had returned and was in mortal danger, for the unrelenting Wild Hunt was on her trail.

Yennefer made it clear why the Wild Hunt wanted Ciri: Eredin wanted the power latent in her Elder Blood. She also let Geralt know that Ciri had been seen in war-ravaged Velen as well as in Novigrad, the largest city in the world.

Reports that Ciri had spent time at Crow’s Perch proved true. She was there as the guest of the local warlord, Phillip Strenger, also known as the Bloody Baron. Despite his violent moniker, this man treated Ciri with kindness and respect.

It seemed that during Ciri’s time in Velen she got into a quarrel with some sort of witch or witches in the swamps.

Geralt learned the truth of Ciri’s time in the swamps from the mouths of the hideous Crones themselves. Even Ciri, better able to hold her own than most anyone in existence, was lucky to escape from these powerful beings alive and intact.

The visions revealed by the Mask of Uroboros made it clear beyond all doubt: Ciri had played a role in the magic catastrophe on Ard Skellig. More importantly, they confirmed she had been in Skellige — and then fled in the face of grave danger.

Ultimate, tangible proof of the truth that the emperor had spoken the truth about Ciri’s pursuers came in the form of a corpse – one belonging to a warrior of the Wild Hunt. The Riders truly were on Ciri’s trail.

In hindsight, putting Ciri in touch with Whoreson was not one of my brightest ideas. In my defense, I can only say that her situation was so perilous even the riskiest plan seemed better than inactivity.

After many adventures and mishaps, Geralt finally found Ciri on the Isle of Mists. When he crossed the threshold into the room in which she slumbered, the protective spell Avallac’h had cast upon her snapped under the sheer weight of their combined destinies. Geralt was reunited with his adopted daughter after years of separation and searching. No words can describe the joy he felt in that moment.

Avallac’h’s prediction that the Wild Hunt would descend on Kaer Morhen as soon as Ciri arrived was proven true. All present spared no effort in defending her. In the end, though, it was she who defended them – through an outburst of unbridled power, the raw strength of her Elder Blood, she saved the protectors of Kaer Morhen from certain death.

Though it was Cirilla who convinced Geralt to go with her to exact vengeance on Imlerith, it was the witcher who stood against Vesemir’s killer in a final duel. Ciri slayed some evil that day, however, killing two of the three monsterous sisters who had usurped for themselves rule over Velen.

Ciri had not seen her father since she was a young child. Emhyr was in effect a stranger to her, and one responsible for the deaths of many people she cherished at that…

If Geralt does not take Ciri to Vizima:

…It was thus no surprise that Ciri did not even want to see him.

If Geralt does take Ciri to Vizima:

…Standing face to face with him was surely one of the most difficult challenges she had ever undergone.

If Geralt refuses the reward

Ciri emerged from this trial victorious, and with an enhanced awareness of how deeply and unconditionally Geralt, her adopted father, loved and cared for her.

Confronting the Lodge – now there is a difficult task, one many a brave soul would move mountains to avoid. Cirilla, however, decided to stand and face the powerful sorceresses. From the accounts that reached my ears I can conclude that she let the mistresses of magic know…

If Geralt accompanied Ciri to the Lodge meeting:

…that she had a mind of her own and would not be a servile tool in their hands.

If Geralt does not accompany Ciri to the Lodge meeting:

…in clear terms that she had a mind of her own and would not be a servile tool in their hands.

A visit to Avallac’h’s secret laboratory revealed facts that shook Ciri to her core. Though she had long known she was the last of Lara Dorren’s line, the only remaining heir to the so-called Elder Blood, only now did she realize this line had been an object of unbroken interest to elven Sages and human mages for two centuries. Another blow came from the words of the arrogant she-elf, which rankled in her heart like a thorny bramble.

If Ciri wrecks Avallac’h’s lab:

Though unleashing anger on inanimate objects might not be considered mature behaviour, it definitely helps bring one relief. Ciri thus reached for this most simple of solutions.

Eredin had perished — but the evil king’s death only ever heralds the end in fairy tales. In our story, this meant it was time for Ciri to face her destiny. Only she possessed the power to stop the White Frost — the near mythical force which threatened not just our world, but countless others as well.

Associated quests

Family tree

For an expanded version, see Template:Ciri Family Tree Expanded.

Notes

• According to Blood of Elves, her name is derived from the Elder Speech word Zireael, Swallow.
• Sometime by the late 14th century, no surviving portraits of her exist anymore. Ironically, the one that people believe is of her in Cintra is actually that of her double.
• In the optional quest in the third game where Ciri meets Emhyr var Emreis, he announces her as «Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, Queen of Cintra, Princess of Brugge, and Duchess of Sodden. Heiress to Inis Ard Skellig and Inis An Skellig, and suzeraine of Attre and Abb Yarra.»
  • In the Time of Contempt novel a girl officially claimed to be Ciri by the Nilfgaardian Empire is declared to hold the last title; however Emhyr var Emreis knows she’s not the real heir to the Cintran throne but plays along until they can find the real Ciri.
• In The Witcher, the innkeeper at the Country Inn in the village of Murky Waters can tell Geralt the tale of «Cirilla».
• In The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, she’s mentioned a couple times (both indirectly and directly by name).
• In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, she appears on one of the cards in neutral deck.
• She appears in The Hexer TV series in 4 episodes («Świątynia Melitele», «Mniejsze zło», «Falwick», and «Ciri»). Unlike in the books, she first met Geralt at the Temple of Melitele in Ellander. She is also not depicted during her teenage years in the series.

Ciri’s age

• Andrzej Sapkowski appears to contradict himself on Ciri’s exact age as the following:
  • In Blood of Elves, Ciri states she’s 13 in spring of 1266 (which is backed by Time of Contempt when she says she’s 14 in 1267).
  • In The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake, some characters guess she’s 15 to 16 years old, which would put her as born in 1251 or 1252 instead. However, Ciri neither confirms nor corrects these statements.
  • Near the end of The Lady of the Lake, the author once more contradicts this information when, in March 1268, Emhyr remarks it’s been 16 years since he and Geralt last saw each other, meaning 1252. If Nenneke was right in guessing Ciri was born around Belleteyn, this would mean Ciri can’t be any older than 14 years and 10 months when the assault on Stygga castle happened. It’s unclear though if Emhyr just did a basic rounding with years (1268-1252=16) or if he rounded down and meant 17 years instead.
  • In the Dynastic descriptions, she’s described as being 12 when she and Hjalmar got «engaged». However, this would have been impossible due to fact that the Slaughter of Cintra took place in 1263 and she went to Kaer Morhen in 1264. Even if she was born in 1252, this would have still been impossible as she’d only have been 11 at most when the Slaughter of Cintra took place, still putting her below 12 years old.

Gallery

References

External Links

•  See the GWENT standalone game version card: Ciri

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon (better known as Ciri), was born in 1252 or 1253,^[4] and most likely during the Belleteyn holiday.^[5] She was the sole princess of Cintra, the daughter of Pavetta and Emhyr var Emreis (who was using the alias «Duny» at the time) as well as Queen Calanthe’s granddaughter.

After Geralt of Rivia helped lift Duny’s curse, Duny asked what reward the witcher would like and Geralt invoked the Law of Surprise, as it turned out Pavetta was pregnant with Ciri, unbeknownst to Duny.

Biography

Ciri was born in Skellige in Belleteyn of the following year^[6] and initially, Calanthe ordered her advisor Mousesack to kill Geralt,^[7] wishing to break free from the Law of Surprise. Mousesack was ready to go, as nobody refused the queen, but when he was summoned a short time later Calanthe retracted the order without explanation.^[8]

Growing up, not much is known about Ciri’s relationship with her parents, though it appeared Pavetta adored her daughter, with others remarking how it was rare for her to be parted from Ciri. However, this didn’t stop Pavetta from secretly sending Ciri ashore just as the small family was set to sail out from Skellige to Cintra, against Calanthe’s wishes, who wished for them all to stay. Shortly after, Pavetta and Duny died at sea around the Sedna Abyss, making Ciri an orphan before she was 5 years old. Angry at her nephew-in-law, Crach an Craite, for letting them sail out, Calanthe then had Crach swear a blood oath that he’d always protect Ciri before deciding to forbid Ciri from visiting the isles again. However, this ban only lasted 6 months before Calanthe let Ciri visit Skellige once more every summer and winter.^[9]

Cintra’s Princess

With the death of her mother, Ciri was now the only remaining heir to Cintra and thus Calanthe took special care to raise her granddaughter. Despite Calanthe’s attempts to keep Ciri shielded from learning about being a Child of Surprise and that she was destined to be a witcher since birth, Ciri’s nanny told the young girl all about a white-haired witcher, and that he’d one day come for her to be taken away to be trained as one as well. When Calanthe found out she was furious but by then the seeds had been sown and Ciri began to firmly believe that was her destiny.^[8]

Then, 6 years almost to the day when Duny’s curse was lifted, Geralt returned to Cintra but Calanthe, not wishing to lose her only remaining descendant, hid Ciri amongst a group of boys and had them playing around in the moat outside the castle when Geralt dropped in, who erroneously believed Pavetta had a son and wondered which one «he» was in the group. Despite this, he refused to take any child with him and left without even learning the true identity of Pavetta’s child.

Entering Brokilon

Shortly after, Calanthe arranged an engagement between Ciri and Windhalm of Attre, a now 20 year old who once vied for Pavetta’s hand 7 years prior. However, Calanthe had a change in heart and called off the engagement years later^[6] before setting up another one, this time to Kistrin, the sole prince of Verden. However, the now 10 year old Ciri wasn’t fond of this idea or of Kistrin and, no sooner had she arrived in Verden in 1263 to meet her suitor and his family, did she escape with aid from a teenage squire. This plan went awry when they mistakenly ended up in the dreaded Brokilon region, a forest off-limits to anyone not friends with the dryads that lived there. While normally the dryads shot to kill on sight, Ciri wasn’t noticed by them, though the squire and the search party following them weren’t so lucky and were killed.

While she wandered alone deeper into the dangerous forest, she was spotted by a giant centipede and almost met her death there when her screams were heard by Geralt and Braenn who were coincidentally nearby. After they killed the giant centipede though, Ciri tried to take off but immediately stopped when Braenn nearly hit her with an arrow. Despite this, the young princess refused to answer them and went as far as stating she’d have both of them beheaded before eventually joining them in their trek to Duén Canell, all the while telling Geralt how she didn’t want a husband and threatening to bite Geralt to get him to answer her questions before the witcher threatened to whip her with his belt, making her behave politely the rest of the trip.

When the group arrived in Duén Canell, Ciri met the injured Freixenet, who also wished to beat the young princess for running away, before the governor revealed that Geralt was a witcher. Before Ciri could ask further on this, Braenn started to lead the princess away and Ciri realized they were preparing to make her a dryad and began to cry, though allowed herself to be led away.

A few hours later, Ciri sat with the dryad queen, Eithné, in her home. As Geralt arrived to discuss his reason for being sent to Brokilon, it eventually turned to Ciri, who was to be made a dryad. However, Ciri had already told Eithné something she hadn’t revealed to Geralt yet: that she was destined to be a witcher and on learning who Geralt was, she realized she was destined to him. As Geralt made to leave rather than watch the young girl drink the Water of Brokilon that’d erase all her previous memories, Ciri begged him to stay and so he did for her sake. As he watched though, Ciri didn’t show any of the normal signs after drinking the water and when the dryad queen asked the young girl who she wanted to go with, she revealed she still wished to go with Geralt, and thus the queen allowed the two to leave.

Geralt, now realizing Ciri was his Child of Surprise, traveled with her out of the forest, though when he took off east to Brugge Ciri appeared uncomfortable, remarking she felt they were going the wrong way, but followed anyways. A short time later it appeared she was correct: they ran into a group of King Ervyll’s soldiers who were staging a merchant robbery as an act by the dryads. Not aware of the situation, Ciri suddenly remarked the dryads couldn’t have done it as the tree was cut down, causing the men to try and kill her and Geralt, but Geralt held them off as he demanded she run. Instead of running far though, Ciri instead took an earlier story Geralt told to heart and climbed all the way up a tree. After the mercenaries were killed off by Geralt, nearby dryads, and the arrival of Mousesack, Ciri rejoined them, though the druid remarked Calanthe would probably be ready to spank the girl despite being sent by Calanthe to call off Ciri and Kistrin’s engagement.

That night though, Geralt tried to take off once more without Ciri, who awoke after he rode off and yelled after him not to go and that she was his destiny. However, Geralt didn’t turn around, leaving Mousesack to take her back to Cintra.^[8]

Adventures in Skellige

Shortly after Ciri traveled back to Skellige and at one point became extremely infatuated with one of the kingdom’s famous warriors, Olaf Stigvason. However, this love was never meant to be as he was 35 years old, married, and with children older than Ciri. Distraught at this, Ciri decided she’d commit suicide by drowning and waited for favorable weather conditions to do so. This took too long though and during the wait, she was able to overcome her infatuation with the warrior.^[6]

Sometime later that season, she saw some of the boys, including a 15 year old Hjalmar an Craite, playing a game on the ice where they’d try to see how many rocks in a row they could jump over while skating. Hjalmar held the current record until Ciri, extremely agile and fast, beat it. Not to be outdone, Hjalmar tried to beat Ciri’s record but smashed into the ice instead, breaking several bones in the process. Despite this, Hjalmar held no grudges against Ciri and the young girl regularly visited him while he healed. Being young and naïve, the two soon got «engaged» but as soon as Crach heard of this he promptly broke them up as Calanthe had other plans in the works to marry Ciri off and the young girl was dragged back home to Cintra by her grandmother.^[9]

Shortly after, Calanthe arranged Ciri’s third official engagement: this time to the 9 year old Radovid V of Redania. Before the children ever had a chance to meet though, Radovid’s father, Vizimir II, called off the engagement 6 months later.^[6]

Fall of Cintra

In 1263, the Nilfgaardian Empire, which had been taking over kingdoms in the south for some time, eventually decided to move on Cintra. During the final push, Ciri found herself barricaded in the capital’s castle with her grandmother and many of the nobles, with no chance of surviving as it was only a matter of time when the Nilfgaardian soldiers would break in. Unknown to her and her grandmother, there was also a Nilfgaardian spy in the castle and so when Calanthe had some of her soldiers try to flee with the young Ciri, the spy signaled to the invaders that she was escaping.^[9]

Ciri’s escorts ran into Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach’s group and a chase through the burning city unfolded before Cahir’s men eventually caught up with the Cintran guards and a fight ensued. As both Nilfgaardians and Cintrans alike died, a frightened Ciri was dropped to the ground and barely escaped from being stabbed herself. Still in a daze, Ciri soon found herself alone with Cahir, the only other survivor out of the fight and distinguished by his winged helmet. As he picked up Ciri, she began to scream before fainting. A short time later she came to as Cahir had managed to escape the city with her, but with Cahir not knowing her language, nothing helped ease her mind. Later that night, when the two went to sleep, she managed to slip away from him.

Now alone, Ciri ended up wandering the forests of Riverdell for two weeks, staying with a family of four in Kagen who taught her to spin yarn, before finding a group of fugitives and staying with them for a month^[10] before she was eventually taken in by druids, as they tended to take in homeless children as a result of the war.^[8] A short time later, Goldencheeks took her in and so Ciri moved in with the woman and her family in Lower Sodden. While Ciri didn’t reveal who she was and where she was from, Goldencheeks took a liking to the girl over the next six months,^[10] especially as she herself couldn’t bear anymore children and only had sons. As fate would have it though, Goldencheeks’ husband, Yurga, was out on a trip during this time and was rescued by Geralt, who didn’t know what else to ask for as a reward and so enacted the Law of Surprise. When Yurga brought the witcher back to his place in 1264 and learned of the unexpected girl his wife had taken in, Ciri suddenly spotted Geralt and cried out to him before the two ran to each other, reuniting once more.^[8]

Training at Kaer Morhen

In 1265, with Geralt now accepting Ciri as his destiny, he took the young girl with him to Kaer Morhen, both to keep her in hiding and to train her to be a witcher. During the trip there, Ciri was often plagued by nightmares of the knight with the winged helmet and Geralt had to reassure her everything was ok while holding her close until she fell asleep. When they finally arrived that autumn, the princess was initially afraid of the witchers but as soon as Geralt confirmed she was their destiny she began to see the small group as family and friends. That same night that they arrived though, the witchers quickly learned Ciri was no ordinary child. Thirsty, Ciri grabbed the nearest drink off the table, and before the witchers could stop her, she accidentally drank White Seagull which, combined with her Elder Blood, sent Ciri into a trance, speaking in another voice but incoherently.^[10]

A bit uneasy by this but not able to do anything else, the witchers, including Geralt, Vesemir, Lambert, Eskel, and Coën, began to train Ciri as a witcher. They used special mushrooms and herbs found in the valley to accelerate both her physical and hormonal progression as a witcher, allowing her much more strength and agility for her size. However, during one training episode she fell and once more went into an incomprehensible trance. It was only the third one, during one of her many nightmares, that she began to speak coherently, prophesying Coën’s and Geralt’s deaths. However like all the previous ones, Ciri never remembered them nor what she said so the witchers never told her about the episodes.

Regardless, the witchers needed help understanding what was happening to Ciri and so in 1265 they sent for the sorceress Triss Merigold, as Geralt didn’t wish to involve Yennefer due to how they last split up. By December, Triss arrived in time to see a now 12 year old Ciri running the Trail, an obstacle course around the keep, but as Ciri made to jump the Gullet portion, she landed wrong and Triss ran over. While initially scared of the unknown woman, Ciri eventually let the sorceress heal her wound before the two made their way to the keep. As they did so, Triss witnessed firsthand one of Ciri’s trances, this time predicting Triss’ death, before Ciri woke up, believing she’d fallen asleep.

The next day, Triss went with Ciri to her room to inspect the young girl while fixing up her clothes, which had been haphazardly put together by Vesemir. As they talked, Ciri eventually confided she was scared of some of the training equipment before revealing something she’d been too embarrassed to bring up to the men: her menstruation had begun and, with no other women around, had no idea what was going on. With Triss’ guidance, Ciri went and informed the witchers that she was «indisposed» and wouldn’t be doing any physical training until it’d passed. Then, following Triss’ earlier instructions, asked for Triss to be allowed to stay, before excusing herself. With that, Triss set forth a condition that the witchers stop feeding Ciri their special herbs and mushrooms as, while they helped with fitness and building muscle, they could have adverse effects on Ciri’s womanly attributes as she grew up.

On Midwinter night, as Coën kept Ciri distracted with a game, Triss revealed Ciri was a Source, leading to initial denial as the witchers pointed out Ciri couldn’t even do basic signs. However, Triss revealed that Sources were only transmitters of magic and therefore had no actual control over it: if they tried to force it nothing came out, but a strong emotion could unexpectedly flatten half a town. After the witchers revealed to Triss Ciri’s past trances, Coën came through with Ciri and Triss gave the young girl White Seagull to send her into a trance once more, with the aim to find out what was speaking through her. Triss soon learned though that whatever was speaking through Ciri was extremely powerful, too powerful for Triss to control and stop it if it ever burst through Ciri. Naturally, Ciri didn’t remember any of it and, despite not knowing enough Elder Speech to make sentences, as she was coming out of the trance she spoke in the tongue to say «something is ending.» Knowing they needed help from a more experienced mage, Geralt finally relented in asking for Yennefer’s help come spring, as they planned to take Ciri to Ellander’s Temple of Melitele for schooling.

As the winter went on, Ciri continued her witcher training while also taking Elder Speech lessons from Triss, the latter of whom kept an eye on the girl every day and night to make sure whatever spoke through Ciri didn’t come back, while also soothing her back to sleep when she woke up from nightmares. At one point the witchers even made a custom sword for Ciri to match her build.

One night in the middle of February 1266 though, Ciri slipped down and eavesdropped on a conversation Triss was having with the witchers in regards to their indifference to politics and went into detail about what happened during the Battle of Sodden Hill. As Ciri ran in, proclaiming she’d stand by Triss in fighting the Nilfgaardians as they’d killed her grandmother, Ciri revealed she thought she was training to kill, as she wanted to kill the winged helmet knight that haunted her dreams. Geralt sharply chastised her, informing her they were training her to save lives, not to kill out of fear and hatred, before sending her out of the room.

Distraught, Ciri ran out into the courtyard and stopped on the ledge of one of the walls where she inspected her sword. As Geralt and Triss approached, she cried out that nobody was going to take her sword from her, but as she moved, she lost her footing and almost fell to her death but Geralt caught her in the nick of time. After speaking comforting words to Ciri, the three agreed it was time to head south to the temple in Ellander.

Traveling to Ellander

As the trio made their way through Kaedwen, Triss suddenly fell ill from food poisoning, preventing them from being able to ride for very long as they had to keep making stops for her. At one point they reached an outpost that was overflowing with merchants and soldiers and, despite Geralt sending Ciri to look after Triss, the girl showed back up in time to overhear one of the commandants vehemently proclaiming all nonhumans were in cahoots with the Scoia’tael and Nilfgaard had been backing them. Before more could be said, the trio were asked to leave as, despite Triss not being contagious, the soldiers didn’t want to take the chance. One of the soldiers though pointed them in the direction of a convoy that was headed in the same general direction and who might be able to better assist Triss.

Within a day, they’d caught up with the convoy who were made up of old dwarven acquaintances of Geralt’s and were now following King Henselt’s orders to deliver a special order. As they traveled with Yarpen Zigrin and his group, Ciri eavesdropped a few times on their conversations, particularly when Scoia’tael were mentioned, as Yarpen was adamantly against them, despite being nonhuman himself.

At one point, when Geralt headed to the back of the convoy, Ciri sat up front with Yarpen and, after being shown how to steer the wagon, asked Yarpen about his earlier conversation with Geralt, namely what he meant by the witcher being indifferent before she figured out that Yarpen was between a rock and hard place: being nonhuman he wasn’t accepted by humans but by helping a human king, he was a traitor in the Scoia’tael eyes.

As the trip continued, she and Geralt both took care of the still ailing, but now recovering, Triss. However, Ciri became annoyed when the other dwarves wrongly assumed that Triss and Geralt were a couple, and was further annoyed with Triss when the sorceress appeared to try and snuggle up rather too much to Geralt when they helped bathe her. After being asked by Geralt to leave during one such episode, Ciri bumped into Yarpen and asked who was right in the fight between the Scoia’tael and humans. After a while, Yarpen finally noted that he’d like to live in a way where he didn’t have to ask for forgiveness and everyone would learn to live next to each other. With that, Ciri remarked how Yarpen wasn’t all that different from her.

The next day, Geralt let Ciri ride a bit ahead of the convoy but, being anxious just to run off for a short while, she galloped way ahead of the convoy to take in the silence and surroundings and soon made her way a bit off the main road. As she enjoyed the forest area she began to think how she’d never be indifferent, that she intended to save defenseless people from evil, like the horrors she saw during the war, and couldn’t understand why Geralt and the other witchers were neutral about it.

While thinking this over, she suddenly ducked down beneath a bush and none too soon as, across the clearing, a large band of Scoia’tael appeared and began to move through the area. When they were finally gone and she felt safe, Ciri popped back up only for Geralt to grab her to keep her from screaming in surprise. As Geralt instructed her back to the horses, he told her not to say a word of what she saw to the others and and that the trio would depart from the convoy tomorrow. Infuriated and not understanding his indifference in this, Ciri questioned Geralt about it, who calmly told her the Scoia’tael group wasn’t there for the convoy, but something else. He then led her to Shaerrawedd, an ancient elven palace now in ruins. However, in the center of the ruins still remained a statue of Aelirenn, an elf that’d tried to lead one last desperate battle against humans 200 years ago. While the elders didn’t wish to, feeling they could wait out humanity with their long lifespans, Aelirenn was able to rally most of the younger elves, and the only ones able to still have offspring. The fight ended in a massacre and thus doomed the elven race to annihilation.

Finally understanding that witcher neutrality wasn’t about being insensitive but rather to prevent more unnecessary massacres, Ciri then asked to take one of the special roses to remember. As she did though, she pricked herself and suddenly realized the rest of the convoy was under attack and the two galloped back to get to Triss.

As the two arrived, the convoy was indeed under attack by Scoia’tael and, ignoring Geralt’s orders to head into the woods, Ciri hurried to Triss and pulled her into cover while the fighting continued all around them. While initially protected by the others around her, soon Ciri found herself alone, face to face with an elf, and now without her sword. As the elf moved in though, she spotted Shaerrawedd’s rose on Ciri, causing enough hesitation for Geralt to come from behind and kill the elf before Ciri passed out. When she came to, the group had been rescued by Dun Banner, another Kaedwenian military unit, but soon learned the whole convoy had been a trap: wanting to test Yarpen’s loyalty, they were actually given common stone to transport while another tipped off the Scoia’tael about the «special» convoy so they’d attack it. As Geralt and Ciri looked on at the fallen acquaintances and Scoia’tael members, Geralt threw the now blood stained rose onto the elf he’d killed earlier to protect Ciri, with Ciri saying goodbye as Geralt asked for forgiveness.^[10]

Training with Yennefer

After the chaos with the convoy, the three had a far more peaceful trip to the Temple of Melitele and once there, Geralt left Ciri in Nenneke’s care, while he wrote to Yennefer about the situation and asked for her help in teaching Ciri.

While Yennefer made her way to the temple, Ciri was treated like any other pupil, sleeping in a dormitory with the other students, while learning about history, nature, poetry, prose, runes, the Elder Speech, and doing chores. When she could, she’d also write to Geralt to tell him about the goings-on.

After Yennefer arrived, Ciri at first openly didn’t like her as the sorceress was quite cold, though they quickly started to develop a mother-daughter bond, and she spent more and more time with the sorceress, doing chores only two days a week, and seeing her friends rarely. Yennefer pushed the girl putting her through many tests, and taught her about muscles and bones, about balance and how to control one’s breathing. She also taught Ciri about magic and Chaos and how to control it. One night, after being worn out from several days of intense training with Yennefer, she had a dream about Geralt, Shani and Dandelion, awaking to Yennefer arguing with Nenneke about the sorceress’ training methods, and so forced herself back to sleep. Some time later, while doing chores with her new friends Iola the Second and Eurneid, she was told about the rising political tension and the possibility of a second northern war, which made her curious so she went and saw Jarre, Nenneke’s ward. He told her of the geography of the area, and the potential of the second war, which he believed was unlikely. After Jarre’s awkward flirting started to make Ciri irritated, she ran to Yennefer who told her they were to leave the following morning, for solitude at the magic school of Aretuza.^[10]

Journey to Aretuza

In late June 1267, after a night at an inn in Ellander, Ciri and Yennefer were preparing to leave when Ciri entered a trance and foretold the messenger Aplegatt of his death on hot sands. The following night was spent at an inn in the Temerian town of Anchor. After three days more ride, they arrived in Gors Velen, where Yennefer hid Ciri’s identity so they could visit Giancardi Bank, where Molnar Giancardi told them of the politics of the continent and paid for Ciri’s tuition in Ellander, and her future tuition at Aretuza. Molnar then summoned Fabio Sachs, his apprentice who could take Ciri on a tour of the city. They saw the fish market and then Fabio showed her Thanedd Island from the city walls. Finally they went to the marketplace, where many great wonders amazed the girl, such as camels. After listening to a priest preach about the Aretuza mages, the holy man proceeded to grope Ciri, who screamed at him in the square, only calmed by Fabio taking her for food. As Fabio went to get his fortune told, Ciri lapsed into another trance and foretold his life as an explorer and death in an unnamed continent. While continuing to look through the market, the two came across a man advertising his «basilisk» from Zerrikania, which intrigued Ciri, so they went in. The basilisk ended up being a wyvern, which Ciri kept mentioning to the man, to the point of him of challenging her to survive the creature’s venom as a test. She freely walked up and proved the man wrong, though as she walked back the wyvern broke out of its small cage, attacking its owner. Ciri, using her training from Kaer Morhen, made quick work of the creature, and luckily protecting her identity, the crowd thought it was the work of a young squire standing nearby. Angry at her for «angering the beast», the crowd chased her away from the market, and she used the amulet given to her by Yennefer for disguisement, giving off magical interference that summoned Tissaia de Vries and Margarita Laux-Antille. They believed Ciri was an escaped student from Aretuza and so Tissaia put her under a paralysis spell and with Fabio’s advice carried the girl to Giancardi Bank, where Yennefer confirmed her identity.^[11]

Tissaia apologised and invited them to The Silver Heron inn, where they all proceeded to spend several hours bathing. As the sorceresses started to get drunk, Ciri left the cellar and convinced the innkeeper to give her a horse, left a note for Yennefer, and rode west toward Geralt’s last known location, Hirundum. Throughout the stormy trip she had flashbacks to Cintra and the black knight, to Shaerrawedd, and then even saw glimpses of the Wild Hunt attempting to recruit her. By the time she arrived at the farm and saw Geralt and then Yennefer, who followed her via portal, she was extremely exhausted and fainted. The following morning she snuck out of the Hofmeier house and eavesdropped on her two mentors talking, which was quickly caught onto by Dandelion, the bard friend of Geralt. Eventually things were summarised and Yennefer invited Ciri and the witcher to the Conclave of Mages on Thanedd.^[11]

Thanedd Coup

After arriving on Thanedd on the last day of the month, and after the Aretuza evening ball, Ciri awoke in the early hours of the morning to the sounds of fighting; the Northern allied mages were arresting the others secretly allied with Nilfgaard. Yennefer guided the young girl through the palace, until they reached Philippa Eilhart and Ciri, in a trance, confirmed the truth behind the attack in Dol Angra, where Demavend had attempted to incite a war against Nilfgaard. However, as it’d been a technical attack against the Empire, Emhyr’s troops answered back and began to push into Aedirn and Lyria. She then further revealed that King Vizimir II had been assassinated during the night. Following her recovery, a fight broke out in Garstang, and Yennefer and Ciri were forced to flee, only to be attacked by an elven assassin. Yennefer killed the elf and told Ciri to get down to Loxia, as she could find refuge their with Margarita Laux-Antille. Almost immediately after leaving the room, she was spotted by the mage Rience and two of his elven accomplances, and chased toward a high balcony where, using her nimbleness and bravery, she was able to escape their clutches. She was grabbed by Artaud Terranova, but she was rescued by Geralt and Philippa. Geralt got Ciri on her horse and set her out while he went to rescue Yennefer. Ciri was pursued by Cahir, but thanks to her training, she was able to defeat him in combat, but seeing him without his helm, seeing a normal man instead of a figure from her nightmares, she chose not to kill him, before fleeing. She entered Tor Lara and went through the portal in the tower, but because of it’s unpredictable nature, it randomly sent Ciri to the Korath desert.^[11]

Unaware of where she was and without obvious recourse, the girl decided to make her way out of the wasteland by heading west. Unfortunately she wandered around in circles for some time before deciding to use the stars as a guide. She nearly died of exhaustion, dehydration and starvation. Luckily for her she met a unicorn whom she nicknamed Little Horse that helped her out of the desert. She used Fire magic to heal her companion, and while other unicorns, quietly observing her actions, were unpleased with utilising its power, they decided not to kill her because of saving one of their own. Ciri went unconscious due to pyromantic visions. The experience in taping into such power and relinquishing it left Ciri psychologically numb.

The Rats

Next day, Sweers and his Trappers find her and (after a short conflict with one of Sweers’ sworn enemies) brought her to safety in Glyswen. Ciri, who was still undergoing an emotional tribulation, then helped the Rats, a group of ne’er-do-wells, to rescue their member Kayleigh. She named herself Falka after the woman she saw in pyromantic vision. In the night Kayleigh wanted to «thank» Ciri by trying to force her to have sex with him, but was stopped by Mistle who wanted Ciri for her own. Despite sexual assaults Ciri stayed with the rats and even developed a romantic relationship with Mistle even while sometimes claiming she did no longer like what Mistle had done to her.^[11]

During their travels, the Rats attacked a convoy of Baron of Casadei’s daughter. The baron hired a bounty hunter Leo Bonhart to capture her alive; however, Bonhart was already hired by Stefan Skellen who wanted her to be killed^[12] so that the monarchy could be overthrown.^[2]

Bonhart killed the Rats and cut off their heads after their deaths. The hunter neither killed Ciri, nor brought her to Baron Casadei, therefore not fullfilling both contracts. Instead he imprisoned her for some time, beating her, mistreating and forcing her to kill in the arena at Claremont, which belonged to his cousin Houvenaghel.

On Velen Ciri managed to escape with the help of Vattier’s spy Neratin Ceka when Bonhart had taken her to the village of Unicorn on the eve of the equinox. He had gone here to meet with Skellen and Rience and possibly negotiate some terms to release Ciri. Bonhart then killed Neratin, and Skellen seriously wounded Ciri, disfiguring her with an orion as she fled the village on her mare, Kelpie.

Later, she was found, near death by Vysogota of Corvo, who hid and healed her at his hermitage in the Pereplut swamp. She stayed with Vysogota until shortly after Saovine when she set off to find the Swallow’s Tower, believed to be a twin tower to Tor Lara, so that she could return to Thanedd. Together with Skellen and Rience, Bonhart tried to hunt her down on the order of Vilgefortz, but she managed to escape due to the intervention of the Wild Hunt which scared off Bonhart’s horse. Ciri entered the tower and was teleported to the world of the Aen Elle elves.^[9]

The Aen Elle

There she was greeted by Avallac’h, an Aen Saevherne. He explained to her that she had to ‘pay the debt’ referring to the perceived loss to the Aen Elle when Lara Dorren took Cregennan of Lod as her lover. The elves believed that the latter had ‘stolen’ Elder Blood from them by marrying Lara. To atone for that ‘crime’ Avallac’h wanted Ciri to beget a child with Auberon Muircetach, the king of the Aen Elle. That being the only way Avallac’h would let her return to her own world. On their way to Tir ná Lia, the Aen Elle capital, they met Eredin and his Dearg Ruadhri. Ciri was initially quite infatuated with him — he realized that and tried to use it to control her. They also came across a pack of unicorns which appeared to be at cold war with Aen Elle.

In Tir ná Lia Ciri finally met Auberon, who many times tries to conceive a child with her, however he could not — to him she was just a human, a being of no interest for an Aen Elle. Nevertheless, he was very proud and refused to admit it. Eredin suggested using a ‘potion’ which would improve Auberon’s performance and allow him to conceive a child with Cirilla. He also told her the truth (probably to gain her trust) — that Avallac’h would never let her go. Knowing this, Ciri found help with the unicorns where she also met Little Horse/Ihuarraquax, by then fully grown. The unicorns explained that both Fox and Sparrowhawk had once possessed The Gate of the Worlds, a mystical power known only to those of the Elder Blood but they had lost it. Now they wanted these powers back and for that they needed Ciri. This could not be allowed, however, and the unicorns explained to Cirilla how she should escape.

That same day Ciri once again visited Auberon only to find that he had drunk the ‘potion’ given to him by Eredin. Unknown to Sparrowhawk it happened to be too strong and killed Auberon. That night Ciri attempted to escape Tir ná Lia and its barrier by using a boat and swimming with the river’s current. She was stopped by Eredin who then revealed his true intentions, being the same as Avallac’h’s. The two battled and Ciri proved victorious due to the elf’s underestimation of her abilities — she wounded him and threw him into the river. Later on she mounted Kelpie and rode away from Tir ná Lia. She met Horsey, who was in fact named Ihuarraquax and offered his help (actually his being by Ciri’s side was a part of her bargain with the other unicorns). They came across a huge pile of bones.

To her horror, Ciri realized that the skulls had human teeth making them a pile of human bones. Ihuarraquax explained that it had been a human world until the elves led by Fox and Sparrowhawk arrived and killed them all — this also would be the fate of other worlds, including Ciri’s own, should Avallac’h and Eredin succeed in once again harnessing the power of time and space. Nevertheless, Ihuarraquax and Ciri realized that they were being chased.

Little Horse urged Ciri to jump to another world — the only way to escape. She, however, didn’t know how. The unicorn became her guide and they jumped. This led to the manifestation of Ciri’s strongest power, giving her the title of The Lady of the Worlds. That power allowed her to traverse space and time at will. Not being able to control it, however, Ciri had to journey through many different worlds to finally find her own. She traveled to Stygga Castle to give herself to Vilgefortz in exchange for Yennefer’s freedom. However, when she arrives there, he refuses to release Yennefer and instead reveals his plan to impregnate her and use her placenta to gain access to the Elder Blood. She was saved by Geralt and his hansa and later the Impera Brigade under the command of Emperor Emhyr var Emreis himself; during the ensuing battle, Ciri encountered and battled Leo Bonhart, using her training from Kaer Morhen to outmaneuvre, then seriously injure the bounty hunter. Bonhart seemingly succeeded in convincing Ciri to spare his life, insisting she was too noble to kill a beaten, unarmed man but Ciri ultimately killed Bonhart in self-defence when he made a last attempt to attack her from behind. While Emhyr revealed to Geralt that he too had intended to impregnate Ciri, after sending Geralt and Yennefer away, he instead informed Ciri that he is her father and leaves Stygga Castle.

Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri then set out from Stygga Castle and travel; first, they visit Jealousy, where she visits the graves of the Rats. Yennefer then left for Vengerberg, and Geralt and Ciri traveled to Toussaint. As they arrived, they found Dandelion, about to be executed for angering Anna Henrietta by falling in love with another woman. He was pardoned, and Geralt advised that they leave before she could change her mind and decide to order his execution again. Ciri was then summoned to Vengerberg by Yennefer, and Geralt told her to meet him in Rivia in six days’ time.

The Lodge

After traveling to Vengerberg, she and Yennefer were invited to the Lodge of Sorceresses in Montecalvo, where they revealed their plans to send Ciri to Kovir under a false name to have a child with Tankred Thyssen, the only son of Esterad Thyssen. She expressed that she wished to think it over during her travel to Rivia as she had already agreed to meet Geralt there. Philippa Eilhart proclaimed that her ability to leave Montecalvo and travel to Rivia is dependent on what the Lodge decides, so she put it to a vote; Sheala de Tancarville, Sabrina Glevissig, Keira Metz and Assire var Anahid voted against her leaving Montecalvo, while Triss, Margarita Laux-Antille, Francesca Findabair, Ida Emean aep Sivney, Fringilla Vigo, and eventually even Philippa Eilhart herself voted in favor of letting her leave. She then traveled with Yennefer and Triss to Rivia.

They arrive in Rivia in the midst of the Rivian Pogrom, and Ciri rushed into the crowd to try and find Geralt. After Yennefer and Triss released a hailstorm on the city and stopped the riot, they found Geralt impaled and bleeding out on the ground. After Ciri yelled at Yennefer because her magic was unable to save Geralt, the sorceress lost her consciousness. Ihuarraquax appeared on the lakeshore; his horn started emitting a light which was directed by Ciri on Geralt and Yennefer. The unicorn pointed to a boat; she put an unconscious Geralt and Yennefer in the boat and got in it with them. Geralt came to on Malus Island, and Yennefer informed him that Ciri had left.

After leaving Rivia with Geralt and Yennefer, she traveled to a different world where she met a knight by the name of Sir Galahad who invited her to King Arthur’s court at Camelot. She agreed, and the two rode off together, heading to Camelot through the lands of Y Dynan Bach Têg.^[2]

Returning Home

The following is considered game canon only and may contradict Andrzej Sapkowski’s works.

Having hidden in another world for over half a year the Wild Hunt found Ciri, forcing her to flee. At some point Ciri discovered that Geralt had been captured by the Wild Hunt and managed to free him and send him to the forests outside of Kaer Morhen although he lost his memory in the process. Several months later Ciri, along with an elf named Avallac’h, returned from another world and ended up in Skellige where the Wild Hunt found and attacked them. Avallac’h was cursed during this attack before the two could teleport away, but were split up in the process.

Ciri appeared in Crookback Bog where she collapsed and was found by the Crones. The Crones intended to give her to the Wild Hunt however, as she possessed Elder blood, they couldn’t decide whether to cut her up for her blood or not. Having overheard this, Ciri escaped and fled into the nearby forest, narrowly evading Imlerith. Traveling west into Velen, she encountered a young girl named Gretka who was lost and rescued her as well as a local man from a werewolf. She was then taken to Crow’s Perch and taken in by Phillip Strenger (known as the Bloody Baron) who alongside his men she befriended. During a race with Philip, the two are attacked by a basilisk and Ciri was forced to use her powers to save him. However, Ciri realized that Wild Hunt would sense her powers so she left Crow’s Perch and headed to Novigrad.

Ciri tracked down Dandelion to enlist his help in repairing a phylactery to lift the curse on Avallac’h, though she excluded the identity of her friend. After evading a trap set by the Temple Guard, Dandelion suggested going to Cyprian «Whoreson Junior» Wiley, who agreed to fix the phylactery in exchange for stealing Sigi Reuven’s treasure. Wiley later turned on them, capturing and torturing their friend Dudu. Ciri managed to rescue Dudu but her activities got the attention of the Temple Guard, who chased her towards Temple Isle. Just as a crossbowman took a shot at her, Ciri teleported herself to safety.

Ciri teleported all the way to Skellige, landing on the shores of Hindarsfjall, where she fell unconscious, dropping into a lake. Avallac’h and a native Skelliger, Skjall, found the injured girl and took her to Skjall’s home to recover. When she came to, Ciri accepted the invitation to heal at the local sauna. But soon as she prepared to depart, the Wild Hunt descended on the village, forcing Ciri to flee once more. She found her way to Avallac’h, who was waiting with a boat. But upon seeing Skjall being cut down by a Red Rider, she attempted to turn back to help him, but Avallac’h stunned her with a sleeping spell and took her on a ship.

Before Eredin’s curse fully triggered, Avallac’h managed to bring Ciri to the Isle of Mists and put Ciri in a death-like slumber to hide her from the Wild Hunt. Avallac’h then sailed back to Skellige but the curse took hold, rendering it impossible for him to tell anyone who he was or where he hid Ciri. While Ciri slept, seven dwarves found her in the cabin and hid there as well, though they believed she was dead.

Later on, Ciri was finally found by Geralt and once she was awakened by the magical firefly the witcher was given by a cured Avallac’h, the two embraced and caught up on all that’d happened when Ciri tried to return home, including what’d she learned: the Aen Elle world was facing annihilation and so the King of the Wild Hunt was trying to catch Ciri to use her to open a powerful enough portal to allow an army through to conquer their world.

As they prepare to leave, they discover the dwarves hadn’t bothered to wait and took Geralt’s boat to flee the Isle, before spotting the Wild Hunt’s flagship, the Naglfar, in the distance, forcing Ciri to teleport them directly to Kaer Morhen.

Upon arrival, Ciri happily reunited with Vesemir, Yennefer, and Triss. However, the time for celebration was cut short, as the Hunt would soon assault the aging keep. Despite wanting to fight in the upcoming battle, Ciri was ordered to remain inside the keep while everyone else defended her. However, Ciri defied this order when she saw Triss come under attack by Wild Hunt warriors and rushed to her aid. She later assisted Eskel against Caranthir, before the general heard a war horn signaling him to retreat.

As the Wild Hunt breached Kaer Morhen’s inner courtyard, they released a powerful blast of the White Frost, freezing everyone save for Ciri and Vesemir, who’d been behind a wall and thus weren’t touched by the blast. Imlerith then attacked the pair and managed to pin Vesemir down, forcing Ciri to drop her weapon and go with Eredin willingly or they’d kill the old witcher. However, not wanting Ciri to give herself up, Vesemir made one last attack at Imlerith, stabbing him and causing Imlerith to snap Vesemir’s neck, instantly killing the witcher. Distraught at this, Ciri’s Elder Blood powers suddenly broke free in an uncontrollable, crippling scream, making everything gravitate towards her while the intensity of the magic killed anyone that got too close. Nonetheless, Eredin futilely tried to get closer to try and capture Ciri but was dragged back from her by Caranthir and disappeared through a portal. A weakened Avallac’h then appeared from his room in the keep and managed to intervene and stop Ciri’s powers before they destroyed the entire keep and everyone else there.

Back in control of herself, Ciri attended Vesemir’s funeral pyre with the rest but started to regret returning to Kaer Morhen and, despite Geralt’s attempts to calm her, she snatched Vesemir’s medallion off the pyre and ran off. She returned a shor time later to find Geralt, Avallac’h, Yennefer, and Triss discussing reassembling the Lodge of Sorceresses to fight the Wild Hunt and became incensed that decisions were being made without her and left once more.

Trying to use the small window they had to recover, Ciri continued to train with Avallac’h but was disheartened that she wasn’t progressing well, especially with Vesemir’s death fresh on her mind.

Ciri later stirs Geralt early in the morning, revealing she had discovered Imlerith was attending a sabbath on Bald Mountain in Velen, as would the Crones, though she hadn’t told Avallac’h of her plans. Geralt can suggest visiting her biological father, Emperor Emhyr var Emreis, in Vizima first or go to Bald Mountain immediately.

If Geralt and Ciri go to meet Emhyr, the latter addresses her by all her titles as nobles and soldiers kneel before her. He then presents the second half of Geralt’s payment as thanks for finding his daughter. Whether Geralt accepts or not affects Ciri. Ciri then engages in a private conversation with Emhyr but later stormed out, angry at his attempts to buy her.

A few weeks later, Geralt and Ciri arrive at Bald Mountain and are forced to contend with the local celebration, which ends in them being sent to a sylvan named Fugas for execution. After slaying the monster, Ciri plays a game of rock, paper, scissors, to decide who will face the Crones and who would slay Imlerith. Ciri lost the game and thus went to confront the Crones. She interrupts them while they were stirring a cauldron full of human remains, prompting them to transform from beautiful women into their true, hideous forms. Ciri managed to slay Brewess and Whispess but Weavess managed to escape with Vesemir’s medallion.

Their mission a success, the pair head for Novigrad, where Ciri had a multitude of personal matters to take care of. With Geralt, she revisits all the people she had encountered in the city. She was also present when Geralt and Avallac’h bring Ge’els from the world of the Aen Elle to show him proof that Eredin murdered the previous Aen Elle king, Auberon Muircetach, so he’d stop supporting the regicide. Ge’els attempt to sow animosity between Ciri and Avallac’h, but it fails. Corinne Tilly, a oneiromancer, shows everyone through dreams of Eredin’s regicide.

After Philippa Eilhart and Margarita Laux-Antille are gathered, they ask to meet with Ciri. If Geralt accompanies Ciri to the meeting, it undermines her confidence. The sorceresses extended an invitation for Ciri to join the Lodge as an equal partner.

The party then travels to Skellige to find an elven artifact called the Sunstone to lure Eredin into a trap. Ciri then expresses her desire to investigate Avallac’h secret laboratory in the isles, suspecting the elf to be hiding something from her. She goes ahead with Yennefer to await Geralt’s arrival. After penetrating the laboratory, they find a genealogical chart of Elder Blood descendants; Avallac’h was studying all paths of Lara Dorren, even those thought extinct. They soon encounter a she-elf, claiming to be Avallac’h’s lover, who proceeds to insult Ciri, calling her a degenerate half-breed and that Avallac’h despises that he needs her. Her words anger Ciri so much that she wants to tear up the lab. Geralt can support her and aid in the ransacking, cheering her up, or calm her down and fasten Lara Dorren’s necklace around her neck, depressing her.

Once outside, Ciri asks to go to Hindarsfjall to see Skjall, only to be told of his death. If Geralt refuses, it depresses her. If he agrees to accompany her, they either meet up later or teleport there. Upon arrival, Ciri learns that Skjall was never buried, instead thrown on a corpse heap. After finding his corpse and giving it a proper burial, they are accosted by a band of villagers, who take issue with their defiance against their elders’ writ, as Skjall was dishonored and his name stricken. Ciri threatens retaliation if Skjall’s grave is disturbed and reveals Skjall’s role in saving her from the Hunt, restoring his honor.

The party then sail to Undvik to spring the trap, with the Nilfgaardian fleet preventing the Naglfar from fleeing by sea and the sorceresses blocking their attempts to teleport. As the battle started, though advised to remain on shore, Ciri realized that Geralt and his Nilfgaardian detachment were frozen and decided to go out and assist. Avallac’h advised her to find Caranthir and break the jewel on his staff to lift the spell. After fighting through Hunt warriors and hounds did Ciri engage Caranthir, eventually destroying his staff, though the effort seemingly knocked her unconscious. Caranthir then attempted to grab Ciri, only for her to teleport away.

After Geralt mortally wounded Eredin, the elven king stated that Avallac’h had tricked them both, pitting them against each other while he made off with Ciri. When Geralt confronts Avallac’h as another Conjunction of the Spheres begins, but Avallac’h drops his sword proving that he did not betray them but was just following Ciri’s wish to come here. Geralt then confronts Ciri who tells him that she has to go inside the portal to stop the White Frost. Depending on Geralt’s interactions with her, Ciri may either survive or die stopping the White Frost.

If Ciri survives and didn’t meet with Emhyr or met with Emhyr but Nilfgaard lost the war, Geralt will tell the Emperor that she died saving the world, before later meeting with Ciri to give her her witcher’s blade. If Ciri survives and had met with Emhyr and Nilfgaard won the war, when Geralt meets with her in White Orchard, she reveals that she has decided to take her place as Empress of Nilfgaard.

End of game canon content.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Journal entry

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon – what can I possibly say about her? That we call her Ciri for short, that she was born in 1251, that she has ashen hair and a scar on her cheek?

All true, and that’s the Cirilla I know best, the one I first laid eyes on those many years ago, the one who seemed thoroughly, well, not ordinary, but certainly not as extraordinary as she in fact is.

For Cirilla is also a highly-skilled witcher, heiress to several thrones, the last bearer of the Elder Blood, a powerful Source endowed with exceptional magic talent and the Lady of Time and Space. Her hair color and date of birth seem… rather incidental now, don’t they?

I could also tell you she is Geralt’s adopted daughter – but that would be a gross simplification. Ciri is much more. She is his Destiny, his Unexpected Child, someone bound to the witcher by Fate’s most inextricably tangled fetters.

Following age-old witcher tradition, Geralt took Ciri to Kaer Morhen when she came into his care. There he and Vesemir taught her in the ways of the professional monster slayer. It was then that her magic talents were first revealed, and they discovered she was a Source.

Ciri’s gift proved a curse as well. Because of it, she would one day have to hide from the entire world – even Geralt.

Ciri’s biography contained one more great secret. Her natural father was none other than the emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr var Emreis. His words confirmed the fears swirling in Geralt’s mind. Ciri had returned and was in mortal danger, for the unrelenting Wild Hunt was on her trail.

Yennefer made it clear why the Wild Hunt wanted Ciri: Eredin wanted the power latent in her Elder Blood. She also let Geralt know that Ciri had been seen in war-ravaged Velen as well as in Novigrad, the largest city in the world.

Reports that Ciri had spent time at Crow’s Perch proved true. She was there as the guest of the local warlord, Phillip Strenger, also known as the Bloody Baron. Despite his violent moniker, this man treated Ciri with kindness and respect.

It seemed that during Ciri’s time in Velen she got into a quarrel with some sort of witch or witches in the swamps.

Geralt learned the truth of Ciri’s time in the swamps from the mouths of the hideous Crones themselves. Even Ciri, better able to hold her own than most anyone in existence, was lucky to escape from these powerful beings alive and intact.

The visions revealed by the Mask of Uroboros made it clear beyond all doubt: Ciri had played a role in the magic catastrophe on Ard Skellig. More importantly, they confirmed she had been in Skellige — and then fled in the face of grave danger.

Ultimate, tangible proof of the truth that the emperor had spoken the truth about Ciri’s pursuers came in the form of a corpse – one belonging to a warrior of the Wild Hunt. The Riders truly were on Ciri’s trail.

In hindsight, putting Ciri in touch with Whoreson was not one of my brightest ideas. In my defense, I can only say that her situation was so perilous even the riskiest plan seemed better than inactivity.

After many adventures and mishaps, Geralt finally found Ciri on the Isle of Mists. When he crossed the threshold into the room in which she slumbered, the protective spell Avallac’h had cast upon her snapped under the sheer weight of their combined destinies. Geralt was reunited with his adopted daughter after years of separation and searching. No words can describe the joy he felt in that moment.

Avallac’h’s prediction that the Wild Hunt would descend on Kaer Morhen as soon as Ciri arrived was proven true. All present spared no effort in defending her. In the end, though, it was she who defended them – through an outburst of unbridled power, the raw strength of her Elder Blood, she saved the protectors of Kaer Morhen from certain death.

Though it was Cirilla who convinced Geralt to go with her to exact vengeance on Imlerith, it was the witcher who stood against Vesemir’s killer in a final duel. Ciri slayed some evil that day, however, killing two of the three monsterous sisters who had usurped for themselves rule over Velen.

Ciri had not seen her father since she was a young child. Emhyr was in effect a stranger to her, and one responsible for the deaths of many people she cherished at that…

If Geralt does not take Ciri to Vizima:

…It was thus no surprise that Ciri did not even want to see him.

If Geralt does take Ciri to Vizima:

…Standing face to face with him was surely one of the most difficult challenges she had ever undergone.

If Geralt refuses the reward

Ciri emerged from this trial victorious, and with an enhanced awareness of how deeply and unconditionally Geralt, her adopted father, loved and cared for her.

Confronting the Lodge – now there is a difficult task, one many a brave soul would move mountains to avoid. Cirilla, however, decided to stand and face the powerful sorceresses. From the accounts that reached my ears I can conclude that she let the mistresses of magic know…

If Geralt accompanied Ciri to the Lodge meeting:

…that she had a mind of her own and would not be a servile tool in their hands.

If Geralt does not accompany Ciri to the Lodge meeting:

…in clear terms that she had a mind of her own and would not be a servile tool in their hands.

A visit to Avallac’h’s secret laboratory revealed facts that shook Ciri to her core. Though she had long known she was the last of Lara Dorren’s line, the only remaining heir to the so-called Elder Blood, only now did she realize this line had been an object of unbroken interest to elven Sages and human mages for two centuries. Another blow came from the words of the arrogant she-elf, which rankled in her heart like a thorny bramble.

If Ciri wrecks Avallac’h’s lab:

Though unleashing anger on inanimate objects might not be considered mature behaviour, it definitely helps bring one relief. Ciri thus reached for this most simple of solutions.

Eredin had perished — but the evil king’s death only ever heralds the end in fairy tales. In our story, this meant it was time for Ciri to face her destiny. Only she possessed the power to stop the White Frost — the near mythical force which threatened not just our world, but countless others as well.

Associated quests

Family tree

For an expanded version, see Template:Ciri Family Tree Expanded.

Notes

• According to Blood of Elves, her name is derived from the Elder Speech word Zireael, Swallow.
• Sometime by the late 14th century, no surviving portraits of her exist anymore. Ironically, the one that people believe is of her in Cintra is actually that of her double.
• In the optional quest in the third game where Ciri meets Emhyr var Emreis, he announces her as «Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, Queen of Cintra, Princess of Brugge, and Duchess of Sodden. Heiress to Inis Ard Skellig and Inis An Skellig, and suzeraine of Attre and Abb Yarra.»
  • In the Time of Contempt novel a girl officially claimed to be Ciri by the Nilfgaardian Empire is declared to hold the last title; however Emhyr var Emreis knows she’s not the real heir to the Cintran throne but plays along until they can find the real Ciri.
• In The Witcher, the innkeeper at the Country Inn in the village of Murky Waters can tell Geralt the tale of «Cirilla».
• In The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, she’s mentioned a couple times (both indirectly and directly by name).
• In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, she appears on one of the cards in neutral deck.
• She appears in The Hexer TV series in 4 episodes («Świątynia Melitele», «Mniejsze zło», «Falwick», and «Ciri»). Unlike in the books, she first met Geralt at the Temple of Melitele in Ellander. She is also not depicted during her teenage years in the series.

Ciri’s age

• Andrzej Sapkowski appears to contradict himself on Ciri’s exact age as the following:
  • In Blood of Elves, Ciri states she’s 13 in spring of 1266 (which is backed by Time of Contempt when she says she’s 14 in 1267).
  • In The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake, some characters guess she’s 15 to 16 years old, which would put her as born in 1251 or 1252 instead. However, Ciri neither confirms nor corrects these statements.
  • Near the end of The Lady of the Lake, the author once more contradicts this information when, in March 1268, Emhyr remarks it’s been 16 years since he and Geralt last saw each other, meaning 1252. If Nenneke was right in guessing Ciri was born around Belleteyn, this would mean Ciri can’t be any older than 14 years and 10 months when the assault on Stygga castle happened. It’s unclear though if Emhyr just did a basic rounding with years (1268-1252=16) or if he rounded down and meant 17 years instead.
  • In the Dynastic descriptions, she’s described as being 12 when she and Hjalmar got «engaged». However, this would have been impossible due to fact that the Slaughter of Cintra took place in 1263 and she went to Kaer Morhen in 1264. Even if she was born in 1252, this would have still been impossible as she’d only have been 11 at most when the Slaughter of Cintra took place, still putting her below 12 years old.

Gallery

References

External Links

•  See the GWENT standalone game version card: Ciri

After witcher Geralt lifted the curse from her father, he demanded from Duny what he had but didn’t know he did (see: Law of Surprise), which turned out to be Ciri (as Pavetta was already pregnant with the child). Six years to the day after her birth, Geralt went back to Cintra for her, but did not take her with him to Kaer Morhen at that time. In fact, he didn’t even lay eyes on her^[2] and only spoke with Calanthe, and the queen divulged no information to him, not even the child’s gender.

Early life[]

While she was still an infant, Ciri’s parents were both lost in a storm at sea and presumed dead. She spent her youth in Cintra and the Skellige Islands in the care of her grandmother and her uncle.

«The Sword of Destiny in Sword of Destiny[]

Ciri was supposed to marry Kistrin of Verden, but she eloped into the Brokilon. Freixenet, a regional governor in Verden, followed her into the forest. He also is an old acquaintance of Witcher Geralt. Ciri met Geralt when she was lost in the forest of Brokilon and the Witcher saved her from a Giant centipede. She was nearly taken by the dryads, who almost made her one of their own, but the queen of the dryads, Eithné unexpectedly let the girl choose her own future. Ciri chose Geralt and tried to stay with him after they left Brokilon, but the Witcher would not take her with him. Instead, he left her with the druid Mousesack who was working for Calanthe. The short story already mentions the brewing war with Nilfgaard.

In «Something More» in Sword of Destiny[]

«Something More» is the next story after «Sword of Destiny» and tells about how Geralt and Ciri finally meet after the fall of Cintra. This story unfolds in various feverish flashbacks of Witcher Geralt after he was wounded in a fight with monsters.

• Ultimately, Ciri was adopted by a kindly merchant’s wife, Goldencheeks and it is at Goldencheeks’ and Yurga’s farm, that Geralt was reunited with her. (This event overlaps slightly with the events in Blood of Elves).

In Blood of Elves[]

Then came the slaughter of Cintra.

During the Nilfgaardian invasion of Cintra, Ciri was kidnapped by a Nilfgaardian knight called Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach (though his identity was not known at the time), but she managed to escape and wandered aimlessly for some time through Sodden until she was ultimately adopted by a merchant’s family.

Coincidentally, Geralt had been helped by that same merchant and transported to his home. So once again Ciri and Geralt were reunited. This time the witcher took her with him to Kaer Morhen, where under the supervision of Triss Merigold she underwent partial witcher training (but not the mutations) with Geralt, Vesemir, Lambert, Eskel and Coën. It was also there that it was confirmed that she was a source.

Geralt and Triss later took her to the Temple of Melitele in Ellander where she received instruction at first from Nenneke, and then from Yennefer, who began Ciri’s magical training in earnest.

In Time of Contempt[]

As news of war began to spread, Ciri and Yennefer left Ellander for Gors Velen and ultimately Thanedd Island and Aretuza where the sorceress intended to enrol the girl as well as attend the Conclave of mages.

Things did not work out as planned though, not by a long shot. There was a coup during the Conclave and several individuals including Vilgefortz and Cahir tried to capture Ciri once again, and once again failed with the girl escaping through an unstable magical portal in Tor Lara. Because of the portal’s nature, Ciri was simply ejected in mid-air over the Korath desert.

Unaware of where she was and without obvious recourse, the girl decided to make her way out of the wasteland by heading west. Unfortunately she wandered around in circles for some time before deciding to use the stars as a guide. She nearly died of exhaustion, dehydration and starvation. Luckily she met a unicorn whom she nicknamed Little Horse that helped her out of the Frying Pan (a folk name for the deadly desert).

During the events in the desert, Ihuarraquax was severely wounded by a creature hidden in the sand, which then is killed by Ciri. Ciri then saw the agony of the little horse and decided to heal the unicorn colt’s wound, but there was no magical source to draw from. Finally, and out of desperation, she drew (magical) power from a fire she was able to start. Yennefer always had forbidden her to do that and the power overwhelmed her, which lead to her abjuration of the magical power. She was able to save the unicorn, and because of this, some much higher entities (other unicorns?) were eventually willing to let Ciri go on and follow her destiny.

Completely down and out, she finally was captured by the Trappers and brought to the village of Glyswen where she finally escaped along with a group of young brigands known as «the Rats».

In Baptism of Fire[]

Ciri then joined the Rats band under the name Falka. Bounty hunter Leo Bonhart was hired by Stefan Skellen to kill Ciri and by baron Casadei to capture her alive. Bonhart killed the Rats and cut off their heads after their deaths. He neither killed Ciri, nor brought her to baron Casadei, therefore not fullfilling his contracts. Bonhart imprisoned her for some time, beating her, mistreating and forcing her to kill in the arena at Claremont, which belonged to his cousin Houvenaghel.

Ciri managed to escape with the help of Neratin Ceka when Bonhart had taken her to the village of Unicorn on the eve of the equinox. He had gone to meet with Skellen and Rience and possibly negotiate some terms to release Ciri. Bonhart then killed Neratin Ceka, and Skellen seriously wounded Ciri, disfiguring her with an orion as she fled the village on her mare, Kelpie.

Later, she was found, near death by Vysogota of Corvo, who hid and healed at his hermitage in the Pereplut swamp. She stayed with Vysogotha until shortly after Saovine when she set off to find The Tower of the Swallow.

Together with Skellen and Rience, Bonhart tried to hunt her down on the order of Vilgefortz. Eventually, she escaped to Tor Zireael.

Being a twin tower to Tor Lara, Tor Zireael had a portal which led Cirilla to the world of the Aen Elle elves.

In The Tower of the Swallow[]

There she was greeted by Avallac’h, an Aen Saevherne. He explained to her that she had to ‘pay the debt’ referring to the perceived loss to the Aen Elle when Lara Dorren took Cregennan of Lod as her lover. The elves believed that the latter had ‘stolen’ Elder Blood from them by marrying Lara. To atone for that ‘crime’ Avallac’h wanted Ciri to beget a child with Auberon Muircetach, the king of the Aen Elle. That being the only way Avallac’h would let her return to her own world. On their way to Tir ná Lia, the Aen Elle capital, they met Eredin and his Dearg Ruadhri. Ciri was initially quite infatuated with him — he realised that and tried to use it to control her. They also came across a pack of unicorns which appeared to be at war with Aen Elle.

In Tir na Lia Ciri finally met Auberon, who many times tried to conceive a child with her, however he could not — to him she was just a human, a being of no interest for an Aen Elle. Nevertheless, he was very proud and refused to admit it. Eredin suggested using a ‘potion’ which would improve Auberon’s performance and allow him to conceive a child with Cirilla. He also told her the truth (probably to gain her trust) — that Avallac’h would never let her go. Knowing this, Ciri found help with the unicorns where she also met Little Horse/Ihuarraquax, by then fully grown. The unicorns explained that both Fox and Sparrowhawk had once possessed The Gate of the Worlds, a mystical power known only to those of the Elder Blood but they had lost it. Now they wanted these powers back and for that they needed Ciri. This could not be allowed, however and the unicorns explained to Cirilla how she should escape.

That same day Ciri once again visited Auberon only to find that he had drunk the ‘potion’ given to him by Eredin. Unknown to Sparrowhawk it happened to be too strong and killed Auberon. That night Ciri attempted to escape Tir na Lia and its barrier by using a boat and swimming with the river’s current. She was stopped by Eredin who then revealed his true intentions, being the same as Avallac’h’s. The two battled and Ciri proved victorious due to the elf’s underestimation of her abilities — she wounded him and threw him into the river. Later on she mounted Kelpie and rode away from Tir na Lia. She met Little Horse who offered his help (actually his being by Ciri’s side was a part of her bargain with the other unicorns). They came across a huge pile of bones. To her horror, Ciri realised that the skulls had human teeth making them a pile of human bones. Ihuarraquax explained that it had been a human world until the elves led by Fox and Sparrowhawk arrived and killed them all — this also would be the fate of other worlds, including Ciri’s own, should Avallac’h and Eredin succeed in once again harnessing the power of time and space. Nevertheless, Ihuarraquax and Ciri realised that they were being chased. Little Horse urged Ciri to jump to another world — the only way to escape. She, however didn’t know how. The unicorn became her guide and they jumped. This led to the manifestation of Ciri’s strongest power, giving her the title of The Lady of the Worlds. That power allowed her to traverse space and time at will. Not being able to control it, however, Ciri had to journey through many different worlds to finally find her own.

At the Stygga castle, Bonhart died at the hand of Ciri.

Notes[]

According to Blood of Elves, her name is derived from the Elder Speech word Zireael, Swallow.

In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt[]

Ciri is a playable character in The Witcher 3, but only during certain quests and not generally. She appears in the opening quest, as a child and Geralt’s search for her as an adult is the main thrust of the game plot.

Prior to the game release[]

In the Sword of Destiny trailer, while speaking to Geralt, Emhyr var Emreis claims that Ciri has returned to the mortal lands and is being followed by the Wild Hunt. Supposedly, the King of the Wild Hunt also refers to her and there is a white-haired woman seen running who has been confirmed to be Ciri. The next shred of information came in the 35min gameplay demo, the Crones appear to be the first to find Ciri after she came back into the world through a portal. She was exhausted and apparently injured. The three witches helped her as best they could, discovering she has the Elder blood flowing in her veins in the process. Cirilla didn’t stay with them, she escaped her grotesque saviors.

On 15 Dec 2014 it was revealed that Ciri would be a playable character. The player is not able to switch between her and Geralt at will but rather assumes control over her actions during some crucial points of the plot. It was also disclosed that one of Ciri’s unique abilities will be one called blink.^[3] See the short video snippet on the right for an example.

Ciri’s powers[]

• Blink
• Charge
• Energy
• Magic amulet (given to her by Triss)

Journal entry[]

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon — what can I possibly say about her? That we call her Ciri for short, that she was born in 1251, that she has ashen hair and a scar on her cheek?

All true, and that’s the Cirilla I know best, the one I first laid eyes upon those many years ago, the one who seemed thoroughly, well, not ordinary, but certainly not as extraordinary as she in fact is.

For Cirilla is also a highly-skilled witcher, heiress to several thrones, the last bearer of the Elder Blood, a powerful Source endowed with exceptional magic talent and the Lady of Time and Space. Her hair color and date of birth seem… rather incidental now, don’t they?

I could also tell you she is Geralt’s adopted daughter — but that would be a gross simplification. Ciri is much more. She is his Destiny, his Unexpected Child, someone bound to the witcher by Fate’s most inextricably tangled fetters.

Following age-old witcher tradition, Geralt took Ciri to Kaer Morhen when she came into his care. There he and Vesemir taught her in the ways of the professional monster slayer. It was then that her magic talents were first revealed, and they discovered she was a Source.

Ciri’s gift proved a curse as well. Because of it, she would one day have to hide from the entire world — even Geralt.

Ciri’s biography contained one more great secret. Her natural father was none other than the emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr var Emreis. His words confirmed the fears swirling in Geralt’s mind. Ciri had returned and was in mortal danger, for the unrelenting Wild Hunt was on her trail.

Yennefer made it clear why the Wild Hunt wanted Ciri: Eredin wanted the power latent in her Elder Blood. She also let Geralt know that Ciri had been seen in war-ravaged Velen as well as in Novigrad, the largest city in the world.

Reports that Ciri has spent time at Crow’s Perch proved true. She was there as the guest of the local warlord, Phillip Strenger, also known as the Bloody Baron. Despite his violent monicker, this man treated Ciri with kindness and respect.

It seemed that during Ciri’s time in Velen she got into a quarrel with some sort of witch or witches in the swamps.

Geralt learned the truth of Ciri’s time in the swamps from the mouths of the hideous Crones themselves. Even Ciri, better able to hold her own than most anyone in existence, was lucky to escape from these powerful beings alive and intact.

Associated quests[]

Video[]

In The Witcher computer game[]

In the game, the innkeeper at the Country Inn in the village of Murky Waters can tell Geralt the tale of «Cirilla».

Innkeeper:	«Ahem… Long ago, in a valley far away, lived a girl. She was a true princess, sorceress and witcheress…»
Geralt:	«All three? Isn’t that a bit much?»
Innkeeper:	«Don’t interrupt. You want to hear the story or not?»
Geralt:	«I won’t interrupt again.»
Innkeeper:	«A story about destiny might prove useful, witcher. She was born a princess who wanted for nothing, had loving parents and a grandmother who was a great queen. She lived in palaces guarded by hundreds of knights. Everyone thought she’d become a powerful queen. But fate had other plans. Her parents died. Enemies butchered her grandmother and took the kingdom. Still, the princess survived. Her fate became bound to one particular witcher. She gained a new family at Kaer Morhen, the hold of the witchers. She learned to fight. Yet destiny once again made noise. The lass had magical talent. She was a source. The witchers afeared the uncontrolled power of a source and needed a sorceress to assist them. She studied arcane magic. The sorceress loved a witcher and the two adopted the girl. She was truly happy and could have become a powerful sorceress… But war broke out and fate separated the family. Aggrieved, the lass disawoved magic and became a huntress, learning to love killing. Death followed her — everyone she’d loved had died. Only the witcher and the sorceress denied Death’s calling. Fate cast her to foreign shores, yet she returned. The worst assassin tailed her, yet she emerged victorious. Agents of all kingdoms pursued her, yet none caught her. When she killed all her enemies and peace descended upon the world, she rejoined the witcher and sorceress, only to have destiny sneer at her again.»
Geralt:	«What happened?»
Innkeeper:	«A peasant unskilled in arms killed the witcher. The sorceress died trying to revive him. The girl could do nothing for she’d disawoved magic. So the princess who would not rule, the witcheress who fought humans, and the sorceress who cast no spells used her power as a means to leave this world.»
Geralt:	«I sense you haven’t told all.»
Innkeeper:	«All but one. Her name was Cirilla. What’s that matter?»

In the Polish Movie and TV series[]

Heritage Films[]

In The Hexer movie and TV series, Ciri was played by Marta Bitner. Unlike in the books, in the series she first met Geralt in the Temple of Melitele in Ellander. She is also not depicted during her teenage years in the series.

Episodes

• 09: «Świątynia Melitele» (The Temple of Melitele)
• 10: «Mniejsze zło» (The Lesser Evil)
• 12: «Falwick»
• 13: «Ciri»

Netflix[]

In the Netflix-Version, Ciri is portrayed by Freya Allan.

Ciri makes her first appearance in Season 1/Episode 1: The End’s Beginning. The production team decided to add some changes to her story to make it work with the concept of the three different timelines in the show. The meeting of a much younger Ciri and Geralt in the Brokilon forest (as described in the «The Sword of Destiny» short story) was omitted because of that change. Ciri still enters the forest in the show (shown in Episode 4: Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials and Episode 5: Bottled Appetites) and spends some time there during her escape from the Nilfgaardian henchmen. In the show, Geralt can briefly spot Ciri in Cintra when he tries to take on his destiny in Episode 7: Before a Fall, but Calanthe’s intervention and the sudden attack of Nilfgaard prevent their meeting in Cintra, resulting in Ciri’s escape during the siege while Geralt is captured in the gatehouse. This significantly differs from the short story events, because according to the books, Geralt wasn’t in the area when the attack on Cintra happened.

She finally meets Geralt in Episode 8: Much More, which is also the last episode of Season 1. Ciri will reappear in Season 2, which is expected to be released 2021.

References[]

Gallery[]

• 

  Ciri in the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

• 

  Ciri art

• 

  Ciri by Aliapkin.

• 

• 

• 

  Ciri fighting General Caranthir (Elder Blood Trailer).

• 

  Young Ciri concept art

• 

  Young Ciri and witchers

• 

  Ciri journal image

• 

  Young Ciri journal image

v · d · eCintran monarchs
	Cerbin • Correl • Coram I • Coram II • Corbett • Dagorad • Calanthe • Roegner • Eist Tuirseach • Emhyr var Emreis Queens Becca of Nazair • Eschiva of Sodden • Rigoberta of Lyria • Fiona of Temeria • Elen of Kaedwen • Adalia • Calanthe • «Cirilla» Other members of the royal family Ceran • Cirra • Pavetta • Cirilla

After witcher Geralt lifted the curse from her father, he demanded from Duny what he had but didn’t know he did (see: Law of Surprise), which turned out to be Ciri (as Pavetta was already pregnant with the child). Six years to the day after her birth, Geralt went back to Cintra for her, but did not take her with him to Kaer Morhen at that time. In fact, he didn’t even lay eyes on her^[2] and only spoke with Calanthe, and the queen divulged no information to him, not even the child’s gender.

Early life[]

While she was still an infant, Ciri’s parents were both lost in a storm at sea and presumed dead. She spent her youth in Cintra and the Skellige Islands in the care of her grandmother and her uncle.

«The Sword of Destiny in Sword of Destiny[]

Ciri was supposed to marry Kistrin of Verden, but she eloped into the Brokilon. Freixenet, a regional governor in Verden, followed her into the forest. He also is an old acquaintance of Witcher Geralt. Ciri met Geralt when she was lost in the forest of Brokilon and the Witcher saved her from a Giant centipede. She was nearly taken by the dryads, who almost made her one of their own, but the queen of the dryads, Eithné unexpectedly let the girl choose her own future. Ciri chose Geralt and tried to stay with him after they left Brokilon, but the Witcher would not take her with him. Instead, he left her with the druid Mousesack who was working for Calanthe. The short story already mentions the brewing war with Nilfgaard.

In «Something More» in Sword of Destiny[]

«Something More» is the next story after «Sword of Destiny» and tells about how Geralt and Ciri finally meet after the fall of Cintra. This story unfolds in various feverish flashbacks of Witcher Geralt after he was wounded in a fight with monsters.

• Ultimately, Ciri was adopted by a kindly merchant’s wife, Goldencheeks and it is at Goldencheeks’ and Yurga’s farm, that Geralt was reunited with her. (This event overlaps slightly with the events in Blood of Elves).

In Blood of Elves[]

Then came the slaughter of Cintra.

During the Nilfgaardian invasion of Cintra, Ciri was kidnapped by a Nilfgaardian knight called Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach (though his identity was not known at the time), but she managed to escape and wandered aimlessly for some time through Sodden until she was ultimately adopted by a merchant’s family.

Coincidentally, Geralt had been helped by that same merchant and transported to his home. So once again Ciri and Geralt were reunited. This time the witcher took her with him to Kaer Morhen, where under the supervision of Triss Merigold she underwent partial witcher training (but not the mutations) with Geralt, Vesemir, Lambert, Eskel and Coën. It was also there that it was confirmed that she was a source.

Geralt and Triss later took her to the Temple of Melitele in Ellander where she received instruction at first from Nenneke, and then from Yennefer, who began Ciri’s magical training in earnest.

In Time of Contempt[]

As news of war began to spread, Ciri and Yennefer left Ellander for Gors Velen and ultimately Thanedd Island and Aretuza where the sorceress intended to enrol the girl as well as attend the Conclave of mages.

Things did not work out as planned though, not by a long shot. There was a coup during the Conclave and several individuals including Vilgefortz and Cahir tried to capture Ciri once again, and once again failed with the girl escaping through an unstable magical portal in Tor Lara. Because of the portal’s nature, Ciri was simply ejected in mid-air over the Korath desert.

Unaware of where she was and without obvious recourse, the girl decided to make her way out of the wasteland by heading west. Unfortunately she wandered around in circles for some time before deciding to use the stars as a guide. She nearly died of exhaustion, dehydration and starvation. Luckily she met a unicorn whom she nicknamed Little Horse that helped her out of the Frying Pan (a folk name for the deadly desert).

During the events in the desert, Ihuarraquax was severely wounded by a creature hidden in the sand, which then is killed by Ciri. Ciri then saw the agony of the little horse and decided to heal the unicorn colt’s wound, but there was no magical source to draw from. Finally, and out of desperation, she drew (magical) power from a fire she was able to start. Yennefer always had forbidden her to do that and the power overwhelmed her, which lead to her abjuration of the magical power. She was able to save the unicorn, and because of this, some much higher entities (other unicorns?) were eventually willing to let Ciri go on and follow her destiny.

Completely down and out, she finally was captured by the Trappers and brought to the village of Glyswen where she finally escaped along with a group of young brigands known as «the Rats».

In Baptism of Fire[]

Ciri then joined the Rats band under the name Falka. Bounty hunter Leo Bonhart was hired by Stefan Skellen to kill Ciri and by baron Casadei to capture her alive. Bonhart killed the Rats and cut off their heads after their deaths. He neither killed Ciri, nor brought her to baron Casadei, therefore not fullfilling his contracts. Bonhart imprisoned her for some time, beating her, mistreating and forcing her to kill in the arena at Claremont, which belonged to his cousin Houvenaghel.

Ciri managed to escape with the help of Neratin Ceka when Bonhart had taken her to the village of Unicorn on the eve of the equinox. He had gone to meet with Skellen and Rience and possibly negotiate some terms to release Ciri. Bonhart then killed Neratin Ceka, and Skellen seriously wounded Ciri, disfiguring her with an orion as she fled the village on her mare, Kelpie.

Later, she was found, near death by Vysogota of Corvo, who hid and healed at his hermitage in the Pereplut swamp. She stayed with Vysogotha until shortly after Saovine when she set off to find The Tower of the Swallow.

Together with Skellen and Rience, Bonhart tried to hunt her down on the order of Vilgefortz. Eventually, she escaped to Tor Zireael.

Being a twin tower to Tor Lara, Tor Zireael had a portal which led Cirilla to the world of the Aen Elle elves.

In The Tower of the Swallow[]

There she was greeted by Avallac’h, an Aen Saevherne. He explained to her that she had to ‘pay the debt’ referring to the perceived loss to the Aen Elle when Lara Dorren took Cregennan of Lod as her lover. The elves believed that the latter had ‘stolen’ Elder Blood from them by marrying Lara. To atone for that ‘crime’ Avallac’h wanted Ciri to beget a child with Auberon Muircetach, the king of the Aen Elle. That being the only way Avallac’h would let her return to her own world. On their way to Tir ná Lia, the Aen Elle capital, they met Eredin and his Dearg Ruadhri. Ciri was initially quite infatuated with him — he realised that and tried to use it to control her. They also came across a pack of unicorns which appeared to be at war with Aen Elle.

In Tir na Lia Ciri finally met Auberon, who many times tried to conceive a child with her, however he could not — to him she was just a human, a being of no interest for an Aen Elle. Nevertheless, he was very proud and refused to admit it. Eredin suggested using a ‘potion’ which would improve Auberon’s performance and allow him to conceive a child with Cirilla. He also told her the truth (probably to gain her trust) — that Avallac’h would never let her go. Knowing this, Ciri found help with the unicorns where she also met Little Horse/Ihuarraquax, by then fully grown. The unicorns explained that both Fox and Sparrowhawk had once possessed The Gate of the Worlds, a mystical power known only to those of the Elder Blood but they had lost it. Now they wanted these powers back and for that they needed Ciri. This could not be allowed, however and the unicorns explained to Cirilla how she should escape.

That same day Ciri once again visited Auberon only to find that he had drunk the ‘potion’ given to him by Eredin. Unknown to Sparrowhawk it happened to be too strong and killed Auberon. That night Ciri attempted to escape Tir na Lia and its barrier by using a boat and swimming with the river’s current. She was stopped by Eredin who then revealed his true intentions, being the same as Avallac’h’s. The two battled and Ciri proved victorious due to the elf’s underestimation of her abilities — she wounded him and threw him into the river. Later on she mounted Kelpie and rode away from Tir na Lia. She met Little Horse who offered his help (actually his being by Ciri’s side was a part of her bargain with the other unicorns). They came across a huge pile of bones. To her horror, Ciri realised that the skulls had human teeth making them a pile of human bones. Ihuarraquax explained that it had been a human world until the elves led by Fox and Sparrowhawk arrived and killed them all — this also would be the fate of other worlds, including Ciri’s own, should Avallac’h and Eredin succeed in once again harnessing the power of time and space. Nevertheless, Ihuarraquax and Ciri realised that they were being chased. Little Horse urged Ciri to jump to another world — the only way to escape. She, however didn’t know how. The unicorn became her guide and they jumped. This led to the manifestation of Ciri’s strongest power, giving her the title of The Lady of the Worlds. That power allowed her to traverse space and time at will. Not being able to control it, however, Ciri had to journey through many different worlds to finally find her own.

At the Stygga castle, Bonhart died at the hand of Ciri.

Notes[]

According to Blood of Elves, her name is derived from the Elder Speech word Zireael, Swallow.

In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt[]

Ciri is a playable character in The Witcher 3, but only during certain quests and not generally. She appears in the opening quest, as a child and Geralt’s search for her as an adult is the main thrust of the game plot.

Prior to the game release[]

In the Sword of Destiny trailer, while speaking to Geralt, Emhyr var Emreis claims that Ciri has returned to the mortal lands and is being followed by the Wild Hunt. Supposedly, the King of the Wild Hunt also refers to her and there is a white-haired woman seen running who has been confirmed to be Ciri. The next shred of information came in the 35min gameplay demo, the Crones appear to be the first to find Ciri after she came back into the world through a portal. She was exhausted and apparently injured. The three witches helped her as best they could, discovering she has the Elder blood flowing in her veins in the process. Cirilla didn’t stay with them, she escaped her grotesque saviors.

On 15 Dec 2014 it was revealed that Ciri would be a playable character. The player is not able to switch between her and Geralt at will but rather assumes control over her actions during some crucial points of the plot. It was also disclosed that one of Ciri’s unique abilities will be one called blink.^[3] See the short video snippet on the right for an example.

Ciri’s powers[]

• Blink
• Charge
• Energy
• Magic amulet (given to her by Triss)

Journal entry[]

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon — what can I possibly say about her? That we call her Ciri for short, that she was born in 1251, that she has ashen hair and a scar on her cheek?

All true, and that’s the Cirilla I know best, the one I first laid eyes upon those many years ago, the one who seemed thoroughly, well, not ordinary, but certainly not as extraordinary as she in fact is.

For Cirilla is also a highly-skilled witcher, heiress to several thrones, the last bearer of the Elder Blood, a powerful Source endowed with exceptional magic talent and the Lady of Time and Space. Her hair color and date of birth seem… rather incidental now, don’t they?

I could also tell you she is Geralt’s adopted daughter — but that would be a gross simplification. Ciri is much more. She is his Destiny, his Unexpected Child, someone bound to the witcher by Fate’s most inextricably tangled fetters.

Following age-old witcher tradition, Geralt took Ciri to Kaer Morhen when she came into his care. There he and Vesemir taught her in the ways of the professional monster slayer. It was then that her magic talents were first revealed, and they discovered she was a Source.

Ciri’s gift proved a curse as well. Because of it, she would one day have to hide from the entire world — even Geralt.

Ciri’s biography contained one more great secret. Her natural father was none other than the emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr var Emreis. His words confirmed the fears swirling in Geralt’s mind. Ciri had returned and was in mortal danger, for the unrelenting Wild Hunt was on her trail.

Yennefer made it clear why the Wild Hunt wanted Ciri: Eredin wanted the power latent in her Elder Blood. She also let Geralt know that Ciri had been seen in war-ravaged Velen as well as in Novigrad, the largest city in the world.

Reports that Ciri has spent time at Crow’s Perch proved true. She was there as the guest of the local warlord, Phillip Strenger, also known as the Bloody Baron. Despite his violent monicker, this man treated Ciri with kindness and respect.

It seemed that during Ciri’s time in Velen she got into a quarrel with some sort of witch or witches in the swamps.

Geralt learned the truth of Ciri’s time in the swamps from the mouths of the hideous Crones themselves. Even Ciri, better able to hold her own than most anyone in existence, was lucky to escape from these powerful beings alive and intact.

Associated quests[]

Video[]

In The Witcher computer game[]

In the game, the innkeeper at the Country Inn in the village of Murky Waters can tell Geralt the tale of «Cirilla».

Innkeeper:	«Ahem… Long ago, in a valley far away, lived a girl. She was a true princess, sorceress and witcheress…»
Geralt:	«All three? Isn’t that a bit much?»
Innkeeper:	«Don’t interrupt. You want to hear the story or not?»
Geralt:	«I won’t interrupt again.»
Innkeeper:	«A story about destiny might prove useful, witcher. She was born a princess who wanted for nothing, had loving parents and a grandmother who was a great queen. She lived in palaces guarded by hundreds of knights. Everyone thought she’d become a powerful queen. But fate had other plans. Her parents died. Enemies butchered her grandmother and took the kingdom. Still, the princess survived. Her fate became bound to one particular witcher. She gained a new family at Kaer Morhen, the hold of the witchers. She learned to fight. Yet destiny once again made noise. The lass had magical talent. She was a source. The witchers afeared the uncontrolled power of a source and needed a sorceress to assist them. She studied arcane magic. The sorceress loved a witcher and the two adopted the girl. She was truly happy and could have become a powerful sorceress… But war broke out and fate separated the family. Aggrieved, the lass disawoved magic and became a huntress, learning to love killing. Death followed her — everyone she’d loved had died. Only the witcher and the sorceress denied Death’s calling. Fate cast her to foreign shores, yet she returned. The worst assassin tailed her, yet she emerged victorious. Agents of all kingdoms pursued her, yet none caught her. When she killed all her enemies and peace descended upon the world, she rejoined the witcher and sorceress, only to have destiny sneer at her again.»
Geralt:	«What happened?»
Innkeeper:	«A peasant unskilled in arms killed the witcher. The sorceress died trying to revive him. The girl could do nothing for she’d disawoved magic. So the princess who would not rule, the witcheress who fought humans, and the sorceress who cast no spells used her power as a means to leave this world.»
Geralt:	«I sense you haven’t told all.»
Innkeeper:	«All but one. Her name was Cirilla. What’s that matter?»

In the Polish Movie and TV series[]

Heritage Films[]

In The Hexer movie and TV series, Ciri was played by Marta Bitner. Unlike in the books, in the series she first met Geralt in the Temple of Melitele in Ellander. She is also not depicted during her teenage years in the series.

Episodes

• 09: «Świątynia Melitele» (The Temple of Melitele)
• 10: «Mniejsze zło» (The Lesser Evil)
• 12: «Falwick»
• 13: «Ciri»

Netflix[]

In the Netflix-Version, Ciri is portrayed by Freya Allan.

Ciri makes her first appearance in Season 1/Episode 1: The End’s Beginning. The production team decided to add some changes to her story to make it work with the concept of the three different timelines in the show. The meeting of a much younger Ciri and Geralt in the Brokilon forest (as described in the «The Sword of Destiny» short story) was omitted because of that change. Ciri still enters the forest in the show (shown in Episode 4: Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials and Episode 5: Bottled Appetites) and spends some time there during her escape from the Nilfgaardian henchmen. In the show, Geralt can briefly spot Ciri in Cintra when he tries to take on his destiny in Episode 7: Before a Fall, but Calanthe’s intervention and the sudden attack of Nilfgaard prevent their meeting in Cintra, resulting in Ciri’s escape during the siege while Geralt is captured in the gatehouse. This significantly differs from the short story events, because according to the books, Geralt wasn’t in the area when the attack on Cintra happened.

She finally meets Geralt in Episode 8: Much More, which is also the last episode of Season 1. Ciri will reappear in Season 2, which is expected to be released 2021.

References[]

Gallery[]

• 

  Ciri in the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

• 

  Ciri art

• 

  Ciri by Aliapkin.

• 

• 

• 

  Ciri fighting General Caranthir (Elder Blood Trailer).

• 

  Young Ciri concept art

• 

  Young Ciri and witchers

• 

  Ciri journal image

• 

  Young Ciri journal image

v · d · eCintran monarchs
	Cerbin • Correl • Coram I • Coram II • Corbett • Dagorad • Calanthe • Roegner • Eist Tuirseach • Emhyr var Emreis Queens Becca of Nazair • Eschiva of Sodden • Rigoberta of Lyria • Fiona of Temeria • Elen of Kaedwen • Adalia • Calanthe • «Cirilla» Other members of the royal family Ceran • Cirra • Pavetta • Cirilla

Цирилла
Марта Битнер в роли Цири (кадр из сериала)
Появления	Произведения: «Меч Предназначения», «Кровь эльфов», «Час Презрения», «Крещение огнём», «Башня Ласточки», «Владычица Озера», «Что-то кончается, что-то начинается»
Создатель	Анджей Сапковский
Исполнение	Фильм/сериал: Марта Битнер
Информация
Имя	Цирилла Фиона Элен Рианнон
Прозвище	Цири, Львёнок из Цинтры, Фалька (Сокол), Ласточка, Владычица Озера
Статус	Княжна Цинтры
Дата и место рождения	май 1252 года (по летосчислению Саги)[1], Цинтра

Цирилла Фиона Элен Рианнон (польск. Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, на Старшей Речи Zireael (Ласточка)), она же Цири (польск. Ciri) — персонаж цикла «Ведьмак» Анджея Сапковского — королева Цинтры, княжна Бругге и Соддена, наследница Инис Ард Скеллиг и Инис Ан Скеллиг, сюзеренка Аттре и Абб Ярра, также известная как Львёнок из Цинтры или Фалька, внучка королевы Калантэ. Она является одним из главных персонажей цикла наряду с Геральтом и Йеннифэр.

Биография

Цири, дочь Паветты, принцессы Цинтры, и герцога Дани (имя, под которым скрывался наследный принц Нильфгаардской Империи Эмгыр вар Эмрейс), родилась в мае 1252 года (по летосчислению Саги)^[1]. Она стала ребёнком-неожиданностью (Предназначением) ведьмака Геральта.

Когда Цири была совсем маленькой, её родители без вести пропали во время морского шторма в месте, называемом Седнина бездна. С этого момента они считались погибшими, а Цири стала наследницей престола после своей бабки, королевы Калантэ. Во время нападения Нильфгаарда на Цинтру юную княжну спасает от гибели во время пожара нильфгаардский рыцарь Кагыр Маур Дыффин аэп Кеаллах, порученец императора Эмгыра, которому было приказано привезти её в Нильфгаард, но в итоге девочка попадает в одну из деревушек граничащего с Цинтрой государства, где её находит ведьмак Геральт: сокращая путь через Мехунские Урочища, он наткнулся на купца средней руки по имени Йурга, наткнувшегося на логово местных чудовищ и не желавшего бросать телеги с добром. После недолгих колебаний ведьмак всё же помог купцу, но сам пострадал в бою с монстрами. Тяжело раненного Геральта Йурга вывез на одной из своей телег, в благодарность за спасение дав Геральту клятву отдать то, чего не ожидает увидеть дома, не совсем понимая её судьбоносного значения. По прибытию в свою деревню в Заречье купец узнал от супруги, что она приютила маленькую девочку, по её словам, одну из жертв недавней войны с Нильфгаардом. Этой девочкой и была Цири, их с Геральтом встреча произошла буквально на глазах у ошеломленного купца, подспудно понявшего, что он каким-то образом прикоснулся к Предназначению.

Примечательно, что Предназначение, к которому Геральт долгое время относился довольно иронично, считая его вымыслом и излишней для него философией, довольно скоро показало ему, насколько он был неправ. Судьба весьма жестоко отнеслась ко многим из тех, кто пусть даже ненадолго попал в его окружение.

Семья купца Йурги, приютив девочку-Исток, наследницу Старшей Крови, которой впоследствии суждено было стать Владычицей Времени и Пространства, не пережила знакомства с девочкой и ведьмаком. Спустя какое-то время Риенс, фактотум чародея Вильгефорца, охотившегося за Цири, разыскал семью Йурги с целью узнать о Цирилле всё, что им было известно. Учитывая жестокость и садистские наклонности Риенса — ни сам купец, ни члены его семьи не пережили допроса.

После захвата Нильфгаардом Цинтры Геральт забирает Цири с собой в замок Каэр Морхен, чтобы сделать из неё ведьмачку. Цирилла воспитывалась под руководством двух чародеек — сначала Трисс Меригольд, которая приехала в Каэр Морхен; затем ведьмакам приходится распрощаться с воспитанницей и передать её на воспитание в храм Мэлителе в Элландере, где её начнёт обучать Йеннифэр. В храме Цири продолжает свое обучение. Таким образом она получила азы ведьмачьего мастерства, так и не подвергаясь мутации, а затем — элементарное образование при храме и основы магии, которым её обучала Йеннифэр.

На протяжении всей Саги за Цири охотится Вильгефорц, шпион Дийкстра, эльфы Aen Elle, разведки всех правящих королей и нильфгаардские ловчие. Во время событий на острове Танедд она была разлучена с Йеннифэр и Геральтом: используя испорченный портал полуразрушенной башни Тор Лара (со Старшей Речи Башня Чайки), Цири перенеслась в пустыню Корат, где спаслась от гибели благодаря встрече с молодым единорогом, затем — добровольно отказалась от магической силы, над пробуждением и управлением которой с ней работала Йеннифэр. Благодаря этому отказу ей удалось спасти жизнь единорогу, что впоследствии сыграло свою роль.

На границе пустыни с одним из завоёванных империей княжеств Цири была найдена нильфгаардскими ловчими. Бежала от них, присоединившись к банде под названием Крысы, стала разбойничать с ними под именем Фалька. В это же время сошлась с бандиткой Мистле. После уничтожения Крыс Бонартом была захвачена им в плен и против своей воли выступала на арене для боёв города Клармон. После того как её попытались передать Вильгефорцу, к ней спонтанно вернулись магические способности и она перенеслась на болота Переплюта, попав в итоге к старому отшельнику Высоготе. Тот вылечил её и направил на верный путь к Башне Ласточки. К Башне Ласточки изначально вёл портал Башни Чайки, испорченный при частичном разрушении последней. В Башне Ласточки перед Цири открывается возможность выхода в один из параллельных миров, населённых одним из племён эльфов — Народом Ольх, которые также собираются использовать её в своих целях. Она оказывается пойманной в ловушку, из которой ей помогает выбраться спасённый ранее единорог. В Цири просыпаются способности воздействовать на пространство и время, в результате чего она начинает своё путешествие по мирам в поисках своего родного.

Старшая Кровь

Генеалогия Цири прослеживается в книге «Крещение огнём». Неоднократно подчеркивается, что в её жилах течет Старшая Кровь (кровь Эльфов), о чём свидетельствуют телосложение и миндалевидные зелёные глаза. Ген, связанный с магическими способностями, передался ей от предков, среди которых была знаменитая эльфийская чародейка Лара Доррен аэп Шиадаль. От союза Лары и мага-человека родилась прапрабабушка Цири.

По пророчеству эльфийской предсказательницы Итлинны, от крови Лары Доррен появится некий Мститель, которому суждено разрушить привычный мир и спасти тех, кто за ним пойдёт, от Белого Хлада (видимо, имеется в виду глобальное оледенение).

По подсчётам, Мстителем должен стать ребёнок Цири, чем обусловлена охота за ней многими значительными политическими фигурами — нильфгаардским императором Эмгыром, чародеем Вильгефорцем, представителями Народа Ольх.

Интересные факты

• Цири — дважды ребёнок-неожиданность. Первый раз «то, что его ждёт, и о чём он не подозревает» обещал отдать Геральту Дани за то, что тот снял с него проклятье. Второй раз — купец, чья жена приютила Цири, когда та скиталась после захвата нильфгаардцами Цинтры.
• Попав в банду юных грабителей и убийц Крыс, Цири называется именем Фальки — кровожадной, алчной и жестокой мятежницы, считавшейся одной из её дальних родственников и ставшей притчей во языцех в Северных королевствах.

Примечания

«Ведьмак» Анджея Сапковского
Книги	«Последнее желание» · «Меч Предназначения» · «Кровь эльфов» · «Час Презрения» · «Крещение огнём» · «Башня Ласточки» · «Владычица Озера»
Рассказы	«Дорога без возврата» · «Что-то кончается, что-то начинается»
Персонажи	Геральт из Ривии · Йеннифэр · Цирилла · Трисс Меригольд · Лютик
Игры	«Ведьмак» · «The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf» · «Ведьмак 2: Убийцы королей» «Ведьмак: Кровавый след» (мобильная игра) · «Ведьмак: Versus» (браузерная игра)
Прочее	Мир «Ведьмака» · Старшая Речь · Ведьмак (телесериал) · Дорога без возврата (рок-опера)

Ciri
Name	Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon
Abilities	Swordsmanship, Magic
Hair	Ash-Gray
Eye Color	Emerald Green
Skin	Light Pale
Gender	Female
Affiliation/s	House of Raven

Ciri is a Playable Character in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. Also known as the Child of Destiny, Ciri is described generally as a weapon that has the potential to destroy the very world that she inhabits. Along with this there are ties to her being an apprentice to Geralt when she was younger. Her Witcher training, coupled with the magical abilities, mark her as one of the most powerful individuals in the world. She will eventually become a playable character as the player progresses through the game.

Ciri is also known across The Continent with many names such as Lion Cub of Cintra, Falka, Zireael, Swallow, Ashen One, Ugly One, Lady of Space and Time, and Ciri of Vengerberg. She has also claimed her title as the Princess of Brugge, Duchess of Sodden, and Yarra — Ciri is also the Heiress to the throne of Cintra and the Heiress to Inis Ard Skellig and Inis An Skellig.

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon — what can I possibly say about her? That we call her Ciri for short, that she was born in 1251, that she has ashen hair and a scar on her cheek?

All true, and that’s the Cirilla I know best, the one I first laid eyes upon those many years ago, the one who seemed thoroughly, well, not ordinary, but certainly not as extraordinary as she in fact is.

For Cirilla is also a highly-skilled witcher, heiress to several thrones, the last bearer of the Elder Blood, a powerful Source endowed with exceptional magic talent and the Lady of Time and Space. Her hair color and date of birth seem… rather incidental now, don’t they?

I could also tell you she is Geralt’s adopted daughter — but that would be a gross simplification. Ciri is much more. She is his Destiny, his Unexpected Child, someone bound to the witcher by Fate’s most inextricably tangled fetters.

Following age-old witcher tradition, Geralt took Ciri to Kaer Morhen when she came into his care. There he and Vesemir taught her in the ways of the professional monster slayer. It was then that her magic talents were first revealed, and they discovered she was a Source. Ciri’s gift proved a curse as well. Because of it, she would one day have to hide from the entire world — even Geralt. Ciri’s biography contained one more great secret.

Her natural father was none other than the emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr var Emreis. His words confirmed the fears swirling in Geralt’s mind. Ciri had returned and was in mortal danger, for the unrelenting Wild Hunt was on her trail.

Yennefer made it clear why the Wild Hunt wanted Ciri: Eredin wanted the power latent in her Elder Blood. She also let Geralt know that Ciri had been seen in war-ravaged Velen as well as in Novigrad, the largest city in the world. Reports that Ciri had spent time at Crow’s Perch proved true. She was there as the guest of the local warlord, Phillip Strenger, also known as the Bloody Baron. Despite his violent moniker, this man treated Ciri with kindness and respect.

The Witcher 3 Ciri Biography

Childhood and Early Life of Ciri

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon or better known as Ciri, was born in the year 1252/1253 in Skellige of Belleteyn, named as the Princess of Cintra, and the daughter of Pavetta and and Emhyr var Emrei. Many did not know how her relationship was between her parents, but some say that Pavetta loved her dearly, which others even gossiped that it was impossible for Pavetta to be apart from Ciri. In spite of the said rumors, Pavetta did not hesitate in secretly sending Ciri ashore just as the small family was set to sail out from Skellige to Cintra, unlike Calanthe who just wanted them all to say together.

And at the age of 5, Pavetta and Duny passed away at sea around the Sedna Abyss. Calanthe who was furious at her nephew-in-law, Crach an Craite, for allowing them to sail out, forced and made Crach swear a blood oath to protect Ciri who is now an orphan before deciding that it would be best to ban Ciri from ever visiting the isles again. However, the ban only lasted for about 6 months before Calanthe let Ciri visit Skellige once more every summer and winter.

The Princess of Cintra

Following the death of her mother, Ciri, who is now an orphan, was known to be the last remaining heir to Cintra, and she was given extra care by Calanthe who raised her granddaughter. As Ciri grew up, Calanthe did her best to protect Ciri by preventing her from learning about the truth of being a Child of Surprise and that she was destined to become a witcher since she was born. In spite of Clanthe’s efforts, Ciri’s nanny told her all about a white-haired witcher, and that one day, he will come for her and she will be taken away to be trained as a witcher. Ultimately, Calanthe found out about this and this made her frantic — but eventually, made peace with it and accepted the fact that it is Ciri’s destiny.

6 years passed, upon the day when Duny’s curse was lifted, Geralt returned to Cintra. Calanthe who learned about Geralt’s arrival, ordered to hide Ciri from Geralt among the group of boys, hoping that he wouldn’t find her since she did not want to lose her last descendant. Upon Geralt’s arrival to the castle, he somehow was fooled and believed that Pavetta had a son and wondered which one was he among the group. This lead to Geralt simply leaving the castle and refused to take any child.

Main Story Endings for Ciri in The Witcher 3