What The Witcher 4 Trailer Means For The Ending Of The Last Game

The trailer for The Witcher 4 showcases Ciri several years after the ending of the previous game, The Witcher 3, slaying monsters as a Witcher just like Geralt before her. It's clear that the game will follow this younger Witcher during a new journey, meaning that certain events from the last game must now be set in stone.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has several dozen possible variations on its ending, including the many different choices made throughout the game for various side quests. For years, the fan base has wondered which of these endings will be considered canon if the series moves forward with another game. And now, thanks to this trailer, the canon ending of The Witcher 3 is clearer than ever.

Ciri Is Not The Empress, Nor Is She Dead

Eliminating Two Thirds Of the Possible Endings Right Off The Bat

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The most important revelation in determining the third game's canonical ending is, of course, that Ciri has become a Witcher. This only happens in one third of the endings of The Witcher 3, since in the others, Ciri ends up as either the Empress of Nilfgaard or dead. While it's technically possible that Ciri left Nilfgaard after becoming the Empress to pursue the life of a Witcher, it's incredibly unlikely, and more probable that this game follows the Witcher 3 endings where Ciri takes up the Witcher mantle.

Related Witcher 3: Every Character Ending In The Base Game At the end of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, there's a handful of characters that get individual epilogues, showing the fate of the Four Kingdoms.

In that ending, Ciri and Geralt fake her death in order to convince her father, the current emperor of Nilfgaard, that she is gone, so he will stop looking for her. That gives her the freedom to choose her own path and go into training as a Witcher. Geralt even gets her a powerful new silver sword, which she can be seen using in the new Witcher 4 trailer.

The Nilfgaard-Temeria Alliance Likely Ended The War

The Ending Which Makes The Most Sense Thematically

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The other main factors of The Witcher 3's ending revolve around Geralt's love life, which is not touched on in the new trailer, and the war between Nilfgaard and the northern kingdoms. The latter will likely matter significantly more in the new game, since in the decades following the war, who won and who lost will have major implications across the Continent. Depending on Geralt's actions, Redania may have beaten Nilfgaard with either Radovid or Dijkstra at the helm, or Nilfgaard may have won while allowing Temeria to retain its sovereignty.

Whether or not Nilfgaard still exists, and its emperor still lives, is pretty important to Ciri's character, and the game will need to pick a lane for its main story. In all likelihood, based both on the brief glimpses of northern society in the new trailer and the themes of the Witcher franchise, Nilfgaard and Temeria seem to have made an alliance. Not only would this keep Nilfgaard on as a potential threat to the protagonist in The Witcher 4, but it would also tie up some loose ends for characters in the previous games, and aligns best with what Geralt would have done in the third game.

Source: The Witcher/YouTube