Netflix's The Witcher Is Now Facing A Huge Ciri Problem Without Season 6

Warning: spoilers for The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake, and potential spoilers for seasons 4 and 5.

Summary The Witcher will end with season 5, skipping two key books that cover Ciri's important storyline.

Ciri's time with the Aen Elle elves is crucial, but the show risks rushing or skipping it due to condensed seasons.

The decision to end The Witcher with season 5 poses a huge problem for Ciri's character development.

Netflix’s The Witcher is officially ending with its fifth season, and thanks to this, the series is now facing a huge Ciri problem that risks not being handled well. Netflix is home to a variety of popular TV shows, and one that has been as successful as it has been controversial is The Witcher. Based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s book series, The Witcher introduced the audience to monster hunter Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), Cintra’s princess Ciri (Freya Allan), and sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra). The Witcher quickly became a hit on Netflix, granting it a couple more seasons to continue Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer’s stories.

However, The Witcher has also sparked controversy, especially among fans of the books, due to the creative liberties the show has taken. These were more evident in the show’s second season, and though season 3 fixed some of those mistakes, it’s to be seen if the upcoming seasons will be more faithful to the source material or not. Now, ahead of the release of season 4, which will introduce Liam Hemsworth as Geralt, Netflix has announced that The Witcher is ending with its fifth season, which is creating a big problem for Ciri.

Related Why The Witcher's Original 7-Season Netflix Plan Has Been Cut Short The Witcher will end with season 5, despite Netflix's original plan for seven installments. So what went wrong, and is there time to fix it?

One Of Ciri’s Most Important Stories Is Covered In The Witcher’s Final Book

The Lady of the Lake Has A Key Ciri Storyline

The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake set up one of Ciri’s most important stories.

So far, each season of Netflix’s The Witcher has covered a novel (or parts of two novels) and some short stories, and season 4 is expected to cover the novel Baptism of Fire. However, there are two more novels after it – The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake – and they set up one of Ciri’s most important stories. At the end of The Tower of the Swallow, Ciri escapes from Stefan Skellen and arrives at a frozen lake, where Skellen and Leo Bonhart are expecting to catch her.

To their surprise, the mythical Tower of the Swallow appears and Ciri enters it, transporting her to the world of the Aen Elle elves. The Lady of the Lake covers this part of Ciri’s story, in which she learns through Avallac’h that she's Lara Dorren’s last descendant, and so her child will be the most powerful magic user in history, who would save the world from a prophesied cataclysm. Because of this, the elves need Ciri to have this child with their king, Auberon. However, Auberon fails to perform, but Avallac’h tells her she will be returned to her time once she has the child.

In this book, Ciri also meets Eredin Break Glas, the commander of the Wild Hunt, who tells Ciri she will never be freed. After staying with Auberon following his poisoning by Eredin, Ciri escapes with the help of Ihuarraquax, and after jumping between several worlds and times, she meets Nimue and Condwiramus, who help her return to her world. Once there, she reunites with Geralt and Yennefer, and her story with the White Flame continues and gets a surprising ending.

Avallac’h and Eredin appeared in the prequel miniseries The Witcher: Blood Origin.

Why Ciri’s Time With The Aen Elle Elves Is Important To Her Story

Ciri Goes Through A Lot In The Witcher Books

Custom image by Yeider Chacon.

Ciri’s time with the Aen Elle elves is important to her story as it’s a time when she’s completely alone, as she’s in a completely different world from Geralt, Yennefer, and Jaskier and the help she is used to getting. It’s a time when Ciri matures and further learns to defend herself, but this part of her story is also important for the rest of the characters and the show. As mentioned above, Eredin is the commander of the Wild Hunt, and this group has only been seen twice, very briefly.

Geralt even believes Yennefer has betrayed them, while the sorceress is being tortured by Vilgefortz in Stygga Castle.

Ciri’s absence also creates a lot of chaos in her world as the search for her continues. Geralt even believes Yennefer has betrayed them, while the sorceress is being tortured by Vilgefortz in Stygga Castle. With no season 6 for Netflix’s The Witcher, seasons 4 and 5 will have to condense three books, and this specific part of Ciri’s story is at risk of either being rushed or not covered at all, when it should have, at least, gotten a whole season.