The Witcher Timelines Explained: What Happens When?
The Witcher, an original production by Netflix, is the first major fantasy budget series to follow Game of Thrones’ lead. The show is based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels of the same name and features one of the greatest bard songs ever recorded. The Witcher timeline is split into several parts that do not completely intersect until the season’s end.
If you’re puzzled by the Witcher timelines, note that we’re watching three characters: Geralt of Rivia (played by Henry Cavill), Yennefer of Vengerberg (inacted by Anya Chalotra), and Princess Cirilla or Ciri (played by Freya Allan), and their acts take place at various times—not all at once. When asked about the timelines of the different parts, the showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich said that Geralt’s plot ages twenty long years, Yennefer’s narrative lasts about seventy huge years, and Ciri’s tale is of couple of weeks.
Still, to get a clearer idea of what’s going on when, let’s take a look at The Witcher timelines and activities in a rough chronological order.
Prelude: Geralt’s Childhood (Approximately 100 Years Before The Season Starts):
The Witcher’s first scenes do not appear until halfway through the season finale. Geralt begins to have flashbacks from his youth while battling a supernatural infection. We see Geralt’s maternal mother, Visenna, in flashbacks, who abandoned him, leaving him in the custody of another witcher called Vesemir, who gave the training to Geralt in the ways of the witcher.
Although we are not aware that when such scenes took place in reality but we think that the Witcher showrunner Hissrich has the answer to that and she has mentioned in an interview with a famous magazine that Geralt is nearly hundred years old at the beginning of this season.
The Story of Yennefer (70 Years Ago):
The tale of Yennefer is the first of the three major timelines in the show. Our only clue is a quote from Yennefer halfway through the season, in which she admits she has worked in the Aedirn court for 30 years, as well as the fact that King Foltest is still a teen.
The show’s second and third episodes features Tissaia de Vries who secretly buys Yennefer from her stepfather and engages her to study in the Aretuza School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Yennefer transforms from a hunchbacked and vulnerable young woman to a formidable and self-assured witch.
Yennefer’s school days are over as she moves into a coveted position in Aedirn’s royal courtyard, although her classmate Fringilla takes Yennefer’s place in the Kingdom of Nilfgaard. The finale of the season features Yennefer who left her solo strategy in favour of teaming up with Tissaia and other witchers to battle Nilfgaard.
After sustaining heavy casualties, Yennefer taps into her chaos and annihilates Nilfgaard’s powers, but she vanishes until the dust settles.
The Adventures of Geralt (20 Years Ago):
The tale of our titular character, and the best witcher you can totally flip a coin to, takes up the majority of the season. Since they meet down the road, and because while Geralt doesn’t appear to mature, his companions and friends do, we know this happens during Yennefer’s period studying sorcery. Geralt’s plot is all about him doing small jobs and fighting monsters episode by episode, but this is also the most episodic aspect of the season.
Episode one gives Geralt of Rivia the role of “Butcher of Blaviken” as he murders Renfri and her gang in one his many exploits. It’s unclear how long passes until he encounters Jaskier and becomes the target of the Continent’s number one song, “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher.”
The royal ball at Cintra attended by Geralt seems to be the first major plot point of the season from where we came to know that there are several timelines. In this episode, we encounter Queen Calanthe, who seems to be younger and more vibrant than in the first.When Geralt and her daughter cross paths, Calanthe looks for a supporter for her daughter, Prinzessin Pavetta. Geralt is given a “Rule of Surprise,” after the saving of Duny, the cursed Knight of Pavetta’s passion, which links Ciri’s unborn Daughter to Geralt.
Simultaneously, we hear of Yennefer going to court in Aedirn for thirty years. Yennefer was tasked with escorting Queen Kalis and her baby girl, but they were all murdered and left to work as a “solo freelancer sorceress.”
Sometime later, for the first time, Geralt and Yennefer met and Geralt wanted them to connect their lives in some way. They come across a talking serpent, who warns Yennefer that she will never recover her womb and tells Geralt that his and Yennefer’s tale will end horribly.
Ciri’s Story (The Present):
Ciri’s plot, according to the showrunner, takes place over the course of two weeks and is riddled with death and pain.
This final section of the story concludes with The Witcher’s second most important plot point, which includes Nilfgaard’s conquest of Cintra, which disrupts the Continent’s diplomatic status quo. It all begins in episode 1 with the invasion of the kingdom and Queen Calanthe telling Princess Ciri in her final breath that it is her fate to meet Geralt of Rivia. She flees the area, narrowly avoiding Geralt, who had tracked her down.
The princess then wanders for a few weeks in search of Geralt, whom she has been told is her destiny. Like her mother, Ciri discovers that she is capable of sorcery, meets the elf Dara, journeys into the Brokilon Forestry and meets the Queen Eithne of the Dryads, is assaulted and finally meets Geralt in the last moments of the season. The season ends with Ciri telling Geralt, “Who is Yennefer?” after seeing Geralt screaming for Yennefer in a vision.
