The Witcher: Why Duny (Ciri Dad) Became the White Flame?
At the end of the Witcher Season 2, the most vicious and biggest villains of the Witcher Series were revealed, and it turned out that the White Flame was Duny, Ciri’s dad.
The Witcher Series, released on Netflix, was created by Lauren S. Hissrich, and her inspiration is the short stories or novels written by a Polish author, Andrzej Sapkowski. Along with the books, the Witcher Series is also based on the Witcher video games.
The Witcher Season 1 introduced the main characters of the series with their own backstory. The leading characters and cast are Freya Allan, playing the role of a young child who has the Elder Blood, Princess Cirilla of Cintra, Ciri; Henry Cavill, playing the role of a monster-hunter, a Witcher, Geralt of Rivia; and Anya Chalotra, playing the role of a struggling and disabled girl who later become the most powerful mage on the Continent, Yennefer of Vengerberg.
Each character is shown struggling in their lives in different timelines, and eventually, all of them meet each other at some point in their lives. Yennefer and Geralt met when Jaskier, Geralt’s best friend, was attacked by a djinn, and Yennefer was available to help him. Geralt and Yennefer started a romantic relationship, but it ended early.
Ciri and Geralt were destined to meet each other, which is explained in the back story of Ciri and her parents. In the Witcher Season 1, it was shown that Duny, an emperor of Nilfgaard, who looked like a porcupine because of some kind of curse, asked for the hand of the Princess of Cintra, Pavetta, by The Law of Surprise. And when this Law was applied, one could never deny it, but Queen of Cintra tried to go against it.
Geralt was present in the fort of Cintra when all these clashes were happening and helped Duny win over the Queen as well as the Princess. Finally, Queen agreed and married both of them in front of her by giving her blessing. With true love, Duny’s curse was broken, and his human form came back. As pleased with Geralt’s help, Duny gave him his future child, and Geralt, in return, sworn to protect the child from all the worldly dangers. The child turned out to be a girl who was named Cirilla.
It was shown that Ciri’s father and mother died and her grandmother, Queen Calanthe, raised her as her own. Queen Calanthe again denied the destiny of Ciri and Geralt together and kept Ciri with herself. Later, an army of Nilfgaard attacked Cintra and Queen Kingdom fell. The Queen of Cintra then ordered Ciri to find her destiny, Geralt, believing he would keep Ciri safe.
The Witcher Season 2, released recently in December 2021, covers the journey of Ciri and Geralt together, as, at the end of season 1, Ciri and Geralt finally meet each other. In the Witcher Season 2, Geralt thinks of taking Ciri to his hometown, Kaer Morhen, where she will be safe, and Geralt will try and train her to protect herself and control her powers.
The biggest villains in the Witcher Series on Netflix were after Ciri’s power, one of which is The White Flame, one of the deadliest villains. As the people working under the influence of the White Flame tortured and killed people who they thought would help them find Ciri. At the end of the Witcher Season 2, it was revealed that the White Flame was none other than Ciri’s dad, Duny, aka Emhyr Var Emreis, the emperor of Nilfgaard.
The White Flame – Duny The Emperor of Nilfgaard
The whole of Netflix’s Witcher Series, a name always came up by the army or soldiers of Nilfgaard, ‘The White Flame.’ All the battles the attack on Cintra or Sodden Hill were made by The White Flame’s commands. At the end of the Witcher Season 2, a big surprise was waiting for the viewers, that The White Flame is Duny, the Emperor of Nilfgaard and Ciri’s dad (as shown in season 1).
The viewers are in confusion about how Duny became the White Flame? And is he responsible for Pavetta’s end? Ciri was fed a story of her parents’ end by Queen Calanthe, in which she was told that her parents were traveling via sea and because of an accident, they died.
However, later it was revealed that Ciri’s dad is alive and is the one coming after her from the beginning. Emhyr Var Emreis is the son of Fergus Var Emreis, who was the ruler of Nilfgaard, but he was overthrown by the Usurper. The Usurper was the cause of Duny’s curse as he tortured both his father and him. However, Duny’s love for Pavetta led to the breaking of the curse and made him a human again.
Later, when Emhyr visited Vilgefortz, he was told about an Ithlinne prophecy, and Emhyr decided to overthrow the Usurper and take the throne. Because of this, he was known as ‘The White Flame Dancing on the Barrows of his Enemies.’ The prophecy Emhyr heard mentioned that Emhyr’s child will inherit the Elder Blood and rule the Continent, which resulted in Ciri being the child with Elder Blood.
The reason why the whole of Nilfgaard was after Ciri was the prophecy and Emhyr’s ambition to rule the Continent. When Ciri was younger, after learning about Ithlinne’s prophecy, Emhyr planned an escape with the help of Vilgefortz and thought of making it look like all three of them, Emhyr, Pavetta and Ciri, died. But Pavetta got to know about Emhyr’s plan and sneaked Ciri out of the ship before their escape.
Pavetta and Emhyr had a long argument on the subject of Pavetta leaving their daughter. The argument ended with Emhyr pushing Pavetta overboard. The only part left to make the plan successful was faking his own death as Duny and returning to Nilfgaard as Emhyr.
Sapkowski’s novels of the Witcher have some controversial points of Duny, aka Emhyr Var Emreis, The White Flame coming after his own daughter. The future of Netflix’s Witcher is dependent upon the writers for the next season, Witcher Season 3. The future will decide whether the series on Netflix will remain true to the books or will do some alterations in the source material.
