We’ve said goodbye to Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia.
Note: This article contains discussion of suicide that some readers may find upsetting.
*Warning: This article contains full spoilers for The Witcher season 3 volume 2.*
It’s the end of The Witcher as we know it, with Henry Cavill taking his final bow as Geralt of Rivia.
Whatever fans might think about the future of the show, which will introduce Liam Hemsworth as the new Geralt in season 4, the newest episodes offered an action-packed story and saw the stakes raised higher than ever as our heroes’ nightmares came true.
As Ciri (Freya Allan) was fought for her survival and Geralt faced death, Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) was forced to deal with the death of one of her nearest and dearest.
Read on for everything you need to know about how The Witcher season 3 volume 2 ends.
The Witcher season 3 ending explained
As we go into the final episode, Geralt is mortally wounded after a showdown with Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), with the dryads attempting to heal him. He’s determined to leave with Jaskier (Joey Batey) to look for Ciri (Freya Allan), who’s missing, but a particularly defiant dryad, Milva (Meng’er Zhang), keeps pointing out how weak he is.
Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) is desperately attempting to find information about Ciri, with rumours telling her she’s headed to Nilfgaard. She realises Vilgefortz is taking her to Emhyr, aka The White Flame (Bart Edwards) – something that could throw the whole Continent into chaos. She vows to find her before she reaches Nilfgaard.
In her search for Ciri, Yennefer and the rest of the sorceresses find the remains of the girls taken by Vilgefortz. They also find Philippa (Cassie Clare), who’s also been searching for Ciri, with all of them joining together to reverse the spell and restore the girls to their recognisable human forms, before agreeing to give them a proper burial.
!["Henry]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2023/07/EE308Unit00578RT-adb4afc.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413" "\"Henry")
Francesca (Mecia Simson) and Fringilla (Mimi Ndiweni), meanwhile, have a plan and head to see Emhyr. They propose that Emhyr returns both of them to Cintra, with the elves finally having a home. Emhyr agrees to the plans – but won’t agree to let the Elven army, the Scoia’tael, go with them – meaning Francesca either has to abandon her army to save the rest of her people, or see them all die.
Meanwhile, King Vizimir (Ed Birch) is fuming with Dijkstra (Graham McTavish) after his broken promises. As he hands him a knife, he tells him that an example has to be made – out of Philippa, Dijkstra’s closest ally.
At Aretuza, Tissaia is broken after all the sacrifices she’s made and pain she’s caused, with Yennefer telling her to remember who she is. As the service for the novices begins, Tissaia stays behind and tells Yennefer she’ll regain her composure and join her. It turns out to be the last time Yennefer sees her alive – she suddenly feels a pain in her wrist and realises something terrible has happened to Tissaia. She rushes to her side and, to her horror, discovers that Tissaia has taken her own life.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com about that harrowing moment, actress Buring explained: “She feels utterly responsible for the death of so many and she ultimately can’t live with herself. I think that amount of pain feels unbearable and, for so long having felt that she could be a crucial help to the kingdoms and to Aretuza and to the future of Chaos, she suddenly realises within herself that she is no help at all.
“And I think that’s why the end is the only possibility for her. She’s not in the future. The others are.”
Immediately afterwards, she goes to see Geralt and tells him what she’s heard about Ciri being on her way to Nilfgaard. She heals him further, preparing him for the journey ahead.
Radovid (Hugh Skinner) returns home and sees his brother Vizimir, while Philippa and Dijkstra speak. Dijkstra acknowledges that Vizimir needs accountability, pointing the knife at Philippa, before turning it around and urging her to kill him and put the blame on him. Philippa refuses, revealing she’s already enacted her plan – killing Vizimir to place Radovid on the throne.
Elsewhere, Francesca and Fringilla discuss their options. Angry that Francesca is considering disinheriting the Scoia’tael, Fringilla reveals that Emhyr killed her baby and that she took credit for it initially. Francesca sees red and is left horrified that, all this time, her ally knew who killed her child and hadn’t told her. She vows to inflict suffering on both Emhyr and Fringilla.
!["Graham]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2023/06/TheWitcherSeason2Episode400092614-819c143.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"TheWitcher_Season2_Episode4_00_09_26_14\"")
Following Tissaia’s death, the sorceresses join together and agree to eliminate Vilgefortz, while Geralt and Jaskier prepare for their onward journey.
Emhyr prepares for Ciri’s arrival in Nilfgaard but it soon becomes clear that it’s not Ciri who has returned – but Teryn, the girl who was previously made to believe she was Ciri. So, where’s the real Ciri? She’s tied up in a tavern but soon escapes, inciting a vicious fight throughout the tavern, with a group of criminals, the Rats, coming to the rescue of their friend, who’s tied up with her. Ciri fights and kills her captor.
Meanwhile, Geralt and Jaskier run into trouble with some overbearing guards who are blocking their passage and demanding identification from everyone who passes. They pass, but Geralt can’t overlook a family behind him being shouted down by the guards and fights dozens of them off – with a little help from Milva. Cavill’s final scene shows him walking off into the distance with Jaskier and Milva – on his way to Ciri.
But the season ends with Ciri. As tears run down her face, the Rats ask her name. Harking back to the princess who led a rebellion, she answers: “You can call me Falka.”
Who was Falka in The Witcher?
Falka was the daughter of Redania’s King Vridank and his first wife, Beatrix of Kovir, and is one of the figures that visits Ciri when she’s trapped in the desert.
Falka began the infamous rebellion as she attempted to gain the throne, which was rightfully hers as the first born child of the monarch. However, after Falka killed her father, two half-brothers – Heltmult and Denhard – and her father’s second wife, she went down in history as a blood-thirsty demon.
Following the rebellion, she was condemned to die on the stake. In her final moments, she cursed everyone present, saying a child bearing her blood would cause them all to suffer.
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The Witcher season 3 volume 2 is available to stream now on Netflix. You can sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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