Which parts of the Witcher books is Netflix going to adapt?

Image: Netflix/The Witcher

3. The feast in Cintra

Here’s another place where the timing of the show might get a little tricky. Ciri, Geralt’s eventual protégé in the ways of the witcher, is introduced relatively late in the second book of the series (though her appearance is set up earlier than that — starting with the scene depicted above)…but from all the focus the show has given Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer as the three main characters, it seems a foregone conclusion that the show won’t wait that long to introduce her.

If you’ve read the books, you might remember that Geralt first encounters Ciri’s mother, father and grandmother in the short story “A Question of Price.” In it, Geralt is invited to a feast by Queen Calanthe of Cintra to help with an undisclosed matter. It’s been confirmed that Calanthe will be played in the show by Jodhi May — who you Game of Thrones fans may recognize as Maggy the Frog. When a mysterious knight crashes the party claiming the hand of Calanthe’s daughter Pavetta, it leads to utter chaos as a fight breaks out in the feast hall.

It’s during this fight that it’s revealed Pavetta has powers of her own — which she eventually passes on to her daughter, Ciri.

The picture above of someone exploding with power is a little misleading, because it’s interlaced with other shots that seem to be depicting the sacking of Cintra (more on that later). The trailer makes it appear like it’s Ciri that’s releasing the shockwave…but if you look closely, you’ll notice that this is happening at a feast, that there are no Nilfgaardian soldiers to be seen, and that Ciri isn’t there (although there is someone who has very similar hair that could be her mother). Coupled with the scenes of people fighting in a great hall — many of them bearing the arms and armor of Cintra — there’s quite a lot of support for this story making it into the show. Adam Levy’s druid Mousesack also appears several times throughout the trailer, and he figures largely into “A Question of Price.”

The show could handle this setpiece in multiple ways—either having it happen in the first episode or two and then doing a time jump to introduce Ciri, or showing it as a flashback.

Regardless, the chances are good that we’ll see this one.