Who’s who in the Thanedd coup? The Witcher’s epic Aretuza battle explained

Vilgefortz of Roggeveen

Then there’s Vilgefortz of Roggeveen. As we find out, Vilgefortz is secretly working with Nilfgaard to destabilize the Brotherhood of Sorcerers and capture Ciri. He lets the Scoia’tael into Aretuza, leading to the deaths of many of Vilgefortz’s fellow mages.

But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Vilgefortz is also the mysterious employer of Rience and Lydia. It was he who set the fire mage on Ciri’s trail. He’s been after Ciri for quite awhile, and of everyone at Thanedd comes the closest to actually capturing her.

But why does Vilgefortz want Ciri in the first place? He tells Ciri he wants to train her as his apprentice, but from the books, we know that Vilgefortz has another reason for seeking out Ciri: he wants to find a way to make her Elder Blood powers his own. That’s why he was experimenting on elven Aretuza students, which resulted in the horrific flesh abomination at Vulipanne.

Vilgefortz is also working with Nilfgaard. The with is important there. Vilgefortz is not a subordinate of Emperor Emhyr, but rather a partner, albeit not a very good one. We discover in the season finale that Vilgefortz isn’t all that concerned with delivering Ciri to Emhyr, and isn’t afraid to lie to cover it up.

Vilgefortz is not a bloodthirsty antagonist; he spares Geralt when he could have easily killed him. But that only makes him more terrifying. Not even the witcher is a threat to Vilgefortz of Roggeveen.

All eight episodes of The Witcher season 3 are now available to stream on Netflix.

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

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