The final three episodes of The Witcher season 3 are here at last, and they waste no time at all thrusting viewers into the series’ most epic sequence yet. The Witcher season 3 volume 1 ended on a pair of cliffhangers: Geralt and Yennefer finally figured out the identity of the mysterious mage backing Rience, and the Redanian spymaster Dijkstra held Geralt at knifepoint. It’s all part of a coup on the isle of Thanedd, where the mages of the world have gathered for a conclave.
The Thanedd coup is one of the most iconic sequences from Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher book series, with most of the major players of the story all in one place. It’s a complex set piece with multiple factions vying for control.
It can be a little hard to keep track of who’s working for who and what everyone wants during the Thanedd coup, so we’re going to break down why each of these factions are taking part in the bloodiest event of the season. There will be SPOILERS for The Witcher season 3 below.
Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri and Jaskier
Each member of our found family of heroes has their own specific motives and goals. Geralt went to Thanedd in order to find Rience’s master, who he believed was Stregobor. But after comparing notes with Yennefer, they realized that Vilgefortz was actually the mastermind behind many of their troubles. Once the coup gets underway, Geralt really only has one objective: ensure that Ciri isn’t captured by any of the various factions trying to capture her.
Like Geralt, Yennefer’s main goal at the Thanedd ball is to uncover the identity of Rience’s master. However, Yen also wants the Conclave of Mages to unite the disparate factions of magic users on the Continent. Once the coup begins, Yen is torn between her desire to keep Ciri safe and helping her fellow mages, including her mother figure Tissaia de Vries. This is why Yen ultimately ends up leaving Ciri and Geralt to go back and fight.
As for Ciri, Yennefer tells her that there is danger afoot on Thanedd, so naturally Ciri runs straight towards it. She wants to find Geralt and Yen to make sure they’re safe. Once she does that, she tries to escape with Geralt’s help.
That leaves Jaskier, whom Geralt and Yennefer left in charge of protecting Ciri. Once she runs off, Jaskier’s aim is to find his friends and help them however he can, although he arrives too late to actually take part in the coup. He also breaks things off with the Redanian Prince Radovid after discovering that he was hoping to kidnap Ciri during the coup. We’ll talk more about Radovid and the Redanians momentarily, but first:
The Brotherhood of Sorcerers
The mages at Thanedd are not a unified front; many of these characters, such as Vilgefortz of Roggeveen and Keira Metz, have their own agendas.
The whole point of the conclave is to unite the mages so they can better support the Northern Kingdoms agains the advance of the Nilfgaardian Empire. Mages like Tissaia, Stregobor, and Artorius Vigo are in support of this goal, and don’t really have ulterior motives beyond it.
Two other important mages in the Brotherhood loyalist group are Triss Merigold and Istredd. In addition to defending Aretuza, they also have a separate goal to prevent Vilgefortz of Roggeveen from getting the Book of Monoliths and amassing even more power. This book featured heavily in The Witcher: Blood Origin spinoff and holds the secrets to opening portals between worlds.
Other mages support the Redanian coup, including Philippa Eilheart, Keira Metz and Sabrina Glevissig. While Philippa’s allegiance to Redania is well known, mages like Keira and Sabrina were working in secret to support Redania’s attack on Aretuza, because the Redanians want to oust Nilfgaardian spies among the Brotherhood.
Keira and Sabrina wore armbands during the coup as a sign to the Redanians that they were on their side. They tear those armbands off when they finally join forces with Tissaia to protect Aretuza later in the episode.
Redania
The initial instigator of the coup on Thanedd is the Kingdom of Redania, led by the spymaster Dijkstra, the sorceress Philippa Eilheart and Prince Radovid.
They have multiple goals. Firstly, the Redanians want to expose the members of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers who are colluding in secret with Nilfgaard, such as Vilgefortz of Roggeveen. In doing so, Dijkstra and Philippa hope to weaken Nilfgaard’s hold on the Brotherhood. A side effect of their coup would also be that the Brotherhood itself would be weakened while Redania’s political position would be strengthened.
Dijkstra’s Redanian soldiers sneak into Aretuza and kick off the coup by capturing the traitorous mages. They are recognizable by their red armor and rounded helmets.
Meanwhile, Prince Radovid tries to take custody of Ciri on behalf of Redania. The Redanians want to marry Ciri into their royal family for the political capitol it would gain their regime. But Ciri leaves for Aretuza before Radovid can spring his trap, leaving him to face Jaskier’s wrath.
Things quickly go south for the Redanians. Earlier in the season, Dijkstra deployed a messenger named Aplegatt to bring word to the Redanian naval forces to bring reinforcements to Aretuza at dawn. Aplegatt was killed with an arrow Episode 4, and now we see the result: the Scoia’tael intercepted the message and launched a surprise attack at the appointed time on Aretuza instead.
The Scoi’tael and Nilfgaard
The Scoia’tael are a force of elven guerrilla fighters led by Francesca Findabair and her husband Filavandrel. They are also called Squirrels, which is what the word scoia’tael means in elven. While their goals often revolve around furthering the safety of the elven refugees, by this point in the story they have been manipulated into working for Emperor Emhyr var Emries of Nilfgaard.
Prior to the coup, Emhyr dispatched the disgraced knight Cahir to convince the elves to fight for Nilfgaard. By coordinating with Vilgefortz — another of Emhyr’s partners — and by using the intelligence they intercepted from Aplegatt, the Scoia’tael launch a surprise attack on the conclave at Aretuza.
The Scoia’tael want to find Ciri and kill as many mages as they can in the process. Destabilizing the Brotherhood of Sorcerers would leave the Northern Kingdoms much more vulnerable to conquest. Don’t forget: it was the Brotherhood of Sorcerers who defeated Nilfgaard at Sodden Hill and ended the first war back in season 1.
Emhyr wants the Scoia’tael to find Ciri because she’s his daughter and the heir to Nilfgaard, as well as a valuable political tool because of her ties to Cintra. However, the Scoia’tael have their own reasons for wanting the princess: she’s the subject of an ancient elven prophecy, called Ithlinne’s Prophecy, which tells of an ice age that will end all human life on the Continent. Following that period, a Child of the Elder Blood will lead the elves to salvation. That Child of the Elder Blood is Ciri, and Francesca hopes that the princess will lead her people to a new home.
For now, the goals of Nilfgaard and the Scoia’tael are aligned. After all, there’s no reason Ciri couldn’t help the elves build a new Dol Blathanna while also serving as the next Empress of Nilfgaard. That was the argument Cahir used to win over the elves to Nilfgaard’s cause back in Episode 5, at least.
Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach
Cahir is a Nilfgaardian military officer who fell from grace after lying to Emperor Emhyr in season 2. He spends much of season 3 undergoing tests of loyalty to get back into Emhyr’s good graces, which is what leads him to convince the Scoia’tael to attack Aretuza and capture Ciri.
Though Cahir arrives at Thanedd as part of the Scoia’tael guerrilla force, he breaks off on his own after an unexpected run-in with his former confidante, the sorceress Fringilla Vigo.
Cahir intends to find Ciri and ask forgiveness for leading the sack of Cintra which claimed the lives of Ciri’s family. Cahir was the one originally responsible for kidnapping Ciri from Cintra, and has been chasing after her ever since. Yet when the Scoia’tael close in, Cahir makes a last stand to buy Ciri time to escape.
Fringilla Vigo
Fringilla is a rogue sorceress who is tenuously allied with Nilfgaard. Like Cahir, Fringilla fell into Emperor Emhyr’s disfavor at the end of season 2. She began this season as a poison taster for the emperor before eventually escaping and making her way north.
After hearing that a conclave of mages was being held, Fringilla decided to head there, likely because she intuited that something momentous was bound to occur. Fringilla knows the mind of Emperor Emhyr better than almost anyone, so we can’t rule out that she might have guessed at his plan to storm Thanedd during the conclave. But Fringilla’s exact motivations for going to the tower are somewhat ambiguous.
That ambiguity vanishes once Fringilla actually arrives at Thanedd. For her, the conflict is personal. She kills her uncle Artorius and quickly falls back in with her old comrade Francesca to aid the Scoia’tael. Fringilla even gives Cahir the advice to think for himself, which leads to his fateful encounter with Ciri.
Fringilla has bigger plans as well. As we find out in later episodes, her participation in the battle at Thanedd gives her leverage to get back into Emperor Emhyr’s good graces.
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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