Henry Cavill’s 20 best moments as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher

6. Geralt reunites with his mother Visenna

According to conventional wisdom, witchers can’t feel human emotions anymore due to the mutations they undergo in order to fight monsters. However, Geralt proves this a myth time and again throughout The Witcher, as he shows genuine care for those close to him and rage against those who have wronged them. Yet we rarely see Geralt display as much emotion as in the few scenes which involve his mother Visenna. Those scenes give Cavill room to show a bit more of his range as an actor.

The first and only time we actually see Visenna onscreen is during the season 1 finale, “Much More.” After Geralt is bitten by a ghoul, a grateful merchant brings him to a local sorceress who works as a healer. That sorceress is Geralt’s mother. We learn through brief flashbacks that Visenna abandoned Geralt by the side of the road as a child, which led to him being taken in by the witchers.

When Geralt first awakens under Visenna’s care, he hallucinates that she’s someone else; first Renfri, then Yennefer. But once Visenna tells him that those linked by destiny will always find each other, Geralt’s eyes snap into focus and he realizes who he’s talking to. It’s a powerful scene, with Cavill walking a fine line between anger and hurt as Geralt finally confronts his mother about why she abandoned him decades after the fact. A highlight is when he asks how she likes his eyes, telling her only three boys in 10 survive the brutal Trial of the Grasses to become witchers.

The scene with Visenna is important for Geralt’s character, and the highlight of Cavill’s acting in The Witcher season 1 finale.

7. Geralt and Ciri meet in the forest

Geralt’s encounter with Visenna is also important because it helps set up the final stinger of The Witcher season 1, as well as one of its most emotional moments. Following Geralt’s encounter with his mother, the merchant who he saved earlier in the episode brings the witcher to his home on his cart. Yet hardly has the merchant had a chance to thank Geralt before his wife drops a line about a young girl running off into the woods.

Remembering cryptic lines from both Renfri and Visenna, Geralt stumbles off the cart and out into the forest, believing this girl in the woods to be Ciri. The show strings us along, letting us wonder if they’ll actually meet before Ciri appears at the last moment, running toward Geralt.

The two embrace, witcher and Child Surprise united at last. This is the first time Geralt and Ciri actually meet in the TV show, and while Cavill only has a single line in the scene, it remains an emotional high point of the first season.