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

9. The death of Roach

Season 2 doesn’t have as many standout moments for Cavill or Geralt as The Witcher’s first or third seasons. Even the fight scenes don’t pop quite as much. But Cavill gets a quietly powerful moment when Geralt’s horse Roach dies.

Roach’s is killed by the claws of a czernabog right at the start of Episode 206, “Dear Friend.” This terrifying beast flies down out of the sky trying to grab Ciri, but after Roach throws her from the saddle the poor horse takes the brunt of the attack.

The highlight of the sequence comes shortly after, when Geralt and Ciri crouch over the bleeding horse. As Ciri laments the damage done to Roach and asks if there’s anything to be done, Geralt unsheathes a knife. There’s no coming back from this, and the best the witcher can do is ease his friend’s passing.

Part of what makes the Roach scene so memorable is that Cavill hismelf pushed to say the lines in Roach’s eulogy. Showrunner Lauren Hissrich revealed a while back that originally Roach’s death was supposed to come off as more of a joke, but Cavill got so upset at the idea of Geralt’s trusty steed being disrespected in such a way that Hissrich essentially told him to go figure out better lines on his own.

Cavill went back to the source, returning the following day with the passage that we saw in the final cut of the episode. Those lines are drawn straight from Sword of Destiny, when Geralt believes that Yennefer died at the battle of Sodden. Repurposing them for the TV show led to one of the most heartwrenching moments of season 2.