As young blood, we all believe that someday we are going to change the world. We believe we will undo the past mistakes of our ancestors. Ciri had a similar mindset throughout the first part of The Witcher Season 3. But then, along the journey, something changed her drastically. Journeys are often transformative. We know that Andrzej Sapkowski’s “Time of Contempt” is just the beginning of Ciri’s journey, and there is a long way ahead for her to either attain great heights or stumble and fall instead. As Falka says in one of the visions, Ciri’s future is dependent on the choices she makes in life. And as far as Season 3 is concerned, Ciri has made up her mind to become a destructive force called Falka, who will bring about annihilation in the world. However, the question here is: why did she make such an odd choice? And why did Falka appear in her visions? Are they related? While the series fails to answer most of our questions, Andrzej Sapkowski’s book apparently has some of the answers. However, we don’t know if Netflix’s series is going to follow those details, but if you are keen on knowing them, then be our guest.
Spoilers Alert
Who Was Falka?
The first time we hear the word Falka is in the third episode of The Wicther season 2, where Stregobor reveals her history to his students. She was the firstborn child of Vridank, the king of Redania, who, against all societal norms, demanded the right to rule her father’s kingdom. However, being a girl, she was refused her inheritance, and thus Falka, bent on seeking revenge, not only killed her own father but also his second wife and children. Her act of vengeance was seen as a rebellion against the patriarchal system and nobility; therefore, common folk soon joined the uprising. Falka, just like Ciri, believed that she could change the system, but her rebellion turned bloody, leading to the deaths of many kings, mages, and innocent people. She had started a fire that she failed to control, and slowly it consumed the entirety of the Northern Kingdoms. Blinded by anger and revenge, her followers burned the historical city of Mirthe, which was once a stronghold of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, presumably before Aretuza. In the end, Falka was executed for the crimes she had committed in her hunger for power. She was tied to a stake and burned to death, just like she had burned so many people alive.
Is Ciri Related To Falka?
In The Witcher Season 3, when Falka appears in Ciri’s vision during her stay in the Korath desert, she reveals to her that Ciri’s life isn’t much different from hers, and maybe history is repeating itself. While Falka had to kill her own family to get the power she deserved, in Ciri’s case, the death of her family sent her on a journey to recognize her powers. Throughout The Witcher Season 2 and Season 3, we keep hearing that history was going to repeat itself, and in a way, it does. Stregobor believed that Yennefer, much like Falka, would bring doom to Aretuza, just like Falka burned Mirthe to the ground. However, in the present timeline, Aretuza and the Brotherhood get destroyed, not because of Yennefer or Ciri but because of Vilgefortz. So, if Falka and Stregobor’s concerns regarding history are true, then will Ciri become a power-hungry monster who is going to bring about the end of the world? If we follow the book “Time of Contempt” and the prophecy mentioned in it, then yes, we do have our answer.
In the book, the investigating couple, Codringher and Fenn, find out that Ciri is a descendant of Falka. According to them, Pavetta’s great-great-grandmother was a woman named Fiona, who was the daughter of none other than Falka. Before dying, Falka cursed the world, saying that from her blood would rise an avenger who would put an end to the old world and, on its ruins, build a new one. And yes, we have heard the prophecy before in the series as well. In the fifth episode of The Witcher Season 2, Triss Merigold used a spell to enter the deepest layer of Ciri’s consciousness to find out the source of her powers and her lineage.
During their visit, Ciri and Triss found a half-broken tree with Feainnewedd growing around it, implying the spill of an Elder’s blood. Near the tree, Ciri and Triss saw a bleeding woman sitting on the ground with a baby in her hand. At this point, the unknown woman makes a similar prophecy that is mentioned in the book. After hearing that prophecy, Triss believed Ciri, the child of the Elder Blood, would destroy the world. However, according to the books, Falka had prophesied the birth of a son, not a daughter, who would become her avenger. As per Codringher, from the womb of Ciri, the seed of destruction will be born. It is the reason why Ciri’s father, Emhyr var Emreis, who perhaps knows this prophecy, wants to marry his own daughter. He believes that his son with Ciri, will be the seed of destruction and the subsequent rebuilding of the world. It’s complicated enough, but that’s what Codringher surmised before he was mercilessly killed in his own shop.
Why Did Ciri Call Herself Falka?
Since the beginning of The Witcher Season 3, Ciri has believed that she is going to change the system and create a new order where humans and elves will live in peace and harmony. However, with the death and bloodshed she has witnessed so far, it doesn’t seem to her that the carnage is perhaps going to stop anytime soon. Additionally, no one is ready to listen to a teenage girl who says the most sensible things in the world. For a girl like Ciri, she had to make herself heard. She knows she can’t change the system because the men and nobility won’t let her do so. Falka was the rightful heir to her father’s kingdom, but because of her gender, she was ignored and stripped of her rights.
Both Ciri and Falka knew that they couldn’t change the system with a conversation or a wave of their hands. They had to resort to something more violent, something that was fierce enough to make people hear her. After listening to Falka’s story, perhaps Ciri, too, started believing that history did need to repeat itself. The world was in dire need of another Falka. To change the system and make the nobility listen, she has to resort to violence. She had to harness the power of fire and burn the world to make people listen and notice her. She had killed another man with her sword, thereby getting her hands soaked in blood. It might not have been her first kill, but the death made her realize what she was capable of. She believes she is powerful enough, like Falka, to bend the world to her will, and if not, she will probably burn it down to ashes.
We are not sure what turn of events will take place in Ciri’s life hereafter, but as per the books, she is indeed going to become an important member of “The Rats,” a bandit group that calls itself the Children of Contempt. They rob and kill for their own merriment with no purpose at all, and perhaps like them, Ciri too will start killing people for entertainment. Will Yennefer or Geralt be able to find Ciri and save her before she becomes a cold-blooded murderer? Or will Ciri fall into the hands of Emhyr and give birth to the avenger against her will? Hopefully, a season 4 devoid of any Henry Cavill will give us the answers we are eagerly waiting for.
