A major chunk of Netflix’s The Witcher Season 4 was centered around Ciri, who, after giving up her powers and changing her name to Falka, became a part of “The Rats,” a gang of misfits or petty bandits, whatever you prefer to call them. These six strangers had witnessed the worst in life, and now they just wanted to survive, by any means possible. Well, unfortunately, Ciri’s extended family didn’t last for very long. [Spoiler Alert] As you might already be aware, everyone on the continent has been looking for her because of Ithlinne’s prophecy. It’s believed that this Princess of Cintra, aka Ciri, was of the Elder Blood and her descendants will one day rule the world. This is the reason why the evil sorcerer, Vilgefortz, and the merciless emperor and Ciri’s own father, Emhyr, want Ciri, so they and their descendants can rule the continent, while Ciri’s adoptive father and mother, Geralt and Yennefer, just want to protect Ciri and keep her away from the evil forces of the world. However, none of these people can really locate Ciri, because she had given up her powers, making it impossible for sorcerers to find any trace of her. But there’s someone who has an idea where she is.
Stefan Skellen, Emhyr’s coroner, whom the Nilfgaardian emperor had tasked with finding his real daughter, conspired against his own king and hired a bounty hunter named Leo Bonhart to not only track down Falka but also kill her. The reason for Skellen’s betrayal was that he wanted to overthrow Emhyr’s totalitarian regime and turn Nilfgaard into a democracy to keep Emhyr from fulfilling the prophecy. However, in The Witcher Season 4’s ending, when Bonhart eventually found the Rats, he killed each and every one of them in the most merciless way possible, but he didn’t kill Falka. He kept her alive, in violation of Skellen’s commands. But why did he betray the betrayer?
In Season 4’s ending, moments before the final fight, Bonhart told the Rats that there was a “goodly” reward for them dead, but there was an even bigger reward for them alive, and therefore he gave the misfits the choice to choose which reward they wanted him to take. Well, the Rats didn’t want to go without a fight, so you know that by killing them Bonhart fulfilled his end of the deal with Skellen, who wanted them all dead. However, the second reward was announced by Baron Casadei, who wanted the Rats, especially Falka, alive. During one of their raids, Falka had humiliated Casadei’s daughter, because of which she was in poor health and still had a fever. Here, one could speculate that Bonhart kept Falka alive as he intended on giving her to Casadei to get a higher bounty than what Skellen had offered him, but those who read the book, “The Tower of the Swallow,” know that Bonhart neither takes Falka to Skellen nor hands her over to Casadei, but takes her for himself and keeps her prisoner. The reason? Bonhart wants to learn Falka’s true identity.
If you remember, while following the trail of the Rats, Bonhart came across a few men ruthlessly killed by Falka. From that point onwards, he had been scrutinizing and studying her attacks, which gave Bonhart the idea that Falka might have trained with the Witchers in Kaer Morhen because she thought exactly like them. He believed she could be a Witcher too, but he still had doubts. From his meeting with Skellen, we had already figured out how much the bounty hunter loved hunting down Witchers for fun. However, much to his disappointment, none of his previous opponents had been able to withstand his fury. This was further pointed out by Skellen when he came to meet the bounty hunter. Skellen told him that not many Witchers were left in the world, and he was worried how Bonhart would pass his time once they were all dead. I suppose the reason why Bonhart didn’t kill Falka was because in her, he saw a fierce warrior who could one day match his potential, and therefore he kept her alive. But there was one more reason why he didn’t kill Falka. During the attack on Casadei’s daughter, Falka had told the noblewoman that she shouldn’t be proud of her high birth and titles, and that she should kneel before her, which made Bonhart think that Falka could be a princess. But he failed to connect the dots as to why the Imperial Coroner, Skellen, wanted a Witcheress countess dead.
Well, we all know that Bonhart is going to find out Falka’s true identity sooner or later, but will he keep torturing her once he learns she’s the future wife of his beloved emperor? As per the book, Falka refused to give in to his torture, and therefore he started drugging her to get the truth out of her. He even took her to Claremont, where he pushed her into an arena, compelling her to fight till death. That is the extent of madness of this psychotic bounty hunter with twisted sensibilities. However, if you are still wondering why Falka hasn’t been fighting back and defeating him even though she’s more powerful than him, then it’s because she has given up her magic, and without it, Bonhart is a better warrior than her. Ciri learned to fight from the Witchers, but Bonhart has been killing Witchers all his life, and therefore is aware of all their moves, which means she has to forget her training at Kaer Morhen and pick up some new moves to end this evil. I guess, in the next season, that is, The Witcher Season 5, Ciri will either be able to escape her captor somehow, or she’ll end up killing him to finally free herself of his torment. I know those of you who have read the book already know how Bonhart is going to die, but maybe the makers of the show are going to tweak his downfall a bit in the next season. Well, one never knows.
