The Witcher Flavour One: A Straightforward Chronology

Geralt's confrontation with Renfri happens at the very beginning of The Witcher… or is it the very end? Photo: Katalin Vermes/Netflix

Anyone who comes to Netflix's The Witcher will spend the showtime few episodes grappling with the aforementioned question: How is all of this supposed to be connected, anyway?

The Witcher'due south timeline, which was inspired past Dunkirk, is unusually convoluted, and it doesn't do much to make things easy on the audience. Events occur in a rough chronological order, except when they don't. Two of the main characters don't show concrete signs of aging, which makes it that much harder to gauge how much time has passed. And the start season is mostly adjusted from writer Andrzej Sapkowski'due south short stories, so the order of the private adventures is frequently unclear — and in several cases, doesn't matter.

Information technology can go disruptive fast, and then permit's break down what we exercise know. The basic principles? There are three chief characters: Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), and Princess Cirilla, more usually called Ciri (Frey Allan). The starting time season of The Witcher centers on each of those three characters over a different length of time. According to showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, Geralt's story spans about 20 years, Yennefer's story spans well-nigh lxx years, and Ciri'southward story spans almost ii weeks.

As for the residuum: If y'all still have questions almost The Witcher's overall timeline (and don't mind spoilers) here'south a crude chronology of the order in which the events of flavor one occur.

1. Yennefer's origin (episodes two-3)
Yennefer'southward story begins in episode ii, "Four Marks," when Tissaia de Vries buys her from her abusive stepfather and enrolls her in the magic schoolhouse Aretuza. Yennefer is at that place for … well, as long as it takes to learn a bunch of magic. The Witcher doesn't brand information technology clear how long that is, but it ends with Yennefer enduring an enchantment that fixes her hunched back but takes away her ability to have children.

Yennefer manipulates her manner to a coveted position at the royal court in Aedirn, and her classmate Fringilla ends up with Yennfer's original spot in the less-regarded kingdom of Nilfgaard.

2. Geralt'southward origin (episode 8)
Geralt'due south origin story runs more or less parallel to Yennefer'south, but nosotros don't come across it until the season finale (and only when Geralt is in a delirious brume). For reasons that remain unclear, Geralt was abandoned by his mother, Visenna, and left in the care of a witcher named Vesemir, who put Geralt through the trials that made him a witcher likewise.

3. Geralt has some adventures, Yennefer abandons life at court (episodes one-3)
You lot could get really granular here, considering at that place are plenty of contextual clues that betoken, roughly, when each of these stories is taking identify. (A dominion of thumb: Listen for whatsoever reference to Cintra and/or Queen Calanthe. The better things are going for Cintra, the earlier nosotros are in the timeline.) But honestly: It doesn't really thing whether Geralt met a sylvan or fought a striga first. Merely know that Geralt has some adventures, which are immortalized in song (and with dubious veracity) by his bard friend Jaskier, lending Geralt a kind of fame around the Continent.

Meanwhile, 30 years take passed since Yennefer went to the court at Aedirn. Since then she has decided that a life at courtroom isn't what she wants later all. Later on beingness attacked past an assassin, Yennefer abandons the courtroom and becomes focused on how she can repair the damage of her enchantment and have a child.

4. Geralt gets fatigued into the Law of Surprise (episode 4)
In the first big incident around which this season pivots, Geralt attends a purple ball at Cintra, where Queen Calanthe — then at the height of her power — seeks a suitor for her daughter, Princess Pavetta. Against the queen's wishes, the suitor turns out to be a knight called Duny, who has been cursed.

In return for Geralt saving his life, Duny offers Geralt the "Constabulary of Surprise," in which a person is granted a boon known to neither the giver or receiver at the time. In this case, the boon turns out to be Duny's unborn daughter with Pavetta, who will grow upwards to be Princess Ciri. Ciri's fate is forever tied to Geralt every bit a result.

This is also when Queen Calanthe publicly insults a representative of Nilfgaard, which helps set the phase for Cintra's later plummet.

5. Yennefer and Geralt meet, accept an chance (episodes 5-6)
At least a year subsequently the ball in Cintra, Geralt fishes a djinn's canteen out of a lake and receives iii wishes. Presently after, he meets Yennefer, who cures his injured friend Jaskier. Geralt somewhen uses his last wish to bind his life to Yennefer's in some style. (The exact details of the wish are unclear, and a source of argue amidst fans.) Yennefer and Geralt have sex and brainstorm a tumultuous on-off relationship.

Some time later, Geralt and Yennefer bump into each other on an adventure that culminates in an encounter with a gold dragon. Yennefer realizes that Geralt's terminal wish involved her in some way, and angrily leaves him.

6. The fall of Cintra (episodes ane, 7)
In the second big incident around which the first flavour of The Witcher pivots, the kingdom of Cintra is invaded and sacked by Nilfgaard, upending the political structure of the Continent. Queen Calanthe dies. Princess Ciri, who is now fourteen years erstwhile, escapes the urban center, even equally Geralt — honoring the Law of Surprise — comes looking for her.

7. Ciri's wanderings (episodes 1-8)
Ciri wanders around for well-nigh two weeks. During that time, she discovers she has terrifying supernatural powers. Meanwhile, a Nilfgaardian knight named Cahir desperately and fruitlessly hunts for her.

8. The Battle of Sodden Loma (episode 8)
There'due south a kind of ceremonious war amid the mages of Aretuza. The Nilfgaardian ground forces, which is led by Yennefer'southward former classmate Fringilla, attempts to take a span that will go out the other northern kingdoms vulnerable. Yennefer and her friends successfully defend the span, merely endure heavy casualties. Subsequently unleashing all her power at the climax of the battle, Yennefer disappears.

9. Geralt and Ciri meet (episode eight)
Immediately following the Battle of Sodden Loma, Geralt and Ciri finally run across in the forest nearby. Ciri, whose powers include prophetic dreams, asks near Yennefer, setting the stage for season two.

The Witcher Flavor I: A Straightforward Chronology