By Following a brief look at Ciri (Freya Allan) in the previous week, Netflix released a short clip featuring Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher season two. Although it is just twelve seconds long there’s a lot to unpack. So here you go. A little later than usual but let’s dive into it with a frame by frame analysis after the cut.
The White Wolf is back
The teaser opens with a classic shot of Geralt doing what he does best, that is lurking in a dark corridor, being his usual intimidating self. Outside the glass window, snowflakes are slowly drifting by. We’re thinking that this must be a castle or mansion corridor. Perhaps the house of the cursed nobleman Nivellen (played by Game of Thrones veteran Kristofer Hivju)?
Not wasting any time, we get to see this! Geralt (the dark hooded figure) and Ciri (the blonde girl in white) arriving at what surely must be our first look at the snowy courtyard of Kaer Morhen. We see the mighty towers of the Witchers’ keep and the skeleton of what looks like a large mammal.
The next shot shows a figure in iron chains, wearing dark clothing and striped pants that are part of the standard attire of the Nilfgaardian army as seen in season one (the clothes not the chains). Our best guess (and here’s a potential spoiler warning) is that this is everyone’s favorite Vicovarian knight Cahir (Eamon Farren), who will likely find himself captured by the alliance forces of the Northern kingdoms in the aftermath of the battle of Sodden.
Why do we think so? Well, we were lucky to get a first look at Cahir in season two during The Witcher‘s stay at Fountains Abbey last November. Below you can see Eamon Farren walking alongside fellow actors Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) and Therica Wilson-Read (Sabrina). From his unkept beard and overall rugged look, it’s clear that he hadn’t had a chance to shave or change clothes in quite a while. Most importantly, he’s still wearing the striped pants and wrinkled boots from the Battle of Sodden, not the shiny new Nilfgaardian armor. So, we can assume that some time has passed and Cahir is in a bit of a predicament. Where does his path lead? Impossible to say. We do get a potential minor hint later in the teaser though.
RELATED ARTICLE: New photos from The Witcher set show Yennefer, Tissaia, Vilgefortz, Stregobor, Cahir and more
A couple of quick shots follow, including:
Geralt’s standing in an icy forest with his silver sword drawn.
A sharp object, perhaps the tip of a short stabbing at the ceiling. We’re not sure where this scene is taking place but it seems to be a dimly lit common house.
And then, we get a great look at Geralt in another dark corridor and he’s even scarier up close. He’s got that look in his eyes that will make even the toughest of monsters cower in fear.
There are several other quick shots, starting with a lantern that has seemingly fallen to the ground. A dark shape can be see moving in the snowy background.
A hand (possibly Ciri’s) holding a Witcher medallion.
A naked foot soaked in soap. It appears that the person in question is about to emerge from a bathtub and there are quite a few bathtub scenes in the books as any Witcher fan can attest to. Cleanliness and personal hygiene is particularly valued among mages (less so among witchers) so we’re thinking that this must either be a sorceress or perhaps Ciri after she’s been taken care of by them.
Another pair of feet but wearing solid boots. Seemingly Geralt standing in a snowy courtyard.
A long-haired man in a dark cloak standing in a tomb or underground passage. Hard to say who we’re looking at, but he seems to be darker and somewhat shorter than Geralt.
A rat scurrying out of the frame.
A man sharpening a sword.
And here we have Geralt, sword drawn, in what looks like the same snowy environment that we’ve seen in several other shots. It’s just a guess, but the whole setup has the look of a cold-open. Could we be looking at the first scenes of season two? From a script page released by Netflix during last year’s Witchmas, we know that Geralt will be tracking a monster to a mansion in the opening episode. The snowy scenery matches the description that you can read below. Those of you who have read A Grain of Truth will probably have an inkling of how that story may play out.
In the next frame we see the shadows of a pair of toys, likely the same figures (one male, one female) that briefly appeared in Ciri’s teaser. It’ll be interesting to see the story told in the play. Duny and Pavetta? Lara Doren and Cregenan? Nivellen’s tale? We can think of quite a few chapters from the Witcher lore that would make an excellent subject.
Blue flowers in the snow. At a first glance, this frame seems rather negligible but it might be highly significant in terms of the deeper lore of the series. In the books, there is one particular flower, which according to legend first appeared at the place where the legendary elven sorceress Lara Doren (played in season two by Niamh McCormack) died. Since then, these Feainnewedd flowers (elven for Child of the Sun) only ever bloomed in the valley Dol Blathanna and in places where Elder Blood has been spilled. If you look closely at the shot above, you’ll notice that the ground looks a bit as if it was speckled with droplets of blood…
This lute certainly has seen better days. We don’t get any hint as to the fate of its owner, but knowing him he’ll figure out a way or maybe someone else does…
Geralt holding a stiletto, a weapon used for fighting at close quarters.
Another look at Kaer Morhen, showing the inside. We get a look at two witchers examining blades. Unfortunately their faces aren’t shown.
We’ve lightened up this overhead shot a bit for better visibility. From what we can tell, there are two figures meeting in a high stone room, illuminated by lanterns. One looks like a bald man, garbed in dark clothing while the other who is sitting in a stone chair looks like a dark-haired woman. Our favorite theory is that this might be our first look at the grey eminences of Redania: Spymaster Sigismund Dijkstra (played by Graham McTavish, who is bald), and court sorceress Philippa Eilhart (Cassie Clare). Keep in mind that this is just a guess. We don’t get to see their faces so it’s impossible to say for sure. That being said we can definitely picture Sigi and Phil convening in some remote corner of a dark castle.
Next up is a curious shot of a flickering flame. To the left we can see a hand that looks as if it is manipulating the fire. We first thought that this might be the witcher Lambert (who has a similar scene in the book using the sign Aard). However, the claw-like appearance point to it being the hand of the beast Nivellen, who incidentally has access to magic, allowing him to control everything within his manor.
As in the last teaser, we get a fair bit of elven runes and another chance for the code crackers and aspiring linguists to decipher them. With some help from twitter, we could make out the phrase: ‘A Ire‘, which can be translated to ‘another‘.
Geralt standing back to back with another witcher who might or might not be uncle Vesemir (Kim Bodnia). Both have their swords drawn and appear to make a stand in a room with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Judging by the color of her gown, this looks like Triss Merigold (Anna Shaffer), holding a hand (likely Geralt’s).
More runes reading ‘Invaerne‘, the elven word for ‘Winter‘.
This is an interesting one. We can see a hooded figure who appears to be sitting or cowering on the ground. In the back there is a man whose facial characteristics match those of Royce Pierreson’s Istredd. He raises an arm towards the hooded figure as if to use magic. It is also interesting that they seem to be in a library of sorts, as indicated by the books to the upper left.
While we don’t have solid proof, many have theorized that the new season will adapt the short story A Shard of Ice, that pits Geralt and Istredd against each other, in a duel for Yennefer’s favor so to speak. Perhaps we’ll really get to see a version of that anticipated showdown. Back in November, leaks from the Witcher set at Frensham Little Pond confirmed the two will be sharing a scene and Geralt was wearing a hood. Coincidence? We think not.
RELATED ARTICLE: Henry Cavill’s Geralt and Royce Pierreson’s Istredd on The Witcher set for what could be A Shard of Ice
Medallions of fallen witchers hanging on a tree in Kaer Morhen (as seen during Ciri’s teaser). Let’s hope there won’t be any more recent additions. Also in the background, we can see Geralt talking to a figure, probably one of his witcher colleagues.
One more look at Geralt in the dark. Is he eavesdropping on something?
The final runes: ‘Ynilyshyn‘, a word meaning ‘ties‘ (the noun, not the verb). Taking all the runes together the best we can currently come up with is something alike ‘Another winter’s ties‘. Does that make sense? Hardly. Maybe it’s not supposed to though. or maybe we have to wait for the next teaser to connect the dots. Stay tuned!
This shot was taken during nightshoots on the massive Witcher set at Fountains Abbey. We see a white horse galloping on a path lightened by a row of braziers on either side. It’s carrying two people but only the one sitting on its back can be seen clearly. Judging by the wild mane, the dark clothing and the boots this must be Cahir, now rid of the chains we saw earlier. The whole sequence is still very mysterious and we can’t wait to see how it plays out on screen.
RELATED ARTICLE: New details of the sinister scene filmed at Fountains Abbey
We’re not entirely sure what we’re looking at here. Another overhead shot of a landscape dotted with stone megaliths? A pattern in a fabric? Strange elven symbols? It’s anybody’s guess.
We’ve seen this old geezer before, when Netflix released a small tease last year’s Halloween.
And this is it. One last look at the Witcher looking mighty and menacing.
First Ciri, now Geralt. One more to go to complete the family theme. In keeping with the Friday releases we should expect a Yennefer teaser tomorrow. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
I believe these shadows are not toys, but shadows from a lamp shader seen in the lower part of the picture.
Yes, and it must be about Falka.
The fourth image from the end will be a display Conjunction of the Spheres.
oh no, hanging witcher medallions, this is not a good sign. lauren was on crack again