Blood of Elves

The summit that opens the chapter lends further nuance to themes of Racial Tensions Between Humans and Nonhumans and Neutrality, Justice, and War. Henselt is presumptuous to believe that one lost battle would quash Nilfgaard’s desire to expand, and his claim that the elves never gave humans “a Sodden” (as the Northern Kingdoms did to Nilfgaard) is an act of revisionist violence against the hundreds of elves who died in Aelirenn’s last stand at Shaerrawedd. Those elves did not win, but they unified against a common enemy, which is precisely what people praised the Northern rulers for doing at Sodden Hill.

The meeting at Hagge (and the subsequent meeting between Emhyr and Coehoorn as well as that of Vilgefortz, Tissaia, and Artaud) foreshadows conflicts that will continue into the next installments in The Witcher saga. The Northern Kingdoms plan a false flag operation: They mean to create a border skirmish among themselves, sacrificing their own soldiers, and blame the deaths on Nilfgaardian emissaries or patrols. The plan shows how hypocritical the Northern Kingdoms are, but it also shows how desperate they feel. Many kingdoms face civil wars because the Scoia’tael raids inflame racial tensions between humans and nonhumans, so the Northern rulers face threats from within and without. The kings also claim that Emperor Emhyr executes anyone who fails him or opposes his plans, but the meeting with the black knight—whom Emhyr pardons—suggests the Northern rulers’ perception of Emhyr is not as immune to propaganda as they like to think. That said, Emhyr spared the black knight only so he can rectify his “failure” during the Massacre of Cintra. This scene strongly implies this knight is the same black knight who haunts Ciri’s dreams, and her hazy memories of the attack suggest the knight was meant to kidnap her and that Emhyr now wants the black knight to go after her again.

The fact that the black knight will soon be on Ciri’s trail again is ominous, as is Emhyr’s order to kill Geralt but leave Yennefer alone. Geralt’s death would leave Yennefer as Ciri’s only remaining guardian, so if Vilgefortz calls a meeting of prominent mages, it is likely Ciri will accompany Yennefer there. Furthermore, Vilgefortz appears to be tracking Yennefer and researching Elder Blood and Ithlinne’s Prophecy, both of which feature prominently in Ciri’s visions. The fact that Vilgefortz says something aloud that has previously only been said by the strange, disembodied voice in Ciri’s dreams could be interpreted in several ways: that Vilgefortz heard the phrase in his own dreams from the same voice; that he somehow tapped into Ciri’s dreams and heard it; or that it was his voice Ciri heard in her visions. Tissaia de Vries is suspicious of Vilgefortz’s motives, especially when she sees through the illusions that conceal his current projects. The two texts on Elder Blood and Ithlinne’s Prophecy seem to indicate he believes the prophecy is true, while the tracking equipment right next to the books suggests that he searches for something pertaining to the prophecy—for example, someone born of Elder Blood.

Ciri’s dreams in this chapter are profoundly different from all her others. In the first dream, Ciri watches Geralt, Shani, and Dandelion walk towards Myhrman’s house (though she does not know those exact details). She sees them from a bird’s-eye perspective, almost as if she momentarily inhabits Philippa’s perspective (one may recall the sorceress can transform into an owl). This dream seems to be a vision of a (soon-to-be) current event. Her second dream is much more abstract and features visual and aural images from previous visions (e.g., the sound of hooves). The dominant portion of the second dream is Yennefer’s leading Ciri through a long series of doorways. Yennefer drags Ciri to the final door, ignoring Ciri’s insistence they should not open it. If Ciri’s first dream was a prophetic vision, one may reasonably presume the second dream is too. Ciri’s awareness of the danger and her efforts to free herself from Yennefer’s grip suggest that Yennefer will put Ciri in danger and that they will separate as a result. Dream-Yennefer’s final sentence is ominous in its implication that it will soon be too late for Ciri to turn back from whatever danger awaits them.

Geralt’s fight with Rience and the Michelet brothers in Oxenfurt is over quickly, demonstrating that Geralt is in fact as talented a fighter as people claim. It is worth noting that Geralt makes clear to Rience that he did not want to kill him until he threatened revenge against Yennefer. This is another example of Geralt’s view of neutrality: He will not kill Rience for a solely personal motive, like vengeance for the Temerian family who protected Ciri after the fall of Cintra, but he will kill Rience to prevent him from harming Yennefer. Neutrality in this case is the difference between vengeance and preventative action; what happened to the Temerian family cannot be undone, but what Rience could do to Yennefer can be prevented. This scene also casts doubt on Philippa’s intentions: She kills the last Michelet brother specifically so he could not tell Geralt what he told her, and she stops Geralt from following Rience through a portal that likely led back to the person whose identity the Michelet brother revealed (i.e., the man who vouched for Rience).