Blood of Elves

At their first meeting, Yennefer’s beauty and outward strength impress Ciri, while Yennefer seems annoyed by or frustrated with the girl. Mother Nenneke’s intervention shows how perceptive the high priestess is: She knows Yennefer and understands that her attitude towards Ciri comes from her insecurities about her relationship with Geralt. Nenneke therefore intervenes to make clear that Ciri is Geralt’s child, not a replacement for Yennefer. Later in the chapter, Yennefer teases Ciri that Geralt has forgotten her in favor of a prettier girl, which could reflect Yennefer’s fears that Geralt will leave her for someone else and that she is not loveable or beautiful. Yennefer’s relationship with Ciri makes her directly confront those fears, and Ciri’s eventual love for Yennefer dispels the sorceress’s notions of being unworthy of love while building on the theme of Parental and Familial Relationships.

Ciri initially hesitates to embrace Yennefer’s tutelage, largely due to the academic nature of the lessons. The tests Yennefer gives Ciri are reminiscent of real-world IQ and aptitude tests, as they gauge one’s skills in pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, and other skills. The tests try Ciri’s patience, but Yennefer’s assurance that her answers actually do matter contrasts markedly with her witcher training at Kaer Morhen, where Ciri felt she could not discuss what was on her mind. Also unlike the witchers, Yennefer is unafraid of Ciri’s latent powers, and one of her main goals is to help Ciri understand herself better. Their magic lessons focus equally on theory and practical application while also building Ciri’s confidence in herself and her abilities—e.g., when Yennefer reveals Ciri was communicating telepathically without realizing it. In that moment and others, Yennefer is more like Ciri’s coach; Ciri figures things out for herself (sometimes without realizing it) while Yennefer guides her and acts as a safety net.

The different theories of magic Yennefer teaches Ciri reflect how nuanced magic is in this storyworld and also function as exposition for the reader. Yennefer’s lesson reveals much about how different people use magic, as well as how much one’s intention matters when it comes to what magic can accomplish. Magic being threefold Art, Science, and Chaos shows that the system is more complex than just drawing and expending energy from different sources. Some people approach magic as an academic subject, a source and object of knowledge. Others treat magic like an art form, using it as a creative medium in the same way a sculptor shapes clay or carves marble. The most dangerous aspect of magic is its embodiment of Chaos: Magic is highly dangerous and capable of opening doors that could lead to global catastrophe. Yennefer notes that many people try to open that “forbidden door,” implying that some magic users risk unforeseeable consequences by tapping into the primordial force of Chaos. Later, Ciri asks Yennefer if she hurts or robs the earth of its energies when she draws from intersections. Yennefer’s response indicates that she feels that many magic users lack Ciri’s consideration, thinking of themselves first and the world second. Magic is ultimately a means of power, and power-hungry people irresponsibly use magic to their own advantage.

One of the most significant features of this chapter is its use of flashbacks. The chapter opens the day before Ciri and Yennefer leave the Temple but quickly moves backwards to their first meeting, when Ciri had already been at the Temple for at least a month. In narrative theory, flashbacks (analepses) and flashforwards (prolepses) are diversions in the narrative’s temporal sequence that complicate an otherwise straightforward storyline and enhance the plot’s emotional depth. By first showing the reader what Ciri and Yennefer’s relationship is like now, the flashback to their initial dislike of one another suggests how their bond has developed and the issues they have worked to overcome. The flashbacks also contextualize the novel’s timeline, as Ciri’s fainting after drawing from a strong intersection corresponds directly to the scene in Chapter 6 when Ciri dreams of Geralt, Dandelion, and Shani in Oxenfurt. The conversation she overheard in that chapter is the same conversation Yennefer and Nenneke have in Chapter 7, where Nenneke calls Yennefer heartless and irresponsible.

Ciri’s dreams in this chapter feature some familiar imagery, but they also introduce frightening images of Yennefer being bound and tortured and of Geralt urging Ciri to go down a flight of bloody stairs into a smoky abyss. Ciri’s visions seem to be shifting from the original image of the black knight to Geralt and Yennefer as the latter two become Ciri’s primary emotional bond. Rather than being tethered to the past by her fear of the black knight, Ciri seems determined to move forward with the love of her new family. Her visions of them suffering show that is what makes her afraid: her loved ones in pain.