As far as massive, open-world RPGs go, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a masterclass in storytelling, aging extremely well for a game that has just celebrated its tenth anniversary. The title elevated the popularity of both developer CD Projekt Red and The Witcher as an IP to the next level, despite it being the third entry in the series, which has iconic, lovable characters, strong dialogue, and a narrative that seems to improve as the game progresses. In my opinion, CD Projekt Red really found its footing with The Witcher‘s expansions, where the writing is at its most intriguing.

Still, the writing isn’t infallible, nor should this be expected from a game that can take up to a hundred hours for a single playthrough (including the expansions). There are quite a few small nitpicks to the plot here and there, which seem to be a result of the title’s branching narrative. For instance, Radovid’s soldiers will still chant “Long Live Radovid!” after his death and Dijkstra’s takeover, a result of players being able to choose whether Radovid should die. However, one plot hole is a holdover from The Witcher 2, and it’s glaringly distracting.

Emhyr’s Search For Ciri Makes No Sense In The Witcher 3

Especially Given That The Games Take Place After The Books

By Katarina Cimbaljevic Custom Image by: Katarina Cimbaljevic

Just like in the books, The Witcher 3 is all about how everyone wants Ciri. Geralt and the gang just want to save her, the Wild Hunt wants her Elder Blood, and Emhyr, her father, wants her to become the Empress of Nilfgaard, but therein lies the problem. Emhyr wanting to find Ciri, the inciting incident that kicks off the plot, doesn’t make sense in light of a plot point from the books. Emhyr has already married a fake version of Ciri to secure Cintra’s loyalty in the books, and as far as the world is concerned, ‘”Ciri” is already the empress.

Fake Ciri doesn’t make a physical appearance in CD Projekt Red, but she does appear as an avatar in Gwent.

It should be noted that the world doesn’t know Emhyr’s origins as Duny, Ciri’s father, and it is assumed that he died with in a shipwreck (alongside Paveta, Ciri’s mother and former heir to the throne of Cintra). To secure Cintra, Emhyr wanted to find Ciri in the books, much like in the games, but after Vilgefortz failed to kidnap the real Ciri during a coup in Thanedd, he produced a fake using a Cintran noble who looked like Ciri for most of Nilfgaard to believe it was really her. Emhyr wasn’t tricked, but was put in an impossible position with fake Ciri.

Fake Ciri brings out the soft side in Emhyr, and he ends up marrying as he originally intended to with the real Ciri, making her the empress of Nilfgaard. For most of this, the real Ciri went by the outlaw name of Falka, and this worked out perfectly for Emhyr, since by the time he got married, his daughter teleported to King Arthur’s Camelot, no longer being in the world to disprove the Empress as a fake. With fake Ciri being mentioned in The Witcher 2, it is assumed that she is the empress for most of the series, but she later vanishes.

The Fake Ciri Plot Point Is Randomly Dropped In The Witcher 3

It Is Assumed She Is Dead, Which Also Makes No Sense

Emhyr’s search for the real Ciri makes no sense because of fake Ciri. He has already married the fake version and doesn’t particularly care about the magical properties of the Elder Blood. The entire point of his original search for Ciri in the books is to secure Cintra, somewhere he has now secured. It could be because he loves his daughter (which he doesn’t), but it is stated in the games that he has political plans for her, none of which would work because of fake Ciri, which is probably why CD Projekt Red did away with her.

Fake Ciri isn’t the only Ciri lookalike. In the books, Geralt mistakes Angoulême for Ciri, and the girl joins his group in the search for Ciri.

There’s a theory that fake Ciri is dead, which is probably true, but the death of the Empress should be a massive deal in The Witcher 3 after she was mentioned in The Witcher 2. Anything that Emhyr can get out of the real Ciri has already been achieved by the fake Ciri, and making the real one empress would open up a massive can of worms. People would question who the fake Ciri was, there could be an outcry in Cintra, and Emhyr’s political position as Emperor wouldn’t get stronger with his real daughter by his side.

Emhyr doesn’t mention fake Ciri at all, which is so strange to me considering how pivotal she is to the political side of the Nilfgaard plot in the books. Emhyr is either married to her or a widow, and her existence should mean that the real Ciri is nothing but a thorn in his side, not a political piece to be used to his benefit. While it makes sense for Geralt and Yennefer to go after Ciri, since they are her surrogate parents, Emhyr enlisting them to find her can’t make sense with the fake Ciri existing in the world, whether dead or alive.

Fake Ciri Would Have Over-Complicated The Story

But Her Death Could Have Been Expanded

Custom Image by Lee D’Amato

Fake Ciri not featuring in the game does deprive players of an important plot from the books, but with the witch hunting, Wild Hunt, White Frost, Skellige monarch plot, and all the Gwent, there is already so much in the game. Still, had Fake Ciri’s death been made overt, perhaps with Geralt arriving in Nilfgaard shortly after her funeral, a small change could have made it all work. Emhyr would instead enlist Geralt to find Ciri and ensure she stays underground, perhaps as a Witcher in Kaer Morhen, so no one discovers his deception.

This way, everyone believes that Ciri is dead, she has all the freedom in the world, and the plot can still go ahead as planned. The only problem is that the empress ending cannot happen, so some more tweaks will be needed, with Ciri taking the fake one’s place. Perhaps Emhyr tells Geralt that his wife is dead, but the world doesn’t know, and he wants the real Ciri, who was spotted shortly before fake Ciri’s death, to take her place. Ciri’s scar could even be used as evidence of an assassination attempt, and it would keep Cintra’s loyalty.

Ultimately, it doesn’t affect The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt too much for those who have only played the games and don’t have the context of the books. The game can still be enjoyed, and with Ciri becoming a Witcher anyway, in The Witcher 4‘s trailer, it has minimal bearing on the series’ future. Still, some of the political intrigue from the books is lost because the fake Ciri plot was dropped, and the hole left behind required a bit more filling by CD Projekt Red to make sense.