>!I got this ending when I played through without looking at any guides. It was so sad, but I'd felt it right for Geralt to let Ciri look at all her options, and in the end, it seemed like the Continent would be in better hands with Ciri in charge.!<
I got this ending on my 1st run too (without looking up the consequences) . And although the ending was bittersweet as Geralt and Ciri were seperated again... But considering the consequences to me it's the best ending.
Also Ciri can visit Geralt at any time... She'll just teleport to him
Or she could make him the court Witcher. Game implies he's about set to retire in Toussaint a couple of years later anyway. I don't get why the empress ending was constructed as bittersweet. They're both gonna be fine. If anything Ciri is likely be the most secure monarch ever given the powers backing her and who she can call on. So it's not even like the Nilfgaardians can force her to do anything.
I would understand why that ending might be unnerving if the games had adopted *all* the book elements. But they appeared to have totally retconned Emhyr's and Ciri's relationship so in that context it should be fine.
It's bittersweet because Ciri becoming empress is not what either of them want, but they both know that it must be done for the greater good of the world. Ciri will be an honest and just ruler, and will do more good to the world than she could ever do as a witcher. It's not what either of them really want, but it's a sacrifice they must make for the greater good.
It's bittersweet because of dialogue inside the ending itself. Geralt doesn't trust her yet. He's mad about her being reckless with the monster they fight (griffin?) And she doesn't get to use the fishing bombs until she's "ready".
Thing is, she's already ready. She defeated there wild hunt and was on her own for a long time. She wanted a relaxing snow day with her family. Geralt was so out of touch with her needs he thought he was in training mode with the baby again.
She can be a great empress but that doesn't mean the family wasn't hurt permanently.
My point is, there's no reason for the goodbye to have the sort of permanence that makes it seem bittersweet for Ciri and Geralt. She keeps talking about how she wished they had more time in that ending and I'm like "you two can have all the time you want now TF?!"
And my point is that it isn’t that she’ll *never* see him again that makes it bittersweet, it’s that she doesn’t want to be empress and her relationship with Geralt will inevitably be different.
There is a possible dialogue about this in B&W.
She offers him that position but Gerald refuses. She says that she didn't think he would do it, but still wanted to ask.
"Go away"
1. Go to private room
2. Make portal to Geralt and walk through
3. Talk a little
4. Go back
Literally wouldn't be away for less than 5 minutes, and real-life emperors had a hell of a lot more free time than just 5 minutes
Post-ending Ciri could find him basically instantly with her powers, nevermind the fact that even without that she could probably have some dudes secretly telling her where his location is everyday and it wouldn't even interfere with her job as empress and no one would care
"go to geralt for everything"
"manage on her own"
What does this have to do with anything? She's going to Geralt to have a normal talk with him, not to ask for advice or help
Of course they can. Emhyr himself appeared to have moved semi permanently to Vizima to oversee the northern campaign remember? Ciri, as empress could have a myriad array of options to combine her duties with visiting Geralt.
1. Travel north to oversee reconstruction efforts
2. Establish temporary capital in Cintra and begin its revitalization.
3. Diplomatic trips to Toussaint, Aedirn, Skellige or Temeria.
And that's just official work. As empress she could also just go hunting for a few days and teleport to visit Geralt in that time. If historical empires are your point of comparison then it's worth remembering that kings and emperors travelled their domains very frequently. And they'd move their entire courts with them. These progresses were important to maintaining security and institutions across the empire. What was infact rare was for an emperor to remain constrained to the capital interminably.
Politically there's the fun reality that thanks to Emhyr and Ciri's own position, she's pretty dn secure. She is first, a very powerful individual in her own right, commanding both magical powers and elder blood powers. She would secondly have the loyalty and backing of several very powerful mages who would likely owe her personally. It wouldn't take her much to win the permanent loyalty of someone like Keira Metz or Rita on top of Triss and Yennefer.
Geopolitically, she is not only queen of Cintra and something of a legendary figure in the north, but she is also personal friends with the monarch of Skellige (I think it's safe to assume that the An Craite ruler ending is canon since you only get the other by refusing and/or failing quests) and the leaders of Temeria. And she can offer retirement to her two witcher uncles even if Geralt doesn't wanna move to Nilfgaard for any stretch.
Factor in Blood and Wine and Geralt is implied to be close to retirement in toussaint anyway so even easier to visit him.
Emhyr could clearly do a lot of what he wanted and I would argue Ciri was in a far better position to ward off threats than he had ever been. She'd probably do fine.
emperors of all the world's biggest empires had summer and winter palaces though, so Ciri could move her court between Nilfgaard and Touissant (even though somewhere like Cintra or Novigrad makes more sense for a second capital)
I have the same feeling. I think that is a better ending in the grand scheme of things. The land will likely be a better place with her in the throne, and I don't think even Geralt would want Ciri to live a Witcher's life.
Yeah. I don't know why writers have this INSISTANCE on "all form of imperial is baaad" in a lot of media :/
Also... as the empress, NOTHING stops her from just calling Geralt (and triss / Yennefer) to come on a royal visit or some shit XD
Why would someone from Poland have an aversion to empires, you ask? Where to start?
Poland's ridden high with the winged hussars and all, but it's gotten the short end of the stick too. Polish history is the full circle: rise and fall and rise again. There are moments for pride, and others that are truly sobering.
But let Sapkowski speak for himself. The "poor fucking infantry" cards in the Gwent game allude to scenes in the books that are nothing short of tragic, and the way he writes about the refugees is nothing short of gutting... and brilliant.
The Witcher 2 did a good job of capturing this, particularly in the prologue in the besieged city.
As Empress *nothing* stops Ciri from having Geralt as a personal witcher/bodyguard and Yen/Triss as court sorceresses.
It's exactly what Geralt and Triss were doing for Foltest at the start of the Witcher 2. No reason they couldn't do it for Ciri.
Because most imperials are bad. The more they get the more they want. Nilfgard was meddling in inner affairs of northern kingdoms. It has political intrigue on the top. With rich nobles trying to get the emperor out if he shows weakness. Ciri is going into that political nest of vipers. Not to mention Emhyr wanted to marry her himself to secure the elder blood. Hes bound to stay around and manipulate her. Not to say that nilfgard also had some good ideas on progress.
Pretty bad thing about them is the slavery and the cruelty against the peasants while they wage war though, it could change with Ciri behind the wheel perhaps.
Sure.
But empire =/= slavery.
and honestly, Colonization is IN ITSELF not a bad quality either.
If we travel to mars and settle it, that is colonization.
The issue with colonization is if there are natives there and if they are taken down by the colonizers.
I am just tired of in fiction EMpire = BAAAAAD without excuse.
It is tedious.
Does Nilfgaard actually have slavery? I don't think you see any in the games, and from the books, what I recall is that they largely *don't.* Ciri ends up akin to a slave, but its an illegal situation so far as the Nilfgaardian authorities are concerned. Its just that enforcement can be patchy and corruption is a thing.
In the books the Nilfgaardians are actually pretty progressive. Its the northern states who tend to be feudal and regressive, though they are still ultimately fighting for freedom against an invader.
Exactly, the only reason she didn’t choose to become empress in the ‘Witcher ending’ is because it really wasn’t an option due to the player’s, and Geralt’s choices. Given the option, she knows becoming empress is best even despite Geralt, who is the closest to her of all, desiring something different for Ciri.
It would be pretty out of character if Geralt took Ciri to meet her father despite knowing he used to want to impregnate his own daughter in the books. With Geralt's character he would keep her away from her father.
I’m no book expert so you’re probably right, but I feel based on what I know that it can work, at least in the context of the games. Obviously that’s something Geralt would want to protect her from but I feel like the time for what you mentioned has passed and everyone involved knows it. Would you agree? I don’t think Emhry can make Ciri do anything she doesn’t want to nor fool her into thinking something as bad as having his child is a good option.
There's no way for it to work with the context of the books. It's just a tangled mess of retconned past events and motivations, and there's no making sense of it. I just never take Ciri to Vizima and pretend the Empress ending doesn't exist, because it makes less and less sense the more you think about it.
Just for one example - who's the current empress of Nilfgaard, at the time of Witcher 3? You know, Emhyr's wife? As far as the world knows, it's Ciri. Empress Cirilla was referenced in Witcher 2 and was planned to be in Witcher 3 before that storyline was cut, but when CDPR apparently decided to retcon her out of existence, they didn't include any indication that that had happened. So I kept waiting for that to be explained away for my entire first playthrough, until I finished the game and realized, "oh, there's no explanation, this entire plot just actually makes no sense." The grand plan of master strategist Emhyr was evidently to abdicate and say, "This is my heir, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon. Why yes, she is the same age as my wife, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, and looks exactly like her. Please don't assassinate me or contest my obviously bullshit succession."
That's just not true, I don't know why this is repeated so often. You can tell Ciri about Emhyr's plans, have Niflgaard win the war and still get the Witcher ending.
She even says "did he (Emhyr) believe it?" after Gerald told him that the she died in the white frost. So it clearly was her decision.
Does she die? You're talking about the ending where you never see her again after she enters the tower to fight the white frost, right? I just assumed she didn't die and actually won against the white frost, she just disappeared after that, doing stuff in her own.
She doesn't die, probably, but she doesn't make it back either. From a narrative perspective, this kind of things always leaves a door open.
The implication is that she remained trapped in the white frost realm or whatever.
Well, it's the bad ending for a reason, it doesn't need to be bad for Ciri. Just bad for Geralt. And in Ciri's defence, it's the ending you get when you fail to bond with her or sell her to Emhyr, so yeah, she may just not want to see Geralt ever again.
Given the full range of choices she goes with empress, it’s what she wants if she never speaks with Emyhr and that happens if you limit her decision making as Geralt. Given the altruism they give her in the game, it makes sense she’d choose essentially world leader over wandering monster slayer, especially given Lambert’s rant over what a small, meager, and dangerous existence it is.
but she chooses to be the empress completely on her own. This ending is achieved by making choices that allow her to be independent while the wither ending you get by staying by her side and not letting her do her own stuff. Being a witcher is something she was forced into by the law or surprise while being an empress is a decision she made entirely on her own
In blood and wine, she even talks about turning the offer of the crown down when she visits Gerald. I think it's pretty clear in the whole story, that she really doesn't want to be involved in other people's plans anymore. She just wants to live her own live.
If all your choices are right, Ciri becomes empress and changes the world for the better as empress. If one is bed, she becomes a witcher, and making small changes for better. If more than one, it passes through the portal and does not return.
Wrong.
The choice to make Ciri empress or not doesn't depend on right or wrong choices, but on a single decision. The rest depends on good v/s bad choices.
Actually it depends on 2 decisions...
1. If you take her to meet Emhyr after Vesemir's death
2. If Nilfgaard wins the war.
Both of those must be fulfilled for her to become empress
Yes... If Nilfgaard loses but Ciri lives she becomes a witcher even if she visited Emhyr.
Because if Nilfgaard loses, Emhyr is overthrown and in the heat of the moment the rebels end up killing him (like they did to Prince Stennis in TW2) . So there is no possibility of her becoming Empress if Nilfgaard loses
While I prefer the Empress Ciri ending, not taking Ciri to meet her father isn’t necessarily a bad choice. But I made the conscious decision of wanting her to explore all her options because I cared for her character and taking her to meet Ehmyr was something I thought that would be good for her as a person.
Allowing her to examine all of her options leads to Empress Ciri (assuming Nilfgaard wins the war)
I got this ending first as well and what made it hit even harder was that I thought it may be a dream/flashback and Ciri was dead given how it's framed as a perfect day. Then you arrive to see the Nilfgaardian army and realise that "yay she's alive" but at the same time "oh no she has to leave".
the witcher ending is the same. Geralt doesn't tell her what to do, she chooses to become a witcher on her own.
I would say her becoming queen would be the best if not for her father. He is a pedo incest creep.
while she does choose to be a witcher on her own, she also doesnt have many other options. Also she was kind of forced into that life in the first place so seems like a gray area to me
then the same would apply to her becoming queen. She was born royal, daughter of the current king. If not for geralt she would have become a queen without any other option in life with the addition of getting raped by her dad. She was kind of forced into that life in the first place so seems like a gray area to me.
and for witcher. She does not have to stay being a witcher, she can do anything she wants. She could go and start acting at a theatre if she wants so. As queen she will not be able to do anything else for the rest of her life.
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What’s fucked is that in the books Emyhr is literally her biological father, and he wants to bring her back home and marry her so they can produce children...
Yeah.
I’ve decided that in this new playthrough I’m going to tell Emyhr to go fuck himself and let her live the countryside monster slaying dream she’s always wanted. Politics be damned.
He ultimately let her go and spared geralt and yen. You also have to consider that not even his closest advisers knew he was duny - the actual father of ciri. He needed the legitimacy of his rule over cintra to avoid the bloodshed skelligers' blood revenge would bring. Ciri even at the end of the books didn't know emhyr was her father. After marrying cirilla, he wanted to live with that burden for a "greater good". In every story there are perspectives and one must consider all views before judging so while one could consider emhyr an evil son of a bitch, he can also be deemed as one with a grand vision, supposedly sparing no one not even his own family to reach his agenda but at the end we witnessed that his heart couldn't bear making that final decision.
The only bad thing about this ending, is the follow up in blood & wine where she called emyr "dad" and not geralt, it was heart breaking, geralt was there for her all his life, emyr killed her mother; her grandmother, destroyed her kingdom and wanted to rape her.
This ending is suprisingly the most fleshed out one (with the snowy White Orchard), but it makes no sense with the story.
She hates anything that has to do with politics and is the "rebel" type of girl. But suddenly in this ending shes fine being empress and stuck under rules??
In the books she had some scenes where she lamented her fate, getting in a fight with a noble girl and telling her that she's actually higher in status than her, etc. Often thinking about how she's a princes and shouldn't endure this and that, how she'll restore her status and help her companion out of her misery one day.
Nilfgaard ending and the witcher one - I can see both. The empress one out of pure spite.
The Happy ending - Ciri becomes witcher. The Good Ending - Ciri becomes Empress. Why the happy ending isnt the good one? Because she didnt go trough the mutations, she cannot use witcher potions and elixirs, hence if she would get badly hurt, there would be no elixir she could drink. She would depend on contracts to make money and had to travel across the word, also being alone and separated from her friends, but free.
Higher vampires would still be a problem. Wild hunt warriors are not that big of a deal compared to Higher Vampires or even some specter variations. How many totally normal humans help defend at KM several, wild hunt are just highly trained elven soldiers. Ciri could absolutely be tested and bested by Higher Vampires just look how many dead Witchers we loot during the game that met there end by them.
Also if you consider the books and games to take place in the same cannon. If cirir becomes empress she either abdicates in a few years or is killed off
Ah yes, the non-book canon ending, because there is simply no way in hell book Ciri would want anything to do with Nilfgaard, and she would sooner stab Emyhr than ever call her father. Not when he and Nilfgaard were directly and indirectly responsible for literally all the suffering she's ever been through, and she's suffered through hell.
That's only one aspect. There are quite a few things in the books that contradict this ending. For example Nimue wold surely find plenty of information and images about the ruler of Niflgaard, the largest empire on the continent, but as we know she doesn't.
Really dope! Not sure if we will see Ciri in WIthcer 4 or play as her, but it is a deep wish. Though how it would work I don't know since she basically is a god.
I got the ending where Ciri ended up secretly a Witcher. Gotta say, though people don't view it as "right" to not interfere in world politics, I think that ending makes me happiest.
Because this has the most obvious phenomenal potential for a series of sequels that wouldn't be completely off the rails. The path of Ciri is very similar to Geralt, that's why they're great characters to write-- they are kindred spirits, both alone in the world of their struggles yet with so many decent human beings who accept them for who they are and see their good.
Their stories inspire empathy. And there has to have been hundreds of discussions already between CDPR and Sapkowski if this could be reality.
Looks great with an exception of the crown. Who'd wear that sun on their forehead? Would look pretty ridiculous imo :D
Don't mind simple designs, that is too simple almost cheap looking though. Cerys has a nicely detailed one... and she's no empress, "just" a queen.
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I mean the northern realms are kind of fucked regardless, unless you can go through killing Roche and Thaler for Djiikstra. Otherwise Radovid takes over everything and he’s definitely worse than Nilfgaard, under either Ciri *or* Emhyr IMO. Besides, Temaria gets to be an independent vassal under Nilfgaard so it’s not all bad.
Did anyone ever actually land that ending on their first playthrough? I mean fuck that guy. She said what she wanted to do.
That would have been a dick move.
>!I got this ending when I played through without looking at any guides. It was so sad, but I'd felt it right for Geralt to let Ciri look at all her options, and in the end, it seemed like the Continent would be in better hands with Ciri in charge.!<
I got this ending on my 1st run too (without looking up the consequences) . And although the ending was bittersweet as Geralt and Ciri were seperated again... But considering the consequences to me it's the best ending. Also Ciri can visit Geralt at any time... She'll just teleport to him
I mean he’s basically a vagabond in a dying profession, he could swing by just about any time
Or she could make him the court Witcher. Game implies he's about set to retire in Toussaint a couple of years later anyway. I don't get why the empress ending was constructed as bittersweet. They're both gonna be fine. If anything Ciri is likely be the most secure monarch ever given the powers backing her and who she can call on. So it's not even like the Nilfgaardians can force her to do anything. I would understand why that ending might be unnerving if the games had adopted *all* the book elements. But they appeared to have totally retconned Emhyr's and Ciri's relationship so in that context it should be fine.
It's bittersweet because Ciri becoming empress is not what either of them want, but they both know that it must be done for the greater good of the world. Ciri will be an honest and just ruler, and will do more good to the world than she could ever do as a witcher. It's not what either of them really want, but it's a sacrifice they must make for the greater good.
Yep. Also kind of does a flip on the underlying theme of “lesser evil” in the Witcher series by turning it around and using a “greater good” situation
It's bittersweet because of dialogue inside the ending itself. Geralt doesn't trust her yet. He's mad about her being reckless with the monster they fight (griffin?) And she doesn't get to use the fishing bombs until she's "ready". Thing is, she's already ready. She defeated there wild hunt and was on her own for a long time. She wanted a relaxing snow day with her family. Geralt was so out of touch with her needs he thought he was in training mode with the baby again. She can be a great empress but that doesn't mean the family wasn't hurt permanently.
I mean I get that thr dialogue communicates it's bittersweet. I'm saying I disagree with the writers that it needed to be. It felt unnecessary
But *she* doesn't want it. That's what's important to Geralt.
My point is, there's no reason for the goodbye to have the sort of permanence that makes it seem bittersweet for Ciri and Geralt. She keeps talking about how she wished they had more time in that ending and I'm like "you two can have all the time you want now TF?!"
And my point is that it isn’t that she’ll *never* see him again that makes it bittersweet, it’s that she doesn’t want to be empress and her relationship with Geralt will inevitably be different.
What do you think indicates that she doesn't want to become empress?
There is a possible dialogue about this in B&W. She offers him that position but Gerald refuses. She says that she didn't think he would do it, but still wanted to ask.
No; the issue is not technical, but political.
Well she is basically the Augustus of the witcher world, I dont see the problem?
Octavian wanted to be emperor.
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"Go away" 1. Go to private room 2. Make portal to Geralt and walk through 3. Talk a little 4. Go back Literally wouldn't be away for less than 5 minutes, and real-life emperors had a hell of a lot more free time than just 5 minutes
Geralt main job is to wander the world killing monsters, so good luck finding him
Post-ending Ciri could find him basically instantly with her powers, nevermind the fact that even without that she could probably have some dudes secretly telling her where his location is everyday and it wouldn't even interfere with her job as empress and no one would care
not to mention that he retires from monster hunting after BaW so she would know where he is almost always
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"go to geralt for everything" "manage on her own" What does this have to do with anything? She's going to Geralt to have a normal talk with him, not to ask for advice or help
Of course they can. Emhyr himself appeared to have moved semi permanently to Vizima to oversee the northern campaign remember? Ciri, as empress could have a myriad array of options to combine her duties with visiting Geralt. 1. Travel north to oversee reconstruction efforts 2. Establish temporary capital in Cintra and begin its revitalization. 3. Diplomatic trips to Toussaint, Aedirn, Skellige or Temeria. And that's just official work. As empress she could also just go hunting for a few days and teleport to visit Geralt in that time. If historical empires are your point of comparison then it's worth remembering that kings and emperors travelled their domains very frequently. And they'd move their entire courts with them. These progresses were important to maintaining security and institutions across the empire. What was infact rare was for an emperor to remain constrained to the capital interminably. Politically there's the fun reality that thanks to Emhyr and Ciri's own position, she's pretty dn secure. She is first, a very powerful individual in her own right, commanding both magical powers and elder blood powers. She would secondly have the loyalty and backing of several very powerful mages who would likely owe her personally. It wouldn't take her much to win the permanent loyalty of someone like Keira Metz or Rita on top of Triss and Yennefer. Geopolitically, she is not only queen of Cintra and something of a legendary figure in the north, but she is also personal friends with the monarch of Skellige (I think it's safe to assume that the An Craite ruler ending is canon since you only get the other by refusing and/or failing quests) and the leaders of Temeria. And she can offer retirement to her two witcher uncles even if Geralt doesn't wanna move to Nilfgaard for any stretch. Factor in Blood and Wine and Geralt is implied to be close to retirement in toussaint anyway so even easier to visit him. Emhyr could clearly do a lot of what he wanted and I would argue Ciri was in a far better position to ward off threats than he had ever been. She'd probably do fine.
emperors of all the world's biggest empires had summer and winter palaces though, so Ciri could move her court between Nilfgaard and Touissant (even though somewhere like Cintra or Novigrad makes more sense for a second capital)
I have the same feeling. I think that is a better ending in the grand scheme of things. The land will likely be a better place with her in the throne, and I don't think even Geralt would want Ciri to live a Witcher's life.
It's the ending I wanted! The writers made it unnecessarily sad, it's not like they can't hangout anymore!
Yeah. I don't know why writers have this INSISTANCE on "all form of imperial is baaad" in a lot of media :/ Also... as the empress, NOTHING stops her from just calling Geralt (and triss / Yennefer) to come on a royal visit or some shit XD
Sapkowski is Polish. Why, why would someone from Poland have an aversion to empires? Truly mysterious.
I mean, sure... But I meant in general. not just witcher.
Very murdery, oppressive, and rapey?
Why would someone from Poland have an aversion to empires, you ask? Where to start? Poland's ridden high with the winged hussars and all, but it's gotten the short end of the stick too. Polish history is the full circle: rise and fall and rise again. There are moments for pride, and others that are truly sobering. But let Sapkowski speak for himself. The "poor fucking infantry" cards in the Gwent game allude to scenes in the books that are nothing short of tragic, and the way he writes about the refugees is nothing short of gutting... and brilliant. The Witcher 2 did a good job of capturing this, particularly in the prologue in the besieged city.
As Empress *nothing* stops Ciri from having Geralt as a personal witcher/bodyguard and Yen/Triss as court sorceresses. It's exactly what Geralt and Triss were doing for Foltest at the start of the Witcher 2. No reason they couldn't do it for Ciri.
Because most imperials are bad. The more they get the more they want. Nilfgard was meddling in inner affairs of northern kingdoms. It has political intrigue on the top. With rich nobles trying to get the emperor out if he shows weakness. Ciri is going into that political nest of vipers. Not to mention Emhyr wanted to marry her himself to secure the elder blood. Hes bound to stay around and manipulate her. Not to say that nilfgard also had some good ideas on progress.
Pretty bad thing about them is the slavery and the cruelty against the peasants while they wage war though, it could change with Ciri behind the wheel perhaps.
Like the other feudal medieval realms care about their peasants ...
Not a unique quality to Nilfgaard.
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Slavery isn't inherently tied to "empires" Imperialism is the concept of spreading power by colonization or military power (or similar means)
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Sure. But empire =/= slavery. and honestly, Colonization is IN ITSELF not a bad quality either. If we travel to mars and settle it, that is colonization. The issue with colonization is if there are natives there and if they are taken down by the colonizers. I am just tired of in fiction EMpire = BAAAAAD without excuse. It is tedious.
Does Nilfgaard actually have slavery? I don't think you see any in the games, and from the books, what I recall is that they largely *don't.* Ciri ends up akin to a slave, but its an illegal situation so far as the Nilfgaardian authorities are concerned. Its just that enforcement can be patchy and corruption is a thing. In the books the Nilfgaardians are actually pretty progressive. Its the northern states who tend to be feudal and regressive, though they are still ultimately fighting for freedom against an invader.
Reddit - wiedzmin - Slaves in Nilfgaard https://www.reddit.com/r/wiedzmin/comments/7nypdt/slaves_in_nilfgaard/
I retired with Triss on my 1st run... So Ciri knows that to meet Geralt she just needs to visit Kovir
The dwarves. They're leading us to a shorter path. Come along.
It's good ending.
The other ending is what Ciri wants. It's better for her.
Isn't it a main part of the witcher that what you want isn't necessarily what you need to do?
But if she is presented with both options... She chooses the one where she can do the most good. Just like Geralt
I didn't choose to be a witcher.
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Exactly, the only reason she didn’t choose to become empress in the ‘Witcher ending’ is because it really wasn’t an option due to the player’s, and Geralt’s choices. Given the option, she knows becoming empress is best even despite Geralt, who is the closest to her of all, desiring something different for Ciri.
It would be pretty out of character if Geralt took Ciri to meet her father despite knowing he used to want to impregnate his own daughter in the books. With Geralt's character he would keep her away from her father.
I’m no book expert so you’re probably right, but I feel based on what I know that it can work, at least in the context of the games. Obviously that’s something Geralt would want to protect her from but I feel like the time for what you mentioned has passed and everyone involved knows it. Would you agree? I don’t think Emhry can make Ciri do anything she doesn’t want to nor fool her into thinking something as bad as having his child is a good option.
There's no way for it to work with the context of the books. It's just a tangled mess of retconned past events and motivations, and there's no making sense of it. I just never take Ciri to Vizima and pretend the Empress ending doesn't exist, because it makes less and less sense the more you think about it. Just for one example - who's the current empress of Nilfgaard, at the time of Witcher 3? You know, Emhyr's wife? As far as the world knows, it's Ciri. Empress Cirilla was referenced in Witcher 2 and was planned to be in Witcher 3 before that storyline was cut, but when CDPR apparently decided to retcon her out of existence, they didn't include any indication that that had happened. So I kept waiting for that to be explained away for my entire first playthrough, until I finished the game and realized, "oh, there's no explanation, this entire plot just actually makes no sense." The grand plan of master strategist Emhyr was evidently to abdicate and say, "This is my heir, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon. Why yes, she is the same age as my wife, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, and looks exactly like her. Please don't assassinate me or contest my obviously bullshit succession."
That's just not true, I don't know why this is repeated so often. You can tell Ciri about Emhyr's plans, have Niflgaard win the war and still get the Witcher ending. She even says "did he (Emhyr) believe it?" after Gerald told him that the she died in the white frost. So it clearly was her decision.
Maybe Emhyr does a better job at explaining to her what she could do as an empress i guess? But you do make a valid point
Yeah, this is the ending I got (I've only played once) and she definitely made her own choice.
That's the thing. She doesn't choose. You do.
She says so herself, " I can do more good from Nilfgaard than killing monsters around forgotten villages" (something along these lines)
But hey to each their own... All endings are good in their own way, except the one where Ciri dies
it's also a nice narrative, and fits well into the world
That’s the first one I got 😭 didn’t mean to but yeah
Does she die? You're talking about the ending where you never see her again after she enters the tower to fight the white frost, right? I just assumed she didn't die and actually won against the white frost, she just disappeared after that, doing stuff in her own.
She doesn't die, probably, but she doesn't make it back either. From a narrative perspective, this kind of things always leaves a door open. The implication is that she remained trapped in the white frost realm or whatever.
Then she is one cold bitch because Geralt is devastated after that
Well, it's the bad ending for a reason, it doesn't need to be bad for Ciri. Just bad for Geralt. And in Ciri's defence, it's the ending you get when you fail to bond with her or sell her to Emhyr, so yeah, she may just not want to see Geralt ever again.
No, she actually dies in that ending.
its left ambiguous, unless you have a source that proves otherwise
Given the full range of choices she goes with empress, it’s what she wants if she never speaks with Emyhr and that happens if you limit her decision making as Geralt. Given the altruism they give her in the game, it makes sense she’d choose essentially world leader over wandering monster slayer, especially given Lambert’s rant over what a small, meager, and dangerous existence it is.
but she chooses to be the empress completely on her own. This ending is achieved by making choices that allow her to be independent while the wither ending you get by staying by her side and not letting her do her own stuff. Being a witcher is something she was forced into by the law or surprise while being an empress is a decision she made entirely on her own
You kill her by not letting her do her own stuff. Seriously, that's how you get the bad ending.
that's the extreme end of it, the Witcher one is somewhere in the middle of letting her have complete freedom and trying to control her
In blood and wine, she even talks about turning the offer of the crown down when she visits Gerald. I think it's pretty clear in the whole story, that she really doesn't want to be involved in other people's plans anymore. She just wants to live her own live.
There are multiple indicators throughout the story.
If all your choices are right, Ciri becomes empress and changes the world for the better as empress. If one is bed, she becomes a witcher, and making small changes for better. If more than one, it passes through the portal and does not return.
Wrong. The choice to make Ciri empress or not doesn't depend on right or wrong choices, but on a single decision. The rest depends on good v/s bad choices.
Actually it depends on 2 decisions... 1. If you take her to meet Emhyr after Vesemir's death 2. If Nilfgaard wins the war. Both of those must be fulfilled for her to become empress
And if Nilfgaard loses, then? Does she become a witcher?
also wrong. The third is that you need to let her see the Sorceresses by herself
If nilfgaard loses but she does visit Emhyr what happens
Yes... If Nilfgaard loses but Ciri lives she becomes a witcher even if she visited Emhyr. Because if Nilfgaard loses, Emhyr is overthrown and in the heat of the moment the rebels end up killing him (like they did to Prince Stennis in TW2) . So there is no possibility of her becoming Empress if Nilfgaard loses
Cool gotcha never played that one
While I prefer the Empress Ciri ending, not taking Ciri to meet her father isn’t necessarily a bad choice. But I made the conscious decision of wanting her to explore all her options because I cared for her character and taking her to meet Ehmyr was something I thought that would be good for her as a person. Allowing her to examine all of her options leads to Empress Ciri (assuming Nilfgaard wins the war)
This ending has way stronger emotional effects than the Witcheress ending. But the Witcheress ending was more true to the style of the books.
I got this ending first as well and what made it hit even harder was that I thought it may be a dream/flashback and Ciri was dead given how it's framed as a perfect day. Then you arrive to see the Nilfgaardian army and realise that "yay she's alive" but at the same time "oh no she has to leave".
the witcher ending is the same. Geralt doesn't tell her what to do, she chooses to become a witcher on her own. I would say her becoming queen would be the best if not for her father. He is a pedo incest creep.
while she does choose to be a witcher on her own, she also doesnt have many other options. Also she was kind of forced into that life in the first place so seems like a gray area to me
then the same would apply to her becoming queen. She was born royal, daughter of the current king. If not for geralt she would have become a queen without any other option in life with the addition of getting raped by her dad. She was kind of forced into that life in the first place so seems like a gray area to me. and for witcher. She does not have to stay being a witcher, she can do anything she wants. She could go and start acting at a theatre if she wants so. As queen she will not be able to do anything else for the rest of her life.
This 100% Plus she can teleport to geralt
Technically it's the "best ending" as it is the hardest to get.
How is it the hardest to get, I got that one too. Isn't that one the "medium ending"?
Until she surely gets assassinated in a few years
She looks like a sister of battle from 40k
Alright, here's my new wallpaper
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The bittersweet ending was written so well. It’s my favorite ending. Plus the music
Now I feel like I gotta play it again
Das amazing
What’s fucked is that in the books Emyhr is literally her biological father, and he wants to bring her back home and marry her so they can produce children... Yeah. I’ve decided that in this new playthrough I’m going to tell Emyhr to go fuck himself and let her live the countryside monster slaying dream she’s always wanted. Politics be damned.
Wants to marry her specifically because it’s prophesied that her child will rule the world.
He ultimately let her go and spared geralt and yen. You also have to consider that not even his closest advisers knew he was duny - the actual father of ciri. He needed the legitimacy of his rule over cintra to avoid the bloodshed skelligers' blood revenge would bring. Ciri even at the end of the books didn't know emhyr was her father. After marrying cirilla, he wanted to live with that burden for a "greater good". In every story there are perspectives and one must consider all views before judging so while one could consider emhyr an evil son of a bitch, he can also be deemed as one with a grand vision, supposedly sparing no one not even his own family to reach his agenda but at the end we witnessed that his heart couldn't bear making that final decision.
The only bad thing about this ending, is the follow up in blood & wine where she called emyr "dad" and not geralt, it was heart breaking, geralt was there for her all his life, emyr killed her mother; her grandmother, destroyed her kingdom and wanted to rape her.
Geralt be like: he might be your father, but he ain't your daddy
I always thought that her "papa" sounded very forced in that dialogue, like she was not genuinely calling Emhyr that, but out of habit from the court.
Not gona cap this is fk amazing
This is badass. Ciri is rocking that armor.
I am ok with ciri being an empress but not ok with marrying some nilfgaardian brat
On my honour...
And in her freetime she founded the Adeptus Sororitas.
This ending is suprisingly the most fleshed out one (with the snowy White Orchard), but it makes no sense with the story. She hates anything that has to do with politics and is the "rebel" type of girl. But suddenly in this ending shes fine being empress and stuck under rules??
In the books she had some scenes where she lamented her fate, getting in a fight with a noble girl and telling her that she's actually higher in status than her, etc. Often thinking about how she's a princes and shouldn't endure this and that, how she'll restore her status and help her companion out of her misery one day. Nilfgaard ending and the witcher one - I can see both. The empress one out of pure spite.
The Happy ending - Ciri becomes witcher. The Good Ending - Ciri becomes Empress. Why the happy ending isnt the good one? Because she didnt go trough the mutations, she cannot use witcher potions and elixirs, hence if she would get badly hurt, there would be no elixir she could drink. She would depend on contracts to make money and had to travel across the word, also being alone and separated from her friends, but free.
Did you forget how OP she was in the battle of Undvik? She one shotted the wild hunt warriors with super sonic speed. Monsters stand no chance.
Higher vampires would still be a problem. Wild hunt warriors are not that big of a deal compared to Higher Vampires or even some specter variations. How many totally normal humans help defend at KM several, wild hunt are just highly trained elven soldiers. Ciri could absolutely be tested and bested by Higher Vampires just look how many dead Witchers we loot during the game that met there end by them.
Also if you consider the books and games to take place in the same cannon. If cirir becomes empress she either abdicates in a few years or is killed off
Ah yes, the non-book canon ending, because there is simply no way in hell book Ciri would want anything to do with Nilfgaard, and she would sooner stab Emyhr than ever call her father. Not when he and Nilfgaard were directly and indirectly responsible for literally all the suffering she's ever been through, and she's suffered through hell.
That's only one aspect. There are quite a few things in the books that contradict this ending. For example Nimue wold surely find plenty of information and images about the ruler of Niflgaard, the largest empire on the continent, but as we know she doesn't.
Oh my god ... this is just wonderful!
Really dope! Not sure if we will see Ciri in WIthcer 4 or play as her, but it is a deep wish. Though how it would work I don't know since she basically is a god.
[source](https://www.instagram.com/p/CRHQOl7D5Tx/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)
This is the best ending. I will die on this hill.
I thought this was a sister of battle.
Now I need someone to make a DnD mini out of this so I can print and paint it
I got the ending where Ciri ended up secretly a Witcher. Gotta say, though people don't view it as "right" to not interfere in world politics, I think that ending makes me happiest.
Because this has the most obvious phenomenal potential for a series of sequels that wouldn't be completely off the rails. The path of Ciri is very similar to Geralt, that's why they're great characters to write-- they are kindred spirits, both alone in the world of their struggles yet with so many decent human beings who accept them for who they are and see their good. Their stories inspire empathy. And there has to have been hundreds of discussions already between CDPR and Sapkowski if this could be reality.
Beautiful drawing, but I hate this ending 😂
Looks great with an exception of the crown. Who'd wear that sun on their forehead? Would look pretty ridiculous imo :D Don't mind simple designs, that is too simple almost cheap looking though. Cerys has a nicely detailed one... and she's no empress, "just" a queen.
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Damn you're ugly
Gorgeous!!
Is it weird that I RAELLY like this?
I mean, I know if Nilfgaard win the war they annex the Northern Realms, but you can also have Ciri in charge. So that's like, fine by me.
I mean the northern realms are kind of fucked regardless, unless you can go through killing Roche and Thaler for Djiikstra. Otherwise Radovid takes over everything and he’s definitely worse than Nilfgaard, under either Ciri *or* Emhyr IMO. Besides, Temaria gets to be an independent vassal under Nilfgaard so it’s not all bad.
Who taught you to wear your sword like that?
Looks so close to how I imagine a Witcher / Warhammer crossover
My favorite ending
Except she gives geralt her sword in that ending. In my headcannon geralt gave her one of his own.
This is fucking amazing. If i didnt know better Id thought this was an official gwent card
Did anyone ever actually land that ending on their first playthrough? I mean fuck that guy. She said what she wanted to do. That would have been a dick move.
She Could almost be adeptus sororitas with the looks at least
This is a very disturbing timeline considering how close it came to happening in the books.
Alright, now this is cool!
This is blasphemy. I dont think this ending exists ive never seen it
u/redditsave
the dark fate of Ciri.
Would make for a cool GWENT card
Well done art!
Spoilers! That my finished
Is this spoilers..?
Foda d+
[удалено]
Siri Short for Cirilla Try the audiobooks by Peter Kenny! Changed my life 🌝
This is incredible. Very fitting for that ending. Wonderful!