The Witcher: Making sense of the three timelines

There were three storylines running in parallel in The Witcher Season 1. It turns out they were also three different timelines completely.

At first, it looked like the three main storylines in The Witcher Season 1 were running side-by-side. It looked like Geralt was on his own journey to find the “girl in the forest,” while Yennefer learned to control her chaos and Ciri tried to stay one step ahead of those after her. However, within a few episodes, it was clear that these were three different timelines.

It looks like Yennefer’s storyline is the first in terms of time, starting about two decades or so before Geralt’s. We know this because when Geralt is talking to the king who slept with his sister, Yennefer sees the king and his sister as children. Also, in the finale, Yennefer makes a note that she’s lived three lifetimes, suggesting that she’s hundreds of years old.

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Geralt then has the next timeline, which is clear the minute we see him interact with Queen Calanthe. Calanthe comes back from a battle that she talked about to Ciri and her husband and is arranging a wedding for her daughter. We see Geralt help the man cursed to be a hedgehog, seeing the type of loyal and caring man that he can be.

There are some years that pass, which is when Ciri is born and Ciri’s parents are killed. Well, I say parents, but her mom and who she believes his her father. We know that through magic, Geralt is Ciri’s father. She is his Child Surprise.

Geralt, after coming across the djinn, meeting Yennefer, and protecting the dragon egg with Yennefer, heads to the castle to get Ciri. He wants to protect her, knowing that a storm is brewing. Only he can help her, which is clear as the battle at the castle that we saw at the very beginning of The Witcher begins.

Calanthe never let Geralt leave the second time, so he was in the castle when the battle from the pilot episode took place. He was getting out of the prison cell as Ciri was taken away from the castle and managed to escape. Ciri was the girl in the woods that Geralt had to protect.

As Ciri went on her journey of escape, Geralt took down the monsters and saved the merchant. Meanwhile, Yennefer protected the northern kingdom from the soldiers. Ciri and Geralt were united as Yennefer destroyed the soldiers and just disappeared.

And now, it looks like The Witcher Season 2 will be focused on Geralt and Ciri finding Yennefer because it’s clear they are all bound by destiny.

What did you think of the way the three storylines were told? Did you get confused by the timelines at first? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Witcher Season 1 is currently on Netflix with Season 2 coming sometime in 2021.