The Witcher Season 2: What You Need To Know About Season 1 To Watch It

The witcher Season 2 kicks off this Friday, December 17th, and it’s been about a lifetime since we last saw Geralt in Season 1. The two years between now and The witcher first debuted on Netflix have brought an animated origin story, a a lot from other television and a global pandemic, so we forgive you if it feels like the schedules are a little mixed up.

But season 2 leaves viewers right back on The Continent and in the middle of a major social upheaval. Knowing that not everyone has time to catch up, this is what happened to Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, Roach, Fringilla, and the other characters in Season 1 that you need to keep an eye on in Season 2.

[Ed. note: As you might have surmised, this post contains full spoilers for season 1 of The Witcher.]

What happened to geralt?

Photo: Katalin Vermes / Netflix

For a few hundred years in the universe, Geralt spent most of the first season getting hired to help out magical events on the continent. Through his work, he met Jaskier (who turned Geralt’s story into a certified blast both inside and outside the show) and Yennefer, a powerful magician he fell in love with. He’s also accidentally signed up for the children’s surprise Cirilla, the Princess of Cintra.

At the end of the season, Geralt is no longer so interested in his growing legend as he is in helping Ciri escape Cintra. Unfortunately, he is thrown in jail until the city is attacked. He misses Ciri in the hustle and bustle and escapes alone with Roach.

When Geralt is wounded by a stray monster in the season finale, his vague delusions give us the rough lines of his backstory: His mother, a sorceress named Vissena, left him on the doorstep of a man named Vesemir, who turned him into a witcher. He was one of the three (out of 10) boys who survived the trial.

Where we left Yennefer

Photo: Katalin Vermes / Netflix

Yennefer’s Season 1 was about power – the acquisition, control, and rewards of it. Born a hunchbacked woman, Yennefer was never taken seriously by those around her. When she discovered her magical powers, she quickly rose to join the ranks of the Aretuza School of Sorcerers. She is originally assigned to serve the king in Nilfgaard, but is assigned to Aedrin and eventually sets off on her own. Most of all, she wants a baby, which is practically impossible for sorceresses.

Eventually she met Geralt and began a couple of years of romance with it. But Yennefer leaves after finding out that her devotion may have been caused by Geralt’s wish for a jinn.

She returns to join the mages who have gathered to figure out how to deal with Nilfgaard’s growing military presence after attacking Cintra. This leads to the Battle of Sodden Hill, the narrowest part of the Yaruga River and the area that lies between Nilfgaard’s army and the north.

On Tissaia’s advice, Yen saves her mayhem until things look the worst before she lets all her power pour out into fire magic. Of course, conjuring fire takes a terrible toll on any mage who uses it. And after the earth is scorched and Nilfgaard is on the retreat, neither Tissaia nor Geralt (in his mist after the wound) can find Yen nowhere.

How Ciri comes to Geralt

While Geralt can’t find Yennefer, his call reaches Cirilla, who wields some strange powers during season one. While her grandmother is hinting at a secret, Ciri only sees the forces in action after Cintra’s fall: during an attack on her escape, her panicked screams set glasses in motion and crumble a monolith.

A separate attack later in the season puts Ciri in a trance. She gives a speech heralding the end of the world, then the power explodes from her, pushing back her attackers and flattening the grass beneath them. Not too long later she finally meets Geralt; the two instinctively hug each other before Ciri asks: “Who is Yennefer?”

Where fringilla and the Nilfgaardian armed forces fit in with it

Photo: Katalin Vermes / Netflix

Fringilla could have used a little more arc on her story in Season 1, but here are the highlights: She was initially the most talented student at Aretuza Academy before being outdone by Yennefer. Yen steals Fringilla’s post as a magician for Aedirn, which means that Fringilla will ship to Nilfgaard.

Which in the end is what she prefers to spend most of the first season devotedly following the will of Nilfgaard’s leader “The White Flame”. Together with Cahir, the Black Knight, she is looking for Ciri and hopes to spread the supremacy of the White Flame across the continent. Unfortunately for both of them, Season 1 leaves them at the Battle of Sodden Hill, separating Cahir and Fringilla thanks to Yen’s firepower.

The witcher Season 2 kicks off on Netflix on December 17th.