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revoevokukil · 21 days

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When we talk about Ciri, we don't talk much about her own latent ability to see/predict the future, and what it could imply. It's Sunday morning; time for a tea cup theory sesh.

So, coming off Dune - a clear influence on some storylines and characters in the Witcher - could Ciri's capacity for prescience (foresight, prophecy, visions) have blocked her choices and actions from being accurately predicted and seen by someone like Avallac'h who - as an Aen Saevherne - otherwise has abilities almost identical to Kwisatz Haderach?

Was Ciri's escape from Tir ná Lia a certainty or a probability?

It's noted in Dune, how prescients are more or less blind to the movements of other figures with foresight, because people with oracular powers act on the information from the future and actively alter the future this way (disrupting the ability of other prescients to accurately predict the future). They stand "outside" the vision in lieu of an inherent ability to introduce variance in it.

A clairvoyant can't even necessarily see the definite future, but they can see Time so totally (the "when" is not a place), all its possibilities included, that they can create the future; matching, at that, with their goals. They are like ultra-heavy bodies in a field, warping it around themselves. However, if there are those standing outside of the vision, then dictating the future is not entirely possible, for there will always be unknown agentic elements that can turn the tides.

Ciri would be such an element in Avallac'h's and the prescient elves' prophecies and vision of time eternal.

I am pointing to this lore crossover, because let's face it, the Bene Gesserit and later Leto II's breeding programmes are exactly the kind of thing that was done in regard to Hen Ichaer, the Elder Blood, among elves. Breed prescient beings capable of seeing the past, present, and future (i.e. time total; the now) AND moving themselves in time and space (that's the Aen Saevherne) AND from time to time get a Chosen One for whom it's possible to open the Great Gate of Time (that's Lara's would-be child or Ciri's children). Secondly, Ciri, the child of destiny and hope, is so because of a kind of 'uncertainty field' that surrounds her -> she is, arguably, the most agentic, free will-questing character in the tale. The story ends up being about (ensuring) her ability to choose - to doom, to save, to act as she wills regardless of her parentage, powerful actors' manipulations, or the world's expectations.

(Sure, The Witcher is reeeeeaalllly loose with its causal structure (things go the way they go because magic aka "the will of the author, who plays within folklore tropes and story analogues", mostly); it has nothing on Dune in this regard. We can have a classical mechanics Ciri, a quantum-Ciri, or a magical/literary-Ciri. But the ambiguity allows for crossover-theories like this one, so that's fine by me.)

At Tir ná Lia, Ciri has visions of a future where things unfold without her interference: Yennefer drowns, Geralt freezes to death. It's not conscious foretelling, it's inherent to her thanks to her genes. Genes of elven Sages, who see past, present & future - total time.

Considering the aim of the Golden Path then, an analogy: one hypothetical result of the mutations introduced into Elder Blood via mixing human genes with elven ones results in Laplace's demons (Sages) creating a mutation in their own genotype down the road that even the demons themselves can no longer predict.

Making Ciri a Child of Hope in the sense of a truly free, indeterminant wild card, the nature of whom enables uncertainty in the outcomes of the fates of others connected to her choices. Because she herself remains elusive to actors who've a hand in tracing the blueprint of the universe, an act which in itself creates a future that cannot be avoided. The mutant Ciri is a genuine child surprise.

"A universe of surprises is what I pray for!" - Leto II

Analogously to Dune, where the end goal of the Golden Path is for humanity to be rendered undetectable by prescient beings and given a chance to survive by remaining outside of the constraints of a deterministic universe. By, what looks like, evolving a free will.

#the witcher #the witcher books #dune #dune books #the witcher x dune #ciri #cirilla fiona elen riannon #elder blood #avallac'h #aen elle #aen saevherne #kwisatz haderach #prescience #bene gesserit #i am having so much fun with conflating dune and the witcher #it's honestly like finding a missing puzzle piece #i am a few steps away from going by the route of unicorns ~ sandworms connection for the lulz #the witcher meta #prescience as the collapse of the wave function?

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wanderingwolfwitcher · 1 year

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So, they would have us believe that the Elven lineage of the Elder Blood, the power to control time and space and give prophecy, apparently originates from the first Trial of the Grasses. You know, that little Witcher creating mutagenic process that has nothing to do with Elder Blood, was created for humans by humans, and sterilizes everyone who endures it.

Netflix caliber writing.

#anti witcher netflix #anti netflix witcher #the witcher #the witcher blood origin #blood origin #elder blood #witchers #trial of the grasses #aen seidhe #aen elle #lauren hissrich #anti lauren hissrich #anti netflix #anti twn #lol

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stromuprisahat · 1 year

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Expectations were low, but Oh My God!

I intended to write down the dialogues that don't make much sense, but then I figured it's no use to copy/paste all the subtitles. There's rarely anything that isn't plain stupid. The Witcher: Blood Origins is amalgam of badly used tropes I've seen thousand times before.

The Elves

Forget the beautiful, graceful humanoids with equally stunning culture. The elves here are dirty, rude and equally pathetic as humans. The only difference is pointy ears. Their architecture is massive and angular, their blades, proverbial elven blades, often look like a total amateur with zero skill forged them out of scraps.

Elves are also morally corrupt. Colonization is a huge issue we won’t learn much about, except they’re just as bad as humans will become in future. Given the context the point seems to be they had it coming... in case you were starting to feel for their race in present time.

REPRESENTATION!!!

Recently I’ve read a post about how little representation is in “source” material. Shocking, isn’t it? Slavic fantasy, heavily inspired by mediaeval Poland doesn’t include POCs (read: Blacks and East-Asians, because I’ve never seen anyone complaining about lack of Native Americans... in pseudoEurope...). The show creators obviously decided to fix that by ticking off the proper boxes.

You’ve got Black elves, East-Asian, gay gay, chubby deaf-mute... well, at least this time the different colours came from distinct nations. If only the stereotypes were avoided.

Tropes and patterns

Soft, slightly feminine gay, gullible disabled, wise older East-Asian mentor, washed out hippie healer, abused genius, forbidden love between protector and his charge, soldier who was done killing untill the enemy wiped out his home, redemption = sacrifice = suicide, two characters arguing about who’s gonna do the sacrificing only for the one, who “lost” to go behind the other one’s back and do it...

... sprinkle some well-known terms and names: chaotic power, Xin'trea, Eredin, Avallac’h... aaand done! Brand new tale from a widely-loved universe is done!

Perhaps try writing less of what could people find cool, and focus on a good story.

Rah, rah-ah-ah-ah!

Four episodes don’t offer much space to develop many characters. Seven good guys, at least four antagonists... personalities, interactions, needless romance... it’s interesting how much can actors express in only so many interactions.

Zacaré and Brother Death are believable.

Meldof and Gwen's story's tragic, but rather sweet in a way. (Tho they could’ve refrained from that rape aspect.)

Éile and Fjall, flat and boring. One of the unsurprising, disappointing turns of events. Zero chemistry. Made to fuck with the sole purpose of making a baby to artificially connect them to Ciri, one of the MCs in the “original” series.

The WITCHER: Blood Origin

You're telling me that the first version of a witcher was a badass elf? This is really gonna piss Geralt off.

One would hope for something different, after all this fuss, but no. First “witcher" is just another butch guy, only with pointy ears.

How do we know the turning potion's ew? It's black!

How do we know he's really WITCHER 1.0? Yellow eyes!

How do we know he’s not quite himself? Black eyes and veins on his face!

I'm sure this improvised ritual had the same effects as carefully honed procedure sorcerers spent decades perfecting...

Fuck the Coup, free The People!

The story starts with a coup, killing off three monarchs with their bodyguards. Corrupt, elitist leadership’s gone, the new rulers- army, magicians and overlooked princess- plan to invade new worlds to gain resources their world’s lacking. Sounds like a decent idea? Our heroes would disagree. The empress needs to be destroyed, because people suffer.

You changed nothing. You're just another boot looking for more necks.

... reproaches the great Éile new empress. When was she supposed to do that? In a week? Change takes time and resources, Merwyn had none. Am I supposed to cheer, because now it's faceless "people" in charge? Do they have knowledge to rule? The skill? Anything? Or are they expected to wing it? Rule isn't about putting new people to the wheel and hope it will all work out. Talk about freedom won't feed you, run trade, economy, agriculture etc..

The worst thing's we know the Empire is crumbling. We know there's no food to redistribute, even the leadership has barely anything and you can't let the head starve if you want to fix anything. Merwyn's unforgivable sin was being born into the ruling class.

- You've no idea what elfkind even is. You're just another spoiled princess.

~ I am Empress!

- You are a child ~given~ the reins of a warhorse. You don't speak for elfkind.

... the writers try to gaslight us. We’re introduced clever, idealistic, inquisitive princess, who wants to help her people. When she’s confronted with reality, she tries to learn more. She goes from her family’s pawn to schemer, who makes allies and plans, frees herself from role of figurehead and reminds others the most important task is to feed their people. That’s a character I’d love to watch. Not a dumb singer, who rallies a mob, destroys government, helps to cause cataclysm and fucks off to countryside.

The Story of the Seven

What did those fame-deserving Seven achieve? Did they solve famine? Did they end war? Did they offer better way to rule? No, no and no.

But they (unintentionally) caused the Conjunction, brought the monsters and humans into weak, starving, disorganized society. The rightfully forgotten Seven effectively crippled their own race and destroyed any chance for defense they might have had.

I don’t know who is Jaskier’s song about, but it’s not about these Seven.

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craybii · 1 year

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I don’t even know who asked for Blood Origin or how it came to be (though I gotta say Merwyn’s dresses are some of the best elven fashion I’ve ever seen in a fantasy show thank you Iris van Herpen) but a Lara Dorren-Cregennan-Falka spin-off with the gorgeous scene-stealer Niamh McCormack from season 2 as the lead... that is my dream come true.

I can’t actually believe they chose a bland, generic idea like BO to make a spin off out of when they had everything with Lara... politics, magic, betrayal, racism, tragic love stories, crazy Redanians, you name it. And let’s not forget the MASSIVE lore screw-up by making Eile, a basic bitch (though the actress is gorgeous & great) Ciri’s earliest ancestor, which... WHAT EVEN? That would make Lara her what... granddaughter? Shiadhal her daughter? Jc, what a shitshow.

Also bonus points if Cregennan is played by THE dilf Ryan bloody Corr, whose stay on HotD as Harwin was too brief. I need more of him in period fantasy shows... this one being one that will probably never happen cause these writers and Netflix are total shit.

I can dream though.

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laurikarauchscat · 6 months

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Adalia

Adalia vibes - windy days. opulence. intrigue and illicit affairs, falconry, subtle sorcery

#the witcher 3 #the witcher #adalia of cintra #adalia the seer #Cintra #calanthe of cintra #Queens of Cintra #elder blood #Laurika's moodboards #making moodboards instead of working

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elderbloodcarrier · 2 years

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The Witcher ⟫ Aen Hen Ichaer / Elder Blood (Known Female Carriers)

A genetic program initiated by elven mages (known as Sages) for the purpose of creating an extraordinarily gifted child whose power would exceed their own. According to the prophecy of the elven diviner Ithlinne, the Child of Elder Blood will one day save the elves from annihilation. However, the last carrier of Aen Hen Ichaer, Lara Dorren aep Shiadhal, bonded with a human instead of an elf, thus shattering all plans regarding her offspring. But yet, it lives on in Lara’s descendants.

Interesting to note, the main elder blood gene only appears in the female line while the male line could only be activators and latent.

#I didn't want to do the whole family tree so I just did the carriers that we know are confirmed #Not the Latent or Activators #Things just kinda weird with Falka involved so yeah....#EDITS ;; Feainnewedd Blooming #VISAGE ;; Lara Dorren #ABOUT ;; The Tragedy of the Elder Blood #RELATIONSHIPS ;; Lara's Descendants #RELATIONSHIPS ;; Lara & Riannon #elder blood #lara dorren #Lara dorren aep shiadhal #cirilla fiona elen riannon #calanthe fiona riannon #pavetta fiona elen #riannon #the witcher lore

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aenhenichaer · 10 months

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It's good, Star-Eye, that you don't like being taken advantage of. That is precisely what concerns us. That is what we want to guarantee to you. To ourselves. And to the whole world. To all worlds. "I don't understand."

You are a dangerous weapon, a fell weapon. We can't allow that weapon to fall into the hands of the Alder King, the Fox or the Sparrowhawk. "Who?" she stammered. "Ah..."

The Alder King is old. But the Fox and the Sparrowhawk cannot seize power over Ard Gaeth, the Gateway to the Worlds. They captured it once. They lost it once. Now they can do nothing more than wander, roam among the worlds taking tiny steps, alone, like specters, powerless. The Fox to Tir na Bea Arianne, the Sparrowhawk and his horsemen around the Spiral. They can go no further, they don't have the strength. Which is why they dream of Ard Gaeth and power. We shall show you, Star-Eye, when you leave here. "I can't leave here. They've put a spell on me. A barrier. Geas Gardah..."

You cannot be imprisoned. You are now Master of the Worlds. "Like hell. I don't have any natural talent, I can't control anything. And I relinquished the Power in the desert, a year ago. Little Horse was a witness."

In the desert you relinquished conjuring. The Power you have in your blood cannot be relinquished. You still have it. We shall teach you how to use it.

"And isn't it, perhaps," she shouted, "that you want to capture that power, this power over the worlds that I reputedly have?" It is not. We do not have to capture that power. For we have always had it.

— Ciri and the Unicorns in Chapter 5 of The Lady of the Lake

#quotes #the witcher #the lady of the lake #aen elle #cirilla fiona elen riannon #avallac'h #eredin bréacc glas #crevan espane aep caomhan macha #the witcher quotes #unicorns #the elder blood #elder blood

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fantasyoftales · 1 year

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#witcher 3 #witcher 3: wild hunt #witcher #fantasy #Cirilla #Ciri #Astrid #cirilla fiona elen riannon #Elder Blood

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mystickingstuff · 9 months

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If the vampires are as trapped in the Continent as the elfs, wouldn't they too pursue Ciri? Like, I know canonically this probably isn't a thing but if in the games that portal is closed and the unseen elder is waiting... I don't know, can't Ciri just open it?

#the witcher: wild hunt #the witcher #vampires #higher vampire #elder blood #hen ichaer

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lazylittledragon · 2 months

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so how about that durge

#tw blood #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #halsin silverbough #the dark urge #durgestarion #if you know the song we can kiss on the mouth #this is ashe he’s a terrible creature #the bardiest bard to ever bard who makes astarion look SUNKISSED #he really said ‘if i have to be murder incarnate i should at least do it with style and panache’#my guy killed an elder brain and several gods in heels and corseted to hell #fun fact: before i played durge. didn't know about the bhaalspawn thing #accidentally made the most bhaalspawn looking fuck i possibly could

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timeladyjamie · 11 months

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Threads of Destiny and Fate - The first 2 chapters are currently up!

Story Summary: Carrier of the Elder Blood. Seagull. Aen Saveherne. Do you know the tale of Lara Dorren? Pairings: Avallac'h/Lara Dorren, Cregennan of Lod/Lara Dorren, Auberon & Lara Tags: The Wild Hunt (The Witcher), Aen Elle (The Witcher), Aen Seidhe (The Witcher), Elves, Worldbuilding, Pre-Canon, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Lore, Origin Story, Elder Blood (The Witcher), Eventual Romance, Tragic Romance, Family Feels, Character Development, We already know how this is going to end but seeing how it begins is fun

This is my origin story for Lara Dorren, exploring her life, how the Elder Blood came to be, and the world of the Aen Elle.

Check out the Prologue for more on the story details!

#lara dorren aep shiadhal #lara dorren #the witcher #the witcher fanfiction #elder blood #the elder blood #avallac’h #auberon muircetach #aen elle #eredin breacc glas #my fanfiction #fanfiction

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revoevokukil · 1 year

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On why TWN's angle on Falka & Lara Dorren in relation to Ciri's arc is pretty weird & misleading.

It overemphasises sticking it to misogyny & forgets that The Witcher deals with the way trauma can make monsters of people & make personal desires lead to monstrous consequences.

As TWN's looking for a money-making premise, saying "Ciri needs to avenge Falka because she was a victim of a witch hunt" is much easier than conveying that Ciri is dealing with severe trauma & is taken in by "friends" who've suffered similarly & also abuse her in similar ways.

As a result, Ciri loses her morals bc it's too tempting to start taking out her rage for being mistreated on everyone around her, including the innocents. If they have not hurt you yet, they will - so hurt them first! This is a trauma response. This is also Falka's legacy.

Further, Falka was not Ciri's ancestor. Making them blood-relatives in earnest & justifying Ciri's turn to the dark with that is at once a dumb simplification & ironic: it sets Ciri on a pre-determined path when the Witcher is ultimately about the choice between violence & love.

Ciri is not "avenging" Falka & Lara in a "you-go-girl" moment. Ciri's path of vengeance is a tragedy. She is trying to avenge herself as a wounded & traumatized person. With the consequences of her deeprooted needs & violent emotions being woeful, just as Lara Dorren's choices & actions were in the grand scheme of things.

Let's talk about Falka. It looks like Falka will be conveyed as a girlboss. Falka was not discriminated against bc she was a woman. Misogyny in her tale is present insofar as Vridank disowned her after having divorced Falka's mother because she was ugly.

Falka when she was wronged was not a "remarkable woman" & her father was not "afraid of her power" - she was 1y old when she was disowned. Her revenge on her father, half-siblings (including Riannon) & Cerro was about being abandoned & her title of Princess ripped away from her.

And Falka's rage at being stripped of her birthright & deprived of all legitimate power is an exact echo of Ciri's own ire. That is why Ciri eventually leaves the Rats - because she cannot stand the thought of an impostor becoming the Empress of Nilfgaard under her name.

Falka's tale as Ciri's is one of a child being deprived of love & parental guidance, of being exposed to violence & how it leads to the picking of monstrous means for dealing with their pain. It's not possession, it's not blood magic. It's the choices of people who are in pain.

The theme of a cycle of violence underlies the lives of Witcher's characters: Geralt's inability to deal w Visenna's abandonment, Yennefer killing her parents, Milva killing her father, etc. Instead TWN is simplifying again: men mistreat women, women get revenge; revenge good! Raar!

The Witcher is pretty clear on revenge not paying off. Revenge consumes & leads to parents & loved ones hanging in the gallows, burned on stakes. That is Falka's story & it's not one about emancipation. It's about how monsters are made.

A fate Geralt tried to protect Ciri from.

A/N: This is a summary of a discord discussion + thoughts in response to the description on the official Netflix website: “[Ciri] is the descendant of Lara Dorren and Falka: fierce, remarkable women who were swallowed up by the men afraid of their power. Women whom Ciri is destined to avenge.“

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If you like my writing, consider buying me a coffee. Thanks! ❤️

#the witcher #twn #anti-twn #ciri #cirilla fiona elen riannon #falka #lara dorren #wiedźmin #the witcher books #the witcher netflix #elder blood

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shapelytimber · 4 months

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Hello stranger and welcome, to my lesbian art master post

Tumblr gifted me a blaze, and I had no idea what to do with it for the longest time. But then it hit me... I could just repost every sapphic art I did in 2023. So enjoy !