“The Witcher” returned to Netflix with season two in December. Building on a strong first season, the second season expanded on the characters’ stories and included some extensive world-building, introducing the witcher stronghold at Kaer Morhen.
Through eight action-filled episodes, the second season “The Witcher” improves heavily on the successes of the first season. As the audience, we are able to see Ciri and Geralt’s relationship grow as they travel together, and she develops into a stronger, more independent character. Throughout the season, she becomes less impulsive and relies less on Geralt. By the end, the story does bring her back to being protected by Geralt in the process of setting up for season three.
Side characters are developed in this season of “The Witcher,” allowing for a richer story without making it feel like you never see certain characters. We see Yennefer escape from capture by the elves and return to the Brotherhood, only to free Cahir and go on the run. Her character arc changes as she realizes that she is defined by more than her magic.
Geralt changes throughout the show, as in the beginning, he is solely focused on protecting Ciri and making sure she is in as little danger as possible. However, he comes to understand throughout their interactions that he can’t just control her and protect her all the time. Eventually, he acknowledges that she has to protect herself and begins to train her with the other witchers.
Ciri’s arc is probably the most significant. In the first season, we saw her rely on others to get out of most of her problems. The second season focuses more on her development, with her learning swordsmanship, training at the witcher obstacle course, and working with Triss to control her magic. The season as a whole seems to be focused largely on her, as well as on her potential.
Another character we meet again is Jaskier. We see Yennefer meet him, singing a song in a tavern. This meeting is about halfway through the season, so we meet him relatively late into the season. He retains his role as the comic relief, with a scene where he bursts out against a shipyard inspector.
Geralt meets both Yennefer and Jaskier later on in the season. Previously, he had believed that Yennefer was dead, while he left Jaskier alone on a mountain. These meetings weren’t as impactful as I had thought they would be, although part of that is probably due to shock, as well as Ciri, breaking up the tension in the room.
Getting to see how Vesemir dealt with Geralt as a child compared to Ciri is also interesting, as well as how he hopes that Ciri will be able to bring back witchers as they are a dying group.
Season three has more emotional moments than the first two, as Geralt and Ciri’s journey focuses more on getting to know each other.
All the characters tie together, with Geralt and Ciri at the center of it all. These relationships help make “The Witcher” a better story and contribute to the second season being better than the first.
