‘The Witcher’ Season 3 Part 1 Ending Explained: Breaking Down that Wild Stregobor & Vilgefortz Twist (2024)

The Witcher Season 3 on Netflix follows the eponymous Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) as he attempts to keep his beloved charge Ciri (Freya Allan) safe. In Season 2, he taught the royal teen how to fight and hunt monsters at the witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen. Now, he’s leaving her with Yennerfer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra) so his on/off girlfriend can teach Ciri sorcery while Geralt hunts down leads on the fire mage Rience (Sam Woolf). While numerous parties covet Ciri for her position and power, Rience seems to pose the greatest threat. Until it’s revealed that Rience is working at the behest of another, more powerful mage.

Over the course of The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1, Geralt discovers that Rience’s master is working on experiments to create his own puppet Ciri. Students with elf blood are being kidnapped from the sorcery school Aretuza right under Tissaia’s (MyAnna Buring) nose. Geralt is able to save one named Teryn (Frances Pooley) who believes she is Ciri until the spell is broken. He then learns that she was being tortured by Rience’s mysterious master and a woman with a strange voice.

The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 ends with Geralt accompanying Yennefer to a ball for the mages ahead of the conclave she has organized. Yennefer might have pitched the event as a way to unite the Brotherhood against the impending conflict against Nilfgaard, but she and Geralt are using it — along with pals Triss Merigold (Anna Shaffer) and Istredd (Royce Pierreson) — to set a trap to prove that Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen) was kidnapping students and controlling Rience. Yennefer and Geralt have such compelling proof of Stregobor’s guilt that the Brotherhood arrests him, but is he really the culprit?

Who is revealed to be the mage controlling Rience in The Witcher Season 3? And what does the final scene mean? And do we see the Wild Hunt again in The Witcher Season 3? Lets make sense of the ending of The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1…

The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 Ending Explained: Who is the Mage Controlling Rience?

Throughout The Witcher Season 2, Ciri and her friends were pursued by an evil fire mage named Rience. That conflict continues in The Witcher Season 3, but with a twist. Magical P.I.s Codringher (Simon Callow) and Fenn (Liz Carr) reveal to Geralt that there is more than meets the eye with Rience and his crazy powerful and dark portals. Rience is the secret pupil of a more established sorcerer. But who has put Rience on this leash?

Well, Geralt and Yennefer and their pals believe it must be Stregobor and they nail him in front of everyone. However, towards the end of The Witcher Season 3 Episode 5 “The Art of the Illusion,” a different candidate emerges. The lovers recall a series of fateful conversations that turn their suspicions towards none other than… Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu). The seemingly nice mage who is shacked up with Tissaia.

Indeed, as we soon learn, it was Vilgefortz. But how did they figure that Vilgefortz twist out?

How Did Geralt and Yennefer Finally Figure Out that Vilgefortz Twist?

Well, I know how I figured out that Vilgefortz was secretly evil: It was spoiled for me on The Witcher wikipedia page.

But besides that, there were some clues scattered throughout the season that Vilgefortz was up to no good, but the big reveals happen in the final 15 minutes of The Witcher Season 3 Episode 5 “The Art of the Illusion.”

Yennefer remembers a private conversation with Philippa (Cassie Clare), a sorceress and spy loyal to Redania, in which Lydia van Bredevoort (Aisha Fabienne Ross) is pointed out. Philippa explains that Lydia is so heartsick over a lover, she would follow him anywhere — even to her death. In the same conversation, Philippa reveals that she fell out with Tissaia when the elder mage refused Philippa’s advice to not ally herself with Vilgefortz. Yennefer rejects Philippa’s opinion that their victory at Sodden came with too high a cost and that the Brotherhood was on a sinking ship.

After recounting this exchange to Geralt, Yennefer explains that the lovelorn Lydia doesn’t speak because her lower jaw is an illusion. She can only communicate telepathically. Geralt immediately connects Lydia to “the woman with the funny voice” who tortured Teryn. He then asks if Yennefer still has Tissaia’s bracelet, which was a gift from Vilgefortz to keep her safe. Geralt believes Lydia’s earrings were made from the same material.

Geralt goes on to recall a meeting of his own at the ball, with Vilgefortz. The mutant mage muses on his favorite painting, which is of the First Landing, and then tries to get Geralt to join his side in “the battle to come.” This confuses Yennefer. She believed Vilgefortz encouraged the conclave for peace. Yennefer then explains Tissaia’s bracelet is made of scarlet ammonite and Geralt offers it’s only found in the mines of West Redania…which is where he found the captured girls. Yennefer reveals that a dark portal took her to the site of the First Landing.

When the couple realizes their man isn’t Stregobor, but Vilgefortz, Geralt takes his sword and leaves the room. He immediately is confronted by the sound of screams and a blade at his throat courtesy of Dijkstra.

What Does the Final Scene in The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 Mean? Is Dijkstra Going to Kill Geralt?

In the final moments of The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1, Dijkstra holds a blade to Geralt’s throat and taunts, “Should have chosen a side, witcher.”

Now it’s unlikely that Dijkstra will kill Geralt. After all, there are still three episodes left in the season and The Witcher Season 4 has already been ordered. (Although Henry Cavill is leaving a the end of Season 3, he is passing the Geralt of Rivia torch to Liam Hemsworth.)

What’s more likely is that Dijkstra is taunting Geralt for his stubborn insistence on staying neutral. By not allying himself with Redania, he’s left himself, Yennefer, and Ciri open to attack from Vilgefortz, the elves, and Nilfgaardian Emperor Emhyr var Emreis. We’ll have to wait and see if Geralt does decide to choose a side… Especially considering the dangerous other parties hunting for Ciri…

Who is the Emperor Emhyr var Emreis? What Does He Want with Ciri?

At the end of The Witcher Season 2, we learned that the emperor of Nilfgaard, who has been in pursuit of Ciri since toppling her home country of Cintra at the beginning of Season 1, was actually a familiar face. Emperor Emhyr var Emreis (Bart Edwards) has actually been Ciri’s father this whole time! We first met the young Emhyr as “Duny,” aka Urcheon of Erlenwald, a knight who had been transformed into a hedgehog. When Geralt helps Duny free himself from the curse and wed the Princess Pavetta (Gaia Mondadori), Duny insists on giving Geralt a gift. The witcher sarcastically asks for “The Law of Surprise,” which would give Geralt dibs on some sort of treasure Duny doesn’t realize he has yet. When it’s revealed Pavetta is pregnant, it is fated that daughter Ciri will be Geralt’s destiny.

It seems that Emhyr now has a problem with this deal as he is as dead set on finding his daughter as he is with conquering the Continent.

When Will The Witcher Season 3 Volume 2 Premiere on Netflix?

Dying to know what will happen next? The final three episodes of The Witcher Season 3 will premiere on Netflix on Thursday, July 27.