The Enigmatic Teryn Unveiled: Unraveling Her Crucial Role and Ciri's Mysterious Connection in The Witcher Season 3

WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for The Witcher season 3, part 1, as well as for Andrzej Sapkowski’s Time of Contempt. In The Witcher season 3, fake Ciri surprises Geralt and showcases the extreme lengths the forces of the Continent will go to find Cirila of Cintra. Despite being trained by Geralt and Yennefer, Ciri faces greater dangers in The Witcher season 3 than ever before. Alongside Nilfgaard, who has pursued Ciri since the beginning of the series, the Northern Kingdoms' bounty hunters, elves, the Wild Hunt, and Rience all pose threats for Ciri to confront. Geralt's mission to protect Ciri leads him to the discovery of "False Ciri" through a distressing experiment involving abducted girls.

In episode 2 of The Witcher season 3, titled "Unbound," Geralt stumbles upon a cave where numerous missing girls are being used as test subjects. While Rience is implicated in this scheme, Geralt suspects a more powerful figure is pulling the strings. The ending of The Witcher season 3, part 1 reveals that Vilgefortz, a mage, is responsible for the experiments and the creation of the counterfeit Ciri.

Why Vilgefortz Created A Fake Ciri

Vilgefortz, under the orders of Vilgefortz, abducted a girl named Teryn who belonged to an elven bloodline. Lydia and Rience ensured that the girls who went missing couldn't be traced back to Vilgefortz. Vilgefortz conducted experiments on these elven lineage girls in order to understand Ciri's powers. Ciri, who possesses Elder Blood, holds immense power. Vilgefortz's ultimate objective is to capture Ciri and claim her powers for himself. While Emhyr or Dijkstra have political reasons for wanting Ciri, Vilgefortz is solely interested in acquiring her powers. There exists a conflict between Emhyr's and Vilgefortz's intentions regarding Ciri. The terms of Vilgefortz's alliance with Emhyr in Netflix's The Witcher are yet to be revealed. However, in The Witcher's book lore, Vilgefortz's alliance with Nilfgaard states that he must capture Ciri and hand her over to Emhyr. Though Vilgefortz is indeed in search of Ciri, he has no plans to surrender her to Emhyr. Vilgefortz intends to use Ciri's powers, which would ultimately cause her death, contradicting Emhyr's desires. Therefore, it is likely that Vilgefortz fabricated a false Ciri to avoid delivering the real one to Emhyr, aligning with the events in the books.

What Exactly Did Vilgefortz Do To Teryn? His Experiments Explained

Conducting experiments on elven lineage girls, including the missing Aretuza students, was Vilgefortz's endeavor. Contrary to Geralt, Yennefer, Istredd, and Triss' belief that Stregobor abducted the girls for blood experiments, it was, in fact, Vilgefortz who was behind it all along. Vilgefortz's relentless pursuit of power and knowledge centers on his desire for what Ciri possesses. Ciri's extraordinary gifts, stemming from her Elder Blood lineage, make her the Princess of Cintra an entity of exceptional importance, endowed with the ability to traverse other realms. To lend credibility to his False Ciri, Vilgefortz cast Teryn under a memory spell.

What Happens To Teryn In The Witcher's Future?

Before Geralt removed Teryn's memory spell, the girl believed herself to be Cirila of Cintra. It can be assumed that other individuals falsely claiming to be Ciri were also subjected to similar spells while in the cave before being taken back to the Continent. It is possible that Teryn did not bear a strong resemblance to Ciri prior to being captured by Rience, and it is likely that Vilgefortz's experiments in the cave involved altering the appearance of these girls to make them resemble Cirila more closely. Geralt's discovery of the False Ciri eventually led him to uncover Vilgefortz as the true traitor. Furthermore, the scarlet ammonite found on Tissaia's bracelet was sourced from the same region where False Ciri was discovered.

Considering the absence of Teryn in The Witcher books, it becomes challenging to anticipate the fate of False Ciri in The Witcher season 3. However, there are indications that shed light on the possible direction of this false Ciri subplot in The Witcher season 3, part 2. Notably, Teryn has somewhat regained her original memories, which dispels her belief of being Cirila of Cintra. As a result, Teryn may currently be in a safe position. The most rational step would be to escort Teryn back to Aretuza. Nevertheless, this is not an opportune moment for anyone to embark on a journey to Thanedd, as the Thanedd Coup has already commenced.

While Teryn is no longer pretending to be Ciri, there might be other young girls who were subjected to Vilgefortz's experiments and currently believe themselves to be Ciri, wandering the Continent. Teryn was the only survivor among the group of "test subjects" that Geralt discovered, but there is no assurance that they were the only ones. If there are other false Ciris created by Vilgefortz in the Continent, Emhyr might come across one of them in The Witcher season 3, part 2. This would bring the False Ciri storyline closer to its depiction in the books, as there have been significant deviations between the show and Time of Contempt so far.

False Ciri's Story In The Witcher Books & How The Show Is Different

The portrayal of False Ciri in The Witcher books differs significantly from Teryn in The Witcher season 3. In the books, Teryn does not exist, although there is a storyline in Time of Contempt involving a character impersonating Cirila of Cintra. This character, known as "Cirila Fiona" and whose true identity remains unknown, was introduced as a look-alike of Ciri who could pass as the Princess of Cintra. Codringher and Fenn were aware of this orphan girl resembling Ciri and suggested that Geralt could use her as bait to deceive Rience. Interestingly, the first episode of The Witcher season 3 follows a similar concept, but with the real Ciri.

In Time of Contempt, Geralt refused to use False Ciri as bait, but others discovered her resemblance to the princess sought by Nilfgaard. Vilgefortz, acting on Emhyr's orders, presented False Ciri to the emperor. However, it didn't take long for Emhyr to realize she was not his daughter. Despite this revelation, Emhyr kept up the charade, keeping "Cirila Fiona" away from the court and continuing his search for the real princess. Eventually, Emhyr married False Ciri, using their union as a political move to strengthen his power.

In contrast to The Witcher season 3's Teryn, who believed she was Ciri until the spell was broken, Fake Ciri in Time of Contempt was aware of her pretense as the princess. Given that Teryn no longer identifies as Ciri, it is challenging to envision how The Witcher season 3, part 2 will adapt the remaining Fake Ciri storyline from the books. One possibility is that there are other fake Ciris created by Vilgefortz, or Teryn herself might have to adopt the role of Ciri in front of Emhyr for some reason. Alternatively, Netflix's The Witcher may choose to deviate from the books and exclude the rest of the Fake Ciri storyline.