A Grain Of Truth
The Witcher Season 2 begins with a cold, snowy night. A merchant arrives with his family looking for a place to stay. Unfortunately, they’re attacked by a monster that savagely dispatches them all. ..
Meanwhile, Yennefer is gone. The battlefield is a mess, with a mosaic of 20,000 soldiers lining the floor. Out the smoke step Ciri and Geralt, who are now together. Their fruitless search for Yen eventually leads them back into the woods again.
Geralt rides for Kaer Morhen, the place Witchers go in the winter. Given the chilly conditions outside, he deduces that the other Witchers will have the same idea.
Geralt finds a dead carcass by the side of the road. Calming Roach, Geralt stumbles upon Nivellen, who’s very different now. Geralt is reassured that Ciri will be safe inside his home, but there appears too be something else within the walls, skittering about and watching Ciri from afar.
Nivellen has a history with Geralt that goes back to when he wiped out a wyvern infestation for his father. Nivellen’s looks are linked to a curse inflicted on him by a Priestess, forcing him to live alone. She screamed words about love and blood. The magic is strong, so strong in fact that he’s unable to even kill himself.
The world is on the brink of an apocalypse, with rumors of the Wild Hunt circling and the world acting on its own accord. Nivellen, a religious scholar, talks about the potential coming of the end of days. ..
That night, Geralt winds up playing a game of truths with Nivellen, but the cursed man uses magical knives to fix the game of truths. This only furthers Geralt’s suspicions that something is amiss here. ..
Despite being in chains, Yen realizes that they’ve won the battle. So naturally Fringilla intends to use Yennefer as a sacrifice to Nilfgaard to try and change their fortunes.
Tissaia uses her magic to rip the memories right from Cahir’s head.
That night, we learn what Nivellen is hiding. A strange creature known as a Bruxa in his house. It comes to Ciri that night, revealing her name is Vereena. ..
Geralt finds the merchant and his family outside, and after a long hunt, he kills the creature. He then goes into the courtyard to stab Vereena but when she takes Ciri hostage, it’s Nivellen who shows and stabs her through the heart. Just as Geralt slices her head off, her eyes turn to Ciri. “He’ll come for you too,” she warns him.
Nivellen was freed from the curse by defeating the Bruxa. He offered his kindness to her, but it didn’t stop her from brutally murdering numerous villagers.
Geralt and Ciri leave the forest, heading back into the woods once more. Geralt promises to be there for her, making sure nothing happens to Ciri – if she’ll follow his instructions.
Meanwhile, back at the compound, Yen and Fringilla are fighting off an unseen attacker. With the entire platoon wiped out, Fringilla and Yennefer are left to try and thwart this invisible threat.
The Episode Review
Netflix’s hit fantasy show The Witcher is back and it doesn’t waste any time getting right to the heart of the drama. Seeing all of our characters off on their own individual plot-lines is good to see, while the episode-of-the-week format continues too.
Nivellen and Vereena are a powerful couple, despite the terrible things that have happened. They love each other despite the pain and hurt they feel. This is an interesting story with big shades of moral grey.
The ending of this episode hints that there are more dramatic episodes to come, and sets up nicely for the season ahead.
