The Witcher Season 1 Episode 8 Recap – Much More

[00:01:00] Geralt saw a few things inside the castle. He hoped that Cirilla was still alive, but he wasn’t expecting much. Geralt left Cintra while it burned to the ground. He saw a man moving around a bunch of corpses and thought he was a grave robber. The man called Geralt a butcher in turn and pointed out that he would be stealing the people’s belongings if he was a robber. Geralt responded that the man would be one of the corpses if he was a butcher. Geralt knew something wasn’t right, so he told the man to leave. The man, however, refused; he couldn’t leave the corpses behind. He wanted to give the Cintran refugees a proper send-off so that their souls could rest easily. The man asked Geralt for help, but he refused and began trotting away. After a few moments, two creatures came out of the ground and tried to pull the old man down with them.

[00:04:00] Geralt came back to save the old man and finally convinced him to leave. The man ran for his life as Geralt continued deeper into the camp to find other monsters and kill them. Geralt tried to face the monsters on his own. He managed to defeat them, but he was injured during the fight. Geralt made his way back to roach and fell to the ground in front of him. Meanwhile, a woman woke Cirilla up. Everyone around her was dead, Anton and the men who had ganged up on her as well as the horse she stole. Cirilla didn’t remember what had happened as the woman took her away from the scene.

[00:08:00] Tissaia and the other mages went north to Sodden in hopes of cutting off the Nilfgaard army. They were going to fortify a keep in order to hold the Nilfgaardians until their backup arrived. Vilgefortz asked Yennefer why she had come along, but she didn’t answer him. They walked through the woods to reach the keep. Vilgefortz continues to ask Yennefer her reason for coming with them. The people united with the mages in order to defend the keep. They made bows, arrows while the mages created vials filled with rocks. They enchanted the vials into some sort of magical weapon.

[00:13:00] After a few days, the Nilfgaardians were nearing their gates. Yennefer went around inspecting their weapons. A woman was fixing the bow and arrows. Yennefer asked her if that was all they had. The woman confirmed with a heavy sigh. She couldn’t go with the other people to the feast because she still mourned her losses. The woman lost her farm to some men a few nights ago. They took it from her by force, and she couldn’t do anything to defend it. The farm meant everything to her because it was all that was left since her husband died. Yennefer joined the others shortly after. She found out that Geralt assisted Triss in Temeria with a striga. Triss assured Yennefer that King Foltest would bring his army to their aid.

[00:16:00] Yennefer sat with Tissaia to drink ale. They had a talk about the impending war and the chances of death. Tissaia asked Yennefer if she was ready to die. Yennefer seemed ready because she thought life had nothing more to offer. Tissaia thought otherwise and told Yennefer that she still had a lot to offer for other people. Yennefer told Tissaia that she tried to find meaning and fulfillment in life, but she couldn’t. Meanwhile, Fringilla and Cahir were talking about taking the keep from the brotherhood. Cahir’s general was against fighting the brotherhood, but Cahir didn’t listen to him. Fringilla told Cahir that the time was upon them to honor the white flame. She told Cahir that Cirilla would have already made it across the Yaruga River, which meant they needed to take the keep and cross the river as well.

[00:18:00] Cahir told Fringilla to test the defenses of the brotherhood as they prepare for war. Cirilla hadn’t made it across the Yaruga river. She was still with the woman who took her from the fields. She made refuge in her home to escape the war. Fringilla started her attack. She sacrificed two of her mages in order to attack the keep with forbidden magic. The keep managed to repel both attacks. Fringilla ordered her third mage to lure out the mages inside the keep to land a successful attack.

[00:22:30] Morning came, and the mages of the brotherhood were preparing their defense. The third mage cast a mist and directed it towards the keep. Triss thought the Nilfgaard attack was over, but Yennefer pointed out that Fringilla was just getting started. Vilgefortz ordered 10 of their mages to the fields. The rest of the mages accompanied Tissaia inside the fort. She told Yennefer to reserve her chaos and watch from the tower. Geralt and the old man were in the area. The old man knew that the mist wasn’t natural. He told Geralt to take it easy. He was injured, but he’d survive. Geralt was delirious. He was having visions about his past. The old man told him not to go to sleep. Geralt saw himself as a boy with his mother.

[00:25:00] The mages prepared their defense. Yennefer served as their guide. She saw what the enemy was doing and relayed the message to her fellow mages. Triss summoned mushrooms from beneath the earth. They released poison gas to kill a portion of the Nilfgaard army. Coral confronted the enemy straight on. She strangled each soldier she came across with her magic. Sabrina led the people with their arrows and magical vials. The vials exploded, sending out shards of rock and stone to kill anyone they hit. Cahir ordered the rest of the army to move to the other side in order to avoid the attacks. Fringilla took her archers and planned her own attack. Vilgefortz portalled his way to Cahir. He fought him fiercely. Yennefer told Vilgefortz to reserve his chaos, but he didn’t listen. In the end, Vilgefortz no longer had enough energy to summon his chaos.

[00:30:00] Cahir kicked Vilgefortz down the hillside where he tumbled and eventually died. Fringilla summoned a portal in the middle of the keep. She instructed her archers to fire inside the portal. Their arrows managed to kill a few people. Yennefer told Tissaia that they needed to find Fringilla and stop her. She was one step ahead of her. Tissaia had already found Fringilla. Tissaia told her to stop and return to Aretuza with her. Fringilla told Tissaia that she no longer needed her help. Fringilla used Dimeritium dust to keep Tissaia from using her powers. Fringilla’s third mage managed to enter the keep and die at the gates. The black box he was carrying was left at the gate. Fringilla opened the box, and worms came squirming out.

[00:33:00] Geralt asked the old man what was happening. He told him that Nilfgaard must have taken Sodden. Geralt drank one of his vials and told the old man to take him to the blue mountains. He continued to have flashbacks of his past and a man called Vesemir. It seems his mother abandoned him when he was still young. A man named Vesemir took him in and trained him to become a witcher. Meanwhile, the mages of the brotherhood were starting to fall. Yennefer ordered Coral to go back to the keep, but she never made it. Triss did her best to hold the soldiers back from entering the keep; however, she soon succumbed to them.

[00:37:00] Fringilla managed to get a hold of Sabrina using her worms. Sabrina ordered two boys to sabotage their magical explosives. Sabrina went to Yennefer and stabbed her abdomen with an arrow. The two of them fell from the watchtower as the explosives cache exploded beneath them. Sabrina came back to her senses, but it was too late. Yennefer was already injured. She set out to look for Tissaia. Yennefer called out to her fellow mages to find out who was still alive. Vilgefortz got up and responded. He didn’t die despite the tumble that he had taken.

[00:42:00] Nightfall came, but Tissaia had managed to survive. She crawled her way back to the keep as she could barely stand after inhaling Dimeritium. Meanwhile, a mage saved Geralt from his injuries. Geralt, at one point, thought the mage was Yennefer. The mage told Geralt that people linked by destiny will always find each other. Geralt knew that saying, and he realized who he was talking to. It was his mother, Visenna. Geralt asked her why she abandoned him and allowed him to become a witcher. Geralt explained that only 3 out of 10 boys survived the trials to become a witcher. Visenna responded that no answer would give him what he wanted. Geralt wanted answers, but Visenna told him that the truth would only hurt him. She told Geralt that it was time to move on.

[00:46:00] Visenna told Geralt to find Cirilla. By the time Geralt woke up, Visenna was gone. He asked the old man where Visenna went, but he didn’t know who he was referring to. Geralt focused on the present, he asked the man to take him to Sodden. The man didn’t know how to repay Geralt for saving his life. He offered the law of surprise as payment. Geralt told the man to just give him some ale and consider his debt paid. Yennefer managed to locate Tissaia, but it was too late. She was already dying. Tissaia told Yennefer that it was her time to shine. It was her moment to leave a legacy behind, to save the continent from impending doom brought upon by the Nilfgaardians. Tissaia told Yennefer to let out her chaos.

[00:49:00] Yennefer did as told. She let out her chaos. She stood on top of a rock and remembered all of her painful memories. Yennefer gathered the flames within the keep and released them on the soldiers of Nilfgaard. Yennefer ended up burning a part of the forest in the process and everyone that stood within it. King Foltest was nearing the Sodden Keep as his army saw the fire. Meanwhile, Cirilla sat in bed thinking about the war. The woman who had taken her in told her that she already had everything she ever wanted in a simple life except for a daughter. The woman couldn’t help but think it was destiny that she found her in the fields. Cirilla closed her eyes and did her best to sleep.

[00:53:00] Tissaia searched for Yennefer while the flames died. Meanwhile, Cirilla was awakened by a dream. It was about Yennefer as Tissaia and Geralt were looking for her. She got up and left just a few moments before Geralt arrived at the house. The woman told the old man that she had found a little girl the other day and that she had run off into the woods. Geralt heard everything and knew that it was Cirilla. He got up to follow her into the woods. Geralt couldn’t find Cirilla, so he turned around and started heading back to the cabin. He felt a chill on his spine, so he turned around. Cirilla was running towards him. Geralt told Cirilla that people linked by destiny would always find each other. Cirilla looked at Geralt while asking who Yennefer was.