"Kaer Morhen" is the second episode of season 2 of Netflix's The Witcher series.
Characters[]
- Geralt of Rivia
- Yennefer of Vengerberg
- Ciri
- Fringilla Vigo
- Filavandrel aén Fidháil
- Francesca Findabair
- Vesemir
- Eskel
- Lambert
- Voleth Meir
Description[]
- Seeking a safe place for Ciri, Geralt heads for home, but danger lurks everywhere — even Kaer Morhen. Yennefer's dreams could be the key to her freedom.
Summary[]
Yennefer has a dream in which she and Geralt are living happily together with a baby on the way and the promise to grow old together. However, her dream turns into a nightmare when her baby's basket bursts into flames and discovers a hooded figure with a red cloak holding the child. Yennefer awakens from her sleep to discover that she and Fringilla have both been taken prisoner by Filavandrel and his elven army.
Filavandrel takes Yennefer and Fringilla to see the elves new leader, Francesca. Fringilla attempts to plead her case, but Francesca puts her to sleep and questions why Filavandrel hasn't had them killed yet. He believes they could be of use, but Francesca isn't convinced, nor is she moved when Yennefer reveals she's an elf despite never having sung a song or honored their elders. Francesca reminds Filavandrel that she now leads their people and how she is often visited in her dreams by the "White Robed One." Once they find what they're looking for, she wants Filavandrel to ship Yennfer and Fringilla's heads back to Aretuza as a reminder of elven glory.
Geralt and Ciri arrive at Kaer Morhen in search of refuge. There, Geralt is reunited with his witcher brethren, among them Lambert, Coën, and Vesemir. After a few drinks, Lambert tells the tale of the time a farmer hired him to kill mora, but he learned from the farmer's wife that she was simply having an affair with the field hand. Vesemir toasts to another winter of them together. Just then, Eskel arrives to Geralt's embrace. He's returns after a six-hour bout with a leshy, whose hand he managed to cut off, though his shoulder does ache from the sting of one of its roots. Vesemir reminds him that fire through the heart is the only way to put one down and questions why it took him so long to defeat his attacker. Ciri chuckles, gaining Eskel's attention and leading him to question exactly who she is.
Vesemir interrupts Geralt's training to confront him for bringing Ciri to Kaer Morhen. When Geralt first revealed he called the Law of Surprise, Vesemir warned him it was a big mistake, but Geralt had to save her and brought her to their home despite knowing Vesemir would call him out on it. Geralt brought her so she'd be safe. It's easier for him to protect her within the walls, as well as watch for answers as to what she is. Vesemir reminds Geralt what happened the last time witchers got involved in the dramas of courts and kingdoms.
Ciri goes door to door in search of a tolerable room. Eskel reminds Ciri that she's not in a castle and that all the rooms are shitholes.
Yennefer noticed earlier that Fringilla was having a nightmare and asks what it was about, possibly someone hidden in a robe. A black robe, Fringilla confirms, whereas Yennefer has dreamt of one in red while Francesca dreams of one in white. They could use this to their advantage.
Filavandrel, Francesca, and Gage sit around a fire, though Gage is dissatisfied with what little food the hunters could find. Filavandrel suspects that maybe the others in Temeria or Redania had better luck, but they lick the boots of humans, which Francesca refuses to do. She promised them Dol Blathanna, a promise she intends to uphold. They mustn't lose faith in a bright elven future. The visions she's had since entering the woods give her faith for something more. The white robe hides her face, but Francesca is certain that it's Ithlinne, their most sacred prophet, guiding them to safe haven.
Yennefer and Fringilla attempt to convince Filavandrel to hear them out, asking about elven songs and if he truly leads the elves as the bard's songs claim, but Filavandrel is no longer their leader. He was voted out when he couldn't beat Calanthe, and the elves turned to Francesca. She offered them faith, which Fringilla admits sustains them all in dark times. Fringilla then reveals that both she and Yennefer have dreamt of robed figures as well, and offer to help. Just as it seems he's considering their proposal, they get word of having found something.
Geralt takes the leshy's hand to the lab, where he dissects the limb for answers. Leshy are few in numbers because they can't reproduce. Any they come across now would've been around since the Conjunction of the Spheres. Ciri wonders if all they'll be doing is studying monsters and collecting herbs. She wants to start training, but Geralt warns her it's too dangerous. Ciri doesn't care. She simply wants to become strong enough to kill the Black Knight, but Geralt informs Ciri that they don't kill out of fear, rather to save lives. Geralt then hears a commotion and decides to investigate, telling Ciri to stay behind.
Geralt discovers that his brethren are throwing a party in their home with whores. There, Geralt runs into a familiar face, a woman named Danica who used to work in a tavern outside of Dorian a handful of years ago, where she washed wyvern blood from Geralt's hair. She's heard that he has a daughter now, but Geralt insists that while she's not his daughter, she's not for sale either. Geralt then confronts Vesemir, who reveals that Eskel found them down the mountain, but there's no need for concern, Vesemir insists. They're all drunk off stramonium and won't remember a thing by tomorrow. Unbeknownst to Geralt, Ciri watches from above as he and Eskel get into a confrontation regarding the girls in their home.
Yennefer and Fringilla are taken to a temple, where runes of the Conjunction of the Spheres have been inscribed along the walls. Francesca asks to know more about their dreams, but first she tells them about her own. In her vision, she's lost in a maze of dead bodies, elves stacked so high they shade the sun. Ithlinne guides her clear of the labyrinth, where she sees the sun rise on a new elven kingdom. Fringilla's guide is Emhyr, who returned to Nilfgaard, killed the Usurper, and freed Fringilla. Yennefer brushes away the dust on the altar to discover Elder speech. "Behold the mother of forests, the deathless mother, nesting in dreams." What remains is an incantation about a hut with no doors. Fringilla's father used to scare her with stories about a witch in the woods, but Francesca believes that the Deathless Mother is one of the old gods. Suddenly, the altar slides open and reveals a passageway, which Yennefer, Fringilla, and Francesca investigate while Filavandrel and Gage stay above ground to stand guard.
Ciri goes looking around the armory. She is joined by Vesemir, who gives her a tour. Klef was one of the first witchers, but he was killed by a demon who wreaked havoc on the witchers until they bound her deep in the forests. He then tells her about Deglan, who was killed by men in their very halls. He taught Vesemir everything he knew and made him a witcher. Vesemir, however, is more interested in Ciri's history than his own and questions how she escaped Cintra, but Ciri deflects, simply informing Vesemir that Geralt said she'd be protected here.
Eskel and one of the women have sex in the laboratory, where a root begins to sprout from his shoulder.
If Fringilla dreamt of Emhyr, Yennefer wonders why she was so terrified when she woke. Fringilla reveals that she was in the dark and there were people touching her. She couldn't see or touch them, so she laid there and let them. After the Usurper executed Fergus, he had all of the mages moved to prison. Fringilla was there for years when Emhyr found her and set her free.
Yennefer, Fringilla, and Francesca find the doorless hut in the woods and recite the incantation, causing the hut to turn in their direction and summon them inside.
Vesemir reveals he caught Ciri spying on them. They had a chat before he sent her to bed. He asks if Geralt is ready for this. Geralt recalls being in a cell beneath the city when Cintra was sacked. He heard it all, the same sounds he heard at Kaer Morhen when he was a boy, hiding in a cellar, waiting for the humans to come for him. Vesemir was the last remaining witcher when Kaer Morhen fell, he and a batch of mutated orphans with no place else to go. Admittedly, he wasn't ready, but he taught them how to fend for themselves, which is what Geralt intends to do with Ciri, but that'll have to wait as their medallions begin to vibrate all at once, leading them to suspect that they may be under attack.
Lambert barges into Ciri's room with the women and lock them inside for safety.
Yennefer, Fringilla, and Francesca each awaken inside the hut, but each are approached by their very own robed figure: Yennefer's red robed figure is a young girl, Fringilla's black robed figure is Emhyr, and Francesca's white robed figure is Ithlinne. But in reality, they're all speaking with the Deathless Mother, who makes Fringilla a proposition to gain power, and Francesca an offer to rebuild the elven community through the birth of a pure elf, but she leaves Yennefer to suffer a bit longer after she lost her Chaos due to using fire magic at the Battle of Sodden Hill.
Geralt enters the lab, where he is attacked by Eskel, who has somehow been turned into a leshy himself. Geralt is pinned to a wall, but he uses a torch to get free of Eskel's grasp. He pleads with Eskel to stop, but he's lost control and proceeds to attack Geralt until Vesemir intervenes.
Danica is regretting having ever brought her best girls to a witcher den. She asks Ciri for the fastest way out, and Ciri directs her to the stairs to the north of the hall.
Geralt informs Vesemir that Eskel has somehow been infected by the leshy, which shouldn't be possible. After freeing Geralt, the two of them face off with Eskel, trapping him in place, using hooks connected by chains to restrain Eskel, who manages to grab Vesemir and nearly squeezed the life from him until Geralt sets his sword ablaze and stabs Eskel in the heart, killing him, as reluctant as he may have been. Vesemir takes Eskel's pendant and assures Geralt that he did what was right.
Yennefer awakens in the woods, where she regroups with Fringilla, who reveals that they're no longer prisoners and that she's joined forces with Francesca, who claims that the old gods want an alliance between the elves and Nilfgaard. Yennefer calls them both fools, as that evil witch they encountered is no god, but Fringilla's faith has gotten her this far, and she refuses to give up on it now.
Geralt enters Ciri's room and embraces her after having killed Eskel.
While the witchers celebrate the life of Eskel inside, Geralt takes Ciri outside, where he tells her about his time in Kaer Morhen. Vesemir warned him that the world outside the wall is a dangerous place. But times are changing, and they can no longer hide from the world. But they can find power and purpose, so Geralt decides it is time to start training Ciri. Elsewhere, Yennefer tries to open a portal, but her Chaos is truly gone, leaving her powerless.