‘The Witcher’ Season 3 Ending Explained: Who is Falka? 

While much has been made of the fact that The Witcher Season 3: Volume 2 marks the end of Henry Cavill‘s run as Geralt of Rivia, it is Ciri (Freya Allan) who gets the season’s last word. And it’s a potentially confusing one at that!

**Spoilers for The Witcher Season 3: Volume 2 ahead!**

After we watch Geralt massacre a bunch of Nilfgaardian soldiers, the show returns to Ciri and a band of ragtag kids called “The Rats.” When asked what her name is, Ciri doesn’t list off her full royal name, but gives them a pseudonym. “Call me Falka,” she says, but why is that such a big deal? How does it connect to the books by Andrzej Sapkowski? And why does it signal a potentially dark new future for Ciri in The Witcher Season 4 and beyond?

From the success of Vilgefortz’s (Mahesh Jadu) evil plan to the dark history of Falka, here’s what you need to know about the ending of The Witcher Season 3…

The Witcher Season 3 Ending Explained: Who is Falka? Why Does Ciri Call Herself Falka?

In The Witcher Season 3: Volume 2, Ciri harnesses some sort of magical power that simultaneously destroys the tower known as Tor Lara outside Aretuza and creates an unstable portal that drops the girl in the Korath desert. While wandering the deserts, Ciri finds a friend in a unicorn she dubs “Little Horse” and torment through specters from the past. First, visions of her mother Pavetta (Gaia Mondadori) and grandmother Calanthe (Jodhi May) harass. Then she has a conversation with a kindred spirit who has been offering advice to Ciri. This mystery woman lists all the things they have in common before revealing she is Falka (Hiftu Quasem).

Falka was a Redanian princess who vowed revenge upon her father, King Vridank, after he divorced her mother and cut her out of the line of succession. She launched a violent rebellion and murdered her father, stepmother, and half-brothers. During the revolt, Falka accidentally imprisoned the pregnant princess of Temeria — and Lara Dorren’s daughter — Riannon. Riannon would go insane while in the prison. Nevertheless, when Falka was eventually brought to justice, she too was pregnant and she gave her child to Riannon to nurse before her fiery execution. Before being burned at the stake, Falka curse the crowd assembled and told them their descendants would suffer at the hands of a child bearing her blood. Riannon’s mental state made it so that it was unclear which of the three children she eventually brought home to Temeria were her own. And what do you know? Ciri is a direct descendent of the one child who survived to adulthood.

Ciri is horrified, though, to “meet” Falka. “The stories say you were a demon. A cursed elven monster,” she says. Falka argues she only hurt those who wanted to hurt or use her and she encourages Ciri to change the system by burning it to the ground.

Later when a monster attacks her and Little Horse, Ciri calls upon the taboo fire magic to save the unicorn’s life. The unicorn, however, rejects Ciri. Falka eggs Ciri on, showing her a vision of the future where she will rule and everyone who’s ever hurt her will suffer. This horrific vision includes Geralt and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra). Ciri relinquishes her powers…for now.

Then Ciri is kidnapped by thugs hoping to bring her to Nilfgaard for the reward. They’ve also kidnapped another kid named Kayleigh (Fabian McCallum), who works with Ciri on a rescue attempt. They are aided by the kid’s gang, The Rats. Once free of her restraints, Ciri maliciously taunts her former captor before killing him.

The Witcher Season 3 ends with The Rats embracing Ciri as one of their own, only she’s not Ciri. When asked her name, she says, “Call me Falka.” It’s partly a pseudonym to protect her identity, and part proof that she is embracing the “burn it down” mentality of the historic figure.

Who is the Fake Ciri that Vilgefortz Brings to Nilfgaard?

While Geralt and Yennefer might believe the ruse that Ciri has been brought to Nilfgaard, we know that’s not true. When “Ciri” is finally presented to her long-lost father, Emperor Emhyr (Bart Edwards), the camera reveals that this Ciri is a fake.

She’s actually Teryn (Frances Pooley), the Aretuza student Geralt saved from Vilgefortz’s experiments. While Teryn had previously regained her true memories, it’s clear she has once more fallen under the dark mage’s spell.

Does Geralt Die in The Witcher Season 3? How Does Henry Cavill Leave the Show?

Early on in The Witcher Season 3 Episode 7, Milva (Meng’er Zhang) asserts that Geralt is dying. Is this how the Netflix show handled Henry Cavill’s exit from The Witcher? By killing his character off?

Heck no!

With Yennefer’s help, Geralt eventually makes a recovery. Although he is not at full strength, he and Jaskier (Joey Batey) embark on a mission to infiltrate Nilfgaard to take Ciri back. They believe the lie that she is in Nilfgaard. You know, because they forgot about Teryn.

When they reach the border, they learn Nilfgaard’s soldiers are demanding bribes to enter the empire. At first Geralt assents, but when he hears how a family behind him is being abused, he (with the help of Milva) massacres all but one soldier. Him, he tells to tell Emhyr that he’s coming for Ciri.

The last we see of Henry Cavill in The Witcher is him, Milva, and Jaskier saddling up stolen horses to find Ciri.

What is the Significance of the Brooch in The Witcher Season 3 Finale? How Henry Cavill’s Final Scene as Geralt Echoes His First Witcher Episode Storyline With Renfri…

The jeweled pin that Geralt gives to the Nilfgaardian soldiers as a bribe and then leaves in the dirt once belonged to Renfri (Emma Appleton). Renfri was a beautiful princess who was born under the curse of the Black Sun. Because of this, the wizard Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen) was convinced that she was a demonic mutant destined to bring doom and destruction to the world. After Renfri’s stepmother Aridea told Stregobor that she had seen the girl torture animals, he asked a man to take her to the woods to murder her. Instead, he raped Renfri and Renfri in turn killed him by impaling her jeweled brooch into his skull.

Renfri went on to become a bandit, known for impaling her victims. When Geralt meets her in The Witcher Season 1 Episode “The End’s Beginning,” the characters find themselves attracted to each other despite their missions placing them at odds. Renfri tries to convince Geralt to kill Stregobor, while Stregobor wants Geralt to kill Renfri. Geralt refuses both requests, claiming he doesn’t pick sides. However, he does offer Renfri an ultimatum: she needs to leave Blaviken and never threaten Stregobor again.

Renfri seems to agree and she and Geralt make love. However, the next morning, Geralt realizes Renfri has broken her word and intends to kill Stregobor. He faces off against her and her men in a bloody fight in Blaviken, eventually murdering Renfri and her men. The rampage earns Geralt the moniker “The Butcher of Blaviken.”

Renfri’s last words to Geralt foretell his relationship with Ciri: “The girl in the woods will always be with you. She is your destiny.” He leaves Blaviken with this message and Renfri’s brooch.

Letting go of Renfri’s brooch is a signal that Geralt is no longer content to sit on the sidelines until he is forced to take a side. He is actively choosing his girl in the woods, the magical woman whom he loves and others fear. He is choosing Ciri in a way he couldn’t allow himself to choose Renfri. “Neutrality be damned.”