Geralt confronts the striga and lifts the curse by battling it until dawn. Geralt later learns that the king’s mage, Ostrit, was the one who placed the curse on the princess due to a love triangle gone wrong. He also senses something is off and tries to get Foltest to admit his incestuous affair with his sister, which he believes factors into the situation. After meeting with the sorceress Triss Merigold and getting some information on the monster from King Foltest and his companions, Geralt deduces that the monster is a striga, a cursed monster that used to be the Princess. Geralt, on the other hand, goes to Temeria and attempts to strike up some work hunting down the monster terrorizing the local population. His acceptance of her forced rival mage Fringilla’s assignment to be shifted to Nilfgaard in her place. Foregoing anesthetic aids, she goes through the painful magical procedure and uses her newfound beauty to assert herself as a viable candidate in front of the king of Aedirn.
It's in a monster's nature to hunt, but humans can choose to be complete bastards to one another.Angry at Tissaia and Istredd, Yennefer severs ties with both of them and decides to have her appearance altered earlier than her graduation. I mean, she was losing control and drinking his blood more and more, but what's true love without a little sacrifice, right?Īnd with that, we are grimly reminded that humans are, in fact, just as shitty as monsters, if not deliberately so. As she's a monster, she can stick around because she doesn't count as making him less lonely, and because he can't die due to the curse, he's an easy meal. Nivellen's story is like a perverse version of Beauty and the Beast: He finds the injured beauty and nurses her back to health-in reverse of Belle caring for the beast after the wolf attack-before they fall in love with one another. He begs for Geralt to end his life, who retorts, "You're mortal now-do it yourself." Brutal. "All's well that ends well," you'd think, but it's here where Nivellen makes his final confession: He didn't just ransack the temple, he raped the priestess and then, once cursed, looked the other way when Vereena killed the nearby villagers. Vereena confesses her love for Nivellen-maybe real, maybe just an effort to extend her life-but Geralt chops off her head, which then combusts, lifting Nivellen's curse. She attempts to use Ciri as a meat shield, but Nivellen stops her. Vereena can contort her body in all manner of ways, and the clicking sound she makes reminds me of the Clickers from The Last of Us-not a fan, it's pretty scary stuff. Nivellen attempts to hide Vereena's presence from Geralt, but of course, it comes down to a nail-biting fight between the Witcher and the vampire. He is a monster slayer, after all, and Bruxa are monsters. Vereena immediately recognises the Elder Blood within Ciri (the reason for her magic, yet to be revealed) and warms up to her, urging her to keep her identity a secret from Geralt. If a town suddenly starts experiencing terrifying nightmares-alongside a few unexplained deaths-you can bet you've got a Bruxa on your hands. The sun doesn't affect them, and they have dozens of razor-sharp teeth and a banshee-like scream that can knock you off your feet, Aard-style. A Bruxa is a higher vampire who usually appears as a beautiful woman but can also transform into a terrifying winged beast. Vereena is a Bruxa, the same one that ambushed our travellers from the opening minutes. It isn't until Ciri retires to bed, stating that Nivellen is no more a monster than the Nilfgaardians who destroyed her home, that Vereena's true nature is revealed. But cats don't like Witchers, and he's destined to be always alone, so how come he has a feline pal? Nivellen plays it off and shows Cirilla a light show that foreshadows her own lineage while Geralt monologues at Roach.
Scuttling in the ceiling is Vereena, which Nivellen says is a cat. He entertains them, provides a sumptuous dinner, and has a good banter with his old pal Gerry of Rivia.
Nivellen is charming and welcoming to Ciri and Geralt as they seek lodgings for the night, conveniently giving the aforementioned abandoned town a miss en route.
In retaliation, the priestess cursed him to live alone as a magical beast, with love and blood being the only route to lifting it. Nivellen, as he tells Ciri and Geralt, was cursed by a priestess many years prior after ransacking a temple while high on some mushrooms. It also happens to be the episode's title, again lending itself to the narrative that not everything is as it seems for each character. His story is based on A Grain of Truth, which features in the book The Last Wish. The star performance of the episode goes to Kristofer Hivju, who plays Nivellen.