Those who jumped into The Witcher season 4 quickly met two key characters, who have different perspectives on Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer’s stories. Those characters are Stribog and Nimue, and while Stribog recounts the stories of all three characters to the local children, Nimue is holding the stories of Jaskier, which tells the actual story of all three with several details that were lost over time. Nimue isn’t just a passive participant in that story though, and we’re breaking down why she’s especially important to Ciri’s journey and what her involvement is setting up for The Witcher season 5.
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Season 4 quickly establishes Nimue as someone in the present timeline (which is around the 1300s) who adores the stories of Geralt, Geralt, and Yennefer, but it goes deeper than that. Even when she’s younger, Nimue tells Stribog that she feels as if she is important to their story and has a role to play. That continues to be the case at the end of the series when we are reintroduced to an older Nimue, who once again finds Stribog to talk about the story and how they haven’t finished Ciri’s story.
Nimue continues to tell Stribog that she feels a connection to her, and Stribog agrees, telling Nimue, “How this saga ends may depend on you”, and he gives her the book of stories to read to the locals as he departs. The question then becomes, is she actually a part of their story in the show, and the answer will likely be emphatically yes.
If we look at the books, Nimue’s purpose is likely going to be a major point in season 5, and it’s all thanks to Ciri’s powerful abilities. By the way, there are huge spoilers for the books from here on out, so you’ve been warned. As we’ve already explored, Ciri’s Elder Blood powers are immense, but they only get more powerful as time goes on. During what is presumably the timeline of season 5, Ciri will end up having to escape another world, and to do that, she will need to not only fight her way out but also jump to other worlds in an attempt to make her way back home.
She will have some help from the Unicorns to do this, and the ability to travel through time and space earns her the title of The Lady of the Worlds. Unfortunately, she’s still trying to learn how to fully control these abilities and ends up lost on the way back to her world, and that’s where Nimue comes in.
In the present, Nimue is shocked to see Ciri, her horse Kelpie, and her unicorn ally Ihuarraquax appear out of thin air. Nimue recognizes Ciri as the one in her beloved stories, but Ciri and her allies quickly disappear once they figure out they are not in the right time. Nimue continues to research the old stories and figure out why she’s seeing Ciri and what she could possibly be looking for, and that’s when Nimue and her assistant Tilly figure out that she’s unable to find her way home.
They decide to help Ciri get back to her world and stand watch every night, waiting for Ciri to appear once more. She eventually does thanks to Ithlinne’s prophecy, and when Ciri appears, Nimue utilizes a tapestry and a powerful looking glass that allows people to pass into other worlds to create a portal for Ciri and her allies. Ciri recognizes Nimue from their previous meeting and goes through the portal, which takes her to Stygga Castle and returns her to her time. This leads to some climactic events back in Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer’s main timeline, and thus Nimue plays a powerful and yet understated role in Ciri’s story.
This is all likely to get a bit streamlined in season 5, as there’s quite a lot of ground to cover from where Ciri is now with Leo Bonhart and the end of the story, but many of the main beats are probably going to remain intact. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait long to find out what makes the cut, as season 5 is on deck sooner than later.
The Witcher season 4 is streaming on Netflix now.
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