Why Ciri Doesn’t Have Her Powers in The Witcher Season 4 & Will She Get Them Back in Season 5?

Ciri’s powers have been a key element of The Witcher series in the books, the games, and the show, though there have been a variety of differences between each version. What is similar between the show and the books is that Ciri doesn’t have her powers during a substantial point in the story, and for the show, that happens to be all of season 4. We’re breaking down not only why she doesn’t have them in season 4, but also if she could get them back in season 5, and what the books have to say about the future.

Ciri’s powers come directly from the books, but the show has added or tweaked a few elements, including her now signature scream. What does correlate between the two, though, is that at one point, Ciri gives up her ability to draw from her immense Elder Blood powers, and in the show, this happens in the season 3 episode Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan (episode 7). This is the episode where Falka attempts to tempt Ciri into unleashing her powers, even if that means tapping into the darker elements, and that causes Ciri to renounce her powers to keep the darker times of the prophecy Falka is showing her from happening.

This is why Ciri doesn’t use things like her scream in battles in season 4, and that’s also why we don’t see her rip open any portals to the other spheres as she did in previous seasons, which not only moved the group to other worlds but also allowed beings from those worlds to cross over to our sphere as well. Granted, watching how deadly she is in the show, she doesn’t exactly need them to be a threat.

If the series follows the general line of the books, Ciri will gain access to those powers once more in season 5, as she never really lost them in the first place. When she loses her powers in the books, she doesn’t actually lose the knowledge of how to use them, but more shuts the door that allows access to them. If that door happens to be pushed open, the powers still exist on the other side, as she never stops being of Elder Blood.

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This presents itself in The Tower of Swallow during a battle against Joanna Selborne. Joanna, who is a psionic, possesses Ciri and takes control. Ciri fights back though and is able to access her magic once more to force Joanna out of her mind, and she does a number on her in the process. While Ciri has to, at times, be in dire circumstances, she can recapture the power when she absolutely needs to, showing that she can reestablish a more permanent connection given the right circumstances.

She might need all that power to deal with Leo Bonhart, who has killed all of The Rats and captured Ciri at the end of season 4. The two will be at odds throughout season 5, as in the books, Ciri does escape at one point, but they will collide later if the show follows the big points of the books. If that’s the case, the two will face off in a final confrontation that could be where we see Ciri’s powers reestablished. We’ll have to wait and see if the final result in the books makes it to the screen, but I’d probably guess it does. Thankfully, we only have to wait till next season to find out.

The Witcher season 4 is streaming on Netflix now.

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