Diksha Sundriyal
The third season of Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ follows Ciri, learning to control her powers under the guidance of Yennefer. They travel across the Continent with Geralt, hiding from their enemies while Ciri prepares for an inevitable face-off. Yennefer believes that someone like Tissaia is more equipped to help Ciri with her powers, so she takes her to Aretuza. However, things don’t pan out well there as a bloody coup takes place. Ciri gets torn off from Geralt and Yennefer and has to fend for herself once again. In the final scene of the season, when asked about her name, she calls herself Falka. Who is Falka, and how is she connected to Ciri? Let’s find out. SPOILERS AHEAD
Who is Falka?
Falka appears to Ciri when the latter ends up in a desert following the destruction of Tor Lara. It is a hallucination, but it tells Ciri a lot of things about her destiny. But who was Falka? Born around a hundred years before Ciri, Falka was the daughter of Vridank, the King of Redania, and his first wife, Beatrix. Shortly after Falka was born, the king fell in love with someone else. He divorced Beatrix and exiled her and Falka. He had two sons with his second wife, but Falka, being the firstborn, considered it her birthright to take the throne of Redania.
She launched a rebellion against her father and killed him, his second wife, and both their children. All this blood and mayhem turned her into a rather hated character on the Continent, for which she was burned at the stake. Before this, however, she gave birth to a daughter. During the rebellion, she also captured the King of Temeria and his wife, Riannon, the daughter of Lara Dorren. Riannon gave birth to twins around the same time Falka’s daughter was born.
Riannon went mad in prison, and Falka left her daughter with her twins, making it impossible for Riannon to recognize which ones were hers. Knowing her daughter was safe, Falka cursed the people of Redania that one of her descendants would avenge her by wreaking havoc upon them all.
Falka’s Legacy: Ciri’s New Identity
In the Netflix series, Ciri is the descendant of both Lara Dorren and Falka, which makes things rather complicated concerning her fate, as pointed out by Ithlinne’s prophecy. Lara Dorren’s descendant is supposed to save the world, while Falka’s is supposed to destroy it. Because Ciri is the only living descendant of both bloodlines, her destiny could go either way. In her hallucination, Falka advises her to burn the system to the ground if she wishes to change it.
Falka encourages Ciri to use fire magic, even when the latter knows how dangerous it can be. She is desperate at the time, so she uses it, but once tapped into the power of fire magic, there is no going back. Moreover, in the end, Ciri discovers that someone else has been captured in her place and sent to King Emhyr as her. No one really knows what Ciri looks like, so no one will look for her if they think Ciri is already in Nilfgaard.
When the Rats ask her name, Ciri decides to go with an alias, and interestingly, she chooses Falka. The most important reason she changes her name is not to be identified as Ciri and risk bringing Nilfgaard’s forces back on her trail. This is her way to remain anonymous but also her way to acknowledge where she comes from and what her powers mean. She relates with Falka, who people hated for her powers and elven features. Ciri, too, is being hunted for her powers. Some want to use her; others want to destroy her.
Using Falka’s name also comes right after Ciri kills a person. She has fought people before, but this is the first time she killed someone, which could flame the fire of destruction in her. It is also after Ciri has been through the hell of the desert, questioned herself, and wondered if she really can change the world with so many powerful forces against her. Perhaps, she has decided to take Falka’s advice. Perhaps, she is ready to burn the world to the ground before starting anew. It makes sense then that she would call herself Falka.
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