Ciri’s secret to becoming a Witcher in The Witcher 4 lies in her new medallion

Ciri was always the obvious choice for the protagonist in The Witcher 4. Geralt had hung up his steel and silver swords well and truly in the Blood & Wine DLC for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and if you got the good ending for the base game, you would know that he trained Ciri as his protégé shortly after the story ended.

Or, rather, Geralt continued the training he gave Ciri in Kaer Morhen in the books. Ciri not only wants to follow in her adoptive father’s footsteps in the game, but from Sapkowski’s original works it is clear that her ambition is to be a Witcher. So even though there was a bit of controversy over Ciri’s choice at the premiere of The Witcher 4’s trailer, pretty much anyone who has actually played the games understands that this is the logical route for CD Projekt Red to go in. That is, except for one small hurdle.

As we know, only men can become Witchers in the universe, just as only boys can survive the Trials of the Grasses. That means Ciri, even with her ability to bend time and space, theoretically shouldn’t have the animal eyes and signs we see in the trailer. However, CD Projekt Red has told us that they already know exactly how Ciri becomes a Witcher to get over this little hurdle, and I think it all has to do with the medallion.

Well, duh? Of course it’s the medallion, that’s the symbol that she’s a Witcher. Yes, I know, but I’m talking more about what the medallion means. Specifically, the fact that Ciri no longer wears the medallion of the School of the Cat around her neck, but instead wears the medallion of the School of the Lynx. The School of the Lynx is not a canon school, but it was created before The Witcher 4 in fanfiction. As far as the story goes, the School of the Lynx was created by Lambert, Keira Metz and a few other members of the former School of the Cat. Essentially, the School of the Lynx is just the School of the Cat renamed, with heavy reforms by Lambert and Keira.

How does this relate to Ciri? Well, as mentioned, she already wore a School of the Cat medallion, and she is familiar with Lambert, so it is more than possible now that Geralt has retired and the School of the Wolf has been virtually abandoned after Vesemir’s death, she sought out the School of the Lynx to make herself fully a Witcher. This explanation would also help us overcome the obstacle of women not being Witchers, since research from the School of the Manticore allowed women to follow up on the Trials of the Grasses, and the School of the Lynx was the second school to allow women to become Witchers.

When you put two and two together, it begins to make sense how the lore can fairly easily explain Ciri’s path to becoming a Witcher. Now, it may not be that CD Projekt Red would use this fanon in its entirety, but from the look of the School of the Lynx, it is clear that there is an inspiration. Anyway, since this is the beginning of Ciri’s journey as a Witcher, it’s likely that we won’t get to the point where she has mastered every aspect of being a monster slayer. Moreover, in the same fanfiction where School of the Lynx comes from, we see a second Conjunction of the Globes (much larger than the one at the end of The Witcher 3), which calls for many new Witchers to help defeat the plethora of monsters in the world. So again, it makes sense why a new, female Witcher like Ciri will not only be shoehorned in, but will feel like a natural solution to one of the Witcher world’s new problems.

The Witcher games themselves are ultimately just fanfiction, but they are very good fanfiction, usually showing tremendous respect for the source material. So if you’re worried that CD Projekt Red is dropping the lore entirely to make Ciri a Witcher, calm your fears, because there are plenty of ways this can work in the universe. Personally, if I were Ciri, I wouldn’t want to go through all the pains of the Trials of the Grasses and would stick to my awesome space and time forces. After all, we all saw what the modified version of the Trials did to UMA.