Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon was always meant to be the descendant of the Witcher series, CD Projekt asserts.
VIEW GALLERY – 2 IMAGES
Ciri, not Geralt, is the star of The Witcher IV. For many, this isn’t a surprise. But the choice has nonetheless caused slight controversy–whether it be Ciri, her appearance, or CD Projekt’s choice, there’s some ruffled feathers.
On the heels of The Witcher 4’s big reveal at The Game Awards, key members of the studio are going on press tours to discuss their new femme fatale protagonist.
One piece from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reveals that CD Projekt had chosen Ciri to star in The Witcher 4 a decade ago, which would be around 2014, months before The Witcher III even came out.
In other interviews, executive producer Małgorzata Mitręga tells IGN that The Witcher IV was “always her”.
“It was always about her, starting from Saga when you read it in the books. She’s an amazing, layered character. And of course, as a protagonist we said goodbye to Geralt previously. So this is a continuation, I guess for all of us it’s like she was meant to be. That was always her.”
Read Also: CD Projekt constantly playtesting Witcher 4 on consoles to avoid another Cyberpunk 2077 fiasco
In that same interview, game director Sebastian Kalemba gave more thoughts on CD Projekt’s ardent choice in Ciri.
“There was an intention behind this choice. It was far from roulette. It wasn’t random. I remember we had discussions nine years ago, we were talking about who’s next? The very, very instant answer was Ciri,” Kalemba said.
“There are many reasons behind that. We’ve already mentioned a few. But she really deserves a stage and we want players to really experience her story because she has so much to tell, so much to prove.
“The amount of challenges that are in front of her give us so much amazing energy and fuel to create an epic saga that we had no choice but to go with it. We all felt that this is the way. I believe this is the super right choice.”