Duolingo Hides Clever Reference for The Witcher Fans

gamerant.com:

A Duolingo user discovered a hidden reference to the massively popular Witcher series while using the language-learning app. Since its first story in 1986, The Witcher has garnered international acclaim from its legions of fans scattered all over the globe, with comics, video games, and a live-action TV series providing several portals into author Andrzej Sapkowski's fantastical world of magic and monsters.

Even though it already boasts a massive fanbase, the Witcher series is still growing. Multiple projects based on the franchise are already in the production pipeline, such as the next season of the Netflix live-action adaptation and the accompanying animated film, The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep. Video game developer CD Projekt Red also recently kicked off the next production phase of The Witcher 4, which will mark the beginning of the next mainline trilogy of games for the critically acclaimed series. The studio is additionally working on several other projects, including a multiplayer-focused Witcher title known under the codename of Project Sirius. With the franchise's increasing prominence in the mainstream, it might not come as a surprise that people have begun to reference the series more and more.

The Witcher has even earned a reference from the widely popular language-learning tool, Duolingo. Reddit user GeraltAndYennefer first noticed the Easter egg while they were reviewing their Finnish lessons and saw a phrase specifically referencing a hedgehog groomsman. They believed the sentence might have been a nod towards «A Question of Price,» a short story by Sapkowski and one of the tales that shined a light on the history between The Witcher's protagonist Geralt of Rivia and his adopted daughter, Ciri. Duolingo later confirmed to IGN that the phrase was meant to allude to The Witcher.

For context, «A Question of Price» is the fifth story in The Last Wish and covers how Ciri became Geralt's ward through the Witcher series' infamous Law of Surprise. The story