How to make sense of The Witcher’s mage ball and what happened
Here’s a joke setup: Geralt and Yen walk into a party.
As far-fetched as that might’ve seemed — maybe most particularly with Geralt (Henry Cavill), who, three seasons in, has very little interest in social events — it’s actually the premise for one of the most high-stakes adventures in The Witcher yet.
The mage’s ball kicking off the conclave for peace cooked up by Yen (Anya Chalotra) is, on its face, just a fancy dance. But as you might have heard (a lot) watching the fifth episode of season 3: All is not as it seems. As Geralt and Yen uncover, the party was more a nest of backstabbing, politicking, and performative magic.
Related
Suffice it to say, the Continent will not be the same post-Conclave, for reasons the end of season 3 part 1 only hints at. If all the Rashomon-ing left your head a bit spinny, here’s what you need to know about all the political power that walked into that room — and what they left the ball with:
[Ed. note: Spoilers for all five episodes of The Witcher season 3 part 1.]
The most we can say about Nilfgaard’s machinations in episode 5: They’re up to something! Lydia van Bredevoort (Aisha Fabienne Ross), the liaison between Rience (Chris Fulton) and whomever she works for, is flitting about, being mysterious with her best illusion face. Though Geralt and Yen hear a lot of talk about traitors who might be working with Nilfgaard, they mostly brush this off for the main event of the evening.
Geralt and Yen walk into the ball with a clear objective: to find evidence against Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen). They suspect him of backing Rience the fire mage, based on the compelling evidence that he uses illusions, hates Yen, and has a history of experimenting on young women. “If Stregobor is behind
Read more on polygon.com
