The Witcher’s big villain reveal is so much better in the books
The Witcher’s third season marks a stark turning point in the series — and not only because it will be Henry Cavill’s last as Geralt of Rivia. The fifth episode, “The Art of Illusion,” reveals the identity of the rogue mage who hired Rience (Chris Fulton) to hunt Ciri (Freya Allan) and sets up a political upheaval that resets the board of power in the brewing war between the North and Nilfgaard.
[Ed. note: The following contains spoilers for The Witcher season 3 and Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher novels.]
In the part 1 finale, Geralt and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) go to the conclave with the aim of proving Stregobor’s (Lars Mikkelsen) guilt, only to discover the true identity of the traitorous mage is Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu). He hired Rience through his secret girlfriend and proxy, Lydia van Bredevoort (Aisha Fabienne Ross).
Though Tissaia (MyAnna Buring) seems unaware of both Vilgefortz’s ill intentions and secret lover, the mage’s two-timing is what did him in: Geralt and Yennefer put the final piece in place after noticing Lydia and Tissaia’s matching jewelry.
The implications of Vilgefortz being Rience’s master are far-reaching, as they dramatically recolor past events and shape where the Netflix show will go when season 3 returns on July 27. So let’s break down where Vilgefortz’s true allegiance lies, what he wants with Ciri, and the ways this reveal played out differently — and so much better — in the books.
Technically, Vilgefortz isn’t working for Nilfgaard, he’s working with Nilfgaard. After Rience figured out he was hunting Ciri for the White Flame (Bart Edwards), he confronted Lydia, who provided that clarification. While this may seem like semantics, there is a huge difference between being a partner and a
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