The Witcher 4 trailer shows Ciri using a specific sword that all-but confirms which Witcher 3 ending is canon

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The debate over the canon ending is over

Ciri seen in the cinematic reveal trailer for The Witcher 4, out of breath from a fight.
(Image credit: CD Projekt RED)

I don't think anyone saw it coming, but thanks to The Game Awards last night, we've been given our first look at The Witcher 4, and eagle-eyed fans have already spotted a clue that appears to canonize a certain Witcher 3 ending. 

In The Witcher 4 (which is actually called that, despite developer CD Projekt Red previously being rather noncommittal about the name), Ciri is the star of the show, and story director Tomasz Marchewka says that "from the very beginning we knew it had to be" her. As has been highlighted by fan @LastKnownMeal on Twitter, it appears that her story follows on from the ending to the third game that sees her become a witcher herself, after Geralt bestows the silver sword, Zireael, upon her. Lo and behold, she's a witcher in this trailer, and on top of that, we can also see that she appears to be carrying that very same sword. You can see its distinctive hilt with a ring shape at the top in the screenshot below. 

There are 36 different endings to The Witcher 3, which was always going to make creating any kind of direct continuation tricky. Who knows, perhaps it's not even so simple as following on from just one of them, but Zireael's presence is certainly compelling evidence to point to it being this one in particular. 

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With six glorious minutes of trailer to pore over, I imagine that this is just the start of the theories Witcher fans are going to generate about the upcoming game and its plot. For a start, we already heard Geralt at the end, which suggests he'll have a role of some sort even if he's not the protagonist. Funnily enough, that'd also suggest that the rumor Geralt actor Doug Cockle accidentally shared earlier in the year is probably correct, even after he recently admitted to being "slapped by CD Projekt Red" over saying it.

You can check out all of last night's big news in our roundup of everything announced at The Game Awards 2024. 

Catherine Lewis
Catherine Lewis
Deputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.