Cast your mind back to The Witcher’s first season finale and you may remember Cahir (Eamon Farren) getting the better of mage Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu) during the Battle of Sodden.
Book readers will have raised a quizzacle eyebrow at the event and, now we’ve caught up in The Witcher season 3, many more will be bemused by The Continent’s most powerful mage being defeated by a mere soldier.
Confused? Netflix’s behind-the-scenes documentary Making The Witcher has the answer. As showrunner Lauren Hissrich says (H/T Redanian Intelligence), fans may have been in "uproar" – but a line in the most recent season explains why Vilgefortz was beaten.
"There’s a great moment: Vilgefortz explains this season that the hardest thing for him about this long game is that he had to hide his skills," Hissrich says. "When we see his power demonstrated for the first time, it is against Geralt."
The line in question? "[Do you] know what the hardest part was?" Vilgefortz says during the third season. "Holding back. Hiding my real skills, knowing I could take any life at any time. It was exasperating."
So Vilgefortz, in a bid to hide his identity at the one pulling the strings in Aretuza, played possum for two-and-a-half seasons, skulking around in the background of events and largely being seen as a bit of a weaker force. Hey, it worked. It took everyone – even Geralt – by surprise.
We’ll have to wait and see where it all leads. One thing is for certain is that The White Wolf will look very different in The Witcher season 4. Liam Hemsworth is replacing Henry Cavill as Geralt.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, Jaskier actor Joey Batey said, "I've been in contact with him. We've been emailing, we’ve been exchanging our favorite quotes from the books and things like that. His training regime is insane and he’s been devouring the books."
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