Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, the deuteragonist of the expanding Witcher franchise, was chosen to lead CD PROJEKT RED’s new trilogy of Witcher games, replacing Geralt of Rivia, despite the developer knowing full well that the choice would be controversial among fans, according to new details regarding The Witcher IV that have been shared by narrative director Phillipp Weber. “It would be best to put Geralt back in the lead role,” reads one critic’s response to the cinematic reveal trailer that CDPR released on December 12, while another is screaming about how “CIRI IS UGLY, MAKE HER LOOK GOOD.” See below for a trailer of PureArts’ latest project, a 1/2 scale statue of Ciri of Cintra that advertises synthetic hair, silicone skin, hand-sewn clothing, real leather, and other premium features.
I think we definitely knew it could be controversial for some people because of course, in the previous three Witcher games Geralt was the protagonist and I think everyone really loved playing as Geralt.
I really loved playing as Geralt, so I think we’re aware that if some people think right now that they would still prefer to be Geralt, I do think that’s a legitimate concern, so if this is where that concern is coming from, that’s valid.
The best thing that we can do, and I think this is really our goal, is to prove that with Ciri, we can do a lot of interesting things so we can really make it worth it because this decision to have Ciri as a protagonist wasn’t made yesterday, we started making this a very long time ago.
Ciri was already being set up as a second protagonist in the Andrzej Sapkowski novels and as the second playable character in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, so for us it really was the natural evolution of what we’ve already been making for so long. Also for people who really love Geralt, it lets us honour the ending that Geralt had in The Witcher 3 and in Blood and Wine.
At the same time, of course, with Ciri being at the beginning of her journey as a Witcher, it also lets us tell new stories of what it means to become a Witcher. So, for those people who are worried right now, if that comes from a place of passion, I want to say I think the next time we show the game, our goal is to show and prove that Ciri can be a worthy protagonist for The Witcher 4.