The Witcher 4: Why a Larger Time Jump Could Be Essential To Shake Up One Group

The Witcher series has several factions and fantasy beings that are long-lived. These include witchers, who live as long until they’re killed. There are intelligent monsters, such as high vampires, who live forever. Then there are the sorceresses, who live for hundreds of years. If The Witcher 4 is going to feature an entirely new cast of characters, it’s going to need a significant time jump if any sorcerers are going to feature as they do in the original The Witcher trilogy of games.

Sorcerers in The Witcher are a faction of magic users who are typically women thanks to their organization and politics. They’re an important group because they’re the only ones who can use magic in any significant way and who cooperate with those in power on the Continent. Because there are so few of them, and their nature necessitates being taught magic, sorcerers all tend to know each other, making it difficult to include one without mentioning or featuring other known sorcerers. This becomes problematic if The Witcher 4 wants an entirely new cast.

Sorcerers in The Witcher Games

While witchers and other factions are also long-lived, sorcerers are more insular. Most sorcerers knew each other, with only a few magic schools to control their power, most notably Aretuza and Ban Ard. Because sorcerers are the only beings capable of using magic in a way that matters in The Witcher, they tend to feature in the stories thanks to their roles in the political landscape.

Witchers are Isolated

While witchers are also a faction that is insular, there is more than one faction and these factions don’t tend to mingle. Geralt has met witchers in his travels that he’s never heard of before, whereas most sorcerers have either met or know each other by reputation. This problem extends to the audience, who are at least familiar with the major sorcerers.

Because sorcerers are so long-lived and because magical ability is so rare, to have a completely new cast of characters in The Witcher 4, a time jump either forward or backward that removes the known sorcerers from play would be necessary. The Witcher 4 would need to go back several hundred years to eliminate the current generation and their teachers, and forward by at least several hundred years to eliminate sorceresses like Yennefer and Triss.

Solutions to the Insular Sorcerers in The Witcher 4

An alternative solution to a massive time jump would be to introduce new characters and only mention the other Witcher sorcerers who appear in the original trilogy, but this would be a clunky way to avoid them. Sorcerers by their profession are significant because they’re required to go to prestigious institutions to learn how to control their magical talent; those who don’t become consumed by magic and die young. The sorcerers then meet each other at one of the two magic schools, then go on to royal courts or other prestigious positions across the Continent.

Giving CD Projekt Red More Control

Moving the timeline several hundred years ahead would work well in this situation, as it would also give CD Projekt Red the freedom to change the world of The Witcher 4 as they like, including the status of both the sorcerers and the witchers. It would also allow the studio to introduce completely new characters and expand the world, rather than having endless cameos, which possibly has the drawback of making the world feel tiny.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3 is the third major installment in the Witcher series. In this game, players once again take up the mantle of Geralt, a monster hunter who roams the open world taking on contracts. For this entry, the major plot follows the disappearance of Ciri, Geralt’s ward, and his attempts to find her.

Released

May 19, 2015

Engine

REDengine 3

ESRB

M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content

Expansions

The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone , The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

How Long To Beat

52 Hours

Metascore

94