The Witcher finally provides an explanation for Season 1’s most annoying glitch – but it still doesn’t make sense

Before The Witcher gave Henry Cavill’s Geralt a worthy farewell in season 3, she sent the witcher into his most dangerous duel to date. It quickly became clear that he was inferior to the renegade sorcerer Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu).

Vilgefortz is revealed in Season 3 as a Nilfgaard double agent and the continent’s most powerful mage. That was not always so. In retrospect, a scene from the first season of The Witcher now seems all the more stupid. But the Netflix series tries to come up with a suitable explanation – with little success.

The Witcher season 3 explains Vilgefortz’s defeat

In the season one finale, the wizard Vilgefortz faced the Nilfgaardian Cahir in battle and was eventually defeated with ease. For most viewers, there was nothing unusual about this scene. Fans of Andrzej Sapkowski’s witcher novels, the template for the Netflix series, were horrified.

In the making-of for season 3, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich looks back at the reactions of the book fans to this scene:

The fans were in an uproar! Vilgefortz is THE most powerful magician. He could have literally killed Cahir with one look.

Fans of the template rightly felt alienated when the (then still secret) main villain of the fantasy saga was simply defeated by a human and clumsily tumbled down a mountain slope. Season 3 finally delivers one in episode 6 Attempted explanation for Vilgefortz’ surprising defeat away. During his fight with Geralt he explains:

You know what was the hardest? to control oneself. to hide my abilities. Knowing that I could just end any life. It was… frustrating.

So now we have the answer: Vilgefortz let himself be hit on purpose during the attack on Sodden. As part of his long-term intrigue. But if you think about it for more than a few seconds, you’ll see that this explanation doesn’t really make sense.

The logic problem remains after The Witcher explanation…frustrating

Why would Vilgefortz even hide that he’s a really good wizard? That would only have given him more respect within the magic community, but by no means distrust him. As the future leader of the Brotherhood, he would not have had to hide the fact that he also had the skills for this post.

Check out the trailer for The Witcher season 3 finale below:

He also faced Cahir, an opponent of the Brotherhood, alone on the battlefield. Only Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) telepathically witnessed the fight. Had he defeated Cahir, Vilgefortz would have been hailed as a hero. Losing on purpose doesn’t seem like a well thought out plan.

No wizard would have blamed him for killing a Nilfgaardian, nor was Cahir an important person whose survival guaranteed Nilfgaardian victory. So Vilgefortz must have known how important Cahir is to the White Flame or Emperor Emhyr. So there are still open questions.

Maybe The Witcher Season 4 will provide us with a well thought-out explanation for this logic problem. But the chances of that are slim, because the next season without Henry Cavill faces completely different challenges.

Podcast: Is Netflix’s The Witcher universe doomed after Henry Cavill’s exit?

In Season 3, Netflix’s fantasy hit The Witcher bids farewell to Henry Cavill as the lead actor. In the future, the witcher will be played by Liam Hemsworth. Can the series, with all of its planned spin-offs, survive this setback?

We discuss with FILMSTARTS guest Sebastian whether Henry Cavill’s farewell was successful, what strengths and weaknesses the Season 3 finale brings to Netflix and how The Witcher will continue.