Season 2 of The Witcher ended with the introduction of the Wild Hunt.
For fans of the game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, this was an exciting inclusion. Book fans would have also have known who this group is.
But, for those who have only watched the Netflix version of The Witcher, here’s everything you need to know.
The Wild Hunt explained
The Wild Hunt has been mentioned several times during both seasons of The Witcher. In fact, imagery of them was also shown earlier in Season 2.
However, very little has been revealed about the group up until now.
In the Season 2 finale of The Witcher, Ciri (Freya Allan) was possessed by Voleth Meir and had to create a portal in order to escape with Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and Geralt (Henry Cavill). However, it appeared that the trio had jumped straight from the pan and into the fire as they were taken to another realm.
Here, men wearing strange outfits and riding horses approached Ciri and requested she join with them.
“Join the Elder Blood, starry-eyed Daughter of Chaos. Join our hunt. Your place is among us,” the leader said.
Ciri referred to the Wild Hunt as the Wraiths of Mörhogg, which is simply another name for this group. According to many on the Continent, the Wild Hunt is a group of specters that only appear in the sky when war is impending.
“They’re always just mentioned when war is coming, or a battle is on the horizon. And so they have this air of evil mystery around them,” The Witcher showrunner, Lauren S. Hissrich, explained to IGN.
However, they are more than this.
The Wild Hunt are actually elves
As pointed out by Newsweek, the Wild Hunt actually consists of Aen Elle elves. Because of this, they are interested in Ciri due to her elvish bloodline and her particular powers possessed because of this.
For fans of the video game, the Wild Hunt is the main antagonist trying to capture Ciri. It seems likely this will also play out to some degree in Season 3 of The Witcher.
However, they will not be merely the bad guys in the TV show.
“What we’re going to start doing [in the show] is beginning to understand where they came from and what they want. And so, like all characters in Sapkowski novels, we’re going to get a little bit deeper into them so they’re not just the evil skeletal bad guys,” Hissrich said.
Season 2 of The Witcher is currently available to stream on Netflix.