It feels like the gaming industry holds its breath every single time a scrap of news regardingThe Witcher 4comes out, thanks to the generational effect thatThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunthad on gaming ever since it was released back in 2015. Almost nothing is known about the project, other than that it is titledProject Polaris,and it has just entered full production over two years after it was announced. WithThe Witcher 1getting a remake from CD Projekt Red as well, it will soon be a great time forWitcherfans.
This article contains spoilers forThe Witcher 3: Wild HuntandThe Witcher Book Series.
Althoughthey treat the events of the books as respected history,The Witchergames take place afterwardas a form of very well-written fan fiction that follows the main story. There’s always a bit of confusion between the ending of the books and the start of the games, since there is a time skip, and a lot of the events aren’t elaborated on even after the game trilogy.The Witcher 4has a chance to elaborate on this a little while exploring avenues that the trilogy following Geralt was unable to go down.
The Queen Of Free Elves Should Be In The Witcher 4
Francesca Findabair Is A Big Player In The Books
Almost every character featured in the books that survived their events ended up inThe Witchergames, especially after theBlood and Wineexpansion, reminiscing about Geralt’s time in Toussaint duringThe Tower of the Swallow.One noticeable exception is Francesca Findabair, Queen of the Free Elvesand former member of the Lodge of Sorceresses. This is a bit odd considering that almost every other surviving member of the Lodge is inThe Witcher 3, from Margarita Laux-Antille to Philippa Eilhart, or appears earlier on in the second game.
Philippa Eilhart was the de facto leader of the Lodge of Sorceresses and lady of their headquarters, Montecalvo castle.
The Witcher 3states that Francesca Findabair is still in her realm of Dol Blathanna, so she’s still alive, and being both a queen and leader of what is essentially a fading race, she has always been one of the books' more interesting side characters. She is repeatedly called the"most beautiful woman in the world"in the book series, andshe contributes to the political landscape of the Northern Realms considerably, even before joining the Lodge. Despite being such a notable character, she is isn’t featured in the games, butThe Witcher 4can change this.
Francesca Findabair would be an interesting NPC to include, as her mannerisms make her seem like a bewitching character who is always in control and able to make the tough decisions expected of a leader. An example comes when Francesca denounces Filavandrel and the Scoia’tael guerrilla force to form her kingdom, but the instance also shows her compassion, since she asked Filavandrel for his forgiveness. She got it too, and itdoes seem like a bit of a shame that such a character never made it into the gamesother thanGwent.
Francesca’s Absence In The Witcher 3 Is Odd
There Were Plenty Of Ways She Could Have Appeared
The final act ofThe Witcher 3combines almost every surviving member of the Lodge of Sorceresses to face off against the Wild Hunt one last time. Phillipa, Triss, Yennefer, Margarita, and Fringilla all help in the final fight, yet the two elven members,Ida and Francesca, do not appear to face Eredin’s grim forces. Despite this, Ida does appear in the game as a projection via a Megascope, providing advice regarding Uma. She outright refuses to help in the fight against the Wild Hunt, though.
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Although her advisor (Ida) is in the game despite being far less important in the books,Francesca is nowhere to be seen even though she has access to long-distance communication. She isn’t contacted by any member of the Lodge at any point in the trilogy, let alone inThe Witcher 3, which gathers almost all the surviving members. Considering that thefinal boss Eredinis the king of the Aen Elle elves, and Francesca is the leader of the Aen Seidhe, she could have been used to show the difference in culture between the two types of elves.
The Aen Elle elves are those that left the Continent for a new world, while the Aen Seidhe are the elves that remained, making the two distinctly different from each other despite sharing ancestry.
ConsiderationThe Witcher 3’s mention of Francesca and the fact thatelves do not leave the world ofThe Witcheruntil after the games take place, it’s quite clear that Francesca is still around, so it isn’t like she’s dead or held in a cell like many other sorceresses. The assumption is that she is still acting as queen in Dol Blathanna, and although her royal duties might keep her away physically, the Wild Hunt probably should have concerned her somewhat, especially since she helped the Lodge hunt for Ciri in the books.
The Witcher 4 Could Use Francesca To Explain The Lodge’s Fall
Whether As A Sequel Or A Prequel
Something that isn’t all too clear in the games is how the Lodge of Sorceresses fell, as they were still standing at the end of the books. With Francesca being a member of the Lodge, who got away relatively scot-free considering that most other members ended up imprisoned, she could beused inThe Witcher 4to explain these events. This is important contextsince the Lodge was a big player in the books but has almost no power in the games, yet there aren’t any concrete answers as to what happened.
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PerhapsThe Witcher 4will be a prequel that takes place between the books and the first game, which means that the fall of the Lodge could be witnessed firsthand. If not, then havingFrancesca be the political player she was in the books in the latest game could be a way for the player to explore Dol Blathanna, which does get mentioned in the second game. This way, she could explain the events that led to the fall of the Lodge retroactively, as well as present the current political landscape afterThe Witcher 3.
Ultimately, it does feel odd that Francesca, a major member of the Lodge and Queen of the Free Elves, is one of the only named sorceresses to not feature in the games. CD Projekt Red already has a design for her, since she had a card inGwent,and Francesca feels like she could be a great addition forThe Witcher 4depending on what ending ofWild Huntends up being canon. She would help in moving away fromThe Witchertrilogy too, since she is a name books fans recognize while having nothing to do with the games thus far.
