Adapts the short story "Something More" from the anthology Sword of Destiny.
A terrifying pack of foes lays Geralt low. Yennefer and her fellow mages prepare to fight back. A shaken Ciri depends on the kindness of a stranger.
Tropes present in this episode:
- Adaptational Wimp: In this episode, Vilgefortz is defeated and nearly killed by Cahir. In the books, he comes very close to killing Geralt (a far more experienced fighter and swordsman than Cahir) in a one-on-one fight.
- Arc Words: "Reserve your chaos" comes up several times, until it's finally flipped when Tissaia tells Yennefer to unleash her chaos.
- An Arm and a Leg: A Northern mage — known as Lytta "Coral" Neyd in the books — has an arm cut off by a Nilfgaardian soldier in the Battle of Sodden and is dragged away. She's later seen with both arms cut off and impaled to a tree.
- Armour-Piercing Question: Geralt asks his mother if she knew that only three out of ten boys survive being turned into Witchers when she left him on his master's doorstep.
- Asshole Victim: The Cintran refugees who tried to assault Ciri were quite literally torn apart when she unleashed her power against them.
- Burn the Witch!: A Nilfgaardian soldier stabs Triss in the chest with a burning torch while trying to hack their way through the barricade of vines she's conjured. Yennefer later sees Triss, still alive but being treated by another mage for her burns.
- Cast from Hit Points: The Nilfgaardian mages deplete themselves even to the point of death to power spells to bombard Sodden Hill.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: Played With. Foltest keeps his promise to come help the mages and his forces arrived precisely when they were expected. Unfortunately, he doesn't manage to actually get there until after the battle. Of course, this is because Nilfgaard arrived early, and he is at least in time to counter the Nilfgaardian reinforcements.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Subverted. The Northern mages are initially able to take out swathes of Nilfgaardian soldiers... at least until Fringilla brings out the magic, and then they are overpowered and nearly massacred.
- Contrived Coincidence: Geralt is taken in by the husband of the woman who took Ciri in, allowing for their Law of Surprise-mandated meeting. Depending on how much one believes in destiny, this may be destiny conspiring to unite them.Visenna: People linked by destiny will always find each other.
(later)
Zola: (to Ciri) I can't help but think I was meant to find you. - Cliffhanger: Yennefer vanishes after burning the Nilfgaardian troops. Ciri has a vision of Geralt and Tissaia calling for her, and, when finally united with Geralt, asks who Yennefer is. Cut to credits.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: The Battle of Sodden Hill (which will be the first in Nilfgaard's first war against the North) would have been a slaughter if not for the mages, who manage to cause Nilfgaard a fair amount of grief in the process of getting across the gorge.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Fire magic is considered forbidden because it is volatile, chaotic, and dangerous. When all seems lost for the defenders, Tissaia encourages Yennefer to "unleash her chaos". She opts to siphon all the fire from the burning buildings and then unleash it as an infernal torrent upon the advancing Nilfgaardian army (and having it pass around Tissaia).
- Dramatic Irony: The Nilfgaardian forces lose an astounding number of soldiers and mages by rushing into attacking Sodden, because Cahir and Fringilla think that Ciri has already crossed the Yaruga River, and they want to catch up with her. The audience, however, knows that they have actually gotten ahead of her, as Ciri is at that moment in a farm several miles behind the front.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Ciri has a dream of Tissaia and Geralt standing on the battlefield at Sodden screaming Yennefer's name, something that will happen in the second season premiere.
- Evolving Credits: All the insignias from the previous seven episodes split apart and merge to form a wolf (Geralt) and a swallow (Ciri), signifying that they finally meet.
- Fever Dream Episode: Geralt has a lot of these while under the effect of the ghoul venom and witcher antidotes in his system.
- Honor Before Reason: Yennefer feels the refugees who want to defend Sodden to the death are this, stating that they should take the children and hide instead. Their leader fires back that if Nilfgaard takes the keep there won't be anywhere else to hide.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: At least two of the Cintran refuges who attacked Ciri, including her former friend, ended up impaled on nearby tree branches when she unleashed her power.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: The mages defending Sodden manage to hit tiny glass bottles thrown hundreds of yards away with slingshots with perfect accuracy. Of course, they probably accomplish it with magic.
- Improvised Weapon: Geralt tears a ghoul's arm out of its socket and clubs one of its packmates with it.
- Magic Mushroom: Triss uses her magic to conjure mushrooms in the path of the Nilfgaardian advance that choke the soldiers with poisonous spores.
- Meadow Run: Upon finally meeting each other, there's a shot of Geralt and Ciri running into each other's arms (though it's more Ciri who runs, actually).
- Meaningful Rename: Invoked: Geralt implies his name is one given to him by Vesemir, not the one he was born with.Visenna: Stop it, Geralt.
Geralt: You don't get to use that name! Vesemir gave me that name. - Minor Injury Overreaction: Justified as ghoul bites, even a minor one, are extremely poisonous, even to a witcher.
- Missed Him by That Much: Ciri leaves the farm and runs off into the woods in search of Geralt just before he arrives at the farmhouse. Luckily, they find each other soon afterwards.
- Mission Control: Yennefer acts as one to the defenders of Sodden, keeping tabs on her fellow mages and coordinating them telepathically.
- Or Was It a Dream?: It's left ambiguous if Geralt's mother really comes to save her son from fatal poisoning, or if his own elixir and mutant resistance cured him, and the vision was only a hallucination. The farmer with Geralt doesn't acknowledge the woman at all, saying that Geralt called out for several women in his fever dream, but she could have enchanted him to forget.
- Puppeteer Parasite: A metallic worm gets into Sabrina's ear, causing her to betray her fellow mages and blow up their ammunition.
- Sword Plant: Geralt does one of these to stab a ghoul crawling under the ground at his feet.
- To Serve Man: The ghouls that Geralt ends up fighting to protect Yurga prefer carrion, which is why they were drawn to the corpses of Cintran refugees, but they don't scorn fresh meat when it's available.
- Training the Peaceful Villagers: The various peasant refugees inside Sodden are put to work helping the mages of Aretuza to make fletching for bows, and are used as archers to defend the keep. They manage to do quite well, for regular folk.
- We Are Not Going Through That Again: When the farmer offers Geralt the Law of Surprise as payment for saving him, Geralt hastily asks for an ale instead.
- When Trees Attack: After the Nilfgaardians breach the keep's gates, Triss uses her magic to create a barricade of vines to hold them back, as well as entangle any soldiers trying to cut their way through.
- Zerg Rush: The ghouls attack Geralt en masse, trying to overwhelm him with weight of numbers. This is also the Nilfgaardian strategy, sending in hordes of soldiers to overwhelm the meager garrison.
