Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for The Witcher: Blood Origin.

The Big Picture

• Ciri's Elder Blood makes her a target due to its powerful magic energies inherited through her genetic heritage.
• The Witcher: Blood Origin explores the Conjunction of the Spheres, which led to the creation of Elder Blood as a weapon for Elfkind.
• Elves' expansionist culture and conflicts with humans after the Conjunction of the Spheres ultimately resulted in the creation of Lara's Gene and Ciri's Elder Blood.

Season 2 of The Witcher focuses on Ciri’s (Freya Allan) heritage, revealing everyone is after the girl due to her Elder Blood. Since The Witcher: Blood Origin takes place 1200 years before the main series events, fans shouldn’t expect to see the return of Geralt of Rivia's (Henry Cavill) protégée. Still, the prequel series does lay out the foundations to explain what Ciri’s Elder Blood really is and how it can affect the main series' next seasons. The reason is that Blood Origin explores the Conjunction of the Spheres, the event that introduced humans to the Continent and ultimately led to the creation of Elder Blood as a powerful weapon for Elfkind.

What Is Elder Blood in 'The Witcher'?

Ciri is coveted by different political forces in the Continent and beyond because her Elder Blood gives her innate access to powerful magic energies. Ciri got her Elder Blood through her genetic heritage, as she’s a long-lost descendant of Lara Dorren (Niamh McCormack), a powerful Elf sorceress. Lara was supposed to marry another Elf sorcerer, so they could birth children so powerful that no other race could ever stand to Elfkind. Instead, she married a human mage named Cregennan of Lod, who advocated for the peaceful coexistence of humans and Elves.

Lara and Cregennan’s marriage shook the Continent and caused great controversy among both races. That’s because Lara was conceived as a weapon for the Elves, someone who could help them defeat the humans and regain control of the Continent. Netflix’s series still haven’t explored the origins of Elder Blood, but Andrzej Sapkowski’s original books mix medieval fantasy with sci-fi concepts to create a unique universe. That’s why The Witcher deals with things such as time-traveling and genetic manipulation.

In Lara’s case, she was the fruit of careful research and planning, as the Elves devise a plan to create the ultimate sorcerer. While Lara disrupted the Elves’ plans when she married Cregennan, her Elder Blood lives in her descendants. And by the time The Witcher takes place, Ciri is the last survivor to carry the Lara Gene, making her ever more precious. The events leading to Elder Blood's creation are not put in motion after the Conjunction of the Spheres. So, by exploring this cataclysmic event, The Witcher: Blood Origin helps us understand the political disputes in the Continent.

'The Witcher: Blood Origin' Events Lead to the Creation of Elder Blood

Blood Origin does a decent job of underlining how Elves are primarily conquerors in the world of The Witcher. The prequel lets us know how the Continent belonged to the Dwarves long before the Elves arrived and that Elfkind built their culture over the ruins of their enemies. It’s no wonder Princess Merwyn (Mirren Mack) helps with the coup to create the Golden Empire and that Balor (Lenny Henry) begins to explore the Monoliths to find ways to conquer new dimensions and draw power from different worlds. Elves are culturally expansionists, an ethos that’s also reflected in the interdimensional riders known as the Wild Hunt.

During the Conjunction of the Spheres, multiple dimensions cross the same point of space and time for a few moments. As a result, creatures from different dimensions end up on the Continent. Many of these visitors are monsters that plague the land and lead to the foundation of the order of the Witchers. Most importantly, the Conjunction of the Spheres also brought humans, another race that’s moved by war and bloodshed. In the decades and centuries that followed, humans became the dominant race of the Continent, oppressing Elves and Dwarves everywhere. That’s what ultimately leads Elves to begin their genetic experiments to enhance the magical talents of newer generations, creating Lara’s Gene.

The Elder Blood that runs in Ciri’s veins results from the conflict between Elves and humans, which began after the Conjunction of the Spheres. It also gives her an immense power everyone wants to harness for their own goals. Season 3 of The Witcher should further explore Ciri’s powers, and by doing so, the series might explain how Netflix will adapt the story of Lara’s Gene. And with The Witcher: Blood Origin, fans will better understand what happened in the Continent to push Elves to create Elder Blood.

The Witcher: Blood Origin is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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