Geralt of Rivia’s voice actor comments on CD Projekt RED’s decision to make Ciri the protagonist of The Witcher 4 – and clearly positions himself with his own opinion.
Why does the voice actor need to comment? Doug Cockle, the voice actor of Geralt of Rivia from the Witcher series, responds in a YouTube video from Fall Damage on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the release of The Witcher 3 to various memes. There he responds to the following statement:
“The entire chat of the Game Awards, which spammed ‘woke’ because you play as Ciri, a woman, in The Witcher 4, shows everything that is going wrong in gaming culture.” (@StealthyBosmer’s statement in the Fall Damage video via YouTube)
Cockle responds calmly but with determination: “I wouldn’t say that’s everything that’s going wrong in gaming culture, but I think that’s just dumb.”
Here you can see the trailer for The Witcher 4, where Ciri is the new protagonist:
“There’s nothing ‘woke’ about it.”
What is his reaction to the complaints? Cockle takes the opportunity to express his own position regarding the complaints about Ciri as the new protagonist, which have been recurring since the release of the first trailer at the Game Awards. He seems to have a strong opinion, especially about the label ‘woke’:
It’s not “woke”, there’s nothing “woke” about it. It’s a cool character from The Witcher, and they will focus on this character. I think that’s great. […] If you think it’s “woke”, read the damn books! They are good, and secondly, you won’t think it’s that “woke” anymore.
(Doug Cockle via YouTube)
What does Cockle say about Geralt’s “retirement”? The voice actor, who has given voice to the Witcher since 2007, says the following about Ciri stepping into Geralt’s shoes:
“We can’t just have Geralt for every single Witcher game ad nauseam [to the point of vomiting] until the end of time. Also, we have seen the end of Geralt’s journey. Blood and Wine should conclude Geralt’s journey. I celebrate Ciri. I celebrate her as the protagonist. So if you read the books, you will understand why CD Projekt has taken this path. There is a whole world full of things to explore with Ciri that they didn’t do in Witcher 3 because the story revolves around Geralt, but it hints at it.”
You can see his entire statement on the topic and the reactions to other Witcher memes here via YouTube:
Whether fans will see Geralt in the fourth part of the Witcher series remains unknown. However, his voice can be heard in the trailer as a kind of narrator. CD Projekt RED is aware that Ciri as a protagonist has high expectations to fulfill after such a popular character as Geralt. This is exactly what the studio sees as the biggest challenge: The biggest challenge in The Witcher 4 is not the gameplay, but the protagonist.
