In the interview about Witcher 4, editor-in-chief Leya suddenly becomes very emotional. Game Director Sebastian Kalemba explains why the sacrificed woman from their new story trailer is so important for Ciri’s journey.
Just yesterday I watched the Game Awards live in Los Angeles. A major highlight is the new reveal trailer for The Witcher 4, which I see on the big screen. Right behind me is part of the team from CD Projekt Red.
Curiously, I turn around from time to time and look into tense and excited faces. I think to myself: If I were in their place and had to unveil the sequel to the beloved Witcher 3 after almost 10 years, my stomach would be in knots.
Now I sit in a hotel lobby with my laptop, preparing for an interview that I will have in less than 30 minutes with Game Director Sebastian Kalemba and Executive Producer Gosia Mitrega. I have actually already put together my questions. One last time, I carefully watch the just revealed trailer on my laptop.
And then I notice her eyes.
Eyes I Can’t Forget
My focus suddenly shifts to Mioni, the young woman who is to be sacrificed to the monster in the trailer.
At the beginning of the 6-minute trailer, almost 2 minutes are dedicated solely to her. That’s a lot of time for Ciri to be the star of the trailer, I think to myself in that moment. How she is prepared for the sacrifice and led to her certain death.
I begin to study the young woman more closely and lean my nose close to my monitor, where I meet her eyes.
I see fear.
Although I am following a fictional character, I feel pity for her. I have respect for the powerful depiction of her innermost fear and her eyes, which have burned into my memory.
Shortly thereafter comes the big reveal that Ciri will be the new protagonist of the Witcher series from CD Projekt Red.
However, my attention remains on Mioni, and I think to myself: This can’t all be a coincidence.
Why a sacrifice of a young woman? Why is so much time dedicated to Mioni in the trailer? From the corner of my eye, I see the PR agent Fabian Döhla, who comes to pick me up from the hotel lobby for the interview.
Quickly, I scribble a note for my questions: “Symbolism of sacrificed woman?”
What is the connection to Ciri?
When I arrive in the room where we will conduct the interview, I am warmly greeted by a happy Gosia Mitrega, although I can see the fatigue on her face. She is the Executive Producer of The Witcher 4 and looks relaxed after the big trailer reveal.
Game Director Sebastian Kalemba also appears calm and cheerful at this moment. We sit down together, and the interview begins. I always write down many more questions than I can get through in the time allotted and spontaneously decide which ones to ask based on the mood and flow of the conversation.
After a few casual opening questions, I only have the sacrificed woman on my mind. As I scan my list of questions, my note catches my eye, and I simply have to know:
“At the beginning of the trailer, I suffered a lot for the young woman. I think you executed that brilliantly because you can see in her eyes how much fear she has. I had goosebumps when I watched it. This also brings the topic of ‘young women as sacrifices’ to the table. This is so symbolic that I wondered: What connection is there to Ciri? Can you elaborate on the symbolism behind it?”
At this point, the whole room is very emotional. Because fears certainly also play a role in the developers’ minds right now. The trailer is shown, the first community feedback read, the expectations high.
The Different Trailer Analysis
At this point, I find it not so easy to direct the interview back into a somewhat lighter direction. Additionally, the words about the sacrifice still echo in my mind, and I have trouble finding my focus.
The best I can think of is to continue discussing the monster and its design. And here we went really deep into detail. You won’t find this part of the interview, along with more information about the trailer, here on MeinMMO, but on our sister site GameStar.
Behind the scenes: After it was clear that I would fly to the Game Awards in LA, the editor-in-chief of GameStar, Heiko Klinge, approached me and asked if I would like to conduct this interview. I love interviews, and they are among my favorite activities in my job, which is why he didn’t have to ask me twice.
The complete interview can therefore be found as a guest article on GameStar Plus: We have the different trailer analysis for The Witcher 4: the one with CD Projekt Red
After the interview, I immediately hop into the Uber that takes me to the airport. Mioni keeps swirling in my mind. I go to Witcher 4 with a good feeling.
I don’t know what kind of answer I was actually expecting here. But that I would receive such a detailed and emotional response surprises me.
It Was a Lesson for Ciri
Sebastian leans forward, and I just sit there, listening intently to the Game Director as his answer pours out:
“Okay, time to get down to earth!
This is exactly the reason we chose this story – to use it as a foundation and show Ciri’s inner conflict and her current emotional state. The young woman, Mioni, has no chance of escaping her fate. She is the servant of a superstition and is used by her father.
Of course, they all have been living in fear for so many years – and that’s what makes it so dramatic – and they still haven’t managed to find another way [than the sacrifice] to deal with the evil. On the other hand, we have Ciri, who – as mentioned before – has been running away her whole life. She has learned that one can and should take full responsibility for one’s actions. She was raised by wolves, she’s here because she faced her destiny – and she is not at all okay with Mioni being led into the woods without anyone intervening.
This pulls her deeper into this situation; for her, it’s a big ‘No!’. On the other hand, she also understands the tragedy of the whole thing… Let’s say she decides not to let [Mioni] go into the woods, then she would have to face the villagers because she knows how a fear-driven mob would react. This fear unites them.
As a professional monster hunter, she had to use Mioni a bit too, to lure the monster out of its hiding place and gain an advantage. [In the trailer], there is a moment where she touches Mioni’s shoulder and says, ‘Run away, disappear!’. She didn’t want to put the young woman’s life at risk. She had good intentions – Ciri is also the [foster] daughter of someone, in this case, Geralt.
So she could empathize very well with this situation, this dynamic where there are no good choices. She had to intervene and do her best to at least try to help the young woman. Unfortunately, in this case, there was [a sad ending]… we really wanted to show that this world is very dark.
There are always consequences; you pay for your actions. But it was also a lesson for Ciri: ‘I did my best, but I can’t control the world around me.’ So it’s all very symbolic. Also, the moment when she enters the forest and hears all these voices – the Bauk [the creature from the trailer] also plays with her own fears and inner monsters.
The creature tries to crawl under Ciri’s skin and drive her away, to stop her from intervening. So she also had to fight through that – that was also a very important moment for her, which really showcases her personality.”
While listening, I get a bit teary-eyed, and I’m not the only one in the room. As the Game Director pours his heart out about Ciri’s journey, it becomes clear how much this heroine and her story mean to him. I realize that this character has been with him for a long time and that Ciri has become a part of him.
After this detailed answer about the symbolism of the sacrifice and how it relates to Ciri, I begin to think about the monster from the trailer. The Bauk.
The Bauk Plays with Ciri’s Fears
I dig deeper into the monster shown:
“I have informed myself about the Bauk. In Serbian mythology, the Bauk is a creature that feeds on fears. That’s why I was also wondering what your intention was in showing the Bauk in the trailer. Because, of course, this is a Witcher game, so it needs a monster. But it is of course crucial which creature you choose for such a trailer.”
Sebastian: “Yes, that’s a very important decision. And we also wanted a complex monster for that. We didn’t want just any creature, we wanted an intelligent, very powerful monster that we could also use as an instrument to transport certain emotions. In the previous games, we showed various monsters. The Striga, for example. Sometimes the people are the real monsters. That makes this world so dark and so real. And [in The Witcher 4], Ciri is still young; she has yet to prove herself. She tries to prove to everyone that it was a good decision to become a witcher.”
Gosia: “She wants to prove it mainly to herself. Because the monster plays so much with her fears, she questions herself: ‘Is this enough? Am I enough?’ So there are many monsters here: the actual creature in the woods. But also the people in the village. And also the fears in Ciri’s head. So with the trailer, we wanted to show all these layers, all these aspects of the game.”
At this point, the whole room is very emotional. Because fears certainly also play a role in the developers’ minds right now. The trailer is shown, the first community feedback read, the expectations high.
The Different Trailer Analysis
At this point, I find it not so easy to direct the interview back into a somewhat lighter direction. Additionally, the words about the sacrifice still echo in my mind, and I have trouble finding my focus.
The best I can think of is to continue discussing the monster and its design. And here we went really deep into detail. You won’t find this part of the interview, along with more information about the trailer, here on MeinMMO, but on our sister site GameStar.
Behind the scenes: After it was clear that I would fly to the Game Awards in LA, the editor-in-chief of GameStar, Heiko Klinge, approached me and asked if I would like to conduct this interview. I love interviews, and they are among my favorite activities in my job, which is why he didn’t have to ask me twice.
The complete interview can therefore be found as a guest article on GameStar Plus: We have the different trailer analysis for The Witcher 4: the one with CD Projekt Red
After the interview, I immediately hop into the Uber that takes me to the airport. Mioni keeps swirling in my mind. I go to Witcher 4 with a good feeling.
