Soo… Lore Ramblings are back! Posting 3 days a week is very difficult and I probably will do it less regurarly from this point on. But, to compensate for that, today's topic is going to be a good one. So strap in, because today we are going to talk about the reason Ciri has such great power…
The Elder Blood (Starsza Krew) in elder speech Aen Hen Ichaer, also called the blood of elves (krew elfów) and Lara's Gene (gen Lary) by mages is a gene that has been present in several Aen Elle elves such as Auberon, Eredin, Shiadhal and Avallac'h. It may give its carrier powers over spacetime etc. Aen Elle world was doomed to die, so when the gates between worlds opened by the Conjunction of Spheres () begun to close, Aen Elle were desperate to find a way to evacuate their entire population to a new one. They started genetic experiments, paring suposed carriers of the gene (and perhaps even ampyfying the gene with magic, but don't quote me on that). The first succesful outcome of those experiments was Lara Dorren, daughter of Auberon and Shiadhal. She wasn't exceptionally powerful on her own, but she was promised to Avallac'h and they believed their children will be able to save Aen Elle. But Lara didn't want to marry Crevan (real name of Avallac'h btw), instead she fell in love with a human mage, Cregennan of Lod, passing the gene onto humans (both humans and elves did not approve their love: Cregennan was killed and Lara was chased, and died of exaustion in the middle of nowhere, but their child was taken in by Cerro, the Redanian Queen). People believed that the elder blood was distorted and cursed, because presumably Lara casted a curse on Cerro for denying her help and because of the fact that Falka, the leader of the bloody rebellion that started in Redania who was a quarter-elf, casted a curse on those who led to her death when she was burned at the stake, saying that from her blood, the destroyer who will avenge her will be born. Also, Ithlinne's prophecy in its full version, says that from the elder blood a destroyer or saviour that will rule the world will be born. Anyway, the gene was passed through the generations of Temerian – Muriel the Beautiful Rogue and later Cintrian dynasty when Muriel's daughter, Adalia, married the King of Cintra, Dagorad. Adalia was a powerful Source, people say she could raise a draw bridge using her eyebrows. Adalia's daughter, Calanthe however, had no talent in magic, yet, her daughter, Pavetta, was also a powerful Source. Emhyr var Emreis, still in a form of hedgehog-like monster using the name Duny being banished from Nilfgaard by the Usurper, heard a full version of Ithlinne's prophecy from a certain mage named Vilgefortz of Roggeven. Later, he helped the King of Cintra and Calanthe's husband, Roegner, who was injured and used the Law of Surprise (Prawo Niespodzianki) and was promised to receive his reward (Roegner's child) after 15 years. Years later, Duny sneaked into Cintrian palace and seduced Pavetta (after midnight he was a handsome young man). He comes to the feast that Calanthe made for Pavetta's 15th birthday and demands to take the princess as the King (who was already dead at the time) promised. The Queen refuses at first, but after Pavetta releases her power and Geralt with Myszowór/Ermion takes Duny's side, she agrees. The couple get married and they have a daugther named Cirilla Fiona Ellen Riannon. After that Emhyr, whose curse is lifted by the Queen's agreement to his marriage with Pavetta, plans to take both his wife and daughter to Nilfgaard to regain his throne with the help of Vilgefortz. But Pavetta feels something's not right and hides Ciri, going on the boat by herself. At the see (at the Sedna's Depth – Głębia Sedny where Vilgefortz was going to suck the boat into his magical aspirator), the fight between them breaks out because of that and Emhyr pushes his wife off the boat and ends up going to Nilfgaard alone. Ciri meanwhile only starts to show her magical abilities while being trained in Kaer Morhen, where Geralt took her after Cintra was invaded by the Empire. Triss Merigold was invited by the witchers to investigate it and she discovers Ciri being a Source. In her trance, she communicates with Vilgefortz, although Triss doesn't recognize him. Triss concludes that she can't help Ciri control her powers and suggests Geralt to ask Yennefer for help. Yen starts teaching Ciri magic with the intent to sign her into the Aretuza, but then The Coup on Thanedd ( ) happens. Ciri escapes Vilgefortz through the distorted portal in Tor Lara which teleports her to the Korath Desert. She meets the unicorn Ihuarraquax there, which gets injured by the sand monster, she helps him with magic, but after seeing the visions of Falka, she forfeits her powers. Meanwhile both Nilfgaard and Northern Realms intelligence are looking for her. After a brief period of roaming with the Rats Gang ( ), which gets killed by Bonhart, she gets captured by him and eventually brought to Skellen's crew ( ). She escapes, defeating the men who are chasing her and enters the Tor Zirael, which ends up taking her to Tir na Lia. Avallac'h wants her to give birth to Auberon's child that could save Aen Elle, but she eventually escapes also from there with the help of Ihuarraquax, who helps her understand her true power. Eventually, she comes to Vilgefortz hideout, Stygga Castle, where he held Yen imprisoned. She tries to buy Yennefer's freedom by agreeing to what the mage wants to do to her, but he refuses. He explains that he wants to be the ruler of every world, with unlimited power, that will be worshiped like a god. He could only achieve that with the elder blood, because of it giving the carrier the ability to travel through time and space. He only needed the blood from her womb, so he wanted to artificially impregnate her and when the embrion develops, take it out and take the blood. Vilgefortz's plans are cut short by Geralt and his friends, who shows up and ends up killing the mage with the help of a medalion able to create illusions given to the witcher by Fringilla Vigo. All of the Geralts friends there – Milva, Cahir, Regis and Angouleme are killed there, but as we saw in The Witcher 3, Regis, who is a higher vampire is able to recover. When Geralt is stabbed witch a pitchfork during the pogrom in Rivia (a while ago I didn't know this Polish word made its way into English and means the same thing btw) and Yen faints from exaustion trying to save him, Ciri uses her power to evacuate them into a peaceful Isle of Apple Trees (Wyspa Jabłoni), and teleports to the Arturian England herself.
Damn, I just went from explaining the Elder Blood to summarizing the entire Withcer Saga, but anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/gwent/comments/nyavdz/the_elder_blood_weekend_lore_ramblings/
