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the magician is a popular fantasy show on Netflix that has enthralled audiences. In fact, it’s popular enough that Season 2 saw over 2 billion minutes watched in the first week alone, and the highly anticipated Season 3 has been split into two halves, with the first recently premiering on June 29 and the second half set for July 27, 2023. However, as for For those who just joined, or those who haven’t read the books they’re based on, the timeline might seem a little strange. This is because the directors chose to tell the story uniquely, in a way that involved lots of time jumps without any indication that the events weren’t happening at the same time.
Update July 6, 2023: This article was updated following The Witcher season 3 premiere on Netflix.
If you are new to the magician universe, or even if you’ve heard of it a bit outside of the show, you might not know that there are eight books in the series. Two of those books are short stories only to help build the world of the Witchers and introduce one of the main characters, Geralt, and it was a lot of those short stories that shaped the stories throughout the first season. There are also several video games based on the books, including one announced in 2022. When you don’t know what’s going on in either, it can make watching the show a little overwhelming. Check out the rest of this article to help you put the schedule in linear and chronological order; That way, you can remember everything, but you’re jumping into the new season.
Yennefer
Yennefer’s plot in Season 1 is actually the oldest. Wizards and wizards use their magic to style themselves as they please, so while Yennefer may seem forever young, she’s actually about 100 years old in the current timeline, and there’s a lot in her life that we don’t see. Since all we see is the beginning of her journey to becoming a sorceress, it means that her story actually began some 80-90 years ago. Although her story is progressed in a chronological manner, there are many time jumps that are not made clear.
Her first appearance is in the second episode, Four marks, is the beginning of her journey, as she first discovers that she has magic. This means that she is still as young as she looks. Her transformation occurs at the end of Episode Three, and Episode Four does not return more than a few years later because she becomes bored with her judicial assignment. The first big jump in her story is when she first meets Geralt and Jaskier in Episode V, Packed appetitealthough it is unclear how long.
Given that Jaskier is only in his 30s or 40s, it’s much closer to the present day than the rest of her story. Another jump occurred in the sixth episode, Rare items, although Geralt and Yennefer had only seen each other for a few years. We can then assume there is some sort of jump in episode seven, but seven and eight happen too close together and bring us into the present day and into season two.
In the second season, time runs out, and each character’s story becomes more linear. Yennefer, who was missing after the Battle of Sodden Hill, has lost her magic as she flees from Nilfgaard’s soldiers. However, she escapes and teams up with Jaskier to help free the enslaved elves, only to be captured and nearly executed. During the vision, she is told that if she captures Ciri and delivers the princess to Cintra, she will regain her magic. After finding Ciri and Geralt, Yennefer hands the princess over to the demon, who then possesses Ciri. Yennefer only receives her magic after she attempts to sacrifice herself to save Ciri.
Geralt
Wizards and sorcerers are alike in that they all look much younger than they really are. The only difference is that the Witchers are still getting old. When they are young, many potions are infused into their bloodstream to give them traits that separate them from normal humans. This helps them fight monsters better than anyone else. So, that being said, Geralt is around 100 in the current timeline. However, there are several things the show does with his character that don’t make sense, including telling his story out of order.
Geralt’s story actually begins in Episode VIII, Much moreWhen he has a flashback of his childhood. This shows young Geralt with his mother and how she abandoned him and left him to become a Witcher, giving us his character’s origins in the final episode. However, the rest of his story is arranged chronologically starting with the first episode, Beginning of the End. From then on, each episode has a time jump of at least a few years until episode seven and eight, where his story is repeated back-to-back, with only a few weeks at most between them. Even the episodes where Geralt sees his human friend Jaskier aren’t all together, as they usually run into each other on the road since their jobs involve traveling from place to place.
In Season 2, Geralt focuses on training Ciri after being told Yennefer is dead, and as the audience learns more about his past through the new characters he encounters, there are no more jumps in time. Geralt promises Ciri he won’t let anyone harm her, and most of his time in Season 2 involves training Ciri to be a Witcher while also protecting her from the new and unexpected monsters they encounter.
Siri
As the youngest, Ciri’s story is closest to the present day. Even though she has strange gifts that no one really understands and she has fetal blood inside her veins, she’s still human, so she’s still aging just like we’d expect. This means that Ciri is only a teenager in the current timeline, and was still a teenager when her story began. Although they still hide a lot of facts about Ciri on the show, it’s clear that she’s been through a lot in a very short amount of time.
We first meet Ciri in the first episode, Beginning of the End, during the fall of her hometown, Sintra. She leaves the castle before she can be overrun with only one message from her grandmother – that she must find Geralt of Rivia. in the seventh episode before falling, The Fall of Cintra is briefly revisited, and we can see that Geralt was actually in town at the time, and they managed to miss each other. While Geralt skips a short period of time between that moment and the next part of his story, the majority of Ciri’s story takes place during that time period of a few weeks.
Since growing up in the palace, she has a hard time getting used to the wilds of the woods, but manages to survive as she passes through various settlements in hopes of finding a safe place, or someone who might know where Geralt is. When they finally manage to get to each other at the end of Episode VIII, the final battle in Sodden that Yennefer is fighting is close to their location, and this moment when the three timelines join together is where the magician Season two picks up.
As with the others, there’s no jump time for Ciri in Season 2. Ciri’s bond with Geralt deepens as he trains her in sword fighting and defense, but her special abilities also intensify. She begins having visions, only to finally learn when Yennefer hands her to Voleth Meir, aka The Deathless Mother, that she is incredibly powerful.
third season
Since Season 3 premiered recently, it won’t be spoiled here. However, we are sure to pick up after the shocking Abyss and reveal that Nilgardian ruler Emhyr is Ciri’s father, hence the reason for his pursuit of her. Emhyr is also The White Flame, who is said to “purify us all”. Season 3 will also be the first time that Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri begin a season together as a team, running from Yennefer’s mentor Tissaia, who believes Ciri’s powers are a danger to them all. All indications are at least that time jumps are now a thing of the past.
the magician Season 3 debuted to positive reviews, and with it being the final one to star Henry Cavill, it will be interesting to see how the next season adapts to the recast. It wouldn’t be the time jump that would confuse the audience, but that’s why Geralt appears as Liam Hemsworth instead of Henry Cavill.
