Yagi Hikaru
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✨ News and Lore Q&A ✨
🕑 Added 2025-09-30 05:46:50 +0000 UTCI’ve completed all commissions for this month and almost finished editing Chapter 16. This means that later this week, I’ll begin work on Chapter 21 of the comic Ciri: The Child of Destiny.
What has Eredin planned, and what price will he demand from his sister in return for his favor?.. 👀
In the meantime, I’d like to share some of my answers to questions about the lore of The Witcher Saga — about telepathy, Elder Blood, and Ciri.
Q: Good afternoon, I wanted to ask about telepathy in the world of the Witcher. It’s known that elves have it, but does Ciri, as a carrier of Elder Blood, also have it? And could she be unaware of this ability?
A: Good afternoon!
Ciri is a Source, so she definitely has telepathic abilities. This is not directly connected to Elder Blood.
In The Witcher Saga, it’s implied that human mages and Sources in general possess telepathic potential. Ciri is aware of her abilities — Yennefer taught her, and she used telepathy several times while training in magic at Melitele’s temple.
Q: Since she travels between worlds, can she telepathically communicate with people in other worlds while remaining in her own?
A: I don’t think that’s possible. Most likely, telepathy requires being within a certain range. If there were no such limits, Avallac’h could have contacted her while she was still on the Continent, and Yennefer or Triss could have reached her while she was in Aen Elle, or earlier when she was lost in the desert and ended up in Nilfgaardian provinces.
Q: And what about longevity? Since she’s a Source and a mage, could she live at least 200 years and not age?
A: No, Ciri is human, and her lifespan is that of a human. There are no mentions of Elder Blood carriers living longer than ordinary people.
As for mages — they do live longer, but for another reason: they drink the Alraunow dekokt (Polish: Alraunow dekokt), a special elixir that slows down aging. In theory, any human could take it, but sorcerers guard the recipe closely.
If Ciri were to obtain it, she could live longer, just like other sorcerers. Sapkowski describes its creation and the story of its inventor in detail in Season of Storms (the 8th book of the saga).
Q: Could you also explain who the Sources are, and what makes them different from regular mages?
✨ Who are Sources and Mages in The Witcher Saga ✨
Sources (Aen Quelle in Elvish) are “raw talent” — humans or elves born with innate magical energy. Their power comes directly from the primal source of Creation — Chaos, from which the world is woven.
🔹 Sources lack an internal filter, so magic often bursts out spontaneously. They can cast spells without knowing how, which is dangerous both for them and those around them.
🔹 If a Source comes under the care of sorcerers and receives training, they may become a mage.
🔹 But many can’t handle their power — they die, lose their sanity, or remain undiscovered.
📚 A Mage is a Source who has received education and learned to control their power. It’s a professional title.
🔹 Not every human or elf can become a mage — only those born as Sources.
🔹 But not every Source becomes a mage: some die, “burn out” from their power, or simply never find a teacher.
👉 Ciri is a Source. Yennefer and Triss are Sources who went through training and became mages.
Ciri sometimes calls herself a sorceress, but technically, that’s not correct: she never had a full education as a mage. Similarly, when she’s called a “witcher,” it’s more of a nickname. She trained with witchers for only a short time (about one year) and never completed the full witcher training.
Comments
Yagi Hikaru
Thank you! I'll try do my best!
Ashley Dawn
Very much looking forward to the next chapter 🙂
