Protagonists | The Northern Kingdoms | The Sorcerers | The Nilfgaardian Empire | Witchers | The Elves | Creatures and Supernatural Entities | Independent Characters
open/close all folders
The Nilfgaardian Empire
In General
- The Bad Guys Win: Even considering the Gray-and-Gray Morality of the Witcher-Verse, Nilfgaard is leading a war of conquest and by the end of the 3rd Season they have utterly crushed the north's biggest advantage over them, The Brotherhood Of Sorcerers. Add to that the fact that during The Second Northern War Nilfgaard has shown itself to be a lot more brutal and uncompromising than the first time around, they have managed to gain powerful allies with the Elves and they had Vilgafortz on the inside planning the logistic of the Thanned Coup and by the end of the 3rd season Nilfgaard is the only power in the continent who comes out in top, and does so in a major way. The only net loss they have is the fact that the Ciri they think is the real deal back at Nilfgaard is actually an imposter essentially crafted by Vilgafortz.
- Cult: It seems like religious convictions of the White Flame cult play a very big role in the show's Nilfgaard, albeit details are yet unclear. Cahir demonstrates worship-like loyalty toward the Emperor and a Nilfgaardian soldier interrogated by Geralt describes himself as 'already saved' by the White Flame. In contrast, Nilfgaardian soldiers encountered in the games have a much more military or bureaucratic outlook.
- Dark Is Evil: Unlike the silvery-golden armour of Cintra's soldiers, the army of Nilfgaard dresses exclusively in black armour and they ruthlessly slaughter almost everyone they come across during their invasion of the North. In season 2, their armour redesign adds gold elements, but remains mostly black. Fringilla laments that this causes in-universe PR problems, although she thinks it's the people seeing black armor as automatically evil who are wrong.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: It is implied throughout scenes that are set decades before their invasion that Nilfgaard is underdeveloped and plagued by civil wars. By the time of Ciri's storyline, however, they have been united by a new emperor and subsequently grown into a massive empire that threatens all of the Northern Kingdoms.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: They are consistently dismissed as a joke, until they begin their brutal invasions.
- Politically Correct Villain: To an extent (and especially as projected by Fringilla's leadership), they supposedly represent an attempt at promoting enlightenment and science (against the obscurantist gatekeeping of the Brotherhood—which Istredd highly appreciates), better government (however low-quality and rudimentary it may be), as well as breaking the aristocratic and feudalistic dominion of the Northern kingdoms (of which Cintra, despite its glories, is the most racist and warmongering). Restitution for the Elves, for that matter, was not originally the agenda of Nilfgaard, but Fringilla (and to some extent, Cahir) saw the strategic value of holding that as a moral and propaganda weapon. That said, this is still an imperial project that has been responsible for conquest and murder of thousands of people. Furthermore, as mentioned below, the rest of the leadership (not to mention Emperor Emhyr himself) are not necessarily animated by nobler sentiments.
- Running Gag: Everyone outside of Nilfgaard is contemptuous of Nilfgaard, their food, their kings, and their newfound cultish religion, and they are not shy to express it. Even Rience refuses to work for them, and mocks their "false god" Emhyr (though he's cunning enough not to want to be in Emhyr's debt), and most of Yennefer and Fringilla's rivalry boils down to neither of them having wanted to become Nilfgaard's court mage, and Yennefer having been more ruthless in ensuring that.
- Screw You, Elves!: What little of the rest of Nilfgaardian general staff we saw in Season 2 suggests they are still mostly Politically Incorrect Villains. They relish the newfound arrogance of their victories, becoming resentful of the fact that their war machine somewhat ground to a halt when Fringilla began establishing an alliance with the Elves. This was the source of their grumblings and attempts to butter up Cahir to 'rein in' Fringilla. Fringilla, sensing their threat, struck first and killed them at the dinner table, blackmailing Cahir to stand by her.
- We Have Reserves: While implicitly not as skilled or disciplined as the northern armies, Nilfgaard's strength lies in its numbers and the fanatical devotion of its soldiers. Their strategy places little value on the individual lives of their soldiers and none of them seem to have any problem with being used as Cannon Fodder against the Northern Kingdoms. Notable examples include the masses of Nilfgaardian soldiers who charge at the northern mages, knowing fully well they are going to die, to give those following behind them a chance to actually kill the mages when they are exhausted. This even includes their own mages, who are willing to give their lives to cast more powerful spells.
Emperor Emhyr var Emreis
Emperor Emhyr var Emreis, Deithwen Addan yn Carn aep Morvudd*
"Losing a child is brutal, but you are right. It can move mountains."
Click here to see his real appearance
Portrayed by: Bart Edwards
The emperor of a resurgent Nilfgaard, who is the primary driving force of the growing turbulence within the Continent.
- Action Dad: He is a good swordsman, the emperor of Nilfgaard and Ciri's father.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: While the show version fits the book description of his appearance, like having "black, shiny, wavy hair" and a pale figure, he is not bearded and doesn't have the crooked nose from books or games. It helps that he also younger looking than any of his counterparts.
- Affably Evil: Season 3 has shown that Emhyr is perfectly capable of being genuinely charming, cordial and he knows that sometimes its better to not to play up the fearsome image. It still doesn't stop him from his machinations of conquests and almost demands Undying Loyalty among his men in a very eerie Cult like manor.
- Arch-Enemy: To the Northern Kingdoms.
- Batman Gambit: After the elves, who have entered an alliance with Nilfgaard and sought refuge in their territory, actually don't want to fight for them, he has Francesca's baby killed, assuming they will believe this was done by the Redanians, who have been persecuting the elves harshly, and attack them in return. He is right.
- Big Bad: From the perspective of the Northern kingdoms (as well as the traditionalists within the Brotherhood of Sorcerers), his rule of Nilfgaard has thrown the balance of power between the kingdoms out of order.
- Book Ends: When he makes his first appearance in season 1 as Duny, he arrives at Pavetta's birthday in the throne room in shabby armour, to claim her as his bride. He is humiliated by Calanthe and almost killed, but not only succeeds in gaining Pavetta's hand, his curse is also lifted. In the final episode of Season 2, Emhyr once again returns to Cintra, this time wearing much finer armour as he claims the throne of Cintra for himself.
- The Dreaded: Most of the northerners who mentioned him usually are terrified of the the danger he represents despite never meeting him before. Cahir and Fringilla are desperate to resolve their problems in Cintra before his eventual arrival.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The one positive aspect of his character that emerges from the façade of a hard-nosed Emperor is his pursuit of Ciri, who is revealed to be his daughter. While nearly everyone is pursuing Ciri purely for being a) one of the few with Elder Blood or b) being the last rightful heir of Cintra, Emhyr is the only other person beyond Geralt who arguably has a more benevolent claim in addition to those: being her father. Admittedly, it's near-impossible to see from the terror and menace he inspires.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Despite being one of the savvier rulers seen in the series, Emhyr seems to believe that Undying Loyalty cannot be compromised even if you are a manipulative boss towards your men. While he initially seems to cotton on that Cahir has changed into a Guilt-Ridden Accomplice he just tries to manipulate him by invoking thier friendship and his previous Undying Loyalty and seems utterly unaware that Fringilla has grown to resent him for his treatment of her. Therefore he seems utterly ignorant of Cahir's actions at Thanned when he meet Ciri again or Fringilla's Hazy-Feel Turn.
- Evil Versus Evil: He started a war of conquest apparently out of nowhere against Cintra and the other Northern Kingdoms, spared no blood in waging it and had no problem ordering the death of an elfen baby while the elves were allied to Nilfgaard. On the other hand, his adversaries are no saints either. Cintra was virulently hostile against elves under Calanthe, to the point of committing genocide, and the remaining Nothern Kingdoms seem eager to follow in her footsteps, rounding up, imprisoning, abusing and murdering elves left and right.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: He goes from Duny, a lowly knight with a disfiguring curse, to the Emperor of Nilfgaard.
- The Ghost: He remained invisible throughout the first season. He makes his first appearance in the final scene of the second season finale.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Justifies ordering the death of Francesca's baby as the best way to help him find his own daughter.
- Manipulative Bastard: Gets the elves to fight the Northern Kingdoms by having Francesca's child killed. He also lets Fringilla and Cahir dig their own graves by merely listening encouragingly while they try to take credit for the baby's murder and then revealing that they've lost his trust because he knows they're lying.
- Meaningful Name: As pronounced in the show, his first name "Emhyr" is a homophone of the word "emir", an Arabic title that can be applied to monarchs.
- Nice to the Waiter: In "Unbound" he's a lot more affable and cordial to a female dwarf blacksmith than one might imagine someone with his reputation could be, even sharing the story about how he killed The Usurper in surprisingly good cheer and good-naturally sharing a drink with her before promising her that when he becomes The Emperor Of The Continent it's to her he will commission to make him a sword.
- Older Than They Look: He is played by an actor in his early thirties, though he has to be at least a decade older than that since he was already at fighting age when he saved the life of King Roegner, Ciri's grandfather, before her mother Pavetta was born. That's how he ended up with Pavetta as his promised wife in the first place.
- Outside-Context Problem: For the Northern Kingdoms. As a deeply frustrated Dijkstra rants, part of what makes him so dangerous is the fact that nobody knows what his goals are, what he wants or who he even is. Which makes finding a weakness to exploit borderline impossible. (From Season 1, at least (some of) the sorcerers, like Tissaia and obviously Fringilla know that Emhyr is the rightful heir of Nilfgaard's royal family, but either Dijkstra is speaking figuratively, or this knowledge wasn't shared by the Brotherhood.)
- Pet the Dog: Considerably downplayed in the fact that that he's not above exploiting him, but he legitimately seems to hold Cahir in great regard and treats him a lot more casually than one would expect The Emperor would treat one of his men. He does hint that some of this comes from the fact that that he's known Cahir for decades. The fact that he trusts Cahir with two pretty important missions and seems legitimately relieved that Cahir's Undying Loyalty has not wavered is notable.
- Rightful King Returns: Incidental narration throughout the series suggest his disappearance was tied to the civil war that destroyed the original ruling family of Nilfgaard, and let to a usurper taking over. His reemergence led to the rapid industrialization and growth of Nilfgaard towards a power near-ready to swallow the Continent whole.
- Visionary Villain: In contrast to the Northerners, many others within the continent see his rule as a massive improvement over the status quo. More radical sorcerers (among them Fringilla) also argue that his rule has allowed for the advancement of magic and science compared to the traditionalist ways of the Brotherhood. In Season 3 he himself expands more on his goal, and if he's being truthful, it has some very strong elements of Utopia Justifies the Means (All kingdoms united in peace under Nilfgaard, no race being discirminated and hated.)
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to discuss him in depth without stating he was once Urcheon "Duny" of Erlenwald and Ciri's father..
- Would Hurt a Child: Much to the surprise of both Cahir and Fringilla, he was the one who ordered the murder of Francesca and Filavandrel's baby daughter, so in return Francesca would go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. He coldly justifies it as as just another step to finding his own daughter, but it shows that he's perfectly willing to cross some pretty big moral lines without hesitation in order to reach his goals.
- You Have Failed Me: He straight up tells Cahir and Fringilla he can no longer count on them, after failing to find his daughter and lying about convincing the elves to fight for Nilfgaard, and has them taken away.
Cahir
Count Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach
"The time of the sword and the axe is nigh."
Portrayed by: Eamon Farren Dubbed by:
A young Nilfgaardian knight who is tasked with capturing Ciri alive.
- Adaptational Badass: He seems a much more competent fighter than in the books, even besting Vilgefortz in a duel. He also is seen leading troops in the battle of Sodden Hill overriding other officers, so he must be much more influential than in the books. Season 2 outright states, in Fringilla's words, that he is the one general Emhyr var Emreis trusts most.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the book, he was only portrayed as menacingly following Ciri, while in the series he is directly involved in killing her protectors (King Eist, Lazlo and Mousesack) and seemingly directly participates in the massacre at the refugee camp. He also kills several innocent people in a tavern to find out which of them is a dangerous doppler, when with just a little bit of extra effort, he could have non-lethally tested them with silver. Said doppler was employed by himself previously.
- Affably Evil: When he gets a chance to drop his knight persona, he's rather polite to "Ciri", offering her food and sincerely apologizing for frightening her.
- The Atoner: In late Season 3, he makes it very, very clear to Ciri that he's absolutely sorry for his role during the fall of Cintra while working for Nilfgaard and is more than willing to die by her hand in order to earn her forgiveness. While that is interrupted by several Scoia'tael he does not hesitstae to pull a You Shall Not Pass! gambit in order to protct both Ciri and Geralt from them.
- Black Knight: In Season 1, he wears an all black armor with a Black Cloak, is quite a menacing face leading the invading of Cintra. To Ciri, he is one of the people she deeply fears, having nightmares of the man with winged helmet. And a bonus point, his alias is The Black Knight.
- Co-Dragons: He and Fringilla are this to Emhyr and are leading the invasion in his stead.
- Cold Sniper: He's a crack shot with a bow, nailing Eist through the eye (as well as Lazlo at the throat) from a very far distance.
- Dark Is Evil: He wears the Nilfgaardian dark armor and kills a lot of innocent people.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Cahir is very pale, almost sick-looking and has dark brown hair. His fanaticism and instability do make him look even more disturbed.
- Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: Turns out that someone's sense of morality can override Undying Loyalty. By the time of The Thanedd Coup he's so racked with moral questions and guilt for the actions he has done while serving Emhyr that he's perfectly willing to die by Ciri's hand in order to redeem himself and the only thing he asks, and does with with notable guilt and gentleness, is for forgiveness. When that does not pan out due to the arrival of several Scoia'tael, he does not hesitate for a single second to stand in thier way while urging both Ciri and Gerald to flee.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He is the one who suggests to Fringilla that she should take credit for murdering Francesca's baby and riling the elves up against Redania. As it turns out, his own emperor, Emhyr, is responsible for this and he is heavily displeased by them attempting to lie to him, ordering both him and Fringilla taken away to get punished.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Downplayed in comparison to Fringilla's absolutely atrocious situation, but its made clear than his failure in the eyes of Emhyr was costly. Going from being one of Emhyr's Co-Dragons to being a glorified border guard who is basically destined to die in an unnamed battle, utterly un-mourned, is a hard way to fall. The downplayed part becomes more apparent when it becomes clear that Cahir, unlike Fringilla, has the opportunity to rise against on the ranks half in part because of his own skill and half due to Emhyr's own regard for Cahir. By the end of the first part of the 3rd Season, Cahir seems to have become the singular second in command due to his opportunities, something that is not given to Fringilla.
- The Kindnapper: The obviously misguided type, he believes he is kidnapping Ciri for all of the right reasons and even apologizes to what he thinks is Ciri for having to scare her by kidnapping her like that.
- Kubrick Stare: He has the habit of looking angrily and frowned all the time at people.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: Self-Admitted. His father and older brothers were diplomats, while Cahir was too Hot-Blooded and too much of a Blood Knight to be anything other than a soldier. In a dark twist of Irony, this is what spared him from being captured by The Usurper (along with his youth), as his father and brother's skill at diplomacy made them dangerous in ways he was not, according to The Usurper.
- Liquid Courage: A rare case of this trope being played alongside Drowning My Sorrows at the same time. Before he kills Gallatin he's seen rapidly downing several cups of wine while talking with Gallatin, to the point that the elf actually seems bemused by Cahir's particular behavior, if only briefly. Cahir very clearly does not want to do that deed, but his Undying Loyalty means that he will do it when asked, and so Cahir obviously feels that he needs the drastic consumption of alcohol of help him with it emotionally.
- Master Swordsman: During The Thanedd Coup he's one of the Nilfgaardian powerhouses, lasting longer than almost every Scoia'tael and cutting down several dozen mages by himself. Even if his previous victory against Vilgefortz turned out to be because the mage was drastically holding back, Cahir's skill with the blade are no joke.
- Not So Stoic: Loses it when Ciri manages to magically shake him off before escaping.
- Obviously Evil: He sports Villainous Cheekbones and Creepy Blue Eyes courtesy of the chronically typecast Eamon Farren, plus some menacing black armor.
- Odd Friendship: With Gallatin. Gallatin calls him an "old friend" and despite thier mutual snark at each other and the fact that normally an Elf and a Human would be a strange friendship in the Witcher World, they deeply respect the other and have immense trust and regard in each other, to the point that Cahir outright offered Gallatin to be the commander of the Elves fighting for Nilfgaard. This, however does not stop him from killing Gallatin himself under the implied orders of Emhyr, tragically enough.
- Oh, Crap!: He's stunned when it turns out that Emhyr not only sees right through his and Fringilla's lies about killing Francesca's child, but that the girl they were supposed to find is actually Emhyr's daughter.
- Only Sane Man: Surprisingly enough, he's the closest to this among the Nilfgaardian leadership in Season 2. In contrast to the racist and status-obsessed Nilfgaardian generals (who have a lot of gripes regarding their alliance with the Elves) and even Fringilla (who, despite putting up her facade, is practically a spiritual hostage of the Deathless Mother, 'distracted' by managing the Elven Alliance), he is the sole person who was not losing sight of Emhyr's agenda: finding and retrieving Cirilla, as well as managing their recently-defeated army. Fringilla recognizing this is likely the major reason why she spares him and draws him into her plots.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Season 3 has him having psychic dreams about Ciri and other dangerous situations, strongly implying that he has a considerably larger role to play in the grand scheme of things than being a mere soldier.
- Tears of Remorse: After killing Gallatin under the implied orders of Emhyr, followed by Rage Against the Reflection.
- Uncertain Doom: There is absolutely no mention of him by either Emhyr or Fringilla after The Thanedd Coup despite the fact that Cahir was essentially the Frontline General of said attack, so by the end of Season 3 the audience is completely unaware if he managed to survive his You Shall Not Pass! moment or if he died during it.
- Undying Loyalty: Towards Emhyr. Even in his lowest of state, his unshakable loyalty and devotion towards The Emperor Of Nilfgaard is without question and his punishment for his failure does not in any way weaken his resolve to back Emhyr in every way possible. Season 3 deconstructs said loyalty when, under the implied orders of Emhyr, Cahir kills Gallatin. so Nilfgaard would not suffer a schism between the Elves working for them. Cahir is absolutely heartbroken by the mission, but due to his loyalty and strong connection with Emhyr he follows it without hesitation.
- Villain Decay: He gets hit with it pretty hard in season two, going from the menacing face of the Nilfgaardian invasion to a battered prisoner and fugitive who has to spend half the season just getting out of enemy territory. And even when he's back with his own people, he suffers an Eviler than Thou at Fringilla's hands.
- You Shall Not Pass!: As The Thanedd Coup is ending, after his confrontation with Ciri he notes that several Scoia'tael fallowed him. He then without hesitation stands between them and Ciri while urging both her and Geralt to leave while the deals with them, his last shot in Season 3 being The Scoia'tael rushing towards Cahir while he stands tall before them and blocking them from Ciri.
Fringilla Vigo
Fringilla Vigo
"We've simply charted a different path, guided by the White Flame."
Portrayed by: Mimi Ndiweni Dubbed by:
Originally a classmate of Yennefer's in Aretuza who goes on to become one of Nilfgaard's most powerful sorceresses.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: In the show, she and Yennefer are in the same class during their time at Aretuza, whereas the books never mention where Fringilla studied.
- Adaptational Badass: Though a strong sorceress in the books as well, she was just one of many Nilfgaardian mages during the first northern war. In the show, she is the single-most powerful sorceress in the part of the Nilfgaardian army invading Cintra and her actions almost single-handedly ensure Nilfgaard's success. The storm she conjures up destroys fifty Skelligan ships, which turns the battle against the Cintran army into a one-sided slaughter. During the Battle at Sodden, she is also the most dangerous and competent of the Nilfgaardian mages, as well as the one to take out her former mentor Tissaia.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the books, she's a dutiful servant of Emhyr and Nilfgaard and is amicable with Yennefer despite earlier blinding her in return for killing one of her friends during the battle of Sodden Hill. In the show she's closer to a Sith Lord arrogantly basking in her power, sacrificing fellow mages for often little gain and wiping out entire armies and fleets. Season 2 tries to nuance this by suggesting that a lot of this bluster, arrogance and showmanship on her part is also to hide her persisting insecurities from her time in Nilfgaard, not to mention her deciding being ruthless and cutthroat is the only way to keep what she's managed to get for herself.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Cahir is utterly flabbergasted at seeing her working with the Elves at Thanned, she snidely responds that it's wonderful to think for one self instead of blindly serving. Unknowingly to her, it seemed that this was the last straw to Cahir's already shaken loyalty and is what essentially pushes him to preform his later acts in the battle.
- Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Spent years in the Usurper's "playhouse" (with Implied Rape) before being rescued by Emhyr.
- Big Damn Heroes: Heroes is utterly subjective considering the morality of the setting, but during The Thanedd Coup she saves a completely catatonic Francesca Findabair from her uncle by actually killing him before he can kill Francesca.
- Blood Magic: Unlike the northern sorceresses, Fringilla is shown to have no qualms with using the very lives of her subordinate sorcerers to create more powerful spells. By the end of the Battle at Sodden Hill, she has killed half a dozen of her own sorcerers on screen, to devastating effects for the northern defenders.
- Blow You Away: Casually mentions that the Skelligan fleet that was supposed to support Cintra against Nilfgaard encountered a storm that she conjured.
- Bodybag Trick: How she escapes her incarceration in "Unbound", acting as a corpse in order to escape the dungeon where they had her as a prisoner. She even has a brief "Eureka!" Moment when a fellow prisoner dryly points out that they only way to get absolution from Emhyr is to die in the first place, clearly already planning her escape.
- Co-Dragons: She and Cahir serve as this for Nilfgaard, though she appears to be the slightly more important of the two as Emhyr's personal adviser.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite all of the atrocities she has commited in service of Nilfgaard, she is notably disturbed when Cahir implies she should take credit for murdering Francesca's baby. She goes through with his suggestion eventually, but never seems to be comfortable with it.
- Evil Makeover: At Aretuza, she wore her hair down in curls and had colorful dresses. After joining Nilfgaard, she keeps her hair tied and wears simpler black robes.
- Evil Niece: Kills her own uncle in order to save Francesca during The Thanedd Coup.
- Extreme Doormat: During a Council meeting where they were discussing who would be assigned where, this was the reason Tissaia didn't want Fringilla sent to Aedirn, saying that she would only do as told. She grows more confident during her time in Nilfgaard, especially when working for Emhyr, and has become a formidable force when the storyline catches up with her.
- Friendly Enemy: Despite their initial antagonism, she becomes this with Yenn after taking her prisoner (and subsequently, both becoming prisoners of the Elves), due to their shared experience with being tested by the Deathless Mother. She also develops a working partnership with Francesca, that has genuine elements of friendship.
- For Want Of A Nail: Fringilla was originally chosen to be assigned to the king of Aedirn, but Yennefer interjected and took the assignment for herself. As a result, Fringilla was assigned to the court of Nilfgaard, which originally should have been Yennefer's position. She uses her own talents there to help the new emperor in stabilizing the previously underdeveloped and weak nation and then supports his war against the Northern Kingdoms, even noting that Yennefer wouldn't have been able to do the same.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Desperately urges an utterly catatonic Francesca, who is grieving the brutal death of Filavandrel, to rise and fight. And it works.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: While she returns to Nilfgaard as a conquering heroine and her conversation with Emhyr has her refirm her loyalty to him, in a private conversation with Francesca she makes it clear that she's not happy about what she sees as betrayal suffered at Emhyr's hand and she has decided to work against him.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: After spending an entire season trying to gain the emperor's favor through her dealings with the elves, Fringilla eventually stumbled upon her own lie when she wrongly takes credit for murdering Francesca's child during her meeting with Emperor Emhyr. It turns out Emhyr himself had the child killed and he is far from pleased by her attempt to lie to him, ordering her and Cahir to be taken away.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: The first time we see her in Season 3, its made clear than her failure in the eyes of Emhyr was costly. Going from being one of Emhyr's Co-Dragons and a mage raised from childhood to bring power, glory and absolute status to the king she serves, not to mention being almost magical royalty due to her connection among The Brotherhood of Sorcerers, to being an demeaned and abused food-tester. That's one incredebly painful and pitiful fall from grace, indeed.
- Nepotism: Her uncle is the head of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, which is implied to be the reason why she was in line for the cushy assignment in Aedirn after Stregobor intrigued to have it taken away from Yennefer.
- Oh, Crap!: She did not expect Emhyr to figure out she and Cahir were lying about killing Francesca's baby, or to have had actually ordered the murder himself, or that he was so adamant about them needing to find Ciri because she is his daughter.
- Playing with Fire: Uses fire magic, which is frowned upon by other sorcerers like Triss, calling it forbidden magic on the same level as demonology and necromancy.
- Race Lift: Described as fair-skinned in the books, she is played by a black actress in the show. Ironically, she is also the one character the books call in terms translatable as "the black one" or even "the darkie" — referring to the "Brunette" part of Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette, of course.
- The Resenter: Played with.
- She is clearly intimidated by her time in Aretuza and she was hoping her route to Aedirn meant her life was looking up — until Yennefer charmed its king away from her. Her assignment in Nilfgaard (then deemed as a backwater) is seen as Reassigned to Antarctica — with the loss of prestige that implies. One may argue her significant role in Nilfgaard's growth and imperial expansion might not just be its leaders' agenda: it may also be Fringilla's way of recovering her self-confidence (and their successes speak well of them). That said, this is in no way seen as a positive trait for her — or for everyone in the line of fire of Nilfgaard's conquest.
- She herself claims it's subverted — she's grateful to Yennefer for stealing Aedirn post from her, otherwise she would have ended up the same embittered outcast Yennefer is, while taking up the Nilfgaard post Yennefer scorned has brought her power and prestige and wisdom she could never have attained elsewhere. Though she may be saying this just to get under Yennefer's skin.
- Her monologue during her assassination of Nilfgaard's generals suggest her resentment against Yennefer, to some extent was genuine (and is still lingering)—suggesting that her attempts at survival and playing the politics of the empire contributed a lot to her Start of Darkness. This also extends to how she felt Aretuza hung her out to dry for the Aedirn business. Admittedly, her own uncle, Artorius Vigo, admits he should have stood up for her (regardless of how nepotistic and corrupt it could have looked).
- Undying Loyalty: The White Flame saved her from imprisonment by the Usurper, an experience that was apparently quite traumatising for her, and her villainy is largely motivated by the fact she wants to please Emhyr.
- Used to Be a Sweet Child: Fringilla in her youth and time spent at Aretuza was shown to be shy and insecure, even saying that her freezing a cat was an accident, implying she never wanted to harm the animal. Then, Yennefer interferes and charms her way in Aedirn, while Fringilla is sent to Nilfgaard, where she becomes a fanatic sorceress with few moral boundaries.
Hake
Hake
Portrayed by: Antony Byrne
A Nilfgaardian general who leads the garrison in the conquered city of Cintra.
- Asshole Victim: He's so condescending towards Fringilla and the elves (who are already subjected to reprehensible bigotry from all sides), Fringilla killing him is neither surprising nor saddening.
- Bullying a Dragon: From their very first interaction he is dismissive towards Fringilla, after Cahir's return he grows outright antagonistic, wasting no chance to badmouth and undermine her, even though she is one of the most powerful mages in Nilfgaard. This comes to bite him badly when she finally snaps and murders him alongside his officers.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Fringilla immobilizes him, then stabs him through the eye with a needle, deep enough to pierce through his brain. Due to her spell, he is left unable to react beyond small, panicked looks and he doesn't even die until she removes the spell.
- Fantastic Racism: A significant part of his hatred towards Fringilla seems to come from her working alongside the elves, whom he sees as beneath the Nilfgaardians.
- Jerkass: He has not a single pleasant interaction with anyone during his scenes, is constantly rude towards Fringilla, treats the elves with nothing but contempt and even kills one of them just for looking for food.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While he is undeniably a jerk towards Fringilla and the elves, he brings up a few solid points about them not being fighting material, about their loyalties towards Nilfgaard being questionable at best and about the unrestricted immigration of elves and their supporters to Cintra practically inviting northern spies to infiltrate the city. He is proven right when the elves almost renounce their alliance with Nilfgaard after the birth of Francesca's daughter and there is indeed at least one confirmed Redanian spy among the elves.
