Warning: spoilers for The Witcher season 3
Summary
- The Witcher season 3 disappointingly changes Rience's story from the books, resulting in an underwhelming fate for the fire mage.
- Rience's death in the show is drastically different from the books, with Geralt easily avenging the harm Rience caused, rather than Ciri taking control and exacting her revenge.
- Netflix's The Witcher ruined a significant moment from the books where Ciri kills Rience, undermining her agency and the consequences of his actions.
The Witcher season 3 saw Geralt of Rivia’s efforts to find Rience and get rid of him, but the series gave the fire mage a very disappointing fate as it decided to change his story from the books. One of the biggest criticisms that Netflix’s The Witcher has faced is how much it has deviated from its source material. This problem was more evident in season 2, and though it was somewhat fixed in season 3, which was more loyal to its source novel (Time of Contempt), it still made various changes to it. Although some of these were minor or benefited the characters and the series, some ended up doing more harm, as happened with Rience.
Rience made his Witcher debut in season 2, where he was freed from a Cintran prison by Lydia van Bredevoort, who arrived to recruit him to help an outside party (revealed to be Vilgefortz in season 3) in finding and capturing Ciri. Rience took the mission very seriously, to the point where he tortured Jaskier for information and attacked Vesemir in Kaer Morhen. In The Witcher season 3, Geralt was on a mission to find and kill Rience, which led him to some shocking discoveries before he finally got his revenge in Part 2, but it was incredibly disappointing.
How Rience's Death Is Different In The Witcher Season 3 Compared To The Books
Although Rience was not acting alone in his search for Ciri, he became Geralt’s prime target throughout The Witcher season 3 Part 1 after everything he did to Ciri the previous season. Rience managed to hide and escape from the witcher, but not without causing a lot of damage, as he did when he burned Codringher and Fenn alive at their office. The first episode of Part 2 saw Rience coming across Ciri and Yennefer at Thanedd Island, where Ciri immediately jumped to fight the fire mage, cutting some of his fingers. Rience stopped her with a fire circle, with Yennefer telling him he couldn’t kill her because his master wants Ciri, but Rience replied he had no master. Yennefer then took Geralt’s sword and threw it at the witcher, who was standing behind Rience and decapitated the mage.
Rience’s death is completely different in the books, and Geralt wasn’t involved in it. Rience meets his fate in the novel The Tower of the Swallow, where Ciri, after leaving the Rats, is captured by bounty hunter Leo Bonhart, who has her fight for her life in a gladiatorial arena. Ciri eventually escapes and is found by an elderly philosopher named Vysogota. However, Ciri learns that Stefen Skellen’s agents are waiting in ambush, so she takes a pair of ice skates and leaves. Ciri lures Bonhart, Skellen, and Rience to a frozen lake, where Skellen demands Rience use his magic to stop the Princess.
Scared, Rience casts a spell that half works, cracking the ice below them. As the rest run away, Rience falls into the freezing water and clings to the edges of the ice, calling for help. Rience tries to negotiate with Ciri so she will save him, but she skates on the edge of the ice, slicing through his fingers and leading him to drown.
Why Rience's Death Was Better In The Witcher Books
Although Rience’s death in Netflix’s The Witcher had a nod to his death in the books when Ciri cut his fingers with her sword, it ended up being a very disappointing death. Surely, it was satisfying to see Geralt finally getting his revenge against Rience, but it all happened way too easily and fast, and if anything, it should have been Ciri who killed Rience. What makes Rience’s death in the books better is that Ciri was the one who killed him, especially after the mage tried to negotiate with her by telling her he would reveal where Yennefer was if she saved him. Ciri was the one in control this time, and she knew she couldn’t trust someone like Rience. Ciri got her revenge after all the damage Rience caused her, Geralt, and Yennefer, and Netflix’s The Witcher completely ruined this moment.