A Journey into the future
Batman and Robin, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, Gwent and Witcher 3… Every main person deserves a worthy sidekick, which is why we get Nimue as narrator for Yennefer’s story in the latest Journey. While we will not do an entire analysis of the cosmetics of this Journey again and speculate about upcoming Journeys instead. Just like we did with a female Skellige leader, we want to propose some characters we would love to see in them. But before we get to that topic let us have a look at this Journey’s narrator Nimue first.
You can click the card names to see their premium versions.
All card art and premiums were taken from The Voice of Gwent.
_
About Nimue
It is probably unnecessary to introduce Yennefer of Vengerberg to a Gwent player and Witcher fan. However, the sidekick and narrator of her Journey, Nimue verch Wledyr ap Gwyn, is certainly among the lesser known characters of the Witcher universe. It stands to reason that she is the one doing it, especially if we consider her interest in the Sorceress and her love to Geralt of Rivia.
This fascination arose from stories she heard as a child: When she grew up in a small village close to the Yaruga, Nimue and her two older sisters listened to a beggar by the name of Stribog who earned himself a living by entertaining the people of the villages he visited with stories about Yennefer, Geralt and Ciri. If the name seems familiar to you as a Gwent player, you remember correctly: The Skellige card Stribog Runestone bears his name.
Those stories were the reason why Nimue set her mind on becoming a powerful sorceress, just like her idol. But unlike most child dreams this became in fact reality after she studied at the Aretuza Academy. From then onwards she dedicated all her time to research whatever there was to find about Ciri’s story.
We already discussed numerous references of the Witcher lore to the Arthurian legend when we wrote about the card backs of Ciri’s Journey. Nimue’s name is once again a reference to this saga, as she shares her name with the Lady of the Lake who gave King Arthur the legendary sword Excalibur. The Fisher King, Nimue’s lover after she became a sorceress, is yet another one: The Fisher King is the keeper of the Holy Grail in said legend.
The main cast
Journey with those characters are way easier to guess for an obvious reason: We know they exist in the first place, whereas Alzur was only briefly mentioned in the books. As Yennefer is the main character of the current Journey, it is only natural to expect Triss Merigold or Shani at some point – CDPR cannot risk a Waifu War after all. Possible sidekicks for Triss’ Journey could be Fercart, who served as advisor in King Foltest’s royal council alongside her and Keira Metz. Another option for the free path of her Journey might be the events around the Battle of Sodden Hill during the first Northern War, where 13 mages of the Northern Realms made the ultimate sacrifice and Triss was heavily injured and even believed to be dead like the others. That is why her name is engraved on a stone monument remembering the battle and the dead mages and thus her nickname “the fourteenth of the hill”.
Shani’s potential sidekicks could include the colleagues from her youth: Her mentor Milo “Rusty” Vanderbeck; and the other women she worked together with at the field hospital during the Battle of Brenna: The sorceress Marti Södergren and Iola the Second, priestess of Melitele who trained under Nenneke.
Another lady who deserves her own Journey is obviously Roach. This was even discussed with game director Jason Slama in the official Gwent Discord server, probably more as a joke, but maybe there is still hope…?
Regis as a fan favourite has been often discussed as a Journey character among the community, even though it might be hard to find another person as his sidekick. Maybe CDPR could include events from his youth like his lover, or his bad drinking habits which already have been explored in the Saovine Event during Gwent’s open beta.
Writing of lovers as part of the free Journey: If Dandelion ever gets a Journey, I am afraid they would need to expand the free path up to level 200 to fit in at least some of his lovers. However, Dandelion already was the side character of Geralt’s Journey. While this does not exclude him from being a main Journey character, I would not expect it happening in the near future.
Zoltan Chivay would make another fine Journey and yes: I do want a pirate skin with the parrot on his shoulder. As for its additional content, the rest of the dwarves depicted in Zoltan’s Company would complement him well. Figgis Merluzzo and Munro Bruys are already in the game and can be seen together with him around the camp fire. The smoky ghostly images depict Caleb Stratton and Yazon Varda, who fought alongside their brethren against the Nilfgaardians, but ultimately met their end on the battlefield.
The side characters
Alzur was a welcome surprise as a Journey character. Despite only sparsely mentioned his legacy of being a great mage certainly left an impression on the Continent, judging by the flavour text of Alzur’s Thunder: We stand not the slightest chance of incanting a spell so complex as Alzur’s Thunder. It is claimed Alzur had a voice like a hunting horn and the diction of a master orator. CDPR used the opportunity to shed some more like on the creator of Witchers in his Journey story by expanding the lore of the books in a plausible way.
Another worthy candidate is already indirectly featured on one card back of the current Journey: Villentretenmerth , a powerful Golden Dragon also known under the name Borkh Three Jackdaws in his human form. Such a legendary creature would surely be worthy of a Journey, after we already had a legendary sorcerer.
As for characters to use in the free Journey version, there are in fact quite many options: his daughter Saskia, his mate Myrgtabrakke, or his Zerrikanian bodyguards and lovers, the two warriors Téa and Alvéaenerle, the latter better known and most certainly easier spoken as Véa. If we ever get an expansion around the dragon-worshipping nation Zerrikania, this Journey would be perfect match for sure.
Iris von Everec and her companions would make a fine Journey story. I am fairly sure Easha agrees. One could outfit her with several dresses, do a happier Iris from the past but also a much more grim one like depicted in Iris: Shade‘s premium animation. I imagine it would go well with eerie auras like spirits haunting her, but also with petals of the rose she treasures. Meanwhile the companions could be depicted as avatars, maybe even some funny ones like the Japanese maneki-neko (which literally means ‘beckoning cat’) for good fortune and money.
Should Iris get a Journey, her husband Olgierd von Everec with his younger brother Vlodimir for the standard path is another potential character. Apart from changes in attire, I would love to see Olgierd’s skin with interchangeable heads, even though that would be quite creepy.
|
Of course there are more things to consider when it comes to upcoming Journeys. For example, the character should not belong to a certain faction to not alienate players who dislike the faction and thus would not buy the Journey. We probably made some right guesses above but are fairly sure CDPR will still manage to surprise us.