I don't think it's important if Ciri would be seen as witcher or not - that doesn't in any way influence whether she could or should be protagonist.
I doubt anyone who's in a position to decide the future of the franchise would care one second how well she fits the classic witcher definition.
They need a good story and good gameplay. Everything else is secondary or so I would guess.
Not to mention that they continued a story that was as done as stories can be. Geralt was dead as a doornail in the books.
Looking at this year's E3 this is the time to be bold anyway. Times are a-changing.
I've read those pages just a few days ago, and I'm quite sure he's healed/revived before being brought to the mystic island with Yen.
He's badly injured, Yen passes out desperately trying to to heal him, Triss doesn't even try because she thinks it's too late. Ciri curses the weakness of Yen's magic, she curses herself for dismissing her own powers which she's sure would have helped now. Then her unicorn friend appears. Ciri touches the unicorn horn with one hand and Geralt with the other, a magic glow emanates from her hand and her eyes start glowing milkily. Geralt is then carried on a boat that appears out of the magic portal the unicorn came through. He wakes up on the other side of the portal.
It's both very unclear if the island is in fact the afterlife (as several dead friends seem to appear for a moment), but I doubt Ciri can open portals to the afterlife and back.
It's also unclear if the unicorn in fact heals Geralt or if Ciri regains her magic through the unicorn.
I didn't actually like the ending, it seemed rushed and deus-ex-machina. And too mystic, fairytale-like.
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Tomice158
I still don't understand why you are continually missing the point.
I am asking you why Ciri should be the protagonist.
You are responding that Ciri CAN be the protagonist, and that it's very possibility is it's own justification.
Do you realize that this strawman logic could be applied to anyone?
By your logic, because the game leaves the fate of that one whore in Novigrad open, the nameless whore in Novigrad should be the protagonist and is a "clever backdoor" that CDPR has put into the Witcher 3 game to set up a future sequel. The reason why I label this fanfiction is because all these ideas are indulgence without reason. A million things COULD happen in a POSSIBLE sequel, but you have yet to elucidate why they SHOULD happen. What possible reason has Ciri given you to think that she still has a story to tell, or that she has more story to give? What about the ending is such that it leaves you raring for a sequel from her? Did she leave you with foreshadowing of some dramatic future event? Did she leave you on a cliffhanger? Is there unresolved tension that has yet to come to fruition? Is there ANYTHING that gives you the sense that retreading her story is little more than the comfort of falling back to an established character without risking the creation of a new one?
These are questions that must be asked in professional writing. If there's no reason to continue her story, beyond it's very possibility, how is the choice to vet her as a protagonist in any way "natural" and artistically valid? You have consistently been avoiding answering this question, which makes me believe that your intentions for having a Ciri protagonist have nothing to do with how well it fits in with the existing saga and more along the lines that male gamers enjoy female eye-candy. Were Ciri an eye-sore, I very much doubt we would be having this discussion.
Ciri is not "just any" NPC that survived. She's the most unique, special and powerful being in Sapkowski's lore. That's not an idea I've come up with, it's what the whole franchise is about. If there was a whore in Novigrad that was hunted across multiple dimensions for her special powers, I'd probably think she could play an important role in the future ;-)
She also already was co-protagonist of the books and of the third game. She's one of the characters getting most screentime. She is featured broadly in promotional material for Witcher 3.
So comparing her to some minor NPC is simply weird.
But let's come back to your main question, one last attempt to answer it:
No, I don't think there is a pressing reason to continue the franchise from an artistic point of view. The third game has quite throughly picked up most plot open plot lines both from the books and the previous games. This also means that Ciri's story is somewhat concluded.
On the other hand, the universe and the characters that remain in it don't feel exhausted to me. Even if the plot lines would have to be mostly new and couldn't be picked up from Sapkovski, I would personally like to hear those stories. That's personal, but a valid point. Also remember that Yen Ciri are very new for people who don't know the books. So the "silent mass" of W3 players definitively isn't annoyed yet by Yen and Ciri, so the would probably enjoy further stories with them too.
But I guess "popular demand" doesn't qualify as answer to your question.
Do I expect a plot twist for Ciri? Does her character contain enough "seeds" for future stories? Do I believe her character is interesting enough to be protagonist?
Yes, yes, and yes. It's so obvious for me that I find it hard to explain, actually! ;-)
She neither lost her rights to the Nilfgaardian throne (in the witcher ending) nor her special powers. There might be noone currently bothering her, but this could change soon. Her very special status makes her the most likely person to get involved in dramatic future events. All other major characters are semi-retired, while her life just begins. In both the witcher and the empress ending she is one of the few persons whose life is in motion, who's travelling and who's meeting new people. The only other major character who has this aura of energy/motion around her is Philippa (who BTW would be the only real candidate for a future villain from the known cast).
The "Geralt family" (including Yen, Triss and Ciri) is currently the core and the heart of the Witcher franchise. Why do i even have to explain that the only member of this "family" not planning to retire is a likely candidate for a future protagonist? Especially when she has already been co-protagonist?
But my various explanations that she's the only likely candidate (apart from a blank sheet custom witcher appearing out of nowhere) haven't sufficed as answer to your question before, so I'll continue trying.
I firmly believe that her massive background can help the story to be much denser and more unique.
Example:
If a custom, player-created young bear school witcher wants to learn new signs, there is nothing special about it, not much to create an unique story. He might have to do a few favors for his trainer, might have to find a book or a magical or a place of power. There's nothing to be told we haven't already heard somewhere.
If however Ciri would want to learn a new magic ability, she would first have to find a way to lift the self-imposed mental block that she created after the traumatic events in the desert. Maybe she would have to travel there, relive the events in a series of flashbacks, and face the essence of her brutal ancestor Falka that materialized back then. She might also have to find absolution for the deeds she did as member of the "rats" (also allowing for some awesome flashbacks), or she might have to search help from very special people/sources, like finding dryad queen Eithne and using the mysterious water of Brokilon to "reset" her mind. Former mentors like Yen or Ermion/ Mousesack could get an cameo while helping her.
Overall, I feel a preexisting character with a long backstory can more easily be the anchor for deep storytelling. A custom character cannot easily be turned into a deep, multi-faceted personality (Shepard wasn't in ME1 either, only later the universe truly got depth - because the hero starting meeting old aquaintances again, and there started to be previous events that could be talked about).
If you still don't find that an convincing answer, here's another one: All the conficts we talked about on the last few pages (can a women be witcher? can you be a withcer without mutation? Can a young, pretty women be taken seriously as hero?) can be picked up and used for ingame dialogue.
A custom witcher on the other hand wouldn't have any defining features that could be used (as the game engine probably couldn't react properly on the appearence of our witcher).
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Oh, two more things:
Please don't let our little difference in opinions anger you. I might sound impolite sometimes because this is not my first language, but let me assure you that I respect your opinion.
And could you tell me who you would prefer to be the hero of the next story? Did i understand right that you would prefer a custom witcher? Could you imagine anyone from the existing cast to take over?
