A bit confused about Uma

[kissybyc]

A bit confused about Uma

Just beat the main story and I have a question: when was Avallac'h cursed into Uma? And who cursed him?

The confusion is that when Ciri returned to Skellige after ravaging through Novigrad, apparently Avallac'h was still in his elven form, and that was when he hid Ciri on the Isle of Mists. But Ciri was already looking into lifting the Uma curse when she was in Novigrad, as she told Dandelion about it. So, time wise, these don't add up. It seems to me that Ciri knew of the Uma curse before Avallac'h was cursed.

Did I miss something here?

 

[OutgoingHermit]

A lot of things about the Uma bit don't make sense to me. For instance, how Yennefer somehow knows how to perform the Trial of the Grasses, and on top of that how to make it work for an elf.

 

[gogusar]

When the elf and Ciri fought on Scellige the white hunt (the anomaly), he was cursed by the bad elf. Sorry don't remember their names. The curse took some time to become active. So they had some time to flee...

 

[dzbrown]

Just beat the main story and I have a question: when was Avallac'h cursed into Uma? And who cursed him?

I think when he was wearing the mask, he was already beginning to feel the effects of the curse, which would explain why he was wearing a mask at all; however, I completely agree with you. The origin of the curse, the purpose of the curse, the creator of the curse...all of this was left out rendering it into a contrived plot device that really serves no purpose other than throwing another arbitrary obstacle in front of us in order to find Ciri.

 

[lwp]

Just beat the main story and I have a question: when was Avallac'h cursed into Uma? And who cursed him?

Avallac'h was cursed by Eredin (Ciri says it's purpose was to humiliate him) when he and Ciri where escaping in the forest in Skellige. I think some dialogue was changed around, because in my initial playthrough it seems that Ciri caused the explosion that devastated part of the isle, but yesterday on my second playthrough there was a dialogue option with Ermion the druid where Geralt says that a powerful curse was cast on location, which also devastated the forest. I still thought the whole curse was mainly a plot device so Avallac'h would have to wear a mask, preventing Geralt from realizing who the 'mysterious elf' was too soon.

 

[JackofTears]

You have to remember that Ciri can travel through time and, presumably, bring people with her. As such, Uma existed as the post cursed Avallac'h even while the presently cursed Avallac'h was still running around with her trying to find a way to undo the thing he would eventually become. Ultimately time caught up with him and he was taken out of the equation, but not before he sent Ciri to the Isle of Mists.

As for how Yennefer knew how to perform the Trial of Grasses ... mages designed the Trial in the first place and had helped the witchers over the ages, it had always required a mage to assist with the process; the sorcerers and sorceresses knew the magical part of the equation, but not the alchemical part - which the witchers had kept to themselves. (and which was stolen in the first game) It was believed that was lost, but it is not unreasonable to believe Yennefer, of all people, with her connection to the witchers over the long years, would have gone out of her way to try and dig up that magic again. The sorceresses, especially those close to the witchers, were always trying to pry the secrets of their witcher potions out of them, so it wouldn't be much of a shock of Yennefer had stolen the secrets to the potions at some point and learned the secrets to the magic at another; which would explain why the witchers were so put off by her betrayal of their trust.

 

[norealer]

I'm still confused about the timeline. So Avallac'h got cursed the first time he and Ciri were in Skellige, then they escaped and went separate ways to avoid attention? Ciri went all over the continent to find ways to lift the curse while Avallac'h doing what exactly? Leaving messages in the elven ruin? If Avallac'h himself was actively seeking a way to lift the curse, why did he need Ciri to find a mage to repair the phylactery, he could just do it himself since he's a much more powerful mage. And where did Ciri get the phylactery? It must have been Avallac'h who gave it to her, because I don't think Ciri is knowledgeable enough to know how to lift the curse.

 

[SiebenPhenom]

Hi,

They arrived at the forest at Skellige. Avallac'h and Ciri got seperated after the curse. Ciri got the phylactery and were teleported to the swamp in Velen and Avallac'h tried to delay the curse with the potion against dementia from Keira Metz.. Maybe Avallac'h lost at this time most of his skills to remove the curse and to repair the phylactery by himself. Ciri went to Novigrad to search someone who can repair the phylactery, because it's hard to find a mage who is willing to help her and put himelf in danger to reveal his identity, cause of the witch hunt.
After the escape from Whoreson's henchmen, Ciri teleports back to Skellige, Avallac'h locate her and left his hideout in Velen. The curse were at advanced stage so he had enough time to put her asleep and bring her to the isle with the seven dwarves.

I think

 

[norealer]

Avallac'h tried to delay the curse with the potion against dementia from Keira Metz

Totally forget about this. Need to play the quest again, *sigh*. Many thanks, your explanation makes perfect sense.

 

[Brillig145]

Ok, so everything seems explained. I only have one problem. You can see in the vision where the curse is cast, it is cast by someone clearly defending Ciri. In other words it had to be Avallac'h. So maybe it wasn't Eridin that cursed Avallac'h? Maybe the curse was somehow a side effect of the magic Avallac'h used in their defense? This doesn't really seem to make sense, but its either that, or the vision CDPR shows us is inaccurate. Hmm...

 

[dmcaldw]

Ok, so everything seems explained. I only have one problem. You can see in the vision where the curse is cast, it is cast by someone clearly defending Ciri. In other words it had to be Avallac'h. So maybe it wasn't Eridin that cursed Avallac'h? Maybe the curse was somehow a side effect of the magic Avallac'h used in their defense? This doesn't really seem to make sense, but its either that, or the vision CDPR shows us is inaccurate. Hmm...

Avallac'h was defending Ciri when the curse was cast the deflection of the curse made it look like Avallac'h had cast something .....finding The Wild Hunt'sman under the fallen tree . That was from protecting Ciri even though it looked like he cast it .

 

[PsyCoil]

Hi,
*snip*
Ciri teleports back to Skellige, Avallac'h locate her and left his hideout in Velen. The curse were at advanced stage so he had enough time to put her asleep and bring her to the isle with the seven dwarves.
I think

It's plausible Avallac'h gave Ciri the phylactery but still doesn't explain why he couldn't do the repair himself considering he can leave all these messages and magic traps in his hideout, and to to top it all off teleport from Velen to Skellige put Ciri asleep and teleport her to the Isle.

One thing that I'm left wondering is just how long all those events lasted.

 

[vivaxardas2015]

Hi,

They arrived at the forest at Skellige. Avallac'h and Ciri got seperated after the curse. Ciri got the phylactery and were teleported to the swamp in Velen and Avallac'h tried to delay the curse with the potion against dementia from Keira Metz.. Maybe Avallac'h lost at this time most of his skills to remove the curse and to repair the phylactery by himself. Ciri went to Novigrad to search someone who can repair the phylactery, because it's hard to find a mage who is willing to help her and put himelf in danger to reveal his identity, cause of the witch hunt.
After the escape from Whoreson's henchmen, Ciri teleports back to Skellige, Avallac'h locate her and left his hideout in Velen. The curse were at advanced stage so he had enough time to put her asleep and bring her to the isle with the seven dwarves.

I think

Yeah, after contemplating this matter for a while while playing for the first time, I came to the same conclusion. He was cursed on their first visit, then he and Ciri tried to find a cure, or at least slow down a progress, and he succumbed to the curse right after he put Ciri into sleep. It seems that sometimes the curses work gradually, overtime, like Henselt's curse in TW2. I agree that in TW3 it is not terribly clear, and may be confusing.
Just please don't involve Ciri's prophetic abilities (searching for a cure for the curse that did not happen yet), or going back in time, etc. That would turn the entire plot into complete nonsensical mess.

 

[Tyrandex]

yea, and if you play the game in order, you will get even a better point of view of uma in a general perspective