Official chapter 5 of my assessment of the narrative, follow up of my initial starting post:
5.) Ciri as the defeater of the White Frost?
I've added this section because I think that the inconsistencies and issues of the deus ex machina moment aren't described thoroughly enough yet, especially if we take a closer look at Ciri, who she is and what she is capable of. As written above in the very end of the game Avallac'h and Ciri open a portal between the worlds and Ciri goes through it in order to "fight the white frost".
But wait a minute? Who is Ciri exactly and what exactly empowers her to do such a thing? Well, let's start first with how Ciri and her powers are described in the book. We know that she is a descendent of Lara Dorren aep Shiadhal, an Elven Sage, an Aen Saevherne like Avallac'h, who was the bearer of the Hen Ichaer, the Elder Blood, a genetic mutation of old Elven blood, prosecuted by the Aen Elle during hundreds of years in order to re-establish powers they've long lost - the powers to open a gate between different worlds, the Ard Gaeth. Like Lara Ciri bears the Elder Blood. So is she actually able to open Ard Gaeth? Well, in the books that is actually never even a question. She only has one purpose to the ones who want to control the gate: to give birth to a child. Ciri is actually senn by nobody as the saviour of the world. Only her child is, or even her later descendents are at the earliest. Every "expert" on the topic is agreeing on that very point:
The Aen Elle and Avallac'h:
"We want to have your child, swallow, daughter of Lara Dorren."
Andrzej Sapkowski, The Lady of the Lake
The lodge of the sorceresses:
"Cirilla, Pavetta of Cintra's daughter, Calanthe the Lion's granddaughter. The Elder Blood, the ice flame of the North, the destroyer and renewer, whose advent has been predicted already hundred of years ago. Ciri of Cintra, the queen of the North. And her blood, of which the queen of the world will be born."
Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire
Emhyr var Emreis:
"Cirilla [...] will be happy like most of the queens I've spoken of. That will happen over time. Her love that I won't demand from her, will be passed onto her son whom I will beget with her. The crown prince and upcoming emperor. The emperor who will beget a son. The son who will be the ruler of the world and who will save the world from annihilation. That's what the prophecies tell us, the prophecies whose content only I know."
Andrzej Sapkowski, The Lady of the Lake
Vilgefortz has a somewhat different "approach" to the topic but it's quite clear as well that he doesn't want or need Ciri herself neither, but only her blood (and certain parts of her body...):
"Maybe you're concerned about it, maybe you're happy about it, but you should know that you won't give birth to a child. Who knows, maybe it would be indeed a big chosen one with exceptional abilities, a saviour of the world and ruler of all people. But nobody is able to vouch for that and I don't want to wait so long anyway. I need blood. Placenta blood, to be precise. As soon as the placenta will be developed I will cut it out."
Andrzej Sapkowski, The Lady of the Lake
So it seems to be pretty clear that Ciri herself doesn't have such spectacular abilites. Nobody is really interested in her person or abilities but only literally in her crotch. Everyone wants to have sex with her in order to beget a child. That's why everyone is hunting Ciri. But Avallac'h has a lot more to say on the topic. He explains in detail what the White Frost actually is and how Ciri is supposed to deal with it:
"We have [...] more than good reason to assume that your world is in danger of annihilation. A climatic catastrophy of extreme scope. With your profound education you've surely heard of Aen Itlinn Speath, Itlina's prophecy. It relates to the White Frost. We think that it means a strong glaciation. And since 90 percent of the main land of your world are located on the northern hemisphere a glaciation can threaten the very existence of most beings. They will just die of cold. Those who will survive will descend into chaos, wiping each other out in merciless struggles for food, becoming the prey of predators mad of hunger themselves. Remember the wording of the prohecy: time of contempt, time of axe, time of wolve storms... [...]
The child we care about so much, the descendent of Lara Dorren and bearer of her gene which was specially built by us can save the inhabitants of this world. We have reason to believe that Lara's descendent - and yours, naturally - will have abilities at their command that will be more than a thousand times stronger than ours, the ones of the Sages. And which you have at your command as well, in a rudimentary form.[...] It's about the possibility to not only be able to transport yourself, you own not so important person, between the worlds. It's about the opening of Ard Gaeth, the big and steady gate that can be used by everyone. Before the conjunction we once managed to achieve that and we want to be able to do so again now. We will evacuate the Aen Seidhe from the dying world in which they live. Our brothers to whom we owe help. We couldn't live with the awareness that we missed something in order to save them. And we will save them, we will evacuate everyone who is threatened in this world. Everyone, Zirael. Even the humans."
Andrzej Sapkowski, The Lady of the Lake
So while the last passage about the saving of the humans and in particular the conditions of such an endavour are probably highly debatable there is no reason why Avallac'h should lie about the rest. That's pretty much the known prophecy of Itlina anyway, just extended by the concrete interpretation of the Aen Saevherne, probably the most prolific experts on the topic that could be found.
What does this mean for the Witcher 3 and its ending? What does this mean for Ciri and her abilities? Well, first she doesn't seem to have that awesome abilities after all. She can obviously travel between worlds. But can she open Ard Gaeth? Well, actually nobody thinks so. Everybody thinks that one of her descendants will once be able to do so. Obviously the genetic mutation in her blood isn't ready for that step. And then after all, nobody ever talk about an ability to "stop the white froze altogether". For pretty much everyone in the books, every expert on the topic, Avallac'h and the Aen Saevherne and all the powerful sorcerers and sorceresses alike, the White Frost is something that is just there, an irrevocable force of nature. The task of the Elder Blood isn't to fight and win against the Wild Frost but not enable survival for a new beginning. To open a gate. To give people a chance to flee and start somewhere else anew. Nothing of that is even remotely mentined in the ending of the Witcher 3.
Of course Witcher 3 could deviate from the book lore and establish it's own, modified version. The problem is that it never really does. It never explains Ciri's supposed powers. It never explains how she is able to fight and win against the White Frost. It never explains why Ciri should go through the portal and what she should do on the other side. It never explains why suddenly Ciri herself is important. Which ability that is displayed in the game should grant her any power to fight and end the white frost? And why does she need a portal to a different world if the White Frost threatens the world she lives in already? Why does she need a portal after all? If it's only about her why doesn't she just use her normal travelling abilities? Is the White Frost some kind of "living entity" in the Witcher 3? If yes, why isn't that explained to give the proper context? So many question, but not even one satisfying answer. I mean, I get the argument that the games don't necessarily have to stick to all the lore established in the books. But if there is no other explanation for some elements, how should we evaluate them? Either they are based on book lore or they have to be properly explained which obviously isn't the case here.
I mean, it's really a shame. The whole thing is pretty complex in the books which includes the motives of the Wild Hunt. In the books they aren't all evil super villains. They are pretty much like many humans, just from a different perspective. They think that they are naturally "better" and superior than every other race and that every other race should serve them. Of course that is fundamentally opposed to the human interest in the witcher world and so the Aen Elle are natural enemies, so to say. But they are not just "evil", not even Eredin. He's a power hungry murderer and invader but he shares these traits with human rulers of the likes of Emhyr var Emreis.
If you ask me the end just doesn't make any sense in the given context. It's not consistent with the lore and characterization of Ciri in the books. It's not consistent with the characterization of the White Frost in the book. It's not properly explained in the game itself neither. But by excluding all sexual topics from the game (except Geralt's "love interests") they also took away the basic motivation why every "villain" wanted to capture Ciri in the first place, Eredin included. There is no real motivation left for Avallac'h's actions after all, at least not a (newly) described one (Auberon is dead and he obviously doesn't want Eredin to capture Ciri for whatever reason). No matter how you look at it, the deus ex machina portal event at the very end makes no much sense and is full of narrative inconsistencies. It's just a hot mess, like I said in the title of this thread.