Paraphrasing Jane Austen yet again- it is a truth universally acknowledged that The White Flame is in search of Ciri, but a Witcher keeps getting in his way. We saw at the end of season 2 that The White Flame is none other than Duny, Ciri’s father and the man Geralt saved. But what is the story behind this man? Why did he even get the name of The White Flame? And why does he seem to dislike Geralt so much?

Who is The White Flame and how did he get this name in The Witcher?

Curses aren’t a new concept in the lore of The Witcher– we have seen it everywhere from Nivellen’s curse to the Prophecy of Ithlienne. Another After Nilfgaard was attacked during the reign of king Fergus var Emreis, a mage at the new court cursed the young prince to live in the form of an urcheon. As many readers might have guessed already, this prince, who later comes to call himself Duny, is none other than Emhyr var Emreis. Eventually, Duny takes over Nilfgaard again. This is when he begins calling himself Emhyr again, and also gains the name of The White Flame.

Anyone who has familiarised themselves with the lore of The Witcher books and video game will know that Emhyr is a stone-cold pragmatist. After having regained Nilfgaard, all monarchs from Buina to Yaruga lived in fear of the man. Having seen the Fall of Cintra in the episodes of the Netflix Original, we know how ruthless the Nilfgaardians, led by the White Flame, can be in their conquests.

An example of Emhyr’s ruthlessness is the story behind his derivation of the name- The White Flame. When Emhyr had conquered Nilfgaard again, he had all of his dead political enemies disinterred. As a symbol of his victory over them, he used their gravestones to pave his ballroom. This gave him the name of Deithwen Addan yn Carn aep Morvudd in Elder Speech, which translates to The White Flame Dancing on the Barrows of his Enemies.

Does Emhyr hate Geralt?

In The Witcher video game or the books by Andrzej Sapkowski, The White Flame holds no grudges against the Witcher. He held Geralt in high regard after the latter helped him marry Pavetta against Calanthe’s wishes. Through the course of the book saga, Emhyr does only a single act that goes against his grand plans, all because Geralt made him see sentiment.

While we cannot reveal what that is due to fear of it being a spoiler for the next seasons of the Netflix live-action series, all we can say is that Emhyr does not hate Geralt. In fact, he considers him to be something along the lines of a friend- as far as friendships can go for someone who digs up his enemies’ graves.