Work Text:
-Historical Events, dates unknown
- Falka’s Rebellion (ep1)
- The Black Sun, the first solar eclipse in 1200 years; Stregobor seeks to kill all the baby girls born during the eclipse (ep1); occurs prior to Yennefer leaving Aretuza (ep3) as the Brotherhood council joke about it; Renfri is the last of the girls (ep1)
- The Great Cleansing, a massacre of elves at Dol Blathanna (and possibly elsewhere). Yennefer’s half-elf father is killed, as is everyone Filavandrel loved (ep2)
-Geralt’s childhood
- Geralt, delirious from a monster bite, recalls his mother Visenna leaving him on the road to be found by Vesemir and taken to be made a Witcher (ep8). His delirium means the exact details shown on screen may prove to be wrong
-Yennefer’s schooling at Aretuza (unknown span, but at least months)
- Events of episode 2, Yennefer’s story:
- Yennefer’s conduit moment, transporting herself to Aretuza by accident (ep2). An unknown length of time after, Tissaia arrives in Vengeberg to purchase her for four marks (ep2).
- Yennefer’s suicide attempt is her first night at Aretuza (ep2)
- Yennefer’s first lesson at Aretuza, lifting a stone, is while she is still recovering from her suicide attempt (ep2)
- Yennefer has ‘weeks’ of stone lifting lessons before they move to thought transference, which she practises with Istredd (ep2)
- After “working on her for months,” Istredd reports to Stregobor that Yennefer has elven blood (ep2)
-40 years
- King Dagorad of Cintra has taken ill; Princess Calanthe is not expected to soften Cintra’s stance on mages (ep3)
- Events of episode 3, Yennefer’s story:
- Yennefer and Istredd break up, anticipating being separated by their court assignments (ep3)
- Sabrina, Fringilla, Istredd, etc, attend Initiation. Yennefer misses it, and undergoes her physical transformation, sacrificing her womb to fuel the spell (ep3). With her new beauty, she charms her way to court assignment at Aedirn by dancing with King Virfuril. Fringilla is sent to Nilfgaard with King Fergus. Queen Sancia of Temeria and her children Foltest and Adda are also at the ball (ep3).
-36 years
- Calanthe wins her first battle at Hochebuz (ep1)
- [Assumption: Ciri states that Calanthe was “my age”, i.e. 11-12 years old, when she won the Battle of Hochebuz, which Renfri mentions has just occured. The margin of error for Ciri’s statement is unknown]
- Events of episode 1, Geralt’s story. Geralt meets Marilka and Stregobor in Blaviken. That evening, he encounters Renfri in the woods; they sleep together and he hears Renfri’s prophecy about the girl in the woods (Ciri). The next morning, he becomes the ‘Butcher of Blaviken’, and takes Renfri’s brooch from her body (ep1)
-27 years
- Duny saves King Roegner’s life prior to Pavetta’s birth, and thus earn her as his reward via the Law of Surprise (ep4)
- Pavetta is born (ep4) [Assumption: in the books, she is 15 at her betrothal feast when she is pregnant with Ciri; in this timeline that makes Calanthe 21 at Pavetta’s birth]
-20 years
- [Assumption: if Jaskier’s comment that he and Geralt should “give it another decade” before referring to each other as friends in ep5 can be taken (roughly) literally]
- Events of episode 2, Geralt’s story. Geralt and Jaskier meet for the first time in Posada, are imprisoned by Filavandrel (events of ep2). Jaskier composes Toss a coin to your Witcher to immortalise the occasion, changing most of the details.
-some time in the next 8 years
- The striga attacks begin six years prior to the events of ep3
- In Nilfgaard, King Fergus is overthrown by the Usurper after widespread famine and popular revolt against his bad rulership (ep3)
- Three months before ep3, Triss is assigned to Temeria, where the succession is precarious (Foltest has no heir), to prevent an uprising similar to that in Nilfgaard (ep3)
- Events of episode 3, Geralt’s story:
- Another Witcher, Remus, is paid to hunt a suspected vukodlak in Temeria, actually a striga, and is killed (ep3)
- Geralt learns of Temeria’s troubles from Danica, a prostitute (ep3). [Note: Jaskier has composed at least two other songs about Geralt’s adventures, one about vampires and another about a kikimora, which must have become well known enough for Danica to link specific scars of Geralt’s to particular songs.]
- The Temerian miners consider revolt against King Foltest after ‘years of attacks’ by the striga, inspired by the Nilfgaardians (ep3).
- Geralt is hired by Triss Merigold, Temeria’s court sorcerer, to attempt to cure the striga princess. They confront Lord Ostrit, who commissioned a rogue mage to curse Foltest ‘years ago’. King Foltest agrees to accept his daughter by incest as his heir if she is cured (ep3)
-12 years
- Events of episode 4, Geralt’s story: Geralt is swallowed by a selkiemore. Jaskier takes notes for a new ballad from the details of the fight given by the villagers. The same night as the selkiemore fight, Jaskier and Geralt attend Princess Pavetta’s betrothal feast in Cintra; Pavetta and Duny, and Calanthe and Eist marry, Geralt invokes the Law of Surprise (events of episode 4)
- Mousesack last saw Geralt during a plague; Geralt refers to him as ‘old friend’ (ep4)
- Mousesack has been advising the Skelligen crown for ‘years’ prior to this point (ep4)
- Calanthe has rejected Eist’s proposal of marriage three times since the death of King Roegner (ep4)
- The Usurper still rules Nilfgaard, and Lord Peregrine, one of Pavetta’s suitors, is not expected to succeed in taking the crown from him (ep4)
- Kaer Morhen has been sacked by the time of Pavetta’s feast and it is “no longer possible” to create more Witchers (ep4)
-11 years
- Ciri is born [Assumption: Pavetta being in the early stages of her pregnancy in ep4]
- Pavetta and Duny die in a shipwreck during Ciri’s childhood and she is raised by Calanthe, Eist and Mousesack (ep7). At some point in her childhood, she and Mousesack visit Skellige and ice-skate with Eist’s nephew Crach an Craite (ep4)
-10 years
- Yennefer has served as the Aedirn court sorcerer for “three decades” (ep4)
- Events of episode 4, Yennefer’s story: Yennefer escorts Queen Kalis to Lyria with her newest baby daughter, but they are both killed by an assassin sent by Kalis’ husband, the unnamed King of Lyria, who wanted a male heir (ep4)
- Yennefer goes rogue from the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, and plies her trade as a mage in Rinde, taking most of the town under her spell (ep5)
- In the time since Yennefer left Aedirn, King Virfuril has died and his son Demavend is now king (ep5)
- [Assumption: I have allowed for Yennefer’s time since leaving Aedirn to be only months, as her conversation with Hemet suggests she is still getting used to “living off the grid with no resources” but it is long enough that Tissaia comments “you remained hidden for a while but now you’re making noise” which could be interpreted as a much longer period]
- The ‘rightful heir’ to Nilfgaard (Emperor Emhyr) has regained the crown from the Usurper with Fringilla’s assistance (ep5)
- Some time (Jaskier, being very helpful: “What’s it been, months? Years? What is time anyway?”) after Jaskier and Geralt last parted company, Jaskier finds him fishing for a djinn (to cure his angst-induced insomnia over his child surprise). Dialogue suggests it is a decade since they first met, if not longer. (“Are we not using ‘friend’? Sure, let’s give it another decade.”)
- Events of episode 5: Yennefer and Geralt meet for the first time; Geralt leaves her while she is sleeping after they make love (ep6)
-over the intervening 10 years
- Geralt and Yennefer sleep together several times between the events of ep5 and ep6, and she always leaves before he wakes up (ep6); Jaskier’s attitude towards Yennefer in ep6 implies G&Y have had some adventures together as well as sexual encounters
-1 year
- Filavandrel’s Uprising, an attempt by elves to take some Cintran land, is brutally put down by Queen Calanthe, leading to the deaths of everyone Dara knew (ep4). Some Cintrans die, including Adar Ozol’s brother (ep2).
0 year
- weeks or months prior
- A dragon ravages the countryside in King Niedamir’s mountains just prior to his planned wedding to a rival princess of Malleore (ep6)
- [Assumption: if Niedamir is King of Caingorn, as in the books, then ep6 occurs immediately prior to ep7 for both Yennefer and Geralt, as Yennefer’s travel papers in ep7 state she is coming from Caingorn, and Geralt’s conversations with Yennefer and Borch would likely be the prompting he needs to seek out Ciri (ep6,7)]
- The king of Nilfgaard has begun imperialist expansion in the south (ep6)
- Events of episode 6: Geralt and Jaskier, Yennefer, Sir Eyck of Denesle, Borch, Téa, Véa, four dwarves and a group of reavers set out to hunt the dragon. The dragon hunt occurs over three days (two nights spent camped on the mountain). Sir Eyck is killed on the first night; G&Y spend the second night together in her magic tent. Geralt and Yennefer discuss her desire for a child, and he accidentally reveals his ‘child surprise’ (ep6)
- Yennefer suggests that Jaskier has aged visibly since she last saw him (“The crows’ feet are new”) (ep6)
- “Every time I’m with you I say more in five minutes than in five weeks, and I always regret it.” (ep6) Geralt is familiar enough with Yennefer that he calls her ‘Yenn’ as a pet name.
- After the melee in the dragon cave, Borch foretells the future for both Geralt and Yennefer, and encourages Geralt to find his destiny (Ciri). Yennefer leaves, upset by Geralt’s revelations. Geralt then lashes out at Jaskier who also leaves. This is the last time the three of them are together (ep6)
- Geralt sees the Nilfgaard army marching through the Amell Pass (ep7)
- ~a few days either side of the Slaughter, exact timing unknown
- [Assumption: exact travel time for the mages is not explained, but the Council is held prior to the attack, and the rebel mages arrive at Sodden Hill 11 days after the Slaughter of Cintra]
- Nilfgaard occupy Marnadol and are now camped outside Cintra (ep7)
- Events of episode 7, Yennefer’s story: Yennefer rides through Nilfgaard-occupied Nazair, where Istredd is in charge of an archaeological dig (ep7) Her papers state she is travelling from Caingorn, where the dragon hunt (ep6) occurred. She goes with Vilgefortz from Nazair to Aretuza (ep7). The Brotherhood hold an emergency council in response to Nilfgaard’s movements. Fringilla claims Nilfgaard’s war is only with Cintra, and the council vote against going to war (ep7). Tissaia, Vilgefortz, Sabrina, Yennefer and Triss lead a faction who rebel against the decision, who sail from Aretuza to join the war effort (ep7)
- Triss and Yennefer are old acquaintances; Triss “tried looking for [Yennefer] for years” [presumably after she left Aedirn]. Triss is still the court sorcerer at Temeria (ep7)
- Triss and Sabrina gain the support of their respective kings, Temeria and Kaedwen, against Nilfgaard (ep7)
- Fringilla sinks the Skelligen fleet in a storm (ep8).
-3 days
- Geralt arrives in Cintra to claim Ciri and take her out of the path of the Nilfgaard army, the first time he has been back to Cintra since Pavetta’s feast twelve years earlier (ep7)
- Eist returns from Skellige with the promise of 50 ships (ep1, ep7)
- Calanthe gives Geralt a false Ciri (ep7); he follows her to the square and sees the true Ciri playing knucklebones with Anton and others (ep1, ep7). Geralt confronts Calanthe, and she has Eist escort him to the gatekeep, where Geralt is imprisoned (ep7)
- Lazlo fetches Ciri from her knucklebones game for a ceremony of fealty which she attends with Eist (ep1)
-2 days
- Calanthe and Eist lead the army of Cintra to meet Nilfgaard in the field (ep1).
0 – Slaughter of Cintra
- Eist is killed by Cahir; Calanthe retreats from the battlefield to the castle (ep1)
- Ciri complains to Mousesack that she has been trapped in the castle for two days waiting for Calanthe’s return (ep1)
- At night, Nilfgaard attack the city. When they take the gate, Geralt escapes from his cell (ep7). Calanthe accepts that Geralt is Ciri’s best chance and sends Mousesack to retrieve him but he has already escaped (ep7).
- Ciri leaves with Mousesack and Lazlo. Mousesack is called away (ep1), Lazlo is killed and Ciri is captured by Cahir (ep1).
- Mousesack is captured by Fringilla’s mages and held alive for several days
- [Assumption: that the doppler Mousesack tells the truth about being captured by Nilfgaard and only lies about the kill-and-swap with the doppler] (ep 6)
- Calanthe falls from the window, witnessed by Geralt (ep7). Geralt fights his way to Ciri’s room, asking after her location from each Nilfgaard soldier he kills (ep7)
- Ciri escapes Cahir using her scream power and runs into the forest (ep1).
+3 days
- Ciri meets Dara in the forest, the “first person [she’s] spoken to in three days,” (ep2)
- Ciri finds the Cintran refugee camp; Dara hides, knowing Cintran attitude to elves (ep2)
+4 days
- Nilfgaard soldiers pillage the camp (ep2) [Assumption: that Ciri only spends one night in the camp with the Ozol family, given her conversation with Lilja addresses her insomnia and fear]
- Dara rescues Ciri from the pillaging and they flee into the forest again (ep2)
- Ciri falls into a trance and walks into Brokilon Forest, followed by Dara (ep3)
- Fringilla’s mages find Calanthe’s body and use it to divine Ciri’s location in Brokilon Forest (ep4)
- Cahir and Fringilla employ the doppler to kill and replace Mousesack to infiltrate Brokilon Forest by deceit and retrieve Ciri (ep5)
+ 5-10 days
- [Assumption: time seems to pass strangely in Brokilon Forest but Dara and Ciri probably spend about four days there]
- Dara and Ciri drink the waters of Brokilon; Ciri is taken to Shan-Kayam and has a vision of a talking tree, which reveals her identity to the dryads (ep4)
- The doppler Mousesack arrives in Brokilon and leaves with Ciri and Dara (e5)
- Dara becomes suspicious of the doppler Mousesack; Ciri tricks him into making a mistake about Mousesack’s past; they fight and Dara is knocked down; Ciri is bound to a tree. Dara frees her but they part ways after he harshly compares her to her grandmother (ep6)
- The doppler takes Ciri’s form and returns to Cahir and attempts to kill him. Cahir loses track of the doppler and kills everyone in the building (ep6)
+10 days
- Ciri arrives in a town and asks directions to Skellige; she exchanges a ring for new gloves, then steals a horse (ep7). That night, she is accosted by men outside a town and kills them in a trance-state (ep7)
+11 days
- In the morning, Ciri is found by Zola, surrounded by the corpses of the men she killed the night before (ep8). Zola takes her to her farm
- Yennefer and the other rebel mages fortify the elven fort on Sodden Hill (ep8)
- Geralt finds the burned-out Cintran refugee camp where the merchant Yurga is trying to bury the dead (“dead at least a week”; seven days after the camp is sacked four days after the castle falls = 11 days total) (ep8); they are attacked by creatures and Geralt is bitten
- The Battle of Sodden Hill begins with Fringilla sending fireballs at the fort (ep8). Ciri and Zola see the fireballs overhead
+12 days
- Only 22 mages remain to defend the fort (ep8)
- Fringilla uses fog to shroud the Nilfgaard army’s advance (ep8)
- Geralt is delirious from the monster bite; Yurga takes him on his cart to his farm under the cover of Fringilla’s magic fog (ep8); he hears the sounds of battle in the distance
- Cahir defeats Vilgefortz in a duel; Fringilla overpowers Tissaia in the forest; Triss falls defending the gate; Sabrina, a victim of mind-controlling magic, betrays the mages and dies falling from the tower (events of ep8)
- When Tissaia wakes up, night has fallen (ep8)
- Geralt dreams of his mother Visenna (ep8); when he wakes in the night, he asks the merchant to take him to the battlefield, an hour’s journey
- Yennefer unleashes her magic at Tissaia’s encouragement, burning the entire forest; King Foltest arrives with reinforcements shortly after
- Zola puts Ciri to bed while battle noises continue in the background (ep8)
- Geralt reaches the battlefield; along with Tissaia, he calls out for Yennefer; their psychic broadcasting wakes Ciri (ep8)
+13 days
- Ciri flees into the woods at first light, hearing Geralt’s psychic call for Yennefer (ep8)
- Geralt and the merchant Yurga arrive at the farm and are greeted by Zola, who mentions Ciri; Geralt finds Ciri in the woods (ep8)