The Witcher Blood Origin Episode 1 ending explained

The Witcher Blood Origin Episode 1 drops viewers into a brief, pivotal saga in the Continent – if you’ve just started your binge and want to catch yourself up on the ending, we’re here to break it down.

Unlike Netflix’s The Witcher, the streaming platform’s mainline series, Blood Origin isn’t based on any one book – it comes from “just a few lines”, the creators earlier said.

“Every story has a beginning. Witness the untold history of the Continent with The Witcher: Blood Origin, a new prequel series set in an elven world 1200 years before the events of The Witcher. Blood Origin will tell a story lost to time – exploring the creation of the first prototype Witcher, and the events that lead to the pivotal ‘Conjunction of the Spheres,’ when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one,” the synopsis reads.

Episode 1 drops you in at the deep end, and it may feel a little overwhelming – so, let’s look at what happened in the ending.

The Witcher Blood Origin Episode 1 ending explained

There are three main takeaways from Episode 1. If you’re feeling a bit lost with the cast, we’ve got everyone and their descriptions here, so feel free to check that out and come back.

Firstly, Merwyn (Mirren Mack) teams up with her brother Eredin (Jacob Collins-Levy) and Balor (Lenny Henry) to usurp the throne during the signing of the peace treaty to end the Thousand-Year War. Balor uses the monolith to travel to another dimension, where he borrows a dragon capable of turning people to “bloody mists” with lightning bolts.

The latter part is important to the second takeaway: Balor orders Syndril (Zach Wyatt) to connect all of the ancient Dwarven monoliths, as they are capable of opening gateways to multiple worlds. Balor also seeks a power that will “make him a god among elves”, but it’s unclear what this is.

Lastly, Éile and Fjall team up and find Scian (Michelle Yeoh), the last living member of the Ghost Tribe and Éile’s former sword trainer. Scian wishes to reclaim Soulweaver, her tribe’s sacred sword “born of black sands”, which was claimed by Xin’trea’s ruler and held as a trophy in the palace.

After a brief scuffle, and Scian wishing Fjall’s father an eternity in a lonely grave, reveals he knows a secret passage into the city. They decide to work together, and set off to find others to kill Merwyn and claim back the empire for the people.

“And so two became three. The first drops in a torrent that would change the world forever.”

The Witcher: Blood Origin is on Netflix now. You can check out our review here, and the rest of our coverage here.