Every Witcher 4 Fan Theory So Far

Excitement skyrocketed when CD Projekt Red gave "Witcher" fans the best news in March 2022, announcing the next mainline game in the series had finally entered development. The iconic action-RPG franchise has not received an open-world console game in over seven years. instead focusing on spin-offs like "Gwent: The Witcher Card Game" and "The Witcher: Monster Slayer." CD Projekt Red's initial post promised a "New Saga" for the series, though the developers released almost no concrete details on what adventures "The Witcher 4" would contain. Fans do know that the next game will be produced in Unreal Engine 5, a result of CDPR's partnership with Epic Games. But with no official word on story or gameplay, fans have drummed up a number of theories.

Befitting the nature of fandom, CD Projekt Red's announcement sent fans into rampant speculation, with some wondering if the game would be exclusive to Epic. Parts of the discourse reached the attention of the studio, which clarified on Twitter that it did not announce anything titled "The Witcher 4," nor that it was an exclusive to any one platform. Having little to go off of other than the reveal, that Twitter update, and a small development update in May, fans began pondering several possibilities for the game's story. Here are the major fan theories that have popped up for the next "Witcher" game.

The company behind "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" posted a picture of a canonically-unfamiliar witcher's medallion partially covered in snow, which CD Projekt Red confirmed to Eurogamer as representing a lynx. This is intriguing to fans for a few reasons.

"The Witcher" games and books contain some basic lore regarding the School of the Cat (per Reddit), which became known for defying traditional witcher ethics and accepting assassination jobs. However, the developers calling attention specifically to a lynx seems to suggest the introduction of an entirely new school. Predictably, this prompted many online theories regarding the game's protagonist.

Who fills the role of the protagonist has not yet become clear, but the new medallion and tagline "A New Saga Begins" seem to imply that the "White Wolf" Geralt will not be the focus of the next game. In turn, some fans on Twitter guessed Ciri could take over as the main character. A few theorizers have taken things a step further and suggested Geralt's Child of Surprise may join the Lynx School sect of witchers. After all, she carried a cat-like medallion in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," so maybe her affinity for felines will bring her to the new school.

In the books, Ciri took that medallion from the corpse of Leo Bonhart, a lethal bounty hunter who had previously slain a Cat School witcher. Maybe fans will see Ciri trying to honor the fallen Cat School witcher, joining a sect under a similar banner (but without the Cat School's infamous reputation).

But how might CD Projekt Red introduce this Lynx School? Another well-known character has cropped up in the conversation as a founder of this school.

CD Projekt Red's teaser could serve as proof of "The Witcher 4" adapting a School of Lynx fan-fiction. As told in an original fan-created article, Lambert of the Wolf School encountered members of the Cat School in his travels following The Battle of Kaer Morhen. After helping them reclaim their stolen caravan, the school nominated Lambert as its leader, and he decided to rebrand the sect as the School of the Lynx.

Part of the "Witcher" fanbase on Twitter has apparently mistaken the article as canon, but it is entirely fictional. However, if CD Projekt Red has decided to use this fan-fiction for inspiration — as some fans seem to believe — the next game could follow Lambert in his attempts to overhaul the former Cat School's less-than-stellar reputation.

Rather than featuring a playable Lambert, some fans have wondered if the focus on a new school implies players will be able to create their own customized witcher. Following that logic, the player's witcher may have joined the Lynx School during its rise to prominence or played a part in its founding. Some fans have also posited that "The Witcher 4" could also revisit Skellige, since lynxes in the real world frequent snowy climates.

Of course, these are theories at this point. However, this goes to show how invested fans are in this series. The basic teaser and few updates from CDRP has already gotten fans excited about the possibilities of "The Witcher 4."