The Witcher season 3: Why does Ciri change her name to Falka?

Ciri’s journey through the Korath desert in The Witcher season 3 part 2 is as transformative as it is harrowing, primarily due to Ciri’s hallucinations of influential female figures in her life like her grandmother Calanthe, her mother Pavetta, and the princess of legend, Falka.

After using the unstable portal in Tor Lara, Ciri finds herself lost in the brutal and hostile desert. She’s left alone to her own devices and likely would have died in the desert without her seeing an unlikely ally out there, a horse she nicknames “Little Horse.” The pair work together to survive the desert’s many horrors.

Eventually, Ciri is captured by some bounty hunters hoping to cash in on her by delivering her to Nilfgaard. But Ciri is rescued by a gang of criminals known as the Rats. She eventually tells them her name is Falka, but why does she choose that name?

Why does Ciri change her name to Falka at the end of The Witcher season 3?

In the final scene of The Witcher season 3, Mistle asks Ciri for her name, and she calls herself Falka. This comes after we had just seen Ciri hallucinating Falka in the desert. Her version of Falka is power-mad and encourages Ciri to follow in her footsteps, to take back what is rightfully hers by any means necessary.

MORE: Are Falka and Ciri related?

The fact Ciri chooses the pseudonym Falka means she’s prepared to follow Falka’s lead and burn everything to the ground. This is further shown by Ciri taking her first human life at the insistence of the Rats. Killing the bounty hunter doesn’t even seem to disturb Ciri because she’s embraced using fire magic and preparing to enter a dark new chapter.

Plus, going by Falka is a way for Ciri to protect her true identity. She’s not a fool. She knows countless people across the Continent are looking for her, although that might stop now that Emhyr has publicly introduced a false Ciri to the Nilfgaardian court.