Why The Witcher Season 4 Killed Off A Major Character From Andrzej Sapkowski's Books

"The Witcher" shocked viewers in Season 4 when Geralt of Rivia's (Liam Hemsworth, taking over for Henry Cavill) mentor and de facto parental figure Vesemir (Peter Mullan, taking over for Kim Bodnia) returns after a lengthy absence ... and promptly dies in a fight against uber-mage Vilgefortz of Roggeveen (Mahesh Jadu). 

Vesemir is a major figure in "The Witcher" franchise. As such, his brutal end in Episode 6 (appropriately titled "Twilight of the Wolf") is one of the biggest deaths on the Netflix show so far. In an interview with Variety, showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich explained the impact that Vilgefortz killing Vesemir has on Geralt at this point of the story.

"He has lost his father now, and he is pushing to be a father to Ciri (Freya Allan), a role that he never expected to step into," said Schmidt-Hissrich." When you lose someone important in your world, it makes you reconsider your own priorities. ... The thing that he's dreamt of the most, becoming a white knight, he's able to get. Yet partially through the death of Vesemir, he knows that time is not on his side. If he is going to reunite his family, he has to give up that [knight] dream in order to pursue the dream of family." 

Fans who are familiar with the source material might be confused by this development, though. In Andrzej Sapkowski's "The Witcher" book series, Vesemir is still very much alive. In the video game "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," Vesemir dies in the Battle of Kaer Morhen during a heroic stand against the villainous Wild Hunt.

Were you surprised by Vesemir's death? Let us know in the comments!