Doug Cockle, the iconic voice behind Geralt of Rivia in *The Witcher* series, has responded strongly to criticism surrounding *The Witcher 4*’s decision to center its narrative on Ciri. In a recent interview with Fall Damage, Cockle dismissed the backlash as misguided and urged detractors to “read the damn books” before passing judgment.
“That’s just stupid,” Cockle said when asked about the negative reactions from some corners of the fanbase. “It’s not woke. There’s nothing woke about it. [Ciri]’s a cool character from *The Witcher*, and they’re going to focus on that character—and that’s awesome.”
Cockle, who has voiced Geralt across all of CD Projekt’s previous entries in the series, will return for *The Witcher 4*—though this time around, the spotlight is shifting to Ciri, Geralt’s adoptive daughter. While some fans have reacted negatively to the change, interpreting it as a forced shift toward modern trends, Cockle argues that there's a deeper narrative reason behind the move rooted in the original novels by Andrzej Sapkowski.
“We can’t just have Geralt for every single game for *The Witcher* ad nauseam, out through eternity,” Cockle explained. “We’ve seen the end of Geralt’s journey. Blood and Wine was supposed to wrap up that journey.”
He added enthusiastically, “I celebrate Ciri. I celebrate her being the protagonist. So all you people who think it’s woke… [blows raspberry].”
Why Ciri Makes Sense for The Witcher 4
Cockle went on to emphasize that the decision to feature Ciri as the main character isn't a marketing ploy or a politically driven choice—it’s a natural continuation of the lore established in Sapkowski’s original book series.
“If you read the books, then you understand why CD Projekt went down this avenue,” he said. “There’s a whole rich world of stuff to explore with Ciri that they didn’t do when they put her into *Witcher 3*, because the story was about Geralt. But she hints at it.”
He concluded with a direct challenge to critics: “If you think it’s woke, read the damn books—they’re good, first of all. And secondly, you won’t think it’s so woke anymore.”
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While CD Projekt’s games are set after the events of Sapkowski’s novels, the author himself has always distanced his final conclusions from the expanded universe explored in the games. However, even Sapkowski treated Ciri as a pivotal figure—someone capable of carrying the narrative forward when Geralt needed rest or simply wasn’t present.
IGN previously spoke with CD Projekt’s franchise and lore designers, Cian Maher and Marcin Batylda, about how *The Witcher 4* fits into the existing timeline and maintains continuity between Geralt’s past and Ciri’s future—without revealing key plot points from Sapkowski’s final novel that may influence the new game’s direction.
