The Witcher: the law of surprise explained

Netflix The Witcher TV show features several concepts from the series' books that many fans may not immediately pick up on, even if you are a fan of the games. It didn't all have a full explanation, forcing viewers to connect even more and interpret how the characters reacted to specific phrases and lore. A particularly interesting lore shown in the TV series was The Law of Surprise, which connects our hero, Geralt, the Cirilla, better known as Ciri.

[Remark: This article contains spoilers for The Witcher television show. Read at your discretion.]

We see the custom during The Witcher TV show in episode four of the first season called Banquets, Bastards, and Funerals. In the episode, Geralt visits a royal ball hosted by Queen Calanthe, head of the kingdom of Cintra, who tries to get her daughter engaged to one of the many suitors. Geralt is only there to protect the bard, Dandelion, from one of the many jealous husbands he may have met while sleeping with their wives.

During the festivities, a cursed knight bursts into the throne room, demanding the hand of Queen Calanthe's daughter in marriage after invoking the Law of Surprise because he saved her father 15 years ago, and it had been his gift for his heroic. This is the first use of the law, before it was invoked by Geralt later in the episode.

Someone can use it after saving someone else's life. The person who achieved the heroic can make one of two requests regarding the law of surprise:

• “The first thing that comes to you first” - The law-maker can receive anything that first greets the saved part.
• "What you don't find in your home you don't expect" - That's what Geralt and the damn knight both asked for. The damn knight received Queen Calanthe's daughter because the father knew the queen was pregnant, 15 years before the episode. This immediately happens to Geralt during the party, when he asks something that the knight does not yet know, which turns out to be the unborn child of his future wife, Ciri.

For the show, the law of surprise tradition is almost as old as mankind, making it an age-old choice for those who use it. When someone offers it to their savior and asks for it, each party must comply with it. Although Geralt knew what her payment would be, he stormed the party and let her be raised by the royal family. He was trying to escape fate, but eventually he would catch up with it.

The Law of Surprise was the main reason Queen Calanthe informed Ciri in the first episode that she had to find Geralt of Rivia. The two became linked by fate, and if Ciri wanted to be safe from the Nilfgaards invaders, she had to seek him out to reunite them.