The Witcher’s Conjunction of the Spheres and multiverse, explained

The world of The Witcher, set primarily on a continent simply called The Continent, is full of magic and monsters — but it didn’t begin that way. It’s accredited to a long-ago event, a cataclysm, commonly referred to as the Conjunction of the Spheres.

In season 2, the last episodes, and especially the second episode of season 2, this idea is mentioned frequently. The ramifications of the Conjunction are present in every corner of the world, and will be the basis for the show’s spin-off, Blood Origin: The Witcher. But it’s rarely explained in-depth in the Netflix show, so here’s what you need to know about the Conjunction of the Spheres for The WitcherSeason 2.

What’s the Conjunction between the Spheres?

Photo: Katalin Vermes/Netflix

The Witcher world characters only have a vague understanding of the event. The common belief is it occurred when all worlds, or other spheres, collided. They brought with them other creatures and monsters to the world. It’s also how magic — or “chaos” — came to exist, giving humans the power to become mages. The Conjunction is not possible without it. The WitcherIt may have been an even more ordinary world. It is delightful to see that The Witcher is actually a story about interdimensional travel.

It’s this influx of monsters that eventually leads to the creation of the witchers, and is certainly the catalyst for much of the story. It is without it that we would not be able to find handsome monster slayers. These strange creatures have been locked in another world. Unicorns and others can travel between dimensions.

But while the Conjunction’s existence is something everyone agrees on, the events surrounding it are still full of mysteries. We don’t know if people arrived from elsewhere on the planet or if they came to The Continent via the Conjunctions.

Final Witcher novel The Lady of the Lake suggests humans fled a world they’d already ruined; given their destructive nature, it’s not hard to imagine. Aen Seidhe or the elves also appear to have survived the Conjunction. Their civilization is older than the oldest human cities and structures. The gnomes and dwarves of The Continent predate humans.

What is the importance of Conjunctions of Spheres

Photo: Katalin Vermes/Netflix

The “elven world” from hundreds of years earlier is more than just the basis for The WitcherSpin-offs in the works Blood Origin. Some entities slipped into The Continent’s universe, but others ventured further. The Aen Elle, a group of elves that fled their home world, sought a place where they were free and independent. They see themselves as the last refuge of their culture and are unaffected by human cruelty. Before the cosmic shift caused by the Conjunction they could freely move between worlds, but after that time were confined to one location.

However, they retain some power. It’s from these elves and their world that the Wild Hunt originates, appearing on The Continent as wraiths and spectres, kidnapping humans to serve them while searching for a way to once more allow their people to move en masse between universes.

The world of Netflix shows that there are remnants of the Conjunction in form of monoliths. These black-stone structures, which can be impenetrable and protect their energy from outside interference, serve as conduits to the conjunction. These are the central focus of wizard Istredd’s research. Nilfgaard was his guide to get them. But even then, he doesn’t seem to understand their full meaning.

Istredd’s quest for knowledge brings some answers in The Witcher’s second season, which will explore more of how the monoliths function and what it might mean for the fate of The Continent. Above all else, it focuses on Ciri’s connection to them and what kind of power she may have within her.