Who created the Wild Hunt? Why did Eredin and Avallac'h fight? Who will be the new king of the Aen Elle? The Witcher 3's cut content digs in
Purely from storytelling perspective, what we lost with the cuts in The Witcher 3’s script was the tragic flavour to the Wild Hunt. The monster in the system is the drive that encourages us to treat individuals as objects in a Plan. The Witcher 3 dissects this point excessively with regard to familial relations. As with Geralt and Ciri, so with the elves from Faerie.
The family dynamics among the Wild Hunt generals run something like this:
Eredin → the eldest, who thinks he should inherit everything and has convinced himself he is protecting people by taking charge while in truth it’s just a power struggle with dad. Ge’els → the middle child who sees all the dysfunction clearly and becomes the diplomat/peacekeeper in-between. Caranthir → the golden child/baby who’s actually incredibly talented but has been convinced he’s not leadership material. Imlerith → the muscle; everyone should stop talking and start hitting (on) things. Isilira → the hidden child, who’s been kept out of sight because she has problems dad could not fix; ‘we don’t talk about Isi’ energy.
In the cut content, Eredin calls Avallac’h ‘Father.’ In CD Projekt Red’s hands, their rivalry was to unfold in the context of a conflict between a creation and his creator, paralleling Ciri’s and Geralt’s dynamic in a twist. The twisting being accomplished by a will to power. The Hunt was brought into existence for a purpose, bred as weapons; why should a conscious weapon not begin to grasp for independence, though? Particularly if deep-seated resentments abound. Every general of the Hunt remains an attempt at approximating the perfection Avallac’h lost a shot at with Lara. A consolation prize, a rough draft for the real thing he continues to want. Then Ciri comes along and the Sage abandons his children for her.
‘This is how you created us, Father.’
It’s almost theological. You made me in the image you projected, so do not blame me for reflecting your nature back to you, do not be surprised for acting according to the nature you gave me. Eredin was intended to be strategic and ruthless, to value strength and decisive action, so when Avallac’h seems weak and indecisive, Eredin feels justified in taking over. Eredin sees him as living in fantasy, too attached to dreams, prophecies, and individual people (Ciri) to make the hard choices survival requires.
In a cut funeral scene Avallac’h and Eredin, in a piece of political theatre and passive aggression Olympics, argue about succession.
Avallac’h (458598): The Aen Elle face great challenges… Obstacles are mounting… A wise leader is needed to survive. Eredin (458600): Decisiveness and strength are needed. Only someone who knows what they want will be able to overcome the threat we all know about. Avallac’h (458602): Strength only fulfils its purpose when it is well directed. Mindless strength is chaos.
Basically: you are too stupid to rule. And Eredin’s response:’I know you want to fight fate with magic. In my opinion, weapons are safer.’
Weapons. Are. Safer. Why, yes, you might say the Sages’ record has not exactly been spotless recently, what with Lara and all that. Effectively, Eredin is simply noting that ‘yes, I am the weapon you made, and I am better at being a weapon than you are at being smart.’ And then he goes on to declare himself king, and Avallac’h’s response is essentially, ‘over my dead body, you ungrateful child’. And it all spirals.
The male posturing is highly amusing. There’s this one moment where Ciri accidentally triggers Avallac’h by suggesting Eredin is more powerful than him. And Avallac'h… evades the question.
Avallac’h (338690): Death is too simple a punishment. Eredin will be humiliated. I will cast a curse of inversion upon him, turning the intelligent and beautiful leader of the Wild Hunt into a mindless, crippled fool. Ciri (338692): How do you intend to accomplish this? After Auberon's death, Eredin is the most powerful elf in Tir Na Lia. Avallac’h (338694): That's why I had to flee. There's no room for both of us in Tir Na Lia. Ciri (338696): You didn't answer my question.
Unsurprisingly then, the curse Avallac’h designs for Eredin is Old Testament-level vindictive: the creator wants to take away everything their creation is proud of and reduce him back to the animal state, showing that without the gifts he has bestowed upon him, Eredin is nothing. He would remain aware of what is happening, conscious enough to know he needs Avallac’h, but helpless to challenge him or help himself. The curse backfiring is, of course, poetic justice; and, perhaps, also suggestive of a common thread in The Witcher 3, that the creator figure – the one who shapes us – is not righteously justified in controlling our fate. This elven drama could have paralleled Geralt and Ciri’s dynamics. Alas.
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