The Scene In The Witcher Season 2 That Tipped Fans To Dermain's Fate

Like any good fantasy story, Netflix's "The Witcher" uses fantastical elements to demonstrate universal concepts. Though not particularly subtle, the series explores topics such as genocide and racism through plotlines involving the elves. Geralt (Henry Cavill) first encounters this when he meets Filavandrel (Tom Canton), an elf who used to be king. Like the rest of his species, humans took all that he held dear following the Conjunction of the Spheres. Humans set out to eradicate the elves for no other reason than that they were different from each other. This monstrous act paves the way for the alliance between elves and Nilfgaard, the only country that promises to treat them as equals.

In "The Witcher" Season 2, the elves make a great pilgrimage towards Nilfgaard for safety and a few of them smash right into Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) on her travels. Because of her elven blood, Yennefer and Cahir (Eamon Farren) are also on the run and join Ba'lian (Kevin Doyle) and Dermain (Jamal Ajala). The group of travelers finds their way into the aqueducts, which leads to tragic consequences. Though Yennefer and Cahir show their penchant for survival, Dermain is not so lucky. He meets his demise by a giant tentacle monster, an event that fans were not entirely surprised by.

From the moment he is first on screen, it doesn't look good for Dermain. Unlike his elven brethren, Dermain has high hopes for the future. He thinks that because Francesca (Mecia Simson) has conceived an elven child, things will start to get better for their people. His optimism is a dead giveaway for his ultimate fate, which many fans on Reddit thought was obvious.

"The moment Dermain opened his mouth and shared his hopeful dream, I knew he was going to die. My podcast cohost said she knew he would die simply because he was too nice," posted u/MindyTheStoryTinker. A host for The StoryTinker podcast, Mindy Schaper, and her cohosts agreed on this point in a video covering the episode. This intended twist was so obvious to many, that some fans would have preferred that he not die at all.

"I would have been more shocked if he hadn't died tbh. He basically had a ticking clock over his head from the first moment he appeared on screen," posted u/Ridcullys-Pointy-Hat. Fans noted additional hints to Dermain's demise as well. "The second the slithering monster was revealed I knew he was going to die," pointed out u/Alternative_Web6640. Tropes are a given in any medium, but fans thought this scene took it too far. The slithering monster being heavily foreshadowed at the beginning of the sequence basically ensures that someone has to die — and who better than the poor soul who actually has hope for the future?