The Witcher S3: Why Geralt's Plan To Keep Ciri Safe Makes No Sense

Contains spoilers for "The Witcher" Season 3, Episode 1

Netflix's "The Witcher" Season 3 makes clear that the central trio of Geralt (Henry Cavill), Ciri (Freya Allan), and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) is a collection of extremely capable people. Geralt is arguably the most skillful Witcher out there, which makes him more or less the most capable warrior the series has shown us. Ciri's combination of vast magical ability and Witcher-style training makes her a formidable opponent on every front, and Yennefer complements her powerful magic with an iron will and boundless resourcefulness. 

However, they'd be boring if they'd be too perfect, and in the first episode of Season 3, the viewers quickly find out that the group is entirely out of its element when it comes to subterfuge. Despite the fact that they're clearly on the run, Geralt — who seems to be in charge of their travel plans — picks a strange way to keep them out of the public eye, throwing exorbitant bags of money around to rent rural rest stops like they were Airbnb locations. This weirdly conspicuous take on stealth makes the group an easy target for anyone who's after them ... which is pretty much everyone, given that multiple powerful parties are after Ciri and her power.

Time and time again, Geralt makes the same plan to keep Ciri safe, and time after time said plan goes predictably awry. Renting shelter from random people with only gold to guarantee discretion and safety isn't what you'd call an effective subterfuge strategy in a land as lawless and politically fraught as the Continent. As such, Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer have to relocate and repeat on a regular basis, as someone inevitably talks about the three weird-looking but rich folks at that one remote cabin, and the assassins from various factions find them. They keep at this despite the fact that Geralt is an incredibly experienced traveler who should be able to live off the land quite easily, and both Ciri and Yennefer are extremely resourceful. Why not camp out in the wild instead of putting your trust in random landlords now that Ciri's officially the most wanted person in the world?

What's more, Geralt has clearly been using this tactic before, so he really should know better. In the fifth cabin, they finally meet an actual ally — the Witcher's old dragon-hunting buddy Yarpen Zigrin (Jeremy Crawford). The Dwarven warrior immediately lampshades Geralt's "for your discretion" line, which implies the Witcher has been using this tactic for so long that even sporadically-met friends like Yarpen know it well. Incidentally, the Dwarf is also clearly familiar with the fact that the tactic doesn't have a high success rate. He specifically tells Geralt not to break stuff in his place, so it seems he's fully aware that enemies keep finding and attacking the White Wolf's hideouts. 

Geralt's short-term plan is clearly to keep Ciri safe so Yennefer can work in the longer term and train the princess to use her magic powers, but the tactic he uses to keep them hidden is both heavily implied and explicitly shown to be a failure. The protagonist might be a great Witcher, but as "The Witcher" Season 3 makes clear, stealthiness is clearly not the guy's strong suit.