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Calanthe serial

Calanthe in The Hexer TV series, portrayed by Ewa Wiśniewska

Calanthe Fiona Riannon of Cintra, known also as "Ard Rhena" (in Elder Speech meaning "High Queen"), the "Lioness of Cintra", was a queen of Cintra, the mother of Pavetta and grandmother of Ciri. Her nephew, Crach an Craite called her "Modron". She was known for her bravery and beauty.

Calanthe was the only child of king Dagorad of Cintra and queen Adalia, known as Fay. Because only a man could inherit the throne of Cintra, she could only be the wife of a future king. She decided to marry Roegner, prince of Ebbing. Later she married Eist Tuirseach of Skellige.

During the Slaughter of Cintra, she killed herself rather than surrendering to the invaders by jumping from the walls of the city of Cintra during its siege, after being heavily wounded in battle with Nilfgaardian forces at the Battle of Marnadal.

Film and TV series[ | ]

Polish movie and TV series[ | ]

In The Hexer movie and TV series, Calanthe was played by Ewa Wiśniewska. Wiśniewska was much older than Calanthe in the book, as she was 59 at the time The Hexer was filmed, while Calanthe was only 32 at the time of "A Question of Price".

Episodes

Netflix[ | ]

In the In the Netflix series Queen Calanthe is portrayed by Jodhi May. The descriptions of Calanthe in the short stories, were not applied to the appearance of Jodhi May's Calanthe. In the short stories, Calanthe is, like her daughter Pavetta and the grandchild Cirilla, a blonde with emerald green eyes.

  • In the Netflix-Show, Calanthe actively is fighting in the battles, alongside with her partner Eist. In the short story A Question of Price, Calanthe only mentions her first battle, Battle of Hochebuz, but her actual deeds there are not further described.
  • In the show, Dara tells Ciri about Calanthe, who ordered and took part in the slaughter of his elvish family. But in the short story The Sword of Destiny, Calanthe even seems to be on the side of Nonhumans, because Ciri defends the opinion of her grandmother, that there should be more forests like the Brokilon and that Dryads are not evil.

Episodes
Season 1:

  • E1: The End's Beginning (2019)
  • E4: Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials (2019)
  • E7: Before a Fall (2019)

Origins of the name[ | ]

Calanthe is a widespread genus of terrestrial orchids (family Orchidaceae) with about 150 species.