What Is the Meaning of the Skeleton Mask in The Witcher: Blood Origin?

One of the important characters from the Witcher lore we’ve read about in the books and have seen in the games is Eredin. Eredin is the supreme Commander of the fabled elven cavalry known as the Wild Hunt, and Witcher: Blood Origin allowed us to see his origin story and, in part, how he came to be known as the King of the Wild Hunt. During the last episode of the series, we see Eredin stranded on an alien planet, digging out a mystical mask from the sun, the mask resembling a skeleton face. So, what is the meaning of Skeleton Mask in the Witcher: Blood Origin?

Skeleton Mask in Witcher: Blood Origin symbolizes Eredin’s beginning as the King of the Wild Hunt. An evil force of spectral elves looking to subdue Ciri to use her blood and unlock the Gate of the Worlds and subdue other planets and realms of existence under their control. The mask we see Eredin uncover in the sands is likely the same one he is known to wear when he pillages as King of the Wild Hunt.

Now that we’ve briefly covered the significance of the skeleton mask, it’s time to explain what Wild Hunt is and how it’s connected to Eredin. If you’re interested, stay with us and keep reading!

Who is Eredin in Witcher: Blood Origin

If you’ve read the books and played the games, you’re aware of who Eredin is. Eredin is called the King of the Wild Hunt and rides with his spectral elven soldiers sowing dread and death wherever he appears. Witcher: Blood Origin gave us a new unique insight into what Eredin was before he inherited the not-so-flattering title of the Commander of the Wild Hunt.

As we’ve seen in Witcher: Blood Origin, Eredin started as an ordinary elf, a captain serving under the newly appointed Empress Merwyn of Xin’trea. He conspired with Chief Sage Balor to assassinate all three elven kings and unite them under the same golden elven empire.

Eredin was aware that Balor had some otherworldly magic at his disposal and that he would use the monoliths scattered throughout the lands to “bring prosperity” to the elven kind. He was part of the grand plan until Merwyn discovered his weakness, his lover, and offered him a new deal. Empress Merwyn offered him to betray Balor and serve her in exchange for favor and royal title for his lover so that the two could marry. Eredin was hard-pressed to accept her plans, and he decided to side with her and betrayed the Balor.

Merwyn was aware that the monoliths meant that the elves could gain access to new planets, new resources, food, and technologies, but she also wanted to spread the elven culture to these faraway places. What neither Balor, Merwyn, nor Eredin knew was how dangerous exactly was meddling with the monoliths and with the fabric of time and space itself.

After imprisoning Balor, Merwyn wanted to open a gateway to the faraway world. We see Eredin preparing to enter the portal, but only Avallac’h Merwyn’s new assistant is too weak to open the portal, and this means that both Eredin and Merwyn need Balor’s help once again.

Merwyn frees Balor from the dungeons in exchange for his freedom. He needs to lend her his powers and unique insight into how these portals work. Balor agrees, but he plans on betraying both Eredin and Merwyn much in the same way that they’ve betrayed him.
We can see once again Merwyn, Eredin, and a group of elves trying to open a portal into some unknown lands, and this time with the help of Balor, they succeed.

They are to look for food and resources, but the planet that they arrive on looks barren and possessed with some malevolent energy that plans on bestowing chaos magic on Balor. Balor kills his assistant, gains the chaos magic in exchange for his sacrifice, and escapes from the planet, leaving Eredin and his group of elves stranded in this inhospitable and dangerous place that seems teeming with dark energies.
This is the last we’re going to see of Eredin..for now.

Back on the Continent, Syndril and Zacare figure out that Balor has chaos magic now and that they need to destroy the central monolith and Barlo once and for all. Zacare decides to merge Syndril’s energy with Balor’s energy in the hope that this will be enough to overwhelm the monolith and destroy it. They are correct, but this proves fatal for Syndril, as in the process of killing Balor and destroying the monolith, Syndril dies. As a consequence of destroying the monolith, the Conjunction of Spheres begins the event that changes the face of the Continent forever.

Since the monolith was destroyed, this officially means that Eredin has no way to return to his homeworld. He is stranded somewhere unknown, with no hope of escaping. We see his lover mourning him, and in the last scenes of the episode, we see Eredin on this planet uncovering what looks like a skeletal mask from the sand and putting it on.

Skeletal Mask and Eredin’s connection to the Wild Hunt?

We’ve seen in season 2 of the Witcher series that Wild Hunt has finally made an appearance in the series. For those of you who played the games, you’re aware that the Wild Hunt is the main group of villains that you will need to defeat in order to ensure Ciri’s safety, and those of you who read the books, you’re aware of what exactly Wild Hunt is.

Wild Hunt is a cavalry of evil elves that sought to conquer all planets with the use of Ciri’s blood. Ciri’s Elder Blood gives an individual the possibility to travel between worlds and dimensions with a mere thought. It’s something that cannot be accomplished by using other means, and Eredin and Wild Hunt want that ability jealously. Eredin serves as a commander or King of the Wild Hunt, and the last episode of the Witcher: Blood Origin showed us how he, in part, became that. We’ve seen him uncovering his unique skeletal helmet from the sands, and it’s possible that he will adopt this mask as his usual and standard gear, but for now, that’s all there is to as we don’t know how exactly the mask is connected to the Wild Hunt.

Since he is stranded on this alien planet, it’s possible that he will form the Wild Hunt with the group of elves stranded with him as a way to return to their homeworld, but somewhere along the way, he will become corrupted with power and will become what we know of Wild Hunt today, monstrous spectral elves bringing death and destruction wherever they step foot.