Dara

**Dara** is a young elf boy who befriends Ciri.

## Biography

### Saving Ciri from Nilfgaard's Soldiers

Encountering her in the woods, Dara stops Ciri from eating poisonous berries. He gestures her in his direction and offers her a rat to eat, and although she declines, she eventually eats it. Dara initially does not speak in order to hide his elvish accent and wears a hat to hide his ears. She notices that he is cold and gives Dara one of her gloves before running off to join a Cintran refugee camp. Dara does not follow.

The Nilfgaardians attack the Cintran refugee camp in the late hours of the night. On hearing someone being killed in the tent Ciri was in, Dara cuts through the tent and pulls Ciri to safety and the two of them rush off into the woods.

The following morning, Dara takes off his hat, revealing to Ciri that he is an elf. He then speaks to her for the first time, introducing himself.

### Entering Brokilon Forest

Dara awakens to find Ciri walking mindlessly into Brokilon forest, home of the dryads. Dara chases after Ciri, screaming her name as he runs through a field filled with corpses. Only when he is shot in the shoulder by an arrow does he stop.

### Taken in by the Dryads

Dara is taken into Brokilon forest by the dryads, where he is reunited with Ciri as they treat his wounds. They remove the arrow from his shoulder and pour water on the wound as the waters of Brokilon are potent. Eithné, queen of the dryads, informs Ciri and Dara that all newcomers in the forest must drink the water. If they bear ill intent towards Brokilon, they will die. But if they're pure in heart, they will survive and stay there. Over time, the waters of Brokilon lessen the suffering they've endured and make them forget.

Dara questions why the dryads referred to Ciri as Fiona. She explains that a druid named Mousesack who helped raise her, warned her not to let anyone know who she is outside the castle. And now the black knight is after her. Ciri reveals that she's the princess of Cintra, and Dara grows angry as it was Ciri's grandmother, Queen Calanthe that ordered his family's death after Filavandrel's uprising. The soldiers laughed as they raped women and killed babies. However, he doesn't blame Ciri. Dara wishes to stay in Brokilon forest in hopes that over time his pain will lessen. He advises Ciri to do the same, but she has to find her destiny.

Dara drinks the Brokilon water, and he assures Ciri that everything will be okay. Eithné passes the bottle to Ciri and tells her to drink and leave her past behind. Ciri does just that, but unlike with Dara, nothing happens after Ciri drinks the water. Eithné takes Ciri to Shan-Kayan, a large tree in the center of Brokilon forest, the source of their water.

### Leaving Brokilon Forest

The general objects to Ciri staying in Brokilon after learning from Shan-Kayan that she is the princess of Cintra. However, with the Nilfgaardians already scouring their borders, some suspect that Ciri may be their only chance of survival. With this in mind, Eithné announces that Ciri will be allowed to stay. While learning how to craft arrows with the dryads, Ciri is reunited with Mousesack, supposedly returned to take her back to her rightful place. He claims that he knows where to find Geralt of Rivia, who she's been promised to through the Law of Surprise. While Ciri appreciates the dryads' hospitality, she'll be leaving with Mousesack and wants Dara to join her. Ciri gives the leader of the dryads a hug and departs with Dara and Mousesack.

### Captured by a Doppler

The doppler, known only as the Adonis, continued to parade himself as Mousesack as he escorted Dara and Ciri to the Nilfgaard army. Ciri asked him several questions regarding Geralt and the circumstances around her connection to him. The Adonis explained that Ciri was bound to Geralt via the Law of Surprise and that soon enough, they would be united.

Dara questioned how Mousesack survived the attack, growing more suspicious of him by the minute. The Adonis claimed to have been captured and pulled through a portal by Nilfgaard, where he was held prisoner for days. With Geralt's help, he escaped. Dara didn't trust Mousesack and informed Ciri of his suspicion. Looking to erase any ounce of doubt, the Adonis gave Ciri her grandmother's sash.

Ciri asked the Adonis, posing as Mousesack, if he ever stopped missing Skellige. He left his home to raise her. the Adonis claimed that he was very home sick. She then asked if he missed the cold as a test given the real Mousesack hated the cold. In that moment, Ciri and Dara realized that they had not been in the company of the real Mousesack. When the Adonis revealed that he killed Mousesack and took his form, Dara charged at him with a silver knife, causing the Adonis to burn. Ciri grabbed the knife and held it to the doppler's face, causing his true form to surface. Dara pinned him to a tree and demanded answers. Ciri answered that there's something inside of her that made her special, that Nilfgaard wanted. She then told Dara to kill him. Dara hesitated, allowing the Adonis to break free and knock him out, forcing Ciri to flee into the woods.

Ciri was captured by the Adonis and bound to a tree. She could hear footsteps approaching. It was Dara. He released Ciri from her binds, but he blamed her for the trouble they were in. Had they stayed in Brokilon, they'd be safe. Ciri, however, had no way of knowing. Nonetheless, Dara feared that he'd be dead too if he stayed with Ciri any longer. She was just like her grandmother, Calanthe. The bringer of terror and death. Dara told Ciri to find a new family as he could no longer be that for her.

### Imprisoned in Redania

Dara was handpicked by Sigismund Dijkstra to infiltrate Xin'trea as an elven spy after being taken prisoner by Redania. Following his release, Dara sought safe passage to Xin'trea with help from the Sandpiper.

### Spying in Xin'tra

Upon arriving in Xin'trea, where elves were seeking safe haven after the elven leader Francesca had forged an alliance with Fringilla, commander of Nilfgaard, Dara began training alongside Filavandrel until being interrupted by Cahir, who sought to challenge Dara's training by knocking him on his back and insulting the elves as a community.

After learning that Francesca had successfully given birth to a pure blood elven child, Dara reported to Dijkstra's owl that Nilfgaard's mission was to find Cirilla of Cintra, who Dara recalled helping escape only to lose her.

Dara was admittedly nervous. As a child, he watched Cintran soldiers murder his kind, and now he watched as Nilfgaard did the same. He himself was guilty of being a spy, but after the night before, seeing his people sing and dance, and a baby in her mother's arms, he realized that he no longer cared about Redania or Ciri. Moving forward, he intended to focus on keeping the elven hope alive and severed all ties to Dijkstra.

After their baby was slaughtered in its sleep, Dara came forward and revealed to Francesca and Filavandrel that he'd been working for Redania and that they were after Ciri. He believed that their baby was killed because they befriended Nilfgaard, but Francesca retorted that it was just because they were elves. Dara apologized for his hand in it all, but Francesca didn't fault him for her misfortune. She then instructed him to gather some horses, as they rode to Redania, where Francesca avenged her child's death. Afterward, they camped out in the woods, where they learned from Istredd that Ciri was Hen Ikeir, meaning Elder blood.

## References

1. ↑ Season 1, Episode 02: Four Marks
2. ↑ Season 1, Episode 03: Betrayer Moon
3. ↑ Season 1, Episode 04: Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials
4. ↑ Season 1, Episode 05: Bottled Appetites
5. ↑ Season 1, Episode 06: Rare Species
6. ↑ Season 2, Episode 04: Redanian Intelligence
7. ↑ Season 2, Episode 06: Dear Friend...
8. ↑ Season 2, Episode 07: Voleth Meir
9. ↑ Season 2, Episode 08: Family