Witcher channel asks for sign ins due to age so using the IGN vid atm, if anyone knows of a way to archive this or whatever please go for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWMu6JeT2g8
Some 4chan thoughts on the matter.
https://boards.4chan.org/vrpg/thread/3675650/witcher-4
c/Gaming thoughts on the matter.
https://communities.win/c/Gaming/p/19A0ojiz4R/witcher-4-ciri-the-girlboss/c
Geralt, nor any of the other remaining witchers, would ever have allowed Ciri to undergo that trial. I don't remember the exact number, but it kills about 70-90% of all the kids that undergo it. Geralt loves Ciri like a father. He simply would not have let her do it, would not teach her what ingredients were used, how to make the potions, or done it for her.
Furthermore, if I remember correctly, there are several story points, lines of dialogue, and quests in Kaer Morhen (the Witcher 3) that say the trial of grasses is no longer possible. The manuscripts detailing the knowledge are all gone. The apparatuses for doing the trial are in ruins. And Vesemir was the last remaining witcher who knew the ingredients, and he was killed in Witcher 3.
This is all lore shattering, character destroying bullshit for just another girlboss game.
I'm unaware of the book lore, is there even a single precedent for an adult to undergo the Trial? In the lore of the games, the only example we have of witchers' secrets being used on adults were the Salamandra mutant soldiers from Witcher 1. Oh hey, maybe I just wrote the lore for Ciri being a butterface now...! You're welcome CDP.
Intuitively it feels like the reason they take witchers as kids is because the trial only works on kids, when it works at all. Genetically altering an adult, who has already undergone all their physical development, doesn't sound like it would make the trial easier, instead it sounds impossible.
If witcher schools could witcherfy adults, even adults with magic capabilities, there should be no good explanation for witchers dying out.
EDIT: also, since it just occurred to me - are we supposed to celebrate the fact that she's sterile now ('And That's A Good Thing...!')? Or will they dodge that uncomfortable implication with convenient plot armour or strategic non-discussion?