Francesca Findabair

Francesca Findabair, called Enid an Gleanna, the Daisy of the Valley, is a pureblood elven sorceress and one of the most powerful mages of her time. She is also widely held to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Behind the beauty is a hard-headed politician who cares first and foremost about her own people, the Aen Seidhe, and is willing to deal with anyone who can give them a homeland again.

She is a book character at heart. In Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels she helps tear the Brotherhood of Sorcerers apart on Thanedd Island, wins a crown for it, and takes a seat in the secret Lodge of Sorceresses. In the games she is only mentioned, but anyone who has played Gwent in The Witcher 3 knows her face.

In the games

Francesca does not appear in person in any of the main games. In The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings she exists only in Geralt’s journal, which describes her as a powerful sorceress skilled in elven magic and the ruler of the Free Elves’ realm of Dol Blathanna.

In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt she is the face of the Scoia’tael Gwent deck, with five different leader cards:

• Francesca Findabair: Pureblood Elf, the default leader, plays Biting Frost from your deck.
• Francesca Findabair: Daisy of the Valley draws an extra card at the start of the battle.
• Francesca Findabair: The Beautiful doubles the strength of your Ranged Combat units.
• Francesca Findabair: Queen of Dol Blathanna destroys the enemy’s strongest Close Combat unit(s) if their Close Combat row totals 10 or more. It is missable.
• Francesca Findabair: Hope of the Aen Seidhe, added with Hearts of Stone, moves your Agile units to the row where they are strongest.

In the books

In The Time of Contempt, Francesca is one of the mages who side with Vilgefortz and Nilfgaard in the coup on Thanedd. She has made a deal with Emperor Emhyr var Emreis: help bring down the Northern mages, and in return become queen of an elven state. When the fighting breaks out, she helps bring Scoia’tael commandos onto the island. It is also Francesca who, in the chaos, turns Yennefer into a jade figurine, which gets Yennefer off Thanedd alive.

Emhyr keeps his word. By Baptism of Fire, Francesca rules Dol Blathanna, the Valley of Flowers, as a client queen of Nilfgaard. The price is that she must not help the Scoia’tael, the elven guerrillas whose war keeps the Northern kingdoms busy. She accepts, and officially distances herself from them.

Even though she stood on the other side at Thanedd, she becomes a founding member of the Lodge of Sorceresses, the secret circle that Philippa Eilhart forms after the coup to steer the fate of the kingdoms. Francesca brings the elven sage Ida Emean into the Lodge, and she releases Yennefer from the figurine and brings her to the Lodge’s meeting at Montecalvo. Much of the Lodge’s interest centers on Ciri, and Francesca and Ida are the ones who can explain the elven bloodline she carries.

When the war ends, the peace settlement in The Lady of the Lake makes Dol Blathanna an autonomous duchy under King Demavend of Aedirn. Francesca accepts the arrangement and keeps her valley.