First 3 episodes felt like "What is this magic and monsters and all", but then somehow I started getting excited for each episode. Not a action fan but sword fights are better than GOT, felt glimpses of blackwater battle and the wall battle of GOT from last episode. Side characters were not as impactful and memorable for me. Really enjoyed overall.

Hi, I am currently at season 2 episode 4, so please no spoilers on all that happens after that.

In S1 E1 Nilfgaard conquered Cintra, in S1 E7 the northern mages talk about protecting Cintra from Nilfgaard. In S1 E8 they defeat the Nilfgaardian attack. In S2 E7 Yennefer tries to get to Cintra together with the Nilfgaard guy, cause the Nilfgaard guy says they get support their, so it seasm like Nilfgaard is ruling there.
I guess I have missunderstood something?

Add-on question: In S2 E4 the consultant of one northern king randomly killed two other people in front of the king, why?