Seer

Seer
Francesca Rowan-Plowden uses the Seer to unmask Charlotte Berman's true role in The Traitors (UK)/Series 3.
Gameplay Mechanic
Description	Allows a player to confirm the role of another player in the game.
Appearances	Norway France Hungary UK US

The Seer is a game power first introduced in Forræder (Norway)/Season 2.

History

In classic social deduction games like Mafia and Werewolf which The Traitors is modelled after, more advanced formats beyond the basic setup of Villagers and Werewolf/Mafiosi often include special roles held by a select few players, such as the Joker and the Doctor. The Seer power is based off the special role of the Detective/Seer in such games, allowing its holder to unmask the true identity of anyone they choose each round. However, there are a few key differences in how this power works in The Traitors:

• The Seer is not a special role that precludes someone from being a Traitor, but instead a power that can be obtained by both Faithfuls and Traitors;
• and it is a power that is available and usable only once in the entire game, unlike in social deduction games where the Seer can generally use their power every round until they are eliminated or win.

The very first season to introduce the Seer concept was the second Norwegian season; however, it was vaguely referred to then and subsequently as a game-changing or unprecedented power, with its official name 'the Seer' first codified in The Traitors (UK)/Series 3.

Mechanics

An endgame power that is up for grabs (typically in the last or second-last round of the game), the winner of the Seer power is usually determined through a combination of one or more of the following mechanisms:

• performance during that episode's Mission;
• a separate challenge to specifically determine who will win the power;
• or an auction where players would bid amounts from the prize fund to win the power.

The winner of the Seer power is informed either before or after the next Banishment, depending on the production schedule; they will then select another contestant to have a private one-on-one meeting with, where the latter must confirm their role in the game.

Only the Seer is privy to this specific confirmation (in some more dramatic instances, the card on which the confirmation is printed is burned), and both meeting participants are free to come up with any narrative about what happened, including outright fabrication of details.

Track Record

Franchise	Season	Seer	Target	Season Outcome
France	Season 3	Arthur Lombard	Stomy Bugsy	Traitor Win
		Faithful	Faithful
		Banished: 6th	Murdered: 7th
Hungary	Season 2	Enikő Muri	Gábor Hevér	Faithful Win
		Faithful	Traitor
		Winner	Banished: 4th
	Season 3	Timi Rátkai	Feri Antunovits	Traitor Win
		Traitor	Faithful
		Banished: 3rd	Banished: 4th
Norway	Season 2	Emilie Helgesen	Victor Sotberg	Traitor Win
		Faithful	Traitor
		Banished: 5th	Banished: 4th
	Season 3	Oskar Westerlin	Marlene Stavrum	Faithful Win
		Traitor	Faithful
		Banished: 3rd	Winner
	Season 4	Mia Hundvin	Gaute Berg Næss	Traitor Win
		Traitor	Traitor
		Banished: 5th	Winner
UK	Series 3	Francesca Rowan-Plowden	Charlotte Berman	Faithful Win
		Faithful	Traitor
		Banished: 3rd	Banished: 5th
US	Season 3	Britney Haynes	Gabby Windey	Faithful Win
		Traitor	Faithful
		Banished: 5th	Winner

Strategy

While the Seer is often touted by production as a way to 'unmask any Traitors left', the way to optimally use it might in fact conflict with this purported framing. The following factors complicate the official narrative:

• The Seer is just a power that anyone, Faithful or Traitor, can win; you are not obliged to tell the truth as the Seer, and winning it says nothing about your own actual in-game role.
• The Seer often comes into play at the final stage of the game, increasingly when players' roles are not revealed to the rest when they are Banished. Thus, their claims cannot be readily verified.

The danger of being a Faithful who uses the Seer to expose or confirm a Traitor is that the Traitor might in turn lie about the Seer meeting, and accuse you of being a Traitor who is framing them. This was what happened to the first Seer, Emilie Helgesen of the second Norwegian season, who got both herself and her target - actual Traitor Victor Sotberg - Banished by confused Faithfuls. Ultimately, the Seer needs to have the fundamental trust of the group for their claims to be believed; and even then, there is a significant risk of them being Banished 'just in case'.

A 'safer' strategy quickly identified by many players, Faithfuls and Traitors alike, is to use the Seer as a tool to confirm an ally rather than expose a Traitor. The win mechanics in most franchises mean the focus can just be on ensuring two players who trust each other the most make it to the end, rather than actively hunting Traitor suspects per se. Again, an important caveat is that since the role reveal is a one-way exercise rather than mutual exchange of information, the Seer's target must believe the Seer is Faithful in the first place, or they will not be cooperative - as Traitor Oskar Westerlin in the third Norwegian season learned the hard way (after pivoting from his intended use of the Seer to frame Faithful Marlene Stavrum, no less).

Reception

Since its introduction, the Seer has received a highly mixed reception. It has been praised as a way for the disadvantaged Faithfuls to gain vital extra information, that can end up winning the game for them. On the other hand, there is significant criticism of it being an unfair mechanic that undoes the hard work of good Traitors, as well as concerns about how the power works and when it is typically implemented. Some even argue that the power is a 'poisoned chalice'.

Trivia

• Emilie Helgesen is the first Seer ever; she won the power by default, after going last in a challenge everyone else ahead of her failed.
• Victor Sotberg is the first Traitor to be exposed by the Seer.
• Enikő Muri is the first Seer to win the game; notably, she did not tell the other contestants what the Seer power actually entailed, as her target Gábor Hevér was already in the hot seat, and she felt introducing this new information would add a wrinkle of distrust from the group towards her.