Protagonists | The Northern Kingdoms | The Sorcerers | The Nilfgaardian Empire | Witchers | The Elves | Creatures and Supernatural Entities | Independent Characters
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The Brotherhood of Sorcerers
In General
- End of an Age: The Thanedd Coup essentially completely destroyed any political power The Brotherhood Of Sorcerers had in the continent on a wide-scale basis. The few survivors have all gone into hiding with Yennefer or are loyal to either Redania or Nilfgaard. Thier former borderline Magocracy is no more.
- Magical Society: The Brotherhood of Sorcerers (despite this name, members are of both sexes) controls most of the mages in the Northern Kingdoms and regulates the magic they do along with getting them work. Most, although not all, of the mages in the Northern Kingdoms are members. They seem to be essentially a mage guild, thus overlapping with a Weird Trade Union. Given the power which court mages have, they also greatly control things behind the scenes in the Northern Kingdoms.
- The Magocracy: Run like one (especially by the eldest sorcerers of Stregobor and Tissaia's generation). That said...
- The Man Behind the Man: Despite their deep wellspring of knowledge and remarkable power, they would rather serve as advisers to kingdoms as well as primarily work behind the scenes, never allowing their magic to be nakedly flaunted as a source of political and social ascendancy. Nilfgaard's very violation of this long-standing tradition (abetted by one of their own alumni) has become a source of conflict inside the Brotherhood.
Artorius Vigo
Artorius Vigo
Portrayed by: Terence Maynard
The leader of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers at the beginning of the show. He is also Fringilla's uncle.
- Ascended Extra: Canonically, we have very little information about Artorius Vigo: He's Fringilla uncle and was the Court Mage of Toussaint when Anna Henrietta and Sylvia Anna where young children, growing close to them and creating The Land Of A Thousand Fables for them to play in. That's it. In The Netflix series, he's the leader and one of the most senior members of The Brotherhood Of Sorcerers and plays a much bigger role in the scheme of things.
- Bald of Authority: Played by a bald actor and almost solely defined by his role as the former leader of the mages ruling council.
- Betrayal by Offspring: Or niece, in his case. During The Thanedd Coup, he is killed by Fringilla.
- Jerkass to One: Normally a Obstructive Bureaucrat who usually tries to maintain Aretuza's neutrality, he's particularly prickly and openly dismissive of Yennefer whenever she comes up or he has to interact with her.
- Nepotism: Looks after his niece Fringilla and tried to secure her a place in coveted Aedirn instead of the (at that time) unstable backwater Nilfgaard, but failed because of Yennefer.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Seems to represent inaction and the middle ground between Tissaia and her agenda and Stregobor and his. He usually tries to maintain Aretuza's neutrality and reminds the other mages of their many rules (which they routinely ignore and proceed to do what they want.)
Tissaia de Vries
Tissaia de Vries
"Balance and control. Without them, chaos will kill you."
Portrayed by: MyAnna Buring Dubbed by:
The rectoress of Aretuza, a member of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers' ruling Chapter and Yennefer's closest mentor.
- Abled in the Adaptation: She has OCD in the books, but shows no signs of it in the show. At best, this trait of hers is severely toned down: in her scenes at Aretuza, she is shown to be just a little bit of a pedantic Control Freak.
- Adaptational Personality Change: Her main conviction in the books was that a mage's primary attachment should be to magic, and they should never fight each other. In the show, she is much more involved in politics and doesn't have any problem with opposing fellow mages (e.g. Fringilla) by force. What remains of this would be her insistence on the Brotherhood's role of maintaining the balance of power between countries — something which Nilfgaard's expansionism (abetted by Fringilla) is destroying.
- The Archmage: Explicitly referred as the strongest mage of Aretuza, she's able to free her fellow mages from thier dimeritium bindings with utter ease and her using Alzur's Thunder almost wins the fight outright by utterly frying almost everyone there.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: It takes until the end of the season, but Tissaia finally shows Yennefer the recognition as a fellow mage she seems unable to — while they are surrounded by Nilfgaard at Sodden Hill. In exchange, Yennefer finally admits she sees her as her savior and Parental Substitute.
- Benched Hero: Her attempt to talk Fringilla out of the war earns her a handful of dimeritium dust in her face, which temporarily prevents her from using magic and paralyses her.
- Break the Haughty: When we first see her, she is a confident and bossy Stern Teacher. In the penultimate episode, she is reduced to begging Yennefer to join her in defending Sodden Hill.Tissaia: If you will not do it for the Brotherhood, then do it for me. Please.Yennefer: [beat] Have you ever used that word before?
- Cast from Lifespan: Alzur's Thunder noticeably drains her vitality, leaving her utterly withered. Even after she heals from using it, she's notably marked by casting said spell.
- Chain Lightning: Alzur's Thunder works like this, creating a electrical thunderstorm that she is able to manipulate in order to make it a Herd-Hitting Attack. The spell is as indiscriminate as it's deadly.
- De-power: Fringilla takes Tissaia out of the Battle of Sodden Hill with dimeritium.
- Driven to Suicide: As she realizes what was the outcome of her actions.
- Et Tu, Brute?: She does not take Vilgefortz's true nature and betrayal well, understandably. While the other mage is mocking her as easily to manipulate, the horrified tears are rolling down her face while wearing the most painfully betrayed look on her face.
- Hidden Depths: Beyond her seemingly insular mindset of focusing on Aretuza, she does seem to believe sincerely in the important role of mages in preserving the stability of the Continent. Also, despite her harsh and possibly unethical methods, she genuinely wishes the best for the students who have the potential to flourish. There are also what she sees as her shared ideas and frustrations with Yennefer.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Trusting and loving Vilgefortz turned out be the worst mistake for her life, the poor woman.
- Human Resources: The worst you can say of her (albeit it is not a minor thing at all) is that if you, her student, ultimately appear to have limited potential as a sorceress — she will turn you into a magical eel powering the ley lines of Aretuza.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her actions basically allow the Thanedd coup to proceed.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: Tissaia freeing her fellow mages from bondage at the hands of Dijkstra and Philippa, among them Vilgefortz. Vilgefortz proceeds to openly and callously betray her by allowing The Scoia'tael and the Nilfgaardian inside Aretuza, starting The Thanedd Coup.
- Parental Substitute: She clearly sees her graduates as the daughters she can never have, and they return the sentiment. Even if they find her a rather annoying mother-figure who demands too much. When Triss and Yennefer see her flirting with a sorcerer, they joke that they might be getting a "new daddy."
- Stern Teacher: Quite the no-nonsense, intimidating rectoress — especially if she is aware of your potential but you are not exerting any effort (as Yennefer was wont to do).
- Stiff Upper Lip: Her general demeanor. Deconstructed in that while it helps her reputation as a rectoress and no-nonsense teacher, it does not help her establish positive emotional links with her students (except those she deems heavily competent). This nets her two liabilities in the long run — Yennefer's intransigent disobedience, and Fringilla's drift-off to Nilfgaard's fundamentalist regime.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her indirect actions in trusting Vilgefortz lead to the complete collapse of the Brotherhood, Nilfgaardian invasion being utterly unopposed and the start of the Second Nilfgaardian War. When she realizes what she has done, she just ends her life.
- Watching Troy Burn: After Francesca essentially sets most of Aretuza on fire with her spell, Tissaia is left in a daze watching the fire consume the shcool and her fellow mages and does not react to anything those around her are saying to her. After spending a few minutes in said horrified shock, she decides to brutally retaliate.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Philippa. While Tissaia vaguely tells Yennifer that thier friendship had "ran its course", Philippa goes more into depth on "The Art of Illusion": according to Philippa, she argued against the mages participation in Sodden, stating that countless mages would unnecessarily die in the combat and Tissaia fervently disagreed. Considering that before Yennifer pulled her Big Damn Heroes moment during said battle the Northern Mages were dying in droves, one cannot help to think that Philippa was not quite wrong.
- You Are Better Than You Think: When Yennefer tells Tissaia she had finally accepted she has nothing to leave behind, Tissaia encourages Yen by telling her she has so much more to offer yet.
Stregobor
Stregobor
"You made a choice. And you'll never know if it was the right one."
Portrayed by: Lars Mikkelsen Dubbed by:
A master illusionist and high-ranking member of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers.
- An Arm and a Leg: While retelling the events of Falka's rebellion, he reveals that he lost both of his hands during her destruction of Mirthe, with his magic covering up the injury.
- Ascended Extra: In the books he only appears in the short story 'The Lesser Evil', which is adapted in the first episode of the show. He goes on to become a recurring character in the show, as a high-ranking member of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, as well as an influential critic to Tissaia's plans.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Mixed with Adaptational Villainy. Due to his expanded role, he is seen antagonizing Yennefer and undermining Tissaia's efforts to unite the northern mages against Nilfgaard. He's probably the most traditional of the leaders of the Brotherhood, despises people who "don't know their place", and fanatically opposed against elves - elements which define his hostile relationship with Yennefer, but also cause a falling out with his former student Istredd. He's not opposed to using intrusive and painful methods to verify suspicions, as he proves when illegally torturing Yennefer for information after she returns from Nilfgaardian and then elven captivity. He also riles up the people of Blaviken after Geralt refuses to hand over Renfri's body for his research, while in the books he left peacefully, and actually tries to convince Geralt to leave with him to help spare the Witcher from said angry townspeople. His version of the events leading up to his conflict with Renfri in Blaviken is also basically unambiguously false in the show, while the books portray him as a Jerkass, but leaves very open the possibility that he was legitimately the lesser evil between the two of them. He's also not an old friend of Geralt's (with whom he had long since had a falling out).
- Create Your Own Villain: While it is left ambiguous if Renfri is actually subjected to the Curse of the Black Sun, it is undeniable that Stregobor's hostile, inhuman treatment of her and his attempt to have her killed had a significant part in shaping her into the brutal bandit leader she ended up as.
- Dirty Old Man: His tower is filled with illusions of beautiful, naked women, to, as he puts it, 'pass time more delightfully'.
- Fantastic Racism: He despises the very existence of elves, and is vocally disgusted that the Brotherhood inducts those with even a drop of elven blood into its ranks.
- Freudian Excuse: Stregobor was in the mage city of Mirthe when the quarter-elf Falka destroyed it during her rebellion over a century before the events of the series. He survived, but was mutilated and probably traumatized by these events, which likely factors into his present-day hatred for elves and women.
- Hate Sink: He's already an unpleasant person in the books given what he's done to Renfri (and how he gets away with it), but the show takes it up a notch by having him be the one who turned the people of Blaviken against Geralt out of petty spite. His actions as head of the Brotherhood only add to this: from his disproportionate hatred of Yennefer due to her elven heritage to his refusal to aid the Northern Kingdoms against the advancing Nilfgaardian army at Sodden, his condescending attempt to humiliate Istredd when he dares to correct one of his more outrageous historical claims and his disdain of Tissaia and Vilgefortz due to their untraditional agenda, anything he does paints the picture of an arrogant, self-interested bigot.
- He-Man Woman Hater: He can dress it up as much as he likes, but it's not a coincidence that the majority of his targets, opponents and victims are women.
- Lack of Empathy: Displays a disturbing lack of emotion and states matter-of-factly that killing the supposedly cursed women and Renfri is "the lesser evil". In the books, Renfri's threat, to kill every citizen of Blaviken unless he comes out of his tower, gets her a laugh in her face from him. In fact, he actually wanted her to kill every citizen of Blaviken, because it would have been the ultimate proof he needed to make everyone believe that she is what he claimed she is.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: The other sorcerers never let him forget his eclipse-girl killing phase. Tissaia brings it up during a public argument at least three generations after the fact, and it is still enough to temporarily shut him up. Of course, being sorcerers, they treat this more as eye-rolling stupidity rather than a horrific crime.
- Red Herring: For most of "The Art of Illusion" he's the premier suspect on being the powerful mage who commands Rience, Lydia van Bredevoort and is working alongside Nilfgaard against The North. The fact that said powerful mage is preforming horrifying experiments with half-elven witches only makes him look guiltier, considering his very open He-Man Woman Hater and Fantastic Racism characteristics. Add to it that in his room there is a magical tome that can be used to banish elves back to thier realm, and it seems that Stregobor's is the clear hidden threat. However, near the end of the episode it becomes clear that Stregobor is just one big fake lead, and the real threat turned out to be Vilgefortz.
- Taking You with Me: During The Thanedd Coup he uses Fire Magic to create a giant explosion that engulfs himself and several dozen attackers at the same time. Only Francesca Findabair and Fringilla Vigo survive the attack.
- Villainous Valour: During The Thanedd Coup he faces Francesca Findabair, Fringilla Vigo and several dozen elves without an ounce of fear in order to buy Yennefer and her fellow witches a precious few minutes to escape. As much of a Hate Sink he normally was, during his last moments he proved himself loyal to The Brotherhood.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Though Stregobor resorts to extreme measures, to the point where he has no problem with killing possibly innocent children, he aims to prevent the Curse of the Black Sun, which he believes to threaten the entire world. And while no one else seems to take the curse seriously, it's made clear several times that he is genuine in his belief that it is a very real threat.
- Would Hurt a Child: He firmly believes in the Curse of the Black Sun and has dedicated his life to preventing it, which demands of him to systematically kill every girl born during an eclipse.
Istredd
Istredd
"We get to make the decisions, be who we want to be."
Portrayed by: Royce Pierreson Dubbed by:
A sorcerer from Ban Ard and protégé of Stregobor, with an interest in the history of sorcerers. He is also a love interest of Yennefer during her early days at Aretuza.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: His relationship with both Yennefer and with Geralt ends up in a much better place than in the books, with Season 3 showing that he's a genuinely kindhearted amicable ex with Yennefer and treating Geralt with a lot more respect and consideration, almost bordering on a Fire-Forged Friend.
- Adaptational Personality Change: In the books he was an Insufferable Genius who looked down his nose at Geralt, and felt so strongly that Yen was his to have he tried to kill Geralt in a duel for the right to her. Though there's still tension between them over their shared history with Yen, he's not nearly as rude and condescending when he and Geralt meet, and lacks the Fantastic Racism he espouses about Witchers. His research is also far more altruistic in the show, as he apparently devotes himself to helping the elves (something that is evident from his first scene).
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Subverted. He is fully aware that his line of work is not even nearly as exciting and active as the life of a court sorcerer, but he nonetheless prefers it.
- Ascended Extra: Istredd is a fairly minor character in the books, whose part in Yennefer's life is almost over by the time he first appears. Since the show actually depicts Yennefer's backstory, his role is greatly increased for it, and he even gains his own storyline for Season 2.
- Badass Bookworm: During The Thanedd Coup he's one of the very few mages who does not suffer any notable wounds and for someone who is mostly an archeologist and a Fantastic Anthropologist he handles himself incredibly well, right up until he encounters Vilgefortz.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. He does spy on Yennefer for Stregobor, but she does the same for Tissaia. By far the worst thing he does is revealing to Stregobor that Yenn has elven ancestry, and that happened out of loyalty to Stregobor as his teacher and mentor - something that he seems to have cast aside entirely by Season 2.
- Broken Pedestal: He and Yennefer end up being this for each other. She is understandably hurt by him spying on her and believing she only seeks to become beautiful, while he is disappointed to realize that the woman he fell for desires power even over her own happiness. They break up over their desillusions, though he still carries a torch for her decades later.
- Calling the Old Man Out: In this case the "old man" being his former mentor, Stregobor. Season 2 made it clear that his view of elves was drastically different from Stregobor and he was neither pleased or amused by this, but in Season 3 Istredd has nothing but utter contempt for his old master.
- First Love: During their first meeting, he mentions that Yennefer is a virgin, which means he is certainly the first man she ever is physically intimate with.
- Hero of Another Story: His role as a Ascended Extra Adventurer Archaeologist means that he has his own personal quest and mission (helping the elves find a new paradise) and for the most part completely separate from Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri's own character arcs. Season 3 ties them together with the fact that Istredd, like Geralt and Yennefer, has come to the realization that there must be a powerful mage creating trouble for the continent for his own nebulous agenda, meaning that Istredd is one of the select few who has managed to gain said information while in his own mission.
- Nice Guy: Though there is a questionable side to him, and he later uses her to gain Stregobor's favour, Istredd's first interaction with Yennefer shows him being kind and helpful towards her without expecting anything in return. Unlike most sorcerers, he is also sympathetic to the plight of the elves and what his kind has done to them, to the point of betraying his brotherhood for their sake.
- Seriously Scruffy: In Season 3, reflecting that he has been seriously hard at work in his mission to help the elves. he's utterly disheveled physically compared to how he used to look, but carries himself with a lot more purpose and confidence befitting a man with an incredibly hard but utterly worthwhile mission.
- Ship Tease: With Triss throughout Season 3.
- Thinks Like a Romance Novel: After the Chapter denies Yennefer her post at Aedirn's court and instead intends to send her to the backwater Nilfgaard, due to her being partially of elven descent, he offers to let Yennefer accompany him on what Yennefer describes as a "romantic adventure" as archaeologists. Yennefer, who does not wish for such a boring life, declines and they part ways on a bitter note.
- Uncertain Doom: During The Thanedd Coup, Vilgefortz teleports him...somewhere, with the promise that he will see the younger man soon. By the end of Season 3 nothing is stated about his fate, but considering he's under the care of Vilgefortz his final fate cannot be anything good.
Triss Merigold
Triss Merigold
"I don't want you to kill the beast. I want you to help me save it."
Portrayed by: Anna Shaffer Dubbed by:
A young sorceress who was sent by the Brotherhood to advise King Foltest and investigate the monster that has terrorised the people of Temeria for the last seven years. She figures out that the monster is not actually a vukodlak and can possibly be cured.
When Geralt arrives in Temeria three months later, she secretly employs Geralt's services to identify and cure the monster.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Downplayed, though in different varieties. Triss's hair is described as auburn or chestnut in the books; in Season 1, it is dark brown, and from Season 2 onward it is red.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Triss actually meets Geralt before Yennefer, when in the books, it was the opposite.
- Adaptational Personality Change: In contrast to her selfish, headstrong personality (as well as her passionate affair with Geralt via love potion) in the books, she acts very mature and professional enough with him that their relationship does not go beyond Ship Tease at best. In general, she is one of the friendliest and helpful sorcerers we meet, and even the witchers have a soft spot for her.
- Big Damn Heroes: She comes just in time to lend aid and save Yennefer from Lydia.
- Cool Big Sis: Tries to be this to the young Ciri, being kind, affectionate, and supportive in a way that she desperately needs, and generally provide her with a positive female role model. Unfortunately this hits a snag when she experiences a vision of Ciri's Apocalypse Maiden status, and becomes terrified of the girl.
- Court Mage: Serves as King Foltest of Temeria's adviser in Season 1, but seems more independent in Season 2.
- Green Thumb: Displays an aptitude for this during the battle of Sodden Hill. She enchants a field to sprout poisonous mushrooms, and can generate wood tendrils to serve as attackers and to create a defensive wall/fence.
- Internal Retcon: Hides the fact that the witcher the miners hired to take out the vukodlak was killed by the monster, because knowing it is that dangerous might drive the already riotous commoners to volatile actions. Instead, the miners are led to believe that the witcher took the coin and ran away, which makes Geralt's stay in Temeria much more unpleasant.
- Mama Bear: During Season 3, she's the very first member among the mages at Aretuza who takes the disappearance of several female students seriously and does everything in her power to try and find them. When she finds thier mutated corpses at Vilgefortz's secret cave she's utterly heartbroken and she instantly argues that they all deserve proper burials.
- The Medic: Geralt survives the striga not only because of his strong will to live, but also because of her medical skills.
- Nice Girl: She is a decent person and has a generally pleasant presence.
- Not So Above It All: The only other time we see her reduced to a screaming wreck (not including her being injured in Sodden Hill) was when her attempt at helping Ciri discover her personal origin nets both of them a very uncomfortable vision of a vengeful, dying Lara Dorren intoning Ithlinne's Prophecy—while the dying Elf tries to strangle her. The end of it sees her understandably terrified of who Ciri actually is.
- Only Sane Woman: Serves as one to long-troubled Temeria — what with Foltest pretty much disabled by depression and guilt, his armies and courtiers contemptuous of the lower classes, and the peasantry/workers nearing open revolt.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- At the Temerian court, she is the only one who actually supports Geralt and knows that the striga needs to be stopped before Temeria rises up in rebellion against their king. She also fully believes that Geralt is capable of lifting the curse instead of slaying the monster.
- Understandably, being one of the few sorceresses Kaer Morhen even deigns to deal with (thanks to her previous business with Geralt) she also serves as a pretty positive mentor to Ciri—encouraging her in maintaining her identity both as a woman and an aspiring warrior, while at the same time scolding the Witchers—even Vesemir—when they act too brusque or insensitive to Ciri's traumas.
- Ship Tease: With Istredd throughout Season 3.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She noticeably freezes up when Rience traps her with a circle of flames and it took her a while to regain her bearing and break free. Considering that she'd been burnt in the chest at Sodden Hill, she's apparently and understandably developed a fear of fire.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Subverted. Briefly protects the gate of Sodden Hill to hold off the Nilfgaardian invaders, but eventually falls because a soldier burns her chest with a torch. She survives the battle, though.
Sabrina
Sabrina Glevissig
"Let's do this."
Portrayed by: Therica Wilson-Read Dubbed by:
Aretuza's star student, as well as Tissaia's closest ally in the Brotherhood.
- The Ace: Even during her days as Tissaia's student, she seems to have no issues with her lessons whatsoever.
- Action Girl: Downplayed. She doesn't do any physical fighting, but during the Battle of Sodden, she demonstrated some amazing archery skills.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: This iteration is presented as prettier than her literature or video game counterparts, lacking her counterparts' Sinister Schnoz.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Sabrina covered all three colors in the Blonde, Brunette, Redhead trope. Brunette in the books, redhead in the games, and blonde in the TV series. But here she's now a blonde, because her actress Therica Wilson-Read did not want to dye her hair for the series or wear a wig.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the books and especially the games, Sabrina is a power-hungry Manipulative Bitch that stood out even among the rest of the Lodge of Sorceresses. In the show, she is The Reliable One who willingly stands against Nilfgaard and even shows horror at the actions that she committed while brainwashed.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: She unfortunately falls under Fringilla's thrall during the Battle of Sodden Hill (with the mind control worms), causing her to stab Yennefer and direct two enthralled children to blow up the mages' stock of ammunition, destroying their defenses.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Lampshaded by Yennefer herself to Geralt in "The art of illusion". She asks him if he noticed what Sabrina was wearing.
- Cleavage Window: Her ballroom outfit has one.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Sabrina is shown being someone people always can count on, and she is willing to help someone in need without asking too many questions.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: Her loyalty to the North and loyal members of The Brotherhood is so strong that she openly sides the Redanian Army in dragging out who among The Brotherhood is loyal to Nilfgaard. Her morality is still the same, as she does not hesitate to fight against The Scoia'tael and the Nilfgaardian inside Aretuza during The Thanedd Coup and at the end of season 3 is among the witches Yennefer trust to be at her side.
- Hot Witch: It's appropriate to highlight that even before undergoing ascension, Sabrina was among the more classically beautiful of Aretuza's students. She also tends to dress accordingly for most occasions, which renders people who come her way easier to charm.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: She was shown to shoot the bottles with blue meteorite at an impressive distance.
- Ms. Fanservice: Probably on par with Yennefer in this department. While she doesn't show any nudity as Yennefer does, she tends to wear extremely flattering wardrobes, particularly in Season 3.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After destroying the northern defenses and nearly killing Yennefer while under the effects of Fringilla's mind control worms, she snaps back to her senses after almost dying from a fall. Before losing consciousness, she expresses regret over what she was forced to do.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Season 3 somewhat ramps it up a bit, being one of the first witches during the ball at Aretuza seductively-dressed and throwing herself at Geralt (if only to get a rise out of Yennefer).
- The Reliable One: Even after becoming an independent sorceress on her own, Tissaia could depend on her to back her ideals for the Brotherhood. She was among the first to join her rebellion against the Brotherhood's swaying sympathy for Nilfgaard. It is precisely her being brainwashed by Fringilla that begins signaling that things are going downhill for the defenders of Sodden Hill.
- True Blue Femininity: Due to her Limited Wardrobe, she's only ever seen wearing a long blue dress, although in the source material she was noted to have worn a variety of outfits.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Season 3 shows that she has this relationship with Yennefer. They casually snark at each other and she blatantly tries to seduce Geralt in front of her in order to get a raise out of them both, but it's quite clear that they are basically the best friends among the Aretuza graduates.
Vilgefortz (MAJOR SPOILERS)
Vilgefortz of Roggeveen
"I'm the one that wants you here."
Portrayed by: Mahesh Jadu Dubbed by:
The leader of a faction of the Brotherhood seeking to prevent Nilfgaard's predominance in the Continent. He also becomes the nominal leader of the defense of Sodden Hill.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Downplayed. While the gruesome facial wounds he gained during the Thanned Coup are quite noticeable, compared to how he was left in the novels his wounds are notably less severe than in the original canon.
- Adaptational Wimp: Appears as such in combat and leadership: not only is he out-fenced and beaten soundly by Cahir, his leading role in the defense of Sodden Hill is also reduced to bit player — with Tissaia leading preparations and Yennefer serving as Mission Control for everyone's movements (which Vilgefortz took credit for at Tissaia's insistence in Season 2). However, he's shown afterwards to be a capable political manipulator, as he manages to turn his involvement in the battle of Sodden Hill and his already somewhat high position to gain a promotion to become the new head of the Brotherhood. Season 3 strongly all but states that his apparent magical Crippling Overspecialization is him drastically playing down his magical talent, as his experiments to recreate someone with Elder Blood show that he has a mastery over several branches of magic in a way no one else has them.
- Ambiguously Evil: Bashes in the skull of a wounded fellow sorcerer during the battle of Sodden Hill. Why he did that is unclear, though it appears to have been out of psychotic anger after losing to Cahir in single combat. Also, in the second season, now that he’s in charge of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, he begins making his own political moves (including plans to acquire Ciri for his own ends) and lashes out at Tissaia when he betrays her trust only to then try and gaslight her for not “treating him equally“. From the books… .
- "The Art of Illusion" eliminates the ambiguous part of this trope, having both Geralt and Yennifer realise that Vilgefortz is the powerful mage who commands Rience and is working alongside Nilfgaard against The North.
- Big Bad Ensemble: As Lydia van Bredevoort notes, just because he's currently working alongside Nilfgaard does not mean he's working for Nilfgaard. It's made very clear that he has a completely different agenda than Emperor Emyr.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Stregobor mocks him for honing his blade skills over any other magical talent. When he runs out of energy to conjure new swords, Cahir quickly takes him down.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: He absolutely trashes Geralt during thier fight the moment he stops holding back.
- Evil Genius: The logistic of The Thanedd Coup are strongly implied to have fallen into him and considering that Ciri's escape was the only thing he could not control, Emhyr really struck gold having Vilgefortz under his command.
- Exact Words: Yennefer comes with him to Aretuza because she believes Tissaia sent him. In truth, he wanted her to come and Tissaia had no idea but him mentioning her high opinion of Yen gave this impression.
- Facial Horror: Ciri fleeing through the teleporter at Tor Lara caused the portal to explode, drastically damaging and scarring the left side of his face and costing him an eyeball, as seen during his last scene with Emyr.
- Faux Affably Evil: Vilgefortz never looses his polite and casual attitude even after The Reveal that he's the traitor in The Brotherhood. From uttering emotionally destroying his former lover, to notably having fun while killing Redenian soldiers to offering Geralt a place at his side and then trashing The Witcher when he refuses, Vilgefortz only looses his cool once (and considering what happened its understandable that he was nervous about the situation). Outside of that moment, he always maintains his oddly respectful and jovial attitude.
- Fights Like a Normal: In his fight with Geralt in Season 3, despite no longer hiding his true knowledge of magic, Vilgefortz nonetheless relies mainly on his mundane fighting skills, only using magic to summon and banish his staff.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Fits this archetype better than Self-Made Man considering what we learn of his true morality in "The Art of Illusion". As he tells Geralt:“I was was an orphan left to die at a gutter in Lan Exeter and was bounced around this cruel world by every monster imaginable. Men most of all, and rather than become an unwanted mutant I choose to become a sorcerer, out of spite”
- Hammerspace: Uses his magic to conjure / teleport his sword back into its sheath. After wasting one sword in a throw and being disarmed three times, he is too exhausted to repeat the trick a fifth time.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Despite being Nilfgaard's main agent inside the The Brotherhood of Sorcerers, it's made abundantly clear that his overall goal is quite different from Emhyr and loyalty towards Nilfgaard is not what is driving him. Considering his experimentation with the Elder Blood, his own interest in Ciri and the fact that the "Ciri" he delivered was one of the fakes created by his experimentation, a notable interest in The Elder Blood is very clear, but to what end no one can say at this time.
- Hidden Depths: Turns out that Vilgefortz has been considerably holding back all along, for some reason or another. As Anika notes when inspecting the Fake Ciri, the mind control spell crafted to control her is born from a mix of regular Chaos magic, druidic enchantments, and even ancient Elven magic and she notes that said combination means that the caster both spent several lifetimes mastering all of these branches of magic and is a lot more powerful than most mages alive. This pretty much suggests that his magical Crippling Overspecialization that he's often mocked for is a case of Fake Weakness on his part.
- Hidden Villain: Outside of Geralt and Yennefer, nobody even suspect that he has his own twisted agenda for The Elder Blood, he's the Man Behind the Man for Rience or that he's working alongside Nilfgaard against The North, and even they only realized because of a slip of the tongue on his part. The fact that it's implied he's been getting away with it for decades while being a very present figure among The Brotherhood of Sorcerers and Aretuza actually speaks volumes of how good he is going beneath notice.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: His battle with Gerald in season 3 shows that his apparent lack of combat prowess against a mere human like Cahir was all but a game. Vilgefortz not only reveals himself a very capable Magic Knight, but he is the first character to ever mortally injure Geralt and break his sword. Even Geralt needed a few seconds to process that.
- Kick the Dog: No longer having to keep up the charade of his relationship with Tissaia, he's painful and viscerally brutal and dismissive of her, not only betraying her in the most personal of ways but being an absolute bastard in the way he mocks her as being easy to manipulate.
- Mad Scientist: Considering the magic in the Witcher-verse is pretty scientific in nature, he counts as a absolutely horrifying example. Season 3 makes it clear that he has been kidnapping young women and experimenting with them in horrifyingly grotesque ways, explicitly trying to create his own Human Weapon capable of channeling the power of The Elder Blood. The results have been utterly nightmarish, to say the least.
- Magic Knight: His magic seems to be primarily devoted to combat — or at least enhancing his combat prowess as a swordsman. The fact that this is the only magic we see him do makes it look like it's bordering on Crippling Overspecialization, such that other mages look down on him.
- The Man Behind the Man: "The Art of Illusion" reveals that Vilgefortz is the powerful mage who commands Rience, Lydia van Bredevoort and is working alongside Nilfgaard against The North.
- The Mole: Nilfgaard's main agent inside the The Brotherhood of Sorcerers. Considering his rather high rank in the organization, he counts as an example of a Mole in Charge.
- Oh, Crap!: The only moment is truly looses his Faux Affably Evil cool is when Ciri activates the portals in Tor Lara. Considering what resulted in said magical backlash, he had a good reason to be nervious.
- Pet the Dog: While not above wryly pointing out her failures, he does seem to have a notably soft spot for Yennefer and her Outside-the-Box thinking considering how often he back her up compared to some of the more senior members among The Brotherhood of Sorcerers. It's strongly implied he does this because Tissaia is Yennefer's own Parental Substitute. Considering what we learn about him in "The Art of Illusion" and his own actions, every Pet the Dog moment he has for Yennefer might have been utterly faked all along, sadly enougth.
- Race Lift: Described as fair-skinned in the books but played by an actor of Indian descent here, which would make this version, in Witcherverse lore, someone of Ofieri descent.
- Saying Too Much: How both Geralt and Yennefer realize that Vilgefortz is the powerful mage who commands Rience and is working alongside Nilfgaard against The North. A lot of what he says to Geralt in "The Art of Illusion" on hindsight rings warning bells to both Geralt and Yennifer and the contextual clues in said conversation make them both realize than Vilgefortz has been the behind-the-scene player and looming threat on the magical side they have looking for.
- Ship Tease: He and Tissaia spend the time before the battle talking, backing each other up against Stregobor, and sharing somewhat flirtatious looks. Her surrogate daughters Triss and Yennefer jokingly wonder if he's their new father. This ends up with a Relationship Upgrade after Sodden.
- We Can Rule Together: Twice he tries to convince Geralt to side with him, both times trying to invoke thier apparent similarities in order to entice him and both times Geralt completely shuts him down. After seeing that his words will not work on the Witcher, he proceeds to utterly manhandle him.
Tetra Gilchrest
Tetra Gilchrest
"Witchers must be wiped from this Earth. And all traces strewn with salt and salt peter."
Voiced by: Lara Pulver
The sorceress of Aretuza, Kaedwen who utterly loathes Witchers and is fomenting bigotry and hatred of them.
- Anti-Villain: Her goal is genocide of Witchers. But she focuses on convincing others to support her bigotry by pointing out that the Witchers are at best violent con artists, and at worst allies of Elves and creating monsters to perpetuate their existence, and ends up being proven right about what Kaer Morhen was doing, with the revelation they were kidnapping people, mutating them into monsters and unleashing them on the North to keep their Monster Protection Racket going, thus responsible for untold death and maiming for profit.
- Deadpan Snarker: Casually voices her contempt for Witchers with snarky remarks.
- The Extremist Was Right: Downplayed. Despite how murderous and cold-blooded her own plans were for them, she ends up being proven correct about the Witchers of Kaer Morhen and what they were up to. However, among the Witchers, only the leadership and mages of Kaer Morhen were in on it and kept the other Witchers in the dark.
- Faux Affably Evil: While she is polite to a lordling, and never has an emotional outburst, she is an elitist who casually condemns any social climbers and her main goal is the genocide of Witchers.
- It's Personal: Her final lines reveal that her mother was a victim of a scheming Witcher, revealing that she has always hated the Witchers.
- Never My Fault: Having burned down Kitsu's lair with magic, she was more than willing to lay the blame on the Witchers to cement a temporary alliance.
- We Have Reserves: If the mages and other knights are killed by the monsters she's summoned, that's fine so long as the Witchers die.
Unaffiliated & Rogue Mages
Visenna
Visenna
"People linked by destiny will always find each other."
Portrayed by: Frida Gustavsson
A mysterious woman who comes to Geralt's aid after being attacked by necrophages... later revealed to be his biological mother.
- Awful Truth: She implies whatever caused her to abandon Geralt is something that would not be beneficial for both of them to dwell on.
- Bus Crash: Garalt is shocked to learn from a friend of his mother that by the time of Season 3 she has been for a notable amount of time. According to said friend, she spent her last moments talking about Geralt.
- The Medic: She is knowledgeable enough about medicines and plants to cure the necrophages' poison killing Geralt at the time.
- Missing Mom: Her leaving Geralt on the road is what eventually leads to Vesemir finding Geralt and turning him into a witcher.
- Mysterious Past: It's not directly stated what kind of sorcery she knows, and the circumstances of her giving birth to Geralt (especially since it was established earlier that sorceresses are usually rendered sterile) are left open. (In the novels, sterility is a common side effect of long-term magic use rather than the result of a surgical procedure, and Visenna indicates that Geralt was a Surprise Pregnancy.)
- Older Than They Look: She appears to be in her twenties, but as a witch, she is clearly far older than she seems to be. Her son Geralt has been an active witcher for decades and she could easily be centuries old by the time they meet again.
- Parents as People: What Geralt and Anika in the end classify her as. Geralt, in a rare moment of tenderness and emotional sharing, notes that he still remember a particular moment in his youth when she conjured a whole feast with magic in order to save them from starvation (and noting that she was even hungrier than he was). But, with tears in his eyes, still remember when she chose to abandoned him. When Anika gently tells him that Visenna's choice could not have been easy, Geralt argues that there was always another choice. It's strongly implied that Geralt being the best surrogate father figure to Ciri he can be is basically trying his best to never be like Visenna as a parent.
The Ronin Mage
The Ronin Mage
Portrayed by: Marcin Czarnik
A mage and assassin who is hired by the King of Lyria to murder his own wife, Queen Kalis, as well as their infant daughter.
- The Beastmaster: He is accompanied by a krallach, a magically bred monstrosity, somewhat similar to a mixture between a cockroach and a hound with razor-sharp legs, which he commands to kill Kalis's guards and chase after her and Yennefer.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: A quiet assassin with facial tattoos that accentuate his unsettlingly wide blue eyes.
- Dark Is Evil: Not only is the Ronin Mage dressed exclusively in black, he is also a thoroughly evil Professional Killer who has no problems with murdering a young mother and her infant daughter.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Very, very downplayed. When the queen tries to convince him to only kill her daughter, the only effect is that he squints harder and kills her first.
- Implacable Man: Together with his krallach, the Ronin Mage is seemingly unstoppable and a lot stronger than Yennefer. All she can do against him and his beast is to slow him down and escape through another portal, but even then he just tracks and follows them. He only stops his chase after having killed the queen and her daughter.
- In the Hood: To further add to his mysterious and villainous appearance, he wears a dark hood.
- Karma Houdini: Ultimately, while he fails to kill Yennefer, he manages to kill Queen Kalis and her infant daughter, fulfilling his mission and likely collecting his reward. Since his scenes with Yennefer are set decades before her scenes in Sodden and he is not shown afterwards, it can be assumed that he got away with it.
- Kick the Dog: While murdering the queen and her child is simply business for him, he at least attempts an act of needless cruelty against the infant after having murdered her mother. Though perfectly capable of instantly ending the girl's life with a spell or a strike of his knife, he tries to kill her more brutally, by feeding her to his krallach. This almost backfires, as it gives Yennefer time to strike against the beast, forcing the Ronin Mage to use his knife once again.
- Mind over Matter: It seems a favoured method of execution for him is to telekinetically throw a knife through his victim's throat.
- No Name Given: His actual name is as unknown as his backstory and he is credited only as 'Ronin Mage'.
- Professional Killer: Unlike the sorcerers from the Brotherhood, who serve as advisers, politicians or independent researchers, this individual is a killer for hire, with his nickname implying that he is not affiliated with anyone but himself.
- Scarily Competent Tracker: Courtesy of a tracking spell put upon Queen Kalis, he is capable of chasing her and Yennefer across the world, no matter where they teleport to.
- Tattooed Crook: Beneath his hood, there are visible tattoos on his forehead.
- The Voiceless: During his chase, he utters not a single word, not even when he has Kalis at his mercy or when he comes face to face with Yennefer.
- Would Hurt a Child: He was sent not just to kill Queen Kalis, but also to kill her infant daughter and he is shown to have no problems with feeding the defenseless child to his pet monster.
Rience
Rience
Portrayed by: Chris Fulton (Season 1), Sam Woolf (Season 2)
A mage imprisoned by Queen Calanthe who is freed to help hunt down Ciri for a mysterious third party.
- Adaptational Badass: Unlike his book counterpart who runs at the first sight of danger, Rience in the Netflix series is able to handle himself in a fight quite well.
- Adaptational Expansion: Played straight and inverted. In the books, Rience only shows up for a handful of times to cause strife for the heroes. In the show, Rience gets scenes with Lydia, and fights Vesemir and Triss Merigold at Kaer Morhen, but his role as a primary antagonist is taken over by Voleth Meir.
- Boxed Crook: He is introduced in a Cintran prison, where he has spent a decade in dimeritium chains. Lydia van Bredevoort frees him on behalf of a currently unknown third party if he helps them hunt for Ciri in return.
- Burn Scars, Burning Powers: Rience is a rogue mage who specializes in taboo fire magic. When he threatens Yennefer with a small flame in a tavern, she spits alcohol in it, turning it into a fireball that gives him a distinctive facial burn scar.
- Composite Character: With Schirrú, as he's the one who kills Codringher and Fenn.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of having his Karmic Death at the hands of Ciri, he's decapitated by Geralt, with a little help from Yennefer. He also dies considerably earlier here that he does in the novels.
- Finger-Snap Lighter: How he creates flames. He's introduced doing it (or rather, trying to do it, with his magic suppressed) repeatedly in his cell.
- Fingore: During his final confrontation with Ciri (before being killed by Geralt), the younger girl actually manages to slice off three fingers from one of his hands in what was to be a Mythology Gag to how he originally died in the novels.
- The Heavy: As Geralt himself notes, Ciri will never be safe as long as Rience is alive and working for his mysterious employer, Vilgefortz. It's why Geralt considers killing Rience to be top priority during the first part of Season 3 and why Rience is treated as the Arc Villain of Season 3. Being Vilgefortz's most physically imposing and free agent means he's currently the most openly dangerous enemy in the series.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Rience is directly, if accidentally responsible for his own facial scarring in the series. When Yennefer, who has lost use of her magic at that point, confronts him after he captured Jaskier, he pushes her against a wall and threatens her with a flame. She responds by spitting alcohol into it, creating a fireball that burns one side of his face and leaves him writhing in agony long enough for her and Jaskier to escape.
- Incompletely Trained: When revealing part of his backstory, Fenn notes to Geralt that Rience was kicked from Ban Ard. This actually might explain why Fire Magic is the only magic he's capable of preforming even when other magic might help him more. Of course, considering how powerful he is with what he ''does'' knows, this does not slow him much.
- In-Series Nickname: None of the protagonists have the slightest idea of what his actual name is, so they keep referring to him as "Fire Fucker".
- Literal Genie: When a notably up to no good Rience arrives at Codringher and Fenn and grabs their cat, Fenn begs him not to hurt it. The cat is the only thing he does not "hurt" in said confrontation.
- Playing with Fire: Specializes in taboo fire magic, though notably he's not immune to be burned himself.
- Psycho for Hire: Unlike Lydia, Rience doesn't seem to have any personal loyalty to his mysterious employer, but he is nonetheless clearly delighted at the opportunity to use his fire magic for torture and carnage on their behalf.
- Slasher Smile: His default expression seems to be a wide, unhinged smile.
- Shirtless Scene: Spending a decade in Cintra's dungeons apparently had no negative effect on his body, as is evident when he makes himself presentable after Lydia gets him out.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: This is especially notable when he tortures Jaskier, never once raising his voice while burning him, only expressing his sadistic glee through his Slasher Smile.
- Two-Faced: Though he starts the show as a conventionally good-looking man, by the end of his first episode he is severely scarred when Yennefer spits alcohol into the flame he was currently holding in his hand, leaving him with extensive scars on one side of his face.
Lydia van Bredevoort
Lydia van Bredevoort
Portrayed by: Aisha Fabienne Ross
A woman who frees Rience to find Ciri for her employer.
- Abled in the Adaptation: Downplayed in that while she does start out without her infamous facial disfiguration, she has it by the time the season ends. The third season sees her using a glamor to make herself look normal (and to save on the special effects).
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: At least before her accident with the witcher serum made from Ciri's blood, she's a cheerful mixture of quirky and mean, while simultaneously acting as the handler of an Ax-Crazy Psycho for Hire.
- Chekhov's Gunman: As Geralt realizes, she's "the woman with the funny voice" Teryn talked about being in league with the man responsible for the inhuman experiments she and her fellow female students suffered from, and the fact she's wearing the same kind of priceless gems Vilgefortz gave Tissaia is what helps both Geralt and Yennefer realize that Vilgefortz is the real villain all along.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of committing suicide on Vilgefortz's command to serve as a distraction, she gets her neck snapped by Yennefer, using the vines Triss provided, when Lydia did not stop bragging about Vilgefortz's plan for Ciri.
- Glamour: After the accident that left her with her Nightmare Face, she is seen constantly wearing one in order to hide her gruesome injuries.
- Hypocritical Humor: Of the Black Comedy type. Lydia is quick to snark at Rience for his deformities...but as he dryly points out, his own pale in comparison to her own Nightmare Face. And unlike Rience, who reacts with droll sarcasm, she is quite sensitive to her own situation. She can dish it but cannot take in any way, that is to say.
- Lady of Black Magic: Yennefer is outright admiring of her talent for glamours and in thier brief fight during Season 3 she uses her skills at illusions and her own inherent power to effortesly overpower Yennefer to the point that she would have killed her if not for Triss.
- Mouth of Sauron: Acts as the emissary of a mysterious third party to pass orders on to Rience.
- Nightmare Face: She makes the mistake of smelling the mutagenic concoction containing Ciri's Elder Blood and moving it too close to her face, which triggers an acidic reaction that melts the flesh on her mouth and lower jaw, leaving her gruesomely disfigured.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: Lydia indulges in some of this at Calanthe's expense while recruiting Rience.Lydia: May she rot in peace.
Rience: (surprised) Calanthe's dead?
Lydia: As a desert spring. - The Speechless: While she is capable of speech in her scenes before the disfigurement, she seems to have lost the ability to verbally speak afterwards and is left with telepathy as her only means of communicating.
- Subordinate Excuse: At least, according to Philippa. The other witch affirms that the rumors are that she's utterly and heart-achingly in love with someone of higher rank. "The Art Of Illusion" all but states that Vilgefortz is the target of her love, which the reason for her Undying Loyalty. From the books…
- Telepathy: Her only form of communication due to the damage her vocal cords suffered.
- Undying Loyalty: Even after her disfigurement, Lydia shows nothing but the utmost devotion to her employer, vowing to never fail them again.
