The Witcher - Bestiary / Characters

Bestiary

The world of the Witcherverse is filled with non-human beings of all kinds. Some are mindless rampaging creatures, while others are sapient beings who mean no harm to mortals but are often labeled monsters by the ignorant and fearful.

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Cursed Ones

Monsters that were once human but have been transformed through magic and curses into unholy creatures. In some cases, the curse can be reversed and the human saved from their fate.

Archespores

Appears in: The Witcher | Wild Hunt

Said to be born on cursed grounds that were the sites of terrible crimes, like pogroms, ritual sacrifices, and cruel murders, Archespores are large and quite dangerous flowers that attack all who draw near them.

Acid Attack: They can shoot acid from a distance that causes similar effects to a strong poison.

Organ Drops: Archespore juice and tendrils can be acquired from looting them, which can be dismantled into alchemy and crafting components.
Weak to Fire: Being plant based, Archespores are weak to fire attacks and burn very easily.

Berserkers

Berserkers / Werebears

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/berserker_tw3.png

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Therianthropes that can transform into bears or half-bears. They are particularly infamous in Skellige, where a cult of warrior berserkers known as Vildkaarls worship the cruel war deity Svalblod.

Bears Are Bad News: When a berserker transforms into a bear, they become a savage killing machine.
Cannibalism Superpower: Geralt can witness a ritual in which three warriors become berserkers by being devoured by normal bears, but then take over the creature's bodies and transform back into their restored human form.
The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: When they transform, the berserker loses all self-awareness and are driven by a bloodlust which they must satiate in order to return to human form.
Organ Drops: They can be looted for berserker hides, which are extremely valuable and can be broken down into crafting materials as well.
Our Werebeasts Are Different: Berserkers are men who will transform into bears when they are consumed by battle rage.
You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: When a berserker goes into a battle rage, they will transform into bears.

Botchlings

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/botchling_tw3.png

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Monsters born from unwanted stillborn babies that have been buried without proper ceremony. They look like deformed, toddler-sized fetuses with the umbilical cord still attached, wrapped around them like a strangling vine.

Body Horror: They are bloated, gore-covered babies with their umbilical cords still attached with razor sharp teeth.
Curse: Being a cursed creature, Botchlings can be gotten rid of by other methods than destroying them. It is possible to appease one into becoming a benign guardian spirit called a lubberkin which watches over a household, but it takes an emotionally devastating and physically dangerous ritual to accomplish.
Fetus Terrible: They are monsters born from stillborn babies that have been buried without proper ceremony. They look like deformed, toddler-sized fetuses with the umbilical cord still attached, wrapped around them like a strangling vine. It is possible to appease one into becoming a benign guardian spirit of a household, but it takes an emotionally devastating and physically dangerous ritual to accomplish.
House Fey: A botchling can become a lubberkin through a difficult ritual, which will watch over and protect the household of its family.
Tragic Monster: Probably the most tragic monster in the Witcherverse.
Undead Child: Not just a child, but a baby.

Striga

Appears in: The Last Wish | The Witcher

A terribly strong and tough creature created by a curse placed upon a human woman. Striga only emerge to hunt the area around their lairs during a full moon.

Came Back Wrong: Even if the curse is lifted, a person who was a striga may be left brain damaged as a result. King Foltest's daughter Adda, despite being physically 14 when the curse was lifted by Geralt, had the mind of a 3-4 year old child.
- This appears to vary by adaptation given that the version of Adda in the game is a functioning adult, albeit an extremely self-serving and conniving one.
Curse: A striga is a woman transformed into a monster by a curse. It is possible to break the curse, but extremely dangerous, since it requires ensuring the striga is kept out of its coffin until a rooster crows three times with the break of dawn, and naturally the beast will attack anyone it encounters. Even when the curse is lifted, there is the possibility of it returning, which Geralt notes can be protected against by wearing a sapphire amulet and certain rituals.
Evil Redhead: One of a striga's distinctive features is a mane of red hair.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Their mouths are packed with razor sharp fangs.

The Toad Prince

Appears in: Wild Hunt

A giant poisonous man-eating frog living in the sewers under Oxenfurt. The town's women believe that if they kiss it, the frog will become a handsome prince. Instead, they become its next meal. Geralt is hired by Olgierd von Everic to destroy the creature.

Accidental Truth: There's a rumor popular among the women of Oxenfurt that the toad is actually a cursed prince. Turns out the toad IS actually an Ofieri prince cursed by Olgierd.
Be Careful What You Say: Sirvat, while disguised as a commoner, flirted with a woman by saying a kiss would turn him into a prince, like the fairy tale frog prince. The woman was Olgierd's beloved Iris, and the pick up line inspired the nature of the curse.
Bewitched Amphibians: It turns out to really be a cursed Ofieri prince, and the men that swore to bring the prince back to his homeland are mighty upset that Geralt killed him. He was cursed to become a monstrous frog by Olgierd due to him being considered as a marriage prospect for Iris.
Tragic Monster: Prior to being cursed, Prince Sirvat was a good man touring the North to learn about other nations and cultures before taking the crown of Ofir.

Werewolves

In General

Werewolves / Ulfhedinn

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/werewolf_tw3_1.png

Top: Werewolf
Bottom: Ulfhedinn

Appears in: Season of Storms | The Witcher | Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

Typically the result of a curse by a witch, werewolves are typically bestial and feral creatures while transformed and normal men and women when not. A stronger variety known as Ulfhedinn can be found in Skellige.

Alternate Identity Amnesia: Werewolves typically do not remember their actions and experiences while transformed, and thus are unaware of who they might have accidentally killed while transformed. However, it seems that those who embrace their werewolf side as a part of themselves do not have this issue, as seen with individuals like Vincent Meis, who fights crime as a werewolf, and the bandit Little Red Lily.
Autocannibalism: Appears in a contract in Wild Hunt as the way to break a werewolf's curse. It applies only to this particular case, as the werewolf was also cursed to have any food he tries to eat turn to ash, and the curse doesn't know how to handle eating one's own flesh, bypassing this particular werewolf's Resurrective Immortality.
Dark Is Not Evil: Despite what ill-informed peasants and witch hunters believe, werewolves are not automatically evil. Many are regular people who takes steps to deal with their curse and ensure they are far away from civilization when transforming. Others have a lot of control over their transformations and live quite peacefully within cities and have children who inherit the curse, which they often regard as simply a part of who they are.
Organ Drops: Killing werewolves in Wild Hunt can drop saliva and hide, which can be sold or dismantled for rare crafting components.
Our Werewolves Are Different: They are capable of talking, are seen in broad daylight, often hate their condition. Like more conventional werewolves they too have a weakness to silver, just like any other monster in the franchise.
Power of Love: A werewolf can be freed of their curse through true love, although it unfortunately does not always work.
Tragic Monster: Very common with them, unfortunately. Many werewolves don't want to hurt anyone, but not all of them are able to retain control over their bestial sides, which often means innocents get killed.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Some werewolves have more control of the curse and can choose when to transform, even if it is daytime.

Morkvarg

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Autocannibalism: Geralt can make him eat his own meat to lift his curse and killing him.

Karmic Transformation: He raped and murdered a priestess of Freya, who with her dying breath cursed him to the form of a beast.
Resurrective Immortality: No matter how Morkvarg is killed, he will always come back to life within Freya's garden.
Werewolf Theme Naming: "Mörkvarg" is Swedish and translates to "Darkwolf". Appropriate, if melodramatic.

Draconids

Draconid is a hypernym used to refer to a number of large semi-reptiles, usually possessing six limbs: four legs and wings.

Basilisks

Appears in: Sword of Destiny | The Witcher | Wild Hunt

Moveset Clone: Basilisks, Cockatrices, and Griffins share the same attack animations.
Organ Drops: Venom and hides, which can be broken down into rare crafting components. However, Basilisk hide is also worth a lot of gold if sold to a merchant.

Cockatrices

Appears in: Lady of the Lake | The Witcher | Wild Hunt

Moveset Clone: Basilisks, Cockatrices, and Griffins share the same attack animations.
Organ Drops: They can drop eggs and rarely a stomach, which is needed to craft three of the oil upgrades.

Dracolizards

Dracolizards / Slyzard

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Ferocious draconic predators known for their white skin and fiery breath.

Breath Weapon: Of the various draconids encountered in the series, these stand out as the only ones that actually breathe fire.
Organ Drops: They can be looted for their scale plates after being killed.

Forktails

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Organ Drops: Aside from the standard monster parts, Forktails can drop hides, which are worth a significant amount of gold.
Tail Slap: They often use their long tails, tipped with vicious spikes, as a weapon.

Wyverns

Appears in: The Time of Contempt | The Witcher | Wild Hunt

Commonly mistaken for dragons, wyverns are much smaller and do not breath fire but are still extremely dangerous. Royal wyverns are a rarer and even more aggressive breed.

It Can Think: Implied; one wyvern that Geralt was hired to hunt figured out that caravans travelling through its territory were an easy source of food.
Organ Drops: Eggs and hide, with the hide being worth quite a bit if sold.

Elementa

Djinn

Appears in: The Last Wish | Wild Hunt

Air elemental genies. Many of them have been trapped throughout the ages by mages, particularly Geoffrey Monck, and being forced to grant three wishes before being freed.

Blow You Away: Being air elementals, Djinn have great power over the weather and can summon storms and strong winds.
Jackass Genie: Djinns (the word from which "Genie" etymologically descended from) are not happy about being trapped and forced to grant wishes and will resist having to do so, kill those who summon them, and do all they can to screw over the wisher. Geralt and Yennefer ponder this danger when seeking one out in a quest.
Literal Genie: Any wishes told to a Djinn will be carried out a literally as possible. Unfortunately for the first one Geralt encountered, the "exorcism" Geralt had once heard that could send one away is a command to go far away and screw itself.

Earth Elementals

Appears in: Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

Molded from mud, clay, rocks, sand, and water by magic users, Earth elementals are tough and strong constructs.

Dishing Out Dirt: They have some abilities like these.
Dumb Muscle: For the most part, though, they just smash whatever their creators tell them to smash.

Fire Elementals

Appears in: Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

First created by the mage Ransant Alvaro, who accidently burned down his lab and the entire block of buildings around it doing so. Fire elementals are dangerous constructs with one purpose only - to destroy whatever they were summoned to fight against.

Feed It with Fire: Attempting to use fire based attacks, like Igni, against them only heals and strengthens them.
Mundane Utility: The journal entry for them in Assassins of Kings mentions some mages using them to light their pipes.

Gargoyle

Appears in: Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

Stone statues brought to life by mages to serves as guards for their property.

Organ Drops: Their hearts and dust can be harvested from them.

Golem

Appears in: The Witcher | Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

Magical constructs utilized by mages as servants or guards.

Organ Drops: Geralt can harvest their hearts after defeating them, which are needed to craft two levels of the Blizzard potion.

Hound of the Wild Hunt

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Believed to be born of magic frost crystals, these hounds follow the Wild Hunt into battle like feral dogs.

Always Chaotic Evil: They're little more than rabid animals that the Wild Hunt sets after its prey.
Attack Animal: They serve as one for the warriors of the Wild Hunt.
Evil Is Deathly Cold: Like their masters, the first sign of hounds on the hunt is the temperature dropping.
Kill It with Ice: They're capable of causing ice crystals to burst from the ground to protect themselves or harm their enemies.

Hybrids

Beings that combine traits of different species, whether it be man and beast or multiple kinds of animals.

Sirens

In General

Sirens / Ekhidna / Mermaids

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/siren_tw3.png

Appears in: Sword of Destiny | Wild Hunt

Beautiful inhabitants of the sea whose upper body appears human while their lower body features wings and a sharp tail. A highly intelligent species, they speak in a sing-song variant of the Elder Speech. They are a near-constant threat in Skellige, often luring ships and their crews to their doom, although friendly ones exist.

Game Face: Their upper bodies appear beautiful and human, but once their victims are close enough they change into hideous monsters.
Elite Mooks: Ekhidna are a strong subspecies of siren who can generate whirlpools of water on land.
Make Me Wanna Shout: Their screams can disorient people. Geralt mentions in A Little Sacrifice that a siren's scream could reduce a boat to floating splinters.
Not Always Evil: While all of them are hostile in Wild Hunt, there are peaceful ones in the world. One is featured in the short story A Little Sacrifice and is in relationship with a human duke. It is suspected their near constant aggression is in response to numerous kidnappings by humans in the past and that they now no longer give humans the benefit of the doubt.
Organ Drops: Their vocal cords can be used in the crafting of several Witcher school steel swords.
Our Monsters Are Different: Although they are interchangeably called sirens and mermaids in the short story A Little Sacrifice. They are reptilian, winged creatures with upper bodies resembling human women. However, they can swim as well as they can fly, and pursue Geralt into the water if he tries to swim to escape them.
Our Sirens Are Different: Like classic sirens they lure in humans with their looks and singing, but are far more reptilian than classical versions.

Sh'eenaz

Appears in: Sword of Destiny

A siren who falls in love with Duke Agloval, the rule of a seaside town called Bremervoord.

Hero of Another Story: She doesn't have much screen time in A Little Sacrifice, but it's her offscreen actions that resolve both the conflicts involving the impending war with the Fish People and her dysfunctional relationship with Agloval.
Interspecies Romance: With Agloval: they are genuinely in love and each asks the other to magically transform into their species, which would solve problems with incompatible biology. In the end she becomes a human, so they can be together.

Other Hybrids

Harpies

Harpies / Shishigas

Appears in: Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

Species of Winged Humanoid with sharp claws and beaks that tend to dwell in nests along cliffsides and ravines.

Nightmare Fetishist: In a DLC quest for the second game, Geralt can collect nearly a hundred of their feathers for one such fellow, who is later seen in a suit made of said feathers crudely dyed yellow.
Organ Drops: Eggs, talons, and feathers can be harvested from Harpies and their nests.
Thieving Magpie: They are very fond of shiny objects to decorate their nest and will pillage their victims for gold, silver, jewelry, etc.

Griffin

Griffin / Archgriffin

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Half-eagle, half-wildcat predators that were once only found high in the mountains. When humans encroached upon their hunting grounds with settlements and mines, Griffins spread out across the Northern Realms and took to hunting sheep, cows, and people as a replacement food source.

Eaten Alive: Geralt makes a comment to a would-be Griffin victim that their horse got lucky - it was killed before being taken by the Griffin, which typically like to toy with their prey by keeping them alive while eating them. He also finds the corpse of a man by an abandoned griffin nest, and concludes the poor sod probably took days to die.
Elite Mook: The Royal and Archgriffins are rarer and more dangerous breeds of the species.
Moveset Clone: Basilisks, Cockatrices, and Griffins share the same attack animations.
Our Gryphons Are Different: Spelled Griffin within the games and are of the eagle-lion mixture, with the head, talons, and wings of an eagle and body, legs, and tail of a lion. They are very shaggy and feral-looking, and fond of horse meat, like in the legends. Curiously, the one seen in the previews has its wings as part of its forelimbs, rather than as separate limbs.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Judging by the behaviour of the male griffin Geralt and Vesemir encounter in White Orchard, this is standard behaviour when they lose a mate (griffins mate for life when young). The griffin of White Orchard went on one of these after its mate was killed and their nest destroyed by Nilfgaardian soldiers- after slaughtering those responsible, the male griffin then went on to attack anything it encountered in the region.
Superboss: An Archgriffin guards a treasure on Sindhall Isle in Skellige and is the highest-level enemy in the base game of Wild Hunt. There is no indication that such a powerful creature lives there either, catching many unlucky players offguard.

Succubi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/succubus_tw3.png

Appears in: Lady of the Lake | The Witcher | Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

Although regarded as demons or monsters by most mortal beings, Succubi usually bear no ill will towards them. Instead they seek to quench their never-ending lust with any willing humanoid they meet. However, Succubi can still be dangerous, sometimes accidentally driving men to madness or death with their relentless sexual appetite or by draining too much life energy from their partners.

Dark Is Not Evil: They may have goat horns and legs and be mistaken as demons by most people, but Succubi are not naturally evil beings. They are more-or-less like any other sentient species when it comes to having different personalities and morality.
Dream Walker: They can often manifest themselves in the dreams of their targets, which they often use in an effort to seduce them.
Ethical Slut: They have an extremely high libido, but they're not inherently malicious beings and can in fact be quite friendly and civil.
Extreme Libido: A succubus never gets tired of sex, nor are they very picky about their partners. Trying to keep up with or take advantage of a succubus's insatiability will inevitably lead to dying in rather undignified manner.
Extreme Omnisexual: They are willing to have sex with any sentient humanoid being they meet, regardless of species or gender. Although one unnamed Succubus on Skellige tells Geralt she does not lay with Witchers because they too often smell of blood belonging to other monsters that she considers kin.
Fauns and Satyrs: They resemble satyrs in libido as well as appearance, with goat horns and hairy, hock-jointed, hooven legs. This does not even remotely hinder their appeal to their suitors, although they can also perform minor Glamour spells.
Head-Turning Beauty: They all look highly attractive, to an almost supernatural degree.
No Name Given: Besides Salma in the third game, the other two succubi that Geralt confronts are left unnamed.
Non-Malicious Monster: Succubi are typically quite friendly and have no desire to hurt anyone. Witchers tend to give them the benefit of the doubt and hear their side of any accusations laid against them.
No-Sell: They're completely immune to fire.
Out with a Bang: Most deaths attributed to Succubi stem from their lovers exhausting themselves with their repeated visits. Most Succubi try to persuade them not to keep coming or moderate themselves, but, being Succubi, do not refuse to have sex with them.
Rescue Sex: The Succubus in the second game offers sex to Geralt in exchange for him investigating Ele'yas for framing her for murder instead of executing her on the spot. In the third game, however, Salma is just angry when Geralt asks her to relocate and the unnamed Succubus on Skellige also refuses to have sex with him because she's offended that a Witcher might have saved her just for her beauty despite otherwise being a killer of monsters.
Sex Goddess: Having sex with them is an extremely satisfying experience, so much that it can to death by exhaustion that their sex partners willingly subject themselves to.
Succubi and Incubi: An unusual variation of the trope in that they are almost universally good beings, only killing people in self-defense or by accident. One Succubus on Skellige even takes the effort to give a proper burial to an old man who came to her repeatedly in spite of his chronic heart condition.
Unique Enemy: Since succubi all possess individuality, they are never just encountered randomly in the wild, and all of them can be spared.
- In The Witcher, Geralt in given a sidequest to deal with one in Murky Waters.
- In Assassins of Kings, Geralt encounters only one of them during the "With Flickering Heart" quest in Vergen.
- In Wild Hunt, there's a grand total of two Succubi that you can kill in the whole game, all of whom can be spared. Doing so, however, means you don't get the rare mutagens needed to make their affiliated decoctions.
Waif-Fu: Despite their delicate appearance, their slender limbs hide incredible brute strength.

Insectiods

Arachnomorph

Huge spider-like monsters.

All Webbed Up: They can fire webs at Geralt to slow him down.
Sneaky Spider: Their method of attack is to attack, then flee avoiding sword blows. While their prey gives chase, others flank from the side and attack.
Spiders Are Scary: CDP went to some length to make these things move with the speed and motion of a real spider, and it is difficult to convey just how upsetting that is transposed on something that's the size of a desk.
Spider Swarm: Nope, not lone hunters unfortunately. There's always a bunch of them, and a web-heavy nest.

Endrega

Appears in: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Insect-like monsters frequently found roaming forests on the Continent.

Acid Attack: Endrega workers and warriors have a poisonous bite.
Hive Caste System: There are three variants usually encountered: Drones, Workers, and Warriors
Tail Slap: Endrega Warriors have long tails they use as weapons.

Giant Centipede

Giant Centipede (Scolopendromorphs)

Appears in: Sword of Destiny | The Witcher | Blood and Wine

Commonly found in the forests of Brokilion and the duchy of Toussaint, giant centipedes are dangerous creatures that are widely feared by peasants.

Acid Attack: They have poisonous glands that can let them poison with a bite and spit acid bile.
Creepy Centipedes: Twelve feet long, razor sharp pincers, can tunnel underground, and have thick carapaces that make them difficult to kill.

Kikimore

Appears in: The Last Wish | The Witcher | Blood and Wine

Hive Caste System: There are 2 variants usually encountered: Workers and Warriors. There's also Kikimore Queen but Geralt rarely encounters one.

Necrophages

Monstrous and often humanoid creatures that feast on the dead.

Bloedzuiger

Defeat Equals Explosion:When they are close to death they will explode, damaging whatever is nearby.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Resembles nothing so much as a bipedal leech.

Drowners

Drowners / Mucknixers / Vodniks

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/drowner_tw3.png

Appears in: The Witcher | Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

Humanoids that resemble corpses dragged up from the water, Drowners are common sights along rivers, lakes, and coastlines. They typically scavenge their meals from carcasses, but have been known to pick off lone travelers or unwary bathers.

Aquatic Mook: Packs of Drowners are little more than a nuisance on land, but in the water they can be quite deadly thanks to their speed.
Elite Mooks: The Drowned Dead are a more powerful variety of Drowner that often command a pack of them.
Fish People: Their appearances has a fish-like resemblance.
The Usual Adversaries: These creatures are a common foe throughout all of the games. They were especially abundant in the first game.
Was Once a Man: Drowners are said to be transfigured bodies of evil men who were thrown into the water to drown or be disposed of whose vengeful spirts returned them as monsters. This is but a myth according to Witchers who have dissected Drowner bodies and found them to be a wholly different species.

Ghouls

Ghouls / Alghouls

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ghoul_and_alghoul_tw3.png

Top: Ghoul
Bottom: Alghoul

Appears in: The Witcher | Wild Hunt

"Ghouls creep and crawl at night
eating everything in sight
in a snap they'd eat you too
chop you up for a ghoulish stew!"

—A children's rhyme

One of the most common Necrophages seen throughout the Witcher world, Ghouls feed on the corpses of the recently deceased and are thus seen often in graveyards and battlefields. Wartime leads to an increase in Ghoul pack sightings and makes travel near recent battlefields dangerous.

Elite Mooks: Alghouls are more powerful Ghouls that serve as pack leaders and are distinguished by their darker skin, longer claws, and spikes on their back.
It Can Think: While Ghouls are for the most part mindless monsters that feed on corpses and any living creature that happens to get in their way, Alghouls are craftier and seek out the living for their meals.
Monstrous Humanoid: They look remarkably like humans, only twisted into something monstrous.
Our Ghouls Are Different: Fall under the category of Lovecraftian Ghouls, as like other monsters they originated during Conjunction of the Spheres, possibly coming from another dimension.
Spikes of Villainy: Alghouls feature these and can grow them out as a defensive measure.
Was Once a Man: One theory on their origin is that Ghouls were men forced to turn to cannibalism to survive and ended up becoming mutated monsters driven to feed on human flesh.

Rotfiends

Appears in Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

Appearing to be rotting corpses stripped of skin, Rotfiends are notable for their horrific smell. They numbers have increased dramatically in recent times due to the numerous battlefields left behind by the Northern Wars providng plenty of corpses for them to feed upon.

Defeat Equals Explosion: Whenever a Rotfiend is at very low health, they would explode and damage whatever is nearby.
Organ Drops: In Assassins of Kings their tongues can be harvested, while in Wild Hunt their blood is an alchemical indgredient.

Scurver

Scurvers

Appears in Blood and Wine

Defeat Equals Explosion: Similar to the Rotfiends, these creatures would explode before death.
Spikes of Villainy: These creatures are covered with spikes, which can make things very deadly when they explode.

Wights

Appears in Blood and Wine

Although horrific looking, Wights are unthreatening and wish only to be left alone to brew in peace, making their homes near ancient burial sites and more recent graveyards.

Enemy Summoner: These creatures would summon Barghests when they feel threatened.
Gargle Blaster: Wight brew is unspeakably foul, consisting mainly of whatever rotted offal they can scrape together basted in the wight's saliva. Geralt has the option to try some in Wild Hunt, and only his mutations save him from dropping dead on the spot.
Non-Malicious Monster: They are unaggressive and will only attack if someone enters their territory.

Foglets

In General

Foglets

Appers in: Wild Hunt

Monsters that dwell within swamps, forests, ruins, and mountain caves. They are cruel creatures, luring lost souls through their fogs and tricking them with magic and tricks into terrible deaths.

Graceful in Their Element: They're very dangerous when fought in foggy areas, they can use fog to both hide themselves to do stealthy attacks and make illusion of themselves as either a distraction or extra hand, but get them out of the fog and they're just slightly harder than a Nekker or Drowner.
Master of Illusion: They are able to create illusions to lure their prey in or drive them mad. A few Foglets in the valley where Kaer Morhen is create an image of a long dead Witcher trainee and mimic his cries for help to lure Geralt and Lambert into an ambush.
Ominous Fog: A heavy fog is a warning sign that these creatures are nearby.
Organ Drops: Teeth and a mutagen, both of which are needed to craft potion or bomb upgrades.
Stealthy Mook: Foglets tend to make themselves invisible before attacking their victim.
Self-Duplication: Foglets can make illusions of themselves which can harm their victim while the Foglet roams the area.

Ignis Fatuus

Appears in: Wild Hunt

An ancient foglet haunting Crookback Bog. Geralt is hired by Leslav of Downwarren to kill the creature after several peat diggers from the town were killed.

Body Horror: Most of its lower torso is missing, giving Geralt a wonderful of view of its guts and spine.
Crippling Overspecialization: Very dangerous when fought amidst the fog, but apparently they can't get out it, which makes them easy to cheese by shooting them with crossbow from outside the fog
Flunky Boss: It will be supported by a few weak foglets during the fight.
King Mook: It's a stronger version of a normal foglet and has a unique character model.
Large and in Charge: They are bigger than the average foglet and seem to lead their own pack.
Master of Illusion: It has great skill at crafting illusions. It covers its tracks from the scene of its attacks by putting illusionary rocks over them, and the entrance to its lair is hidden behind a fake rock wall.
Stronger with Age: To be so powerful Ignis Fatuus has to be at least two-hundred years old, making it far stronger and more intelligent than the average foglet.
Unblockable Attack: It's so strong that its blows cannot be blocked and deal a great deal of damage, beyond what even a typical foglet does.

Hags

In General

Water Hags / Grave Hags

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hags.png

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Horrific creatures that come in two main varieties: Water Hags which reside in lakes, rivers, ponds, and swamps and are frequently found in the company of Drowners, and Grave Hags, which are attracted to mass graves and graveyards to feast upon the remains of the dead before turning to the live to satisfy their hunger.

Absurdly Sharp Claws: Their claws are long, sharp, and deadly, with the bestiary entry noting that they can be worse than a werewolf's.
Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: Apparently, they can have relations with humans, although judging by the way one horrified bard on Skellige talks about his "beloved" it is not a pleasant or entirely willing experience.
Fan Disservice: Hags are covered in boney portursions, bile, and having saggy horrific looking bodies, none of which they cover up with cloathing.
Interface Screw: Hags can throw mud at Geralt, which temporarily covers the screen along with making Geralt more vulnerable.
Multipurpose Tongue: Grave hags can attack from a distance by using their tongue as a whip, although Geralt can counterattack and cut off their tongue when they do so.
Skeletons in the Coat Closet : Hags often wear bones of their victims, although whether they do so as trophies, armor, or simple decoration is unclear.
Was Once a Man: Some believe that hags are created when a woman drinks too much. While the truth of this is unknown, the Three Crones of Brookback Bog possess the ability to curse people into becoming hags, as they do the Bloody Baron's wife Anna if the orphans she was caring for are rescued before they can devour them.
Weakened by the Light: Grave hags are hurt by sunlight and are typically only awake and active at night.
Weak to Fire: Water Hags are vulnerable to fire but the fact that water and bilge hags are often in watery or swampy areas makes lighting them on fire difficult.

Mourntart

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Somebody's doing some cooking... This... it's a human femur... a child's.

—Geralt of Rivia

A large grave hag that has been terrorizing the town of Lindenvale by digging up graves in the cemetery, kidnapping and even eating the isolated village's young children. After luring her out by taking some of the remains of her last meal from her lair Geralt fights and eventually slays the foul creature in the cemetery.

Blue-and-Orange Morality: She is outraged that Geralt stole the skulls from her lair, accusing him of being a thief and declaring if he wanted skulls he should dig up his own. Being a hag, she views this as an offense punishable by death while ignoring the fact she killed and ate a child from the nearby village.
Child Eater: Most grave hags make do feeding on the flesh of the dead but a few eventually grow bold enough to stalk into settlements in the dead of night to feast on the young and elderly. Mourntart is one such hag and has been kidnapping and devouring children from the small village of Lindenvale.
It Can Think: Most hags encountered in the game are basically mindless beasts that do nothing but attack anything that gets close to them. Mourntart, on the other hand, is capable of rational though and even human speech. She is not at all happy with Geralt for disturbing her lair.
Mourntart: Thief! Skulls he stole... MY SKULLS! Ought to dig up his own...
King Mook: She is a more powerful and deadlier version of the regular grave hags. Geralt determines she is drawing her power from a nearby Place of Power utilizing three skulls arranged in a ritual fashion.

Ogroids

In General

Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Unlike the books, no ogres appear in-game but there is a category in the bestiary called Ogroids. Notable Orgroids include trolls, Cyclops, giants, and various goblin-like creatures.

Nekkers

Nekkers / Phoocas

Appears in: Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

Small but ferocious creatures that tend to live in woodland burrows that feature numerous tunnels allowing them easy access to the territories around their lairs.

Absurdly Sharp Claws: They mainly attack with their long, sharp, and deadly claws.
Dig Attack: Nekkers tend to burrow underground and ambush those above.
Elite Mooks: Nekker warriors are stronger and larger Nekkers who wear red face paint to distinguish their authority with a Nekker pack.
Improvised Armour: Some Nekkers wear animal skulls as helmet.
Stock Sound Effect: In the Witcher 2, Nekkers tend to make stock jungle cat noises.
Zerg Rush: The Nekkers tend to attack in large numbers.

Trolls

Trolls / Rock Trolls / Ice Trolls

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rocktroll_tw3.png

Appears in: Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

All Trolls Are Different: Unlike most monsters, they're not instinct-driven animals and they can be reasoned with, even if their reasoning can be incredibly off-kilter. They have a penchant for building, guarding, and repairing bridges. They also come in several varieties of subspecies, with the third game including the stony-hided Rock Trolls and the frostier (and aggressive) Ice Trolls.
Always Chaotic Evil: Ice trolls normally tend to be aggressive and murderous, due to their isolation giving them limited contact with civilization.
Ambiguous Innocence: Most trolls don't understand the human concept of morality nor have the capacity for long-term thinking. For example, one troll just outside of Oxenfurt was "recruited" by soldiers to guard boats they stole from peasants. The troll proudly agreed, but when the peasants came to reclaim their boats and started fighting the guards, the troll accidentally killed everyone simply trying to break up the fight and then ate them in a stew since otherwise all that meat would go to waste. The same troll then tore apart the boats he was guarding to make a fence to guard the boats.
Drowning My Sorrows: The Flotsam troll isn't tending his bridge because he's too drunk to do so - and he's robbing people because it takes quite a lot of alcohol to sozzle a troll. As it turns out, he fell into this state after some mercenaries murdered his wife.
Insane Troll Logic: Appropriately enough, trolls are prone to...interesting leaps of logic, such as one making a fence out of boats he was asked to protect so that no one could steal them. He would have made a regular fence, but the boats were the only source of wood.
Troll Bridge: It's not unusual for trolls to build or take control of a bridge, charge people a toll to cross it, and clobber those who don't. However, it turns out most folk are fine with this arrangement because it's cheaper to pay the troll's toll than to maintain the bridge themselves. In The Witcher 2, the local peasants go so far as to tell Geralt to not kill the local troll who has a contract on his head, but instead find out why he's not tending to his bridge.
You No Take Candle: Trolls talk like this. They also eschew any proper nouns, referring to themselves as "troll" and others by their race or profession. However, it's still easy to understand what they say as most trolls are surprisingly articulate.

Giants

Golyat

Appears in: Blood and Wine

A giant that lives upon the slopes of Mount Gorgon that descends upon the farmlands to routinely devour livestock and the occasional farmhand.

Forced Transformation: According to local legends, he was once a knight who violated his vows and was transformed into a monster as punishment.
Go for the Eye: If Geralt manages to shoot the giant in the eye, it's a One-Hit Kill. There is an achievement for this called "David and Golyat".
Improvised Armour: His armor is cobbled together from scrap metal and other random items, including a barrel for a helmet. The armor seemingly being an attempt to recreate knightly attire would lend credence to the legends that Golyat is a cursed knight.

Myrhyff

Appears in: Wild Hunt

A massive ice giant that recently awoke on the island of Undvik in Skellige. Its rampage caused the evacuation of the entire island. Warriors from across Skellige dream of slaying Myrhyff for the prestige and honor such a deed would bring, but most are too terrified to risk even sailing near Undvik.

Blue Means Cold: As is appropriate for an ice giant. Skellige legend claims that ice giants have blue skin because they were literally born of ice and snow.
The Dreaded: Plenty of Skillige warriors openly admit that facing Myrhyff is the one thing that does terrify them. A warrior who lived through the rampage and evacuation of Undvik declares it was the only time in his life he ran from battle and he feels no shame over it.
Epic Flail: He wields a ship anchor and its chain as a flail when Geralt tries to slay Myrhyff.
Flunky Boss: He summons Sirens to fight alongside him during his battle against Geralt, and its mentioned that when Myrhyff awoke and began his rampage Sirens swarmed the island and assisted him. There is a connection between Sirens and giants among Skellige's myths, with the winged giant Hräsvelg supposedly being the father of all Sirens, causing them to seek other giants to live near and serve.
An Ice Person: Besides being resistant to the cold, Myrhyff draws power from it and is at his powerful when there are blizzards.
Last of Its Kind: Myrhyff is believed to be the last living ice giant, which had been previously thought to be extinct before he awoke. Geralt is the first Witcher to encounter one in possibly centuries.
Not So Extinct: During the final mission the Second Conjunction starts summoning monsters everywhere, including several Ice Giants.

Relicts

Ancient and mysterious beings from bygone ages. Often found in the forests away from human civilization, many relicts are intelligent, unique, and have strange powers. Even the unintelligent beasts in this category of monster have powers few other creatures posses.

Godlings

In General

Godlings

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Small humanoid woodland creatures who live in burrow and moss-covered stumps near the outskirts of human civilization. Child-like in both body and mind, Godlings are drawn to innocence and joy and care for their territory, performing acts of kindness to all creatures living there.

Endangered Species: As human civilization grows, the old ways forgotten, and forests are cut down, Godlings have become rarer and rarer.
Friend to All Children: Being child-like, Godlings prefer the company of children and typically only reveal themselves to them and not adults.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Often when the village they watch over grows too large, noisy, and crass they abandon their barrows and depart for an unknown location.

Johnny

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Voiced by: Bernard Lewandowski (English)^{additional VAs}

A Godling who dwells in Crookback Bog. He assists Geralt in his search for Ciri and advises him on how to deal with the Crones. Although he and the Ladies of the Wood do not like each other, they tolerate the other's presence within the bog.

Added Alliterative Appeal: Loves to shout out long tongue-twister sentences that are alliterative.
Deadpan Snarker: Ironically for someone who is introduced having literally lost his voice, Johnny gets more than a couple good zingers against Geralt, himself no stranger to this trope.
Facepalm: While making very obvious motions indicating he wants Geralt to follow him, Geralt can obliviously ask what Johnny wants him to do. Cue Johnny looking dumbstruck and facepalming.
Nice Guy: Like most Godlings, Johnny is a friendly and helpful being who watches over Crookback Bog and tries to counteract some of the Crones' negative influence.
Speaks Fluent Animal: He is friends with the birds of the forest, with the exception of the ravens, who work for the Crones.
The Speechless: Literally when you first meet him. The Crones took away his voice and Geralt has to help get it back.
What the Hell, Hero?: If Geralt kicks Sarah out of her house in Novigrad, she will come to live with Johnny, who will be extremely upset with Geralt the next time they meet for being mean to her. He only forgives the Witcher because Sarah points out they never would have met otherwise.

Other Relicts

The Caretaker

Appears in: Wild Hunt

A mysterious being summoned by Olgierd von Everic to guard and care for his estate.

The Blank: Whatever face it may have had has been scooped out and replaced with a smooth expense of flesh and a gash in the vague shape of a mouth.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: It was supposed to protect Olgierd's house and its grounds. It did, partly by maintaining the gardens and doing housework, but also by killing any visitors and burying them regardless of their intentions.
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: In regards to Geralt's encyclopedic knowledge of monsters and other beasts; whatever this thing is is completely foreign to Geralt, and that fact terrifies him.
Humanoid Abomination: It looks human, save for the fact that it has no face, but it's implied to be some kind of otherworldly being summoned to serve Iris. After defeating it, Geralt examines it and says it had no right to be alive, the way its body was.
Improbable Weapon User: It packs a mean punch with its shovel. Geralt can wield it himself after killing the creature, and it has the ability to restore health each time it deals damage.
Life Drain: The main part of the challenge presented by the Caretaker is in it sucking health out of other things to add to its own life bar. It even summons enemies solely to kill them and restore itself.

Chort

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Smaller cousins of the Fiend, Chorts are still vicious creatures haunt the woods and can kill most creatures and people with ease.

Evil Versus Evil: Their natural enemies are fiends, and they'll fight each other on sight.
Organ Drops: Their hides can be harvested, and while not needed for crafting any potions or armor they can be sold for a fair amount of gold.
Regenerating Health: The Chort can heal their wounds at a rapid pace.
Video Game Cruelty Punishment: If you kill too many cows in White Orchard, a high level Chort known as the Bovine Defense Force will spawn and make short work of Geralt. Only a high level Witcher stands a chance of defeating it, and even then it's a tough fight.

Dopplers

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Kryptonite Factor: Dopplers are vulnerable to silver and it can prevent them from transforming.
Our Werewolves Are Different: Its weakness to silver causes sorcerers to theorise that I the Doppler might be related to the werewolf with a more advanced shapeshifting ability.
Shapeshifter Baggage: They can only turn into something with similar body mass, so no mice or mastodons. Any clothes or weapons took off them in their shifted form will turn into torn flesh.
Unique Enemy: There's only one Doppler that you can kill in the whole game. He can be spared but doing so, however, means you don't get the rare mutagens needed to make their affiliated decoctions.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: A doppler can take on the appearance of any person or animal.

Fiends

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Massive three-eyed creatures with large antlers which live in forests, swamps, and bogs. They are among the most dangerous monsters: a single fiend can wipe out an entire hunting part with ease.

Blinded by the Light: A good tactic against fiends is to disorientate them with a Samun bomb before they can hypnotise their opponent.
Interface Screw: When the player is under the hypnosis effect, the screen will be drastically darkened.
Organ Drops: Their third eye and dung can be collected and used in certain recipes.
Regenerating Health: Any wounds they receive will heal at lightning speed.
Third Eye: Their third eye can hypnotize their victim.

Leshens

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leshen_tw3.png

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Nature spirits with bodies made of wood and a deer's skull for a head, they possess the power to control animals in their immediate vicinity and draw strength from the plant life around them.

Ancient Evil: Being forest spirits, Leshen are often centuries old and have caused untold suffering over their lives.
Creepy Crows: Can control crows and use them in several attacks.
Gaia's Vengeance: Leshen do not take well to intrusions into their domain, particularly ones that involve the destruction of their forest. Geralt can find a sawmill in Skellige that was wiped out by a Leshen and takes a contract to kill a Leshen in the forest outside of Novigrad that killed a group of dwarven loggers.
Guest Fighter: The only monster from the series to appear in another franchise - it was added as free DLC for Monster Hunter: World.
Humanoid Abomination: Although humanoid, it has plenty of traits that establish its otherworldly nature. It should be noted that it's not even clear what exactly they even are. They could just be especially powerful monsters, spirits of nature, or even full-blown physical avatars of the forest itself.
Nature Spirit: A forest spirit that draws power from the surrounding vegetation.
Non-Malicious Monster: One found in Skellige is, while still dangerous, not inherently aggressive, and is actually responsible for the nearby village's warrior prowess. It's up to Geralt as to whether he will kill the creature, in accordance with the younger generation's view, or renew their pact with the creature, as the older generation requests.
Skull for a Head: A Sinister Deer Skull, to be exact.
Wendigo: Whilst it is based upon a Polish legend, its design (extremely thin body, deer's skull for a head) certainly evokes the Native American monster.
When Trees Attack: One of their common attacks is to shoot out roots from the ground to impale their foes.

Shaelmaar

Appears in: Blood and Wine

Blind monsters that live deep underground within massive tunnel systems that sometimes weaken building foundations. They are not frequently encountered by people, but when they are, Shaelmaar can be among the most vicious of beasts devour all they encounter.

Attack Its Weak Point: The underbelly of the creature is its most vulnerable spot.
Dig Attack: At times,a Shaelmaar will dig its way to the surface and devour any men within its reach.
Giant Enemy Crab: They have a crab-like appearance.
Look Behind You: Since shaelmaars are blind and detect their prey through vibrations, a good tactic is to throw a bomb at a hard surface nearby; the shaelmaar will roll up to attack the disturbance, only to crash and leave its underbelly exposed.
Mix-and-Match Critters: They look like a combination between a mole, a crab, and an armadillo.
Rolling Attack: When threatened, a Shaelmaar will curl up in a ball and roll forward with tremendous impetus, becoming an unstoppable force crushing everything in its path.

Spriggan

Appears in: Blood and Wine

A subspecies of the Leshen, frequently found in the deep woods that are normally inaccessible to people.

Non-Malicious Monster: Spriggans are not normally aggressive and will not seek confrontation with people or attack without reason. Intruding upon their domains and harming the plants within them will provoke a response.
Weak to Fire: Being a plant based creature, fire can easily bring down Spriggans during combat.

Sylvan

Sylvan / Yaksahs

Appears in: The Last Wish | Wild Hunt

A rare species of goat men whose behavior can range from playful and friendly to manipulative and greedy.

Big Red Devil: One Sylvan encountered in Wild Hunt named Fugas works for the Ladies of the Woods and very much resembles a fat devil, having red skin, prominent horns, and a nasty attitude.
Fauns and Satyrs: The Sylvan of the Witcherverse resemble the classical depiction of satyrs.
A God Am I: One sidequest in Wild Hunt has Geralt encounter a Sylvan who calls himself the Allgod. He has convinced the local villagers he's a god to they give him excessive sacrifices of food to placate him in exchange for advice, causing him to grow tremendously fat in the process. Geralt can kill him, convince him to tone down the demands (since the villagers are starving due to the war), or show them the man behind the curtain. In the Sylvan's defense, he says that he gives valuable advice in exchange for worship and the villagers are deeply stupid.
Unique Enemy: There are only two Sylvans in the main game, and only one of them needs to be killed over the course of the main quest.

Specters

Barghest

Appears in: The Witcher | Blood and Wine

Spectral hounds that are frequently found upon the sites of tragedy.

Curse: Many Witchers believe that Barghests are not sent by gods or demons, but are actually the results of curses or powerful concentrations of ill will.
Hell Hound: They're ghostly spirits in the shape of demonic dogs that many believe come to punish the sinful. They typically manifest in places that have especially bloody histories.
Organ Drops: Their essence can be collected from their remains in Blood and Wine, although there is no use for them beyond being sold.

Hym

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hym_tw3.png

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Spirits that haunt those who feel genuine guilt over past acts in their life, driving their victims to despair and madness.

Dark Is Evil: Shadow beings that feed of guilt, (regardless of whether or not that guilt is warranted) and drive their victims to Death by Despair.
Demonic Possession: They attach themselves to hosts as their shadows and speak to them to influence their actions, although they cannot actually control their hosts.
Emotion Eater: It feeds on the emotional torment of its victims. The greater the guilt of the victim, the better the feast for the Hym. If their host isn't feeling enough torment, they can drive them to madness and self-harm to feed upon. They can be banished by tricking them into switching to a fresh host who hasn't actually committed the crime they feel guilt over, meaning there is nothing for the Hym to feed on, but it can only work if the false host sincerely believes in their own guilt before being absolved.
Karma Houdini: It would be easy to believe that Hym's victims deserve their fate due to their crimes, but Hym's are attracted to guilt, not crimes. Someone who believed themselves guilty of something they did not do would be punished, but a murderer who took no shame in his crimes has nothing to fear.
Living Shadow: The Hym is a spectral entity that takes the place of the shadow of a person wrecked with guilt and feeds from their emotional torment, eventually forcing them to engage in self-harm. They can be banished by tricking them into switching to a fresh host who hasn't actually committed the crime they feel guilt over, but it can only work if the false host sincerely believes in their own guilt.
Vampiric Draining: Witcher's bestiaries say a Hym can be defeated by spending a night in its lair with its victim. However, this comes with two risks: firstly, being in the Hym's lair will cause the afflicted extreme pain, which the Hym will draw strength from, making it a greater threat to the witcher trying to slay it. Secondly, while the Hym won't deliberately try to kill its host, there is a risk the pain being in its lair inflicts might kill the afflicted individual.

The Ghost in the Tree

Appears in: Wild Hunt

A mysterious spirit that inhabits an ancient oak atop the Whispering Hillock within the swamps of Velen.

Botanical Abomination: This thing is likely far more than a just a simple spirit. Depending on how accurate the legends of Velen are, it is likely that it was the mother, or some equivalent, of the Crones of Crookback Bog. Like the Witches, she was given gifts and sacrifices, but eventually went mad and was killed by her daughters to save the region, with her spirit being trapped within the tree.
Evil Versus Evil: The conflict between the spirit and the Crones is this.
Hate Plague: Wipes out most of the village of Downwarren with one if it is released. It suddenly showed up, and the villages went mad and began murdering each other. Mothers killed their babies, sons their fathers, until there was barely anyone left alive in the village.
Hellish Horse: Geralt can help transfer the spirit to a black mare that becomes known as Black Beauty, causing the mare to develop glowing red eyes and go on a murderous rampage through the countryside.
Mysterious Past: Claims to have been a druid that abandoned its circle and was killed by the Crones for defying them, although Geralt notes that he has never heard of a druids circle in Velen. Another theory put forth in various legends states the spirit was the mother of the Crones.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: The mare Geralt can transfer the spirit to gains glowing red eyes.
Sadistic Choice: Offers one to Geralt: help it escape the tree to gain revenge while also helping the children the Crones have escape or kill it and leave the children to the mercy of the Crones.
Sealed Evil in a Can: It was killed and imprisoned inside a tree by the Crones, but by the time Wild Hunt begins, it shows signs of exerting influence to the surrounding woodland.

Wraiths

In General

Wraiths

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wraith_tw3.png

Appears in: The Witcher | Assassins of Kings | Wild Hunt

"Finish all your business before you die. Bid your loved ones farewell. Write your will. Apologize to those you've wronged. Otherwise, you'll never truly leave this world."

-–Paule Vikar, peasant healer, advice to a dying man

Spirits of the dead who continue to haunt the realm of the living. Frequently found at night in graveyards and abandoned ruins, some varieties do appear at other times in specific areas important to their past life.

Arbitrary Skepticism: There are several characters who declare that they do not believe in ghosts or spirits despite clear evidence of their existence.
Barred from the Afterlife: The well-documented existence of spirits in the Witcherverse causes In-Universe debates about what this means regarding the afterlife. Some insist that just because spirits exist does not mean that the afterlife does as well and that other magical explanations can be found for their existence and how some appear to "pass on" once they have been aided. Yennefer believes ghosts are merely "echoes" of a person who died.
Fire Keeps It Dead: Burning the human remains of someone who turned into a Wraith weakens their hold on the world and makes it easier to permanently destroy the spirit.
Haunted Fetter: Objects of great importance, ranging from extreme sentimental value to murder weapons, can help tie a spirit to the world. Destroying that item along with the human remains helps prevent the spirit from returning when destroyed.
Intangibility: In Wild Hunt, Wraiths can become mostly intangible, causing all attacks against them to barely do any damage. The Yrden sign or moon dust is able to make them corporeal again, or at least as corporeal as a ghost can be.
Money Spider: Monster remains can be sold, but special mention goes to Wraiths, which can drop pulverized precious gem dust. They can fetch quite a bit of coin at sale, or could be used for forging runes and glyphs, and ruins are often lousy with wraiths.
Our Ghosts Are Different: Wraiths and ghosts come in many varieties. Noonwraiths, for example, normally only appear during midday and are mostly impervious to damage unless under the influence of an Yrden sign or Moon Dust bomb.

Unfinished Business: Many Wraiths come about because people died with something important left undone, for vengeance upon their killer, or the traumatic nature of their death driving their spirit to madness. Taking care of that unfinished business can cause some Wraiths to fade away peacefully, or simply weaken them enough to be destroyed.

Noonwraith

In General

Ghosts of young women. As their name suggests, they tend to appear in the middle of the day.

Asteroids Monster: They can split into copies of themselves.
Ethereal White Dress: They typically wear faded white garments such as wedding dresses and are vengeful specters that haunt areas where they died around the middle of the day.
Iconic Item: The bestiary remarks that if a peasant should find a bit of cloth placed in a field, it probably belongs to a noonwraith, and he should leave it alone.
Light Is Not Good: They wear bright white clothing and typically appear in the middle of the day but are just as dangerous as any other wraith and will kill anyone they see on sight.
Unfinished Business: Usually, some sort of curse is what binds a noonwraith and doesn't allow her to leave the world.

Devil by the Well

Devil by the Well / Claer

Appears in: Wild Hunt

"Wears a dirty dress, all rags, its skin flakin' off its bones. And it howls... like it's sufferin'."

—Odolan of White Orchard

A noonwraith haunting a well in a small abandoned village just outside of White Orchard. In life, the Devil by the Well was a young woman named Claer who was engaged. However, she angered her village's former lord, who massacred the inhabitants and hung Claer in a well, which she now haunts.

Be Careful What You Wish For: Declares in her journal that no matter what Lord Verrieres' is planning on saying to them, she will not "move one inch from [Hovel]". This declaration likely helped contribute to her transformation into a noonwraith.
Happily Married: To Volker. Witnessing his murder and then being dragged out of their house and hanged in the well is what drove her to remain bound to the village.
Haunted Fetter: An ornate bracelet given to her by her husband Volker on the day they moved to Hovel. Geralt burns it along with her remains to ensure she cannot return again after he destroys her spirit.
Too Dumb to Live: Her death and the massacre of her village was due to her making a comment about Lord Verrieres' son, who recently committed suicide after it was discovered he was gay, during negotiations. Verrieres was well-known for his murderous temper, and although trying to be a better person out of guilt over his son's death, flew into a rage at this taunt and started the massacre.

The White Lady

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Micko and his band? Who're they?

Four lads, drunkards and good-for-nothin's, all. They'd drained

a few pints and decided they'd all plough the White Lady,

maybe then she'd bugger off.

—Conversation overheard in a field outside Novigrad

Formally a young bride named Luzi who abandoned her own wedding, ran off into the nearby fields and committed suicide by slitting her wrists. Now her spirit haunts the farming grounds outside Novigrad and stalks anyone who dares venture near them to harvest the grain within. This leaves the local peasants with two choices: gather up enough coin for a a witcher or starve via famine.

Driven to Suicide: After fleeing her own wedding she takes her own life in the fields outside of Novigrad. Now her spirit haunts the place as The White Lady and kills anyone who comes near.
Mugging the Monster: Apparently a bunch of drunk peasants decided to try and rape the noonwraith (never mind that this is physically impossible to begin with) to chase her off and reclaim the fields. It went about as well as expected.
Runaway Bride: In life, her parents wanted her to marry a wealthy but elderly smith in Novigrad. Instead, she fled from the wedding and into the nearby fields to commit suicide by cutting open her wrists and bleeding out.

Nightwraith

In General

Nightwraith

Nightwraiths exude this immense sadness, this helpless

wraith... I fear them, same as anyone. But most of all I feel

sorry for them.

—Aelline Altsparr, elven trobairitz

Ghosts of young women, these dangerous creatures stalk in the dead of night.

Asteroids Monster: They can split into several copies of themselves.
Dark Is Evil: Spectral ghost ladies that appear by moonlight and attack travelers that venture too close? Yeah, pretty sure they're evil...
Unfinished Business: They tend to have this before passing on.
Weakened by the Light: They typically appear at around midnight when their power is at its strongest. While direct sunlight doesn't seem to kill them outright it does drastically weaken them.

Jenny o' the Woods

Appears in: Wild Hunt

"So... That's to mean... our Zula's the wraith?"

—Bolko, ealdorman of Midcopse

The vengeful ghost of a young woman named Zula who was murdered by an envious man as she and her lover tried to escape the village in the dead of night. Now her haunted spirit seeks vengeance on the entire town of Midcopse as well as anyone who disturbs her near midnight.

From Nobody to Nightmare: She was just an ordinary woman who only wanted to be with her lover until a jealous man from Midcopse killed her for rejecting him. Now she's putting the entire town in serious danger as a deadly vengeful Nightwraith.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After rejecting the advances of another man she is hunted down and murdered in the woods near Midcopse. As a result she begins stalking the woods and killing anyone who comes near her, with the implication that the entire village might have been wiped out if Geralt hadn't come along to put an end to her.

Vampires

One of the most powerful creatures that crossed over during the Conjunction of Spheres. Most vampires have a lesser intelligence and are merely mindless beasts who crave blood. However, higher vampires are extremely intelligent and do not rely on blood to survive. Their morality differs quite differently from most sapient species, although some do befriend mortals.

Alp

Appears in: The Witcher | Blood and Wine

Cousins of the Bruxa, Alps are similar to their fellow high vampires in several ways but have one key difference. Instead of being able to turn invisible, Alps can turn into fog and move noiselessly.

Animorphism: While they usually take on a female appearance, they can also take on the form of different animals.
Body Horror: They are naked women covered in disturbing pulsating wounds.
Daywalking Vampire: Implied when Geralt guesses that Vereena might be an alp because she's not hurt by sunlight.
Full-Frontal Assault: Similar to the Bruxa, the Alp would take on the form of a naked woman.
Instant Sedation: Their saliva can put their victim to sleep.
Make Me Wanna Shout: They can use a sonic scream similarly to the Bruxa.

Bruxae

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bruxa_tw3.png

Appears in: The Last Wish | The Witcher | Assassins of Kings | Blood and Wine

A category of higher vampire whose level of intelligence can vary greatly. While most Bruxae do not speak and reside far away from population centers to avoid danger and hunt lone travelers, others can speak the common tongue, pass as normal humans, and live within towns and cities.

Bat People: They can take the form of a giant bat.
Cute Monster Girl: In the first game, Bruxae are quite beautiful and curvy naked vampire women smeared in blood. The second and third games make them more ghastly and emaciated.
Daywalking Vampire: It doesn't seem to bother them at all.
Degraded Boss: The first Bruxa you fight in Blood and Wine is a pretty tough boss fight. After that, they are still difficult but easier to deal with.
Elite Mook: They are rarely encountered but are fierce challenges when they do appear.
Full-Frontal Assault: They cast off whatever clothes they might wear in their human disguise when they go on the offensive.
Game Face: They can disguise themselves as humans before revealing their monstrous form.
Make Me Wanna Shout: A Bruxa's sonic scream is one of their most potent weapons, as it can knock down and stun their prey.
One-Gender Race: All Bruxae appear to be female.
Speaks Fluent Animal: Most of the more powerful types of vampires communicate with birds, but Bruxae are particularly fond of them and a telltale sign that one is around is if many kinds of birds are chirping at once.

Ekimmara

Appears in: Wild Hunt

A lower vampire which are more animalistic than their higher brethren and kill in a vicious manner.

Organ Drops: Their hide can be skilled and used to craft two levels of the cursed oil. They can also be harvested for vampire fangs and saliva, alongside a number of other generic monster parts.
Our Vampires Are Different: Unlike other vampires, these ones do not resemble a human form. They instead have the appearance of an overgrown bat.
Regenerating Health: Their ability to regenerate makes them a very dangerous foe.
Vampire Bites Suck: They do not suck blood from the necks of virgins with a delicate, kiss-like bite – they tear them to shreds using long, sharp claws and then slurp the splattered blood off the ground.

Sarasti

Appears in: Wild Hunt

An old and extremely dangerous ekimmara terrorising the village of Byways in Velen.

Ancient Tomb: He dwells in an ancient elven tomb beneath the village.
Dead Guy on Display: His lair is full of dangling corpses, no doubt so he can feed on them later.
Evil Takes a Nap: Sarasti was hibernating underground for over a century before his slumber was interrupted.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: His killing of a detachment of Nilfgaardian soldiers gets this reaction from their commander (enough that he's willing to hire a witcher); while they didn't know the exact nature of the killer, there were no Redanian forces nearby that could have staged an ambush, and bandits wouldn't be stupid enough to attack Nilfgaardians, meaning the culprit could only be a monster.
Sealed Evil in a Can: When the villagers of Byways discovered Sarasti hibernating in the tunnels under the village, they collapsed the tunnels to seal him in. Unfortunately, soon after, some Nilfgaardian soldiers heard rumours of treasure buried under the village and reopened the tunnels to investigate. The reawoken Sarastri killed them all.

Fleder

Appears in: The Witcher | Blood and Wine

While one of the weaker subspecies of lesser vampires, Fleders are nevertheless vile and dangerous creatures despite their low intelligence.

Bat Out of Hell: They resemble gargantuan, humanoid bats.
Organ Drops: Geralt can harvest vampire blood from them to sell or for alchemy and crafting.
Scary Teeth: Has massive fangs compared to most vampires.

Garkain

Appears in: The Witcher | Blood and Wine

Lesser vampires which kill in brutal and bloody fashion.

Bloody Horror: They tear their victims apart and drink the blood from the carnage.
Body Horror: Their brains appear to be on the outside of their skulls.

Higher Vampires

Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Higher vampires can kill humans and other monsters without a problem, but killing others of their own kind is a huge taboo — mostly because doing so renders them Deader than Dead, beyond the reach of their Resurrective Immortality. After Regis breaks the rule to bring an end to the chaos, other vampires start going after him.
Game Face: When the Higher Vampires are overcome by rage or bloodlust, their faces warp into an animalistic shape. It's not really a "true form" because their real bodies are incorporeal, but it makes it clear when they've lost their faculties.
Humanoid Abomination: This is what the Higher Vampires essentially boil down to: all-but-immortal creatures from another dimension whose true bodies are completely immaterial, and whose physical forms can warp into horrible abominations when their emotions get the better of them. In ages past they considered humans essentially livestock and cultivated them with such finesse that people never even realised that their lives were manipulated by supernatural apex predators from birth to death.
Looks Like Orlok: The Higher Vampires bear varying degrees of resemblance to this trope when they get their Game Face on. Probably the one closest is Regis, due to his partial baldness and extremely long and sharp incisors.
Older Than They Look:They can be over centuries old yet can still look young.
Our Vampires Are Different: While vampires are around in the base game, Blood and Wine features them as a major presence in the plot. The mysterious and powerful Higher Vampires especially show a whole culture of their own, and the expansion goes to some lengths to establish the differences between them and their lesser brethren. Regis is, as usual, a font of knowledge on the subject. They're unharmed by any of the traditional weaknesses; they don't spread their nature to humans (being a separate shape-shifting species that arrived during the Conjunction); they live even longer than elves, which means they're often highly learned and skilled in whatever they pursue; they're extremely strong, fast and magically powerful; they can give up drinking blood, but it's extremely difficult; they have their own fairly rigid rules and traditions; and each region of their territory is ruled by an Unseen Elder.
Red Right Hand: The Higher Vampires have longer, sharper teeth than normal people in their human form (not just their canines, as is typical for pop-culture vampires; all their teeth). It's not to the point where they look monstrous, but it's a clear sign for those who know to look.
Wolverine Claws: Enraged higher vampires gain them, and they can use them to dismember even people in full plate armor.

Katakan

In General

Katakan / Nekurats

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Although not as intelligent or powerful as Higher Vampires, Katakan can take human form and function within society while convincingly hiding their true nature.

Invisibility: They have the ability to turn invisible, but can be tracked by their shadow or hit with moon dust to reveal them.
Organ Drops: Vampire fangs and saliva, along with a chance for a Katakan mutogen.
Weakened by the Light: Legends have it that sunlight turns Katakans to ash. This is unfortunately not true, but their regeneration is slowed to almost nothing in the sun's rays.
Weak to Fire: They are vulnerable to fire.

Gael

Appears in: Wild Hunt

A Katakan prowling the night streets of Oxenfurt, preying on the city's drunk inhabitants.

The Alcoholic: All of its victims are heavily intoxicated. Gael has apparently become addicted to blood with heavy alcohol levels, necessitating that Geralt gets hammered in order to draw him out.
Creepy Souvenir: Collects jewelry as trophies from its victims and wears them.
Cowardly Boss: Once his health is down by half, Gael will flee back to his lair to try and escape Geralt, who tracks Gael down and finishes the vampire off.
Failed Attempt at Drama: When he begins stalking Geralt, Gael tries to be creepy and menacingly talks about drinking Geralt's blood with echo sound effects. Being highly drunk, Geralt simply yells out at the vampire to cut its shit and fight.
King Mook: He is a stronger and more powerful version of the Katakan with a unique character model.
Underestimating Badassery: Clearly was not expecting the fight Geralt put up. However, even after being wounded and fleeing, when Geralt attacks Gael in his lair he tells the Witcher to flee while he still can. The Witcher, of course, kills the beast in response.

SPOILER CHARACTER

Hubert Rejk

Appears in: Wild Hunt

A Katakan disguised as a human coroner; he is a serial killer who ritualistically murders people in the name of the Eternal Fire.

Boomerang Bigot: He is a devotee of the Eternal Fire, despite the church's virulent racism toward nonhumans.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He pretends to be a helpful coroner assisting Geralt with his investigation into the recent ritual murders and attempt on Priscilla's life, but he turns out to be the murderer.
Older Than They Look: One early clue that he may not be human is that he looks to be no older than his forties, despite having been the elderly Joachim von Gratz's professor in Oxenfurt decades ago. He claims working with embalming chemicals for so long has kept him from aging, but... well, look where his character is listed.
Serial Killer: He kills his victims ritualistically, first forcing them to drink formaldehyde, then gouging their eyes out and replacing them with burning coals, then cutting out their heart and replacing it with a salamander egg, while keeping the victim alive as long as possible to prolong their suffering. He also leaves a letter on each victim indicating his next intended target.
Walking Spoiler: He is the killer in the "Carnal Sins" murder mystery quest, and it is possible to finger the wrong person for the crime if you're too hasty in your investigation. It's difficult to discuss him in any meaningful capacity without revealing this.

Other creatures

Dagon

Appears in: The Witcher

Worshipped as a god by some vodyanoy and humans, Dagon is an ancient monster that resides in the lake near Murky Waters.

Eldritch Abomination: Whatever this creature is, he is ancient, old, and unique. He draws his strength from his worshippers and is awakened by their faith.
Lovecraft Lite: It's the same Dagon as the one from the Cthulhu Mythos, and the evil voydanoi who worship him are Deep Ones. He can be defeated though if you kill his worshippers.
God Needs Prayers Badly: He dies when enough of his worshippers are killed.

Vodyanoi

Appears in: The Witcher

Intelligent and quite sophisticated fish people that live deep underwater.

Fish People: They are scaled humanoids that are fully aquatic, have their own civilization and only rarely step onto land.
Mobile Fishbowl: They wear bulky, face-concealing masks above water, clearly some kind of breathing apparatus.
Non-Malicious Monster: They aren't necessarily malicious and can be reasoned with, although their alienness make them hard for humans to comprehend. They are very religious - perhaps not surprisingly given their gods are actual physical entities that are very powerful - and will fight to the death for them.
Speaking Simlish: The vodyanoi priest Geralt can talk to greets him in his own croaking, sputtering tongue before swapping over to English when he realizes Geralt can't understand him.
Underwater City: The city of Ys to be specific, which is an Expy of Atlantis in Witcher lore.

Kayran

Appears in: Assassins of Kings

Attack Its Weak Point: The Kayran conveniently has glowing "tumors" to indicate where you should start hackin' with your silver.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: It is by far the largest creature and enemy in all 3 games that Geralt has faced. It's still smaller than many bosses in different video games.
Expy: With its teethed-round Lamprey Mouth and tentacles, it somewhat resembles Kraken from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, though, it is very possible that it wasn't intentional.
Combat Tentacles: Its weapon of choice.
Kraken and Leviathan: It is basically Witcher universe version of Kraken.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Its head is basically a cephalopod, its teethed jaw is lamprey-like, and the legs are that of a crab.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: It has lots of round rows of teeth in its jaw.
Sea Monster: More like a swamp monster but it still lives underwater.
Tentacled Terror: It looks like a mix of Kraken and Giant Enemy Crab.

Zeugl

Appears in: The Witcher

A monstrous beast that makes its lair in trash heaps and sewers, eating anything it can catch.

Based on a True Story: An in-universe example in The Witcher 3; Geralt mentions that the Witcherverse's version of Cinderella is based off a true story where a zeugl ate a princess alive save for a single shoe, much to the disgust of Keira Metz.
Extreme Omnivore: Lives in trash heaps and sewers, growing fat off the filth and waste from the city, but zeugls also attack anything that strays too close.
Famed In-Story: A specific zeugl in a trash heap reaches this status in Wild Hunt via Vesemir (once, but implied to have only been the latest retelling) and Geralt (repeatedly) using it as a benchmark for how disgusting Witcher contracts can get whilst discussing payment with clients and exactly how much compensation for their trouble they’re demanding.
Green Aesop: An in-universe example; since zeugls feed off human garbage, are hermpahroditic and can reproduce easily, and grow to enormous size on their diet, posing a severe threat to human life, they're considered a warning about allowing continued degredation of the natural environment.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Has two rows of teeth in its upper and lower jaws.
Tentacled Terror: Uses its tentacles to drag prey in reach.

The Black Cat and Dog

Appears in: Wild Hunt

Two characters bound to Iris von Everec by Olgierd von Everec as pets to make her less lonely. It is unknown what both animals are exactly, possibly demons from another sphere

Animalistic Abomination: They look like their animal namesakes, save for the Glowing Eyes of Doom and the fact that they can talk, but are instead magical beings bound in animal shapes, their thought processes and desires completely alien to humans.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: They were intended to be companions for Iris specifically because Olgierd was no longer capable of loving her, but they couldn't love her either - it was not within their natures.
Brutal Honesty: Specifically The Dog, who is utterly blunt and matter of fact about the rather tragic history between Iris and Olgierd while at the same making it obvious that he simply does not care about it on an emotional capacity. While The Cat shares his bluntness with talking with Geralt, she seems to have some sympathy for Iris, if it's only for her current Fate Worse than Death. The Dog, on the other hand, almost sounds annoyed at times that he has to go into detail and is extremely matter of fact when explaining the situation.
Dark Is Evil: While apparently nowhere near as malicious as Gaunter O'Dimm, both show a notable Lack of Empathy towards the tragedy that was Iris and Olgierd's life, although The Cat at least seems to sympathize with Iris's Fate Worse than Death. Downplayed in that they never pose a threat to Geralt and only want to return to their home realm, wherever it is.
Even Evil Has Standards: Completely amoral by humans standarts, but they are not Ungrateful Bastards. If Geralt chooses the free them from their connection to Iris and all of their respective Fate Worse than Death, The Dog will give you a pretty big hint about how to best Gaunter O'Dimm at his own game.
Familiar: They are bound to Iris von Everec as her companions. Her being a ghost doesn't release them from their duty.
Fate Worse than Death: How they both see their fate as Iris von Everec's Familiars, considering not even her death can free them from their role. It's only Geralt's intervention in the end that can free them if the player chooses.
The Heartless: Due to them not being from this world and their Blue-and-Orange Morality they cannot care about what happened to Iris on an emotional level, simply stating what happened as facts. They mainly help Geralt because he can help release them from their servitude, not because they are equipped to care for Iris' plight.

Skulheads

Skullheads

Appears in: The Witcher

A humanoid species Geralt encounters in the Bad Future foreseen by Jacques de Aldersberg

Hard Head: According to their bestiary entry their thick skulls prevent them from being knocked out.
The Dragons Come Back: In universe they went extinct during the last ice age, but the White Frost recreates the conditions that created them.
The Morlocks: They're humanity's degenerate descendants.

Characters / The Witcher - Bestiary

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Archespores

Berserkers / Werebears

Botchlings

Striga

The Toad Prince

Werewolves

Werewolves / Ulfhedinn

Morkvarg

Basilisks

Cockatrices

Dracolizards / Slyzard

Forktails

Wyverns

Djinn

Earth Elementals

Fire Elementals

Gargoyle

Golem

Hound of the Wild Hunt

Sirens

Sirens / Ekhidna / Mermaids

Sh'eenaz

Other Hybrids

Harpies / Shishigas

Griffin / Archgriffin

Succubi

Arachnomorph

Endrega

Giant Centipede (Scolopendromorphs)

Kikimore

Bloedzuiger

Drowners / Mucknixers / Vodniks

Ghouls / Alghouls

Rotfiends

Scurvers

Wights

Foglets

Foglets

Ignis Fatuus

Hags

Water Hags / Grave Hags

Mourntart

Nekkers / Phoocas

Trolls / Rock Trolls / Ice Trolls

Giants

Golyat

Myrhyff

Godlings

Godlings

Johnny

Other Relicts

The Caretaker

Chort

Dopplers

Fiends

Leshens

Shaelmaar

Spriggan

Sylvan / Yaksahs

Barghest

Hym

The Ghost in the Tree

Wraiths

Wraiths

Noonwraith

Devil by the Well / Claer

The White Lady

Nightwraith

Nightwraith

Jenny o' the Woods

Alp

Bruxae

Ekimmara

Sarasti

Fleder

Garkain

Higher Vampires

Katakan