Main Characters (Geralt of Rivia) | Geralt's Hanse | Geralt's Other Friends, Lovers, and Allies
Witchers | Mages and Alchemists (Lodge of Sorceresses) | Vilgefortz's Conspiracy | Nilfgaardian Empire (Duchy of Toussaint)
Northern Kingdoms (Skellige, Temeria) | Aen Elle | Other Characters | Bestiary
Mages and Alchemists
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Mages
Algernon Guincamp
Algernon "Pinety" Guincamp
Appears in: Season of Storms
One of the mages of Rissberg, an independent research and training center with limited oversight from the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. He hired Geralt to investigate mass murders in the Tukaj Foothills.
- Actual Pacifist: Certain points indicate that he deeply resents violence in general. He not only refused to follow in his father's footsteps and resigned from a military career, he also risked his own reputation (and life) to stop Sorel's killing spree without any personal profit (which is very rare between mages). And despite being a fishing enthusiast, he never uses fishing hooks and always lets his catch go (and creates an illusion of it as a trophy). He was visibly disturbed when Geralt nonchalantly admitted that he always roasts the fish he catches.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Leaves Rissberg and the North entirely for Nilfgaard to get away from the horrible deeds that have been committed there, and because while mages are not revered in the South, they are at least paid well.
Alzur
Alzur
"I heard you're a fan of my work. Ardently so."
Appears in: Season of Storms | Gwent: The Witcher Card Game
"Your most serene majesty. We find ourselves in a world turned most foul. A world filled with innumerable horrors. Monstrosities... that prey on the meek and mighty alike. Tis truly a wretched scourge born of nightmares. Yet it need not be so! Freed of the fetters of the spineless Council, we can create something new. Hunters of exceptional strength, speed, agility, equipped to overcome absolutely any foe. Bards will toil to do justice to their feats. For sometimes one needs a monster, to slay a monster!"
A legendary, powerful renegade sorcerer, inventor, scientist, knight and necromancer who broke away from the Council of Mages to forge his own path in the world, regardless of the cost to himself and others, and the primary creator of the Witchers, their Trials and founder of the original Order of Witchers.
- The Ace: Widely considered the greatest human sorcerer who ever existed, was highly charismatic and intelligent, and excelled in his many different fields. His list of accomplishments and creations only lend credence to this belief, including inventing a variety of powerful spells, and being the primary creator of the Witchers, founding the Order of Witchers, the Trials and convincing the Kings of the North to finance and accept them as a solution to the monsters infesting the land.
- Affably Evil: For all his many horrific yet great deeds, he seemed to have an impeccably polite, sophisticated, charismatic and sociable manner, though this came out when he was engaging with nobles, those financing his projects and other outsiders during his adventures. It is said once they left he returned to being Faux Affably Evil when he was around just the Witchers, who had a considerably lower opinion of him, especially Madoc. Even many years after his death, Geralt displays open contempt towards his memory around sorcerers who admired his work, considering him to have been little more than a sick pervert.
- Bastard Bastard: Born out of wedlock to a Lord and dumped off on his father's front steps, where he was raised among nobles, and later became as awful as he was.
- Death by Irony: The original creator of the famous monster slaying Witchers who saved countless lives from monsters over the years is killed by summoning a giant Viy, taking half of Maribor with him in the process.
- Defector from Decadence: Left the Council of Mages when they deemed his original Witchers to be a failed experiment, and went on to prove them wrong, for better and for worse.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: When his lover was killed as a result of his cruel experiments to create Witchers, instead of realizing how evil they were and ceasing his experiments, he doubled down on them, so it wouldn't all be for nothing.Alzur: "My dear Lilly... I am a husk without you. Our memories, our cause... it's all I have left now. I won't fail you again. I'll make your vision come true, no matter the cost."
- Evil Sorcerer: Resides on the upper echelon of the many of them that exist in the Witcher universe.
- The Extremist Was Right: He ends up being proven right that the Witcher experiments the Council of Mages considered a failure and wanted to shut down were actually viable by keeping them going. He is also proven right that regardless of the cost in making them, they are extremely effective at slaying monsters to make settling the North much safer and easier on the kingdoms.
- For Science!: His primary motivation for starting the Witcher experiments and continuing them, even after the Council of Mages tried to shut them down. This was also clearly his approach to summoning, creating, experimenting on and studying monsters of all sorts.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: His monster summoning desire and powers ended up being his own undoing in the end when he summoned something he could neither control nor destroy.
- It's All About Me: Clearly had one hell of an ego on him, growing bigger with each creation and accomplishment, even outright naming numerous spells after himself.
- Karmic Death: A Mad Scientist, conjurer and creator of monsters who met his gruesome end thanks to conjuring one he couldn't control.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Twice. First he lost his lover and fellow mage during the process of mutating their first test subject when the man went berserk, killed her and escaped, with him unable to destroy the now monstrosity. The second and final time was when his obsession with summoning monsters ended in his own Karmic Death, when again for all his power he couldn't destroy the monster he created.
- The Lost Lenore: Lost the love of his life during the process of beginning his work with her on creating the Witchers, the Sorceress Lylianna, when she was slain by the mutated first experiment of theirs, and was left only with a Tragic Keepsake in the form of her lily medallion.
- Mad Scientist: Perhaps the epitome of it for the series. Ruthlessly kidnapped and experimented on countless children to create Witchers without any evident regret for the agonizing Trials and the many who died horrifically during the mutation process. His mentor Cosimo Malaspina and disciple Idarran of Ulivo were this likewise, experimenting on them right alongside him. Not content with this, he also became a creator and summoner of powerful, dangerous monsters, costing many lives in the process, including his own.
- Necromancer: One of the many fields of magic Alzur dabbled in regularly, forbidden, dark magic not being considered off limits to him.
- One-Man Army: One sorcerer-knight army, wielding great magical power, martial prowess and arcane knowledge.
- Our Founder: Of the original Order of Witchers, their primary creator as well, and by extension he is this to all the Schools after the Order split up to form them, especially considering the Trials and knowledge of mutations come from him.
- Posthumous Character: Long dead by his own hand at the time of the series.
- Renaissance Man: Dabbled in a number of different fields of magic, science, politics and physical combat skills, mastering each through his many adventures.
- Shock and Awe: Appears to have favored this when it came to offensive magic, even creating an extremely powerful and complicated spell called Alzur's Thunder.
- The Sociopath: Seemingly held zero remorse for the many innocent victims of his ruthless Witcher experiments, or the victims of the monsters he created, studied, experimented on and unleashed on the world. Alzur was very charismatic and outgoing in manner, appeared to love Lylianna, but primarily seemed to care mostly about himself and his own work.Alzur: "We have the ingredients. Now we need the brewing pot."Lylianna: "You mean: human subjects."Alzur: "What else would I mean?"Lylianna: "You scare me at times."
- Start of Darkness: Downplayed. It was in the wake of his actions causing the death of his lover that he really went off the deep end into Evil Sorcerer territory, though even before he lost her he had been more than demonstrating he was on that path to begin with anyways.
- Tragic Keepsake: His lover Lylianna's silver lily medallion he made for her as a gift, in turn being inspired by this to create medallions for the Witchers.
- The Unfettered: He considered even the ruthless Council of Mages to be too constricting of him and his pursuit of knowledge, leaving them behind to become a renegade, independent sorcerer, create the Witchers and conduct many other horrific experiments and outright monster creation and summoning, any sense of morality or the consequences be damned.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Ironically comes across as this, and even after his death after all the suffering and death he caused is remembered as a great man regardless of his actions, the opposite of how most of his Witchers are treated.
- Villainous Legacy: His creation of mutations and the Trials appears to be this, with various ruthless sorcerers and organizations in the series attempting to steal his knowledge of the process to create mutants and monsters for themselves. His mentorship of the vile Idarran of Ulivo empowered the latter to continue making horrific monsters and unleashing them even in the present day and future of the Witcher universe, with his monsters still being hunted as late as 1373. The powerful Viy of Maribor he summoned that caused his death and the destruction of half of Maribor is still reputedly out there somewhere in the world as well, wasn't confirmed to be slain or dead, to say nothing of other monsters he summoned over the years, and the ritual he created to do so falling into the hands of others.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Had shades of this, even if his primary motivation was For Science!. Creating the Witchers, while requiring a good deal of suffering, death and misery for many innocent kidnapped children, ends up saving countless innocent lives as well from the monsters infesting the North, whether he cared about it or not.
- Would Hurt a Child: More accurately he would kidnap and kill many of them in agonizing mutation experiments, without batting an eye.
Artaud Terranova
Artaud Terranova
Appears in: The Time of Contempt
One of five members of the Chapter of the Gift and the Art, the higher ruling body of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers.
- The Alcoholic: Implied to be one during his meeting with Vilgefortz and Tissaia de Vries, as he is constantly drinking and refilling his wine glass, and even brings the bottle with him when they move into another room.
- Eye Scream: While fighting Geralt during the Thanedd Coup, Artaud's eyes are nearly gouged out by Phillipa Eilhart in her owl form.
- Face–Heel Turn: Betrays the North and allies with Nilfgaard in order to gain a position of power when they conquer the Northern Kingdoms.
- Off with His Head!: After being blinded by Phillipa, Artaud is subsequently decapitated by Geralt.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Calls Keira Metz a whore and gets his lights punched out by her mid-sentence thanks to a set of brass knuckles she’s wielding.
Carduin
Carduin of Lan Exeter
Voiced by: ??? (English)additional VAs
A leading council member of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. Following the Thanedd Coup, Carduin attempted to reform the Council of Mages and helped organize a summit of mages and representatives of all nations at Loc Muinne.
- Dirty Coward: Geralt regards him as one after watching him flee during the Thanedd Coup. Should Carduin be in service to King Radovid in Wild Hunt, Geralt calls him out on it, noting how Carduin and the other mages who submitted to Radovid are essentially powerless and doing nothing to stop the witch hunters from slaughtering their fellow magic users. Clearly rankled, Carduin rebukes him by noting that someone has to survive and ensure magic's survival.Carduin: And I say it's easy to play the hero, die a foolish death. But someone must survive, preserve our body of knowledge for future generations. You don't understand, you cannot... but sometimes it takes courage to be a coward.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When fighting breaks out during the Thanedd Coup, Carduin immediately flees as soon as he can via teleportation to Kovir, as it will be neutral in the upcoming war. He even leaves behind fellow wounded mages to do so.
- Shock and Awe: Can cast lightning from his hands. He nearly killed Geralt with a bolt during the Thanedd Coup after mistaking him for a member of the Scoia'tael.
- Team Switzerland: Was part of the neutral mages at the Thenedd Coup. When fighting broke out between the Nilfgaard supporters and the Northern supporters, Carduin and the other neutral mages thought they would be safe, until Vilgefortz and his allies attacked them.
- Uncertain Doom: He is arrested at Loc Muinne if Geralt does not rescue Triss to testify before the summit. No mention is made of him in Wild Hunt in this scenario, leaving his fate unknown, but considering the massacre at Loc Muinne and subsequent witch hunts, Carduin's fate in that path seems bleak.
Corinne Tilly
Corinne Tilly
Appears in: Wild Hunt
A skilled oneiromancer, which is a sorceress who specializes in dream interpretation. The witch hunts have forced her into hiding in the city of Novigrad, where she is an associate of Triss Merigold. Geralt seeks her out to assist in his search for Ciri.
- Barefoot Sage: A wise sorceress who is constantly barefoot, presumably by choice.
- Dreaming of Times Gone By: As an oneiromancer, one of her primary skills is going to a location and dreaming of its history. Corinne uses this skill to help people learn the history of houses, which can be useful in determining the source of a haunting or locating an item hidden away inside the building.
- Magical Barefooter: See Barefoot Sage.
- Navel-Deep Neckline: Like many sorceresses, she wears a very low cut dress that goes down to her navel.
- Nightmare Sequence: Finds herself trapped in nightmares about furniture that eats people by Sarah, although the godling didn't really understand that she was tormenting Corinne due to her belief that scary dreams are fun.
- Odd Friendship: If the godling Sarah is allowed to stay in the house then Corinne returns to meet the creature who trapped her in the nightmare. She ends up moving in herself and living together with the godling, with their relationship being somewhat mother and daughter like.
- Secret-Keeper: When she aids Geralt, Corinne can learn a lot about his past and relationship with Ciri, as well as her abilities as a Child of the Elder Blood. While disturbed, she still helps and keeps the information to herself.
- Small Role, Big Impact: She's a minor character in the grand scheme of things, but she has a huge impact for both her world and the Aen Elle's world when she uses her special abilities to reveal Eredin's regicide to Ge'els.
Dorregaray
Dorregaray of Vole
Appears in: Sword of Destiny | The Time of Contempt
A wizard who is primarily concerned with preventing the extinction of rare and endangered species, no matter how dangerous they might be.
- Admiring the Abomination: Holds a deep respect and concern for all creatures, no matter how dangerous they are. He finds the fashion of his fellow mages in wearing clothing that's made from endangered monsters like basilisks to be horrific.
- Fire-Forged Friends: He and Geralt did not get along at all when they first met, with Dorregaray having nothing but disdain for his profession and believing the Witcher was hunting a dragon for sport and reward. After Geralt instead came to his aide when Dorregaray attempted to save the dragons, he gained a much higher opinion of him. When they meet again years later at Thanedd, both are genuinely pleased to see each other again, although Dorregaray still disapproves of Geralt's job.
- The Mole: According to Phillipa Eilhart, he is a spy in the employ of King Ethain of Cidaris. As with majority of Eilhart's intel, this is false - Dorregaray was simply there.
- Nice Guy: One of the rare instances of a magic user that isn't into plotting, scheming, money, privileges or personal power. On top of it all, he's a friendly chap by default, at least if you aren't disrupting the ecosystem.
- Team Switzerland: Was amongst the neutral mages at the Thenedd Coup, during which he was injured by Scoia'tael.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Twice. First, he's introduced in The Bound of Reason as a one-off character, a "green-minded" scholar and mage, never to be seen or mentioned again. Then he makes a return in The Time of Contempt, only to be a throw-away extra that gets wounded (non-fataly)... and we never hear about him ever again.
Istredd
Istredd of Aedd Gynvael
Appears in: Sword of Destiny
A highly respected sorcerer with an interest in archeology. Istredd is an old friend and occasional lover of Yennefer, a fact which caused him to come into conflict with Geralt.
- Apothecary Alligator: Has a stuffed crocodile amongst other animals in his study.
- Betty and Veronica: He is the "Betty" in the Love Triangle between him, Yennefer, and Geralt, being the safe choice for Yennefer to settle down with as opposed to the danger and turmoil that comes with the Witcher. Yennefer always chooses Geralt.
- Break Them by Talking: Gives a truly chilling speech to Geralt, in which he in detail explains why the Witcher and Yennefer are a terrible pairing that's going to be emotionally draining for her and how he's not her match in any way or field. What's worse, he makes a point about Geralt being a Tin Man, only mimicking emotions, since as a mutant he genuinely can't have them. The result is talking Geralt into Suicide by Cop.
- Fantastic Racism: Towards Witchers, whom he believes are utterly incapable of true emotion or love. He says they resent all other magic users for not having to give up as much of their lives to study as sorcerers do.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Zig-Zagged. He's fully aware all his actions are driven by petty envy, but his feelings toward Yennefer are simply too strong and so he allows himself to go for things that normally would be below his own dignity.
- Make a Wish: Offers to grant some of Geralt's wishes if he can if Geralt gives him Yennefer.
- Suicide by Cop: After Yennefer leaves both him and Geralt, Istredd shows up to their duel with a sword, clearly intending not use magic and perish by the Witcher's blade. Thankfully, Geralt recognizes this and leaves without dueling the heartbroken wizard.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: He invokes it against Geralt, pointing out the things and actions the Witcher might consider as good or noble are nothing more than delusions of a self-justifying murderer and wandering mercenary.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Very little mention is made of Istredd after the events of "A Shard of Ice" despite his prominence as a sorcerer and connection to Yennefer. His only mention in the main saga is during the initial meeting of the Lodge when Sile de Tansarville wonders why he or another prominent Koviri sorcerer was not invited instead of her. Given that he lives in neutral Kovir, he likely managed to avoid being caught up in the wars and the witch hunts that plagued the rest of the Northern Realms.
Lytta Neyd
Lytta Neyd / Coral / Astrid Lyttneyd Ásgeirrfinnbjornsdottir
A powerful sorceress from Skellige who has a habit of compressing people into statues. Corral is a former lover of Geralt during one of his breaks from Yennefer. She perished during the Battle of Sodden, being one of the Fourteen of the Hill.
- Ascended Extra: She was mentioned in the Saga as a sorceress involved in a week-long affair with Geralt and briefly in a flashback of Triss's to the Battle of Sodden. In Season of Storms, she is a main character and the details of her relationship with Geralt are revealed.
- Asshole Victim: Among many other things she does, she pulls strings to have Geralt unjustly arrested so she can make him do her bidding, viciously abuses her assistant Mozaïk, and flees Kerack first thing when a storm blows through rather than help the people caught in the ensuing flood. With that in mind, her painful death at Sodden Hill sounds like it was a long time coming.
- Bad Boss: Treats her apprentice Mozaïk horribly, including using a spell to twist one of her hands around 180 degrees after noticing Geralt flirting with her.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Triss recalls her death at the Battle of Sodden as particularly horrible, describing Lytta as being an armless and legless trunk and screaming in unimaginable pain.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Has a fondness for inflicting terrible punishments, including death, for petty reasons. One bestiary entry in Wild Hunt mentions she teleported a man into a nest of harpies after he said she reminded him of the creatures. One of the quests reveal before she died she magically compressed a nobleman lover of hers and left him in that state for years before Geralt found him, all due to him having an affair... while he points out upon being decompressed by Triss and Geralt that she was sleeping around with various people and demanding fidelity of him.
- Hypocrite: Her nobleman lover sleeping around? Terrible, worth being decompressed for at least a decade over. Her sleeping around? Perfectly fine.
- In-Series Nickname: Called "Coral" because it is the color of her favorite lipstick.
- Jerkass: Just about everything revealed about her in the books and games alike reveal her to be one of the biggest jerkass mages in a series teeming with them.
- Overly Long Name: Being called Astrid Lyttneyd Ásgeirrfinnbjornsdottir is a good reason not to use your birth name.
- Posthumous Character: She is first mentioned after her death at Sodden. The prequel novel Season of Storms expands on those mentions.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the massive storm hits Kerack, Lytta teleports out of the city while Geralt, Dandelion, and Mozaïk stay behind to try and rescue people from the flood. She later returns with medical supplies once the danger has passed, but the others are still pissed at her for not helping them.
- Signature Move: Fond of using a compression spell to turn her enemies and those who annoy her into tiny statues. Geralt comes across two of her victims in Wild Hunt and can free them.
Joanna "Kenna" Selborne
Joanna "Kenna" Selborne
Kenna, second from right, with the sword.
Appears in: Tower of the Swallow | Lady of the Lake
A Telepath (or rather, a psionic) employed by Stefan Skellen via Dacre Silifant to track down Ciri. She plays a pivotal role in the series by reinvigorating Ciri's Elder Blood abilities in her time of need, albeit largely out of self-preservation. While not being an actual magician, her psionics were augmented with formal training behind her otherwise natural abilities.
- After-Action Report: Kenna serves as the Character Narrator for quite a number of chapters, with her narration being her trial by an imperial tribunal a year after those events.
- Attempted Rape: She is nearly raped by her male cellmate (the prisons being desegregated by imperial edict) until she uses her telepathy to Geas him into bashing his face into a wall, then attacking the guards senselessly when they come to investigate, with the aim of getting them to beat him into submission. The would-be rapist is cowed for the rest of their shared stay.
- Courtroom Antics: Addresses the judge and council wrongly and barely cares to correct herself, implicates fellow witness Dacre Silifant entirely unprompted, digresses into matters like her period, and uses her psionic abilities on the judge at her sentencing to get off scot-free.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: While she's first hired by a rogue spy and then put on trial over her involvement with Skellen and his scheme, she gives full, true testimony of the events and is set free. Well, she might help the judge make up his mind, but she still goes free unmolested.
- The Empath: She mostly employs her psychic abilities for mind-reading, making minor suggestions and alike. Curiously, while Psychic Powers are an inborn ability in-universe, she also did receive formal training in using them, rather than being just a wild talent. All of that makes her even more efficient at using them.
- He Knows Too Much: Realises that there is no way her mission will end well once she realises that the "Falka" she's been hired to hunt down is nobody less than the missing Princes Cirilla, as she'd become a loose end.
- Living Lie Detector: She can read people's minds, forcefully if she has to. There is no way to fool her, which makes her a well-respected interrogator if one has the money to hire her.
- Magic A Is Magic A: One of the most prominent examples in the saga. Not only her purely natural Psychic Powers qualify for a formal training and a license, but are also formally categorised and quantifiable in numerals, right down to even having legal acronyms that the court clerk is using during Joanna's testimony.
- Mind Rape: She's very much capable of pulling it on people, ranging from minor suggestions to forcing them into specific decisions. When she is locked in a Nilfgaardian prison, she gives one to a cellmate who tries to rape her, causing him to not only suffer painful visions, but also to headbutt a guard, leading to the thug being beaten senselessly. She ultimately ends up "helping" the judge make up his mind and provide her full pardon once she's done with her testimony for the legal court.
- Minion with an F in Evil: She very quickly realises what sort of mess and company she got herself into by taking Skellen's money, while being more or less a regular citizen with an atypical skillset. The main reason she stays is because her own reputation is on the line, but first given chance, she flees the rest of the mercs and cutthroats.
- Mundane Utility: She's The Empath, so she works as an interrogator and a low-profile infiltrator (she can make people forget they saw her).
- Nice Girl: She isn't even evil enough to qualify for Affably Evil - but she could make it easily to the top 5 of the nicest characters in the whole saga, being always polite, caring and, well, emphatic. It just so happens that this time she ends up in a really messed up company. After she's captured by Nilfgaardian authorities for her involvement with Skellen, she fully cooperates, knowing she stands a genuine chance to just get a pardon due to never doing anything wrong or outright illegal.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: She causes Ciri's powers to re-awake, by simply prying into her mind in an attempt to confirm her identity
- Only in It for the Money: Her only motivation is the paycheck she receives for her job. It just happens that her job is usually performing Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, involving mind-reading and similar.
- Psychic Nosebleed: She actively avoids getting those, as it's a clear sign she's pushing it too far; she carries a handkerchief to clean herself up. She also quickly wipes out one after pushing the judge during her trial, since everyone present knows about her abilities (they were even included into the protocol with a full explanation). The most extreme manifestation is when her nostrils wind up gushing from Ciri's reaction to her probe, with the effect on Kenna likened to getting punched in the face.
- Punch-Clock Villain: She never does anything evil herself, but is usually hired by either spy circles or some band of mercenaries, at best getting employment as a torturer's assistant. She finds all of this disgusting, but the rent won't pay itself and the alternative is being a poor, if genuine, fortune teller.
- See the Invisible: She can detect the presence of people around her, even if they are invisible. She also has a few more mundane tricks under her belt to reveal, as Rience has found out the hard way.
- Scarily Competent Tracker: While she lacks the actual tracking skills of Boreas Mun, she is capable of both directional scrying and short-range detection. She was hired specifically for this ability and paired with Mun to give him a general direction in which to do his tracking.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: In the resulting chaos after Ciri's escape from their captivity, Joanna just pockets her pay so far and leaves as fast as she can, knowing that nothing good will come from sticking with her employer. A couple of her colleagues join her in deserting Dacre Silifant before they can pursue Ciri across the frozen lake to the Tower of the Swallow.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Kenna's psionics trigger the return of Ciri's Elder Blood abilities (with those events possibly being obliquely prophesised by Avalla'ch when he tells Geralt that someone besides him is fated to help Ciri in her time of need), leading to the events of The Lady of the Lake and ultimately the conflict with the Wild Hunt.
- Spelling for Emphasis: Does this on occasion when explaining her psionics, e.g. "aitch-es-pee (HSP)" for hypersensory perception.
- Token Good Teammate: Along with Boreas Mun, she's one of the two people in Skellen's band of mercenaries that isn't just a stone-cold killer. And while Mun has his conscience eating away at him over the company he found himself in, Kenna can read those people's minds, which makes her constantly nauseous and vary of them even before they start showing their true colors.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: She accidentally gives that to Ciri. Not knowing the girl has any sort of magic powers, Kenna ties to just take a quick look into her mind to confirm her identity... As a result, Joanna is sent flying, and her partner during interrogation Mind Raped by Ciri and set against other Skellen's men. By the time Selborne shakes out of the stupor, the girl is long gone.
Marti Södergren
Marti Södergren
Unlike many of her fellow mages, Marti had little time for politics and instead focused on healing magic, as well as the creation of powerful aphrodisiacs.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Discussed by Rusty. Sure, Marti's healing magic is great, but she can only cast this many spells before her own body starts to crack down. When he's still busy operating, she is forced to take a break and keeps puking. Not due to disgust, but simply thanks to magical overextension.
- The Cameo: Makes a very brief one in Season of Storms at the Borsodi Auction House purchasing a rare medical textbook.
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: Died just two weeks after the Battle of Brenna when she was stabbed to death by a jealous lover, an officer from the Free Companies, who thought their relationship was more serious than it was and became infuriated when he discovered Marti sleeping with a Temerian officer. And the information is given directly after her final appearance, in almost sadistic fashion.
- Extreme Libido: Like many mages she is extremely sexual, although even other mages describe her as a nymphomaniac. Hardly surprising that one of her specialties is the making aphrodisiacs.
- Healing Hands: She's a sorceress specialising in healing magic and anything related with it. On top of that, she's a trained and experienced surgeon.
- Locked Out of the Loop: During the Thenedd Coup, Marti was not amongst the elite members of the Council and Brotherhood who gathered for the meeting that turned into a violent clash between the Nilfgaard collaborators and Northern loyalists, only being summoned there to treat the dying Hen Gedymdeith. When Geralt finds her, she is crying and thoroughly confused by the chaos going on.
- The Medic: During the Second Northern War she volunteers as a medic for the combined Northern army and works in a field hospital during the Battle of Brenna.
- Mundane Solution: Using magic is taxing, and sewing people together using sterile tools achieves the same results but does not lead to her puking her guts out. She saves spells for really tough cases.
- The Stoic: When elves from the Vrihedd Brigade are driven out from their medical tent, she's the only one still capable of operating and continues to stitch a patient on the table, while everyone else is too terrified to even move.
Stregobor
Stregobor
Appears in: The Last Wish
Resident mage of the town of Blaviken, known to locals as Master Irion. He is a fervent believer in the Curse of the Black Sun and is seeking proof that all princesses born under the eclipse are irredeemably evil.
- Batman Gambit: He is perfectly fine with Renfri massacring Blaviken, as that would "prove" his point of her being evil incarnated and validate the prophecy of the Black Sun.
- Dirty Coward: It's all fine and dandy for him to mastermind pogroms against the "cursed princesses", as long as it doesn't personally endanger him. The moment Renfri declares vengeance, he turns tail and goes into hiding, using an alias. When she finds him again, he is willing to get entire Blaviken wiped out, but never face her. And when Geralt (against his will and better judgement) defends him, the mage just teleports away to Kovir.
- Karma Houdini: Not only he is never blamed for the bloody mess related with the Black Sun prophecy, Geralt personally ends up killing off Stregobor's warranty and gets blamed for the butchery, while the wizard is left unmolested.
- Jerkass: Doesn't place much value on anyone's life but his own, and generally acts as if everyone was inferior to him and his overinflated ego. He met with Geralt in the past and back then chased him away from Kovirian court when the Witcher showed up for his due payment after slaying a monster. The countless lives he ruined in the chase after the prophecy mean squat to him, just like the inhabitants of Blaviken when Renfri treatens to turn the streets into rivers of blood.
- Mage Tower: He holes up in an impregnable one to hide from Renfri.
- Master of Illusion: His specialty. Inside of his tower is a massive Artificial Outdoors Display, looking like a peaceful meadow. Part of the illusion involves a naked woman tending to mage's needs.
- Moral Event Horizon: While he already did a lot of shoddy deals in the past, he directly crosses the line when he locks up in his tower, fully aware Renfri will keep her words and murder the townspeople.
- Pet the Dog: After Gerald kills Renfri, Stregobor tries to convince the Witcher to leave Blaviken with him so that the people don't go full Torches and Pitchforks on him. Geralt understandably refuses and leaves his own way.
- Playing with Syringes: Mentions having performed autopsies and at least one vivisection on princesses "afflicted" by the curse.
- Too Dumb to Live: Geralt hints that Stregobor is a conservationist... of monsters and regards him as this for it.
- Ungrateful Bastard: You would think he could be at least an itty-bitty tiny bit thankful to Geralt by the end of the story.
- Unreliable Expositor: His version of the story regarding Renfri is just as biased and unverifiable as hers. In fact, he's even less reliable, due to his obsessive belief in the prophecy without having any proof it is real.
- Weather Manipulation: His secondary specialty, after illusions.
- We Used to Be Friends: He and Geralt, surprisingly enough. But Geralt considers that relationship ended by their meeting in the Kovirian court.
- Wizard Classic: Exaggerated to a point where Geralt notes no other mage cultivates the image so hard as Stregobor.
Tissaia de Vries
Tissaia de Vries
Appears in: Blood of Elves | The Time of Contempt
"No one can have everything. Nobody is being born a sorcerer. And none should be born as one! After all, all the students should decide for themselves whether they want to be sorceresses or mothers. I demand all the students to be sterilized. No exceptions."
One of the most influential people in the wizarding community, Tissaia is staunchly on the side of neutrality of magic, a stance that she cannot shake off even as it becomes obvious that a group of influential magicians conspire with Nilfgaard.
- The Archmage: She pulls down the entire magical defenses of Arethusa just so, in a heartbeat — defenses the raising of which involved a whole year of dedicated work for a powerful magician.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality:
- Tissaia finds the idea ludicrous that a mage would ever choose their homelands over their fellow wizards. She is disgusted, contemptuous even, that mages would fight for the North against other mages who would fight for Nilfgaard. She also believes magic should be a wizard's only passion and that all sorceresses should be sterilized.
- Leads to a Break the Haughty moment when she discovers not only that mages do hold nationalist sentiments, they're willing to fight and die for them. The idea of putting magic before race, politics, faction, religion, or blood never occurred to them, and once it does, none of them have any interest in it.
- Driven to Suicide: As she realizes what was the outcome of her actions.
- For Science!: Everything she does is in the interests of magic. The idea other mages have considerations beyond this is offensive.
- Heroic BSoD: She suffers one during the Nilfgaard invasion, left with the realization her actions have not only destroyed the Conclave but led to Nilfgaard's Rape, Pillage, and Burn across Aedirn and Rivia unopposed.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Assumes that every other mage believes magicians are above things like race, national loyalty, and religion. That the idea of siding with anyone else is treason. The problem is — she's the only mage who believes magic should come first and last, at least to the degree she practices. To make it worse, the traitors are all Devil in Plain Sight.
- Lawful Stupid: For her, the neutrality of magic is non-negotiable. Even when Dijkstra was only there to stop even greater infraction.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Takes a while, but it starts with the realization things are way, way, way out of her control when she frees her fellow mages and expects them to settle their differences peacefully, only for the mages who sided with Nilfgaard to start murdering the Loyalists and the Loyalists to fight back without hesitation.
- Poor Communication Kills: No, Tissaia, Dijkstra and the Redanian forces really are here to help. Your fellow mages really are the bad guys.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her actions basically allow the Thanedd coup to proceed.
- Neat Freak: Implied to suffer from a form of OCD.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: Decides to free all of her fellow mages without given any consideration to the idea they were plotting to murder their fellow wizards for Nilfgaard.
- Shipper on Deck: She apparently had a soft spot for Geralt, noticing his good influence on Yennefer, and therefore supported their relationship. She was also one of the few mages in the series who was genuinely nice to him without trying to kill, manipulate, and/or seduce him.
- Tautological Templar: Anything which serves magic is good and anything which is against magic is evil. She awakens from this viewpoint after she discovers every other mage has other considerations.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her actions lead to the complete collapse of the Conclave, Nilfgaardian invasion being utterly unopposed and catastrophic destruction of all the Northern Kingdom. For extra points of personal irony, the Thanedd coup directly led to the perception of all mages as traitors and the fall of prestige surrounding them that was never fully mended. When she realizes what she has done, she just ends her life.
Lodge of Sorceresses
- See their separate page.
Alchemists
Adalbertus Aloysius Kalkstein
Adalbertus Aloysius Kalkstein
Appears in: The Witcher
Voiced by: William Roberts (English)additional VAs
A friendly and somewhat eccentric master alchemist that crosses paths with Geralt for the first time outside Vizima. He can become a steadfast ally with a great deal of lucrative contracts to offer the itinerant monster slayer and a range of help regarding all things alchemical.
- Basement-Dweller: Funnily enough, he conducts his research in a dilapidated house at the center of the Non-human District and spends most of his time mixing chemicals in a candle-lit cellar. Geralt more than once likens his behavior to an under-dwelling gnome (and suspects he may have gnomish ancestry, which would explain his odd appearance as well). An allusion to the modern nerd, though an independent nerd at that!
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He is also honorary chairman of the Alchemists, Geomancers, and Pyromancers Club, and rival of the Oxenfurt Inventors' Club.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: When the witch hunters burned him alive, Kalkstein had a few tricks up his sleeve to ensure he did not go down without getting some level of revenge. He somehow managed to have fiery beasts emerge around the pier that shot into the sky to explode into a message reading "Radovid sucks flaccid cock".
- For Science!: When you first meet him he asks to examine Geralt's body as an exemplar of scientific and magical achievement. Slightly disturbed, Geralt refuses only for Kalkstein to inquire whether a postmortem would be acceptable...
- Hidden Depths: Is the one who helps Geralt plan the trap for Azar in Chapter II. He also knows the most about Gnomish technology, metallurgy (and magic) outside of anyone from Mount Carbon, leading to a surprising "hobby" of his.
- Killed Offscreen: Became a victim of the witch-hunters before the start of Wild Hunt.
- Lovable Nerd: He will fill you in on all the aspects of the potion-making system and keep you flush with cash throughout the game's impressive run-time. On top of all this, he's essential to the completion of several quest lines and can optionally help you out with advice on several more.
- Married to the Job: His introduction to Geralt leaves no doubt about his one, eternal, and ever-lasting true love.
- Nice Guy: Always polite and willing to help our favorite Witcher. The only time in the entire game when he'll even get angry is if he's accused of working with the Salamandra, he will promptly tell Geralt to get out of his home and address him derogatorily as a mutant. (A hint of how much you've hurt his feelings). But don't worry, he forgives Geralt after he admits that he was wrong.
- No Social Skills: Downplayed, but as Geralt muses: the absent-minded alchemist seems nice, but it is obvious that scientific theories are of greater concern to him than the more prosaic aspects of life.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He is the closeted yet enthusiastic intellectual next to Geralt's rough-and-tumble stoical man of the world. Their clash of personalities makes for some of the funniest moments in the game.
- Those Two Guys: Is also the NPC you will likely spend the most time with, as not only does he accept rarer loot drops from monsters for the highest selling price but he will also supply you with endless side-quests to obtain monster parts for his experiments.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: You wouldn't think at it to look at him, but give him some old armour pieces and a magical formula along with twenty four hours and he will forge the best damn set of armour in the game!
Astrologers
Xarthisius
Xarthisius
Appears in: Baptism of Fire
A Nilfgaardian astrologer who is tasked by the emperor himself with locating Ciri after the failure of her capture during the Thanedd coup. Mistrustful of mages, Emhyr preferred to call upon Xarthisius for matters involving long-range magical detection.
- Absent-Minded Professor: He's a clear-cut case. That said, the realities of serving Nilfgaardian emperors ensured he picks up the occasional social clue.
- The Astrologer: He is looked down on by wizards and apparently his trade is separate enough, but his methods seem to be magical in nature.
- Cassandra Truth: He accurately marked Ciri's location in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately for him, the Rats took her in before Nilfgaard did, making him look like a fraud.
- Sympathetic Magic: At his request, Emhyr provided him with a lock of Ciri's hair. (He also asked for feces, but Emhyr warned him against such tests of his patience.) Still, the hair was enough to work with.
- You Have Failed Me: Ironically, he gets thrown in jail after providing absurd (but actually true) clues to Ciri's location. But hey, at least it's not the gallows.
