195 Fun Facts About The Witcher

Before he created The Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski worked as a travelling salesman dealing in what?

Furs took Sapkowski to trade fairs abroad, where his first stop each year was a bookshop for the latest fantasy novels; in his late thirties he finally entered a magazine story contest himself.

By Sapkowski's account, why did his first Witcher story place only third in a 1986 magazine contest?

Fantasy was seen as childish in 1980s Poland, he says, so the jurors thought his story the best but gave it third prize; readers then asked for more, and he kept writing.

Which kingdom does Geralt name himself after, although he was neither born nor raised there?

Rivia was a practical choice: young witchers were told a surname would make clients trust them, so Geralt took one and even learned the accent to match.

What name does Geralt give to every horse he owns?

Roach is the name Geralt gives every horse he owns; the Polish original, Płotka, is a pet form of the word for the roach, a small river fish, and has nothing to do with cockroaches.

What does 'Gwynbleidd', Geralt's Elder Speech nickname, mean?

White Wolf is what Gwynbleidd means in the Elder Speech, the old tongue of the elves; the name follows Geralt because of his striking white hair.

Ciri is the princess of which kingdom?

Cintra is ruled by Ciri's grandmother, Queen Calanthe, the Lioness of Cintra; when the capital falls to an invading army, Calanthe dies in the slaughter and the young princess escapes the burning city.

What does Ciri's Elder Speech name, Zireael, mean?

Swallow is what Zireael means in the Elder Speech, the name the elves give Ciri; it is why the fourth novel is called The Tower of the Swallow, after the tower she sets out to find.

Yennefer is a sorceress from which city?

Vengerberg, capital of Aedirn, is Yennefer's home, but Geralt first meets her far from it, in a town where he has come to ask a sorceress to heal his badly injured friend.

Why did Sapkowski say he created Yennefer?

To complicate Geralt's love life: Sapkowski said he was bored by fantasy heroes who could have any woman they wished, so he wrote one who refuses to be a stereotype.

The bard Dandelion's Polish name, Jaskier, refers to which flower?

Jaskier is Polish for buttercup; English translations renamed the bard Dandelion, while the Netflix series kept Jaskier.

In Netflix's The Witcher, the cursed knight who claims Princess Pavetta's hand has the face of which animal?

A hedgehog's face is what the knight's helmet hides: the queen orders him killed on sight, then relents and blesses the marriage, and with that the curse lifts and he turns back into a man.

Which novel, published in 1999, closes the five-book Witcher Saga?

The Lady of the Lake frames the ending as a tale Ciri tells Sir Galahad, who mistakes her for the lady of legend; she warns him it has no happy ending, then says she could claim it closes with a wedding.

Which Witcher book was published in 2024, showing Geralt fresh out of training?

Crossroads of Ravens opens with a newly trained Geralt's first good deed going wrong: he kills a deserter attacking a girl, is sentenced for murder, and is saved from the noose by an ageing witcher, Preston Holt.

What does a witcher's medallion do to warn its wearer that magic or a monster is close by?

It vibrates and tugs on its chain when spells or magical creatures are near; in Netflix's second season a whole hall of medallions starts shaking mid-feast, exposing a monster among the witchers.

In The Witcher 3, which church holds sway in Novigrad, where its witch hunters hound the city's mages?

The Eternal Fire keeps a flame burning atop its great temple in Novigrad while its witch hunters comb the streets, so the city's mages take refuge in a hidden slum run by one of its crime bosses.

What magical event brought monsters, werewolves and vampires into the world?

The Conjunction of the Spheres was a collision of worlds that trapped ghouls, vampires and other creatures in a world where they have no natural place.

Which real languages is Elder Speech based on?

Welsh, English, French, Irish and Latin are the main roots of the Elder Speech; Sapkowski wanted readers to follow it without footnotes, so its words echo ones they half know.

Geralt has distrusted portals ever since he saw a traveller step out of one in what state?

Cut in half is how the man arrived, early in the witcher's career; the sight turned Geralt against teleportation for good, however much time a portal would save him.

The mutations that create a witcher also leave every one of them unable to do what?

Witchers cannot have children: the mutations leave them all sterile, so no witcher can pass on his gifts, and Geralt's only child is his adopted daughter, Ciri.

What is the subtitle of The Witcher 2, the 2011 sequel?

Assassins of Kings names the game's quarry: Geralt is left the only suspect in a royal murder, escapes prison and hunts the real kingslayers to clear his name.

Who is Ciri fleeing from in The Witcher 3?

Ciri is hunted by the Wild Hunt, spectral elven riders led by Eredin who want her Elder Blood; their general Imlerith kills Vesemir at Kaer Morhen.

At the end of the Witcher Saga, Geralt is struck down in a riot by which weapon?

A pitchfork fells the famous monster slayer: he wades into a mob to defend his dwarven friends during a pogrom against non-humans, and a rioter runs him through.

In season two of Netflix's The Witcher, what is Jaskier secretly doing under the alias 'the Sandpiper'?

Smuggling elves to safety is his secret trade in Oxenfurt, where he gets them onto ships; when Yennefer turns up on the run herself, he smuggles her out the same way.

At Kaer Morhen in the Netflix series, what does Vesemir hope Ciri's rare blood will let him do?

Create new witchers: none had been made since the keep was sacked and the mutagens lost, and her blood is the missing ingredient; Ciri agrees, on condition that she goes first.

Which immortal nobleman contracts Geralt to kill a monster in Hearts of Stone?

Olgierd von Everec wished for immortality and got it with a heart of stone, unable to feel anything; the monster he sends Geralt to kill turns out to be a prince he had cursed himself.

Geralt appears as a playable guest character in which fighting game?

Soulcalibur VI is a duelling series in which every fighter wields a weapon, so the two-sworded witcher fitted in; he was announced as its guest character in March 2018, months before release.

Which actor voices Geralt in the English versions of the games?

Doug Cockle is an American who ran the acting course at Arts University Bournemouth in England, recording Geralt's growl for every main game alongside his day job as a lecturer.

Roughly how many copies had The Witcher 3 sold by May 2026?

65 million copies had sold by May 2026, eleven years after release; the Netflix series gave it a second wind, with physical sales in December 2019 running 554% above a year earlier.

How did Sapkowski originally sell CD Projekt the Witcher game rights, a deal he challenged in 2018?

For a lump sum: offered a percentage, Sapkowski demanded all his money up front because he expected no profit at all; in 2018 he asked CD Projekt for more than 60 million zloty on top.

Which sorceress from The Witcher 2 appeared on the cover of Polish Playboy in May 2011?

Triss Merigold fronted the Polish edition of Playboy in May 2011 as part of the publicity for The Witcher 2, which launched that month with her as Geralt's companion.

Who created Netflix's The Witcher series?

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich was named showrunner in December 2017; before filming she toured Poland, meeting Sapkowski in his home city and visiting a ruined castle later used as a location.

Which actor plays the bard Jaskier in Netflix's The Witcher?

Joey Batey plays Jaskier, who walks up to Geralt in a tavern to ask what he thought of the performance, then tags along uninvited on the witcher's next job.

Who plays Yennefer in the Netflix series?

Anya Chalotra plays Yennefer across decades, from a bullied girl to a court sorceress remade by a painful enchantment that makes her beautiful at the cost of her fertility.

What is the viral song Jaskier sings in episode two of season one?

'Toss a Coin to Your Witcher' was written for the series and is in none of the books; fans were remixing and covering it within days, but Netflix did not release it for streaming until 22 January 2020.

Netflix's first season of The Witcher drew its plots mainly from which of Sapkowski's books?

The two short story collections, The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, supplied season one's separate adventures, and the season follows three timelines that merge only at the end.

In Netflix's first season of The Witcher, which creature does Cahir hire to lure Ciri out of hiding?

A doppler, a shape-shifter that copies a victim's body and memories, takes the place of her family's old druid; Ciri sees through the impostor on the road and gets away.

Which Danish actor played the elder witcher Vesemir in season two of Netflix's The Witcher?

Kim Bodnia, the Danish star of The Bridge and Killing Eve, played Vesemir in season two only; when the old witcher returned in season four, the part had passed to Peter Mullan.

Which Oscar winner starred in the prequel series Blood Origin?

Michelle Yeoh, who won her Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once, played Scían, the last of a tribe of sword-elves, who joins the quest to win back a sacred blade stolen from her people.

Which witcher, a friend of Geralt since boyhood, dies early in the second season of Netflix's The Witcher?

Eskel reaches the witchers' winter gathering late and already infected by a creature he had hunted; when he transforms and attacks their mentor, Geralt has to kill him.

Who plays the witcher Brehen in Netflix's special The Rats: A Witcher Tale?

Dolph Lundgren plays Brehen, a washed-up witcher of the Cat School; far from hunting the young thieves, he is recruited for their arena heist and becomes a reluctant father figure to them.

What did Sapkowski's home city of Łódź rename a small park in 2018?

Witcher Square (Skwer Wiedźmina) was named in 2018, the year Sapkowski turned 70; the city promised benches, swings and other fittings themed on his books for the small garden.

Which of these lands is one of the Continent's Northern Kingdoms?

Temeria is one of the Northern Kingdoms, but by The Witcher 3 it has been conquered: Geralt is summoned to its former capital, Vizima, where the invading emperor now holds court.

Which engine did CD Projekt Red pick in 2022 for The Witcher Remake and new trilogy?

Unreal Engine 5 meant giving up the studio's own in-house technology: in March 2022 CD Projekt announced a multi-year partnership with Epic Games and retired the engine behind its earlier hits.

Which instrument does the bard Jaskier carry on his travels with Geralt?

A lute goes everywhere with him; in the story 'The Edge of the World' angry elves smash his old one, then hand over one of their own as compensation, an instrument he treasures.

Sapkowski's Witcher stories are often said to be strongly influenced by which mythology?

Slavic mythology is so rich that Sapkowski says he uses it profusely, yet he insists he gives it no preference and mostly invents his monsters from scratch.

Sapkowski is Poland's second most translated SF and fantasy author, behind which writer?

Stanisław Lem's Solaris has been filmed three times, by Tarkovsky and Soderbergh among others; when critics called the last version a love story, Lem retorted that his book was no romance in space.

Which sorceress convened the Lodge of Sorceresses after the Thanedd coup?

Philippa Eilhart founded the Lodge of Sorceresses at her castle of Montecalvo; she had already arranged the assassination of the king she advised, and she can change shape into an owl.

What did Sapkowski study at the University of Łódź before becoming a writer?

Economics led Sapkowski into foreign trade, not literature; he was 38 and still a salesman when his first story was published.

In The Witcher 3's finale, which world-ending force does Ciri walk through a portal to confront?

The White Frost is a creeping cold that moves between worlds and turns them into frozen wastes; Ciri's pursuers wanted her power to save their own homeworld from it.

Held to 30 pages by a magazine contest, Sapkowski built the first Witcher story by reworking what?

A Polish fairy tale fitted the 30-page limit where a fantasy epic would not; reasoning that poor cobblers don't really slay monsters, Sapkowski gave the job to a paid professional.

After the battle that ends season one of Netflix's The Witcher, Yennefer discovers she has lost what?

Her magic is gone after the battle; a demon then shows her a way to win it back, by delivering a girl she has never met, Ciri.

Sapkowski says he gives many invented monsters names taken from which part of nature?

Insects supply the names for many of the monsters he invents because, Sapkowski says, they sound 'horrible and scary'.

Which witcher sign raises a protective shield around the caster?

Quen wraps the caster in a protective shield; witchers are no mages, so signs like it are simple spells for a fight, alongside Igni's burst of fire and Aard's telekinetic shove.

Who was Geralt's mother, who gave him away shortly after birth?

Visenna, a druid and healer, gave her son up to the witchers; years later, in the story 'Something More', she treats his wounds but refuses to let him look her in the face.

Which ordeal of mutations gave Geralt his witcher abilities?

The Trial of the Grasses, a regimen of alchemical mutagens given to boys at Kaer Morhen, killed most candidates; Geralt survived it and was put through further experiments.

Why does Geralt have white hair and pale skin?

His mutations removed all body pigment: Geralt withstood the usual witcher changes so well that he was picked for extra experimental ones, and the white hair was their side effect.

Which unwanted nickname has followed Geralt since the events of the story 'The Lesser Evil'?

The Butcher of Blaviken is what Geralt became after killing Renfri and her band in the town's market; the townsfolk, not knowing what the gang had planned, pelted him with stones and drove him out.

Triss Merigold is one of the heroes of which battle against Nilfgaard?

Triss Merigold fought at Sodden Hill, was wrongly listed among the dead and is remembered as the Fourteenth of the Hill; she later helped train Ciri at Kaer Morhen.

What is the bard Dandelion's real name and title?

Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount of Lettenhove, took up poetry only at 19, inspired by his passion for a countess; he calls his memoirs Half a Century of Poetry although he is not yet forty.

Which actor voiced a young Vesemir in season one of Netflix's The Witcher and again in Nightmare of the Wolf?

Theo James was at first only a voice: in the season-one finale an unseen Vesemir tells the abandoned boy Geralt that he has been waiting for him; the animated film then gave James the lead.

Ciri is the daughter of Pavetta and which man, also called the Urcheon of Erlenwald?

Duny, a knight cursed to look like a beast, is later revealed to be Emhyr var Emreis, the very ruler whose armies hunt Ciri through the Saga.

In the story 'Sword of Destiny', where does Geralt first meet Ciri, a runaway child princess?

Brokilon, the forest of the dryads, is where Geralt finds Ciri, who has fled an arranged marriage; the dryads mean to keep her, but their memory-wiping water has no effect on her.

In Sapkowski's books and the games, what colour is Ciri's hair?

Ashen grey hair and green eyes mark Ciri out from childhood; the scar on her cheek comes later, a wound taken as she escapes her captors in the fourth Saga novel.

Which Capcom game added a free crossover quest in 2019 with Geralt as its playable hero?

Monster Hunter: World made an obvious home for a professional monster slayer: its February 2019 event let players take on a contract as Geralt himself, with Ciri playable too.

What is the name of Ciri's horse in The Witcher IV?

Kelpie, Ciri's black mare from the novels, was introduced in the game's 2025 tech demo, where CD Projekt Red showed her muscles visibly moving and flexing as she is ridden; players can summon her at will.

Under what internal codename was The Witcher IV developed?

Project Polaris was revealed in October 2022 as the first game of a new trilogy, and CD Projekt has since said it aims to release all three games within six years of each other.

Which region, never seen in the earlier games, did The Witcher IV's 2025 tech demo reveal?

Kovir is a rugged northern land whose cities are built on trade; bound by an old treaty to eternal neutrality, it has kept its distance from the wars that plague the rest of the north.

What business did CD Projekt's founders start with in 1994, years before becoming developers?

Importing foreign games came first: Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński had sold games at weekend computer markets while still at school, then built a distributor that translated big releases into Polish.

CD Projekt began making The Witcher after its PC port of which console game was cancelled?

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance was being converted for PC when publisher Interplay's deal fell apart; having 'caught the virus', as co-founder Marcin Iwiński put it, the team set out to make a game of its own.

Which online store did CD Projekt launch in 2008 to sell classic PC games without copy protection?

GOG.com began as Good Old Games; in September 2010 it staged its own shutdown, then admitted days later that the closure was a hoax to drum up attention for its relaunch.

Which other major franchise, besides The Witcher, is CD Projekt Red best known for?

Cyberpunk 2077 launched in December 2020 with so many bugs on older consoles that Sony pulled it from the PlayStation Store for six months while CD Projekt patched it.

Which BioWare engine, in modified form, powered the first Witcher game?

Aurora, the engine behind Neverwinter Nights, came from BioWare, whose founders were friendly with CD Projekt's; BioWare even lent the unknown Polish game space on its own E3 stand.

What was the cancelled 2009 console version of the first Witcher game called?

The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf, a console remake by French studio Widescreen Games, was suspended in 2009 after payment disputes and never resumed.

Which Polish studio, staffed by veterans of earlier Witcher games, leads development of The Witcher Remake?

Fool's Theory got the job because some of its staff worked on the original games: CD Projekt's studio head said they know the material well, while his own team keeps full creative supervision.

CD Projekt's June 2025 tech demo for The Witcher IV ran at 60 frames per second on which console?

PlayStation 5 hardware ran the showcase, but the studio stressed it was a technology demo and not gameplay: three months earlier it had said the game would not be released before 2027.

At the start of The Witcher 2, Geralt is imprisoned on suspicion of killing which king?

Geralt is accused of assassinating King Foltest of Temeria, who is actually killed by the witcher Letho during the siege of La Valette castle.

Poland's prime minister gave a collector's edition of The Witcher 2 to which visiting world leader in 2011?

Barack Obama received the game from Donald Tusk in Warsaw; back in Poland in 2014, he confessed he is not very good at video games but had been told it showed Poland's place in the new global economy.

Which special-forces commander interrogates the imprisoned Geralt at the start of The Witcher 2?

Vernon Roche, commander of the Blue Stripes, decides during the interrogation that Geralt is innocent, helps him escape and joins his hunt for the real killer.

The Witcher 3 opens in which village, where Geralt and Vesemir hunt a griffin?

White Orchard is where the witchers stop while searching for Yennefer; once they have slain the griffin terrorising the area, she finds Geralt herself and takes him to meet the emperor.

Which engine did CD Projekt use to build The Witcher 3?

REDengine 3 was built in-house so The Witcher 3's branching story could run in an open world; in 2022 the studio announced it was retiring its own engine for future Witcher games.

Which Game of Thrones actor voices Emperor Emhyr var Emreis in The Witcher 3?

Charles Dance, Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones, voices the emperor who summons Geralt at the start of the game and orders him to track down Ciri.

Which warlord shelters Ciri in The Witcher 3 and wants Geralt to find his missing wife and daughter?

The Bloody Baron, Phillip Strenger, is an old soldier whose wife and daughter fled his drunken rages; in the quest 'Family Matters' Geralt can lift the curse on the couple's lost child.

In The Witcher 2, which rebel leader hailed as the Dragonslayer is secretly a dragon herself?

Saskia can take human form and leads the defence of Vergen against King Henselt; Geralt also learns that her own adviser, a sorceress, has placed her under mind control.

Which three places does Geralt learn Ciri was seen in The Witcher 3?

Velen, Novigrad and Skellige are the three sightings Geralt is given: in Velen she had sheltered with a warlord after fighting three witches, and she fled Novigrad by teleporting to Skellige.

In The Witcher 3, what does a surviving Ciri become if she has visited Emhyr and his side wins the war?

Empress of Nilfgaard is her ending only if she survives, was taken to see Emhyr and his armies win the war; a Ciri who survives otherwise fakes her death with Geralt's help and takes up the witcher's life.

Hearts of Stone is based on which Polish folktale about a pact with the devil?

Pan Twardowski, in the best-known telling, tried to cheat the devil with a clause that his soul could be taken only in Rome, a city he never meant to visit, and was caught at an inn named Rzym, Polish for Rome.

Which mysterious man brands Geralt with a mark in Hearts of Stone?

Gaunter O'Dimm, the 'Man of Glass', frees Geralt from the Ofieri ship and brands his face as the mark of their bargain.

Which old acquaintance does Geralt meet again while hunting the toad in Hearts of Stone?

Shani, the Oxenfurt medic from the first game, reappears in Hearts of Stone helping Geralt in the sewers; the toad turns out to be a cursed Ofieri prince.

Which duchess hires Geralt in Blood and Wine to slay a monster killing her knights?

Anna Henrietta rules Toussaint, and the trail leads back to her own long-lost sister Syanna, who faked a kidnapping to force a vampire into carrying out the murders.

Which vampire is caught red-handed by Geralt in Blood and Wine?

Dettlaff van der Eretein, a higher vampire, is the Beast of Beauclair; Geralt catches him mid-kill and their fight is broken up by Geralt's old friend Regis.

In Blood and Wine, which vineyard estate does Geralt receive as a home of his own?

Corvo Bianco is handed over by the duchess as part payment for the contract, and it comes with a majordomo who oversees whatever renovations the player pays for.

Who plays the Nilfgaardian knight Cahir in the Netflix series?

Eamon Farren plays Cahir, who leads Nilfgaard's hunt for Ciri in season one; in the books the same knight ends up riding with Geralt to rescue her.

In the Netflix series, what does Tissaia turn her failed students into to feed the school's magic?

Eels: Yennefer watches her classmates transformed and is told to push them into the water, where they become conduits for the power that lights up the whole academy.

Which swamp monster is Geralt fighting in the opening scene of the Netflix series?

A kikimora has the upper hand in the bog until he rams his sword through its skull; he then hauls the carcass to the nearest town to sell it and finds the locals want no witcher around.

On Netflix's list of its most popular series in the US for 2019, The Witcher ranked second behind which show?

Stranger Things led with its third season, but the surprise was second place: The Witcher had been out for only ten days when Netflix published the ranking.

Season two of the Netflix series opens with Geralt visiting the cursed Nivellen, adapting which short story?

A Grain of Truth plays as a dark Beauty and the Beast: the beast-shaped Nivellen is not the one killing travellers; that is Vereena, the vampire-like bruxa who loves him.

Which sorcerer defeats Geralt in a duel in season three, leaving him gravely wounded?

Vilgefortz had just been exposed as the hidden hand behind Rience; after the duel Triss finds the broken witcher and carries him to the forest of Brokilon to heal.

Which season of Netflix's The Witcher was announced in April 2024 as its last?

The fifth season was ordered just as the fourth began shooting: Netflix said the two would film back to back and adapt the last three novels of the Saga between them.

Weeks after his exit from The Witcher was announced, Henry Cavill signed on to star in Amazon's adaptation of which tabletop game?

Warhammer 40,000 came to Amazon with Cavill attached as both star and executive producer: he had worked with the producers to secure the rights before the deal was struck in December 2022.

In which Showtime series did Henry Cavill play Charles Brandon before The Witcher?

The Tudors came two years after Cavill's biggest near-miss: he was Daniel Craig's last rival for James Bond in Casino Royale, and the director said he looked too young at 22.

Which actor joined the Netflix series in season four as Regis?

Laurence Fishburne plays Regis, the barber-surgeon who shelters Geralt's party, treats the witcher's wounded leg and joins the journey; he also happens to be a centuries-old vampire.

Which Australian soap did Liam Hemsworth appear in as Josh Taylor?

Neighbours cast him in 2007 as Josh Taylor, left paraplegic by a surfing accident, who helps Bridget Parker through her own recovery; his older brother Luke had starred in the same soap before him.

Which character did Liam Hemsworth play in The Hunger Games films?

Gale Hawthorne is Katniss's best friend and hunting partner; Liam Hemsworth played him in all four films, though in the end she marries Peeta and not Gale.

Yennefer's signature perfume blends lilac with which fruit?

Gooseberries: the scent of lilac and gooseberries is so much her signature that The Witcher 3 names one of its opening quests, in which Geralt follows her trail, after it.

Before magic remade her appearance, Yennefer was born with which condition?

A hunched back: it was corrected by magic during her training as a sorceress, yet Geralt notices her slightly uneven shoulders and works out what she once was.

Freya Allan played Mae in which 2024 blockbuster?

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes introduces her as a silent scavenger the apes call Nova, until she startles them by speaking and gives her real name, Mae.

In the story where Geralt and Yennefer first meet, which creature is she trying to capture?

A djinn: she wants to harness its power, but it turns out to be bound to Geralt, who spends his final wish, in words the story never reveals, to save her life.

A witcher carries two swords: one of steel for human foes and one of which metal for monsters?

Silver is what many supernatural creatures are especially vulnerable to, so that blade is saved for monsters while the steel one is drawn mainly against humans.

Which frame story links the tales of The Last Wish?

The Voice of Reason is cut into seven parts that frame the other tales; in its last scene a chance touch of a priestess's hand sets off a vision of Geralt's future, which he shrugs off as nothing new.

In The Last Wish's frame story, Geralt recovers in a temple of which deity?

Melitele's temple in Ellander takes Geralt in while his wounds heal; its priestess Nenneke presses him to let a trance show his future, and he refuses.

The mutations that make a witcher leave him with eyes like which animal's?

A cat's: the pupils can narrow against glare or open wide in near darkness, which lets witchers fight at night and also marks them out to strangers at a glance.

Which cursed creature is King Foltest's daughter in the story 'The Witcher'?

Foltest's daughter, born of his union with his sister Adda, was cursed to become a striga; Geralt lifts the curse by keeping her from her sarcophagus until dawn.

The Scoia'tael, elven and dwarven guerrillas who raid the northern kingdoms, are known by the name of which animal?

Squirrels: these young elves and dwarves strike from the forests at travellers on the trade roads, and they fight as Nilfgaard's irregulars in the hope of winning their freedom.

Ciri's Elder Blood, the source of her power over space and time, descends from which elven sorceress?

Lara Dorren chose a human mage over the elven partner picked for her, so the gift the elves had bred for passed into human bloodlines, which is why so many factions hunt Ciri.

Which sorceress nicknamed Coral has an affair with Geralt in Season of Storms?

Lytta Neyd, known as Coral, takes up with Geralt in the kingdom of Kerack while he is trying to get back his two stolen witcher swords.

Which Dark Horse comic is based on a chapter of Season of Storms?

Fox Children, written by Paul Tobin in 2015, puts Geralt aboard a ship of renegades where one passenger hides a terrible secret; the Dark Horse comics before it were all new stories.

Blood Origin is set how many years before the main Netflix series?

Blood Origin is set 1,200 years before Geralt's time, in a world still ruled by elves, and follows seven outcast warriors whose fight leads to the making of the very first witcher.

Blood Origin reached Netflix on which 2022 holiday?

Christmas Day brought the whole miniseries at once, and a shorter one than planned: Netflix had ordered six parts, and only four were released.

Which ancient elven civilisation does Blood Origin explore?

Xin'trea is the elven kingdom whose princess, Merwyn, seizes power in a bloody coup at a peace signing; the seven outcasts of Blood Origin band together against the empire she builds.

In Nightmare of the Wolf, who campaigns to have the witchers outlawed?

Tetra Gilcrest hates witchers because one of them swindled a priest and got her mother, a court sorceress, killed for it; she ends up leading an army against the witchers' keep.

Which creature does Vesemir save a child from at the start of Nightmare of the Wolf?

The film opens with Vesemir rescuing a boy from a leshen in the woods; the dying leshen speaks an elven tongue, the first hint it was being controlled.

Which row in The Witcher 3's Gwent was removed for the standalone card game?

Siege was dropped when the minigame became a game of its own, so cards now go into just two rows, Melee and Ranged; a match is still won by taking two of three rounds.

Which dwarf, a friend of Geralt since Baptism of Fire, appears in all three main Witcher games?

Zoltan Chivay is shepherding a band of dwarves and refugees away from the fighting when Geralt's party falls in with him, and the friendship carries through every game that follows.

Which single-player Gwent spin-off was released in July 2022?

Rogue Mage is set centuries before Geralt and follows Alzur, a young and ambitious wizard, on his quest to create a living weapon that can wipe out the monsters overrunning the world.

Which queen does the player control in Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales?

Meve of Lyria and Rivia is toppled in a coup that puts her own son Villem on the throne as Nilfgaard's puppet; she escapes with a handful of loyalists and fights her way back.

Thronebreaker's campaign passes through Mahakam, the kingdom founded by which people?

Dwarves rule Mahakam: their elder, Brouver Hoog, at first turns down the queen's plea for help against Nilfgaard, then changes his mind after an attack and lends her a company of warriors.

Which Game of Thrones actor plays the cursed Nivellen in season two of the Netflix series?

Kristofer Hivju, Tormund in Game of Thrones, appears for a single episode: once Nivellen's curse lifts and his crime comes out, he begs Geralt to kill him, and the witcher refuses.

In The Hexer, Vesemir claims the child Geralt by invoking what?

The Law of Surprise is how the 2002 series has the witchers claim the child Geralt, a change from Sapkowski's books, where his mother gives him up to them herself.

How does Michał Żebrowski, The Hexer's Geralt, take part in Netflix's The Witcher?

In the Polish dub: viewers who choose the Polish audio track hear the Geralt of the 2001 film speaking for Henry Cavill.

At the start of the first Witcher game, Geralt is found suffering from what?

Amnesia: he wakes among his fellow witchers with no memory of who he is, so the player pieces together his reputation and his past along with him.

Which Sapkowski short story does Sirens of the Deep loosely adapt?

A Little Sacrifice, from Sword of Destiny, has Geralt interpreting between Agloval, lord of Bremervoord, and the mermaid Sh'eenaz, whose match stalls because neither will change form for the other.

Which bard nicknamed 'Little Eye', Jaskier's childhood friend, is in Sirens of the Deep?

Essi Daven falls for Geralt, who cannot love her back; in Sapkowski's telling she dies in a smallpox epidemic a few years later, and her fellow bard buries her.

What does a grateful queen grant Geralt after the Battle for the Bridge in Baptism of Fire?

A knighthood: caught between the warring armies, Geralt's company ends up holding the bridge so the queen's troops can cross, and she knights him after the battle.

The Witcher's showrunner came to the job from writing for which Marvel series on Netflix?

Daredevil and its crossover The Defenders were on her record when Netflix hired her in 2017; the Witcher project had been announced two years earlier as a feature film, before its producers reworked it into a series.

Which knight nicknamed 'Three Jackdaws' joins Geralt's dragon hunt in Sword of Destiny?

Borch Three Jackdaws, travelling with the Zerrikanian warriors Tea and Vea, turns out to be the golden dragon Villentretenmerth in 'The Bounds of Reason'.

In Time of Contempt, Yennefer plans to enrol Ciri at which school of magic?

Aretuza, the academy for young sorceresses on Thanedd Island, never gets its new pupil: Ciri sees the school as a prison, steals a horse and rides off to find Geralt.

Which bounty hunter slaughters the Rats and captures Ciri in The Tower of the Swallow?

Leo Bonhart cuts down the whole gang and takes Ciri alive; paid in secret to kill her, he instead makes her fight for her life in an arena.

Which elderly philosopher shelters an injured Ciri in the Pereplut swamp?

Vysogota, an exiled scholar hiding as a hermit in the swamp, nurses the badly hurt Ciri back to health while she tells him the story of her last few months.

In The Tower of the Swallow, how does Ciri turn on her pursuers on a frozen lake?

On a pair of ice skates left by her rescuer's daughter, she lures the hunters onto the lake, vanishes into the fog and strikes at speed until their band panics and scatters.

Who plays the Redanian spymaster Sigismund Dijkstra in Netflix's The Witcher?

Graham McTavish plays Dijkstra, the spymaster who springs a coup on the mages he suspects of serving Nilfgaard; he had already voiced the witcher Deglan in the franchise's animated film.

Under which alias does Ciri ride with the outlaw gang known as the Rats?

Falka was a dreaded rebel from history, burned at the stake; Ciri saw her in a vision and gives her name when the gang asks who she is.

Which prince, played by Hugh Skinner, becomes Jaskier's lover in Netflix's The Witcher?

Radovid is King Vizimir's brother in the series; in the books and games he is Vizimir's son instead, still a boy when his father is assassinated.

Which Nilfgaardian officer does James Purefoy play in season four of Netflix's The Witcher?

James Purefoy plays Stefan Skellen, the imperial coroner sent to find Ciri for Emhyr, who is secretly plotting against his emperor and wants her dead.

Which archer from Brokilon Forest, played by Meng'er Zhang, joins Geralt's company in season four of The Witcher?

Milva, born Maria Barring, is one of the few humans the dryads tolerate; she guides beaten Scoia'tael bands to refuge among them, then agrees to ride with Geralt despite disliking him.

Who plays Renfri, the princess-turned-bandit Geralt fights in the first episode of Netflix's The Witcher?

Emma Appleton plays Renfri, who has come for revenge on the wizard Stregobor: he has hunted her since she was a girl, convinced that she was cursed by being born during an eclipse.

Which giant Witcher monsters talk to humans in simple sentences, and some can even draw or write?

Trolls often live under bridges they build themselves, and locals put up with them because paying the toll is cheaper than maintaining the bridge. Witchers once hunted them for eating human flesh.

Which witcher sign lets Geralt hurl a burst of fire from his outstretched hand to set enemies alight?

Igni is the sign of fire, a simple spell a witcher casts with one hand. Its icon in the first Witcher game is based on the alchemists' symbol for fire.

Geralt joined which battle royale game as a Battle Pass outfit for its Chapter 4 Season 1?

Fortnite made Geralt a collaboration outfit in its Battle Pass. He and other Witcher characters also appear as cosmetics in the horror game Dead by Daylight.

The Witcher 3 opens in a guest room at Kaer Morhen with Yennefer interrupting Geralt doing what?

Taking a bath is how the story starts, which the game's journal says disproves the theory that witchers neglect personal hygiene. The whole scene turns out to be Geralt's dream.

Which ranged weapon does Vesemir give Geralt in The Witcher 3's prologue, one that is especially effective underwater?

A crossbow gets its own slot beside Geralt's blades, and it can be fired from horseback or at the helm of a boat. Its plain bolts never run out.

Which Witcher monsters, lurking in rivers, lakes and city sewers, are widely but wrongly thought to be dead men risen?

Drowners are no risen dead at all but a species of monster in their own right, at home in mill ponds as much as rivers. Skelligers call them muire d'yaeblen.

In The Witcher 3's A Princess in Distress, the Princess whom Geralt must track down for the Pellar is which animal?

A goat named Princess is needed for the pellar's ritual, so he sends Geralt off with a bell she is drawn to when it rings.

In The Witcher 3, which part of Geralt's appearance slowly grows back over time after a barber trims it?

His beard slowly returns to a full, thick growth if Geralt starts clean shaven or trimmed short. The other facial styles a barber offers stay fixed.

Henry Cavill says which experience drove him to seek the role of Geralt in Netflix's The Witcher?

Playing the video games made Cavill a fan before the show was made. An avid gamer since childhood, he once missed the phone call telling him he was Superman because he was busy with World of Warcraft.

In The Witcher 3, what does Geralt coat his blades with to deal extra damage to one type of enemy?

Alchemical oils are brewed from formulae, each tailored to a single kind of foe, so a good witcher reads up on his prey before drawing a blade.

Kaer Morhen, the witchers' keep where Geralt was raised and trained, lies in which northern kingdom?

Kaedwen is home to Kaer Morhen, so it may be where Geralt is really from. He took a surname from elsewhere because Vesemir said folk trust a man who has one.

As a young witcher, Geralt first picked which grand surname, which Vesemir dismissed as silly and pretentious?

Haute-Bellegarde was the flourish he wanted: Geralt Roger Eric du Haute-Bellegarde, no less. Only the first name survived Vesemir's verdict.

Which Polish actor voices Geralt in the original Polish-language versions of CD Projekt Red's Witcher video games?

Jacek Rozenek voices Geralt in Polish, the home language of developer CD Projekt Red. His Geralt runs through the whole game trilogy, which carries the story on past Sapkowski's novels.

Aerondight, the blade Geralt earns in Blood and Wine, shares its name with the sword of which Arthurian knight?

Lancelot owns a sword called Arondight in the medieval English romance Bevis of Hampton. Geralt first receives a blade of this name in the original Witcher game.

In Blood and Wine, Geralt can only win Aerondight once he has proven five of what?

Chivalric virtues are the test: once Geralt has shown all five in other quests, a hermit at a small lake duels him for the sword lying beneath the water.

What sets Blood and Wine's Aerondight apart from nearly every other piece of equipment in The Witcher 3?

It grows stronger with use: each blow builds a charge, and a kill at full charge raises the damage for good. Taking a hit wipes the charges away.

Earth elementals in The Witcher 3's bestiary have one weakness: bombs packed with dust of which magic-suppressing metal?

Dimeritium blocks magical power, which is why the same metal goes into the shackles used on captured sorcerers. Earth elementals feel no pain from poison or flame, so the bombs matter.

In The Witcher 3, the Novigrad master swordsmith Hattori has been forced out of his trade into selling what?

Dumplings became his living after a rival smith with gang backing squeezed him out. His name nods to Hattori Hanzō, the swordsmith turned sushi-bar owner in Kill Bill.

In the first Witcher game, a blacksmith needs three pieces of which ore to forge Geralt a finer steel blade?

Meteorite is the ore, and it takes three pieces per blade. Different combinations of the ore give the finished weapon different damage and critical effects.

In Sapkowski's novels, a friend gives Geralt which rune-etched dwarven sword, a type with a very small crossguard?

A sihil is made with advanced metallurgy and runic craft, and Geralt's was forged by the smith Rhundurin. Its runes spell out a blunt curse on the bearer's enemies.

The first Witcher game gave Geralt three sword-fighting styles: fast, strong and one built for what?

Being surrounded is the cue for the group style and its sweeping attacks. The fast style suits quick enemies, while the strong style trades speed for heavier blows.

In The Witcher 3, which monster has taken over the Skellige isle of Undvik, swinging a ship's anchor as a weapon?

An ice giant named Myrhyff seized the island about a year before the game begins. Hjalmar an Craite sets out to kill it, hoping the fame will make him king.

In The Witcher 3's Novigrad contract Deadly Delights, Geralt may spare which seductive creature rather than kill her?

A succubus draws energy from the men she seduces, first in their dreams and then in person. Killing her yields a trophy and a rare mutagen, but no sword.

The Witcher 3's first contract, Devil by the Well, pits Geralt against which kind of specter haunting a ruined village?

A noonwraith appears in fields when the sun is at its highest. To be rid of this one for good, Geralt has to dive for a bracelet that fell to the bottom of the well.

In The Witcher 3's Family Matters, which creature, born of an improperly buried stillborn, can become a lubberkin?

A botchling preys on pregnant women, hiding beneath their beds to sap their strength. The cure is an elven naming ritual and a proper burial beneath the family's threshold.

Vereena, lover of the cursed Nivellen in Sapkowski's books and Netflix's The Witcher, is which kind of vampire?

A bruxa passes for a dark-haired young woman, but its natural form is a large black bat. Its piercing scream can send a grown man flying through the air.

Johnny, the childlike swamp-dweller who helps Geralt in The Witcher 3's Velen, belongs to which kind of creature?

A godling looks like a human child with big, bright eyes and gives care and protection to people living near its burrow. Johnny can later befriend another, Sarah, from Novigrad.

The Witcher 3's bestiary files ghouls, rotfiends and grave hags under which class of monster?

Necrophages take their name from the Greek for corpse and to eat, and they haunt cemeteries and battlefields. Some are happy to supply the corpses themselves.

Which antlered relict in The Witcher 3, built like a deer but far larger, hypnotises opponents with a third eye?

A fiend is called a bies in the Polish original and roams Velen and Skellige. Its sheer weight makes it immune to the Aard sign, which cannot shift it an inch.

On The Witcher 3's Isle of Mists, the hosts watching over a seemingly lifeless Ciri echo which fairy tale?

Snow White is the model: Ciri's hosts are dwarves, one nodding off like Sleepy and another based on Sneezy, and all of them believe she has died.

In The Witcher 3, how does Geralt lure the shapeshifter Dudu out of hiding in Novigrad?

By staging a play written to catch Dudu's eye, with Geralt himself on stage delivering lines. First he has to hire ushers and help choose the cast.

Which elven leader of the spectral riders hunting Ciri does Geralt slay in battle near the end of The Witcher 3?

Eredin comes from a parallel dimension and is voiced by Steven Hartley. With his dying words he sows doubt about one of Ciri's own allies.

Which trio, also called the Ladies of the Wood, rules the swamps of Velen in The Witcher 3?

The Crones are named Brewess, Weavess and Whispess. Legend makes them sisters, the daughters of a being known as She-Who-Knows.

In The Witcher 3's A Towerful of Mice, Keira Metz sends Geralt to lift a curse from which island in Velen?

Fyke Isle lies in Lake Wyndamer, and its tower is haunted by a woman who was eaten alive by rats. Geralt concludes that a curse born of hate can only be broken by love.

In The Witcher 3, Dandelion turns the Novigrad brothel he inherits, Rosemary and Thyme, into a cabaret with which name?

The Chameleon opens as a cabaret and tavern once Geralt has saved Dandelion from the Temple Guard. Its previous owner was the crime boss known as Whoreson Senior.

In The Witcher 3, the cursed creature Uma, nicknamed the Ugliest Man Alive, turns out to be which elven sage?

Avallac'h had been living under the curse at Crow's Perch, kept around like a court jester to amuse the garrison. Geralt had met the sage before, in his true form.

In The Witcher 3's Skellige storyline, Geralt can help which daughter of Crach an Craite become queen of the isles?

Cerys, nicknamed Sparrowhawk, is the younger sister of Hjalmar. Under her rule Skellige prospers and becomes a far more peaceful place.

In The Witcher 3's Magic Lamp, a riddle tells Geralt and Keira Metz the order in which to do what?

Light the torches of the four statues in the wrong order and the fires go out while wraiths appear. Solving the riddle opens a sanctuary that holds the lamp Keira was promised.

In The Witcher 3, what happens to Geralt if he romances both Triss and Yennefer?

They leave him chained up to a bed after promising him a night to remember, then walk out. Geralt loses both of them as partners for the rest of the game.

In The Witcher 3, Geralt and Yennefer leave a Skellige king's wake for a love scene atop which stuffed animal?

A unicorn stands stuffed in Yennefer's room, and the scene is the player's choice. Before it, she pulls Geralt away from the table to talk in private and warns him to stay sober.

The first Witcher game marked each woman Geralt slept with by giving the player which collectible trophy?

A romance card was a trophy of sorts, styled after early 20th-century novelty postcards and first shown during the love scene itself.

After Geralt asks Triss to stay with him in The Witcher 3's Now or Never, where do the two slip away together?

To a lighthouse on the harbour, once Novigrad's hunted sorcerers have been led through the sewers to the port. The private moment there seals the romance.

In The Witcher 3's A Matter of Life and Death, Geralt and Triss slip into the Vegelbud estate during which event?

A masked ball is Lady Vegelbud's plan for getting her son out unnoticed. In the garden maze Geralt can kiss Triss just before the fireworks, a step her romance depends on.

The Witcher 3's quest The Last Wish leads Geralt and Yennefer to what unlikely find atop a Skellige mountain?

A wrecked ship lies atop the mountains of northern Ard Skellig, its hull fitted out as a dead sorcerer's laboratory. There Yennefer hopes to undo the old wish that bound the two of them.

In Blood and Wine's fairy-tale realm, the Land of a Thousand Fables, Geralt can have a brief fling with which woman?

Syanna is the duchess's older sister, a victim of the panic over the Curse of the Black Sun. Geralt comes to realise she is the mastermind behind the killings he was hired to stop.

Which poet, known on stage as Callonetta, is Dandelion's partner in The Witcher 3 and helps plan his new cabaret?

Priscilla is a romantic poet whose concert tour ended in Novigrad, the biggest city in the Northern Kingdoms. An attack on her there sets Geralt on the trail of a serial killer.

Which sorcerer, Royce Pierreson's role in Netflix's The Witcher, challenges Geralt to a duel over Yennefer in the books?

Istredd could tolerate Yennefer's passing lovers but refused to share her with a man she truly loved. Both rivals knew the winner would have to hide from her rage.

In Sapkowski's novels, which Nilfgaardian sorceress takes Geralt as a lover in Toussaint to stall his search for Ciri?

Fringilla Vigo acts on the Lodge's orders and holds him there until winter closes the mountain passes. Geralt, though, never gets Yennefer out of his mind.

In the first Witcher game, what builds up inside Geralt every time he drinks one of his potions?

Toxicity builds with every potion, and at a dangerous level red sparkles start to cloud the view as if Geralt were beginning to hallucinate. It fades only gradually.

Which huge tentacled monster does Geralt hunt near the town of Flotsam in the first chapter of The Witcher 2?

The kayran crushes prey with its tentacles and oozes a poisonous, sticky mucus. It is the first major boss of the game.