Witchers are mutated beast hunters who develop a sort of supernatural powers at a young to fight against monsters and wild beasts. Geralt is the hero among them. “The Witcher” was written by Polish writer Andreza Sapkowski. He basically hunts monsters and protects his land. The novel series had 6 novels in total along with 14-15 short stories by the same writer when released around 1986. Later on, there was a video game launched in 2007 named “Witcher ” having totally 3 seasons in all. Witcher card games were also launched in the same year.
Recently in October 2019, Netflix streamed a series “The Witcher” produced by Mike Ostrowski. The first episode of season 1 was premiered on 20th October 2019 with a total of 8 episodes. The second season began on 17th February 2021 also with 8 episodes. The show stars Cayill as Geralt, Freya Allen as Ciri, and Anya Chalotra as Yennefer. It gained much popularity. But it’s more based on the original Sapkowski novel than the already popular witcher game.
Hence, in this article, we will be listing out 10 things you don’t know about Geralt aka Geralt of Rivia as he’s commonly known. So let’s begin!
Geralt of Rivia is not From Rivia
Yes, that’s true. He was born as Geralt Roger Eric du Haute-Bellegarde to Visenna and a warrior Korin but soon he is admitted to the School of Wolf in Kaer Morhen to become a witcher. But thinking that with such a long name it will be difficult for others to associate with him, he is given a knife by his teacher and told to strike it anywhere on the map. The place he hit was Rivia and hence got the name. Names are given for the purpose of attracting clients. Also, their queen belonged to Rivia. It is also said that the queen impressed by this warrior makes him a knight and gives him this title. In real he actually belonged to some other place known as ‘Kaedwen’
Owner of Special Powers
Geralt is considered the most special among all other witchers. Not because he is someone from the other planet but he got some special powers and abilities. Thanks to the extra potions experimented on him because of his resilience during his graduation days. He was the only one to pass every experiment in school.
He got a vision of a cat because of which he can see and identify things even in the dark. He has a brilliant sixth sense ability that allows him to sense dangers way ahead of his time. He is also a master of potion making and has a deep knowledge of different vegetation that can be used for this purpose. He also has accelerated healing capabilities and a strong immune system, a must for a warrior.
His Age and White Hairs!
Geralt is a fit handsome hunk but he is almost 100 as per the novel. Yes! His age is not something mentioned in novels nor even discussed in any series but at the start of the Witcher 3 game, he himself mentions that he’s going to be 100 years old soon.
“White wolf” is a name given to him because of his white hair and yellow cat eyes. But his white hair has no relation to his age at all. It has a different story. His hairs were naturally never white. They turned white because of the excessive stress and the reactions caused by the mutagens he was administered during his training time. These grass potions were a part of the experiments done on youngsters to turn them into powerful witchers. However, the comic version says that the white hair is because of the pain of killing his friend Gweld.
His mother was a Sorcerer
Geralt’s mother was actually a sorcerer who had magical abilities. Sorcerers aren’t fertile by nature but his mother named Visenna was an exception. Not just did she give birth to Geralt but also send him to graduate from the school of wolf and become a witcher.
They both even happen to meet again years later during a war. Geralt always wanted to know the reason why he was sent to school away from her at such a tender age but circumstances didn’t allow that. He gets unconscious and when he wakes up again her mother was gone and his question remained unanswered.
His Sword
Geralt originally had a steel sword which he later replaced with a silver one. His steel one was made of siderite or meteoritic rock. It was given to him by Master Ort. Most of his swords are made by the swordsmith Artur Wysocki This sword is special in addition to its fine quality as it has Runes carved on it which means “My brilliance cuts the gloom, My light cuts the darkness.” He also gets a silver sword from Ciri in the later episodes. To his surprise, it also has Runes that reads, “A flash that cuts the Darkness, the light that breaks the night”. This is almost the same as Geralt’s silver sword.
Hero or A Villain?
It is often questioned whether Geralt is a hero or a villain. Why so? Well, even though he’s a warrior who saves humans of his territory. But when he’s on the battleground he becomes crueler than anyone who can exist. He’s not like other normal human beings. He is a mutated human yet an advanced one who is specially created to beat monsters or non-human beings.
He’s endowed with a much-enhanced 6th sense that helps him actually analyze and feel an incoming unfortunate incident. As a result, he easily detects enemies and kills them even before they actually commit a crime. He is also sometimes known as the “Butcher of Blaviken” because once he killed two feuds, Sorcerer Stegobor, and bandit Renfre in the town of Blaviken. They were planning to kill the townspeople. So before they could harm innocent people he killed them all but the public only saw that he killed without knowing why they gave him this name.
Also Read: The Witcher Season 2 Plot, Cast, and Update Details
Eye Scar isn’t in the novels
Geralt’s scars, especially the one near his eye are nowhere mentioned in the original book. It was later added in the game named “The witchers” made by CD Projekt Red. This was done to make him look more interesting and realistic. According to the game, he gained these scars when he was battling for the cockatrice contract.
Makes stories about his sword
Well, this one might sound weird but Geralt loves to create fictional stories revolving around his sword. Why so? because he doesn’t like it if someone touches or handles his sword. These stories are not those fantasies but actually a cursed series warning people what can happen to them if they tried to touch his sword.
The Voice of Geralt never played “The Witcher”
The voiceover artist, Dough Cockle, who gave his voice to Geralt for over three decades never played the game for himself. He was not a gaming enthusiast. But after”The Witcher 3″ he somehow developed a liking for this game and hence bought a PlayStation too for playing this video game.
The Last Witcher
Geralt along with a few of his friends and companions is one of the last Witchers who lived till the end. He was the only one who passed every test at his school of the world and therefore was treated with more of the potions. It was realized that Geralt gained a long life too. Thanks to his healing powers and immunity. But he soon realizes how painful it is to see your friends and close ones die in front of you who are not as privileged as you. Well, should this be considered a privilege or not, God knows?
According to the books, a conspiracy against the witchers leads to an attack on them by the angry mobs who think that witchers are evil and not human. Those who were stronger survived including Geralt but most of the Witchers including his school and knowledge about how the witchers were made were destroyed forever. But Geralt was somehow glad that the trials and torture he and his companions went through and how miserable their life as a witcher was, will no more haunt the future generations.
So these were some mind-boggling 10 unknown facts about Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher which you may not have known to date. You can still enjoy the series on Netflix which will now sound more interesting and will be more relatable to you as now you know the facts from this article.
