How Many Witchers Are There? | MojoPlays

Welcome to MojoPlays. If you’re not that familiar with “The Witcher” saga – whether in games, books or the upcoming Netflix series – we’d totally forgive you for thinking there is only ONE witcher, seeing as the title of the franchise is singular and it’s another name for the protagonist: Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher. Despite the singular title for the series however, Geralt isn’t the only one. There are multiple witchers and a few witcher schools as well. And, if you’ve consumed this saga across all mediums, you’d know that the number of witchers in total – whether alive or deceased – is just north of 50. Now, that’s not a huge number, but – considering that being a witcher is a thankless job that requires a lifetime of training that not everyone survives – and we’re lucky there’s even one witcher left alive that’s still willing to do the job (or else we’d not have this amazing franchise!). So, “how many witchers are there now,” you ask? Well, prior to “Witcher 3’s” story, there were eight witchers confirmed to be alive; and, the number climbs to as high as 25 if you take in to consideration rumors and speculation about the statuses of other witchers. So, let’s take a look at exactly who’s left and from what school they originate. The school everyone is most familiar with is the School of the Wolf, seeing as it’s home to Geralt of Rivia (and his mentor Vesemir). Located in the north at Kaer Morhen, it was one of the most important witcher schools in its day until a mob-fueled, human-led attack against witchers nearly caused its extinction. Once knowledge of the Trail of the Grasses was forgotten, the school was unable to train any more witchers and finally collapsed. There are four members of this school still alive and four unconfirmed. As mentioned, the two most important witchers from this school are Geralt and Vesemir (representing the new and old guard of witchers), but there are two other witchers still alive from this academy as well in Eskel and Lambert. Eskel is the same age as Geralt and the two grew up and trained together to become witchers at Kaer Morhen, while Lambert is one of the youngest witchers ever trained and also one of the last to successfully graduate from the School of the Wolf. While there are a few members of this school that could (potentially) still be alive because their whereabouts are unknown – like one-time instructor Osbert, weapons trainer Sorel, and Gascaden – Clovis stands the best chance of still being alive since there are rumors that other witchers had run-ins with him. But, ultimately, as of this moment, it’s uncertain whether Clovis is alive… just like Osbert, Sorel and Gascaden. The School of the Cat is a nomadic group of witchers known for their cruelty and psychotic natures. They remain a group of outcasts even in the witcher community, and are known to have taken out contracts on humans as well as monsters. There are three members of this school still alive in Gaetan, Jad Karadin and Mad Kiyan, while there is up to six members who’s status is uncertain. Gaetan is in “The Witcher 3” briefly and it’s up to Geralt as to whether he lives or dies after he slaughters an entire village and Geralt investigates his actions. Jad Karadin is also in “Witcher 3” and, again, whether he lives or dies is up to Geralt, as Karadin is accused of killing a fellow witcher, but has since renounced his evil past and now has a wife and kids. Meanwhile, Kiyan (also in “Witcher 3”) was originally just an ordinary witcher, but was later kidnapped by a mage and subjected to a host of demonic experiments, becoming the raging, evil being now known as Mad Kiyan. School of the Cat witchers unaccounted for include the crazed Brehen, the female witcher named Dragon Fly, and Schrodinger who Geralt references a few times in “Witcher 3” – along with Joel, Guxart and Treyse. The remaining schools – in the Viper, Bear, Griffin and Manticore – only have one member combined still alive and three unconfirmed. There are no living members left in the now extinct Griffin School. The School of the Bear (probably extinct) has one member possibly still alive in Ivo of Belhaven (who at one time fought for the Nilfgaardian Empire). The School of the Manticore similarly has one member who’s potentially still alive in the witcher known as Merten who renounced his witcher past once finding spirituality, thus rendering the Manticore School all but extinct. As for the Viper School, the most secretive and isolated of the schools, it’s uncertain whether its leader (and master witcher) Ivar Evil-Eye is still alive or not, but Letho of Gulet is still alive if Geralt left him so during the events of “The Witcher 2: Assassination of Kings.” To round out the last of the witchers that are unconfirmed alive or dead, we must venture outside the traditional school system for Adela, Oliver of Gulet and Chireadan. Adela is only the second of two female witchers (along with Dragon Fly); she was injured and nursed back to health by Geralt and thus spent time at Kaer Morhen learning the witcher ways. Little is known about Oliver of Gulet, aside that he may be from the same city as Letho of Gulet. And, Chireadan – also largely unknown— was once sent to kill Geralt for the death of an outcast witcher but failed to do so and Geralt spared his life. And that wraps up this in depth look at how many witchers remain in the world of “The Witcher.” Sure, it’s a lot of names to absorb in one viewing, but the scarcity of living witchers that this list highlights also goes a long way toward showing the soon-to-be end of the witchers as we know them altogether. They are a dying breed – kind of like gunslingers in old cowboy movies – and it’s no doubt why we find them so fascinating. Hey, Netflix series? Just hurry up and get here already!