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Some might call him the hero of the story, but Geralt would insist that he is a mere protagonist. Geralt would say that a hero must be a good and admirable man, you see, and he is neither. He is a witcher, an orphan exposed to potent magics at a young age and mutated into a being stronger, faster, and more long-lived than an ordinary man. He is an expert with his sword, as are all witchers trained in the School of the Wolf at Kaer Morhen. Geralt survived exposure to some of the strongest mutagenic substances, though the experience turned his hair stark white when he was only a boy. For this reason, he is called the White Wolf by friend and foe alike.

Given the alias “Geralt of Rivia,” once this nameless orphan grew into a man he took to the Path and wandered the world, seeking monsters to slay and curses to break in return for pay. He is hated and feared as a mutant by those he protects, and as a result has a rather hard time making his trade a profitable one. The temptation of money has, more than once, led Geralt into situations that compromise his famed insistence on neutrality. This is how, even though Geralt says he forswears politics, he ended up serving as a bodyguard at the court of King Foltest of Temeria. He wished only to leave and thought he would, after seeing Foltest through the successful siege of La Valette Castle. Fate had other things in mind for him, though.

Geralt suffers amnesia after an event in which, as far as much of the world is concerned, he died. In Rivia, humans fell upon nonhumans in a massacre, and Geralt sought to defend the persecuted against the mob. In the terrible slaughter that ensued, a peasant rammed a pitchfork through the witcher’s chest. His body was placed in a boat and he floated into a mist. He’s not quite sure what happened between that time and when he had a number of adventures concerning the Order of the Flaming Rose, a Scoia’tael uprising, and a certain criminal uprising. That is a tale for another time, though. For now, Geralt is concerned with discovering who framed him for the murder of King Foltest, and why.