In the much anticipated season 2 of The Witcher, Geralt travels to Kaer Morhen, a famous stronghold and historic home of the witchers, to advance Ciri’s training and protect her from the impending threats. With Geralt as the only witcher who has appeared and represented his kind on the show so far, who are his brothers-in-arms, confirmed to appear in the next chapter of the series, what makes them different from the gruff and monosyllabic White Wolf, and how are they likely to impact the fates of the main characters?
Netflix’s The Witcher, based on the books by the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, follows the story of Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), a mutated monster hunter for hire, as well as Ciri (Freya Allan), the escaped crowned princess of Cintra and Geralt’s ward who, in season 2, will train as a witcher herself. According to the released trailers, Geralt and Ciri are set to travel to Kaer Morhen to join the four remaining witchers and Geralt’s blood brothers, who will expand the audience’s understanding of these monster slayers and the associated hardships.
According to the lore, to become witchers, children, who are usually orphaned or have nowhere else to go, undergo extensive training, ruthless mental and physical conditioning, as well as the risky mutagenic process known as the Trial of the Grasses. If not killed by the mutation, slain in brutal trials facing actual monsters, or broken by the ruthless training regime, the young witchers gain unique powers — including enhanced eyesight, high resistance to diseases and injuries, superhuman strength, agility, and reflexes, and basic combat magic — that make them so effective at killing monsters. However, their skills and enhanced powers are also the reason the witchers often face prejudice, discrimination, and even hatred from the people of the Continent, which, in the past, led to several infamous attacks and the near extinction of the profession.
While season 1 of The Witcher introduced many exciting characters and species, Geralt was the only shown representative of the witchers so far. The second season promises to feature four other monster hunters, and, based on everything that fans know about them from both the books and the games, the audience is in for a treat.
Vesemir (Kim Bodnia)
Vesemir is the oldest and the most experienced witcher in Kaer Morhen, who has long been a father figure and a mentor to all the younger witchers, including Geralt. Even despite some minor deviations in his backstory — for example, the fact that in the books Vesemir was a Child of Surprise, just like Ciri, rather than a runaway — the anime-style prequel to the Netflix series, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, gives a great insight into his life before becoming a witcher, the challenges that come with the profession and the training, as well as his cheeky younger self.
The older and wiser Vesemir is level-headed and well aware of the world’s cruelty when it comes to the monster slayers. After all, he is one of the very few survivors of the infamous attack on Kaer Morhen that destroyed the knowledge needed to create new witchers and all but doomed the future of the School of the Wolf. The Witcher’s season 2 trailer has confirmed that Vesemir will play a big part in Ciri’s training. Still, fans are hoping to see some other elements mentioned in the books and the games — including Vesemir helping Geralt to locate Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), summoning Triss Merigold (Anna Shaffer) after an unfortunate incident with Ciri, or even a flashback to the time he had to whip both young Geralt and Eskel for incompetence after they captured and laughed at the struggles of a giant bumblebee.
Lambert (Paul Bullion)
Lambert is one of the last witchers to have been trained at Kaer Morhen. He has a biting tongue and is often ill-mannered, impatient, and rude — especially to Triss Merrigold as he refers to her only by her last name, to her great annoyance — though, according to Geralt, sometimes he uses rudeness to express his fondness for someone. Lambert is said to be another Child of Surprise, promised to the witchers rather than given a choice.
In both the books and the games, Lambert helps Ciri with her sword training, often on the pendulum, a piece of equipment used to train footwork, precision, and balance that has spikes along its bottom and a straight drop to one of its sides. Based on all that, fans are looking forward to seeing some exciting training scenes, his bickering with Triss, and, perhaps, some unfortunate consequences of his attitude.
Eskel (Thue Ersted Rasmussen)
Eskel was trained by Vesenimir and is an almost direct opposite of Lambert. He is kindhearted, reliable, patient, and polite. He and Geralt are as close as brothers and are even described to look alike, with the big difference being Geralt’s white hair and Eskel’s disfiguring scar across the face. While he never became as renowned as Geralt, Eskel is well-known for his professionalism and skill and celebrated for saving a little girl from a basilisk by splitting it down the stomach and getting her out — the heroic act he wasn’t even paid for.
Season 2 of The Witcher is likely to show Eskel helping Ciri in her witcher training, and if the show decides to explore this plotline, his growing concern after she started going into trances after accidentally drinking the White Seagul potion. Unlike Lambert, Eskel has a good and even warm relationship with Triss, who appreciates his caring attitude toward Ciri and recognizes the strong magic within him, so it will be interesting to see their chemistry on screen. However, Eskel is no goody-two-shoes, and, based on his adventures that included a certain succubus described in the books, the fans are looking forward to seeing his wilder side as well.
Coën (Yasen Atour)
Coën is the only witcher in Kaer Morhen, not belonging to the School of the Wolf but rather the School of the Griffin. In the original books, his features are described as unusual for a witcher, as he retained his childhood scars from chickenpox that he hides under the beard. This fact suggests that Coën either started his witcher training later than most (as witchers are immunized) or has somehow contracted diseases very early in life.
Considering that Coën spent his first winter at Kaer Morhen just as Ciri arrived there, the series is likely to show them forming a bond and the witcher helping with the young princess’ training. In the books, in one of her trances, Ciri predicts Coën’s and Geralt’s deaths, which understandably deeply unsettles the scarred witcher. It would be interesting to see how and if the show deals with this plotline.