Geralt

Geralt of Rivia
The Witcher character
Geralt as he appears in Wild Hunt
First appearance	The Witcher (1986)
Last appearance	Blood and Wine expansion pack
Created by	Andrzej Sapkowski
Portrayed by	Michał Żebrowski (film and TV series)
Voiced by	Jacek Rozenek (Polish; video games) Doug Cockle (English; video games)
Information
Aliases	White Wolf Gwynbleidd Butcher of Blaviken Assassin of kings Hater of portals
Gender	Male
Occupation	Monster Hunter/Witcher

Geralt of Rivia (Polish: Geralt z Rivii) is a fictional character and the protagonist of The Witcher series of short stories and novels by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, as well as its video game adaptations. Geralt, one of few remaining witchers on the Continent, is a travelling monster slayer for hire, mutated and trained from an early age to slay deadly beasts for coin.

Geralt, the central character, is a witcher. Shortly after being born, Geralt was forced (by the "Law of Surprise", a law that states that if one cannot pay for the services of a witcher, the witcher is entitled to something the debtor does not yet know they have) to undergo training and, eventually, become a witcher at Kaer Morhen — the stronghold of the Wolf School Witchers. Geralt survived numerous mutations during the Trial of the Grasses (alongside the extra mutations), thanks to which he gained practically superhuman physical and mental abilities with minimal side effects. He resisted the "changes" brought on by the Trial of Grasses better than most, which encouraged his makers to perform even more dangerous experimental procedures on him, making him lose all body pigmentation. Because of his pale skin and white hair, he is also known in the Elder Speech as "Gwynbleidd", the White Wolf.

Despite his name, Geralt does not come from Rivia (although he learned how to mimic a Rivian accent): young witchers were encouraged to make up surnames for themselves by master Vesemir, to make their names sound more trustworthy. He once claimed that his first choice was Geralt Roger Eric du Haute-Bellegarde, but this was dismissed by Vesemir as silly and pretentious.

After completing his witcher training, he received his Wolf medallion (the symbol of Kaer Morhen) and embarked into the world on his horse called Płotka — (literally, "Roach"; he gave the same name to every horse he owned) to become a monster slayer for hire.

"I looked for the words "Witcher urgently needed". And then there'd be a sacred site, a dungeon, necropolis or ruins, forest ravine or grotto hidden in the mountains, full of bones and stinking carcasses. Some creatures which lived to kill, out of hunger, for pleasure, or invoked by some sick will. A manticore, wyvern, fogler, aeschna, ilyocoris, chimera, leshy, vampire, ghoul, graveir, were-wolf, giant scorpion, striga, black annis, kikimora, vypper... so many I've killed." - Geralt, The Last Wish (book)