How Are Witchers Made? Are They Born? Explained

Witcher: Blood Origin showed us the creation of the first Witcher. We have seen that the first Witcher was unlike any other we have seen in shows, books, and games. I guess it can be considered to be an early “prototype” of sorts. We’ve also seen at the end of the series that Éile was carrying the first Witcher’s child, a child of strange and powerful blood mixed with beasts. This leads us to question whether all Witchers from that point are descendants of Fjall the first Witcher. To answer this question, we’ve decided to put together this article and explain how exactly Witchers are made.

Witchers are not born. They are created with the use of elaborate potions and mutagens that aim to enhance their physiology and bestow upon them just enough superhuman powers to tackle monsters that appeared after the Conjunction of the Spheres. Ingestion of the mutagens is called the “Trial of Grasses,” and many young boys do not survive the painful procedure. Those that do are reborn into the world as Witchers.

Now that we’ve covered the process of creating a Witcher in short, it’s time to analyze it in a bit more detail. If you’re interested and want to know more, stay with us and keep reading!

Who was the first Witcher?

Witcher: Blood Origin showed us that the creation of the first Witcher was something done out of desperation in order to kill the monster summoned from a different plane of existence by Chief Druid Sage Balor. In order to assassinate the elven royalty and unite all elven kingdoms under the same golden elven empire.

We’ve seen that Syndril and Zacare were aware that there is a ritual known to them that will allow an individual to merge his physiology with that of the monster and give him enhanced senses and abilities in order to fight the monster. The ritual was very dangerous and included two parts. First, the so-called “Trial of Grasses” includes the gathering and ingestion of herbs that cause the breakdown of the body in order for the individual physiology to become susceptible to all subsequent changes that will happen.

Then we see Syndril and Zacare performing the ritual that bonded the monster’s physiology with that of Fjall. His pallor changed, his eye color changed, and he awoke with a new personality, senses, and strenght that he previously did not possess.

He was now ready to face the monster, and thus what looked like the first version of the Witcher was born. Of course, Fjall needed to be killed at the end of the series because his transformation was highly unstable, he was more of a beast than a man, and he was dangerous to everybody around him.

How are Witchers created?

All subsequent Witchers ever created went through a similar process as Fjall, only this process was perfected during the following centuries as Witchers became commonplace and the first line of defense against the monsters. Various Witcher Schools around the Continent formed and had their own elixirs and mutagens that transformed little boys into killing machines for the monsters that we’re used to seeing. Modern Witchers are created in the absence of a “live” specimen of the monster; instead, they use elixirs to enhance their physiology, and the potion is likely created with something similar to Ciri’s Elder Blood that bestows great power upon the Witchers.

Modern Witchers are created in a series of trials. The first trial is called “Trial of the Grasses,” and just like with Fjall, boys are subjected to potions made out of herbs that, over a short period of time, aim to “alter” their body and make it more susceptible to other changes that will happen. The Trial of Grasses is dangerous and painful, but it is needed; otherwise, the body could not be mutated. More than half of the boys subjected to it do not survive the Trial of Grasses, and few boys that do survive it, do not survive what’s to follow.

Next, after the individual’s physiology was prepared for the upcoming mutations, the boys are forced to drink mutagens that are supposed to give them powers such as enhanced speeds, strenght, and senses. The consequent mutagens are what actually make them into Witchers and gives them the ability to fight monsters that, in large part, overpower humans.

Some Witchers like Geralt of Rivia received additional mutagens that gave them even more powers. This is what likely made Geralt’s hair white and rendered him somewhat emotionless when compared to other Witchers since he was subjected to more mutations. This is what also made him the strongest known Witcher of his time.

We’ve also seen that Fjall, in his Witcher form, lost control over himself and began slaughtering his allies. His skin took a strange gray color, and dark markings appeared all over his body and around his eyes. This is something we’ve seen with Geralt as well. Witchers can at any time further enhance their abilities by drinking various elixirs, but it’s dangerous to do since they risk losing control of themselves, and the toxicity of such elixirs is great. Luckily for Geralt, it seems to be only temporary. Fjall had to be murdered to be stopped.

Summary

As we had the pleasure of seeing, the first Witcher ever was Fjall Stoneheart. He was transformed into a Witcher with the first ever Trial of Grasses performed and the subsequent merging of his own physiology with that of the beast. In the centuries that followed, humans had to create more Witchers in order to fight the monsters, and this led to the creation of various Witcher schools around the Continent and further perfecting the ritual that creates the Witchers.

Witchers are never born, as their mutations cannot be inherited. They can only be induced in humans with the use of mutagens. Those subsequent superhuman mutations give the enhanced senses, strenght, and speed and give them the ability to fight monsters that vastly overpower humans, elves, and other races on the continent.

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