Is Geralt the Last Witcher?

A series of fantasy books written by Andrzej Sapkowski introduced us to the concept of Witchers. Witchers are supernaturally enhanced humans created with a single purpose, to kill monsters. One of the common things across all Witcher-related media, like games and shows, is the fact that the Order of Witchers is dying out. Geralt of Rivia, by far the most famous Witcher we were introduced to in the books, games, and shows, was active at the time when Witcher schools had already lost the means to train new Witchers, and this leads us to a pretty interesting question. Is Geralt the last Witcher?

Geralt was not the last Witcher. There were other Witchers, both from the School of the Wolf and other Witcher schools, active at the same time as he was. Geralt is also not the last Witcher to be created, as there were younger Witchers being trained after him. In fact, one of the last Witchers to be trained at Kaer Morhen was Lambert. Depending on how you look at the ending of the books, Geralt is outlived by at least 4 other Witchers from the School of the Wolf.

Now that we’ve covered that Geralt was not the last Witcher, neither active nor created, it’s time to analyze it in a bit more detail. If you’re interested in the downfall of the Witcher order and why there aren’t any new Witchers being created, stay with us and keep reading!

The creation of the first Witcher

In Netflix’s prequel series, Witcher: Blood Origin, we’ve seen the creation of the first “hybrid” Fjall Stoneheart. He was created a short time before the event known as the Conjunction of the Spheres took place. Fjall was transformed into a hybrid to combat the creature that came to the Continent from another world completely. To fight against the creature, Fjall had to be “augmented.” This was done via an intricate ritual that aimed to merge Fjall’s and the monster’s physiology. With enhanced reflexes, senses, strength, and speed, Fjall managed to take down the monster, but he was killed as well after he lost control and vent berserk on his former allies.

The books, however, left the creation of the first Witcher a bit more open-ended. We know that they were created after the Conjunction of the spheres by the mages in order to combat the monsters that now shared the world with the humans. Mutagens and certain rituals were involved, but the Witchers created by the mages were far more stable than Fjall. The process of becoming a Witcher is dangerous, often fatal, and extremely painful.
The mutagens are most often administered to young boys, claimed via “The Law of Surprise,” and often, they don’t have any say in this. If the child manages to survive a series of mutagens and trials, a new Witcher is born.

Witchers are superhuman in the sense that their senses, strength, speed, and durability are greatly enhanced when compared to average humans. They also have a limited capacity to utilize magic through the so-called “signs.” Signs are not as powerful as most other spells in the Witcher universe, but they can be of great value to Witcher during combat that mostly relies on swords to get the job done.

Why did the Witchers “go extinct”?

The fall of Witcher schools was not a singular event. It was rather a series of events that affected all schools at around the same time. Witchers were so successful at killing monsters that they became rare and not so much of a threat to the people of the Continent. On the other hand, the general population of the Continent became uncomfortable with the fact that they shared the world with Witchers. This led to dwindling funds, a multitude of raids, and the general unwelcome atmosphere for the Witchers. The sacking of several Witcher fortresses like Kaer Morhen led to the mutagens used to create new Witchers lost forever. With no way to re-create the mutagens and no way to administer the proper ritual, older Witchers like Vesemir were unable to create new Witchers.

Almost all Witcher Schools were facing the crisis by the end of the 13th century. The extinction of Witchers is a common theme in the book and one referenced multiple times across all media. The loss of recipes, in-fighting, and raids on Witcher Keeps were contributing factors toward the eventual downfall of the Witcher Order.

Is Geralt of Rivia the last Witcher?

Even though Geralt was active during the 13th century, when the number of Witchers had already dwindled to almost nothing, he is not the last Witcher. Geralt was trained with plenty of other recruits, and some of them, like Eskel, for example, survived to be active at the same time as Geralt. Geralt was also not the last Witcher to be trained. There were a few generations of Witchers trained after him. One of them is Lambert. So in a sense, Lambert is closer to being “the last Witcher” than Geralt is.

Who was the last Witcher alive?

According to the books, the Witchers currently alive are Eskel, Vesemir, Lambert, and Brehen. The fact of whether Geralt survives or not is open to interpretation, so we’ve just listed the Witchers that are 100 % alive. But even this information is not as accurate as you may think due to the presence of other Witcher schools, and it is quite possible that Witchers from other schools are still alive and well, and still active during the events that happened in the last book in the series.

Summary

Geralt is not the last Witcher by no means. There were several other Witchers active at the same time as he was, and several other Witchers created after him. From this perspective, Lambert can be considered to be one of the last Witchers to be created. Of course, this doesn’t take into account possible other Witcher schools. Geralt is the most famous and quite possibly the most powerful Witcher of all time, but he was far from the last one.

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