What Killed The Leshy In The Witcher TV Show?

What would The Witcher be without monsters and monster-slaying? In the second season of The Witcher series, we were introduced to several more monsters that played specific roles. One such creature was the leshy, which was responsible for killing Eskel but ended up getting killed by another monster. However, what exactly was it that killed the leshy in The Witcher TV show?

The creature that killed the leshy in The Witcher was a myriapod. On top of that, what we also know is that, according to Geralt, this was a mutation and was an entirely new monster. We also learned later on that both the leshy and the monster that killed it came from a different world.

One of the things that you need to know about The Witcher is that this is set in a world that has a host of different monsters that are there for what seemingly are unknown reasons. As such, there are different monsters like the leshy, which are identified and named. However, there are also newer monsters that are still largely unidentified. This includes the monster that killed the leshy.

What Is A Leshy In The Witcher?

In The Witcher series, we are introduced to a lot of different monsters because of the very fact that Witchers are actually monster hunters. That means that Geralt and the rest of his Witcher brothers kill monsters for a living. We saw different monsters in season 1, but we eventually saw more of them in season 2.

One of the monsters that were introduced in season 2 of The Witcher is the leshy, which played a huge role in episode 2 of season 2. We saw the leshy when Geralt and Ciri had just arrived in Kaer Morhen and when another Witcher named Eskel arrived shortly. Eskel told a story of how he battled a leshy for hours but failed to kill it. Still, he was able to bring the leshy’s arm back to the keep.

As the episode went on, we saw that Eskel was actually infected by the leshy and was soon transformed into a tree-like creature that went on to terrorize and attack the entire keep. This led to a confrontation between the monstrous Eskel and the duo of Geralt and Vesemir. While Vesemir was reluctant to kill Eskel, Geralt needed to take the final blow to save Vesemir’s life.

But what exactly is a leshy?

When Geralt and Ciri tracked down the whereabouts of the leshy that infected and killed Eskel, we saw that this monster is actually a tree-like creature that is capable of controlling its roots to attack people. It is said to be a protector of the forest and attacks anything that threatens nature.

The leshy is actually inspired by the leshy found in Slavic mythology. Leshies, in mythology, are creatures that protect the forest and are there to make sure that you respect nature, or else you will end up facing the wrath of these creatures. 

So, in a sense, the leshy in mythology is more like Smokey the Bear because it protects nature. However, it later earned itself a demonic nature when Christianity spread throughout Europe. This is why leshies in The Witcher are also similarly regarded as monstrous creatures.

What Killed The Leshy?

Shortly after Geralt and Ciri encountered the leshy that Eskel failed to kill and infected the dead witcher, the leshy was suddenly torn apart by an entirely new monster that looked a lot more monstrous than the tree-like leshy.

After killing the leshy, this monster set its eyes on Geralt and Ciri but ultimately ended up chasing Ciri. When the monster had already cornered Ciri, what became apparent was that it looked like it was neither going to kill nor eat the girl. This gave Geralt enough time to attack the monster from behind and sever its head.

Later on, Geralt brought the head of the monster back to Kaer Morhen for Triss to study. But what exactly is this monster?

The monster that killed the leshy in The Witcher is called a myriapod. This monster has the skull of a wolf, the horns of a ram, a body that is segmented and resembles a centipede, and a lot of different eyes and claws. As Geralt would say, this was a new monster that he believed was the cause of a mutation.

Where did The Monster That Killed The Leshy Come From?

After killing the myriapod, Geralt brought its head back for Triss to study because he wanted to know where this monster came from and why there were suddenly mutations sprouting out of nowhere.

However, when Triss said that both the leshy and the myriapod had traces of a substance that can only be found in monoliths, Geralt went on to study a toppled monolith with Istredd, who theorized that the monoliths are actually gateways to other worlds.

So, in short, the possibility and the standing theory right now is that both the leshy and the myriapod are not creatures that came from the world of The Witcher. Instead, they are actually monsters that originated from other worlds and were able to enter the world of The Witcher when Ciri toppled the monolith in Cintra.

This coincides with the theory that, before the event called the Conjunction of the Spheres (which happened 1200 years ago in The Witcher’s timeline), there were no monsters present in their world. It was only when the spheres or the different worlds collided that monsters suddenly appeared out of nowhere. As such, it could very well be possible that both the leshy and the myriapod entered the world through a gateway in a monolith.

Was Leshy In The Books Or Games?

What you need to know about the leshy is that this is not a monster that is original to the series version of The Witcher. Instead, it can be found in both the book and the game versions of The Witcher.

However, in Andrezj Sapkowski’s Witcher books, the leshy was only mentioned in passing. It did not play a role in any of his books. In the games, however, the leshy is one of the most popular monsters that you can hunt. However, it does have a few differences in its appearance and abilities when compared to the leshy found in the series. Still, the point is that the leshy is something that was taken out of the video games and even the books, to some extent.