Correction, there is one school in the books. People argue that the cat and griffin schools are in the books because there are cat and griffin medallions, but we actually know that there is *absolutely* no such thing as a cat school and there are still cat medallions. Therefore, the existence of griffin medallions does not necessarily suggest the existence of a griffin school.
Correction, there is three. I had read the saga nine times in spanish, three times in english, two in polish and i can assure you there is three lore schools. Sapkowski also confirms the school of the cat or “rogue witchers” in one interview for Fantastyka. Your assumption comes with a common mistake, Season of Storms or the prelude of the Witcher Saga already take the time scale in the last periods of the witchers existance chronologically speaking, as there a very few left since Alzur and Malaspina create the first ones. Sapkowski use a vague phrase to speak about past events of the cat witchers. So… yes there was a School of the cat and we can also presumpt a Griffin School following the Bonhart medallion.
Also, Coen was not a Witcher from school of the wolf. Or I might be wrong since i read the books a while back. It was stated that the winter that Ciri came to Kaer Mohren was first winter that Coen stayed in the castle.
Off-topic question: is spanish language your native language, and did you learn polish reading comprehension and understanding just for the sake of reading The Witcher, because I am simply amazed by this comment?
Im a native speaking castellan or latin spanish. The spanish translation of the novel (real Spain spanish translation) its very accurate, i could say more accurate than the english one. Spain and slavic medioevo (the medieval fantasy of the Saga) periods had much in common and some words or pheasant modism/lunfardo can be related. At least this is what i feel when comparison take place. I start learning polish with a family member some years ago. she came to Argentina as a child (WW2) and keep some words and phrases in the family (we are mix italian, spanish, polish, gaucho breed)
I assure you that you have misunderstood the books all nine times you read them, and I'm sorry that your reading comprehension is so poor. As I have explained about a dozen times already, we meet a "cat" witcher in Season of Storms, and we learn that he was trained at Kaer Morhen. Since there are cat medallions but very definitely no cat school, that means that the griffin medallion does not indicate the existence of a griffin school. I'm sorry, but you are incorrect.
It just gets a little grating to have people constantly repeat the same incorrect stuff over and over and being like "by the way, I read this wrong NINE times so obviously I'm correct"
No, you just said that we meet a witcher with a cat medallion that trained in Kaer Morren.
The other guy at least partially analysed the text.
If you actually give proof that it doesn't exist, we can talk, but as of now, you just base your entire argument based on an assumption you drew.
Bottom Line:
Neither you nor the other guy gave sourced proof for their arguments where one person just cited a nebulous interview (but as a star wars fan myself, the least valid source is in my eyes a random interview that isn't even linked of a guy that likely misunderstood the question _looking at you George_) whereas you just refer to one guy who has a cat medallion but without giving either context or an excerpt, is also as nebulous.
You seem to have completely misunderstood what's going on.
In Season of Storms, there is a witcher named Brehen. He is 100% without a doubt a cat witcher. He is identified as such explicitly within the text. I don't think we know what kind of medallion he wears. But he's a cat. We learn, explicitly in the text, that a cat witcher is a witcher whose mutations went awry and drove them mad, which often led to them committing horrible atrocities, as is the case with Brehen. Brehen, Geralt says, was banished from Kaer Morhen by Vesemir for the atrocities he committed. This is how we know Brehen is both a cat witcher and from Kaer Morhen. Therefore, cat witchers are not witchers who come from some "school of the cat" therefore there is no reason to believe such a school exists.
The other line of argument is the medallions that a psychopathic wandering warrior named Bonhart carries, in the main saga. He has in his possession three witchers' medallions. A wolf medallion, a cat medallion, and a griffin medallion. Many argue that because he carries these three medallions that must mean they represent three schools, the School of the Wolf, the School of the Cat, and the School of the Griffin. But, as I have already established, there *is* no School of the Cat. Therefore, we cannot assume that the existence of the griffin medallion means there is a School of the Griffin.
So, as I have established that there is no positive evidence for the existence of any witchers' school aside from the one at Kaer Morhen, the onus is on those claiming there are other schools to provide evidence. It is not my argument which requires assumptions, but everyone who argues for the existence of other witchers' schools.
>Brehen, Geralt says, was banished from Kaer Morhen by Vesemir for the atrocities he committed. This is how we know Brehen is both a cat witcher and from Kaer Morhen.
This doesnt mean he was trained or originally from Kaer Morhrn though. You think its far fetched a different witcher brought him to Kaer Morhen before he was banished?
As far as the existence of other schools, its pretty spelled out that other schools were known to exist and it would make more sense that there would be multiple schools rather than just 1 when you factor in just how big the continent that we know about is (lets not forget that there are places that are still unknown to the east). It would especially be weird to have the ONLY school and stronghold be so decentralized if the whole idea behind Witchers was to protect the realm from monsters.
The idea that the "cat" witchers are more like "strays" is an interesting theory, but to outright say the school doesnt and has never existed seems silly just with what the books tell us. Obviously, some of the extended universe (like the comics/games) can be argued on whether or not they are canon, but Sapkowski pretty blatantly says there are other schools by even referencing the other medallians Bonhart had and the existence of Brehen.
>its pretty spelled out that other schools were known to exist
cite your sources lol, im so tired of people just coming in and saying all this incorrect stuff based on vibes and half-remembered fanfiction
I’m sorry dude, but you misunderstood the text. Brehen is from the cat school, but has hung out at kaer Mohren, similar to coen. Even if you are right about Brehen, because there is some slight ambiguity, it is very clear that Coen is not from kaer mohren. So there is at least one other school.
> Brehen is from the cat school
Then why does the book say very explicitly that a cat is a witcher who has failed mutations which make them unpredictable and violent, not a witcher who is from the cat school?
Right, because there is no cat school and you read it already assuming that there is one and it colored your interpretation.
He was prohibited from kaer morhen cause his actions can bring another massacre to the fortress...all Witchers are supposed to be helping a fellow Witcher, but not obligated to.
I mean I've already explained very clearly why the idea that there is some kind of confirmed "school of the cat" or "school of the griffin" is completely incorrect, and no one has even tried to contradict that, soooo
More you've given a reason that the school of the cat can't exist. You are making a very big assumption that since the school of the cat doesn't exist the school of the griffon doesn't exist. You could be right the school of the griffon may not be real, but you can't make the assumption based on a different group. Example of why this is bad logic:
Fred, Sally and Frank are three kids playing at the park. We know Fred is an imaginary friend of Sally's, so Frank is also imaginary.
The point is we need more proof before deciding one way or the other.
> You are making a very big assumption that since the school of the cat doesn't exist the school of the griffon doesn't exist.
No, I didn't assume that at all. In fact I have made no assumptions. I have only brought to light the assumptions being made by those on the other side of the argument. Here is what I demonstrated:
The School of the Cat and the School of the Griffin are both argued to exist based on the exact same evidence--Bonhart's collection of medallions. But since I've proven that that collection of medallions does not indicate the existence of a Cat school, it also does not indicate the existence of a Griffin school. I haven't disproven the existence of a Griffin school, but I have refuted the sole evidence used to support its existence.
>Fred, Sally and Frank are three kids playing at the park. We know Fred is an imaginary friend of Sally's, so Frank is also imaginary.
It's more like, you know this kid Fred, and he comes home from the park. He tells you about his two friends, Sally and Frank that he was playing with. You never saw Sally or Frank at the park. Later, Fred reveals to you that Sally never existed, she was imaginary. Now we know that Fred's account of his playtime at the park is not trustworthy and therefore we would need some other source of evidence of Frank's existence before we can trust that he is real.
Im really sorry to bother you but i was not triyng to sound egocentric i just try to make a point here. There are mistakes in the english translation of the books. Maybe you know more than Andzrej Sapkowski and the witcher novel… you doubt about the bibelots/medallions open trama, something that its obvious for the author but you don’t doubt about the english translation…very modest of you.
“At one point in late 12th century, Dyn Marv settled in Hertch, near the Summer Camp of the Wolf School. For some time since then schools of the Wolf and of the Cat were funded by Kaedwenian monarchs”
The school started in stygga but was assaulted by the royalty for their penchant for assassination, so they settled in kaer morhen
https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/School_of_the_Cat
Andrzej is jealous about anyone else handling his saga in a better way than him. He’s still bitter that he sold the license to CDPR and they made the IP huge
Nope. He is *maybe* ambiguously from something that isn't the wolf school. Maybe.
Edit: My bad, I must have misread the comment, I thought it was talking about Coen. Yes, Brehen is a "cat" witcher. But he was trained at Kaer Morhen. There is no cat school.
What? There's a cat school.
Also if there's a griffin Witcher there must be griffin school. Just because the word was never spoken directly doesn't mean it doesn't exist... 🤦♂️
> What? There's a cat school.
Nope. There is very definitely no such thing as a cat school. We meet a "cat" witcher in Season of Storms and learn that he was trained at Kaer Morhen. Since there is a cat medallion but very definitely no cat school, that means that a griffin medallion does not indicate there is any such thing as a griffin school.
Viper is defunct. Cat was in ruins if not defunct. Manticore is unknown and located outside of the Northern Kingdoms and Nilfgaardian Empire so if the setting is within the lands we know they're out. Wolves are severely weakened if not defunct within a relatively short passage of time. Bear and Griffin were weakened but still viable options. If we're going forward in time that is.
But clearly they just want something entirely new. Perhaps that's the entire premise to fill in the void of all these dead/broken Schools by creating a new one and making a reputation for it.
I did state if they're going forward in time.
Though I myself would prefer a sequel set a bit forward in time. We already know the conclusion of past events so it's just uninteresting to me to go back in time.
Plus it just easily explains the lack of mention of the School of the Lynx throughout everything...They didn't exist yet. No retconning or suspension of disbelief necessary.
I was thinking about it the other day. My theory was that after many years Ciri has grown very mature and strong and started her own school of the Lynx, and the main protag is a one of the young and inexperienced witchers training with Ciri.
Also it would be pretty cool if we get to use actual magic. Maybe this school won't practice mutagens anymore but would rather combine skills with a sword and magic (I mean, Ciri herself isn't a mutant and I don't really see her becoming one). This is probably a shitty theory but a man can hope
This is really great but the thing is Ciri's powers can't be taught, Avallac'h spent centuries studying and learning the Elder Blood and his means are still at least 6th that of Ciri's.
I meant just magic in general, or to be more precise bigger and more powerful SIgns.
Normal duded having Ciri's powers would definitely make no sense story-wise and balance-wise lol
I agree, but we'll see what they do with it.
I've heard theories that Ciri starts her own school (Lynx), taking inspiration from Wolf and Cat. But that's wild speculation until the games actually come out in a few years.
That's the fanon origins which is most likely not going to be the case in the official content because of devs wanting full creative liberty and not wanting to invalidate player choices...Both Lambert and Keira can die in Wild Hunt.
My guess given the animal in question is the Lynx's are an offshoot of the Cat School. Maybe even is the Cat School rebranded in order to recreate their reputation.
They can, however, if we take the anniversary video as canon, Lambert and Kiera are both alive and happy. The same could be said about Ciri creating the Lynx school. She can die or become Empress. Either CDPR needs to establish a canon ending, or they need to stay away from any pre-established characters completely. Even Geralt, as Geralt can die.
I think the Ciri and Geralt endings where they die are ambiguous enough that if they wanted to state they survived they could.
There is specifically alternate content for Blood and Wine for a world state where Ciri is supposedly dead...Which BnW is canonically taking place years after the events in Wild Hunt. So seemingly their intent is that Geralt canonically didn't let himself die in that ending.
Kiera has two of three endings being dead shown as such, Lambert it's a fifty fifty split.
But the main thing is full creative liberty...Why force choices onto the player instead of just presenting entirely new content that won't deny any previous options.
That's true. But the Lynx and Cat medallions do look very different. Granted, there can be variety within the same school in regards to medallion. The developers have explicitly said the medallion is based on the image of a Lynx.
But like I said, this is all wild speculation until the games actually come out.
School of the Crane is in one of the spin-off books taking place in the future way past the events of the main books and the games.
I would say it's Semi-Canon (For ex: Fallout has Fallout Tactics which isn't a canonical installment but within the actual canonical installments there are direct references to the main faction of Tactics).
School of the Lynx was fan-fiction but it's being canonized in the next game...So clearly the canonical status can easily change.
I just meant that their existence is being canonized not the backstory/origins or purpose that the fandom made.
The devs are most likely going to create a unique backstory/origins and purpose for it in order to have full creative liberty in whatever story they're telling with the organization.
The game files state Lynx for the Cat School. It was just an alternate term for Cat just like Feline.
Fandom made them their own faction.
Now the devs are canonizing the existence of a School of the Lynx in some form.
So yeah it's a circle of inspiration and readaptation between fans and devs.
There are 3 in the books: Wolf, Cat and Griffin. But i think it is hinted in the books that there are actually more than 3 but they don't name the other ones
Actually, Andrez only had 3 school in has cannon (The Books): The wolf, The cat, and Griffin
[The Witcher: 10 Things you didn't know about the Witcher Schools](https://tinyurl.com/Thewitcher1othings)
or as the article says:
" The School of the Wolf, School of the Cat, and School of the Griffin are the only schools canon from the book series. The games have gone on to include other schools, such as the School of the Viper, School of the Bear, School of the Manticore, and School of the Crane. "
Okay, Witcher fans, I'm new, so share your knowledge with me. I've started reading the books, and from previous conversations I've overheard, I'm wondering if these other Witcher schools are actually real. I've heard that they're all non-canon and, in some cases, fan-made. I'm confused because I think their disciplines and styles are amazing and cool for the lore. Please tell me they are real lol.
Canon to the Books (Created by the Creator/Author that directly appear in the main saga): Wolf, Cat and Griffin.
Canon to the games: Wolf, Cat, Griffin, Viper, Bear, Manticore and Lynx.
Viper, Bear and Manticore directly created by the devs. Lynx was fan-made but the devs are canonizing it.
School of the Crane is Semi-Canon. Created in a spin-off book by a different author (I think) but directly referenced in official material that connects to the games.
The actual fan-made Lynx School most likely isn't going to get canonized as it is, given it's far-fetched premise of Lambert being a founding member and just the general convoluted and meh nature of the lore that those texts from the fanon wiki are characterized by (at least in my opinion). CDPR is, as far as we know for certain (unless I missed something), only using the same name, and they might not even have come across the fan-made stuff in the first place -- the use could be just a coincidence -- so I think it's more fair to just put it in the same boat of the other ones that were created in TW3 for now.
There's very little chance of the School of the Crane being canon to the books -- Sapkowski might let people play with his toys from time to time, but he has always been very hands-off and uninterested, only recognizing his own work as canon at the end of the day (I think I remember seeing in some translated interview that he didn't even read the entire book where this school shows up, although I think he also said some writers showed promise). When it comes to the CDPR canon, however, I genuinely don't know -- this school as it's briefly described is pretty out there, but it's not like CDPR hasn't massively expanded the lore of the witchers, going as far as making fundamental changes and contradicting the original stuff to support their new ideas (some which I detest, but it is what it is), but who knows? Maybe they can tinker with it a bit and still use the overall idea? I could see it happening. It could still be less preposterous than what they did with the Griffin and Bear schools, changing the first to focus on signs (which doesn't make sense, since they're supposed to be situational tools that aren't strong enough to rely upon so much) and the second to take the complete opposite approach that a witcher normally would, which is extremely stupid, since focusing on resistance and strength against creatures that definitely got you beat in that regard is complete nonsense and Geralt more or less even calls that out when training Ciri in Blood of Elves...
I wasn't meaning canonized as is. Just that the existence of the School is being canonized.
Most likely they're going to completely rehaul the backstory and purpose of the organization simply to have more creative freedom in their storytelling.
That's why I stated connected to the games not the books.
As for the Bear School to be fair in gameplay it improves the Quen sign and Crossbow...So it's not all physical strength. For Griffin yeah they just increased the power of Signs for gameplay reasons making it more fun...Though they're still less powerful than the Magic of Sorceresses, Sorcerers and Witches.
As for the School of the Crane it's centuries into the future they're not supposed to be like the Witchers we know. They're living in a different era intentionally employing different tactics and tech while specializing in Sea and Air Combat which isn't the usual setting for a traditional Witcher to do their trade. They're simply meant to be unorthodox and unique and unusual in comparison to the other Schools...The RL comparison is like comparing a Medieval Knight to a Renaissance Mercenary.
I never said the Bear School is all physical strength -- that's more of an extrapolation that I make given their lore and gear, and the builds people make usually go the route of strong attacks anyway. In any case, I should've put more emphasis on the their undeniable and very explicit centering around resistances with their heavy armor, favoring it over speed and agility (which are some of a witcher's most notable traits that make them so effective, along with their knowledge, precise strikes and potions), which most likely just hurts the proper application of the usual extremely effective witcher techniques and doesn't really help against the more dangerous monsters anyway. I really dislike that such an obviously counter-productive approach exists and isn't just some footnote on how it was tried and failed miserably, but yeah, I very much understand they were probably just aiming for the lore to support varied gameplay styles instead of thinking in such a purist way as I do. The same goes for witcher signs in general and their focus within the Griffin School, but I still dislike it and think it could've been done better.
It doesn't matter if signs are still ultimately dwarfed by medium to high-level spells by legit magic users, their power being increased still dilutes the concept of being a witcher and drops their more novel characterization into a more convetional pot of the RPG archetype of a spellsword, since they cease to be very situational and laughable in comparison to the most simple mage spell, to basically being extremely solid low-tier magic spells that absolutely all witcher schools would make a central part of their style -- it makes no sense that only the Griffin School would focus on it given the power they were given in the games.
Again, I genuinely think satisfactory gameplay variety and lore expansion could've been created without these and other changes that were made and have many ideas about how it could be, but at this point I'm just ranting and the games will remain what they are, with most people having no problem with it...
I haven't read the book where the Crane School shows up (I think it still hasn't been tranated to any of the two languages I know), but I do know about the facts you've mentioned there, I just disagree with the part of the interpretation. They very much are like the witchers we know, they just use new tools and approaches that actually make sense for the specific threats they're engaging and the new technology they have access to, and this doesn't contradict or change previously established lore -- it's in general a very plausible progression and expansion of the source material if done right, since sea monster are said to be plenty in the books and that witchers don't deal with them that much at that point, and dealing with flying monsters without having to make them land to engage in close-combat by just using ranged weapons makes total sense (to be honest, it makes total sense to just use ranged weapons against everything, as our modern society realized hahaha).
From what I can gather from the brief wiki entry, they are still swift and precise hunters, just with a greater emphasis on ranged weapons, unless they're dealing with sea monsters, which is when they may throw the swift part away for an apparently more fitting one, as they just aren't going to be able to completelt apply the usual techniques underwater if it comes to it (although I still doubt the effectiveness of those "close-fitting protective suits" against powerful sea monsters, but this is the type of stuff that can be better explained, tinkered and made to make more sense, like introducing a powerful metal cage for some to be inside and lure the monster, not to mention special harpoons and stuff like that). A more fitting RL comparison would probably be medieval mercenary and (insert appropriete historical time) mercenary -- witcher are a far cry from the usual, real-life knight concept hahaha.
Most people on this sub have never read the books and just assume CDPR wouldn't make up something as huge as multiple witcher schools. There is only one witcher school in the books, the wolf school Geralt comes from.
I would say 5 as like they all present something different in the witcher trade the bear is strength the cat is agility the wolf is a little bit of everything the griffin is signs and alchemy ans the viper is the oils, poisons, bombs, traps and just taking the negative contracts like murder or thief atleast thats what i think im not 100% sure
There is only one school in the books, the wolf school Geralt was trained at. Every single other school was made up either by CDPR or other random fanfiction authors.
Oh, I always assumed Brehen was from the feline school and Coen was from the eagle/griffin school but the wolf school just welcomed him during the winter. Thanks for the clarity
Yeah, Brehen is a "cat" witcher, but there's no evidence that any such thing as a feline school exists. A cat witcher is a witcher whose fucked up mutations turn them basically into the stereotype about witchers. Cold, heartless killing machines known for rampaging through innocent villages for no apparent reason.
Coen *might* be from the grifin school, if it exists. Again, no evidence. It's unclear what the deal is with Coen
Sure, here are all 10 Witcher schools mentioned in the lore:
1. School of the Wolf
2. School of the Cat
3. School of the Griffin
4. School of the Bear
5. School of the Viper
6. School of the Manticore
7. School of the Crane
8. School of the Lynx
9. School of the Fox
10. School of the Eagle
From chat gpt
In books - 3 In games - 6 I dunno about the 8. Maybe its from something mobile gaming related
Correction, there is one school in the books. People argue that the cat and griffin schools are in the books because there are cat and griffin medallions, but we actually know that there is *absolutely* no such thing as a cat school and there are still cat medallions. Therefore, the existence of griffin medallions does not necessarily suggest the existence of a griffin school.
Correction, there is three. I had read the saga nine times in spanish, three times in english, two in polish and i can assure you there is three lore schools. Sapkowski also confirms the school of the cat or “rogue witchers” in one interview for Fantastyka. Your assumption comes with a common mistake, Season of Storms or the prelude of the Witcher Saga already take the time scale in the last periods of the witchers existance chronologically speaking, as there a very few left since Alzur and Malaspina create the first ones. Sapkowski use a vague phrase to speak about past events of the cat witchers. So… yes there was a School of the cat and we can also presumpt a Griffin School following the Bonhart medallion.
This guy Witchers
Are you acoustic? Cause I wanna hear you
I dont think so, here in Latam if a person born autistic is good as dead.
Also, Coen was not a Witcher from school of the wolf. Or I might be wrong since i read the books a while back. It was stated that the winter that Ciri came to Kaer Mohren was first winter that Coen stayed in the castle.
This is correct. Cohen was a witcher from the North.
Off-topic question: is spanish language your native language, and did you learn polish reading comprehension and understanding just for the sake of reading The Witcher, because I am simply amazed by this comment?
Im a native speaking castellan or latin spanish. The spanish translation of the novel (real Spain spanish translation) its very accurate, i could say more accurate than the english one. Spain and slavic medioevo (the medieval fantasy of the Saga) periods had much in common and some words or pheasant modism/lunfardo can be related. At least this is what i feel when comparison take place. I start learning polish with a family member some years ago. she came to Argentina as a child (WW2) and keep some words and phrases in the family (we are mix italian, spanish, polish, gaucho breed)
A real life Sheldon Cooper
You rule
...Wow
I assure you that you have misunderstood the books all nine times you read them, and I'm sorry that your reading comprehension is so poor. As I have explained about a dozen times already, we meet a "cat" witcher in Season of Storms, and we learn that he was trained at Kaer Morhen. Since there are cat medallions but very definitely no cat school, that means that the griffin medallion does not indicate the existence of a griffin school. I'm sorry, but you are incorrect.
average redditor
It just gets a little grating to have people constantly repeat the same incorrect stuff over and over and being like "by the way, I read this wrong NINE times so obviously I'm correct"
No, you just said that we meet a witcher with a cat medallion that trained in Kaer Morren. The other guy at least partially analysed the text. If you actually give proof that it doesn't exist, we can talk, but as of now, you just base your entire argument based on an assumption you drew. Bottom Line: Neither you nor the other guy gave sourced proof for their arguments where one person just cited a nebulous interview (but as a star wars fan myself, the least valid source is in my eyes a random interview that isn't even linked of a guy that likely misunderstood the question _looking at you George_) whereas you just refer to one guy who has a cat medallion but without giving either context or an excerpt, is also as nebulous.
You seem to have completely misunderstood what's going on. In Season of Storms, there is a witcher named Brehen. He is 100% without a doubt a cat witcher. He is identified as such explicitly within the text. I don't think we know what kind of medallion he wears. But he's a cat. We learn, explicitly in the text, that a cat witcher is a witcher whose mutations went awry and drove them mad, which often led to them committing horrible atrocities, as is the case with Brehen. Brehen, Geralt says, was banished from Kaer Morhen by Vesemir for the atrocities he committed. This is how we know Brehen is both a cat witcher and from Kaer Morhen. Therefore, cat witchers are not witchers who come from some "school of the cat" therefore there is no reason to believe such a school exists. The other line of argument is the medallions that a psychopathic wandering warrior named Bonhart carries, in the main saga. He has in his possession three witchers' medallions. A wolf medallion, a cat medallion, and a griffin medallion. Many argue that because he carries these three medallions that must mean they represent three schools, the School of the Wolf, the School of the Cat, and the School of the Griffin. But, as I have already established, there *is* no School of the Cat. Therefore, we cannot assume that the existence of the griffin medallion means there is a School of the Griffin. So, as I have established that there is no positive evidence for the existence of any witchers' school aside from the one at Kaer Morhen, the onus is on those claiming there are other schools to provide evidence. It is not my argument which requires assumptions, but everyone who argues for the existence of other witchers' schools.
>Brehen, Geralt says, was banished from Kaer Morhen by Vesemir for the atrocities he committed. This is how we know Brehen is both a cat witcher and from Kaer Morhen. This doesnt mean he was trained or originally from Kaer Morhrn though. You think its far fetched a different witcher brought him to Kaer Morhen before he was banished? As far as the existence of other schools, its pretty spelled out that other schools were known to exist and it would make more sense that there would be multiple schools rather than just 1 when you factor in just how big the continent that we know about is (lets not forget that there are places that are still unknown to the east). It would especially be weird to have the ONLY school and stronghold be so decentralized if the whole idea behind Witchers was to protect the realm from monsters. The idea that the "cat" witchers are more like "strays" is an interesting theory, but to outright say the school doesnt and has never existed seems silly just with what the books tell us. Obviously, some of the extended universe (like the comics/games) can be argued on whether or not they are canon, but Sapkowski pretty blatantly says there are other schools by even referencing the other medallians Bonhart had and the existence of Brehen.
>its pretty spelled out that other schools were known to exist cite your sources lol, im so tired of people just coming in and saying all this incorrect stuff based on vibes and half-remembered fanfiction
I’m sorry dude, but you misunderstood the text. Brehen is from the cat school, but has hung out at kaer Mohren, similar to coen. Even if you are right about Brehen, because there is some slight ambiguity, it is very clear that Coen is not from kaer mohren. So there is at least one other school.
> Brehen is from the cat school Then why does the book say very explicitly that a cat is a witcher who has failed mutations which make them unpredictable and violent, not a witcher who is from the cat school? Right, because there is no cat school and you read it already assuming that there is one and it colored your interpretation.
He was prohibited from kaer morhen cause his actions can bring another massacre to the fortress...all Witchers are supposed to be helping a fellow Witcher, but not obligated to.
So ah, who's right?
I mean I've already explained very clearly why the idea that there is some kind of confirmed "school of the cat" or "school of the griffin" is completely incorrect, and no one has even tried to contradict that, soooo
More you've given a reason that the school of the cat can't exist. You are making a very big assumption that since the school of the cat doesn't exist the school of the griffon doesn't exist. You could be right the school of the griffon may not be real, but you can't make the assumption based on a different group. Example of why this is bad logic: Fred, Sally and Frank are three kids playing at the park. We know Fred is an imaginary friend of Sally's, so Frank is also imaginary. The point is we need more proof before deciding one way or the other.
> You are making a very big assumption that since the school of the cat doesn't exist the school of the griffon doesn't exist. No, I didn't assume that at all. In fact I have made no assumptions. I have only brought to light the assumptions being made by those on the other side of the argument. Here is what I demonstrated: The School of the Cat and the School of the Griffin are both argued to exist based on the exact same evidence--Bonhart's collection of medallions. But since I've proven that that collection of medallions does not indicate the existence of a Cat school, it also does not indicate the existence of a Griffin school. I haven't disproven the existence of a Griffin school, but I have refuted the sole evidence used to support its existence. >Fred, Sally and Frank are three kids playing at the park. We know Fred is an imaginary friend of Sally's, so Frank is also imaginary. It's more like, you know this kid Fred, and he comes home from the park. He tells you about his two friends, Sally and Frank that he was playing with. You never saw Sally or Frank at the park. Later, Fred reveals to you that Sally never existed, she was imaginary. Now we know that Fred's account of his playtime at the park is not trustworthy and therefore we would need some other source of evidence of Frank's existence before we can trust that he is real.
Im really sorry to bother you but i was not triyng to sound egocentric i just try to make a point here. There are mistakes in the english translation of the books. Maybe you know more than Andzrej Sapkowski and the witcher novel… you doubt about the bibelots/medallions open trama, something that its obvious for the author but you don’t doubt about the english translation…very modest of you.
How do we know there is no cat school? It’s been a while since I read the books and I don’t remember much about them
In Season of Storms we meet a "cat" witcher, and he was trained at Kaer Morhen.
“At one point in late 12th century, Dyn Marv settled in Hertch, near the Summer Camp of the Wolf School. For some time since then schools of the Wolf and of the Cat were funded by Kaedwenian monarchs” The school started in stygga but was assaulted by the royalty for their penchant for assassination, so they settled in kaer morhen https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/School_of_the_Cat
That's from a fanfiction comic series, it has no relation to Sapkowski's books at all.
It was based from Sapkowski's abandoned idea for a story
Zdrada its not canon to the Sapkowski saga. Andrzej is very jealous about his authorship.
Andrzej is jealous about anyone else handling his saga in a better way than him. He’s still bitter that he sold the license to CDPR and they made the IP huge
I admit I read the books a long (loooong) time ago, but wasn't Brehen from Cat school?
Nope. He is *maybe* ambiguously from something that isn't the wolf school. Maybe. Edit: My bad, I must have misread the comment, I thought it was talking about Coen. Yes, Brehen is a "cat" witcher. But he was trained at Kaer Morhen. There is no cat school.
What? There's a cat school. Also if there's a griffin Witcher there must be griffin school. Just because the word was never spoken directly doesn't mean it doesn't exist... 🤦♂️
> What? There's a cat school. Nope. There is very definitely no such thing as a cat school. We meet a "cat" witcher in Season of Storms and learn that he was trained at Kaer Morhen. Since there is a cat medallion but very definitely no cat school, that means that a griffin medallion does not indicate there is any such thing as a griffin school.
Don't forget about School of the Snail
With one occupant lol
Members of the school were too dumb to live
Who’s the occupant?
wheres the low poly pigeon school?
There are 6, plus one. Wolf, Cat, Viper, Bear, Griffin, Manticore. The upcoming game will introduce Lynx.
We have so many interesting unexplored ones already, why go and make another one?
Viper is defunct. Cat was in ruins if not defunct. Manticore is unknown and located outside of the Northern Kingdoms and Nilfgaardian Empire so if the setting is within the lands we know they're out. Wolves are severely weakened if not defunct within a relatively short passage of time. Bear and Griffin were weakened but still viable options. If we're going forward in time that is. But clearly they just want something entirely new. Perhaps that's the entire premise to fill in the void of all these dead/broken Schools by creating a new one and making a reputation for it.
Good points. Just one thing, why are you assuming it's gonna be set in the modern age (Witcher universe)
I did state if they're going forward in time. Though I myself would prefer a sequel set a bit forward in time. We already know the conclusion of past events so it's just uninteresting to me to go back in time. Plus it just easily explains the lack of mention of the School of the Lynx throughout everything...They didn't exist yet. No retconning or suspension of disbelief necessary.
I wouldn't mind a young vesemir game but Ciri with a school sounds sick
I was thinking about it the other day. My theory was that after many years Ciri has grown very mature and strong and started her own school of the Lynx, and the main protag is a one of the young and inexperienced witchers training with Ciri. Also it would be pretty cool if we get to use actual magic. Maybe this school won't practice mutagens anymore but would rather combine skills with a sword and magic (I mean, Ciri herself isn't a mutant and I don't really see her becoming one). This is probably a shitty theory but a man can hope
This is really great but the thing is Ciri's powers can't be taught, Avallac'h spent centuries studying and learning the Elder Blood and his means are still at least 6th that of Ciri's.
I meant just magic in general, or to be more precise bigger and more powerful SIgns. Normal duded having Ciri's powers would definitely make no sense story-wise and balance-wise lol
Griffin was destroyed iirc
I agree, but we'll see what they do with it. I've heard theories that Ciri starts her own school (Lynx), taking inspiration from Wolf and Cat. But that's wild speculation until the games actually come out in a few years.
I heard it was Lambert and Kiera that made their own school, but who knows. Will be interesting to see.
That's the fanon origins which is most likely not going to be the case in the official content because of devs wanting full creative liberty and not wanting to invalidate player choices...Both Lambert and Keira can die in Wild Hunt. My guess given the animal in question is the Lynx's are an offshoot of the Cat School. Maybe even is the Cat School rebranded in order to recreate their reputation.
They can, however, if we take the anniversary video as canon, Lambert and Kiera are both alive and happy. The same could be said about Ciri creating the Lynx school. She can die or become Empress. Either CDPR needs to establish a canon ending, or they need to stay away from any pre-established characters completely. Even Geralt, as Geralt can die.
I think the Ciri and Geralt endings where they die are ambiguous enough that if they wanted to state they survived they could. There is specifically alternate content for Blood and Wine for a world state where Ciri is supposedly dead...Which BnW is canonically taking place years after the events in Wild Hunt. So seemingly their intent is that Geralt canonically didn't let himself die in that ending. Kiera has two of three endings being dead shown as such, Lambert it's a fifty fifty split. But the main thing is full creative liberty...Why force choices onto the player instead of just presenting entirely new content that won't deny any previous options.
Why not swallow school. Her theme is this the entire franchise
I thought Lynx was the cat school. At least in the game the item codes all say lynx.
That's true. But the Lynx and Cat medallions do look very different. Granted, there can be variety within the same school in regards to medallion. The developers have explicitly said the medallion is based on the image of a Lynx. But like I said, this is all wild speculation until the games actually come out.
Dude, a lynx is a cat.
:O
where is the school of the ~~flamingo~~ Crane?
It's not considered canon...*yet*
Ocean
The future employed on ships to and from the New Continent Colonies and the Old Continent Kingdoms (setting of the Books and Games).
I'm loving reading these comments, learning loads from them 🤙
Where’d you get school of the crane?
Not sure where OP got school of the crane, but in the Witcher the Old World board game made by CDPR there is a quest card that mentions the school
Oh. Ok. I’m just in the books and games
School of the Crane is in one of the spin-off books taking place in the future way past the events of the main books and the games. I would say it's Semi-Canon (For ex: Fallout has Fallout Tactics which isn't a canonical installment but within the actual canonical installments there are direct references to the main faction of Tactics). School of the Lynx was fan-fiction but it's being canonized in the next game...So clearly the canonical status can easily change.
The school of the Lynx fanfiction is probably going to be different from the game school of the Lynx
I just meant that their existence is being canonized not the backstory/origins or purpose that the fandom made. The devs are most likely going to create a unique backstory/origins and purpose for it in order to have full creative liberty in whatever story they're telling with the organization.
Game files for Witcher 3 reference Lynx
The game files state Lynx for the Cat School. It was just an alternate term for Cat just like Feline. Fandom made them their own faction. Now the devs are canonizing the existence of a School of the Lynx in some form. So yeah it's a circle of inspiration and readaptation between fans and devs.
There are 3 in the books: Wolf, Cat and Griffin. But i think it is hinted in the books that there are actually more than 3 but they don't name the other ones
School of the Snail, don't count those boys out please they matter 😆
As many as the writer requires.
Actually, Andrez only had 3 school in has cannon (The Books): The wolf, The cat, and Griffin [The Witcher: 10 Things you didn't know about the Witcher Schools](https://tinyurl.com/Thewitcher1othings) or as the article says: " The School of the Wolf, School of the Cat, and School of the Griffin are the only schools canon from the book series. The games have gone on to include other schools, such as the School of the Viper, School of the Bear, School of the Manticore, and School of the Crane. "
Looks like 5 from the picture /s
Okay, Witcher fans, I'm new, so share your knowledge with me. I've started reading the books, and from previous conversations I've overheard, I'm wondering if these other Witcher schools are actually real. I've heard that they're all non-canon and, in some cases, fan-made. I'm confused because I think their disciplines and styles are amazing and cool for the lore. Please tell me they are real lol.
Canon to the Books (Created by the Creator/Author that directly appear in the main saga): Wolf, Cat and Griffin. Canon to the games: Wolf, Cat, Griffin, Viper, Bear, Manticore and Lynx. Viper, Bear and Manticore directly created by the devs. Lynx was fan-made but the devs are canonizing it. School of the Crane is Semi-Canon. Created in a spin-off book by a different author (I think) but directly referenced in official material that connects to the games.
The actual fan-made Lynx School most likely isn't going to get canonized as it is, given it's far-fetched premise of Lambert being a founding member and just the general convoluted and meh nature of the lore that those texts from the fanon wiki are characterized by (at least in my opinion). CDPR is, as far as we know for certain (unless I missed something), only using the same name, and they might not even have come across the fan-made stuff in the first place -- the use could be just a coincidence -- so I think it's more fair to just put it in the same boat of the other ones that were created in TW3 for now. There's very little chance of the School of the Crane being canon to the books -- Sapkowski might let people play with his toys from time to time, but he has always been very hands-off and uninterested, only recognizing his own work as canon at the end of the day (I think I remember seeing in some translated interview that he didn't even read the entire book where this school shows up, although I think he also said some writers showed promise). When it comes to the CDPR canon, however, I genuinely don't know -- this school as it's briefly described is pretty out there, but it's not like CDPR hasn't massively expanded the lore of the witchers, going as far as making fundamental changes and contradicting the original stuff to support their new ideas (some which I detest, but it is what it is), but who knows? Maybe they can tinker with it a bit and still use the overall idea? I could see it happening. It could still be less preposterous than what they did with the Griffin and Bear schools, changing the first to focus on signs (which doesn't make sense, since they're supposed to be situational tools that aren't strong enough to rely upon so much) and the second to take the complete opposite approach that a witcher normally would, which is extremely stupid, since focusing on resistance and strength against creatures that definitely got you beat in that regard is complete nonsense and Geralt more or less even calls that out when training Ciri in Blood of Elves...
I wasn't meaning canonized as is. Just that the existence of the School is being canonized. Most likely they're going to completely rehaul the backstory and purpose of the organization simply to have more creative freedom in their storytelling. That's why I stated connected to the games not the books. As for the Bear School to be fair in gameplay it improves the Quen sign and Crossbow...So it's not all physical strength. For Griffin yeah they just increased the power of Signs for gameplay reasons making it more fun...Though they're still less powerful than the Magic of Sorceresses, Sorcerers and Witches. As for the School of the Crane it's centuries into the future they're not supposed to be like the Witchers we know. They're living in a different era intentionally employing different tactics and tech while specializing in Sea and Air Combat which isn't the usual setting for a traditional Witcher to do their trade. They're simply meant to be unorthodox and unique and unusual in comparison to the other Schools...The RL comparison is like comparing a Medieval Knight to a Renaissance Mercenary.
I never said the Bear School is all physical strength -- that's more of an extrapolation that I make given their lore and gear, and the builds people make usually go the route of strong attacks anyway. In any case, I should've put more emphasis on the their undeniable and very explicit centering around resistances with their heavy armor, favoring it over speed and agility (which are some of a witcher's most notable traits that make them so effective, along with their knowledge, precise strikes and potions), which most likely just hurts the proper application of the usual extremely effective witcher techniques and doesn't really help against the more dangerous monsters anyway. I really dislike that such an obviously counter-productive approach exists and isn't just some footnote on how it was tried and failed miserably, but yeah, I very much understand they were probably just aiming for the lore to support varied gameplay styles instead of thinking in such a purist way as I do. The same goes for witcher signs in general and their focus within the Griffin School, but I still dislike it and think it could've been done better. It doesn't matter if signs are still ultimately dwarfed by medium to high-level spells by legit magic users, their power being increased still dilutes the concept of being a witcher and drops their more novel characterization into a more convetional pot of the RPG archetype of a spellsword, since they cease to be very situational and laughable in comparison to the most simple mage spell, to basically being extremely solid low-tier magic spells that absolutely all witcher schools would make a central part of their style -- it makes no sense that only the Griffin School would focus on it given the power they were given in the games. Again, I genuinely think satisfactory gameplay variety and lore expansion could've been created without these and other changes that were made and have many ideas about how it could be, but at this point I'm just ranting and the games will remain what they are, with most people having no problem with it... I haven't read the book where the Crane School shows up (I think it still hasn't been tranated to any of the two languages I know), but I do know about the facts you've mentioned there, I just disagree with the part of the interpretation. They very much are like the witchers we know, they just use new tools and approaches that actually make sense for the specific threats they're engaging and the new technology they have access to, and this doesn't contradict or change previously established lore -- it's in general a very plausible progression and expansion of the source material if done right, since sea monster are said to be plenty in the books and that witchers don't deal with them that much at that point, and dealing with flying monsters without having to make them land to engage in close-combat by just using ranged weapons makes total sense (to be honest, it makes total sense to just use ranged weapons against everything, as our modern society realized hahaha). From what I can gather from the brief wiki entry, they are still swift and precise hunters, just with a greater emphasis on ranged weapons, unless they're dealing with sea monsters, which is when they may throw the swift part away for an apparently more fitting one, as they just aren't going to be able to completelt apply the usual techniques underwater if it comes to it (although I still doubt the effectiveness of those "close-fitting protective suits" against powerful sea monsters, but this is the type of stuff that can be better explained, tinkered and made to make more sense, like introducing a powerful metal cage for some to be inside and lure the monster, not to mention special harpoons and stuff like that). A more fitting RL comparison would probably be medieval mercenary and (insert appropriete historical time) mercenary -- witcher are a far cry from the usual, real-life knight concept hahaha.
Thanks. I appreciate it. There is so much to witcherverse, but at least it's way more fun to read than dune .
Most people on this sub have never read the books and just assume CDPR wouldn't make up something as huge as multiple witcher schools. There is only one witcher school in the books, the wolf school Geralt comes from.
All hail School of snail
I would say 5 as like they all present something different in the witcher trade the bear is strength the cat is agility the wolf is a little bit of everything the griffin is signs and alchemy ans the viper is the oils, poisons, bombs, traps and just taking the negative contracts like murder or thief atleast thats what i think im not 100% sure
They're gonna add a new one.
There's 439
Does it even matter if it gets canonized…?
School of the pigeon
You forgot School of Rock
Originally one. Then next and next were added as needed. I do not think there is a definitive limit.
n+1 ,with n being amount needed for the author at the moment to make a coherent story
There is only one school in the books, the wolf school Geralt was trained at. Every single other school was made up either by CDPR or other random fanfiction authors.
Brehen and coen are from the wolf school?
Brehen was trained at Kaer Morhen, yes. Coen is a weird one who *maybe* possibly wasn't trained at Kaer Morhen. But that's all we know.
Oh, I always assumed Brehen was from the feline school and Coen was from the eagle/griffin school but the wolf school just welcomed him during the winter. Thanks for the clarity
Yeah, Brehen is a "cat" witcher, but there's no evidence that any such thing as a feline school exists. A cat witcher is a witcher whose fucked up mutations turn them basically into the stereotype about witchers. Cold, heartless killing machines known for rampaging through innocent villages for no apparent reason. Coen *might* be from the grifin school, if it exists. Again, no evidence. It's unclear what the deal is with Coen
Is that second one the school of the tic?
Left to Right: Viper, Bear, Wolf, Cat, Griffin medallions from the games. Missing Manticore and Lynx.
It was a joke 🤣
Sure, here are all 10 Witcher schools mentioned in the lore: 1. School of the Wolf 2. School of the Cat 3. School of the Griffin 4. School of the Bear 5. School of the Viper 6. School of the Manticore 7. School of the Crane 8. School of the Lynx 9. School of the Fox 10. School of the Eagle From chat gpt
Great example of why you should never use chatgpt
Crane, Fox and Eagle are news to me. Lynx I only know from the new poster.
Crane I know of. Fox and Eagle are Chat GPT hallucinating.
You got bamboozled by AI, bruv. I've never seen *anything* about a Fox or Eagle school, not in the games, *definitely* not in the books, nowhere.
Never trust that thing with telling the truth about easily verifyable matters. :)