Editing Geralt of Rivia (section)

==About the Man Himself==
Alright, intro out of the way.

Geralt was, like all Witchers, ditched at the front of the frosty Kaer Morhen, one of the last Witcher strongholds still standing. Like all Witchers, saying he had a "rough upbringing" is an understatement: when he wasn't fending for himself in the dark, lonely cells, he was undergoing grueling training and taking alchemic mutagens like an archaic Space Marine. Once old enough, he was then subjected to the "Trials," a three-part test of more [[Gene-seed|mutagens]], hippie-druid LSD (hypno-indoctrination), and finally, several real-world physical trials to see if he actually has the skills and cunning to be a real witcher.

Unlike most other Witchers, his body responded ''very'' well to the mutagenic alchemy and so they decided to [[Fabius Bile|experiment with him a bit more]] than the others. He survived all this as well, but as a result his hair's all white and now he'll look either like a [[Edgy|Hot Topic reject]] or an old man depending on what point of his life we're talking about. 

While a big part of his childhood was certainly rough, he was certainly doted upon by the older Witchers, especially Vesemir, who Geralt considers to be the closest thing he has to a father. Vesemir even arranged for Geralt to spend some time at a temple to receive ''an actual education'' under Priestess Nenneke, which explains why Geralt isn't as much of a meathead as the other Witchers. It's also a neat parallel with Ciri, with Geralt being Vesemir and Nenneke being Yenn. 

Incidentally, the 'of Rivia' part of his name is a lie, as Geralt himself wanted a cool name ("[[Bretonnia|Geralt Roger Eric du Haute-Bellegarde]]") but Vesemir made fun of him and had him change it to something more practical. The name serves both as a useful cover and an easy way to be remembered. He got so committed to the bit that he acquired Rivian accent convincing enough to get him attacked by a group of bigots.  Later on  during the Nilfgaardian invasion, he reluctantly got involved in a battle between the Nilfgaardians and the Rivian Guerillas and their Queen was so impressed with him she knighted him and made his title official.

With all that done, he took a horse, named it Roach, and then went off adventuring in a miserable world filled with monsters, [[High Lords of Terra|inept nobles who are no better than the monsters]], and anything in between.

At some point during all this adventuring, Geralt managed to solve a kingdom's succession crisis. As is custom, he has the reward for this favor be subject to the "Law of Surprise" (essentially: I do something, you give me the first thing you see when you get home). This surprise happened to be Ciri, the grandaughter of the queen of that kingdom, which has now gone to literal shit with barbarians of the north ([[Warriors of Chaos|not those ones]]) having killed everyone. Geralt, having no clue how to raise a child, decided to raise her as a mini-him...it took the intervention of a good friend that wasn't a Witcher to explain how this was a terrible fucking idea, but he was set in training the kid how to use a sword.


Geralt's ultimate fate is... [[Alpha Legion|spotty]]. A big part of the Witcher setting is that there are multiple realities, so the books, short stories, games, and [[skub|yes, even the TV show]], are equally valid. In the stories, Geralt gets to live happily ever after with Yenn, but that's so sunny and uplifting it's obviously not-canon. In the books, Geralt dies after protecting his Dwarf friends from a pogrom, and yet somehow manages to wake up with Yenn in another world, implied to be Avalon given Ciri's intervention. And yet again, the games, which are set after the books, shows that [[Meme|he got better]].
[[Category:Literature]]