About Sorceresses in the Witcher world

[PolyaSchoenfeld]

About Sorceresses in the Witcher world

I have read the books and I totally forgot in WHICH book there is a paragraph with the gist that it isn't too desirable to be a sorceress, or not a pretty girl's choice ( after all who would want to subject themselves to all those harsh training and mutations... something like that), and usually they are ugly girls not suitable for marriage and get sent off to magic school and later use elixirs to fix their appearance,...

I am not sure if this is Geralt's thought. It's really bugging me as one of those details of the world setting I know about but can't pinpoint under which circumstance it was revealed.

Please help!!!!

 

[toudis815]

Last wish short story I think

 

[Raven-beauty]

Don't you mean the chapter in Blood of elves? The beginning of the last chapter, it begins with a piece Tissaia de Vries wrote called: The poisoned source.

 

[zappy3]

I think The Last Wish short story when Geralt is wondering who Yennefer was before becoming a sorceress. I think it is when he is talking to Chireadan about Yen, Chireadan says that Yennefer is beautiful and then Geralt thinks that she is only beautiful because of magic etc etc.... (so yeah it is Geralt's thought)

In Blood of Elves the piece Tissaia wrote explains that sorceresses shouldn't have children but she doesn't mention that specific point if I recall correctly.

 

[MagyarGeralt91]

That would be so horrible if it was indeed just magic keeping them pretty and in reality they look like the witch from wizard of oz, haha. That would have a big impact for me cos I love Triss.

 

[Guest 3874899]

That would have a big impact for me cos I love Triss.

Triss is a bit different though. I remember three things about her in this regard: I think in the books it's mentioned she looks her age (though her age is never mentioned).
In the first game at the beginning when you brew the healing potion for her after the attack they say she is allergic to magic. (I just started replaying it, that's why it's a fresh memory)
Again, according to the books (when she goes to Kaer Morhen to help with Ciri) it is revealed that she is allergic to potions.

So it's never really clear, but it might mean she looks like what she is because of her allergy.
From the books we know she once seduced Geralt, and she almost didn't use magic. It is never explained though what it means. Can she after all enhance her looks? But then why not get rid of the scar? Or some sort of mind control? Or love potion? Something else?

I've been always wondering what sorceresses enhancing their looks with magic means. Is it like an illusion, a layer, underneath which they are still their original selves, or is it a permanent, real, physical change?

 

[toudis815]

That would be so horrible if it was indeed just magic keeping them pretty and in reality they look like the witch from wizard of oz, haha. That would have a big impact for me cos I love Triss.

Philippa is somwhere close to 300, Yennefer in Tower of Swallow is 94, so in short stories she in her 80'ties but as we know after Sodden battle she became THE YOUNGEST member of the Council. So without a magic I'm afraid they would't look so cute. Triss is younger than Yen but she should be at least 40 at the beggining of the saga (or not, just guessing ) Anyway Triss was severly wounded in Sodden Battle and they gave her old look back (except some burn scars) by using magic. Probably without cheating all those sourceresses looks like Uma

 

[KazeNoTamashii]

I've been always wondering what sorceresses enhancing their looks with magic means. Is it like an illusion, a layer, underneath which they are still their original selves, or is it a permanent, real, physical change?

maybe it's a permanent physical change since if it's magic like an illusion then if they're chained in dimeritium, they will revert back to their old appearance.

I think Yennefer would look beautiful before becoming a sorceress since she has Elven blood and mixed-race people are usually beautiful

 

[Guest 3874899]

maybe it's a permanent physical change since if it's magic like an illusion then if they're chained in dimeritium, they will revert back to their old appearance.

Good thinking, sounds very logical!

 

[Gen-R]

I think Yennefer would look beautiful before becoming a sorceress since she has Elven blood and mixed-race people are usually beautiful

She is beautiful now but, it wasn't always that way. I'm trying to remember which story it was, I think it was "The Last Wish", but Geralt notices numerous minor physical flaws in Yennefer and sees that she was at one point, a hunchback.

I believe it was after her first year as a student at Aretuza, she was magically given the look she has now.

 

[AnklaX]

maybe it's a permanent physical change since if it's magic like an illusion then if they're chained in dimeritium, they will revert back to their old appearance.

I think Yennefer would look beautiful before becoming a sorceress since she has Elven blood and mixed-race people are usually beautiful

To me it seemed that when they reach the age they like to keep, they use magic to stop physical aging permanently. In witcherverse, magic and science goes together. In fact, magic is also treated as a branch of science by mages. Magicians are also the worlds foremost scientists and researchers. Istred from the book and Alexander from Witcher 3 are two examples. How magic practitioners talked about it in Witcher 2 also conveyed the notion. Thats what it seems to me at least.

 

[Gilthoniel]

She is beautiful now but, it wasn't always that way. I'm trying to remember which story it was, I think it was "The Last Wish", but Geralt notices numerous minor physical flaws in Yennefer and sees that she was at one point, a hunchback.

I believe it was after her first year as a student at Aretuza, she was magically given the look she has now.

from The World of Witcher:

Adept's name: Yennefer

Former name: Jenny

"After initial testing confirmed her magical talent, the adept was admitted to Aretuza's first class. The girl comes from a pathological family- her father abused her psychically and physically, and her mother failed to support her. This rejection and abuse were likely precipitated by the deformation of the girl's spinal column and scapula (she was a hunchback), or possibly by her mixed human-elven bloodline (she is a quarter elvish, and her mother a half blood).

It was undoubtedly the lingering effects of these traumatic childhood experiences that drove her to attempt suicide soon after admission to our academy. The girl tried to cut open her forearm veins and ended up inflicting serious tendon damage (healer documentation attached for reference).
Despite the above, the adept was personally recommended and very highly graded by the Chancellor of our Academy, Archmistress Tissaia de Vries.

Her deformities and tendon trauma were corrected with the use of higher magic during her first year, and her further education has fully vindicated the Chancellor's high opinion.

Adept Yennefer is a highly talented and determined student. Her results on subsequent exams have remained excellent."

-Fragment of the records of the sorceress school in Aretuza on Thanedd Island

 

[Raven-beauty]

She is beautiful now but, it wasn't always that way. I'm trying to remember which story it was, I think it was "The Last Wish", but Geralt notices numerous minor physical flaws in Yennefer and sees that she was at one point, a hunchback.

I believe it was after her first year as a student at Aretuza, she was magically given the look she has now.

I recently made a tumblr post about this, thought I could share it here aswell


First let’s begin with her lineage and family. As we all know Yennefer is a quarter elvish, her mother was an half blood elf. Her father (who was a human) was known to be very very abusive towards Yennefer’s mother and even more towards his own daughter. Now it isn’t anywhere stated that Yennefer was born a hunchback quite the opposite actually. It is stated in the novel Blood of Elves that the abusive behaviour of her father caused the deformation of her spinal column and scapula that caused her hunchback. Again Yennefer had elven blood in her veins which is how she got her violet eyes (elves or half elves like Ciri are known to have rare color of eyes etc). But it is also stated that this already caused her to be a little less appealing but not a hunchback because that was her father’s doing.

Now far as I recall Tissaia de Vries took little Jenny into her care. And mentioned her deformation on her back and was going to cure this with the help of higher magic (which was a rather painful process for the girl). She doesn’t state that anything was severely wrong with her face. Maybe again not that appealing but still rather pretty because of her eyes and elven blood. Now I just want to state that in fact all sorceresses weren’t that pretty themselves, and because of this they were often abandoned or even sold (it’s a cruel and dark world after all, not so different from ours as Sapkowski once stated himself). Sorceresses often decide to stop the aging process around their 20′s or a bit more older like maybe even 30′s. A sorcerer often chooses to look a bit more older to look somehow more professional or they often just don’t care. If you look at Triss Merigold at the battle of Sodden Hill she got immensely burned so burned that people couldn’t even recognise her even more. Yes even Triss Merigold was totally fixed with the help of allot of higher magic, she even needed the help of multiple sorceresses to do that. So yeah imagine her true form then.