Religion in the Witcher universe

[JonStryker]

Religion in the Witcher universe

Hi all!

I am doing a little project of mine and for that I am pondering lots of questions, among them religion.
The topic of religion in the Witcher world has sprung up a couple of times in this forum but I need pretty specific information which most likely partially doesn't even exist. I am aiming for a most likely guess approach in those cases.
Basically I need information about the religions in Witcherland in general and their distribution area. Furthermore I need to define a religion for all the rulers.

It would be nice if you guys could help me with that!
In the paragraph below is the information I have found so far (Wiki, Games, Internet, the first short story book). I have only started reading the books so I am lacking lots of basic Witcher knowledge.

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Cult of Melitele:
This is a pagan like religion where the priests are always female. The goddess Melitele has three forms and is worshipped in temples. The head of the religion is most likely Nenneke who's the head priestess of Melitele's most important temple located in Ellander. This cult was once the most wide spread religion but isn't anymore (what's the most wide spread religion now???).
I'd assume that Melitele worship is found nearly everywhere in the Northern kingdoms. Maybe even in Nilfgaard: Cintra, maybe provinces south of it (Nazair?, ...).

Freya
The goddess Freya is mostly worshipped on the Skellige islands and maybe in nearby coastal areas like Bremervoord. Maybe even in Cintra. The head of the religion is Freya herself as she still roams the world. There is an important religious site on the island of Hindarsfjall. Priests seem to be female only.

Eternal Fire
The eternal fire has it's center in Novigrad. Its head is the Hierarch. Most likely this religion has spread throughout Redania and across the Pontar to Temeria. The Order of the Flaming Rose is a Military Order that worships the Eternal Fire (games only). There seem to be only male priests.

Cult of Kreve
Not much is known about the cult of Kreve, book wise.
In W2 Henselt seems to have an adviser who is a priest of Kreve. So it's fair to assume that Henselt follows this religion and that it is quite wide-spread in Kaedwen. The Forefather is an alternative name. The church in La Valette is most likely also one of Kreve's.

Prophet Lebioda
Prophet Lebioda seems to be a reference to Jesus. As Zuleyka of Kovir&Poviss is a follower of this religion it seems fair to assume that it is most wide spread in Kovir&Poviss and in the Hengfors league.

Nilfgaardian religion
I've read at some obscure place that "true" Nilfgaardians don't have a religion in the classical sense. They instead worship the sun (their national symbol) and the Emperor.

Nature religion
There are certain faction which seem to worship the Earth and all its gifts. Like for instance the Dryads of Brokilon and the druids.

Elfish/Dwarven religion
Not much is known about their religion. Maybe they have no god at all (unlikely), maybe their main goddess is Dana Méabdh or maybe they follow the "Nature" religion I listed above. In W2 Verden sports a statue of a fat women looking like a goddess of fertility.

Obscure Cults
- Coram Agh Tera: The Cult of the lionhead spider: Seems to not have that many followers. But those that follow it are dangerous.
- Veyopatis: W2 only (?). Old religion of the Pontar delta.
- Water Lords: W1 only.
- Lilith: evil goddess still worshipped in the east. Most likely east of the Blue Mountains, maybe Haakland.
- Dagon: W1 only
- Dragon deities: worshipped in Zerrikania

?
- The order of the white rose: The PnP game says it is connected to the Cult of Kreve. In W1 the order of the flaming rose (Eternal Fire!) is built on top of it. A connection to the Melitele-cult isn't absolutely impossible either (judging from one of the short stories).

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And in the end a more general question: How does religion really work in Witcherland? Do people in the Witcher world have one religion like in Europe or can someone follow several like in Japan? Why do some religions seem to be working together while the actively fight others?

It would be nice if you could help me out with this
Please post anything I've missed above and point out where I made wrong assumptions. Again, I am interested in canon information but also in "best guess" things when there is no real information (like for instance the religion of Toussaint).

 

[sfinx]

And in the end a more general question: How does religion really work in Witcherland?

I don't know much about games, but in books - this is very unimportant topic. Few cults - just like you said "Méabdh", Melitele,... We can see her in one story and she is important, but that is all. Other elves haven't mentioned her. I think - the biggest religion-releated thing is Nenneke and Eyck But one is totally crazy and second is just religious - nothing more - few jokes (when Ciri writes letter for Geralt,...), that is all.

 

[jerf.674]

I don't know much about games, but in books - this is very unimportant topic. Few cults - just like you said "Méabdh", Melitele,... We can see her in one story and she is important, but that is all. Other elves haven't mentioned her. I think - the biggest religion-releated thing is Nenneke and Eyck /> But one is totally crazy and second is just religious - nothing more - few jokes (when Ciri writes letter for Geralt,...), that is all.

I think, we have got so many kinds of religions - Catholic, islamic, hiduist and all others />
We don't have any "central" religion with so high number of members in each state (just Vatican /> )

My region:
According to a Eurobarometer Poll in 2010,[94] 16% of Czech citizens responded that "they believe there is a God" (the lowest rate among the countries of the European Union),[95] whereas 44% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 37% said that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force".

The biggest problem just created media and that ones, which want war, that is all. I hold fingers in your work about witcher's world, but pleas, don't take any other discussion here. Internet is alread yfilled with unnecesarry posts from uninformed people - it never leads anywhere.

You misunderstood, he was not talking about real world religions, his questions are entirely about religions in the Witcher world. He mentioned real world religions only for comparison. Namely, when saying that "in Europe you can have only one religion" he meant that you cannot be, e.g., both Catholic and Protestant at the same time. While in Japan some people follow both Shintoism and Buddhism, for example. So he merely asked whether in the Witcher world it was similar to the former or to the latter.

 

[JonStryker]

@jerf
Thanks for clarifying my intentions.


I am aiming to collect data about religion in the Witcher universe. For that matter I value book information more than information from the games, the comics and the PnP game.
A discussion about real life religions and personal believes can be done somewhere else. I clarified those sentences at the end as they were written in a way that I understand that sfinx misunderstood them.

 

[Eri94_user70]

You forgot the Lionhead Spider Cult. Even Abigail was a member of it. Otherwise, a great list!

 

[JonStryker]

You forgot the Lionhead Spider Cult. Even Abigail was a member of it. Otherwise, a great list!

Lionhead Spider = Coram Agh Tera. I've classified them under "obscure cults". Because well ... I don't think that there really are many people that worship that weird spider.

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

Kreve is actually Odrin.

 

[sfinx]

You misunderstood, he was not talking about real world religions, his questions are entirely about religions in the Witcher world. He mentioned real world religions only for comparison. Namely, when saying that "in Europe you can have only one religion" he meant that you cannot be, e.g., both Catholic and Protestant at the same time. While in Japan some people follow both Shintoism and Buddhism, for example. So he merely asked whether in the Witcher world it was similar to the former or to the latter.

Ups, sorry, post updated.

As small compensation: Freya - full name Modron Freya, seems just like another name for Melitelé. Also woman - young virgin, mother, old lady. In the shrine is statue of her - pregnant mother. Se is also called "big mother". Highest priest is Sigrdrifa (at least in shrine in Hindarsfjall). I don't think Freya is head of that religion - she is trully godess, not human.

Melitelé - members sometimes give some promise to their godess (like Iola), novices are educated and leaving shrine as birth assistants or healers.

Kambi, Hemdall, Naglfar, Morhögg - partically also religion, but maybe more like legend.

Prophet Lebioda - that holly book is more like "wise words from Sheala de Tancerville" But I am not saying - it doesn't exist - that was just small note about reading by Zuleyka.

Kreve - Priest of Crewe mentioned once (Sword of Destiny). Buth that was all - he just blessed that fake sheep for dragon..

You can also add Ithlinna's prophecy

 

[cinarea]

It seems it`s like in the old, pagan days - free market ruled cults and/or religions, and it`s similar in The World - or rather - in The Northern Kingdoms, beacuse we know very little about the South, the Hakland, Zerrikania....

It all stems from Sapkowskis attitude - he admitted, that all he wanted to do, was to create a good story, and good story needs good background.
He didn`t create the entire world so meticulously, as Tolkien did.
He didn`t create a map, apart from the one in his head, and it is quite different form the one made by fans, but he doesn`t care that much.

The cults are very vaguely descripted in the books, even The Order was just mentioned once (or twice), but solely as a part of descripion of a certain knight.

The clash of Northern Kingdoms and The Empire is kind of like the clash of the old world of Celts and Slavs, facing Roman Empire. The pagan world is liberal in a ones choice of religion/cult/belief - as long as one doesn`t force anything on others. The empire is a new way - there is no god greater than The Emperor. It`s also like in every monoteistic religion - mono god is always jealous and vindictive.

To sum things up, I`d say that the Northern Kingdoms is a liberal free market of cults and religions.
The Empire probably would take more practical approach, still liberal, but incorporating all cults to support The Empire as the "official imperial religion", as it used to be in the times of Roman Empire.

 

[JonStryker]

By the way, does anyone know what Huldra's sanctuary is supposed to be? In the last wish Geralt learns an "incartation" there which he uses to fight a Djinn.

 

[sfinx]

By the way, does anyone know what Huldra's sanctuary is supposed to be? In the last wish Geralt learns an "incartation" there which he uses to fight a Djinn.

You mean that secret exorcism from shine of Guldra? That was nice ..good wish. But it was never mentioned again.

 

[JonStryker]

You mean that secret exorcism from shine of Guldra? That was nice /> ..good wish. But it was never mentioned again.

That's what I suspected. Another throw-away religion/cult/whatever without any further mention. But it's still more important than Kreve then ... book-wise

 

[SMiki55]

Nilfgaardian religion
I've read at some obscure place that "true" Nilfgaardians don't have a religion in the classical sense. They instead worship the sun (their national symbol) and the Emperor.

In add-on "Czas Pogardy. Wojny z Nilfgaardem" to paper RPG, nilfgaardian religion is worship of Great Sun (polish: Wielkie Słońce).

 

[gorthuar]

Cult of Melitele:
This is a pagan like religion where the priests are always female.

In the novels at least one male character was trained to be a priest of Melitele.

 

[Kodaemon5924]

In the novels at least one male character was trained to be a priest of Melitele.

Who? Where?

EDIT: If it's about Jarre, it's a bit hazy: there's one mention of him being trained as "a cleric and a chronicler" by Nenneke, but it's never said he'd be a priest of Melitele. In fact, his presence at the temple is treated as something of an anomaly, and much more time is spent showing him as a scribe.

 

[Juraj103]

He is later reffered to as Reverand Jarre of Ellander so its posible he really become a priest.

 

[Riven-Twain]

That's quite a feat of necromancy, @Juraj103 : This thread's been asleep for over two years.

 

[Juraj103]

Sorry I just did not notice