The world of The Witcher is one in which threats of all shapes and sizes are to be feared, be they natural, unnatural, or magic. But there is one weapon witchers like Geralt of Rivia refuse to use, giving his newest opponent a massive, mutant advantage.
The newest expansion of the canon, The Witcher: The Bear and The Butterfly from Dark Horse Comics follows the Geralt made famous from his blockbuster video game series, taking on a new challenge. And the first issues have readers wondering which is deadlier: a Superior Vampire, or another Witcher competing with Geralt on the hunt.
Geralt Fights A Witcher of The Bear School (With A Shocking Secret)
The Witcher: The Bear and The Butterfly by Simon Spurrier, Stephen Green, José Villarrubia (Dark Horse)
The arrival of a Witcher of the Bear School, famed for its brutality and dislike for teamwork, is enough to put Geralt on the defensive. But in Issue #2 of the series, the implied threat posed by the massive Witcher becomes an immediate one, as he ambushes Geralt in the forest, striking to kill.
At first, it appears that this hulking monster hunter, the vampire killing townsfolk, and a pack of mutant wolves patrolling the forest are all unrelated threats. But that all changes when the Witcher of the Bear School lets out a whistle, signaling the mutant wolves to emerge from hiding and attack Geralt.
To the shock of Geralt and fans of The Witcher series, this reveal marks a major alteration to canon. Witchers rarely (if ever) keep animals, be they cats, dogs, or other tamed beasts, with any mutated variations crossing their paths as threats to be killed, without exception. Which makes this one encounter that is as historic as it is disturbing.
Bear School ‘Beastmasters’ Are A Massive Change To Witcher Canon
While the mutations which create Witchers is a part of established lore, the idea that those same monster hunters would then mutate other animals in service to them is completely new. New and, considering both the torture of the process and the resulting beasts’ forms, particularly brutal.
That is more believable when attributed to a Witcher of the Bear School, a column of the original Witcher organization that teaches solitary strength, competition, and victory by any means, the more brutal the better. But even for them, no lore or canon has ever suggested the breaking or mutating of enslaved beasts.
The story of The Bear and The Butterfly is still unfolding, which means Geralt may still uncover more secrets of this dark twist on ‘beastmastery’ as a weapon wielded by Witchers. Will Geralt be tempted to experiment himself, or will his dislike for the Bear School deepen, with this new revealed practice?
The Witcher: The Bear and The Butterfly #3 is available now from Dark Horse.
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Andrzej Sapkowski
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The Hexer (Wiedźmin)
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The Hexer (Wiedźmin)
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