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Only for the good and just. Right, damned hypocrites. |  | |
| - Gwent: The Witcher Card Game Audio version: | |||
Brehen, also known as the Cat of Iello, was a rogue witcher from the School of the Cat. He was known for his cruelty and his willingness to kill not only monsters but people as well.[1]
Biography[]
Early life[]
Brehen in his youth
The witcher mutations that Brehen underwent were not entirely successful. As it was in the case of many other Feline witchers, the warped alchemical formulae intensified Brehen's emotions, and his tendency for bouts of heightened emotion and erratic behavior became infamous.
Brehen's training focused on speed, precision, and agility; a skill set handy for both monster-hunting and for more casual bounty hunter jobs.[2]
The Iello massacre[]
In the 1240s, Brehen visited the town of Iello. In unclear circumstances, he engaged in a fight that erupted into bloody carnage that claimed the lives of many. The event would come to be known as the Massacre of Iello, earning Brehen his moniker.[1] The slaughter, while compared by some to the Butchery of Blaviken,[3] was regarded much less charitably, particularly among witcher schools, who responded by closing their doors to Brehen entirely.[1]
Meeting Geralt[]
Four years after the massacre, while Brehen was revelling at The Wild Boar and Stag inn, he ran into and confronted Geralt of Rivia, believing the Wolf wanted to "rob" him of King Foltest's generous contract in Vizima. In an attempt to force Geralt into a duel, Brehen, known for his wily ways, took a priestess hostage. While initially emboldened by the fact that Geralt was not in possession of his swords, he lost confidence when the weapons were quickly delivered to his opponent by a dwimveandra who was feasting at the tavern. After a short exchange of threats, Brehen backed down and released the hostage.
During the conversation that followed, Brehen implied that he was no longer welcome at the Cat School, and that he believed Vesemir had issued a death sentence on him. Geralt dismissed the idea, asserting that witchers do not kill each other; but that, were another Iello Massacre to happen, Geralt would be willing to break that rule, track the Cat down, and kill him.[1]
Facing the striga[]
After arriving in Vizima and discussing the contract put out by King Foltest to free his daughter from her cursed form, Brehen laughed when the king threatened to hang him if his efforts were to kill or cripple the princess, and initially refused the contract and began to leave. However, unbeknownst to the king, a number of nobles, who had had enough of the striga killing people, secretly convinced Brehen to kill her and deceive Foltest, promising to pay him in the king's stead.
What happened after is unclear; Velerad claimed that the witcher resigned after seeing the striga in action. He may also have received a bribe from Ostrit, who wanted the monster to continue killing people in order to sow antagonism with Foltest among the commoners.[4]
The truth was that Brehen did face Adda in combat. The witcher scoffed, showing no concern or fear, and declaring to the striga that she would not be the first royal to die by his sword. Yet, ultimately, he fell to her.[2] Temerians then buried him in secret, and fabricated a story about him cowardly retreating.
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game[]
Season of the Cat: Brehen reward tree[]
- Scroll 1: As a member of the Feline witchers, Brehen's training focused on speed, precision, and agility – a skill set perfect for the nefarious acts of assassination ofttimes connected to the School of the Cat. So, despite his versatility during combat, one could say the most flexible thing about Brehen was his morality... and they'd be right.
- Scroll 2: Like most of his kin, Brehen was a rogue and an outcast. Prone to bouts of heightened emotion and erratic behaviour – attributed to the school's warped mutation process – Brehen's volatile nature was infamous. Mostly due to his hand in the massacre at the town of Iello, which forever branded him with the shady moniker: Cat of Iello.
- Scroll 3: Upon travelling to Vizima – where he intended to claim the reward for curing King Foltest's daughter of her monstrous curse – Brehen had a chance encounter with Geralt at The Wild Boar and Stag tavern. Believing the rival witcher was out to steal the bounty for himself, Brehen confronted the White Wolf. Whether it was confidence in his own fighting prowess, or the knowledge that Geralt was currently unarmed, Brehen attempted to coerce his opponent into a duel, declaring that only one of them would make it out alive.
- Scroll 4: As luck would have it, a fight between the Cat of Iello and the Butcher of Blaviken would not take place. Instead, an impromptu delivery of Geralt's swords shifted the dynamic of the situation, and Brehen's confidence seemingly vanished along with his advantage. Not wanting to risk facing the Wolf's fury on equal footing, the Cat conceded and vanished into the night, never to meet Geralt – nor any other witcher – ever again.
- Chest : Brehen never considered saving the princess. Even if the myths were true – and he seriously doubted it – reaking the curse would be a lot more work and certainly more dangerous. The risk just wasn't worth the reward. Besides, witchers were made for killing and Brehen had no intention of exhausting himself any more than he had to. The bounty would still stand if he claimed self-defence and no one else would be around to prove otherwise. So, on the next full moon, with weapons prepped and decoctions consumed, the Cat of Iello crept into the vaults beneath the forsaken palace, ready to end the murderous reign of the striga once and for all. Upon seeing her muscular physique, deadly-sharp claws, and hideous form, Brehen showed no fear nor concern. On the contrary, he scoffed at the sight of the cursed princess and sneered mockingly: "You're not my first royal." Alas, she would be his last.
Notes[]
- According to Velerad's words in The Witcher short story, two witchers took the striga contract: one young and inexperienced, who was turned into a meaty mess; and an older, sarcastic one, who accepted the contract after being promised by nobles a reward for killing the monster instead of trying to break the curse. That older one was said to leave the palace without fight. However, according to Gwent: The Witcher Card Game's director Jason Slama, in CD PROJEKT RED's The Witcher franchise, as in Netflix's The Witcher, it's assumed that the castellan's words were a lie intended to avoid scaring the public, and that the witcher's death was covered up.
- Sapkowski has never confirmed the names of the witchers who took the contract. Gwent assumes the older witcher to be Brehen. In the TV series, however, the witcher Remus was the only one to attempt it before Geralt.
Gallery[]
