Wikia

After the Great War, necrophages generally grew bolder and multiplied in the Northern Kingdoms. Ghouls are the most common corpse-eaters and usually roam around in packs. For a ghoul, a living human is raw material that must be processed before it can become a meal. Shredded to pieces with fangs and claws, the human corpse should then be left to age.

I looked for the words "Witcher urgently needed". And then there'd be a sacred site, a dungeon, necropolis or ruins, forest ravine or grotto hidden in the mountains, full of bones and stinking carcasses. Some creatures which lived to kill, out of hunger, for pleasure, or invoked by some sick will. A manticore, wyvern, fogler, aeschna, ilyocoris, chimera, leshy, vampire, ghoul, graveir, were-wolf, giant scorpion, striga, black annis, kikimora, vypper... so many I've killed.

— page 116, The Last Wish (UK edition)

— page 148, The Last Wish (US edition)

In The Witcher computer game Edit

Ghoul

Details
Class	Necrophage
Occurrence	Ghouls are encountered on battlefields, as well as in cemeteries and abandoned crypts
Immunity	Resistant to common poisons
Susceptibility	Sensitive to silver and Necrophage Oil; the Strong Style is most efficient against ghouls; experienced witchers use the Group Style while fighting multiple ghouls
Tactics	A group of ghouls will try to knock an opponent down, surround him and start eating him alive
Alchemy	Abomination lymph white vinegar ghoul blood

A horrible, low, and nasty beast, this abomination nests in cemeteries, old burial mounds (kurgans), necropolises, and on battlefields. Disgusting in form and character, it emerges to feed usually during the full moon, and well-rotted corpses are a delicacy for it. When driven by hunger, the ghoul will not hesitate to prey on the living. Only by fire, silver, and bright light can harm it. For this reason, it hunts only at night.

Journal Bestiary Entry Edit

"Ghouls are said to have been humans who were once forced into cannibalism and, after many years spent in dark crypts, underwent a horrifying transformation. Only human flesh can satisfy their eternal evil hunger, so they kill people and store the remains in the recesses of their lairs."

Location Edit

Source Edit

In Chapter I, an "old woman" will tell Geralt about Ghouls in exchange for food. The conversation does result in a bestiary entry.
Spending a Bronze talent on the Monster Lore option adds bestiary entries for graveirs, ghouls, drowners and barghests.
The Tome of Fear and Loathing, volume I

Notes Edit

In English, during the Prologue, Lambert claims the Fast Style is best to use against ghouls, but the conversation does not result in a bestiary entry. His suggestion contradicts the official bestiary's entry above, which claims the Strong Style is best against ghouls. Considering that originally (in Polish) he mentions barghests and ghosts as ideal victims of Addan Aenye, this is most likely just a translator's mistake.

Monsterbook Edit

Developer CD Projekt's characterization of the ghoul taken from the monsterbook, which was enclosed with the Collectors Edition of the computer game The Witcher for Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic:

Ghouls, like drowners, appear often in the game. Geralt frequently has the opportunity to practice his silver sword techniques on this monster. Since the drowner became grotesque, we made the ghoul both scary and a bit pathetic, without rendering him humorous. As a foul scavenger, he has all the necessary attributes: deadly pale, spotted skin, a nose-less head resembling a skull, and a strong jaw capable of cracking open any bone. At bit of artistic trickery and clear connotations went into creating the model for this rather dumb, hideous creature.

The ghoul is no joke — it is stocky, and ready to attack. It loves feasting on human cadavers, but has nothing against fresh warm meat. When it grabs its prey with its apelike arms, there is no escape.