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"Do you really wish to know?" — Spoilers from the books and/or adaptations to follow!
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But Stregobor always looked as, according to every rule and notion, a wizard should look. He was tall, thin and stooping, with enormous bushy gray eyebrows and a long, crooked nose. To top it off, he wore a black, trailing robe with improbably wide sleeves, and wielded a long staff capped with a crystal knob.
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- pg. 81, The Last Wish (U.S. edition)

Stregobor was a Kovirian wizard and a master illusionist, as well as a staunch believer in "the Curse of the Black Sun".[1]

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What is Stregobor's profession? toggle section
Stregobor is a Kovirian wizard and a master illusionist
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What does Stregobor believe in? toggle section
Stregobor is a staunch believer in 'the Curse of the Black Sun.'
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Where did Stregobor live? toggle section
Stregobor lived in Kovir for most of his life.
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Who did Stregobor serve in Kovir? toggle section
Stregobor served King Idi along with the mage Zavist.
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What did Stregobor do to Geralt after he completed a contract for King Idi? toggle section
Stregobor and Zavist convinced King Idi that Geralt was a charlatan and shouldn't be paid.
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Biography[]

Stregobor had lived in Kovir for most of his life, serving King Idi along with the mage Zavist. At one point the witcher Geralt completed a contract by killing an amphisboena for the king, but instead of paying the witcher, Stregobor and Zavist convinced Idi that Geralt was a charlatan and shouldn't be paid. On top of that, Idi then gave Geralt barely enough time to leave the kingdom.[1]

Being a strong believer in the Curse of the Black Sun, he also helped with the Council's efforts in trying to learn more about the afflicted girls, going as far as doing autopsies and even a vivisection on one, believing he was acting in the people's defense because "the mutant girls would have drowned entire countries in blood." However, it proved difficult in picking the girls out, so the mages stopped killing the girls and started to lock them up in towers.[1]

Meeting Renfri[]

Some time later, the Council sent Stregobor to Creyden because of Queen Aridea's suspicions concerning her stepdaughter, Renfri, who'd been born during an eclipse. Reportedly using Nehalenia's Mirror, the queen learned she and many others would die at the hands of her stepdaughter. Stregobor showed up and spied on the young Renfri and, after conducting some tests, confirmed the child was a mutant. While he wanted to isolate the girl, Aridea wanted to kill her and sent the princess into the woods with a thug hired to kill her.[2] Instead, the thug raped Renfri, who took advantage of him being occupied and stabbed her brooch pin through his ear and into his brain, killing him, before running away.[1]

Stregobor soon left but four years later Aridea sent word that she'd tracked Renfri, now known as Shrike, to Mahakam. The queen then summoned him to return to Creyden, but by the time he arrived, Aridea had been poisoned and subsequently died. While the general rumor was that her husband, Fredefalk, did it, Stregobor believed it was the work of Renfri.[3][1]

Later on, Stregobor was in Mahakam when Renfri crossed paths with him and, remembering his part back in Creyden, moved to attack the sorcerer but he uttered a spell at the last minute, turning her into a crystal slab, which he then tossed into a mine and proceeded to cave in, burying her. Despite this, Renfri was later freed by a prince from a distant kingdom and set out to assassinate Stregobor.[1]

On the run[]

Stregobor went back to Kovir but Renfri found him and, after three assassination attempts there, he fled to the Pontar Valley, then to Angren, but each time she found him. He finally hid in Arcsea, in the town of Blaviken, and took on the name Master Irion, the former owner of the tower he now took residence in. Here, he lived in peace for about a year, helping the locals occasionally, until Renfri found him once more.

Around the same time, Geralt arrived in town on unrelated business and, despite Geralt's obvious dislike of the sorcerer from their past relations, Stregobor still asked Geralt to kill Renfri, proclaiming it was "the lesser evil". However, Geralt refused to do so, believing Renfri had her reasons and he didn't want to pick sides.

The next day, Renfri appeared at the sorcerer's impenetrable tower, giving him an ultimatum: come out voluntarily to his death or she and her gang would start killing all the market goers in town. However, he refused, stating they could kill all of Blaviken and its neighboring towns and he still wouldn't come out.

Renfri then returned to the marketplace where Geralt had just finished killing off her gang and the two sparred before Geralt killed the princess. Having seen the fight from his crystal ball, Stregobor then emerged from his tower and attempted to collect the body to do an autopsy on, but Geralt threatened to kill him if he touched her. With that, Stregobor then returned to Kovir.[1]

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game[]

Season of Magic: Stregobor reward tree[]

This event allows to unlock the lore on Stregobor and his avatar.

Scroll 1: Stregobor looked like a wizard plucked straight out of a fairy tale: gray, bearded, hunched, a long staff in hand, and always wearing dark, trailing robes with wide sleeves. One could say: a dignified appearance indeed. But in reality, no self-respecting sorcerer would be caught alive wearing such clothes and accessories. Except for Stregobor, of course.
Scroll 2: Stregobor was widely renowned for his incredibly realistic illusions. The flowers he conjured smelled sweet, apples could be eaten, bees stung painfully, and beautiful girls did absolutely everything that their creator wanted. It has been said that this last detail was the main motivator for Stregobor's research into illusions. But the sorcerer himself strongly denied such allegations.
Scroll 3: Illusions weren't Stregobor's only strength. He was also able to calm or create storms, precisely controlling the winds or clouds. However, his greatest passion was poured into researching the Curse of the Black Sun.
Scroll 4: The Brotherhood of Sorcerers, largely due to Stregobor's urging, imprisoned in towers and - more or less intentionally - killed dozens of young girls born from royal families. According to the prophecies, exactly sixty princesses were supposed to be possessed by demons, cursed and tainted by the Black Sun. It was written that they will "fill the river valleys with blood". Written - but not proven. Stregobor's vials were ultimately the only thing to be filled with blood.
Chest: The Brotherhood of Sorcerers seized most of the princesses allegedly affected by the Curse of the Black Sun. Stregobor personally performed post-mortem examinations on many, with most deaths during the experiments... None of those experiments brought the expected results. While the princesses had some mutations in their bodies, Stregobor found nothing conclusively proving his claims: they bled like a human, suffered like a human, and died just like a human would.
Yet one escaped his grasp. Renfri, princess of Creyden, also known as the Shrike. For years she was begging, lying, stealing, and even selling herself, just to survive. When she finally grew stronger and had gathered her own group of highwaymen, Renfri began to seek revenge at all costs... In the end, she was prepared to pay the highest price. In order to get her hands on Stregobor, she was ready to slaughter a whole city. A white-haired witcher prevented this from happening, killing not only Renfri, but every member of the Shrike's crew. Ironically, this act of valiance only netted him the moniker: the Butcher of Blaviken.
Meanwhile, Stregobor escaped - free of guilt and punishment.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 The Last Wish
  2. This contradicts what Renfri tells Geralt in that both Aridea and Stregobor attempted to kill her multiple times with hired assassins.
  3. Renfri tells Geralt she didn't kill Aridea and that her stepmother got off lucky dying in bed; Renfri had special plans in mind in how to kill Aridea.

External links[]

  • Gwent icon See the GWENT standalone game version card: Stregobor
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