Triss Merigold

"No! I will not give in and I won't be swayed! I am the "Fourteenth of the Hill"! I am not a little frightened girl from a dark Maribor Tower anymore..."

Triss Merigold of Maribor was a legendary Temerian sorceress of the 13th century. Called Fourteenth of the Hill by her contemporaries because she was erroneously thought to have been killed during the Battle of Sodden Hill, she passed into history as Merigold the Fearless. A member of King Foltest's royal council along with Fercart and Keira Metz, as well as a founding member of the Lodge of Sorceresses, she was involved in politics for most of her life.

She was friends with Yennefer and the witcher Geralt of Rivia, but also unhappily in love with the latter. Triss took care of Ciri at Kaer Morhen for some time and is like an older sister to her. It was through her intervention that Ciri was not subjected to harmful hormone changes at Kaer Morhen, stripping her of her secondary gender traits.

She was a skilled healer and carried with her many magical potions, but she never uses them on herself because ironically, she was allergic to potions. She was also quite a powerful mage, certainly when it counted most. She wore an amulet - sapphire overlaid with silver.

Triss is a major character in The Witcher computer game. She is one of the first people Geralt meets after being found unconscious in the woods by his fellow witchers.

She is also the one to nurse Geralt back to health after his first battle with Azar Javed in the Swamp. Once Geralt regains consciousness, he finds himself in the bedroom of her luxurious Trade Quarter home, and he sees her talking presumably to another sorceress. She diligently "checks him for internal injuries".

Journal entry

 * Along with me and the other witchers, Triss fought in defense of Kaer Morhen. The sorceress stood against the mysterious mage, one of the leaders of the assault. She was injured and lost consciousness. Ironically, Triss is allergic to magic and she can only be administered natural healing potions.
 * Triss Merigold is my friend. She saw me die and my return to the world of the living surprised her. Triss is a sorceress — one of the most influential and talented of her kind. She has numerous powerful friends, and she knows the Kaer Morhen witchers. She is one of the few people who know the way to the fortress. I have a feeling Triss likes me a lot.
 * After Leo's funeral, the sorceress teleported to Vizima. She decided to use her extensive contacts and search for information on Salamandra. Triss promised to find me as soon as I arrive in Vizima.
 * Triss found me in the swamp, where I lay unconscious after my clash with Azar Javed. She transported me to her house in the Trade Quarter and took care of me until I came round. Lying there awake I overheard Triss gossip with her friend on the magic communicator, and I now know that other sorceresses are also interested in Salamandra.
 * if Geralt leaves Alvin with Shani:
 * I left Alvin in Shani's care. Triss decided that I don't trust her and that I prefer the medic. She is angry with me and it seems our affair is over.
 * if Geralt leaves Alvin with Triss:
 * I concluded that it would be best to leave Alvin in Triss' care. She saw my choice as proof of my trust. She decided I liked her more than Shani, which only improved our relationship.
 * Dandelion delivered a letter from Triss. The sorceress has asked me to take good care of Alvin. She is also worried about me — she hopes we can have a steady relationship and raise Alvin together when I complete my mission.
 * I answered Triss' letter and explained my feelings.
 * After Foltest's return to Vizima, Triss fell into disfavor — the monarch didn't approve of her political scheming. The sorceress is practically a hostage at the Royal Palace and her fate is in my hands.


 * Triss joined me during the attack on the Old Manor. As a friend, she aids me in my search. I think she seeks revenge on Azar Javed for their magical duel at Kaer Morhen.
 * I met Triss, or rather a vision of her, in the Ice Plains. The sorceress helped me pursue the Grand Master.

Romance
Prologue

During the prologue, after dealing with the Salamandra invasion of Kaer Morhen, Triss is gravely wounded and needs a special potion which Geralt must brew to help her recover. If not rushed during the dialogue, after drinking the potion, she offers Geralt his first sexual encounter of the game.

Chapter III

If it was Triss and not Shani who was chosen to take care of Alvin the second romance option becomes available if she is given a ruby ring, and in regards to Alvin, Geralt must be strict at least once.

Associated quests

 * A Posh Reception
 * All the King's Men
 * Alvin
 * Armor
 * Defending Kaer Morhen
 * Frozen Reflections
 * Lock and Key
 * The Ashes of Vizima
 * The Source
 * The Unforgiven
 * Under a Fiery Sky

Triss plays a major role throughout the story. She first appears in the prologue as Geralt's lover; her feelings for him have evidently remained unchanged. Triss assists Geralt and Foltest in taking La Valette castle. She gets separated from them when a dragon attacks Foltest's forces. After Geralt is imprisoned for Foltest's murder, she meets up with him and Vernon Roche before they set sail for Flotsam, having lost her position as advisor after Foltest's death. In Flotsam, she meets with fellow Lodge member, Síle de Tansarville, and becomes suspicious of her presence. She helps Geralt prepare to fight a kayran by introducing him to Cedric, finding the Kayran's lair, and helping him create a potion to allow Geralt to resist the beast's poison. After Geralt meets Letho, Triss and Cedric break into Síle's room and Triss uses the megascope to try to gain more information on Síle (by speaking either to Dethmold or Philippa). Shortly after, Letho abducts Triss and forces her to teleport them to Vergen.

In Vergen, Triss gets away from Letho and tries to make contact with Philippa. She finds Philippa's room, but comes upon Philippa's apprentice, Cynthia, there instead. Cynthia, a Nilfgaardian spy, captures Triss using Artefact compression, and smuggles Triss across the mist of wraiths, where Triss eventually makes it into the hands of Nilfgaard's ambassador, Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen. Before Geralt can rescue her, Shilard takes his ship to Loc Muinne.

In Loc Muinne, he commissioned the help of Assire var Anahid to decompress Triss. Triss is restrained and interrogated for more information of the Lodge. If Geralt chooses not to save her, in favor of helping Roche or Iorveth, a massacre erupts in Loc Muinne, with opposing forces fighting not only one another, but also mages after Nilfgaard revealed the Lodge's involvement with the Northern regicides. In the chaos, Letho saves Triss from the Nilfgaardian camp, and takes her to the now abandoned Temerian camp and protects her until Geralt arrives after fighting the dragon. Once Geralt reaches the camp, Triss steps away, while the two witchers talk.

If Geralt chooses to rescue Triss, he breaks into the Nifgaard camp and eventually finds her restrained and asks her about the Lodge and their influence behind the Demavend and Foltest's murders. When Geralt and Triss go to the amphitheater, Triss reveals Síle's role in the assassinations, allowing Carduin to reject Síle from joining the reformed Conclave of Mages. Triss and Geralt are separated again when Geralt goes to fight the dragon, and they meet up shortly afterwards, where Triss tells Geralt that Letho is waiting for him. On their way to Letho, Triss explains that mages helped prevent further bloodshed in the city. Regardless whether Geralt rescued her or not, after Geralt confronts Letho, he leaves Loc Muinne with Triss (and maybe with Roche or Iorveth).

Romance


Triss is the default romance option - the game begins with her and Geralt already in a relationship. One of three opening scenes of Geralt's story during the prologue shows him getting up as Triss lies naked beside him as a messenger soldier enters their tent to summon the witcher to the King Foltest's side.

The first real opportunity arises near the end of Chapter I during the quest The Rose of Remembrance. When given the option to go to the elven baths, Geralt can choose to take the sorceress along with him. After a battle partway through the quest, the ground under their feet collapses, sending the two plummeting into ancient elven baths. Noting that an immediate escape is impossible, the two can take advantage of their location. Selecting the correct conversation options will initiate a cutscene, in which Triss completely takes off her clothes with magic and jumps into the water. Our Witcher soon joins her in the bath. After the lovers enjoyed one another well enough, Triss comments this short time of bliss in such a manner: "We should take walks more often. For a while there, I forgot all about Flotsam, the Scoia'tael, the kingslayer, the whole world really...".

Journal entry

 * I have known the sorceress Triss Merigold for a long time, for she is one of the Geralt's closest friends. The young, pretty, talented, auburn-haired mage from Maribor hardly reminded me of the giggling flapper of years past. Her knowledge, abilities and loyalty had brought her far. A hero from Sodden, known as the Fourteenth of the Hill - for she was mistakenly counted as the fourteenth mage to die in that battle - she sat on the royal council of King Foltest of Temeria. And though they say that a monarch's favor is uncertain - for the king had once expelled all mages from Temeria - Triss had managed to gain Foltest's trust. As regards the witcher, everyone who was witness to Triss' friendship with Geralt, anyone who saw them together, would easily confirm that these two had much in common... And it is common knowledge that an old flame never dies...
 * For those reasons, after Foltest's death the sorceress decided that she would help the witcher most by staying by his side. Not heeding her threatened position at court, she harnessed all her strength and powers to helping Geralt, whom she still had feelings to.
 * I was not there at the time, but I heard tales of the show of power Triss put on at that beach near Flotsam. Though she was weakened and barely conscious, the sorceress managed to sustain a magical barrier and the three survived the Scoia'tael arrows thanks to her.
 * Nobody was surprised that Triss knew Sile de Tansarville. A more attentive observer would certainly have noticed the chill in their greetings, as well as Triss' evident dislike of her elder colleague.
 * If Geralt agrees to forget about chasing the king slayer:
 * The sorceress' greatest desire was to be the one and only woman in Geralt's life, and to forget about all the troubles and dangers they had recently experienced. Geralt agreed to her proposal, but before they could act, Fate showed them how hard it can be to carry out such romantic plans.
 * If Geralt decides he must continue chasing the king's slayer:
 * The sorceress' greatest desire was to be the one and only woman in Geralt's life, and to forget about all the troubles and dangers they had recently experienced. Geralt was close to agreeing to her proposal, yet he knew that it would be impossible to lead a quiet life until he could clear his name. His decision saddened Triss, but the sorceress understood.
 * Triss was kidnapped by Letho. Geralt and I feared what he might do to her. Believe me, it was eating me alive, making rest impossible.
 * Searching Sile's quarters and talking to her neighbor brought more questions than answers. It appeared that Triss had known the woman she had talked to, but the fragments of the conversation recounted to us remained mysterious.
 * Triss had reached Aedirn – there was evidence to prove it. Finding her would prove difficult, however.
 * If Geralt chooses Iorveth's path and helps Philippa in order to lift a curse from Saskia instead of rescuing Triss:
 * In Aedirn, the search for Triss ended with the discovery of a bitter truth - transformed into a nephrite figurine, she had ironically been in the possession of an oblivious Geralt for a time and he had brought her straight to the Nilfgaardian camp. The Nilfgaardian emissary envisioned a special part for her in Loc Muinne...
 * If Geralt chooses Roche's path and rescues Anais La Valette instead of Triss:
 * In the end the sorceress was freed by a witcher, yet it was not Geralt. Thanks to Letho she escaped unharmed, but I am sure she would be glad to forget the time she spent in Nilfgaardian captivity. Thus were the lovers reunited among the ruins of Loc Muinne after their long parting, and the story of Triss Merigold's kidnapping ended.
 * If Geralt rescues Triss instead of Anais La Valette or Philippa:
 * Yet the witcher foiled this plan, wrestling Triss from Nilfgaardian hands. I described the story's finale in one of my ballads, omitting the carnage Geralt wrought there, however. For his part, he thinks that my version, with its colorful description of a mounted pursuit of Renuald aep Matsen, a limp sorceress trundled across his saddle, is too pretentious. Witchers...no sense of licentia poetica at all.
 * Triss had one more part to play, and a significant one at that. Thanks to her, De Tansarville's machinations were publicly revealed. The scene – now known as "Triss Merigold accuses the Lone Witch of Kovir" – passed into history and presently is one of the more common motifs in contemporary painting.
 * The testimony Shilard extracted from Triss was used to accuse the sorcerers. In this way Miss Merigold contributed involuntarily to a witch-hunt greater than any before it.

Developer comments
"Sorceress Triss Merigold, Geralt's friend and former lover, is one of the most important supporting characters in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. She accompanies our hero during his travels, and the choices the player will make concerning her will heavily influence the story. "If Triss Marigold couldn't be my girlfriend, I'd like her to at least be my sister" – this phrase may be humorous, but it still gives a good impression of the effect we wanted to get when working on the sorceress' new appearance. Triss's appearance changed the most of all characters we met in the first game. Her new clothes were to be equally elegant, functional, and comfortable for traveling. We based them on a 15th-century doublet. Its skin-tight cut underlines the sorceress' shapely figure perfectly, especially when coupled with trousers and high topped boots. The male clothing, fingerless leather gloves and pinned up hair make her stand out among other women, and turn her into a "tomboy". Triss' personality has changed too. She's no longer the girl from the novels known to "giggle like a flapper". Now she's a decisive, brave woman. She knows what she wants and she won't hesitate to take risks in order to get it. Her new appearance is also a reflection of this change. One can openly admit that Triss grew up and is more mature, though she has lost none of her personal charm and grace."

Associated quests

 * Trial by Fire
 * By the Gods - Stringing Up Sods
 * The Rose of Remembrance
 * Where is Triss Merigold?
 * A Summit of Mages (if Geralt saves Triss)

The Witcher Battle Arena


Since March 31, 2015, Triss Merigold is a new playable character in the MOBA "The Witcher Battle Arena".

Triss returns in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as the leader of the mage underground due to the witch hunt begun by Radovid V. Her appearance did not change much but interactions with Yennefer prove quite interesting. There is also a free DLC which gives Triss an alternative outfit.

After the events at Loc Muinne Triss and Geralt (who had now regained his memory) separated. Triss decided to go to Novigrad, which many mages believed to be a safe haven, and set up a shop in the city center. The Eternal Fire religion in the city, however, declared all mages to be witches and traitors and began arresting and murdering them.

Triss was forced to seek the protection of The King of Beggars to whom she paid 80% of her earnings whilst attempting to gain enough money to escape the city with her fellow mages. Geralt, upon arriving at the city, found Triss with the King of Beggars and assisted her ridding a rat infested mill. The Mill owner, however, sold her out to the witch hunters, and if not for the efforts of Geralt, Triss would have been captured.

Triss accompanies Sigismund Dijkstra to Margrave Henckel's house to meet with Geralt, who was searching for Dijkstra's lost treasure; Triss agreed to stick her neck out in exchange for Dijkstra's financial aid in smuggling the mages out of Novigrad. After Geralt told Dijkstra that Caleb Menge, the leader of the witch hunters, had his treasure, and after the ex-spy had left, the witcher informed Triss that Menge had Dandelion imprisoned. To find Ciri, Triss then helped Geralt discover the location of Dandelion by allowing herself to be taken to the witch hunters and tortured whilst Geralt gained the information. Ultimately she kills her torturers before killing Menge.

If Geralt assists Triss in spiriting all the mages under her wing to Kovir, it results in the witch hunters targeting nonhumans. Helping Triss ensures she goes to Kaer Morhen to fight the Wild Hunt. Before the Hunt's attack, she is happily reunited with Ciri, whom she provides with a magical stone that will call down a fireball that would strike down all her attackers except herself.

Following the battle, Triss goes with Yennefer and Avallac'h to Novigrad to try and reunite the Lodge of Sorceresses, taking up residence at the Rosemary and Thyme, an establishment owned by Dandelion. Unfortunately, they had not much luck, as Ida Emean outright refused and Francesca Findabair wouldn't budge from her realm with a war raging.

When Geralt later arrived, Triss berates him for putting Ciri in danger by taking her to the Sabbath to face Imlerith. Afterwards, she informed him that the only Lodge member she could locate was Philippa Eilhart, who was tricked into her owl form by Arthur de Vleester, who put a dimeritium band on her leg afterwards. Worse yet, Philippa came into the possession of Zoltan Chivay, who lost her in a card game. Luckily, Triss found a feather. Using hydromancy at the fountain behind the Passiflora and divined that Philippa was in the possession of Sigismund Dijkstra. They rush to his bathhouse, where Philippa, having regained human form after Dijkstra foolishly removed her dimeritium band, was wreaking havoc. After Geralt managed to subdue her, Triss led her colleague to safety.

Romance
Geralt can reignite his romance with Triss in separate stages. While extracting Lady Ingrid Vegelbud's son from her estate past the witch hunters, Triss gets drunk, which leads to Geralt kissing her as the fireworks start. At the conclusion of Now or Never, if Geralt professes his love for Triss and kissed her previously, she seemingly departs on the ship for Kovir. But she returns, interrupting Sigismund Dijkstra's anecdote about his affair with Phillipa Eilhart. She asks to speak privately with Geralt at the lighthouse, where they have sex.

While searching for Phillipa using hydromancy, Triss' spell in the reflection of the pool behind the Passiflora, changes to an unknown house. When pressed by Geralt, she reveals that King Tankred had offered her a position as his court advisor. She also reveals that the house is to be hers in Pont Vanis, where she wants them to live together after the Wild Hunt is defeated.

If Geralt finds one of Triss' lost earrings in their bed back at Kaer Morhen, he can return it to her. During the epilogue, Geralt and Triss settle in far-away Kovir. Geralt would take jobs, more out of habit than need, due to the fortune Triss received as the advisor to Kovir's king. If Geralt romances both Triss and Yennefer, they trick him into thinking they're having a threesome, only to leave him tied to the bed in the Rosemary and Thyme.

If Geralt romanced Triss in the main game, then she makes an appearance during Geralt's adventures in Toussaint.

After the quest Blood Run, Geralt receives a letter from Triss that begins the quest Turn and Face the Strange. The letter is read in her voice and not only details the discovery she made about Professor Moreau's research, but also expresses a desire that Geralt remain safe and return to her quickly.

During the quest The Warble of a Smitten Knight, Geralt can make the necessary vow for the knights' tourney on "his lady's love". In which case, he will say "I vow on the love of my lady, Triss Merigold, to respect the chivalric virtues".

After the main questline for Blood and Wine is complete, Geralt can return to his home in Corvo Bianco and is surprised by Triss, who is waiting for him. After an embrace, the two venture outside to a sunny spot overlooking the vineyard. Once there, they have a conversation about various topics, including current events in Kovir and romantic plans the two have for each other in the future.

Developer comments
"Triss Merigold is easily one of the most important supporting characters in our series of games, having appeared and played a key role in all three installments. This young but extraordinarily talented sorceress shares a complicated history with Geralt, one that exists somewhere on the spectrum between an on-and-off love affair and a deep, years-long friendship. The main traits of Triss Merigold's appearance, such as the shape of her face, her hairstyle, and her figure, were mainly based on the model created for her in the second game in the series. Only her clothing has changed significantly - it is now more elegant, more in fitting with the reigning style in Novigrad, the city of riches and fashion in which she now lives. Triss' clothes still reflect her own tastes, however, including her fondness for cuts that emphasis her slim waist, a point of extreme pride for Triss in the books."

Journal entry

 * I always considered it a point of particular pride to count Triss Merigold of Maribor among my closest and dearest friends. This exceptionally talented sorceress was a shining star of her profession, the former mage advisor to King Foltest, and a famous hero of the Battle of Sodden, known as the Fourteenth of the Hill. yet in no way did she resemble her often unbearably haughty sisters in magic. Her deft mind, warm smile and considerable personal charm had always won over even the hardest of hearts.
 * Though my personal relations with Triss never ventured beyond the fraternal, Geralt of Rivia at one point found her allure irresistible. From then on the two shared feelings that ran far deeper than a superficial and fleeting fancy.
 * Yennefer told Geralt that Triss had recently taken up residence in the Free City of Novigrad.
 * It seemed Triss had gone into hiding from the so-called witch hunters persecuting magic wielders in the city, turning to one of the leaders of the local underworld for protection.
 * After a bit of a run-around Geralt found the sorceress, who had indeed entered into an arrangement with the so-called King of Beggers. She paid for his protection by providing magic services to his organization. Though Triss did not know anything about Ciri and her stay in Novigrad, she promised to do all within her power to aid Geralt's search.
 * Though theoretically Triss and Geralt had ended their romance half a year earlier, it was clear the feelings they felt for each other had not vanished so easily. To deal with this, the sorceress pretended that nothing had happened and the witcher, as is his wont, sheepishly masked his feelings with a mix of hesitant interest and fake indifference. It must be said that both of them handled the situation quite awkwardly.
 * The plan to get close to Caleb Menge that Triss presented to the witcher was very risky and placed her in great danger. The sorceress knew, however, that Ciri's life might be on the line, and so did not hesitate for even a moment.
 * If Geralt kisses Triss:
 * The sorceress' laugh, the look in her cornflower blue eyes, the memory of enchanting moments spent together - all that surely weighed on Geralt's decision to kiss Triss in the Vegelbuds' garden. And though their moment of sweet oblivion lasted briefly, it breathed a gale's worth of new life into feelings between them.
 * If Now or Never is completed:
 * Though Triss and Geralt said their final goodbyes on that wind-swept Novigrad dock, in the end the sorceress decided not to leave for Kovir after all. She knew that when Geralt asked her to stay, the witcher was opening up his heart to her for the first time.
 * Geralt and Triss met again at Kaer Morhen. Triss arrived there at the witcher's behest to help defend Ciri, whom she had always treated as a younger sister.

Associated quests

 * Pyres of Novigrad
 * Count Reuven's Treasure
 * A Matter of Life and Death
 * The Nobleman Statuette
 * The Soldier Statuette
 * Now or Never
 * A Poet Under Pressure
 * Brothers In Arms: Novigrad
 * The Battle of Kaer Morhen
 * Blood on the Battlefield
 * Blindingly Obvious
 * Final Preparations
 * On Thin Ice
 * It Takes Three to Tango

Triss will appear optionally if Geralt romanced her in. She will come to Geralt's estate at Corvo Bianco and they will travel to Kovir together.

Associated quest

 * Be It Ever So Humble... (dependent)

Differences from the novels

 * After her fall at Sodden Hill and her consequent resuscitation, Triss mentions that she "will never again be able to wear a dress with a low neckline", suggesting that some skin disfigurement still remains on her chest. In the game however, she displays a generous amount of cleavage without any traces of damage whatsoever. She also asserts that "others knew me fleetingly and always recognised me by my beautiful hair. And I, damn it, didn't have it any more!", stating that she lost all or most of her hair during the battle. Subsequently, however, she then states that "we were cured, patched up, our former appearances returned to us, our hair and sight restored".
 * Also, her hair color is portrayed red in the games, whereas in the books it is described as chestnut, which is reddish brown hair.
 * In the novels Triss is allergic to potions that contain magic and can only be cured with amulets. In game one of the first missions is to recover the ingredients for a potion to heal Triss (although Vesemir briefly mentions that due to her allergy, said potion requires special ingredients).
 * In the Games Triss' eyes are green, though in the books they're blue.

Trivia

 * Name "Triss" means happy or blessed (from Latin origin).
 * Triss made an appearance in polish Playboy (05/2011), moreover - a front cover girl.