Triss Merigold

Triss Merigold of Maribor is a sorceress. She is called the "Fourteenth of the Hill" because she was erroneously thought to have been killed during the Battle of Sodden Hill. She is a friend of Yennefer and witcher Geralt, and unhappily in love with the latter. She 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 inadvertently given harmful hormones which might have negatively impacted her "womanly assets". She was 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 is a skilled healer and carries with her many magical potions, but she never uses them on herself because she is allergic to magic. She is also quite a powerful mage, certainly when it counts most.

Triss is one of the major characters in The Witcher computer game. She is one of the first people Geralt meets after being found unconscious in the woods by fellow witchers, who are possibly the last witchers anywhere.

She is also the one to nurse Geralt back 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".

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 3
If it was Triss and not Shani who was chosen to take care of Alvin the second romance option becomes available and if she is given a ruby ring or a gold diamond ring, and in speaking with Alvin Geralt has been be strict at least once.

Associated Quests

 * A Posh Reception
 * All the King's Men
 * Alvin
 * Armor, indirectly and only on the Witcher / neutral path.
 * Defending Kaer Morhen
 * Frozen Reflections
 * Lock and Key
 * The Ashes of Vizima
 * The Source
 * The Unforgiven
 * Under a Fiery Sky

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 disfigurment still remains on her chest. In the game however, she displays a generous amount of cleavage without any traces of damage whatsoever.
 * Also, her hair colour is portrayed red in the games, whereas in the books it is described as chestnut.
 * 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.

The familiar Triss returns, and 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. Throughout the first chapter a number of references are made to their relationship, but she is not the only romance option in the game, and as such may or may not remain central to the plot in the latter acts. However, she is one of two women to which a term 'romance' can be applied correctly, the second being Ves. All others are meaningless sex opportunities without any real emotional depth or consequences.

Romance


Triss is the default romance option in the game, and 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 alone to the elven baths or take Triss, 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.

Triss will return in The Witcher 3. Geralt can probably establish a relationship with her or continue (if one has uploaded save files from Witcher 2).

Trivia

 * Triss made an appearance in polish Playboy (05/2011), moreover - a front cover girl.

Gallery
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