Saesenthessis

Saesenthessis, commonly known amongst people as Saskia the Dragonslayer, or Virgin of Aedirn, was a dragon. She was a key player in the battle of Vergen and depending of the outcome, queen of the independent realm of Upper Aedirn.

She was the daughter of the famous golden dragon Villentretenmerth and the green dragon Myrgtabrakke.

Early life
She was born in rather perilous time during the famous Hunt for a Dragon in which a group consisting of various individuals tried to hunt down and killed her mother, a green dragon Myrgtabrakke. The little hatchling was in grave danger because her mother was poisoned by the party and she survived only because another dragon arrived on the scene. It was none other then the famous Villentretenmerth, a golden dragon and her father. With a little help, her father managed to defeat the attackers and when the fight was over, he thanked those who helped him and left with the little hatchling.

Villentretenmerth raised the little dragoness and thought her everything he new, including his views on various topics such as the equality of all life, justice and honor. She was given name of Saesenthessis and she accepted her father´s views as her own. Because she was a cross-breed, her mother was a Green dragon and father a Golden one, she inherited the skill of polymorphism, though in here case, it was extremely limited - she was only able to take one alternate form, that of a beautiful human maid.

However her "childhood" did not take a long time and quite early, her father left her on her own. Though that might sound harsh, it was actually common practice among dragons. So young Saesenthessis began to travel the world alone.

Life as Saskia

 * Tw2 journal Saskia.png

On her travels, she met an Elven commander of a Scoia'tael unit, Iorveth. Not much is known about their meeting but they respected each other. It was Iorveth, who had the idea about her fictional alias. So the dragoness took human form and adopted the name Saskia. They come up with her entire history - she was from Aedirn and there she fought and killed a dragon. Thus her alias Saskia the Dragonslayer came to be. She was active in the kingdom of Aedirn where she attracted many folks of different race and stock. Her ideals about freedom and equality lured the oppressed from far away who soon started to call he Virgin of Aedirn.

She eventually moved to the city of Vergen in the Pontar Valley. Here, she created quite a unique city where dwarves, men and elves lived together as equals. Though things looked great from start, tragic event soon occurred. King Demavend III, lord of Aedirn, was assassinated. Though he left the heir, his son Prince Stennis, a neighbouring king of Kaedwen, Henselt, used this opportunity and sent an invasion force to the Pontar valley with intention to annex it. Thus the prince and his noblemen joined their forces with the Dragonslayer and came to the city of Vergen.

Prelude
Around this time, a different conflict occurred. In Temeria, king Foltest laid a siege of La Valette Castle. Saskia new the young lord Aryan La Valette and agreed with his views on equality so she left Vergent and flew to the battlefield with intention to help him. She attacked the invading forces of the king but after a while, she was driven away. Not for long however. She returned and attacked with wrath almost burning alive the king himself. He was saved in the last moment by the witcher Geralt of Rivia who pierced his silver sword into her maw. This injured her enough and she left the battlefield and returned to Vergen.

Not long after, she was invited along with the prince Stennis to negotiate with invading Henselt. As expected, the negotiations were not easy and eventually ended up in a duel. This duel however was interrupted when the King killed a monk named Olcan and his blood activated a dormant curse.

Preparations
During that moment, a duo entered the field - a witcher Geralt of Rivia and Scoia'tael commander Iorveth. They quickly came to help and fought all the spectral knights and a few draugirs but whenever they killed one of the spectral foe, other appeared. Fortunately, they received help from a magical owl that shielded them and safely guided the group through the spectral mist thus the dragoness, the prince and both warriors came safely to the city of Vergen where it was revealed that the owl was none other that the famous sorceress Philippa Eilhart.

It was soon decided that a war council should assemble to deal with the curse and the coming of the Scoia'tael unit led by Iorveth. Though the members of the council were not happy to see Iorveth, whom they considered a mere bandit and murderer, an agreement was eventually reached. Unfortunately, when Saskia raised her chalice for a ceremonial toast, she fell down unconscious - poisoned. Philippa discovered that the poison was Thaumador, the magepain. This was very dangerous and Saskia's life hanged by a thread. The sorceress took her into her care and prepared a list of various ingredients that could cure the Virgin of Aedirn. Thus the famous witcher started his quest to cure the Dragonslayer. Meanwhile Iorveth decided to leave Vergen and find more elves to join the fight.

As always, Geralt was successful and eventually acquired all the necessary items needed for the cure, including the petal from a rose of remembrance. Philippa used all the items and was able to heal Saskia though for a time, she was very weak and had to rest. Around that time, the witcher also lifted the curse on the battlefield. With the cursed mist gone, nothing stood in the way of the invasion and Henselt did not want to waste any more time.

The battle
When Geralt woke up from the deep sleep caused by the process of lifting the curse, Vergen was already prepared for a battle. Saskia told the witcher what should he do and where should he help so as always, he did. The defending forces fought bravely at the main gate and with the witcher's help killed many invaders but they were simply outnumbered. That is why they decided to use a burning oil to massacre the first wave and then they retreated to the second gate. Invaders soon regrouped and led by the sorcerer Dethmold, quickly advanced to the gate and beyond it.

Here, Saskia fought side by side with the witcher and they repelled one wave after another. However Saskia received information, that a group of Kaedweni soldiers and Dethmold found the way to the mines and wanted to use them to attack Vergen from behind. Thus Saskia decided to take Geralt and go to the mines. Here they were ambushed by Dethmold and his men. The duo was outmatched and was almost defeated. Saskia had no other choice so she changed to her true form. The dragoness quickly defeated all the soldiers - excluding the sorcerer who fled via portal - and helped the witcher. She told him the truth about her origin, and the need for the ruse with the whole Dragonslayer story. She also confirmed that it was indeed her, who fought at the La Valette castle and who was wounded by a witcher's sword. Geralt decided to keep her secret and they returned to the surface and rejoined the battle. With a return of Iorveth and his archers, the battle was won and invaders repelled. The king was brought before the Dragonslayer and the sorceress Philippa to hear the conditions of a surrender.

Saskia declared an independent kingdom of Pontar Valley with herself as its Queen and Philippa as her advisor. Henselt agreed that he would recognise the state and Saskia as its ruler and sweared that he will not invade again. After that Saskia demanded one additional thing - execution of the sorcerer Dethmold. Henselt had no choise but to consent and thus the mage was decapitated. After the execution, Saskia released the king and along with Philippa left for Loc Muinne where a great meeting of the northern kingdoms was taking place.

The execution of Dethmold however was not unnoticed by Saskia's people and especially Iorveth, who never though she would so willingly take a life of a prisoner. Iorveth believed that Saskia behaved strangely so he and the witcher decided to search Philippa's house for any evidence. They indeed find the recipe for the Thaumador poisoning that did not included the Rose of remembrance and discovered that by adding the petal, Philippa spell-bounded Saskia´s will to her own. In essence, Saskia was controlled by Philippa.

That angered Iorveth who decided to travel to Loc Muinne and confront the sorceress. As usual, the witcher went with him.

Preparations
In this version of events, Geralt arrived at the scene of the duel in a different company. That of the commander of Temerian special forces Blue Stripes, Vernon Roche. Together they joined the forces of king Henselt and with the sorcerer Deathmold, they managed to get through the spectral mist savely to the Kaedweni camp.

The witcher had to lift the curse with the same items and in order to do it, he had to visit the city of Vergen. He nevertheless did not meet the Dragonslayer herself. When he managed to aquire all the items, he was able to lift the mist and thus opened a way for the king to finally attack the city.

The battle
Fighting on the side of Kaedweni invaders, Geralt witnessed bravery from the dwarves that defended Vergen, They were however quickly outmatched and after a while, the battle was lost and Henselt emerged victorious. But he did not managed to capture either Saskia, or her advisor, sorceress Philippa Eilhart, because the duo fled to the Loc Muinne via portal.

Loc Muinne summit
Not long after arriving to the city of Loc Muinne, Phillipa was arrested by the king of Redania, Radovid V the stern. Saskia was not able to help her mistress and retreated with another sorceress, Síle de Tansarville, an ally of Philippa. Thanks to the spell, Saskia was very anxious and wanted nothing more, then to help Philippa but Síle told her to wait and be ready for the Summit itself.

Iorveth's path
Iorveth and Geralt arrived to the city before the summit only to find out, that Philippa was arrested. They decided to find her and persuade her to lift the spell from Saskia. The witcher managed to discover, that she was kept in the dungeon under control of Redanian forces. The sorceress was interogated there by the Radenian king himself and he let her eyes to be gouged out. Blinded Philippa was discovered by the Witcher, who quickly defeated all the guards and than turned to the sorceress herself.

The Summit
During the summit, Saskia presented her proposal for the independent kingdom of Pontar Valley, and herself as its Queen. She was backed by king Henselt and the sorceress Síle. Eventually the summit consented and recognised both Saskia, and her realm. Not long after that, the summit was interupted by the entrance of the knights of the Flaming Rose, who served on the summit as an independent army to secure peacefull negotiations. It was revealed, that Síle, Philippa and other sorceresses from the secret group known as the Lodge of Sorceresses, were responsible for the recent assasinations of northern kings. Síle, understanding that she has no other way of escape, summoned Saskia in her true form.
 * Dragon screen2.jpg

Dragoness caused chaos and quickly recoverd her ally and flew with her away from the blaze. They were however followed by the witcher Geralt. Geralt eventually stood against the dragoness and after a long fight, he managed to mount her. Saesenthessis tried to throw away the witcher but to no avail. Geralt eventually managed to cause her to fall down and the dragoness crashed and impaled herself on a broken tree. Though surviving, she was severely injured and unable to fight any more. The witcher was then faced with a big decision: let the dragon live, kill her or lift the curse.

Roche's path
In this version, Geralt arrived to the Loc Muinne in company of Vernon Roche. He never discovered about Philippa nor have he met the Dragonslayer herself. That is, not until the summit itself in which Síle, after being exposed, summoned Saskia in her true form. Dragoness caused chaos and quickly recoverd her ally and flew with her away from the blaze. They were however followed by the witcher Geralt. Geralt eventually stood against the dragoness and after a long fight, he managed to mount her. Saesenthessis tried to throw away the witcher but to no avail. Geralt eventually managed to cause her to fall down and the dragoness crashed and impaled herself on a broken tree. Though survived, she was severely injured and unable to fight any more. The witcher was then faced with a big decision: let the dragon live or kill her.

The Third War
After the events at Loc Muinne, Saskia returns to Vergen and reveals that she is a dragon. As expected, Vergen's residents have mixed feelings towards her. Many abandon the city and the others watch her actions closely.

Not fully recovered from Philippa Eilhart's spell, Saskia (while in dragon form) unintentionally kills a group of dwarfs during the first expedition against the Chelonodrake. Come morning, She, Once again in human form returns to Vergen and swears before all the inhabitants never again to transform into a dragon.

Three weeks later Saskia and Yarpen Zigrin talk to Geralt about the Chelonodrake and convince him to help them slay the monster, five days later she, Geralt, Eggar, Maevarienn and Yarpen create a plan to kill the monster.

Two days later the group accompanied by Barclay Els goes on the final expedition against the ''Chelonodrake. After defeating the monster, Saskia breaks her promise and transforms in to a dragon to get the heavily wounded Barclay to the dwarven medics fast, unfortunately it is already too late, she decides to leave Vergen.''

Some time later Saskia finds Geralt in a jungle and they have a chat around a campfire. Ultimately she decides to return to Vergen to help the residents fight off the incoming Nilfgaardian forces. It is implied that she never makes it out of Vergen alive.

During the beginning of the third of the Northern Wars, the Imperial army quickly conquered all the northern territories up to the Pontar river, including the Upper Aedirn. Saskia's independent realm thus did not live very long. She however retreated and, for the remainder of the war, stayed alive and well.

Trivia

 * In, Saesenthessis appears on a gwent card, as part of the Scoia'tael faction.
 * She revealed that she has taste in dwarves and prefers them.
 * Saskia of Aedirn is one of playable characters in MOBA "The Witcher Battle Arena" and has a lot of interesting weapons, skills and skins.
 * Saskia is featured in The Witcher: Matters of Conscience comic released with the Hearts of Stone expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on October 13th, 2015. Events are set between the second and the third game in 1271.