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We pass through life alone... better get used to it. |  | |
| - Gwent: The Witcher Card Game Audio version: | |||
Arnaghad was a witcher from the Order of Witchers and the founder of the School of the Bear.
Biography[]
Arnaghad was a towering figure, both in stature and presence, hailing from the depths of Gemmera. He was known for always wearing a battered bearskin cloak. Despite commanding the respect of many of his fellow witchers, Arnaghad never felt the same sense of kinship that bound the others together. This alienation became starkly apparent when he attacked Rhys, another witcher.
The incident began when Rhys negotiated a price for slaying a chort that had been terrorizing a highland village in Kaedwen. Arnaghad also arrived in the village, intent on hunting the chort and claiming the reward. When he discovered that another witcher had already taken the contract, Arnaghad's anger flared. He tracked down Rhys in the forest and viciously attacked him, cutting him from shoulder to waist. Rhys narrowly escaped by luring the chort towards Arnaghad, forcing him to fight the monster and allowing Rhys to flee to Morgraig, the Order's keep.
Knowing that the other witchers would seek to punish him for his transgression, Arnaghad arrived at Morgraig with a group of loyal followers. The confrontation quickly escalated into a battle. During the fight, Arnaghad struck fellow witcher Erland of Larvik, wounding him severely across the face. Although the Order ultimately won the battle, it suffered heavy losses. Arnaghad and the surviving members of his posse fled to the Amell mountains, where he established the School of the Bear. There, they crafted bear-shaped medallions to symbolize their new path.
Years later, Arnaghad was nearly killed in a cruel betrayal that led to the formation of the School of the Viper.[1]
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game[]
- Scroll 1: Arnaghad, some would say, was born stubborn. Insolent toward those in authority, he loathed anyone who tried to impose their will upon him, favouring autonomy above all else. This, in large, was the bedrock of why he went on to form his very own witcher school.
- Scroll 2: While other witchers saw in themselves a duty—a purpose that transcended mere necessity—Arnaghad perceived their work as nothing more than that: work. A witcher was to take contracts, kill monsters, and collect coin—anything else, he would argue, was just inflated nonsense to feed the ego.
- Scroll 3: Not wanting to be a slave to a code he did not believe in, he gathered a handful of likeminded witchers and ventured to the Amell mountains, settling into a fortress amid the icy slopes and established the Bear School; a place where would-be witchers could be taught the practicalities of their trade, without the distraction of "honourable virtues" impeding their training.
- Scroll 4: Ironically, it was the fundamentals of Arnaghad's school that ultimately led to its dereliction. For the Bear witchers, without sentiment or brotherly comradery to bind them, eventually went their separate ways, seeing no practical reason to stay loyal to each other or the master of their school.