Witcher Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Witcher Wiki

Big Quote Left
I learned long ago only to rely on myself.
Big Quote Right
- Azar Javed, The Witcher

Azar Javed was a Zerrikanian alchemist and renegade sorcerer drawing Power from fire. Expelled from Ban Ard Academy, Javed went on to become an influential underworld figure leading the infamous Salamandra and its clandestine operations within the Northern Kingdoms.

After secretly allying with Grandmaster Jacques de Aldersberg, Javed ordered the storming of Kaer Morhen and stole the witcher mutagens. Having acquired them, he proceeded to create mutant soldiers for his benefactor. In the end, the Zerrikanian mage died in his second fight against Geralt of Rivia.

Biography[]

Rogue mage[]

Born in the lands of Zerrikania, Javed set off for the Northern Kingdoms at a young age to enter the prestigious Ban Ard Academy in Kaedwen. He used the services of the Vivaldi Bank to pay tuition. In Ban Ard, Javed strove to master the elemental powers of fire. Nevertheless he didn't finish the academy, his masters expelling him for an appalling interest in dark magic. This left the Zerrikanian as a renegade in foreign realms, though by this point he was already a formidable force.

In time, he would come to be the boss of his own criminal organization known as the Salamandra. The gang grew increasingly powerful in the underworld and Javed took in mage-rejects such as Savolla to continue their training.[1] Eventually, the Salamandra reached an understanding with Novigrad's Syndicate too.[2]

The Grand Plan[]

Stealing witcher secrets[]

Tw-screenshot-javed

Scouring through the Wolf School laboratory, the Salamandra boss found what he was looking for.

Ambitious to a fault, Javed was at one point contacted by the founding Grand Master of the Order of the Flaming Rose, Jacques de Aldersberg, who revealed to him his "Grand Plan" to take over the North. First of, they needed an invincible warriors. Fortunately for Javed and de Aldersberg, Berengar, at the time fed up with his life as a monster slayer, uncovered the potential of witcher mutagens and formulas to them. Berengar also told Salamandra of a secret path that led to Kaer Morhen.[1]

Not hesitating, the Zerrikanian mustered his forces, promising 50 oren reward to anyone who would manage to kill a witcher.[3] One day shortly before Belleteyn of 1270, Javed ordered the assault. The Salamandra boss let Savolla and his frightener lead the charge, wasting no time and going straight for the witchers' laboratory alongside his second-in-command, the Professor. Triss Merigold attempted to stop them, but severely underestimated Javed who knocked her out and proceeded unharmed.

Upon entering the spacious underground, Javed found a Circle of Elements from which he drew power. Thus strengthened, he created an impenetrable barrier between the laboratory and the rest of the undergrounds to keep anyone from interrupting his search for witchers' secrets. Two of the School of the Wolf witchers, Geralt of Rivia and Leo, caught up with Javed and the Professor. Javed, having found what he came for, teleported away and left the portal open long enough for the Professor to follow.[1]

Operating from Vizima[]

After returning to Vizima, Javed used his extensive knowledge of mutation and alchemy to begin experiments, setting up his laboratory in the catacombs beneath the Old Manor. His ultimate goal was to create warriors who would posses extraordinary strength, endurance, agility and regeneration while at the same time being unquestioningly obedient to the Order of the Flaming Rose. When the Professor ended up in the dungeon, Javed had him bailed out. Later, Azar noticed that Geralt started working with detective Raymond Maarloeve which he already had history with, so he sent some assassins to scare Raymond and get him to hide for a while, sometime after that he killed the detective and used powerful illusion to assume Raymond's identity.

Cutscene Azar Prof 3

Javed underestimated the White Wolf in the swamps near Vizima.

Disguised, he persuaded Geralt to go into the swamp outside the city and find a way to open the mage's tower there. When he had the witcher away, Javed tried to either get Kalkstein and Ramsmeat on Salamandra's side or remove any obstacle they could pose to his plans. Ramsmeat, however, survived the attackers Javed sent to slice his throat. During the briefings false Raymond had with Geralt, the Salamandra boss didn't much bother with keeping his disguise as Maarloeve outside the superficial appearance. Not only did he ask for payment, he kept a box of fisstech in his room, both of which the detective wouldn't. Satisfied with information gathered via investigation, Javed gave the witcher the last Sephirot needed to open the tower before they went to visit it.

If Geralt figured out the ruse: After Geralt exited the tower, Javed, still disguised as the detective, moved in for a surprise attack but Geralt revealed he knew the real Raymond had been killed and was therefore talking to Javed.
If Geralt didn't figure out the ruse: After Geralt exited the tower, Javed attacked, revealing to the witcher he had killed the detective earlier and taken his place.

The two then start to fight but since it was in the swamps where the damp environment weakened his fire powers, Javed called on the Professor for help and summoned two genies of fire, ifrits. They then jointly fought the witcher until the Professor managed to poison Geralt with manticore venom. After that, the mage and the assassin teleported away.

Much to Javed's chagrin, Triss Marigold nursed Geralt back to health and the witcher returned to his goal, destroying the Salamandra hideout in the sewers. Meanwhile, the Zerrikanian used the absence of King Foltest to seal a deal with ambitious Adda the White. Through her, Salamandra passed fake edicts in exchange for promise of assistance should the princess decide to dethrone her father. Javed tried to convince Radovid V of Redania to join the conspiracy as well, finance Salamandra, but that failed.

When Geralt located the underground Salamandra base, Javed came face to face with him again. Saying that last time he underestimated the witcher he ordered the Professor to deal with it and fled once more. Afterwards he returned to his work on mutations to provide the Grand Master with the army requested.[1]

Last fight[]

Cutscene spared Berengar 2

The sorcerer chose to not flee again and fight the witcher for third and a last time.

Javed ultimately took to hiding out at the main hide out at the Old Manor but the witcher soon tracked him down. Using mutant assassins and mutated Rayla to get rid of Geralt, Javed himself mostly waited down in his laboratory. When Geralt slashed through that first obstacle, Javed sicced his koshchey on the witcher.

That too, however, didn't stop the proficient monster slayer and so Javed finally sent in several massive greater brothers. Ultimately, though, Geralt got to him and the final confrontation ensued, leading to Azar Javed's death.[1]

Legacy[]

The word of Salamandra's fall and Javed's demise got around during the year that followed.[4] Two remnants of his criminal guild, led by Dmitri and Vencel Pugg, operating far from the center of events in Flotsam, kept on for some time but had little to no significance.[5]

Personality and appearance[]

People Azar Javed

The Zerrikanian was proud of his creations.

Big Quote Left
Salamandra is not evil. Not more than those with the will to shape their own fate!
If Salamandra is not evil incarnate, then what of Javed? Amorality, rape, murder, treason... What would you call this creature?
The future. Evolution or destiny...
Big Quote Right
- Javed conveying his philosophy to Geralt, The Witcher

Azar Javed was a bald, swarthy Zerrikanian with a black beard and sinister gaze. He adorned his body with complex piercings and leather strap accessories, especially face and neck, as was the custom in his native land.[6] His look was completed by a leather jerkin full of chains and amulets hanging around and a pair of pointed shoes.

As a person, Javed was a thoroughly ruthless man with a peculiar sense of morality who considered murder, rape, treason, and extortion all as means to an end. He liked to enjoy pleasures life had to offer, and so he let his lust go unchecked and took large doses of purest fisstech. Ramsmeat described him as a wild man.[1] Furthermore, the Zerrikanian's connection with fire run so deep some said it had become a part of his very being.[2] True or not, Javed did have a pyromaniac fetish that scared the Viziman prostitutes. When it came to politics, Javed detested Foltest for the rampage caused by the striga in the past, as well as for the king's attempt at a truce with the Nilfgaardian Empire during the Second Northern War, which the mage viewed as a betrayal of the North.[1]

Journal entry[]

Mysterious Mage

The mage attacked Kaer Morhen in order to steal the witchers' secrets hidden in the fortress.
One of the leaders of the forces that attacked Kaer Morhen was a mage so powerful that even Triss Merigold could not oppose him. The organization that he leads uses the symbol of the salamander.
The mysterious mage using the salamander symbol is a skilled alchemist who is researching mutation.

Azar Javed

The mysterious mage is Azar Javed - an exotic name suggesting that he comes from a distant place.
The mage is in hiding, yet his influence extends over the whole of Vizima and possibly beyond.
The man I'm looking for is addicted to fisstech. He takes large amounts of the drug in its purest form.
My adversary is a renegade mage. This means that, for some reason, he was expelled from the wizards' circle. In the past, renegade mages performed the witchers' mutations.
Even powerful men have their weaknesses - Azar likes to bask in luxury.
Women are another weakness of this wizard, and his lust is equal to his appetite for magical power.
Azar Javed specializes in the element of fire. Not only does the mage use fire magic with great expertise, it seems that fire has become a part of his being.
I have learned that Azar Javed has political ambitions, which is quite typical of wizards.
The illusion is gone. It turned out that Azar Javed, the Salamandra leader, has been deceiving me by pretending to be detective Raymond.
If Javed is not unveiled until the tower confrontation:
I didn't unmask him in time and he was able to outsmart me.
If Javed is unveiled before the tower confrontation:
Luckily I managed to see through the ruse and outsmart him.
During the fight with the Professor, the mage came to his companion's rescue. This time he was unable to stop me, and I forced him to flee.
According to the Professor's notes, Azar Javed is in Salamandra's hidden laboratory, where he is working to put the secrets of Kaer Morhen to use.
Azar Javed died by my hand after the duel in the Salamandra laboratory.

Trivia[]

  • In Persian, Âzar Jâvêd means the "Eternal Fire". As The Witcher's lead story designer Artur Ganszyniec confirmed, this was deliberate and connects to the Zerrikanian's mastery of fire.[7]
  • Originally, Rience was supposed to be the sorcerer-antagonist of The Witcher. The developers even planned, at one point, to have Rience resurrected through cloning from his fingers that Ciri severed before he drowned. In subsequent versions of the script, the idea was abandoned in favor of creating the original character of Azar Javed.[8]

Gallery[]

References[]

Advertisement