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My, what a fascinatin' contradiction! The vessel is of no import. Ye simply sever the breath of beings which do not merit yer sympathy. Drowners, fiends, noonwraiths, even foglets and leshens - not worthy of it, are they? |  | |
| - Colm to Geralt, pg. 9 Wild Animals (Issue 2) | |||
Colm Coimeádaí was the leader of a guerrilla force in the forests of Ekerot's isle that fought for animal and monster rights sometime during the 13th century. He was highly skilled in unarmed combat, despite missing his right arm.[1]
Biography[]
Born to a fisherman from an unknown place, Colm's father and mother, while she was pregnant with him, set off on his father's boat for a better life. The winds blew them to an island somewhere in the North Sea, and for several nights they had peace. This ended, however, when Colm's father was killed by wolves while hunting, and his mother dying weeks later during childbirth, leaving the newborn Colm alone in the wilderness. Animals, or monsters according to some, took him in and raised him as their own. Slowly he found an abandoned fort and began gaining followers from nearby villagers, men and women similarly minded with their care for animal rights.
After not long this mindset started to become violent and two-sided, Colm's men captured the local man Strandmark's milkmaid wife and cut her breasts off (as she would cut the cow's udders off after they were finished producing), shod a blacksmith's feet like a horse until he bled to death, drowned the fisherman Thulin (as he would cut off the fins and tails of the fish and release them out of cruelty), beheaded the henkeeper Pavlo (as he was cutting off his hen's feathers to cram more into their coop), and let wolves in to eat the tanner Inga in her home.
Around a week later, Colm and his warriors observed a local woman Ingma and her daughter Berit torturing elderly wolves, and later killing a group while rescuing the witcher Geralt of Rivia, who impressed Colm with his attempt to prevent the creature's deaths. The guerrilla leader ordered his men to kill the mother and capture the daughter and Geralt, before returning to their settlement. Not long after returning, Geralt was brought to him and the two walked through the forest, discussing the moralities of killing a human versus an animal. After a short while, they came across a pack of drowners, and Geralt, instinctively from years of killing them, drew his sword. Colm though quickly calmed the witcher, explaining they were safe if they continued without fear, which worked and they returned to the settlement. There, the two ate lunch and Colm urged Geralt to help him kill the local Jarl Ekerot who was torturing drowners, though Geralt refused on moral grounds. In response, Colm had Berit brought out and used as blackmail to convince the witcher to agree to the deal.
Soon later, after Geralt returned to the forest with one of Colm's men who had been captive in Ekerot's keep, the guerrilla leader shot the last of the jarl's guards and explained the deaths of the recent locals for their "crimes". As he pushed his moralities to urge Geralt to help them kill Ekerot, the witcher stated he wasn't comfortable with making that decision while Berit was a prisoner, so Colm let her go and the two left.
That evening, Colm and his warriors arrived at Ekerot's keep, and the guerrilla leader decided to go in alone. After getting in through an open window, Colm came across Berit and several of Ekerot's guards who charged him. Eventually, after killing them all unarmed, including Berit, he was snuck up on by Ekerot, who stabbed him in the back with a dagger. As the jarl dragged Colm by his hair, he stated the man would be fed to the pigs and went to slit his throat, before being knocked out by Geralt. Colm told the witcher he would kill Ekerot for his cruelty, though in reality, it had been the jarl's son torturing and killing the drowners, so Geralt told him to stay his blade. Before they could leave, however, Ekerot's wife came in, exhausted from years of her son's psychopathic tendencies and so she offered to lead Colm to him. As Coimeádaí went to follow her, the witcher stopped him explaining the kid was just disturbed and not worthy of killing. This sparked a fight between the two men, and Colm's death when Geralt ran him through with his sword.[1]
Trivia[]
- In Irish Gaelic, coimeádaí means "keeper, custodian, or curator", reflecting Colm's role as a guardian of the isle's wild life.