Ivo of Belhaven

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Ivo of Belhaven

Ivo of Belhaven was a witcher from the School of the Bear, active in the 13th century.

Biography

Ivo was born in Belhaven, and through unknown means, was taken to Haern Caduch to train as a witcher. He fought with his fellow students, leading to beatings and defeats in training. After much training, he became an impressively agile and lethal witcher, taking on the monicker "of Belhaven".

After his training he left the school, and avoided other Bear School witchers, remaining indifferent about the news of Haern Caduch being sacked by peasants. After a while, he ran into the witcher Junod of Belhaven, who despite the monicker, wasn't actually born there.

Meeting Meve

In 1267, during the Second Northern War, he was hired by the Nilfgaardian Empire to kill Gernichora in Ysgith. Unfortunately he underestimated her and was severely hurt while fighting off monsters send out by her. He joined forces with Meve and her army, together they have managed to obviate the danger. After the fight Meve offered Ivo a place in her army but he refused stating that he is devoid of emotion, not reason.

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Season of the Bear: Ivo of Belhaven reward tree

This event allows to unlock the lore on Ivo and his avatar.

Scroll 1: It is said that all the witchers from the Bear School are huge, broad-shouldered and bearded fellows. Ivo of Belhaven, however, did not quite fit this pattern. While he did have a beard, his posture and agility made him more fit to be a Cat or a Viper. Ironically, this made his character perfectly fit to his school...

Scroll 2: Bears are loners, known for their aversion to the company of other witchers, and Ivo excelled in this field. This originated during his training in Haern Caduch. He did not like other students, to put it mildly. One could even say that it was hate at first sight. This cost Ivo... Many wounds, much pain, and a lot of lost blood. Stronger partners did not show him mercy during training. Yet the fight was always matched and Iwo would always pay them back in their own coin. Blood for blood.

Scroll 3: The paths of new Bears parted once their training was finished. Later, they would avoid each other as much as possible. Ivo was no different. He remained indifferent to the news about the fate of the others, and did not show any interest, even when the angry mob banished witchers from Haern Caduch. This had nothing to do with anger or animosity, the mutations successfully neutralized such pointless feelings in him. He just did not care how others did.
What counted was that he would get by.

Scroll 4: Of course, from time to time, Ivo would run into another witcher.
One such encounter was quite memorable. He met a Bear he knew from the school. His name was Junod, and just like Ivo, he assumed the moniker 'of Belhaven'. However, unlike Ivo, he did not come from Belhaven. When asked, about the choice, he replied with refreshing candor, that he just liked the sound of the name – and, since he did not expect the smaller Bear to live very long, he did not have any qualms to steal his moniker.
Ironically, a couple of years later Ivo heard about Junod's death. And he felt...
Nothing, actually.

Season of the Bear reward tree

The following lore node from the event tree refers to Ivo:

Chest 1: Queen Meve of Lyria and Rivia once encountered a witcher from the School of the Bear. His name was Ivo. His dark complexion suggested he originally hailed from the warm climate of the Continent's southern regions. Whereas, the bluntness with which he responded to the queen's questions suggested he rarely conversed with heads of state...

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