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Triss Merigold was a Temerian sorceress who enlisted in the help of Geralt of Rivia to cure the princess of Temeria.
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Biography[]
Studying at Aretuza showed Triss her talent for botany and healing. She had a deep knowledge of all the plants on the continent, using she them to create potions and ointments for the sick.
Saving the princess[]
When a creature terrorized Temeria for years and King Foltest didn't care to do something, Triss Merigold was sent in so she could get to the bottom of it. Some citizens had instead hired a witcher, Remus, to take care of the matter, but he was killed in the process. Triss discovered this and covered up his death, believing it could cause fear among the population or even riots, if it were known that not even a witcher was a match for the creature.
Triss Merigold sought out the help of Geralt of Rivia, a renowned witcher. She served King Foltest, but was acting under her own agenda to keep the nations stabilized. Rather than kill the beast, she wanted Geralt's help in saving it.
Six years ago, stable hands started vanishing at the castle above the city. Before long, citizens started disappearing throughout all of Temeria. They soon realized that the creature was coming from the crypt within the castle, where the king's sister Adda, had been buried. Rumor has it that she was having an affair with a young man in town when she died and that she was with child, making her child sole heir to the Temerian empire. The king fled the castle ignoring the rising death toll, and 3 months ago, Triss was sent to heal the creature, also fearing that Temeria would overthrow their king.
In order to determine what exactly they're faced against, she takes him to the tomb to examine the corpses of the victims of the creature. He examines Remus' corpse and comes to the conclusion that she covered up his death to hide the fact that the creature bested a witcher. Upon further examination, Geralt discovers that Remus is missing both his heart and liver. Only a striga's eating habits are that selective. They're very rare and can only be created through a curse, meaning someone wanted Adda dead. However, the curse didn't stop with Adda, and it turned her daughter into a monster, meaning the striga is the Princess of Temeria.
Triss Merigold takes Geralt to see King Foltest, Lord Ostrit, and Captain Segelin, with whom she pleads to enlist in Geralt's help. However, Segelin is skeptical of Geralt's claims that Princess Adda was murdered. Triss hopes that the king will allow her to search the abandoned castle for clues as to who killed Adda, however, Segelin fears that Geralt will kill the princess. Geralt explains that the creature grew inside of Adda, feeding on her womb and mutating, growing for years until she got so hungry that she was forced to "slither out," essentially an "overgrown abortion." This incenses the king, who orders everyone to leave. This causes Geralt to locks himself in with the king to take advantage of asking him who the father of the striga is. The guards broke down the door and Foltest ordered Geralt to leave Temeria.
Disregarding the king's orders, Triss and Geralt hide outside the abandoned castle and crypt. She asks if he's going to kill the striga, to which Geralt replies that he doesn't want the miners' coins. He and Triss proceed to sneak into the castle. Geralt reveals his theory that the father is Foltest. Triss asks if it was he who cursed Adda, which Geralt admits is possible. In Adda's bedroom, Triss discovers letters from the former queen of Temeria. The letter details that Queen Sancia knew of her children's incestuous relationship and urged them to end their affair. They take this discovery to Ostrit under the suspicion that the queen mother cursed her children. Ostrit claims that he was Adda's confidant and protector. He believes that Foltest raped Adda and cursed the child to cover it up. However, according to Geralt, Ostrit's scent was all over Adda's sheets. Old ones and new ones. He smelled what Ostrit was doing in there. With that, Ostrit confesses to being Adda's lover and placing the curse on her, albeit unintentionally. This surprised Triss that Ostrit cursed the woman he loved, blaming him for his jealousy abd the countless deaths. She questioned why he didn't just expose their affair, and Ostrit pointed out it would have hurt Adda. Geralt asks how to lift the curse, but Ostrit refuses to tell him, as he wants to see Foltest punished for defiling Adda. In response, Geralt simply knocks him out with a single punch.
Triss uses this information to convince the king into accepting Geralt's help. That night, Geralt enters the castle and the striga awakens. This results in an overnight battle between the two, ending with Geralt lifting the curse. However, in his attempt to help the young girl, she turns around and slices his throat with her claws. He bites her neck to get her off of him and passes out from blood loss.
Geralt awakens shortly after being healed by Triss. She informs him that the princess is fine and arranged for her to stay with Melitele's sisters, and that King Foltest issued a statement that Lord Ostrit gave his life defeating the creature. The miners are even building a statue in his honor. Triss asks about Renfri, whose name Geralt uttered repeatedly while sleep. He doesn't reply, simply asking for his money. She asks if all life is to him is monsters and money, and he claims that it is. She doesn't believe that, and claims that there is a "vortex of fate" around each of them, drawing their destiny closer with each decision they make. Triss hands him his money and returns the gift he left for the princess.[1]
Conclave of northern mages[]
Triss Merigold was one of many mages who attended the conclave of Northern mages in Aretuza. Artorius, Stregobor, and Tissaia led the conclave. Artorius and Stregobor had no desire to go to war with Nilfgaard. Especially not for Cintra, who rejected their mages for decades. Rather than watching them fall, Tissaia wanted to help Cintra defeat Nilfgaard. Sabrina, Vilgefortz, and Vanielle sided with Tissaia, wanting to convince the kings to send their armies because if they didn't stop Nilfgaard now, more kingdoms would fall.
Fringilla arrived at the conclave and denounced any suspicion that Nilfgaard was planning to take over the continent. Under their new leader, Emperor Emhyr, Nilfgaard had strengthened trade and funded research. Tissaia accused Fringilla of rejecting the order and way of life that took centuries to build. Fringilla retorted that they simply modified it. They've taken a new path, guided by the White Flame. When Triss claimed that Nilfgaard also forced mages into servitude and practice black magic, Fringilla responded that they believed in shared sacrifice and that there was no such thing as dark or light magic. Fringilla believed that in taking Cintra, they had a chance of saving the continent. The mages put it to a vote. Unfortunately, most side with Stregobor and Artorius to allow Cintra to fend for themselves.[2]
Battle of Sodden Hill[]
Approximately 60 mages, Triss, Yennefer, Tissaia, Vilgefortz, Vanielle, Coral, and Sabrina included, board a ship headed for Sodden Hill. They must get to the Elven keep that guarded it before Nilfgaard did. They had already sent word to the Northern kingdoms. Temeria and Kaedwen agreed to join them in defending the land. The plan was to protect the keep. Triss, Yennefer, Tissaia, Vilgefortz, Vanielle, Coral, and Sabrina arrived at the keep. The only thing separating Nilfgaard from the North. They were greeted by a man. Yennefer advised him to take the children and hide, but as he explained, there was no more hiding from Nilfgaard. Their only chance was to fight.
Yennefer recalled Triss spending time in Temeria and asked if she truly believed that King Foltest would bring the Northern armies. Triss trusted that he would come through after she and Geralt helped save his daughter, who was cursed as a striga.
The keep was attacked by Fringilla and Nilfgaard in the late hours of the night. The sun had risen and the Northern mages made it through the night. Unfortunately, Nilfgaard arrived much sooner than they anticipated and the Northern armies were still a ways out. There were only 22 of them left, Triss, Yennefer, Tissaia, Vilgefortz, Vanielle, Coral, Atlan Kerk, and Sabrina included. They witnessed as a thick fog consumed the mountains around them, signaling Nilfgaard's encroachment. Tissaia ordered Sabrina to take the villagers to the artillery room while she and Triss head down. Yennefer was instructed to keep watch on the tower and reserve her chaos.
Tissaia guided Triss to an open field, where she proceeded to make mushrooms grow out the ground that when inhaled, its gases caused the Nilfgaardians to die. She then barricaded the front gate with vines to prevent Nilfgaard from penetrating. While protecting the gate from the Nilfgaard army, Triss was burned in the chest by a fire torch, which also allowed for Nilfgaard to burn through her vines forged around the door.[3]
Battle scars[]
Triss was left badly wounded and burned from the Battle of Sodden Hill. She was taken back to Aretuza, where her condition worsened, and she began to have a seizure until Tissaia, Vilgefortz, and Artorius intervened and managed to stabilize her.[4]
Triss, Sabrina and Murta joined Yennefer by the pool following her return to Aretuza. However, Triss wasn't comfortable showing her burn wounds yet and remained by the poolside, where she recalled the Battle at Sodden and how when she was on the ground screaming, and Yennefer walked by her, she remembered thinking that if only one of them got to live, she was glad it was Yennefer, who offered to find a cure for Triss' scares, but she didn't appear too concerned, telling Yennefer, "What's lost is lost." She was just thankful not to be on Tissaia's plaque.[5]
Training Ciri[]
Triss traveled to Kaer Morhen at Geralt's request to help Ciri gain a better control of her magic. However, doing so would prove difficult, as according to Geralt, Ciri hadn't exhibited any typical indicators of Chaos. She only seemed to have the power of foresight, as well as a pull that led them to a Leshy, leading Geralt to suspect that the creatures could've been sent by a mage to come after Ciri. Theoretically, Triss says it's possible, but it's also been illgeal creating monsters for centuries. She decided to performed a test to determine any signs of mutagen alchemy, but the results wouldn't be available until morning. With scars and immensely traumatized by the events of the battle, Triss sought solace. After realizing Geralt's emotional vulnerability towards Yennefer, whom he believes dead on Sodden and does not know is alive, Triss attempted to find a connection with him and proposed to stay with her tonight, but was rejected.
The next day, Triss noticed how Ciri was wearing the flower she had given her at their first meeting, saying that she looks beautiful. But when Lambert and Coën made fun of Ciri for trying to look pretty, this prompted Triss to defend her and scolded the two witchers. Triss then took Ciri to the laboratory to check the results. While there was no evidence of mutagenic alchemy in the monster Geralt killed, Triss did uncover stellacite from a monolith. Inside the leshy that turned Eskel, they uncover more stellacite, suggesting they came from the same monolith. It was then that Ciri revealed that when Nilfgaard attacked Cintra, she screamed and caused a monolith to topple, which Geralt decided to investigate for himself.
Triss handed Geralt his elixirs as he prepared to leave and investigate the destroyed monolith outside of Cintra. Regarding the night before, Geralt explained that he couldn't give her what she wanted or deserved, but for Triss, he was all that she was looking for last night. His pain excited her because she finally felt something again. Most of them were cured after the battle, but all wounds could not be healed, like her burns. Geralt hoped that in her search to feel again, she'd find her value to him, as she was important to him. Triss then portalled Geralt to Istredd, who was an expert on monoliths. Later, she discovered from Vesemir an ancient flower known as Feainnewedd. He revealed found at the training ground where Ciri bled. Triss dis not understan how Vesemir had found Feainnewedd, since that can only flourish where Elder Blood, long believed to be extinct, is spilled.[6]
Perfoming Dol Durza[]
Upon Ciri's consent and learning from Vesemir that Ciri had Elder blood, the primary component in creating more witchers, she assisted in creating a new batch of witcher mutagen. However, it wasn't until the mutagen was complete that Triss discovered Ciri's plan to become the first of the new witchers.
Triss confronted her about her decision to become a witcher and in an attempt to convince Ciri out of taking the mutagen, Triss proposed a different method to find out where Ciri's power came from by performing a Dol Durza, which roughly translated to Valley of the Soul, which allowed them to enter the deepest layer of Ciri's consciousness and uncover things that may be hidden, like genetic memories. They not only walked through Ciri's memories, but those of her mother and grandmother's as well. However, Triss realized that the Dol Durza wasn't functioning properly, but the breaking point wasn't until Triss was nearly killed by Lara Dorren, who referred to Ciri as the "Child of Elder blood and Child of Wrath," and claimed that she would bring death to the world. Triss and Ciri regained consciousness, and Triss cowers in the corner, terrified by the death and horror prophesized.[7]
Confiding in Tissaia[]
Triss and Vesemir both felt foolish for ever thinking that they could tame Ciri. Whatever was running through her veins and whatever they made from it was more dangerous than they knew. As if on cue, Rience invaded the den, attacked them both, and fled with the witcher mutagen made from Ciri's blood. Triss and the witchers have a heated moment over what happened. Them asked what one of her own was doing in Kaer Morhen and what that mage had wanted with Vesemir, but Triss clarifies that guy is not a member of the Brotherhood. After discovering that the fire mage stole the mutagen, Triss returned to Aretuza, where she revealed to Tissaia, who she trusted above anyone else, that a drop of Ciri's blood could change the world. And in the wrong hands, she would destroy it.[8]
Triss learned from Tissaia that she saw Ciri at Sodden with Geralt, but Tissaia didn't know who she was at the time and that they had come looking for Yennefer, because they thought she was dead. Tissaia then asked who else knew about what Triss saw when she performed the Dol Durza on Ciri. No one outside of they and the other witchers, Triss revealed. Before they could continue, Vilgefortz interrupted they. She realized Tissaia told Vilgefortz everything. Triss viewed this as a betrayal and exited without saying another word.[9]
The disappearance of novices[]
Triss left her position as advisor and decided to remain in Aretuza to train a new students as teacher, despite her disagreements with Tissaia. But when there is trouble between tensions between Kaedwen and Temeria, this forces the Rectoress to invite Triss to return to King Foltest's court. When Triss refuses, Tissaia implies that she is teaching the girls not for altruistic reasons, but out of guilt for having failed Ciri. Annoyed that the Rectoress is partly right, Triss was gone to the room of a novice and there discovered traces of blood. This worried Triss and even more so when she realizes that novices are recently disappearing novices in Aretuza.
Later, Triss was among the meeting called by Yennefer, to hold a Conclave of Mages and unite the continent against the invasion of Nilfgaard, and Triss was among those who supported her. As the invitations were being sent, she interrupted the conversation between Tissaia and Yennefer, informing to Tissaia about another novice disappearance, Elizabet, but Tissaia simply ignored her concern, and instead replies that she sent all the novices to Loxia. After, Yennefer tells Triss that Geralt will bring Ciri to Aretuza and thanks she for helping her at Kaer Morhen.
Triss goes to the library, where she meet with Istredd. She explains her fears about the novices who are still missing, and even sees on a list that they are all elven blood. In response to her suggestion that they might have been kidnapped, Istredd told about the Book of Monoliths, which he has been researching and searching for, which is the key to traveling between spheres, but it turned out that someone from Aretuza had already found it. He believes that whoever has the book intends to use it to eliminate the elves. It does not rule out that the kidnapper of the novices and the owner of the book could be the same person.
Later, after discovering that Yennefer was attacked in the portal, Triss was increasingly convinced that all the strange things that have been happening lately are related. Triss hinted that Yennefer should be careful who she trusts and that taking Ciri to Aretuza is not a good idea. While healing the wound Yennefer received during the attack, discovered stelacite dust on her friend's face, which she told Istredd about. Assuming that there may be stelacite dust particles in the Book of Monoliths, them decide to use a locator spell that points them to a safe in Stregobor's office, leading them to realize that Stregobor is the one behind it all.
At Aretuza's party, Triss and Istredd tell Geralt and Yennefer everything. The four manage to expose Stregobor, in whose safe them discovered not only the book, but also a list of the disappeared novices as well as their belongings.
The Fall of Aretuza[]
However, fighting soon breaks out between the mages owing to some, including Vilgefortz, who was truly responsible, having secretly backed Nilfgaard, who tasked them to help take out the Northern mages. Triss managed to avoid being arrested by hiding under the caverns of Aretuza, where she saved Yennefer from Lydia van Bredevoort. She then goes in search of Tissaia. Along the way, Triss meets Istredd and Marti Södergren, with whom she bursts onto the battlefield. They find Gerhart, who has suffered a heart attack, and try to help him. A devastated Tissaia appears in the hallway and declares that it is too late to try anything. When Triss tries to convince her otherwise, an elven arrow pierces Triss' shoulder. Istredd leaves her in Marti's care and goes to recover the Book of Monoliths, fearing that it will fall into the hands of Vilgefortz, but ends up being trapped and taken as a prisoner by Vilgefortz himself.
When Yennefer returns to Aretuza, she asks Triss to find Geralt. While Triss manages to find the witcher, she sees he's crippled and barely alive after a fight with Vilgefortz. Knowing only the dryads of Brokilon forest can heal such wounds, she takes him there to be treated.
Later, along with Yennefer, Sabrina, Margarita, Keira and Tissaia, head to Vuilpanne, where they hope to find traces of Ciri and Vilgefortz, who disappeared without a trace. There they found the bodies of the missing novices that Vilgefortz had carried out terrible experiments on. Triss insisted that they must pay their respects and give they a proper burial. Yennefer supported her proposal and they returned to Aretuza, where they held a funeral ceremony for the girls.
Afterwards, Tissaia took her own life, Yennefer took on the role of leader and Triss joined the others in the training class. Now in the hands of the most dangerous mage in the world is the most powerful source of power on the Continent. The Brotherhood is gone, and only they can resist Vilgefortz. Yennefer, Triss, Sabrina, Keira, and Margarita lay the foundations of the organization that would become known as the Lodge of Sorceresses.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Season 1, Episode 03: Betrayer Moon
- ↑ Season 1, Episode 07: Before a Fall
- ↑ Season 1, Episode 08: Much More
- ↑ Season 2, Episode 01: A Grain of Truth
- ↑ Season 2, Episode 03: What Is Lost
- ↑ Season 2, Episode 04: Redanian Intelligence
- ↑ Season 2, Episode 05: Turn Your Back
- ↑ Season 2, Episode 06: Dear Friend...
- ↑ Season 2, Episode 07: Voleth Meir