Vidar Holgersson was a Skelligan adept of magic in the second half of the 13th century.
Biography[]
Studying at Ban Ard[]
The casting contest
During his third year at Ban Ard Academy, Holgersson attended a lecture by the then-occasional guest orator at the academy, the sorcerer Dorregaray. The lecture concerned the events Dorregaray witnessed in the Kestrel Mountains a couple of years prior, when Yennefer of Vengerberg displayed a previously unprecedented ability to cast a spell using her foot.
During one night of Belleteyn celebrations, Holgersson and two of his fellow students, Hoster Wythcliff and Cammle Torrel the Younger, were inspired by Dorregaray's story and contested one another to attempt to replicate the effect. The combination of said contest with some alcohol they had managed to smuggle into the school's dormitory quickly escalated into increasingly obscene revelry.
The trio ended up causing a scandal at the Three Spruces inn in the city during their attempts to recreate Yennefer's feat, undressed and not using their hands. When they were subsequently arrested by the Ban Ard city guard, the students claimed they did it all "in the name of progress and the further development of magic". Their actions led to a multitude of complaints against the academy, and even the involvement of the city's burgomaster, who also happened to be Wythcliff's uncle.[1]
Apprenticeship[]
At the age of 22, Holgersson continued to develop his skills in Hengfors under the watchful eye of its resident mage, Tadrus Hen Lohsa. His ambition was to learn enough to pass the academy's exam for a master. Still being the rowdy man, Holgersson liked to amuse himself and impress others when his master wasn't looking.[2]
Legacy[]
An anecdote became popular among the students soon after the whole charade with foot-casting, according to which the contemporaneous rector, Hen Gedymdeith, wanted to know if they had any success without as much as mentioning punishment.[1] Holgersson and his two comrades wouldn't be the last students to try it but it'd repeatedly end in fiasco.[3]
Personality and Appearance[]
A skinny, freckled Skelliger, Holgersson sported a mane with natural fiery color that has been already cut by dark ashen and black-brown strands from his reckless use of the elemental power of Earth. Always mischievous, he avoided pranks when master Hen Lohsa was around but in the company of beautiful ladies and handsome young men, he tended to show off.[2]