Before You Play The Witcher 3, Reintroduce Yourself To These Important Characters

Next week The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launches. We've already posted our review, but we're hardly done talking about the game. Today's feature is to provide you a refresher and give new players some context behind these familiar faces. We're not listing every single character that comes back, but these are the most important ones figuring into The Witcher 3's narrative and quests.

Triss
A talented sorceress, Triss helped Geralt when he was at his most vulnerable - trying to recapture his memories. For that, Geralt will always be grateful to her. The two have a great friendship, but during Geralt's amnesia, romantic feelings arose between the two. Yennefer has always been presented as the love of his life, but Triss has also captured a piece of his heart. This complicated things when Geralt finally regained his memories in The Witcher II, especially since both Triss and Yennefer are friends. Triss doesn't exactly have the amnesia excuse Geralt has, so that muddles Yennefer's relationship with both further. You can finally make a choice about where your relationship with Triss goes in The Witcher 3; she's had a hard time dealing with her feelings for Geralt. Triss is fiery, determined, and powerful.

Yennefer
Geralt had a 20-year relationship with another sorceress, Yennefer. She knows him better than anyone, but the relationship hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. Just when things were looking on-track for the two, Yennefer was captured by The Wild Hunt. It was on Geralt's mission to save her that he lost his memories. Geralt reunites with Yennefer in The Witcher 3, but she's not exactly pleased with Geralt's romantic tryst with Triss. Yennefer is sassy and can be self-involved, but she's one of the few who put Geralt in his place. She also is like a mother to Ciri, since both she and Geralt helped raise her.

Vesemir
Vesemir is the oldest living member of the witcher school, so he's got plenty of wisdom and lessons to teach. He's the man who just won't retire. Vesemir trained Geralt in his witcher ways, and did the same for Ciri. He's a by-the-book type who has high expectations for all his students.  A mentor at heart, Vesemir has become a father figure to many witchers, earning respect and love through the years.

Dandelion
Ah, Dandelion, the master poet and exaggerator. This one-time professor and poetry scholar has earned great fame as a minstrel, but Dandelion's greatest talent is his ability to woo ladies. This artist-at-heart is one of Geralt's best mates. He also has a reputation as a sloppy drunk, and loves trying to drink Geralt and his friend Zoltan under the table. Dandelion is as loyal as they come to Geralt - he's even chronicled the witcher's adventures in songs.

Zoltan
Like Dandelion, Zoltan is one of Gerald's dearest friends, never failing to help when the need arises. This dwarf loves to gamble, drink, and tell it how it is. He takes the world with a grain of salt, and is blunt about how he feels. He's a living counter-example to the stereotype that all dwarves are selfish, spiteful, and aggressive. On the contrary, Zoltan is a committed altruist. He also embraces the rougher things in life when it comes to drinks and music.

Up next: A ruthless leader, a spy, and another friend of Geralt's

Roche
If you played The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, you'll remember Roche as one of King Foltest's most trusted subordinates. He spent his childhood living in poverty, but King Foltest helped him turn his life around, avoiding an existence as a meaningless, drunken drifter. As a commander of the Temerian special forces known as the Blue Stripes, he is known to be loyal and professional to the people on his side. While Roche has done his share of heroic deeds, he also has allegedly just as much blood on his hands. A man with many supporters and just as many enemies, it's up to you to decide which category Geralt  belongs to.

Dijkstra
Fans of The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski know this man well. Dijkstra is a spy, who was once head of Redanian intelligence, but many things have changed since Geralt last saw him, forcing Dijkstra to live a different life. Dijkstra will never say it out loud, but he respects Geralt a great deal. However, he's smart enough to know when Geralt's not being up-front with him. As a trained spy, he knows better than to get fooled. Despite often giving Geralt a hard time, he's also there to lend advice. Maybe this lumbering, vicious, vengeance-focused man actually has some insight into matters of the heart.

Eskel
Eskel grew up training with Geralt at Kaer Morhen, and the two are very similar. The pair went through all the witcher and childhood rites of passage together. Geralt and Eskel went their separate ways as they got older, but never forgot to meet up every winter to have a drink and discuss their adventures.  Eskel never received the high reputation Geralt did as a witcher, but can match him in many ways. He's also not the biggest fan of Yennefer.

Lambert
Lambert is one of the youngest witchers at Kaer Morhen, and he's got a chip on his shoulder. You find out more about why he's so bitter in The Witcher 3. Though blunt and arrogant, Lambert still goes out of his way to help those in need, even if it means putting himself in danger. He also isn't very fond of Triss, but that doesn't mean he doesn't respect the power she possesses. 

Radovid V: The Stern
He's back, and his subtitle "The Stern" says it all: This man is one ruthless ruler. Radovid's father King Vizimir was murdered when he was just a boy, but once he was older, he readily assumed the throne of Redania. Like most power-hungry men, he got straight to revenge. While he was too young to rule, his kingdom made a mockery of all that his father worked so hard for, conspiring with enemies and throwing Redania into chaos. Therefore, Radovid was far from a peaceful ruler out of bitterness; he made all of his political enemies swear an allegiance to him, or he had them murdered. Just know he's in it for the power, and doesn't care who he hurts along the way. That makes him both a potent and reckless ally; he's always calculating his next move.

Who are you most excited to see in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt?