Geralt is a witcher. Shortly after being born, Geralt's mother, Visenna, gave him away to undergo training and, eventually, become a witcher at Kaer Morhen - the stronghold of the witchers. Geralt survived mutations during the Trial of the Grasses, thanks to which he gained various witcher traits: high resistance to injury, poison and disease, slowed ageing, but also infertility. He resisted the "changes" brought on by the Trial of Grasses better than most, which encouraged his makers to perform even more dangerous experimental procedures on him, making him lose all body pigmentation. Because of his pale skin and white hair, he is also known in the Elder Speech as "Gwynbleidd", the White Wolf. From the arduous training of Witchers, he became a master swordfighter and learnt how to use the Signs, simple spells used by the witchers. Despite his name, Geralt does not come from Rivia : young witchers were encouraged to make up surnames for themselves by master Vesemir, to make their names sound more trustworthy. He once claimed that his first choice was Geralt Roger Eric du Haute-Bellegarde, but this was dismissed by Vesemir as silly and pretentious. After completing his witcher training, he received his Wolf medallion and embarked into the world on his horse called Płotka to become a monster slayer for hire. Even though Geralt did not believe in destiny, he unknowingly demanded the unborn child of princess Pavetta and her husband Duny as a reward for his services by invoking "the Law of Surprise". The child turned out to be a girl, Cirilla, commonly known as Ciri; since then the two are linked to each other. At first, Geralt did not take her because women cannot become witchers. However, fate caused Geralt and Ciri to cross their paths thrice, with him claiming her for a second time when he invokes the Law of Surprise on a traveling merchant he saves from monsters during a random encounter; and after the death of her grandmother, Queen Calanthe of Cintra, Geralt ends up taking the girl into his care, training and loving her as his own daughter. Following the short stories, the novels unfold as Geralt is pulled into a whirlwind of events in his attempts to protect Ciri from those who would do her harm, becoming reluctantly embroiled in the political contentions of monarchs and emperors.
Geralt is described as being emblematic of Polish popular culture's spirit of "neo-liberal anti-politics" in the 1990s. He is a professional, carrying out his duties and unwilling to become involved in the "petty quarrels" of the contemporary politics. Marek Oramus compared Geralt to Raymond Chandler's signature character Philip Marlowe. In 2018, GamesRadar ranked him as the 6th best hero in video game history. In 2018, Geralt was included in Tom's Guide Top 25 Best Video Game Characters of All Time.
In other media
Film
portrays Geralt in the Polish-language adaptation movie The Hexer.
Television
Michał Żebrowski reprised his role from the film to portray Geralt in the polish-language adaptation series The Hexer that came out in 2002.
Geralt's adventures continue in a non-canonical version by CD Projekt Red's video game trilogy, where he is still alive after being killed by a mob during an anti non-human riot at the end of the Witcher novel saga and his body was taken in a boat by his daughter Ciri to Avalon. Sapkowski stated that the games are a work of art of their own and that they cannot be considered either an "alternative version", or a sequel, "because this can only be told by Geralt's creator. A certain Andrzej Sapkowski." Geralt, voiced by Doug Cockle, appeared as a guest character in the 2018 game Soulcalibur VI. Geralt also appeared in special content for and Daemon X Machina.
