Netflix's The Witcher: Every Character You Need To Know After Season 2

Whether Netflix's The Witcher really is the streaming services' Game of Thrones is up for debate, but one thing both shows unquestionably have in common is a huge cast of characters that span multiple countries, factions, and generations. And there's a legion of fans constantly waiting for their next dose of the series. As it stands, the first two seasons are out on Netflix now and, unless you're keeping a ridiculous amount of notes, chances are you don't quite remember all of the important characters introduced so far.

That's where this guide comes in happy. With so many notable people from the Witcher universe introduced in the first two seasons of the Netflix series, we're here to break down everybody that you need to remember.

So follow along to figure out who you need to know, what their story is, and how they're connected to The Witcher beyond the TV series.

• Played By: Henry Cavill
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Witchers

Our hero and protagonist, the main character of the Witcher books, games, and Netflix series. A legendary monster hunter and Witcher.

• Played By: Freya Allan
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Witchers, Northern Kingdoms/Cintra

Princess of Cintra, daughter of Calanthe and Duny, granddaughter of Pavetta. In the first season, we see Ciri sneak out of her castle repeatedly as a child, mostly running away from the black knight, Cahir. She is found by Geralt, who unintentionally claimed her by the Law of Surprise (Repayment for a deed in the form of something the person has but does not yet know about).

• Played By: Anya Charlotra
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers

Born into poverty with a congenital hunchback, Yennefer was recruited by Tissaia de Vries to become a sorceress. She fell in love with Geralt, possibly as a result of a wish made to a djinn.

• Played By: Jodhi May
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1
• Associated Factions: Northern Kingdoms/Cintra

Grandmother to Ciri, Queen of Cintra. When Duny/Urcheon, the man with the hedgehog face, claims her daughter's Pavetta's hand in marriage by the Law of Surprise, Calanthe refuses and her untrained magical powers manifest. Geralt and Mousesack intervene, and Calanthe relents. As a reward, Geralt invokes the Law of Surprise in jest. Died during Nilfgaard's sacking of Cintra.

• Played By: Eamon Farren
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Nilfgaard

The Black Knight of Nilfgaard. Was tasked with kidnapping Ciri during the sacking of Cintra, but her Chaos (untrained magic) manifested when she screamed, creating a chasm between them that allowed her to escape.

• Played By: Lars Mikkelsen
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers

A high-ranking member of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers who was hunted by Renfri in the first episode of Season 1 and who appears throughout the series.

• Played By: Adam Levy
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1
• Associated Factions: Northern Kingdoms/Cintra

Court druid and advisor to Queen Calanthe, mentor and father figure to Ciri. Died during Nilfgaard's sacking of Cintra.

• Played By: Joey Batey
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Himself and himself only

The bard who always seems to find himself in trouble. Retains his original Polish-language name, Jaskier, from the books. Jaskier translates roughly to Buttercup in English, and CD Projekt Red re-named him Dandelion for the games. In the show, he's best known for the absolute banger "Toss a Coin (To Your Witcher)."

• Played By: MyAnna Buring
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers

Recruits and serves as a mentor to Yennefer along with many other sorceresses. Participated in the Battle of Sodden Hill.

• Played By: Kim Bodnia
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 (Technically) & 2
• Associated Factions: Witchers

Geralt's mentor and father figure to the Witchers of Kaer Morhen. He appeared briefly in Season 1 with a stand-in actor, but will be portrayed by Kim Bodnia in Season 2. In the games, he appears in the first and third Witcher games as a mentor to both Geralt and Ciri.

• Played By: Royse Pierreson
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers

A sorcerer whose primary work is as a scholar studying ruins at Aretuza, where the Brotherhood of Sorcerers convenes and educates future sorcerers and sorceresses.

• Played By: Mahesh Jadu
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers

An ambitious sorcerer in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. Participated in the Battle of Sodden Hill.

• Played By: Anna Shaffer
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers

One of the sorceresses of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers and friend of Yennefer and Geralt. Helped Geralt rescue Princess Adda of Temeria, daughter of King Foltest. Participated in the Battle of Sodden Hill that capped off Season 1. Triss is Geralt's primary love interest in the first two Witcher games, and one potential love interest alongside Yennefer in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

• Played By: Bart Edwards
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1
• Associated Factions: Northern Kingdoms/Cintra

Father of Ciri. He shows up, cursed with the appearance of a hedgehog, claiming Princess Pavetta's hand in marriage. In the final moments of the second season, his true identity is revealed: Nilfgaardian emperor Emhyr Van Emreis, the White Flame.

• Played By: Gaia Mondadori
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1, Season 2 (flashback)
• Associated Factions: Northern Kingdoms/Cintra

Princess of Cintra, the daughter of Queen Calanthe, and mother of Ciri. Marries Duny after Queen Calanthe attempts to prevent their marriage.

• Played By: Mimi Ndiweni
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers

A member of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers at the same time as Yennefer, who is assigned by the Brotherhood to Nilfgaard.

• Played By: Shaun Dooley
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Northern Kingdoms/Temeria

King of the Northern kingdom of Temeria, father to Adda. Geralt and Triss Merigold cured his daughter of a curse that turned her into a Striga, a monster that eats living flesh. King Foltest figures significantly into the first Witcher game, which features Adda's curse as a quest, and then appears in the second game before being assassinated.

• Played By: Adjoa Andoh
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 2
• Associated Factions: Temple of Melitele

Nenneke is the closest thing Geralt has to a mother, though she first met him after he became a Witcher. She helped Geralt recover from wounds in the stories, as well as helping to educate him. She provides the same for Ciri in the novels, though circumstances in the show truncate this less to a "study abroad" session and more of a "weekend at summer camp."

• Played By: Kristofer Hivju
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 2
• Associated Factions: Unaffiliated

This character is quite similar in both the short story he appears in and in his episode in Season 2. This is a slightly twisted and tragic take on Beauty and the Beast where the Beast does fall in love, but it's with another monster, not a book nerd that he terrorizes for weeks. The only key difference is that Geralt says in the series that he knows Nivellen and that Ciri is with him. Neither of those are true in the original short story, which appears in the Last Wish anthology.

• Played By: Graham McTavish
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 2
• Associated Factions: Redania

Dijkstra is possibly the scariest purely-human character in the Witcher series. Neither sorcerer nor Witcher, he's the spymaster for the kingdom of Redania and its king, Vizimir II. He's an insightful man who effectively accounts for just about every possible situation, and he's very good at getting his way. He played a significant role in both the books and in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

• Played By: Chris Fulton
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers (kind of)

Rience is technically a sorcerer, but he isn't part of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers except insofar as he sometimes works for Vilgefortz. His use of the forbidden magic, fire, makes him an outcast among sorcerers. Similar in both, he becomes a hired gun to hunt down Ciri, targeting Jaskier and others along the way. In addition to torturing Jaskier, he also sends a mercenary band of four brothers after Geralt, who dispatches them and nearly Rience in the process.

• Played By: Mecia Simson
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 2
• Associated Factions: Free Elves, Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers

Francesca Findabair is an Elven sorceress and the closest thing the displaced Elves have to nobility. In the Netflix series, she befriends Fringilla when that sorceress accepts her and the other Elves into Cintra. Their friendship is not a major aspect of the stories, but plays a large role in this season. Francesca also gives birth to

• Played By: Jeremy Crawford
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
• Show Appearances: Seasons 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Freelance

Yarpen Zigrin first appeared in the Witcher Season 1 episode Rare Species, where he joins Geralt, Yennefer, Jaskier and others on a hunt for a dragon, and shows up again in Season 2, Episode 7, Voleth Meir. He supplies Geralt with a horse when the two meet by chance. Yarpen is a frequent friend to Geralt in the books, appearing throughout the series in various contexts.

• Played By: Basil Eidenbenz
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 2
• Associated Factions: Witchers

One of the core members of the Witchers that appears throughout the series. Geralt is the most famous, but Eskel is long-lived and successful in his own right. In the games, he appears with a significant scar traveling down the right side of his face.

• Played By: Paul Bullion
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 2
• Associated Factions: Witchers

Another one of the better-known Witchers, though at least partially for his fluency in insulting just about everyone around him--especially sorceresses.

• Played By: Cassie Clare
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers

Philippa Eilhart is a powerful sorceress, much like Yennefer and Triss, but her alignment seems to lie firmly with Redania. Throughout the second season, we see the Redanian Spymaster Dijkstra talking to an owl. She's also one of the few sorceresses, according to the novels, who can polymorph, with her favoring the owl as her alternate form. A Reddit post from a couple years back featured a picture of star Henry Cavill holding an owl on one arm, with the original post calling it the first image of Eilhart. She also takes this form at times in the Witcher games, in which she appears more extensively than many of the other sorceresses. In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Geralt encounters her after she'd been blinded during an interrogation.

• Played By: Wilson Radjou-Pujalte
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Seasons 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Free Elves

Dara rescued Ciri from Nilfgaardian soldiers in Season 1, and showed up again in Season 2 in the fallen city of Cintra, acting as a spy for Dijkstra.

• Played By: Tom Cantor
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 2
• Associated Factions: Free Elves

In the Netflix series, Filavandrel acts as Francesca's advisor and lover, becoming the father of her child during its short life. This is a substantial change to his role from the books, in which he went from revolutionary leader to advisor, but never further.

• Played By: Simon Callow and Liz Carr
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 2
• Associated Factions: Freelance

Codringher and Fenn play a small but crucial role for Geralt as a legal and detective firm known for being able to get any information the client needs.