Geralt of Rivia

In Nightmare of the Wolf, Geralt is still an apprentice. After an army attacks Kaer Morhen and the mages who made witchers are killed, Vesemir finds the few boys who are left. Little Geralt is one of them. From then on, Vesemir is responsible for them.

As an adult, Geralt turns down the mage Stregobor's request to kill Renfri, but ends up facing her gang in Blaviken. He kills Renfri, and the townspeople call him the Butcher. Soon after, he meets Jaskier, a bard who won't leave his side.

At a banquet in Cintra, Geralt saves Duny, Princess Pavetta's cursed betrothed, and claims the Law of Surprise as payment: the child Pavetta is carrying is promised to him. On a djinn hunt he meets Yennefer and uses his last wish to save her, which binds them together. After a dragon hunt, she leaves him. Wounded after Cintra falls, Geralt finally finds Ciri in the forest.

On a job on the Bremervoord coast, Geralt spares the creature he was hired to kill and gets caught in the fight between humans and the merfolk. He learns that the sea witch Melusina was behind the attacks, with King Usveldt's help, and kills her. He spends a night with the poet Essi Daven, but they part: she wants a settled life, and he still thinks of Yennefer.

Believing Yennefer died at Sodden, Geralt takes Ciri to Kaer Morhen. There he has to kill his friend Eskel, infected by a leshen, and agrees to train the girl. Looking into the monsters that keep appearing, he finds their link to the monoliths and to Ciri's power.

When he learns Yennefer is alive and has made a deal with Voleth Meir, Geralt races to protect Ciri. In the end, Yennefer offers herself to save the girl, and the three leave Kaer Morhen together.

With Yennefer and Ciri, Geralt lives on the run. He rescues Teryn, a girl who believes she's Ciri, and works out with Yennefer that the mage Vilgefortz is behind everything. In the coup at Aretuza, Vilgefortz beats him and leaves him badly hurt. Geralt recovers in Brokilon with the dryads and sets out after Ciri with Jaskier and the archer Milva.

Now played by Liam Hemsworth, Geralt crosses the war with Jaskier and Milva. The company grows with Zoltan's dwarves, Cahir and Regis, whom Geralt learns is a vampire. Cahir reveals that Emhyr is Ciri's father and means to marry her. Geralt reunites with Yennefer, briefly.

In a battle on a bridge, fueled by one of Regis's potions, Geralt fights alongside the Rivian army. Queen Meve knights him in front of everyone, which binds him to her service. In Nilfgaard, Emhyr sends a monster after him.

In Andrzej Sapkowski's books, Geralt debuted in the story The Witcher, published in 1986, and sits at the center of almost the entire saga. Henry Cavill played him in S1 to S3; Liam Hemsworth took over in S4. In Sirens of the Deep, he's voiced by Doug Cockle, Geralt in the games.