Witcher Character Ages Pt. 1
Since I have decided to make head canons for “the witcher” I have come forward to bring order into the chaos. So here we are. With me once again writing something I’ve already written in a discord. Buckle up people, this is gonna be a lot. Also Spoilers, duh
To make things very clear: many things I’ll write in this posts are not my work. In fact it’s mostly taken from the following posts
http://www.sapkowski.su/modules.php?name=Articles&pa=showarticle&artid=112#21
https://dtf.ru/flood/30575-vozrast-glavnyh-personazhey-vselennoy-vedmaka
https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline
Now the keen eyed reader might notice that two of these links lead to sites that are written in Russian, to which I would say: “You are right. They totally are.”
Now moving on quickly, I will present you with some reference points for the general timeline:
The book-saga: Geralt’s story ends in June 1268, the Assault on Stygga Castle most likely happens in March
The Witcher: May - September 1270
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings: April - November 1271
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: May - ? 1272
The Witcher: Of Flesh and Flame: 1273 but it’s a comic so I’ll promptly ignore it
Furthermore and it might not even be relevant but I think it is so I’m including it, there is an interesting document one can find in Wither 3 in Kaer Morhen about the Trial of Grasses. This document suggests the age range for this trial (8-10 years) and considering. Both Russian sites I have linked have made the connection that The Witcher mostly resembles the real world High Middle Ages, which in order suggests the age of maturity being 21 (it’s not mentioned in the English wiki tho, that’s why there is the German link).
So. Now that we got the out of the way let’s get to our first subject:
We have ... literally no idea, BUTT! the timeline I included states he was active during 1112, so he has to be very much older. Apparently he has been around for the construction of Kaer Morhen as well.
The first witchers were put on recorded in the 960s, though the wiki timeline states the 950s (probably a typo). They were created by the two mages Cosimo Malaspina and Alzur (who probaly did most of the work). Kaer Morhen was constructed at the end of the X century, so perhaps Pappy Vesemir was one of the first witchers. Which would mean he would have to been born 939 (earliest). Which would in make him 333 years old during the events of the Wild Hunt.
Okay let’s get this out of the way now. Most of the short story timelines have been (as far as I can see) calculated with Ciri’s age.
As explained in the first link, in the last book Emhyr and Geralt meet for a second time, the first being during the feast in Cintra (A Question of Price). Here Emhyr states the have seen each other 16 years ago (I am paraphrasing). Ergo: “A Question of Price” happened in 1252.
Ciri was born during Belleteyn, which is celebrated April 30th to May 1st, so it is safe to assume she was born in 1253.
Ciri was brought to Kaer Morhen in autum of 1263 and it’s safe to assume he brought her to the keep as soon as he found her in “Something More”. That means the first war with Niflgaard happened in either 1262 or 1263. The fall of Cintra happened then as well. Not too long before that Geralt met Ciri for the first time in “Sword of Destiny”. 1262.
Also I need to mention one other thing: the game does state Ciri’s year as both 1251 and 1253, but I’m sure we can all agree CDPR made a mistake. Ciri is 19 in W3.
Since Geralt and Eskel are said to be the same age Imma just throw them together, which means figuring out Geralt’s age is key here.
Though the games state him to be almost a century old, it’s rather unlikely in my humble opinion. CDPR might have just assumed that because of Yennefers age (which I’ll get to eventually). However, the books mention another character we can use as reference for Geralt’s age: Nenneke.
In the books Nenneke is described as T H I C C and smol, but never really as old. She’s also rather graceful and quick. Nenneke mentions she raised Geralt, from a young age and mentions his height being around her waist back then. Perhaps Geralt was around 5 years old. The short story in which we can read so much about Nenneke (”The voice of Reason”) apparently happens not too long after Geralt invoked the “Law of Surprise” in Cintra, so maybe around 1253. If we assume Nenneke is in her 50s in that story, and she is probably at least 15 years older than Geralt - that way she would have been 20 when she began to raise him - Geralt’s year of birth can be ranged between 1210 and 1220, to which the article just said “Meh, let’s meet in the middle”. Geralt was born in 1215, which makes him 57 years old. Which means Eskel is 57 years old as well.
From that we can also date the short story “A Grain of Truth”, which is probably one of his first adventures judging by how unprofessional he behaves at times; he talks to Roach (which is a thing that never really happens in the books outside of that story), takes ages to figure out that he’s dealing with a Bruxa, oh and he fucking yells at her. Probably 1235ish.
“The Lesser Evil” also probably happened quite early in his career, so maybe around 1240ish.
Or Jaskier, whichever you like better. His birth year was actually given as 1229, which makes him 43 during the events of the Wild Hunt. Also the second article I linked in the beginning mentions he started singing in 1248, aged 18-19. “The Last Wish” is estimated to have happened in 1250. By that time Dandelion and Geralt have already been friends. “The Edge of the World” chronologically happens before that, so maybe in either 1248 or 1249.
Yennefer actually states her age in “Tower of Swallow” (1267). She’s 94 in that book, so she’s 99 years old in the third game. She was born during Belleteyn in 1173. In 1250, during the Last Wish she and Geralt were 77 and 35 respectively. Shortly afterwards they broke up, meeting each other four years later in “Bounds of Reason” and probably broke up once again during the events of “A Shard of Ice”. Both of these stories happen in 1254.
On that note, both “The eternal Flame” or how a Witcher befriended a Doppler and “A Little Sacrifice” or relationships suck without compromises also happen in 1254.
Well that’s it for today, Kids. I don’t know when I’ll do Pt. 2, but it’ll probably include Geralt’s Hanse, Lambert, Triss and maybe Emhyr too.
Also, this is literally me rn
Also, I swear Part 2 is going to be less of a mess
