The main schools ofThe Witcherseries, namely those of the Wolf, Cat, Griffin, and Bear,take very different approachesto the training of Witcher students, though they generally hold similar values as one another. The founders of the Viper School forged perhaps one of the most distinct Witcher schools in this universe.
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The School of the Viper focuses on dexterity like the Cat school, on tactics and stealth similar to the Griffin school, and they hold few bonds with one another like the Wolf school. The Viper School is one of the few that appears inThe Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, represented by Letho of Gulet, the Witcher who assassinated King Foltest.
6They Were Once Part Of The Bear School
The Witchers who make up the School of the Viper long ago belonged to the Bear school. The School of the Bear is particularly notable for it being the first school to split off from the original Order of the Witchers – theybetrayed the original Orderand set off to do things their way, unaware of the ironic fate awaiting them.
Ivar Evil-Eye left the School of the Bear with his fellow like-minded Witchers, betraying Arnaghad in the process. Originally, Arnaghad had initiated the betrayal of the Order of the Witcher. The school has a particular affinity for poison and subterfuge, traits not shared by most of the burly Bear School Witchers.
5They Accept Slaying Contracts On Humans and Non-Humans…
The School of the Viper is notable for many reasons, perhaps most so for being the most disconnected Witcher school of the lot. The members, as ofThe Witcher 3, are spread all around the world, hunted by the Nilfgaardians trying to close loose ends. Not many in the world like the Viper School Witchers, for a variety of reasons.
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Number one amongst these reasons is likely that they accept slaying contracts on monstersandhumans alike. There is no discernable, moral difference between the two strictly in terms of payment, after all. The school’s members are known as assassins by other Witchers, though they will almostnever take on another Witcher.
4…But They Stay Neutral, As Often As Possible
Despite what other Witchers think about them, what normal countryside folk may make up about them, and what the various political interests of the world have to say about their historical actions, the School of the Viper stays neutral when it can be.
In a trade with Emperor of the Nilfgaardians, Emhyr Var Emreis, afterbeing arrested, the Viper School Witchers agreed to assassinate kings of Northern Realms in exchange for the rebuilding of their school. It was destroyed following a Nilfgaardian raid and a run-in with the Wild Hunt, so they had no choice but to agree to break their neutrality.
3Viper School Witchers Were Responsible for Kingly Assassinations
The Witchers of the Viper school can be seen in the introductory cinematic ofThe Witcher 2: Assassins of Kingsacting on their contract with the Nilfgaardian Emperor to kill various kings of the Northern Realms. They successfully kill two of them – Foltest and Demavend III – though it wasn’t enough to stop the Emperor from betraying the Viper school once again.
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Since then, the Vipers have been on the run from the Nilfgaardian Empire, and Geralt can actually find Letho inThe Witcher 3in hiding. His and Geralt’s relationship is one of the few thingsaffected by a save filecarried over between the second and thirdWitchergames, as the Ghosts of the Past quest will not show up if the player decided to kill Letho.
2The Viper School’s Purpose Is To Eradicate The Wild Hunt
When it was founded, Ivar Evil-Eye did not let on too much of exactly what the school’s purpose was, except that Vipers would focus on poisons and take monster contracts as well as human and non-human contracts. Many Witchers in the school thought it was related to the Wild Hunt, but Ivar never confirmed it with any member of the school directly.
When Ivar wasgoing through his Witcher mutations, he did so well that he received further experimentation, though it wasn’t finished. His left eye was all that was affected, which gave him spectral sight and allowed him to witness the Wild Hunt conquering world after world. The sight obsessed him, and he secretly founded the school to train Witchers to fight the Wild Hunt.
1Students Were Given An Animal To Care For, Then Slaughter
The final trial for students at the School of the Viper was not painful, fatal, oreven that difficult to pass(physically, at least). The last trial for Vipers lasted throughout the entire training process – students raise a personal pet with some significance to them, and then upon completing their training, they were forced to slaughter it for no reason.
Students of the Viper school were treated particularly harshly by the school’s Witchers because of their ultimate goal in wiping out the Wild Hunt. They were prepared for a life of suffering, as life often tends to be for a Witcher, and executing such a horrible action showcased ruthlessness and a lack of emotion.
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