• ‘None may touch me. None but you.’
• ‘What is left of my heart belongs to you. When you leave, it will shatter anew.’
• ‘Tell me I did not hurt you.’
• ‘How am I expected to pass another century without the taste of you on my tongue?’
• ‘After so many decades spent hating each sunset, knowing nightfall would take my freedom from me... I began to yearn for the moonrise instead of cursing it. Because dreams of you might be waiting on the other side.’
• ‘I would rather be cursed to roam the wilds as a beast every night than live endless lifetimes without you.’
• ‘Wherever it is that souls may go, you will find mine waiting for you at the end of all things.’
• ‘You shall pay dearly for every spilled drop of her blood.’
• ‘I was not lying. Were you?’
• ‘Just this once, beloved... I wish you could not lie.’
• ‘You hold all of my heart, beloved. Now, and always.’
• ‘I would make and unmake the world for you, beloved.’
• ‘Believe me when I say I want every part of you. Every version. Now and future.’
• ‘Look, beloved. Your skin is a canvas covered in stars.’
• ‘If I were you, I would begin by thanking her and throw yourself on her continued mercy. Because you’ll get none from me.’
• ‘What would be the point of immortality without you?’
• ‘No magic. Like an everyday mortal.’
• ‘Insult her again, and I will carve my refusal into your flesh, so that you may never forget it.’
• ‘I don’t care what your title is. Every breath, every beat of my heart belongs to you. You are mine for life.’
• ‘Thank you… for sharing the sky with me.’
• ‘If you lay a single hand on her, there will be nothing left of this place but a hole in the ground.’

• ‘I know you. I’m not afraid.’
• ‘I love him so terribly, it hurts.’
• ‘You are so much stronger than you know. And a love as strong as this is worth fighting for.’
• ‘Even if you kill me, I’m glad I met you. Because you deserve to be happy, Kieran. You deserve to be loved. And I will love you until my very last breath.’
• ‘The world is rarely gentle to those who are so kind. It is you who must be the strongest of all.’
• ‘What do you want with that cursed thing?’ / ‘To cut the Sun and the Moon from the sky.’
• ‘Anything here that wishes to eat me had best prepare to choke.’
• ‘I know you. And I love you. Both your darkness and your light.’
• ‘You are everything I want. Just you. Just like this.’

Your pain is my pain. My pain is your pain.

you probably know a lot about mages on account of them being fucking awesome and super sexy, so let's dive into what exactly makes them that way.

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

series masterpost

• put simply, mages are anyone skilled and educated in the use of magic. but, most mages are also incredibly adept in politics, science, and religion
• the vast majority of mages serve on royal courts, but others are teachers, researchers, or just kinda hobos
• anyone can use basic magic (ie witcher signs), but it takes both natural talent and extensive training to be an actual mage
• also important to note that while druids and priests can and do use magic, they aren't usually considered mages since they're not as involved in politics and science

• mages go to school! a lot! powerful mages tend to track down young potential students and bring them to a school to receive formal training
• well, "bring them" is a bit reductive, it's more like kidnapping.
• there are quite a few important schools, so let's go!
• aretuza is definitely the one you are the most familiar with, mostly because it's just the best. aretuza is an all girls academy located in temeria, a northern kingdom known for its powerful mages
• aretuza is led by a rectoress, an incredibly powerful sorceress responsible for training the young adepts. i think there's only been 4 ever, first klara larissa de winter (also the founder), then leticia charbonneau, then tissaia de vries (the milf right there, and rectoress as of twn), and finally margarita laux antille

• ban ard is the boys version of aretuza, located in kaedwen. the magicians from ban ard are notably... unskilled? they're just kind of clowns. the rector of ban ard was gerhart of aelle, also known as hen gedymdeith, because there's nothing like a nonsensical pseudonym to up your credibility. gerhart was literally the oldest mage alive until his heart died. after him, dorregary of vole took over as rector
• mages in the north are pretty much exclusively trained at either aretuza or ban ard, but nilfgaard has a magical academy too!
• the imperial magic academy is a co-ed school in loc grim, one of nilfgaard's two capitals. the emperors of nilfgaard tend to hire mages directly from this school

• most mages tend to specialize in a certain area of magic, such as illusions, alchemy, divination, polymorphy, weaponry, or spycraft
• this is extra useful when assembling a team. not that anyone in particular is assembling a team, it's just good to know.

• the brotherhood is the main organization of mages in the witcher. they basically set the rules of magic for all the mages in the north, which are that demonology, necromancy, and artifact compression are strictly not allowed. the punishment was exclusion from the brotherhood and being locked in dimeritium (mage kryptonite) for centuries, but practically no one followed the rules or was punished
• the brotherhood exists on a hierarchy, with most mages in the north making up the lower level, the council of wizards in the middle, and the chapter of the gift and the art at the top
• the council is made up of a small group of mages that hold influence over the brotherhood but still need to answer to the chapter, as of twn the members are yennefer of vengerberg, philippa eilhart, radcliffe, carduin, and fercart. sheala de tancarville was part of it too, but she left
• the chapter has the highest influence of magic in the north (and possibly the continent). it was founded by herbert stammelford, aurora henson, ivo richert, agnes of glanville, geoffrey monk, and radmir of tor carnedd. by twn, all of them had died or left, so the chapter was made of tissaia de vries, enid an gleanna, gerhart of aelle, vilgefortz of roggeveen, and artaud terranova. narses de la roche was the grandmaster of the chapter in 1245, but wasn't that involved much after.

• after mages graduate, the brotherhood usually places them on the court of a king/queen as an advisor. they're supposed to help strategize, conduct research, and just heighten the magical abilities of a kingdom
• do they do this? nope
• most mages are meant to clean up their king's messes, but usually get fed up and rule the entire kingdom from behind the scenes to fit their own agendas

• short answer: yeah! although magic can make it harder to have babies, lots of sorceresses would take extra care to make sure they were as unaffected as possible. the forced sterilization was tissaia de vries' idea, and since she trained the vast majority of sorceresses we meet, most of them can't have babies
• and yes, it's irreversible. sorry yen
• geralt's mum, visenna, was trained as a druid, so she was still able to have geralt while practicing magic

• we meet a Lot of mages, so let's get to know a couple, starting with the ladies!
• let's start with the lovely lovely yennefer. she was trained at aretuza under tissaia de vries, who became a mother figure to her. yen was also the youngest member of the council, as of twn she's 90. yes, that's very young to have a position of that caliber, especially since yen wasn't even an official advisor to aedirn's king