To become witchers, candidates must pass a series of tests. The mutations that occur during the Trial of the Grasses are the most crucial aspect of the procedure.
In the world of The Witcher, witchers are created through a series of trials, the Trial of the Grasses being the most significant.
Witchers are people who have been kidnapped as children, trained, and physically altered in order to kill monsters. They have superhuman strength and speed, among other rare qualities, and were designed to defend people from the creatures that prowled the forest before the continent was fully populated.
The Trial of the Grasses is crucial to the development of a witcher.
Trial of the Grasses is a procedure in which the victim is given a mixture of mutagenic herbs and virus cultures that alter the body, bestowing a variety of talents to the lucky few who survive, including superhuman speed and strength and the longer lifespans of the witchers.
The Trial of the Grasses’ procedure is largely now understood, although some details are still unknown. As we know from the fact that Geralt of Rivia received more mutagens than any other subject, causing his hair to lose its pigment, the process can vary depending on the witcher.
What Takes Place & How Long Does The Grasses Trial Last?
Subjects start the Grasses trial by drinking a tea made of the first plants, which immobilises them. After that, a mixture of additional herbs and elixirs is administered intravenously. Three days are given for the mutagens and elixirs to do their work. At this time the majority of the subjects have already passed away. Those that are still alive at this time are administered more mutagens, herbs, and elixirs while in a deep trance. Some of these herbs/elixirs are the same ones witchers utilise in their pre-combat potions.
At this point, participants start to feel worse and frequently start throwing up wildly, getting cold chills, and occasionally having convulsions. The mutagens’ job gets easier as the body gets sicker and weaker, and they start to remould the body. The trial concludes after a week, and those who made it through have acquired all of the witcher’s skills.
The first step in becoming a witcher is the Trial of the Grasses, which offers almost all of the mutations that distinguish witchers from regular people in the world of The Witcher. This test is taken by every witcher, from Vesemir to Eskel.
The Results Of The Grasses Trial
Those who survive the Trial of the Grasses exhibit the first change: cat-like yellow eyes with vertical pupils. These pupils can dilate or enlarge much more than typical human eyes can. Witchers now have better eyesight to go along with their upgraded versions of the other four senses.
Following the Trial of the Grasses, witchers from all of the witcher schools get these new abilities along with superhuman strength, uncanny reflexes, and longer lifespans. The Trial of the Grasses gave rise to all of these distinctive witcher mutations. Witchers are extraordinarily powerful in comparison to regular people due to the alterations they go through. Witchers gain an abnormal amount of power through the trials, which also has the unintended consequence of making regular people fear them.
The witchers were once revered for the valuable purpose they serve, but as the number of monsters declined after their invention, people started to fear and hate them. This eventually resulted in the siege of Kaer Morhen, the fortress of the School of the Wolf’s witchers, which is depicted in Nightmare of the Wolf.
Why The Grasses’ Trial
Due to the first herb dose’s intention to allow for body alteration, The Trial of the Grasses is particularly risky. The body is essentially debilitated to the point that it is unable to resist the virus cultures. This will result in mutagens in a witcher’s mutations. In addition, the body must endure the modifications itself, even if it does survive in such a compromised form.
Candidates must endure seven days in a compromised state as their bodies undergo physical changes. In accordance with the mutagens they are given in order to acquire a witcher’s medallion. In addition, the procedure is painful to the point where many applicants give up.
Witchers undergo a number of further trials as well, but only the Trial of Dreams results in further mutations.
The witcher pupils learn swordsmanship, survival techniques, herb knowledge, and other abilities necessary. These abilities enable for monster fighting during the other trials, which are a series of tests and training drills.
The Trial of the Grasses is what gives witchers their superhuman mutations and actually distinguishes them from regular humans. If each of the other trials is significant and they can differ based on which school administers them. What genuinely distinguishes a witcher as a witcher is surviving the Trial of the Grasses, which only 3 or 4 out of 10 people are able to complete.
