Uma, sometimes called the ugliest man alive, is a small, misshapen creature who babbles and wanders without seeming to understand the world around him. His journey is a strange one. He was first seen on Hindarsfjall by Skjall, then kept for a time by Jarl Donar an Hindar, who sold him to a merchant hoping to turn him into a royal jester. In Novigrad, the merchant lost him to Phillip Strenger in a game of gwent, and the Bloody Baron brought Uma home to Crow’s Perch as a diversion for his men.

The key to Ciri

Uma bursts into a room during Family Matters, and Geralt later works out that the creature sailed with Ciri and must be tied to her fate. He takes Uma to Kaer Morhen, stopping on the way for an unwelcome audience with Emhyr.

In Ugly Baby, Vesemir first tries a gentler cure, but in the end Yennefer puts Uma through the Trial of the Grasses while holding him together with her magic for a whole day. The curse breaks and Uma returns to his true form, revealed as Avallac’h, the elven sage who has been protecting Ciri.