Tissaia de Vries

The strict but fair rectoress of Aretuza, teacher of Yennefer and Philippa, and a tragic figure of the Thanedd coup.

Tissaia de Vries was an archmistress, a member of the Chapter of the Gift and the Art and the rectoress of Aretuza, the school for sorceresses on Thanedd Island. Born with the humble name Skylark, she became one of the most respected mages in the North and the author of The Poisoned Source. She was among the oldest sorceresses alive, though magical elixirs kept her looking young, and she ran her school with strict discipline, firm but fair.

Her most famous student was Yennefer of Vengerberg. Tissaia personally recommended her, had her hunchback corrected with magic and became something close to a mother to her. She considered Philippa Eilhart her best pupil, though she came to dislike Philippa’s cold ambition, while Margarita Laux-Antille remained a close friend and later succeeded her at Aretuza.

Tissaia in The Witcher 3
Tissaia never appears in person in the games. The Witcher 3 only mentions her in passing.

In the earlier games
The first game credits her with discovering De Vries’ Extract, a potion that sharpens the drinker’s vision and reveals enemies even through walls, and an in-game book on sorcerers mentions her. In The Witcher 2, Geralt names her as co-author, with Margarita, of a compendium of mages’ writings on curses.

In the books
In Blood of Elves she meets Vilgefortz and Artaud Terranova to discuss the northern kings’ secret meeting at Hagge, and writes to Yennefer on the Chapter’s behalf. In Time of Contempt she and Margarita search Gors Velen for runaway students and mistake Ciri for one of them, freezing her with a paralysis spell before apologising and taking her to a long bath at the Silver Heron.

During the Thanedd coup, Tissaia refused to take sides. Angered by the arrests, she broke the magical barriers in Garstang and freed the shackled mages so the fight would at least be fair. Later, as the fighting turned into a rout, she found an exhausted Triss dragging the badly wounded Geralt and teleported them to safety. Soon after, she took her own life. Her death, along with the other losses on Thanedd, marked the end of the old Council and opened the way for the Lodge of Sorceresses.