Yennefer of Vengerberg is one of the most powerful sorceresses of her age and the woman at the heart of Geralt’s life. Proud, stubborn and hard to please, she can also be fiercely loyal, and beneath her sharp tongue lies an old wound she rarely lets anyone see.

She was born in Vengerberg with a hunched back and a twisted spine, and her family treated her as a burden. Her magical talent caught the attention of a sorceress, who took her away and placed her under the care of Tissaia de Vries at Aretuza. Over the following years, Yennefer’s talent grew into formidable power. She used it to reshape her own body, and that change came with a price: it left her unable to have children. That loss shapes much of who she is, including her devotion to Ciri.

She met Geralt through a djinn, a wish and a fight, and the bond that formed between them has never been simple. They love each other, drive each other mad and keep being pulled back together. Together with Ciri, they become something like a family, even if none of them would use the word.

Yennefer is easy to recognize: black curls, violet eyes, clothes in black and white and a scent of lilac and gooseberries. In the books she is as much a political operator as a mage. She teaches Ciri at Kaer Morhen, opposes the schemes of Vilgefortz and is one of the first to throw everything into finding Ciri when she disappears.

In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Yennefer is the one who sends for Geralt, and the two of them are drawn into Emhyr’s search for Ciri. Her relationship with Geralt is one of the game’s main threads, and how it develops depends on the player’s choices.