Brokilon Forest

Brokilon (Brokiloén in the Elder Speech) is an ancient forest kingdom of the dryads, and the one place in the North that humans never managed to conquer. In the late 13th century it borders Verden, Kerack, Brugge and Temeria, with the Ribbon river along its eastern edge. Humans have another name for it: the Forest of Death. Anyone who crosses its borders uninvited is first warned with an arrow and then, as a rule, shot.

The forest is ruled by Queen Eithné, the Silver-Eyed, from Duén Canell, its heart. Brokilon used to be much larger, but from the 11th century onwards humans cut away its eastern edges piece by piece, and the dryads have fought for every tree since. Other dryad forests fell or made peace; Brokilon did neither. Eithné turned down even generous-sounding offers, such as King Venzlav of Brugge’s proposal that she give up half the forest in return for peace.

Life in the forest

The dryads are famous archers. They mark their borders with warning arrows and defend them with traps, magical fog, spears and knives. Axes and fire are forbidden in Brokilon, and the dryads shape living trees into their homes. The forest also shelters other creatures hunted elsewhere, and during the Northern Wars it took in fleeing Scoia’tael. Since dryads are all female, they keep their numbers up by taking in human girls. The girls drink the Water of Brokilon, which sharpens their senses and strengthens their bodies but wipes away their memories of their former life.

In the books

In the title story of Sword of Destiny, Geralt travels to Brokilon with a message for Eithné from King Venzlav. On the way he saves a runaway girl from a giant centipede. She is Ciri, the young princess of Cintra, fleeing a marriage to Prince Kistrin of Verden. The dryads intend to keep her and give her the Water of Brokilon, but it does not erase her memory, and Geralt realises she is his Child of Surprise. Eithné lets Ciri choose her own path, and the druid Mousesack later takes her home.

Brokilon returns after the coup on Thanedd Island. At the start of Baptism of Fire, Geralt, badly hurt on Thanedd, is recovering under the dryads’ care, impatient to set off after Ciri. Eithné introduces him to Milva, a human archer who guides Scoia’tael to refuge in the forest and lures scalp hunters into ambushes. Milva joins Geralt and Dandelion, and the company that will cross half the Continent in search of Ciri begins to form at the edge of Brokilon.