What is the Witcher 4’s School of the Lynx? Ever since CD Projekt Red announced that the next entry in the Witcher series is currently under development, some of the most heated speculation surrounding the upcoming RPG game focuses on the promotional image that accompanied the news.
This image, which depicts a feline-looking witcher medallion, was first assumed by many to allude to the established School of the Cat, possibly hinting that Ciri is the upcoming game’s protagonist. However, CD Projekt quickly confirmed that the medallion actually depicts a lynx, not a cat. Even for lore-savvy fans, this revelation caused some confusion. Unlike well-established Witcher schools such as the Wolf or Griffin, the Witcher School of the Lynx is rather obscure, involving a lot of out-of-game fan fiction authored by SMiki55 and Witcher190.
Naturally, this kind of material is less reliable for predicting what the new game might look like versus lore rooted in-game, or even from the books. Still, it’s worth taking a closer look at what we do know, especially since CD Projekt didn’t immediately distance their new game from the fan fiction in their statements. There are plenty of other animals they could have chosen for the new Witcher game’s new school, after all.
According to the fan fiction, the origins of the lynx school begins with the death of Vesemir at the hands of the wild hunt during the battle of Kaer Morhen in The Witcher 3.
Devastated by this loss, the remaining witchers of the wolf school go their separate ways, with Geralt leaving to finish the game’s main quest and Eskel heading off towards Upper Aedirn. The fate of Lambert, however, depends on your choices during the game as he requires saving from the advancing wild hunt during the battle. He can die at this point, be saved by Geralt, or, if you manage to invite the sorceress Keira Metz to Kaer Morhen, she saves him instead.
The fiction regarding the lynx school is based on this third option, which sees Lambert and Keira become a romantic couple, heading south in search of a new life. This latter fact is about the only obvious point of disconnect between the fiction and CD Projekt’s announcement, as the image depicts a lynx medallion surrounded by snow, suggesting a colder setting like the northern edges of The Continent.
Unfortunately, the school’s namesake doesn’t provide any extra clues, with the four species of real world lynx occupying a range of alpine and temperate habitats.
Back to the fan fiction – the south is where Lambert and Keira head, finding and helping Witchers from the struggling cat school to retake their home, the Dyn Marv caravan. Following this, Lambert becomes the leader of the cat school and begins issuing reforms to restore the school to its former glory and honour the memory of Witcher Aidan, whose name you might remember from The Witcher 3 quest ‘Following The Thread’. During this, Lambert enlists Geralt to help him avenge the deceased Aidan by dealing with his killers.
The final reform Lambert issues re-names the cat school to the lynx school, seemingly to symbolise the abandoning of the old ways that led the cat school into ruin. SMiki55 and Witcher190’s tale doesn’t end here, with Keira working to develop a cure for the catriona plague, as she does in one version of The Witcher 3’s ending cinematic, and Lambert organising a tournament among the remaining Witcher schools.
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It’s impossible to say at this point whether this fan fiction will have any bearing on the version of the lynx school we’ll see in The Witcher 4, but if you’re hungry for more information, you can read the Witcher Wiki article on the lynx school. In the meantime, here is a list of excellent Witcher 3 mods you can deploy to spice up your next playthrough.