The 12 Most Powerful Magic Users In Netflix's The Witcher, Ranked
Spoilers for all three seasons of "The Witcher" abound.
Sometimes, a show is more than its name. Netflix's "The Witcher," an adaptation of the eponymous series of novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, is ostensibly centered around the titular character — Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), the world's mightiest of the specialized, enormously skillful, magically enhanced monster hunters for hire known as Witchers. Yet the series' elaborate plot, taking place on a vast aggregation of magical realms known as the Continent, is not at all limited to Geralt and his exploits. In fact, one of the things that make him interesting and dynamic as a protagonist is precisely the fact that he isn't involved with the Continent's central source of conflict, intrigue, and strife: Magic, and the sorcerers and sorceresses who wield it.
"The Witcher" is just as concerned with politics and the complexities of wartime as it is with magic and its use, but what makes the show stand out is the way that it blends together those two elements, with the various sorcerers' deployment of magic generally being a primary driving force in their schemes and campaigns. Therefore, the question of which magic users are the most powerful is a particularly interesting and crucial one, and it can be answered in several ways. Here, then, is an attempt to answer it, with characters ranked based on their use, knowledge, and technical mastery of magic specifically as seen on the series.
12. Istredd
Istredd (Royce Pierreson) is one of the most respected members of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, and, as the direct protegé of Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen), he's high up on the pecking order of mages in the world of "The Witcher." However, he's unique among the Brotherhood insofar as he's not really living the life of a court sorcerer; instead, Istredd spends his time as an archeologist with the mission of helping the elves find a new land to live and thrive in — a mission that he commits to wholeheartedly. His role on the show also extends to being one of the primary love interests of Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), even if their relationship doesn't ultimately work out.
Istredd's lifestyle means that we hardly ever have the opportunity to see him in combat or harnessing his magic powers in a clear, physically tangible way, which inevitably places him at the bottom of a power-focused ranking. Nevertheless, he is a respected mage in the Brotherhood for a reason. His deep interest in the history of sorcery alone gives him an arsenal of knowledge and skill that can't be discounted, and the few times when we do see him use magic all attest to a calm, long-honed proficiency.
11. Stregobor
One of the show's most prominent antagonists, Stregobor is a bigwig in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers and the rector at Ban Ard Academy — two positions he wields with coldness and cunning, often resorting to drastic, inhumane measures to advance his extremist — and rather bigoted — goals. Yet there's a sense of complication to his character, which was significantly expanded on Netflix's "The Witcher" in relation to the source material, due to the fact that he largely acts in the interest of preventing what he sees as a pressing threat to the entire world: The Curse of the Black Sun.
Although most of the power we see Stregobor wield throughout the show is more of the political and strategic variety, we do know that he is one of the Brotherhood's greatest savants in the art of illusion, as demonstrated by his ability to fill his tower with believable sensory facsimiles of people and things. And, on Season 3, he was allowed to give a rare display of his power as a combatant in the form of a final, massively destructive act of igneous sacrifice to stave off the Thanedd Coup and save the Brotherhood. All in all, he may not be the most impressive mage on the show, but he is undeniably powerful.
10. Sabrina
Aretuza, the sorceress training academy where much of "The Witcher" takes place, has as much of an academic hierarchy as any equivalent institution in our world. And, in that pecking order of apprentice mages, the one at the top for a good portion of the series is Sabrina Glevissig (Therica Wilson-Read). Aretuza's most distinguished student, she eventually comes into her own as one of the Brotherhood's most principled and morally upstanding members, remaining steadfast in her loyalties through Season 3's Thanedd Coup.
From early on the series, Sabrina establishes a rivalry with Yennefer, besting her in magic training at every opportunity. Yennefer eventually gets over her difficulties with magic and becomes one of the world's most capable sorcerers, and her rivalry with Sabrina eventually develops into a close, trusting friendship. Sabrina is ultimately too minor of a character, with too few onscreen displays of might, to place very high in the show's cumulative power rankings. But she remains a dependably strong and technically virtuous mage — not to mention an incredible archer in the few glimpses we do get of her in combat.
9. Triss
Unlike most of the magic-wielding characters on "The Witcher," who spend a lot of time in close contact with each other as members of the Brotherhood, Triss Merigold (Anna Shaffer) has her own thing going on. Her initial storyline on the show positions her as the Brotherhood's official envoy in the royal court of Temeria, helping Geralt investigate a monster. Later on, she makes her way to Kaer Morhen to become a mentor to Ciri (Freya Allan).
As a seasoned, experienced sorceress, Triss is one of the characters on "The Witcher" with the biggest reserves of knowledge about magic and its utility. That's proven by her participation in the Battle of Sodden Hill, which sees her shrewdly utilize nature-related magic to make poisonous mushrooms sprout out from the ground and create massive barricades out of tree branches as Hail Mary tactics against the Nilfgaardians. Her experience also comes in handy when training Ciri and working out a more informed understanding of Ciri's relationship to magic. While she's not quite in the upper tier of the most powerful mages, she still clearly deserves a high placement for the uniqueness and consistency of her skills.
8. Rience
One of the scariest, most dangerous characters on Netflix's "The Witcher" is Rience, the rogue mage introduced on Season 2 as a recurring character. Played by Chris Fulton in Season 2 and Sam Woolf in Season 3, Rience effectively plays the role of a heavy for an initially mysterious employer. We first meet him as he's being freed by Lydia van Bredevoort (Aisha Fabienne Ross) from a Cintran prison where he was placed a decade before by Queen Calanthe (Jodhi May), and given the task of hunting down Ciri. From there on out, he becomes a memorable secondary antagonist.
The burn scar on Rience's face is the first indicator as to the kind of magic he's fond of practicing. Aptly referred to by Yennefer as the "fire f***er," the ruthless, gleefully cruel hired hunter utilizes fire magic with a level of intensity, proficiency, and single-minded specialization that makes him terrifying in combat. He's a constant looming threat to the show's protagonists during his time on the series, given how hellbent (no pun intended) he is on the task of capturing Ciri. If this list were based purely on destructive force, Rience might rank even higher, but, as it is, his fire magic is still among the series' most imposing assets.
7. Philippa
In the books, Philippa Eilhart (Cassie Clare) may well be the most powerful sorceress in the entire world, as evidenced by her status as a rare peer to Tissaia de Vries (MyAnna Buring). On the Netflix series, her power isn't quite as evident, but still shines through when she does get the opportunity to play a more central role in the plot. A court sorceress to King Vizimir (Ed Birch) in Redania, Philippa eventually turns out to be a staunch, uncompromising nationalist who takes her devotion to her kingdom to shocking extremes, engaging in machinations that would make Machiavelli himself blush.
Her smaller role on the TV version of "The Witcher" means that we haven't gotten to see Philippa as the formidable founder and leader of the Lodge of Sorceresses that she is in the books and games — not yet, anyway. But her unparalleled skill at shapeshifting and her brutal resourcefulness in combat have been plain to see, and she is certainly the kind of mage you absolutely do not want to cross under any circumstances. If future seasons do justice to the Philippa of the source material, they may well bring her to an even higher tier.
6. Yennefer
Yennefer of Vengerberg is, of course, one of the central protagonists of "The Witcher," and many fans would argue that her development is the single most interesting element of the show, give or take criticisms about how it's handled in comparison to the novels. Her arc from lonely hunchback girl to enormously talented (yet technically iffy) magic student to dependable court advisor to ultra-powerful self-governing sorceress is satisfying both for its range and for its increasing moral complexity.
It also tends to complicate the question of where she places on a general ranking of magic users on "The Witcher." If we think about the entire breadth of Yennefer's arc and how long it takes her to reach her full potential as a mage — which arguably doesn't happen until the Battle of Sodden Hill in the Season 1 finale — then she might not, on average, place that highly.
Once Yennefer does "unleash her chaos," though, with her startling display during the aforementioned battle as the key turning point, there remain few mages in the Continent who can stand up to her might. That, indeed, is what gives such high stakes to her eventual journey of errant self-discovery. On the whole, it makes the most sense to put her more or less in the middle of the ranking — still very much a mighty placement — in recognition of where she ends up.
5. Francesca
The existence of elven mages is all but ancient history in the Continent by the time the story of Netflix's "The Witcher" begins, but Francesca Findabair (Mecia Simson) remains as one of the last holdovers of magic ability among her long-suffering, long-persecuted people. As if that weren't enough to mark her as a singularly powerful figure, she's also a spiritual leader to the elves, and the alliance between elves and Nilfgaardians that she forges in conjunction with Fringilla (Mimî M. Khayisa) comes to change the Continent's power dynamic. Eventually, Francesca becomes queen of the elves, succeeding her husband Filavandrel aén Fidháil (Tom Canton).
For someone who's been carrying the torch of sorcery almost all by her lonesome among her people for her whole life, Francesca is rather incredibly powerful. At times, that power can turn terrifying; what she does to the newborn humans in Redania alone is the stuff of nightmares. Then there are times like the battle at Aretuza, which sees her fall into a catatonic state following a harrowing personal loss. She demonstrates such a raw, irrepressible connection to her surroundings — bringing down the floating ring of fire above Aretuza and nearly destroying all of Aretuza — that one shivers at the thought of what she could do if she were in full, rational command of herself.
4. Fringilla
Most of the characters on this list are on the side of the Brotherhood of Mages in the brewing conflict between it and the Nilfgaardian Empire. And then there's Fringilla Vigo, who is a Nilfgaardian herself — and not only that, but arguably the person who makes the greatest individual contribution to the Empire's invasion of Cintra. Initially a student in Aretuza at the same time as Yennefer, she goes on to become a master sorceress who spearheads Nilfgaard's efforts during the war against the Northern kingdoms.
Fringilla may also be the best example of a magic-wielding character whose power on the series is stronger than it was in the books. Not that her abilities as a sorceress were anything to scoff at in the source material, but on Netflix's "The Witcher," Fringilla is quite simply a force of nature. Sure, she does have the upper hand of liberally utilizing dark magic like the rest of the Nilfgaardian mages, but even so, her destruction of an entire Skelligan fleet by conjuring a massive storm is arguably the single most powerful act performed by any mage on the show so far aside from Tissaia, while her horrifyingly crafty use of a time-freezing spell against the Nilfgaardian generals is arguably the most impressive. And she remains as the biggest menace in combat on the Nilfgaardian side throughout the rest of "The Witcher," even if court intrigue eventually does rob her of significant political power.
3. Tissaia
As the rectoress of Aretuza, Tissaia de Vries is an arch-sorceress of sorts in the world of "The Witcher," having trained and mentored pretty much all of the sorceresses we see out and about. She's also one of the most powerful members of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, and, to hear her fellow magic-wielders tell it, there's no mage in the world more powerful, resourceful, or experienced than her.
Tissaia's power is such a plain, taken-for-granted element of series' world-building that it's almost redundant to come up with individual examples of it. In addition to the immense knowledge she endeavors to impart to her pupils at Aretuza, she's consistently depicted as being a notch above everyone else in terms of her strength and control, such as when she frees other powerful mages from their dimeritium bondage without breaking a sweat.
But, while her discipline and moral commitment to balance and harmony among mages mean that she's generally holding back in combat, we do occasionally get glimpses of what Tissaia can do at her full might, such as when she summons Alzur's Thunder during the battle at Aretuza — and those moments are invariably astounding. Never underestimate a pro.
2. Vilgefortz
As powerful characters go, Vilgefortz of Roggeveen (Mahesh Jadu) is a very interesting case. Introduced as a somewhat peripheral player in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, he initially differed from other mages in that his deep interest in magically-enhanced swordsmanship seemed to come at the expense of any other knowledge of magic worth writing home about. This annoyed longtime "The Witcher" fans, many of whom have long held Vilgefortz to be the single most powerful character in the source material — especially when all his supposed mastery of the blade didn't stop him from suffering a humiliating defeat to Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach (Eamon Farren) in the Season 1 finale.
All this, alas, has turned out to be an elaborate feat of misdirection. In Season 3, Vilgefortz shows his true colors by revealing himself as having been the Brotherhood's most powerful and knowledgeable magic user and an incredibly strong combatant all along. His apparent ineptitude on both fronts is has been a deliberate — and incredibly successful — effort to cover up his true intentions in what eventually becomes the Thanedd Coup.
With his mastery of several highly-specialized fields of magic in a decades-long effort to channel the Elder Blood's power for his own nefarious — and as yet opaque — means, he has proven to be on a nearly incomprehensible level of power for what the characters know and understand of the world as it is. Book Vilgefortz has been here all along; he's just been hiding.
1. Ciri
The big question that any power ranking hinges on: "Should unfulfilled power factor in?" As the youngest, least experienced, least technically proficient of the magic-wielding regular characters on "The Witcher," Princess Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon might well be at the bottom of this ranking if we were referring strictly to use of magic such as it is. She's not even a proper formally trained mage, for starters, and it's not until as late as Season 2 that she begins to engage in some technically controlled use of magic.
That said, it's undeniable that, when you have a character whose untapped power is so tremendous that entire factions of the world's political chessboard are fighting just for access to it, there's really no one else you can place at the top of the ranking. As the Elder Blood-possessing heir to Cintra, she has the potential to become nearly godlike in her might if it's fully harnessed — as demonstrated by the sheer amount of destruction she causes when Voleth Meir (Ania Marson) takes over her body. The question of whether we'll ever see Ciri become the sorceress that she has the potential of being remains open, but her status as the show's most powerful character is self-evident.