The Curse of the Black Sun involves a specific eclipse that took place in the world ofThe Witcher. According to the legend, any girl born during that solar eclipse would be transformed into a cruel creature, and their birth served as a prelude to the end of the world.
Though this curse’s supposed effects have never been proven true, it has influenced events in the story, including inThe Witcher 3. On more than one occasion, Geralt has also met women who were born under the Black Sun.
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The Ravings of Mage Eltibald
The Curse of the Black Sun was prophesied by a mage named Eltibald. As the story goes, Eltibald had been researching the ancient traditions and mythologies of old races that once walked theContinent inThe Witcher. After much investigation, he came to the conclusion that a certain solar eclipse would transform 60 girls into cruel creatures. These girls would supposedly be “contaminated” and possessed by demons who made them evil and twisted.
This eclipse was known as the Black Sun, and its effects would supposedly make way for the return of Goddess Lilit, a powerful demon that was still worshipped by people in the East. InThe Last Wish, it’s said that afflicted young girls would pave the way for the demon goddess. They were the “sixty women wearing gold crowns, who would fill the river valleys with blood.” When Eltibald shared his findings, it caused panic among the people, and they sought ways to protect themselves from thesecursed creatures inThe Witcher.
Of Towers, Damsels, and Self-fulfilling Prophecies
One man who took action was a mage named Stregobor. Though inThe Witcherhe was a powerful mageand a celebrated illusionist, Stregobor’s greatest passion was doing research into the Curse of the Black Sun. He was a staunch believer in Eltibald’s prophecy and sought to prove the effects of the Black Sun.
At the time, Stregobor was a member of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, so he urged his fellow mages to capture any young girls believed to be cursed. Thus, dozens of girls were taken away from their royal families and imprisoned in towers. Stregobor then began performing violent experiments on them, testing to see how they differed from normal women. Many died from just how brutal Stregobor’s tests were, but the mage couldn’t find conclusive evidence pointing to the legitimacy of the curse.
In both live experimentation and post-mortem autopsies, Stregobor found these girls no different from other humans. Some reportedly had mutations in their bodies, though not aspowerful as witcher mutations. Still, this evidence wasn’t conclusive enough for the mage, so he continued with his experimentation.
Eventually, some of the girls managed to escape from their undue imprisonment. Local princes started getting ideas of saving their beautiful princesses from captivity, so they actively sought out these captive women. Other girls, however, managed to escape on their own somehow. Many of these escaped girls then went on to do cruel things as a result of their violent upbringing. One of them was a girl named Renfri — a character showcased inSeason 1 ofThe Witcherseries.
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Renfri from The Witcher Books
In “The Lesser Evil,” a shortstory inThe Last Wish, Renfri is introduced as the daughter of a kind king. While her father treated her with plenty of love and care, his newly wedded wife claimed that Renfri was dangerous, owing to visions brought to her by a magic mirror. Thus, she sent for Stregobor to come and investigate. The mage tailed the young girl and concluded that she was cursed by the Black Sun.
Though the mage wanted to isolate her and likely experiment on her, the queen immediately hired a thug to kill her stepdaughter. This thug robbed and abused the young Renfri, but she managed to kill him when he was distracted. After which, she fled, surviving the wilderness as well as the assassins that her stepmother had sent after her.
Eventually, Renfri crossed paths with Stregobor again and vowed to kill him. However, the wily mage was able to evade her multiple times. It was only in the town of Blaviken that the long chase ended. Geralt had happened to meet Stregobor and Renfri there, and both wanted the other dead. Renfri, in particular, had planned to kill the people of the town one by one in an attempt to coax Stregobor out of his impenetrable tower. Thus,Geralt chose the lesser eviland killed her. Stregobor left scot-free.
Sylvia Anna of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Sylvia Anna orSyanna ofThe Witcher 3is the Duchess of Toussaint’s older sister, and she was born under the Black Sun. At a young age, she and Anarietta were an unruly pair, always playing pranks on the people of Toussaint. Though it was only ever Syanna who was seen as the bad apple in the family. Though the curse is never mentioned to explain this, it likely played a part in how people viewed her.
One day, the sisters’ pranking went too far. The two planned to throw fish bladders at a Nilfgaardian envoy with a bald patch. Anarietta even lit it on fire, impressing Syanna. When the time came to face punishment, only Syanna was penalized.Anarietta ofThe Witcher 3didn’t say a word in her defense.
Syanna’s title and birthright were stripped away, and a group of knights was ordered to escort her to the outskirts of Toussaint. They did more than that, unfortunately — insulting the former princess, denying her food, and abusing her. In the end, they left her in the wilderness in her ragged clothes and without a coin to her name. Syanna swore she would never forget the knights and what they did to her. This eventually led up to the events ofThe Witcher 3’sBlood and Wine DLC.
Renfri and Syanna’s stories show just how much of a self-fulfilling prophecy the Curse of the Black Sun was. These girls could have grown up to be kind women had they been showered with the love and care they needed. However, given how viciously they were treated, they instead turned into the cruel creatures the curse had supposedly foretold. In Syanna’s words, “You wanted a monster? Then a monster you shall get.”
The Witcher 3: Wild Huntis available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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