In the world of The Witcher, it's well known that the number of witchers produced on the Continent has dwindled drastically in recent times. Kaer Morhen, home to the School of the Wolf, produced even fewer witchers than the other schools due to the heavy losses and destruction it suffered throughout the ages. When the last person at Kaer Morhen who knew how to create new witchers died, Vesemir was left in charge.
Unfortunately, despite his staunch capability and reputation as a witcher, Vesemir was no more than a fencing instructor. He had no knowledge on the creation of new witchers beyond his personal experience with the subject, making it impossible for the School of the Wolf to continue to grow under his watch. Because of this, one of the last witchers to have been created and trained at Kaer Morhen was a particularly scathing and bitter young man known as Lambert.
Lambert's general disposition, despite his biting tongue and seemingly cruel nature, is understandable when one takes his history into consideration. His home life as a boy was incredibly unhappy, as Lambert's drunken, abusive father tormented Lambert and his mother endlessly, so much so that the two wished the man would die and set them free.
As fate would have it, his father might very well have died one evening while stumbling home drunk. He ran into a nest of nekkers and would have likely been killed had a witcher not been close enough to intervene and save his life. There are some allusions this witcher was Vesemir, and as a reward for his deed, he invoked the Law of Surprise, asking for the first thing Lambert's father saw when he got home.
Unfortunately, the first thing he saw upon his arrival was his son, and Vesemir took the boy back to Kaer Morhen with him to train him as a witcher. Geralt often attempted to placate Lambert, reminding him that becoming witchers was their destiny, but Lambert remained bitter over the fact that he was never given a choice about who he might become. Even worse was that his life was traded for that of a man he hated to his very core, and it became just one more reason for Lambert to resent his father.
When Lambert first appeared in CD Projekt Red's The Witcher, his rudeness became the most notable thing about him. Geralt even expressed in the codex entry about his fellow witcher that he was particularly cruel to Triss Merigold. Geralt believed that Lambert's cruelty was, in some cases, his way of expressing fondness for someone, suggesting that Lambert has harboring a bit of a crush on Triss.
Lambert did not physically appear in Assassins of Kings, but Geralt did dream about him and another witcher called Berengar, who appeared in the first game. Lambert did, however, play a significant role in Wild Hunt, where it became obvious that he was jealous of the fame Geralt had earned as a witcher. The younger witcher thought it a cruel twist of fate that, despite everything, he hadn't earned more personal renown himself -- but considering his general disposition, that was likely never going to happen for him.
Lambert, along with Eskel, Vesemir and Geralt, played a significant role in Ciri's training while she was at Kaer Morhen, that knowledge made available during a dream Geralt had in the early stages of the game. Later in Wild Hunt, Geralt could encounter his fellow witcher after taking on an ekimmara contract, which led to the two of them working together to avenge the murder of Lambert's best friend, Aiden, a witcher from the School of the Cat.
Lambert was later found at Kaer Morhen, where he fought in the battle against the Wild Hunt. Depending on player's choices, Lambert could die in that battle. If Geralt didn't intervene to save Lambert during the fight, only Keira Metz could rescue him, but Geralt had to invite Keira to Kaer Morhen in order for that to happen.
In the event that Keira Metz was there and saved Lambert's life, the two of them entered into a romantic relationship, leaving Kaer Morhen together to explore a new life. One hopes that, in making a choice for himself when it came to Keira, Lambert finally found a sense of peace to alleviate the bitterness he carried throughout his life.
It is likely Lambert's bitterness grew and shaped who he became because he spent years as a witcher thinking about what he would have done differently should he have had a say in the matter. Instead of viewing his life of duty as a means of escape from his abusive father, Lambert thought only of the sacrifices he was forced to make against his will. Despite his harsh nature, it was obvious at times that Lambert was a good man beneath the prickly armor he wore to protect himself from a life that only seemed to cause him pain.
0 Comments