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Heard some stories from folk in Caingorn recently that'd put a chill up yer spine. Talk of some kinda specter that haunts travelers and makes 'em hunger like nothin' else. |  | |
| - Rodolf Kazmer | |||
Vendigo are extremely dangerous, man-eating monsters spotted in Continent's northern forests and cold mountain ranges.
Quick Answers
How do Vendigo survive in cold mountain ranges?
Why are Vendigo often spotted alone?
What makes Vendigo's claws particularly dangerous?
What are the origins of the Vendigo legend?
What is the significance of elk antlers on a Vendigo?
Characteristics
Physical description
Vendigo are tall, humanoid in shape, reaching up to 3.5m, and tend to weigh around 110kg. They have disease-riddled claws and pale skin described as twisted, resembling a naked and starving traveler. Their facial features are ragged, their lips appear caked with blood, their heads crowned with a rack of elk antlers.[1]
Behaviour
Vendigo haunt the cold regions, preying alone on unfortunate travellers. They try to lower the morale of the groups they target by magically spoiling food supplies or summoning snowy blizzards. They are afraid of fire.[1]
Vendigo's Curse
Vendigo are able to hex humanoids by making an eye contact. If a vendigo successfuly hexes their target, the person affected is cursed with the so-called Vendigo's Curse.
The curse progresses in three stages. The morning after the target is cursed, they wake up feeling a strong desire to consume fresh meat. This desire persists throughout the day and if that target is unable to consume fresh meat by the next morning their stamina is significantly reduced. On the second morning, the target wakes with a constant growling in their stomach and a deep, unquenchable hunger for fresh, bloody, meat. Their condition deteriorates further if they fail to eat any raw meat before the next morning. On the third morning, the target wakes with an intense hunger for meat that gradually progresses toward cannibalistic desires. Physiologically and psychologically tormented, the targeted person is in serious risk of becoming a so-called "vendigo's spawn" at sundown.
Vendigo's spawns are completely controlled by the vendigo that cursed them. Their intelligence is significantly lowered and in exchange they become immune to coercion and magical charms. Breaking the curse requires either killing the original vendigo or taking the spawn out of the area where they have been hexed and beating the vendigo's magic by a knowledgeable mage, druid, or priest.[1]
Human culture and the vendigo
People from the Far North manufacture ceremonial masks supposedly protecting from vendigo's curse. At one point prior 1270s those masks started to be imported by mountaineers in Hengfors League.[1]
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Unused material
Wendigos were supposed to appear in the base game during its development in 2013 - 2014 but were removed during this time.[2]
Information from leaked materials
- Humanlike, giant monster living in the forests. Similar to Werewolf. It's partially made of ice and attacks people tearing out their hearts. Wendigos are afraid of fire.
- Role in the group: Individual
- Preferred behavior: aggressive - chases the opponent and attacks.
- Special attacks and actions:
- Strong attacks - his attacks are slow paced but deal high damage.
- Charge - creature charges, the target is knocked down if hit. Charge can be dodged. Blocking with Quen saves from damage but not from the knockdown effect. Charge cannot be parried.
- Bite the heart - when a character is knocked down, Wendigo can bite his heart out. It's a extremely dangerous attack causing instant death effect. The chance for this attack is around 20%. It is very important to not get knocked down by a Wendigo.
- Jump attack - the monster can jump from a distance of 10 - 15 meters and perform an attack. It prevents the player from escaping. Player can dodge or cast Quen to protect himself.
- Defence:
- Huge creature - Wendigo doesn't play every hit animation. His attacks cannot be interrupted with normal strikes (player has to use amplified Aard to break incoming attack).
- Very high health regeneration.
- Vital points:
- Instant kill:
- Piercing the heart - Geralt aims precisely through Wendigos open ribs and strikes the heart (cost: 5 points)
- Protection: none
- Critical effect/disable ability:
- Cutting ligaments - disables the Charge and Jump attack abilities (cost: 2 points).
- Piercing the heart - instead of killing the creature it turns out the health regeneration ability (cost: 2 points).
- Crushing the jaw - disables the Bite the heart ability (cost: 1 point).
- Massive damage: none
- Instant kill:
- Immune to: Steel, Aard
- Vulnerable to: Silver, Igni
Notes
- If a player romances Triss and later tells Ciri in Skellige about moving to Kovir, she'll comment that maybe Geralt will get a contract on a vendigo among other monsters.
Trivia
- Wendigo are cannibalistic monsters or evil spirits in Algonquian folklore. While the accounts of the creature vary across Algonquian cultures, the stories usually serve as a cautionary tale against selfishness and greed, protecting and enforcing the cooperative values of the community. The non-Indigenous tales about wendigo tend to be stripped of the moral side, focusing instead on the horror and gruesomeness of the monster itself.[3]
- The vendigo as described in The Witcher Role-Playing Game seems to be based on the Algonquian traditions, although still including some elements of the modern popcultural version such as horns.