Witcher Monsters: Leshens - Witcher Lore - Witcher Mythology - Witcher 3 lore 

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Killing Leshens is always bitter sweet, they're a challenge and a lot of fun to beat but on the other hand you're killing a monster that really just wants to be left alone its only really hostile when humans (and dwarves) intrude on its territory. Which is usually far far away from any settlements.

First time I ran into a Leshen I was level 7 and lost in the woods, it scared the hell out of me and every time I tried to escape it'd just teleport close to me again, they always freak me out now

Leshens are one of my favorite monsters in the game, because they are so mysterious and cool/creepy looking.

Everybody gangsta till the tree start walking

There's a 2017 movie called "The Ritual" where a group of friends goes on a trip to the woods. It used the same kind of atmosphere that you experience when in Leshen territory in the Witcher 3.

I was kinda shook when I saw a leshen in the background of the cutscene from the Leshen contract in Skellige

I would never forget my first encounter with this creature. Walking down the forest the winds get stronger, and in the background tree branches moving from tree to tree. It was the creepiest and most immersive moments in my many years of gaming.

when I first encountered a leshen, it was coming up to me really slowly and since I never saw them before I just stood there trying to make out what it was...only for the bloody roots to thrown me to the ground and scare the living daylight out of me.

Thanks for making this video about my mother-in-law. I finally know what I'm up against!

We never hunt in these woods...not even if it means the whole village starves!

"The Leshy (Russian: Ле́ший, IPA: [ˈlʲeʂɨj]; literally, "[he] from the forest", Polish: Boruta, Leszy) is a tutelary deity of the forests in Slavic mythology. The plural form in Russian is лешие, leshiye (retaining the stress on the first syllable). As the spirit rules over the forest and hunting, he may be related to the Slavic God Porewit.[1][2]" Entry from a Wikipedia page if anyone wants to read more :)

This thing killed a Pukei-Pukei! Not just any pukei-pukie but the best pukei-pukei too.

man you know how the feel when you are still level 10 and just wandering in the forest at midnight and suddenly you meet this creature for first time and appears behind a tree with skull symbol above its health bar along with terrifying scream, that really scared shit out of me and i still remember that until now..

Leshens are a top favourite monster of mine, they’re strangely intriguing

I swear a leshen is hunting me through Velen right now. Just started a new game, was level 7, already cleared all the tasks in the area, a pack of wolves charged me in the woods. I was fighting them when a flock of crows came out of nowhere, covering my screen. I look up and there's a freaking leshen in my face. After running, several hours later I went back to a cave I cleared before. I remember a fake wall and wanted to see where it led after meeting Kiera. I'm going through the cave, no enemies, break a wall... And a leshen just steps into the opening. I freaking book it to the exit, but like a true horror game it appears at the exit out of a flock of crows. To add to the terror, it thrusts a wall of vines at me, enough to cover the entire cave, and throws me to the other end of the cave. Luckily I could run the other way, hoping it wouldn't follow. It did. Luckily for me, the illusionary wall was just a second exit. I'm very weary of my surroundings in Velen anymore. I don't know what I did to piss this leshen off, but it always finds me.

Looks like a Windigo. Those are pretty creepy in their own lore. Leshens are pretty intimating compared to other monsters.

Leshens are my favorite monsters in the game. My first encounter with them came as a surprise. I was in Velen, en route to clear a ruined manor of wraiths, when a level 20 something suddenly started following Roach and I by teleporting. I was level 11 then. I tried to outrun it on full gallop but it followed me up to the manor gates. I realized then that it wasn't going to leave me alone so I dismounted and drew my silver sword. At that point, I had never seen a Leshen or even known about them before. This tall, barky motherfucker with a deer's skull for a head and mysterious powers caught my fascination right on the spot. I had no idea what it was. I thought it was a woodland spirit of some sort because it teleported, so I applied specter oil but was surprised when there was no difference in my damage output. I thought then, "What the fuck is this thing?" Then it summoned wolves and got a lot more aggressive. The fight was very long and I ruined two silver swords while doing it, but ultimately I killed it. I remember it as one of the best fights I've had in the game. Leshens are equal parts mysterious and dangerous. You can see why the people in that village in Skellige revere one as a god. They are definitely what a tribal deity would look like, a physical manifestation of a man's fear as he stalks the woods alone, hunting for game. That's why they're my favorite monster in the Witcher universe, and why I never sell or otherwise remove my Leshen trophies.

Leshiy in slavic mithology is forest guardian, who lives in the woods. It definitely comes to Witcher lore from trere

fun story of mine recently started the game anew and was messin around, explorin random stuff. cave with ton of wraiths, nothin new, yet im rusty and playin on dm so I die few times tryin to explore. I get to the end of the cave, which is also full of poison gas but suddenly somethin slaps me for half me health. mind you im level 8 or so and behind me a level 20 leshen swings his massive tree dong. I'm not fluent in relict tongue but im pretty sure he said ''mate, get fucked''. somethin fun was that the poisonous gas, which I had cleared with igni, started respawnin right on top of him. massive 2k damage started poppin around 3 times every second over his ugly face. I had like 4 bombs crafted didnt care one bit threw them out like tic tacs just to make him stand still as I knew my sword did like 150 while gas was doin solid 6k/sec dps. bombs ran out but luckily his health was almost down to 0 and I just did a quen to soak up his next uproot which he did but died to suffocation i nthe gas. ''now THATS what I call A fight'' I say as I triumphantly loot my overleveled, actually difficult terms of mechanics foe. sense of true pride overtaking me as I igni away the gas and walk towards my phat lewts. some fuckin skull and a smokin pipe or some shit. it was like 4 trash vendor items, not a sword, nor armor, nor mutagen. I trashed an enemy via super random environment usage just to get 20 crowns worth of trash items. on the bright side there was another room in the cave with an ekimmara or some other lower vampire asshat who dropped some sword that I could break down for useful mats. 10/10 would die over and over to wraiths just to get jumpscared by a leshen more than twice my level just to get gas chambered and drop me a doll and an old dining plate Lesson of the day-bombs r friends

These were always my favorite in the game. Appearance, nature, and idea of these creatures fascinated me. They aren't really "evil" creatures either.

Leshens buff wolves also. During the Fall of the House of Reardon contract, if you attract the attention of the Leshen in that area enroute to Reardon Manor it will not only summon the wolves but buff them to an equal level to itself. Fall of the House of Reardon is a lvl 6 contract, the Leshen is roughly lvl 20 or so. So a red skull Leshen with 4-5 red skull wolves (normally lvl 4-5) is a clear indication that not only can it summon wolves to assist it but buff them also. I had caught its attention but kept galloping thru on Roach. The Leshen kept teleporting to chase me down and thus ended up outside Reardon Manor with wolves ntm the Wraiths which are obviously the problem for the contract.

Can you imagine if the monster was a green dragon? That would be deadly *WOULDN'T IT WITCHER GEORGE?*

Greetings WitcherGeorge!! I am brand new to The Witcher Universe working on my very 1st playthrough of the 1st Witcher adventure. I've been watching your videos for weeks now trying to learn as much as humanly possible before I get to TW3-WH because there is just SO MUCH INFORMATION! I wanted to say THANK YOU!!! My favorite thing is how you're able to break these up into manageable bite-sized videos. Also, the volume of comments also provides a vast basin of additional knowledge for which I am also grateful. Thanks again to you and all of your commenting followers for all the information.

I remember going through the woods on Roach one time. Just minding my own business, a lvl 6(or 5 I don't remember) and suddenly this Leshen emerged from the trees man! I only got back into the game on the hardest difficulty on game Plus. Sucker kept following me until I reached a clearing. Love Leshens but damn are they creepy when they are just wandering about in Velen's woodland ereas.

Kinda reminds me of the real life legend windigo. Or I think that’s how it’s said.

You forgot to mention that they are inspired by a folklore creature called Leszy.

Leshens. My favourite creature in The Witcher. A wolfpack, ravens, Then they appear. By far the scariest monster I fought the first in the Witcher 3. Once you know how to kill them they are much easier but the wolf leader can be a trouble sometimes if you are low level. What I like about them is their tall skinny body and the fact they remind me of Hollows from Bleach. Tree hollows call them

Leshens looks like a cool and mysterious monster it's like a reaper of the forest or something.

I remember my first ancient Leshen, he actually was the first leshen I found and I remember the chills and the weird sensation that someone was behind me before I even see him. This are one of the best creatures in the witcher stories

I'd love to see a video about why geralt is also called "the butcher of blaviken" I read the short story in the last wish, but never fully understood what happened.

WitcherGeorge is basically real life Vesimir

i would like to see a lore video for Dryads.

The first Leshen I ran into is the one near Dragonslayer's Grotto in Velen. I got into the main chamber and he had glitched into it and was fighting the vampire. Noped right outta there.

Such an interesting monster. My fave to fight but I ultimately let the Ancient Leshen in Skellige live. And as always, gr8 work 👌

Sometimes there is a very easy explanation for the inspiration behind a monster. The name Leshen is most likely derived from the word "les", with its lěsъ root (excuse the pun), which in many Slavic languages means forest, woods. As such, the leshen monster would be a personification of the forest itself.

On my first playthrough, I saw one randomly in Velen around level 10. At the time, I literally had never seen one before, it teleported near and did some strange things while I watched it. Saving my game first of course, I walked over to the thing, it being level 20 apparently, and attacked it. Instead of attacking me, It just completely ignored me, although I didn't seem to be moving the health bar. Eventually, it just started teleporting around and I decided I should go before I got Geralt Killed.

Great information! I love Leshens. They are camouflaged with the forest 🌿

Congrats to 5K Subs. You deserve more of them. Good work, keep it up! :)

If you watch The Ritual on Netflix it appears to be inspired by the same folklore.

leshens " get out of my wood!" Me " ahh wendego"

Just found your channel and love your explanations of the lore of Witcher. Got yourself a new fan

Loved the livestream. Very interesting video aswell.

Thanks for making this video, I also have quite an interest in leshens!

Definitely one of my favorite scenes in the game, when it walks between the trees.

Honestly your voice and little accent make these videos genuinely pleasant to listen to. 10/10.

First Leshen i met was at level 6 doing the haunted mansion quest of thet lovely homeless lady that returned to a village but cant reclaime that now ruins of a mansion due to spooky ghosts. I was taking a shortcut through the woods when i saw that nightmare fuel of a black smok cloud infront of me and that giant red skull marking it as my worst fucking nightmare. I screamed like the bitch i am and forced roach almost off a cliff riding away xD Still my fave monster, the design is so sick and it took me a bit to connect it to the legendary slavic Leshy.

that axe the drowner is holding at 5:19 looks like a falmer axe from skyrim...

I’ve watched this video many times over and over wanted to share my first Leshen. It was night and I saw it in the mist, I was really confused and I hid from it. It might have glitched or something because it didn’t attack me at any point. It was very intimidating and just left me alone. Favourite monster in the game.

According to the tales of old, Leszy (plural: Leszni) was a woodland spirit simmilar to Lasowik, but much more violent. Although with enough sentience to recognise people, for example they would be hostile to lumberjacks and hunters, but were said to tend to children lost in the woods, keep animals away from them and lead them out of the forest, where they would just stand at the edge of woods, watching. The duality of monsters is very relevant in slavic mythology best ilustrated in the legend of Swarożyc, where his 3 sisters were forcibly married to monsters, but when he tried to free them, by fighting said monster, they all turned out to be good spouses, and offered him aid in his quest to slay a dragon.

I would like to see a Lore about Ogroids especially on "Golyat", "the giant from the clouds" and the "ice giant" nice vids and please continue the good work

I'm on my fifth playthrough of this game and I just fought the one near Kaer Morhan. Loved the fight. Afterwards I went a fought a level 30 Earth Elemental while I was level 24. It took about 10-15 minutes but I won and barely took any damage

Reminds of an ancient Nordic god from folklore. The movie "The Ritual" has a good depiction of the monster with very similar abilities but on a more amplified level. Perhaps the same folklore that inspired that movie inspired the Leshens as well?

My 2nd favorite species in the witcher, first being godlings and Johny the main man one of my favorite characters. But leshens look so badass and fit so perfectly this universe and the music too. They also look like they're from the game Hellblade.

We can assume that the deer skull is a deliberate decoration as spriggans in Blood and wine are described as a subspecies of leshen and we see they have a face

Loving your content !

Leshens are by far my favorite monster in the game. I’m new to the whole Witcher thing so I just put the disc in to play and didn’t look around for lore and stuff. The first time I ran into one was great. They are genuinely creepy

Leshens are briefly mentioned once in the books but they’re referred to as leshy

recently discovered the channel, really enjoying the content, made sure to subscribe.

Leshens are definitely some of my favorite monsters in the game. very interesting.

Awesome video!😎👍👍👍

Can't wait to see more background history in the Witcher 4.

Hello again George these shits make me jump when running into them by surprise especially at night in the woods.

I love your vids man keep it up

They get invisible to forgot that detail. Loving the channel new subscribe ✌

Funniest thing I had is that I was fighting the kikimore workers monsters and a level 20 Leshen appeared while I was level 10. I was "oh fuck, now I have to fight a fucking Leshen and these bugs things?". Home, watched me fight the insects for a bit, and then walked off. Thanks Leshy. You saved me that playthrough

Leshens and fiends are my favorites in game enemies.

Very helpful thanking you very much kind sir for making this video

The leshen in this game is actually based on the Leshy from Slavic folklore, kind of disappointed that you didn't come across that information, it would make an interesting side point to put in, given, it's not lore for the game, but it's where they got the idea for the lore of the game for this creature

Could you cover more of the creatures, the nithing would be cool to know more about

I get scared shitless every time I encounter one

The only time I've ever run into a Leshen is when I was playing that one crossover event quest in Monster Hunter World. There's even an Ancient Leshen, which I believe is exclusively in Monster Hunter World. Look for the quest "Contact: Woodland Spirit" in the event section of the quest board in Monster Hunter World for more info. You also have to be at a certain Hunter Rank to do this quest if your new to that game.

Only request dude can you please make a single playlist for monsters and creatures your stuff is great just a little all over the place on your channel

A guy goes boar hunting in the woods. Leshen teleports behind him and says, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY FOREST!!?”

I encountered my first leshen under the mountain with the place of power at the top. I was at level 7 trying to find the griffin armor manuscripts and you have to figth some wraiths and in the end an ekimmara to get it, but out of nowher a leshen appeared with the red skull and ??? Lvl and I got really screwed up. Gotta say that the 3 leshens I fought in my first gameplay were the most challenging monster i had to fought. Always fought them with poor equipment and too few bombs (found 2 of them randomly) except for the leshen of the dwarf contract. Epic long fights, leshens have my respect.

Didn’t really notice this before but they kinda look like the Forsworn from Skyrim, the forsworn armor set is similar to the leshens design

I think my utmost personal achievement or at least first personal achievement that was note worthy was killing the red skull leshen around Reardon Manor at night, with a Velen Storm, seeing almost shit nothing, and to note that I was on my first playthrough and played on The difficulty before Death March, so that took me like 20 min or so to defeat it. My blood is still pumping when I meet a leshen, even if I kill leshens like nekkers at this point on my 3rd Death March run.

They've got much more going on upstairs than just an animal or beast - they're basically emissaries of the forests. I think we could use a few of them around these days to tell you the truth.

Leshens are based on a Slavic legendary creature called the leshy, or “lord of the forest”. They were a nature spirit similar to a dryad or small fey.

correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the journal entry in game say that spriggans are a subspecies of leshin, that won't attack unless provoked (most of the time)?

0:22 what music is that? is it from skellige? it sounds really beautiful, where can I find it?

Leshen is one of the best monsters we encounter.That is why I have leshen tattooed on my leg.They are just so cool.

The Woodland Spirit was my first leshen, and I was really surprised when I looked into the other option in the quest... don't look behind you.

yo a leshen 1 hit me when i was questing and ever since then i am a friend of the woodland spirit

6:42 In my experience, Igni or any kind of fire damage doesn't stagger it/immobilize it, but then again, I guess it depends on your sign intensity. Same with Demiritium bombs, doesn't stop it transforming into crows

Personally I believe leshen’s to be the most challenging beasts in the base game. On death march being hit =death, and they have an almost unlimited amount of health, aswell as the fact that they summon a pack of wolves multiple times, and they can evaporate and teleport.

Honestly my first interaction with a leshen was the crossover event in monster Hunter world where you fight an ancient leshen and since then on they’ve been one of my favourite monsters in the Witcher universe, they’re said to be guardians of the forest and of nature meaning I’m thinking that an origin of a leshen is different to most, I think they are perhaps spirits of fallen, most likely dryads because of their close connection to nature, and their spirits attach to nature related items eventually forming a leshen, idk why I think this but I just got a strong feeling about it

This is by far my favorite monster in witcher and myth monster. I think there base on the Windago.

I think the quest you mentioned is called "The Lord of the Wood". I did I recently

They remind me of those old Slavic legends about Slavic god Stribor

I have always been curious about the tree creature that appeared in the tower of swallows with the dryads. At first I thought it was a leshen, but the description didn't seem to fit, so I wonder what it is. Do you happen to know anything about it?

Leshens remind me a LOT of Native American WENDIGOS. & if you ever played wolf among us that rendition of the Jersey Devil... the buck skull design on a monster is probably the most badass thing ever.

Leshens are honestly my favorite monsters in the game.

Witcher George is awesome.

I love the leshys!

The new Leshy game, coming out soon I believe, looks awesome

Most of the witcher creatures and monsters are taken from Eastern Europe and Balkan folklore.If you need to do research you should find everything in the folklore stories,however im not sure the creatures are with the same names as in the witcher series.For instance when I was young I remember reading a story about the Lessnik(Leshens).It was super intersting.It was written that all leshens had a leader named Musail which was the strongest leshen of all.Eastern Europe has alot of intresting books about mythichal creatures and if anyone wants to do some research I suggest searching for them.

Thanks, I appreciate the video. We don't get much recognition anymore.

Can't wait for the witcher season 2

Lesben fights are the best. The woodland spirit especially. But i always prefer to do the ritual for that one instead