Anna Strenger Secondary Characters

Journal Description

Geralt did not meet Anna Strenger, the Bloody Baron’s wife, when he visited Crow’s Perch. Some time before his arrival this woman had disappeared in unexplained circumstances along with her daughter, Tamara.

Geralt did, however, receive a detailed description of the missing woman. Anna was a comely forty-something woman with green eyes and hair dark as raven wings which she kept tied in a tight bun behind her head.

Geralt discovered that Anna’s marital life had not been working out as well as she might have hoped. She had recently been pregnant, but lost her child for unknown reasons shortly before her disappearance.

When Geralt pushed the baron about the matter, the ugly truth finally came out. Desperate and miserable, Anna had fled, taking Tamara with her, after her drunken husband beat her badly.

The baron was convinced Anna had miscarried because of his actions, but Geralt was not so certain about this - he couldn’t stop thinking about the strange talisman meant to ward off evil power Anna had received from the pellar.

During their heart-to-heart the baron gave Geralt a somewhat clearer image of the Strengers’ married life. While her husband was off leading military campaigns, Anna would seek comfort in the arms of a childhood friend.

Once the baron discovered the truth, he fell into an indescribable fury and killed Anna’s lover, something which, predictably enough, further deepened the chasm separating the couple.

During his search for Anna Geralt discovered, to his great astonishment, that she and the gray-haired old woman in the swamp were one and the same person. The marks on her hands seemed to be symbols of some mysterious pact she had made with the Crones.

The situation grew even more entangled when Geralt discovered that, after fleeing Crow’s Perch, Anna had been taken captive by some gigantic beast who carried her off into the darkness. As If that weren’t horror enough, eyewitness testimony claimed her hands had burned with strange, glowing symbols shortly before this.

Perhaps this was precisely what the talisman Anna had received from the pellar had been meant to guard against?

Tamara only deepened Geralt’s sad understanding of her mother’s situation. The women had decided to flee together because they had had enough of the baron’s drunken rages and beatings. Anna hated her husband so much that she was ready to do anything in order to be free of the man - and the child he had put inside her.

Geralt put the facts together and realized the old woman in the swamps was, in fact, Anna, the baron’s missing wife. He also learned that the signs on her hands were symbols of the pact she had made with the Crones in order to get rid of her unwanted child.

Anna was found in the end, but the events she had witnessed and took part in had left such a deep mark on her body and mind that she would never again be the same. Her mind had quite simply cracked under the weight of it all, dropping her into an abyss of horror and despair.

Though Anna was found in the end, she was no longer herself, for a terrible curse had transformed her into a monster. The witcher had a good idea who had prepared this fate for her.

with a curse which made the fetus inside her wither on the vine, taking Anna’s life energy with it. In despair she turned to the pellar, who made her a talisman to hamper the evil magic’s influence. Anna had lost this during her fight with the baron and was thus rendered defenseless against the Crones’ magic.

After that, the worst was free to happen - the markings on her palms began to burn and a fiend dragged her to the heart of Crookback Bog, where she paid back her debt as the Crones’ slave.

Geralt snapped the evil spell afflicting Anna, restoring her true form. Yet the Crones had a included one last nasty pinch of vengeance in their vile brew that caused Anna to die as soon as she regained her freedom.

Anna’s loved ones had time only for a brief farewell before she parted.

Geralt snapped the evil spell afflicting Anna, restoring her true form. Yet the Crones had a included one last nasty pinch of vengeance in their vile brew that caused Anna to die as soon as she regained her freedom.

Tamara and the baron had time only for a brief farewell before she parted.

Despite the witcher’s best efforts, he did not succeed in lifting Anna’s curse. To the despair and horror of all who witnessed it, Anna Strenger died a horrible death, incinerated by the Crones’ last act of vengeance.