In the fourth season of the series The Witcher, a notorious villain appears who brings fear and terror to the witchers. He is so feared that even dangerous monsters seem almost harmless in comparison.
Who is meant? Leo Bonhart is known to all fans of The Witcher, as he plays an important role in the story, especially regarding Ciri. He appears in the following books:
- Blood of Elves
- The Tower of the Swallow
- The Lady of the Lake
Bonhart also appears in the fourth season of the Netflix series and is portrayed by Sharlto Copley. Film fans may recognize him from his role in District 9.
But what makes Leo Bonhart so dangerous and why are the witchers afraid of him? This is mainly due to his profession and his ruthless character. As a bounty hunter, he usually fulfilled his contracts very dutifully and with deadly precision. The hulking, yet very gaunt Bonhart was notorious for being brutal and sadistic towards his victims.
This delight in the suffering of others was also evident when he killed three witchers. After killing them, he took their medallions and wore them as trophies around his neck. Specifically, the medallions depicted a cat, a griffin, and a wolf – symbols of the witcher schools. Geralt belonged to the school of the wolf, by the way.
Particularly interesting is Bonhart’s relationship with Ciri, as the bounty hunter behaved unusually towards her and opposed his employers. However, he was by no means less brutal.
Ciri as a pawn of various powers
Attention Spoiler: In the following section, we tell the story of Ciri and Leo Bonhart. We reveal details that have not yet been shown in the Netflix series but are already known from the books.
What happened between Ciri and Leo Bonhart? The bounty hunter received contracts from two different parties, both of which were interested in Ciri.
On the one hand, the investigator Stefan Skellen, who belonged to the intelligence service of Nilfgaard. He wanted Bonhart to kill Ciri. On the other hand, Baron Casadei – also from Nilfgaard – requested that Bonhart simply capture Ciri and bring her to him alive.
At first, it seemed that the bounty hunter would carry out his tasks correctly. He confronted the Rats gang in combat. This was a group of mostly young criminals that Ciri had joined.
However, Bonhart made quick work of the gang: He killed each one of them and beheaded them. He took their heads as proof. During this action, the bounty hunter managed to capture Ciri as well.
However, instead of delivering her to Baron Casadei or killing her for Stefan Skellen, he imprisoned her in his own dungeon. There, he did terrible things to Ciri, inflicted pain on her, and tortured her.
Bonhart then pursued his own goal: He gave Ciri a sword that he had forged especially for her and sent her to Claremont, a town in Ebbing in Nilfgaard. There, she had to participate in staged fights.
In an unattended moment, Ciri managed to escape. Leo Bonhart resumed the hunt and found her again in a swamp. However, she managed to escape her hunter once more.
How did it end for Leo Bonhart? There was a final encounter with Ciri. At the Citadel of Stygga, she succeeded in bringing the bounty hunter down herself. Thus, the life of this brutal and sadistic man, who was perhaps feared more by the witchers than most real monsters, came to an end.
His relationship with Ciri is intriguing, as Bonhart was always driven by a fascination for her and even abandoned his employers for her. Presumably, he would have liked to kill her himself, and in an arena, before the eyes of many.
While the video games of The Witcher only gave him a mention in the first part, he is allowed to show what he can do in the 4th and then 5th season of the Netflix series. Fans had to be particularly strong in the current season: Henry Cavill is replaced as Witcher, but that is not the only change fans have to cope with
