Aedd Gynvael (Elder Speech: a Shard of Ice) is a city in Narok, in the Dogbane valley on the Toina river, governed from Rakverelin. The local alderman is Herbolth and the resident mage is Istredd.
The city's name, as recounted by Yennefer, comes from an ancient elven story. The myth tells of the Winter Queen who used to cross the land in a sleigh drawn by white horses during blizzards. As she went, small shards of ice flew about. Those who were hit by one of these shards were forever doomed. Nothing in this world made them happy any more, everything looked sad, disgusting and dull except the whiteness of the snow, the frost and the ice. They left everything behind them to search for the Winter Queen, forever wandering without being able to find her. And thus they died attempting to fulfill their dream. According to Geralt, the "Winter Queen" was actually the dreaded "Wild Hunt", which haunted certain forsaken lands, enslaving its inhabitants' will and making them its thralls. The witcher also mentioned that he was offered money to lift the curse and banish the Wild Hunt, but ended up refusing the offer, for reasons unknown.
Geralt slew a zeugl during his and Yennefer's stay in the city.
Notable people[ | ]
Landmarks[ | ]
- Castle
- Temple
- Istredd's tower
- The Sturgeon
- Garbage dump
- Merchants' Guild
- Market Square with a pillory
- Thermae
In the Polish Movie and TV series[ | ]
Aedd Gynvael is where the fifth episode of TV-series, "Okruch lodu", based on the aforementioned story, takes place. The renegade witcher, Dermot Marranga, made a living and had even apparently settled down there.
After his death, Geralt never stepped foot in the city again.
In The Witcher computer game[ | ]
While the city does not appear in the game itself, it is incorrectly placed in Kaedwen instead of Narok on the map issued with the game. This error was carried over to the map in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.
Note[ | ]
- It is where the short story A Shard of Ice takes place.