What are the effects of the black potion Geralt sometimes drinks?

What are the effects of the black potion Geralt sometimes drinks? - Graceful young female alchemist with knife in hand in black outfit preparing potion from various herbs among smoke in dark room

Several times during the series, mostly before or during fights, Geralt drinks some sort of black (?) potion he takes out of his bag.

The only noticeable effect it seems to have is turning his eyes black (not all the time though), but I guess it also have some more useful effects.

What exactly is this potion, and what are all the effects, good or bad, it has on him ?



Best Answer

The effects are not explicitly stated in the Netflix series, but to lift a few quotes from the books:

In The Witcher, he consumes two potions:

  1. The mixture which helped the witcher gain full control of his body was chiefly made up of veratrum, stramonium, hawthorn and spurge.

    The other ingredients had no name in any human language. For anyone who was not, like Geralt, inured to it from childhood, it would have been lethal poison.

    In the silence his hearing, sharpened beyond measure, easily picked out a rustle of footsteps through the courtyard overgrown with stinging nettles.

  2. After drinking a mixture of banewart, monk's hood and eyebright the face takes on the colour of chalk, and the pupils fill the entire iris. But the mixture enables one to see in the deepest darkness...

    He did not want the magnate to realise how fast his movements and reactions now were.

These effects are described again in the second short story:

You're sick, Geralt. You react to elixirs badly. You've got a rapid pulse rate, the dilation of your eyes is slow, your reactions are delayed. You can't get the simplest Signs right.

  • The Voice of Reason, The Last Wish

In the second book, we are told:

After the elixirs you wouldn't even have felt an open fracture, until the protruding bones started snagging on hedges.

  • The Sword of Destiny, Chapter 3



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What does the potion that Geralt drinks do?

When needed, with the help of a "cat potion," he can enhance his vision so well that it expands his pupils completely, so that his entire eyes appear black. It is said that the process it takes to achieve such vision is incredibly painful.

What happens to Geralt when he drinks?

His senses get sharp after drinking the potion. Something like the rustling of the footsteps can be heard by him. Another potion that The Witcher drinks is a mixture of banewart, monk's hood, and eyebright, which changes the colour of the face into the colour of chalk. His pupils also fill his entire iris.

What is the black stuff the Witcher drinks?

Witchers use Black Blood unwillingly because the potion only works when a monster begins to feast on their body. Their transmuted blood proves to be a deadly drink." Black Blood turns imbiber's blood into poison; blood becomes lethal to monsters which drink it.

What do the Witchers elixirs do?

"Witcher elixirs are a very important part of being a Witcher," Baginski said. "They are basically poisons, but for Witchers, they are actually like enhancers. For Geralt, to enhance his abilities as a warrior. The elixirs make him faster, stronger, and help him see in the dark."



Here's what those potions do in the Witcher Netflix show




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