Netflix once announced it would put more monsters in The Witcher season 2, and The latest trailer of this series have partly shown that they are keeping their promises. Next vampire bruxa has been revealed from the previous series of teasers, this time Netflix also revealed the official appearance of the tree ghost Leshen, a creature described as “existing only to kill” in the witcher universe.
The Leshen ghost tree was officially revealed in the latest trailer for The Witcher season 2.
Leshen, also known as the springgan in CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher series, is described as an extremely intelligent forest spirit that can devour adults with ease. Although Leshen often exists as a hybrid of a human with a giant tree, both the Andrzej Sapkowski original novels and the game series confirm it to be a dangerous creature that can change form. , disguised as other animals to hide and suddenly attack their prey.
Leshen was inspired by a combination of Slavic folklore and the Great Lakes near the Canada-US border. This is a monster with a skeleton resembling a tree root, often living deep in dense ancient forests and has a very high territoriality. In Slavic folklore, it is often referred to as leszy or leshy, with a very flexible build, as tall as a tree when living in “active territory”, and shrinking like a blade of grass when stepping out of the way. its forest.
However, in terms of appearance, Leshen is more of the Wendigo monster in Algonquin culture. Although appearing in many different forms, but Wendigo is often depicted as a creature with a body similar to a human, while the skull and horns resemble a deer. This is the main inspiration for CD Projekt RED to design Leshen in the game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Leshen is partly inspired by the monster Wendigo, also known as the spirit of the sacred forest specializing in hunting people.
For gamers who have played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Leshen is not a strange name, even appearing in many important missions of this game. However, in the original, Geralt rarely encounters this monster. Writer Sapkowski uses Leshen as part of a collection of folk tales for the Continent.
Accordingly, the people of this land believe that Leshen is extremely cunning and is not afraid of iron, which means that ordinary weapons cannot do it. However, for many spiritual reasons, many people believe that these tree ghosts are sacred spirits tasked with protecting the forest. They are willing to sacrifice a few body parts, or even sacrifice their lives for the “god of the forest” in the area where they live.

Leshen is a fearsome monster in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, especially in the early game, when the player’s character is low level but likes to roam the big forests.
As mentioned above, Leshen possesses the ability to change shape flexibly during hunting. In addition, this monster can control both animal and plant ecosystems in the area where it lives, using the root system around itself to attack enemies.
That is why in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, whenever facing Leshen, the player is often attacked by a pack of wolves or a flock of crows, making the battle with this monster extremely difficult. frustrating period, especially on the hardest levels of the game. Being able to get close enough to be able to launch an attack was the key to success or failure in a confrontation with Leshen.
Leshen’s main prey are usually strays, or alone in the forest. The people of the Continent used to say to each other that if one came across Leshen by chance, there was a high chance that they had lost their way. To find their way back, they need to wear their own clothes. However, how much success this option has, no one dares to say for sure.

Not only hunting people wandering in the forest, the trailer of The Witcher season 2 shows that the monster Leshen also attacks the fortress of Kaer Morhen of the Wolf hunters.
Returning to the Netflix series, according to the latest trailer, Geralt and Ciri will confront a Leshen in the forest near the Kaer Morhen fortress. This will most likely be Princess Cintra’s first official hunt, and also the most difficult test after days of training with the Wolf witchers.
However, according to actor Paul Bullion (as Lambert) shared during the WitcherCon event, Leshen will still play an important role in a catastrophic war at Kaer Morhen – a detail created by Netflix itself for its series. which is not in the original. This is an event that will have a great influence on the central plot as well as the main characters, including Ciri and Geralt. Some sources say that there will be 1 witcher in the Wolf school who will die in this war.
The Witcher season 2 will officially air on Netflix on December 17.