When it comes to monster-slaying, Geralt of Rivia is the industry’s certified professional. Armed with both magic spells and an arsenal of medieval weaponry, the White Wolf is more than prepared to take on a variety of threats that haunt the forests and caverns of the Continent.

Season 2 of Netflix’s The Witcher doesn’t have as many monstrous foes as its first, but it more than makes up for it in the quality of creatures Geralt throws battles down in the eight episodes fans received. While the season could have used more Sylvans and Striga, viewers were exposed to many new breeds of fantastic beasts.

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Zeugl

Fans of the original Star Wars trilogy might find the tentacled creature lurking in the sewers of Gors Velen reminiscent of the tentacled monster seen in the trash compactor on the Death Star, but it definitely looks like it fits in the world of The Witcher. While Geralt himself might not put it to the sword, it definitely causes some trouble for Yenifer and Cahir.

Tentacled beasts lurking in sewers, moats, and other dark places with water are nothing new, but the adaptation presented in the series is much more mysterious and voracious than most. Sometimes it’s all about what the audience doesn’t see.

Eskel

As any fantasy fan will know, there are worse things than getting eaten alive by some fanged monster out in the wilds. Sometimes, becoming a monster can be just as bad if not excruciatingly worse. The unfortunate Eskel, a popular character in the books, becomes a Leshen’s thrall after becoming infected after a fateful encounter.

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Casual fans of the genre might view turning into something like a vampire or werewolf as a straightforward process, but becoming a Leshen is an extremely painful and horrific sequence to endure. Watching Geralt and the rest of the Witchers take down their possessed brother is truly an agonizing experience for both parties, no questions asked.

Vereena/Bruxa

Fans of the Witcher book series know how it adores playing with famous fairytale tropes, but the adventure inspired by the “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tale is one of the best chapters in the first novel. In this reimagining, sometimes both beauty and the beast are one and the same.

There are several vampire-esque monsters in the lore of the Continent, but the feline-esque Bruxa feels more akin to what casual viewers might be expecting. Vereena is a bloodsucking demon in disguise worthy of one of Dracula’s hordes, and even Geralt has a bit of a challenge taking her down.

The Leshen

In both the books and the games, the Leshen are some of the most terrifying creatures a Witcher can go up against. While the genre is no stranger to arboreal beings with magical, nature-based powers, these are not like the noble Ents of Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings or Groot-like friends of the forest. Rather, they are ferocious and fiendish entities that live for the want of carnage.

The tall tree-like fiend seen in the TV series appears on a quest for vengeance after Eskel severs its arm. Instead of the Wendigo-like monster seen in the games, viewers are treated to a more organic and otherworldly creature that tries to wrap itself around both Geralt and Ciri.

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The Mutant/Myriapod

This creeping, crawling creature of chaos magic is easily the most terrifying thing Geralt and Ciri have come across in their travels thus far. While its more insect/centipede-like counterpart in the text is certainly a tough customer, the giant chimera-inspired Lovecraftian horror will keep many viewers up at night.

Although Geralt is able to bring the beast down as quickly as he does any other monster that crosses his path, it’s one of the most nail-biting fights in the season. The way the creature moves, communicates, and toys with its prey is more than worthy of a few goosebumps.

The Chernobog

No, this isn’t the demon in Fantasia or the Slavic god with the sledgehammer, but it is one of the few monsters that appear primarily in the series and not the books. Even so, the Netflix series presence is a draconic-like creature that would definitely be right at home in any version of Witcher media.

Spawned from chaos, the giant flying behemoth is meant to be a completely new threat to Geralt and the world of the Continent, which it delivers on in spades. While Geralt has dealt with dragons in the past, this creature proves to be a different animal from the species that so clearly inspired it.

Basilisks

While they aren’t the paralyzing and petrifying species found in the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts, these reptilian creatures are strong and deadly enough that it takes a whole clan of Witchers to stave them off. In the final episode, the Deathless Mother summons a whole host of these raptor-like terrors, which prove to be quite devastating.

While Geralt makes pretty short work of the largest of the group, the rest of them take out a few of Kaer Morhen’s forces with relative ease. It’ll take a lot more than Phoenix tears to stop a bite from these hungry horrors.

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Nivellen

While he’s only temporarily a monster, Nivellen is the most powerful of the bunch in terms of both physical and magical abilities. The beast portion of The Witcher’s “Beauty and the Beast” narrative, Nivellen was cursed to wear his monstrous form by a wrathful priestess. Now he must wait for love to break the spell, as so many before him often have.

What separates him from the other monsters and creatures is his magical ability to will things to his desires. If he can conjure up a bathtub and a full feast of food with a wave of his paw, there’s no telling what else he could do. He might not have been the prettiest thing on the continent, but he could have easily become the most powerful if given enough time and imagination.

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