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“ | I will teach you pain with these hands, with these fingers. | „ |
~ Rience threatening Ciri. |
Rience is a major antagonist in The Witcher book series, first appearing as the main antagonist in the third book Blood of Elves, a minor antagonist in The Time of Contempt, and appearing as a major antagonist in The Tower of Swallows/The Tower of the Swallow. He served as Vilgefortz's apprentice.
Rience appears as a major antagonist in the Netflix TV adaptation, serving as one of the two main antagonists (alongside Voleth Meir) in season two.
In the Netflix adaptation, he is played by Chris Fulton.
Appearance[]
Rience is depicted differently. In the books, he is depicted as having moist eyes, a narrow nose, and hideously thin lips. While in the Gwent card game, he is seen with a more handsome look. He wears a brown and dark grey tunic with silver colored chest armor, and silver gauntlets. In the tv series on Netflix for brown hair and brown eyes, he is dressed in a zorn t-shirt, black pants with a belt and a brown coat. İn his first appearance in Netflix series, his well-built physique was visible while shaving his beard. Also has brown eyes.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Rience's future is unknown, but it is known that Rience was a student at the Ban Ard wizarding school for two years, but was expelled from the school after being exposed for petty theft. After Rience was expelled from school, he was recruited by Kaedweni intelligence where he was trained as an assassin. Rience was imprisoned in the Cintra dungeons by Calanthe because of debts, but after the Cintra slaughter he was freed by Vilgefortz where he faked his release from prison due to Rience being bought off by an anonymous person to pay off his debts.
Thanks to Vilgefortz, Rience could establish contacts with the Nilfgaardian emperor, who could carry out his orders because Vilgefortz made an alliance with Nilfgaard, being able to become an agent from Nilfgaard. And after the First Northern War, Rience was commissioned to find Princess Cirillia who disappeared after the fall of Cintra from Emperor Emhyr, so he secretly went to Sodden, Angren and Brugge to find Cirilla in the Cintra refugee camps. During the search for refugee camps, Rience found a druid circle in Angren who took care of children orphaned by the war and then tortured and killed every single druid without remorse. Then he found a family in Sodden who rescued children, Rience treated the family like droids.
Blood of Elves[]
Rience was tasked in locating Ciri, he had set his eyes on the Dandelion, a famous bard and good friend to Geralt of Rivia. Dandelion took refuge at a brothel in Temeria. Rience approached the bard and introduced himself. He politely asked Dandelion what the song "The Ballad of the Lion", was about, but Dandelion refused to explain. Becoming irritated, Rience asked what had happened to Ciri. Dandelion then gave the man a very vague answer, saying he wanted to excite his listeners and allow them to interpret what had happened. Not going as things had planned, Rience then threatened the poet.
Dandelion exploded at the mage telling him that if he didn't get out of his sight he would call the bouncer and have Rience ejected from the brothel. A stiletto dagger appeared in the mage's hand. Dandelion saw the weapon and ran from Rience, the mage quickly pursued the bard. Rience used a binding spell on Dandelion, causing the bard to tumble down the steps and fall into a dirt room. Rience accompanied by two hired thugs proceeded to torture the bard. Before the men could get any answers, they were ambushed by Yennefer. Rience escaped through a portal, but before the portal closed completely, Yennefer cast a power spell at Rience, burning the left side of his face.
Now with Geralt hunting him down, Rience stayed in the town of Oxenfurt. The mage hired a group of corrupted Temerian guards to board the barge Geralt rode on, and capture him. The men were nearly successful in completing the task, but were interrupted when an aeschna attacked the barge and subsequently killed all of the guards. Geralt arrived in Oxenfurt and hid for a while, he met up with Dandelion and a sorceress named Philippa Eilhart who had received word that Rience was staying with one of the locals, a man named Myhrman. The group confronted Myhrman about Rience's whereabouts.
Rience hired the Michelet brothers as a means for protection and to kill Geralt, though he lied to the brothers, telling them Geralt was an ordinary human and not a Witcher. Eventually, Geralt and Rience met face to face. The mage began to boast, stating how the Witcher fell into his trap and after he was finished with Geralt, he would hunt down Yennefer for the burn she gave him. Geralt responded that Rience fell into his trap as well and that after making threats about Yennefer, he wouldn't leave Oxenfurt alive.
Rience cast a spell at Geralt, but the Witcher deflected it. Rience suddenly took off running in the opposite direction. Just before Geralt could give chase, he was intercepted by the Michelet brothers who were dispatched with the greatest of ease. Just before Rience could escape through another portal he had conjured up with the help of his master, Geralt caught up to the mage and began to beat him within an inch of his life. Geralt became distracted for a moment, thinking more people would emerge from the portal, Rience used the energy from the portal to transform his fingers into steel claws and began to counter attack Geralt in order to free himself from the Witcher. Rience began to crawl towards the portal, but Geralt attempted to grab the mage. Philippa cast a spell at Geralt, paralyzing him, and allowing Rience to escape justice once more.
The Time of Contempt[]
Geralt hired Codringher and Fenn to help him track down the whereabouts of Rience as well as find out who his employer was. However, before the two could find out who Rience was working for, the mage tasked Schirrú to find and kill the two, and to bring any important information to him. While Schirrú dispatched Codringher and Fenn, Rience took part in the Thanedd coup. He and Cahir, along with a group of Scoia'tael troops were smuggled to Thanedd Island to help Vilgefortz capture Ciri. Although, Cahir was there to take her to his Emperor. Tension between the Northern and the Nilfgaardian mages rose, soon a battle between the two ensued. Rience and the Scoia'tael troops were caught in the middle of the fight, but soon found Ciri. Thinking he had her, Ciri narrowly escaped him by jumping down onto a bridge.
After the coup, Rience and Schirrú rendezvoused at the Sly Fox Inn, there the half-elf gave the apprentice important information on a girl that looked just like Ciri. The two found the girl, took her against her will, and handed her off to Pitcairn. After the girl was handed over to Emperor Emhyr var Emreis, he noticed she looked nothing like Ciri and branded Rience, along with Vilgefortz and Cahir as traitors to the Nilfgaardian throne.
The Tower of Swallows/The Tower of the Swallow[]
On a voyage to find Ciri, Yennefer and the crew she accompanied were caught in the middle of a storm. Little did she know, Vilgefortz was the one who conjured up the storm, and in actuality was a teleporter. Yennefer was the only survivor and was teleported to Stygga Castle. In Stygga Castle, Rience and Schirrú proceeded to beat Yennefer senseless, but Vilgefortz intervened just before Rience could beat her to death. Vilgefortz and Rience brought Yennefer over to a chair, they strapped her down and placed a variety of needles in her. Vilgefortz told her to start "scanning" for Ciri, but Yennefer refused. The sorcerer called upon his apprentice, who placed thumbscrews on her hands, and slowly began to tighten them. Yennefer, however, did give Geralt's location away. Vilgefortz sent Schirrú to handle the Witcher, while Rience was tasked in locating the girl.
In Nilfgaard, Rience appeared as a teleprojection, and spoke with Vattier de Rideaux, Emreis' spymaster. The two conversated for a while, Rience then told Vattier he would happily give him the head of Cahir in exchange for the whereabouts of Emreis' imperial coroner, Stefan Skellen, and what he was planning.
Rience was successful in tracking Stefan Skellen and his gang down, using an invisibility spell, the apprentice stalked the group. What he did not know was that one of Skellen's men was Joanna Selborne, a woman with telepathic abilities and Vattier's spy. Skellen and his gang threw milk and flour at him, revealing the mage. They bounded him up and just before Skellen could torture Rience, the apprentice immediately revealed to him he was shadowing them so that he may find the location of Ciri. Before more could be said, Leo Bonhart arrived with Ciri. Putting on a smug and brave face, Rience promised the girl he would teach her pain, just as he did to Yennefer. Stefan, Bonhart, and Rience began to converse with Vilgefortz using a magical device called a xenogloss.
While the men conversated, Ciri broke out of her jail with the help of Neratin Ceka, another one of Vattier's spies. Rience, Stefan, Bonhart, and Stefan's gang chased after Ciri. They eventually found themselves on the frozen lake of Tarn Mira near Tor Zireael, the Tower of the Swallow. The xenogloss stopped communicating with the men. Skellen assumed that perhaps Vilgefortz had moved on to bigger and better things. Rience believed the imperial coroner and tried to contact his master, but the xenogloss remained silent. The men dismounted from their horses and followed on foot.
Joanna and several members retreated from the lake leaving Rience, Bonhart, Skellen, and the remainder of the gang. Soon Bonhart retreated from the lake leaving Skellen and Rience. The men traversed through heavy fog and followed Ciri's footprints, the tracks became slits and they realized she had put on skates to escape them faster. What they didn't know was that Ciri was going to kill them. Using the dense fog and the skates to her advantage, Ciri began to kill Skellen's men, one by one.
Scared out of his wits, Rience casted a spell that would cause the ice to break out from underneath the sound of the skating, but his fingers were in the wrong position causing the ice to break from underneath him and Skellen's gang. Majority of the men drowned in the icy water, Skellen was pulled out of the lake by Boreas Mun, while Rience desperately tried to climb out. In a last ditch effort to save himself, he offered to give Ciri the location of Yennefer. Ciri retorted by mocking the mage’s promise that he would teach her pain with his hands, with his fingers, the same ones he was using to cling to the ice with. Ciri sliced off all of Rience's fingers with her skates, the mage was detached from the ice, and proceeded to drown. The xenogloss started working again, but Rience was too late to hear Vilgefortz's message.
Netflix Series[]
Season 2[]
During the cold opening for episode 5, "Turn Your Back", Rience is locked in a dimeritium prison cell, obsessively trying to activate his chaos by snapping his fingers. Soon a mysterious woman named Lydia approaches his cell and in mock sympathy says Rience's sentence by the late Queen Calanthe is criminal. Unamused by Lydia's comment, Rience demands what Lydia wants of him. Lydia scoffs at the imprisoned mage, telling him to not be so sour. She then relays information about Princess Cirilla to him, telling him only Nilfgaard is hunting her, and when others hear of the news that Princess Cirilla is still alive they too will be hunting after her. She proposes they get to her first. At first, Rience refuses Lydia's offer, thinking if he's released from his prison, he'll just be Emperor Emhyr's personal bounty hunter, having no interest in owning a favor for the White Flame himself. Lydia then tells him she isn't working for Nilfgaard.
Now interested, Rience is seen in a room, shaving his facial hair, and donning new apparel. Rience travels to Oxenfurt to gather more information about Ciri. He goes to a tavern and watches Jaskier's performance of his new song. Later after Jaskier spirits Yennefer, Cahir, and the elven refugees onto a ship destined for Cintra, Jaskier disappears without a trace, leaving his broken lute behind. Sometime later when Jaskier comes to, the bard is tied to a chair. Seeing Rience's silhouette in the distance, Jaskier tries to reason with the mage, but Rience slowly moves toward him, creating a small flame on the tip of his finger by snapping them. Rience gets close enough to Jaskier’s face that the flame on the mage’s finger nearly burns Jaskier.
After hours of torture, Rience is perplexed that Jaskier is so tight lipped about his old friend, Geralt. Jaskier, however, tells him the contrary. Rience then suggests a different method of torture. Jaskier comments it’s not Rience’s methods, but the fact that he hasn’t seen Geralt in months, and has never met the Child of Surprise. Rience snaps his fingers and produces a single flame from his index finger. He tells the bard fire is a forbidden source since it consumes those who wield it, unless the wielder is very talented. As he continues to torture Jaskier, Yennefer walks in acting drunk. Calling Jaskier a “lazy lout,” and rudely telling Rience to shut up after he demanded she leave. Prompting a reaction out of the fire mage, Rience pins Yennefer to a wooden pillar and snaps his fingers. Before he can do anything, Yennefer spits the alcohol from her mouth, burning the left side of Rience’s face. As the mage writhes in pain, Yennefer, and Jaskier escape.
In Episode 6, "Dear Friend...", As Vesemir and Triss are discussing the power of Ciri's blood, Rience unexpectedly appears in front of them. Engaging in a short fight with the two, Rience uses his fire magic to knock Vesemir unconscious allowing him to grab the vial of Witcher mutagen, and teleports away. Sometime later at a tavern, Rience delivers the vial of mutagen to Lydia van Bredevoort. Disappointed that Rience did not deliver Ciri to her. Lydia does, however, give him a crew of mercenaries called the Michelet brothers to help him find and capture Ciri.
Sometime later in the Temple of Melitele, Rience and the Michelet brothers arrive to take Ciri. In the nick of time, Geralt and Yennefer arrive to interfer with Rience's plans. The fire mage sics the four brothers onto Geralt, while he goes after Ciri, and Yennefer. As Geralt dispatches the Michelets, Rience uses a large amount of fire magic to melt away the barricade. Just as Geralt is finished killing the last Michelet brother, he attempts to kill Rience. However, Rience dodges the flying blade, and teleports to safety.
Personality[]
Rience was a sadistic, cowardly, psychopathic, arrogant, egotistical, foolish, and hypocritical kind of person. He had no regard for anyone but himself, he did everything he could to get out of harm's way when tensions rose. He was completely psychopathic towards Vilgefortz, supporting everything the sorcerer did, and did everything Vilgefortz told him to do. Rience was also a massive hypocrite, he hates it when people lie to him, however, when hiring the Michelet brothers, he had no problem lying to them about Geralt. He was overconfident and very egotistical, boasting to both ally and enemy about how powerful he and Vilgefortz were.
External Links[]
- Rience on the Witcher Wiki.
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