“'The princess looks like a striga!' he yelled. 'Like the most strigish striga I have heard of! Her Royal Highness, the cursed royal bastard, is four cubits high, shaped like a barrel of beer, has a maw which stretches from ear to ear and is full of dagger-like teeth, has red eyes and a red mop of hair! Her paws, with claws like a wild cat's, hang down to the ground! I’m surprised we've yet to send her likeness to friendly courts! The princess, plague choke her, is already fourteen. Time to think of giving her hand to a prince in marriage!'”

- The Witcher III, The Last Wish

"The description had been accurate. The disproportionately large head set on a short neck was surrounded by a tangled, curly halo of reddish hair. Her eyes shone in the darkness like an animal's."

- The Witcher VI, The Last Wish

"'Four-feet tall and a body like a barrel of beer. A mouth from ear to ear, filled with dagger-like teeth. Claws like a wildcat and red, irate eyes.'"

- Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

"'Right. Do you know what, Geralt? This,' Velerad slapped the proclamation, 'let it go. It's a serious matter. Many have tried and failed already. This, my friend, is not the same as roughing up a couple of scoundrels.'"

- The Witcher II, The Last Wish

"'But then Foltest stepped in again. Wisdom dictated that the royal bastard should have been burned or buried in the wilderness. Instead, on the orders of our gracious king, she was laid to rest in a sarcophagus in the vaults beneath the palace.'

'It's too late for your wisdom now.' Geralt raised his head. 'One of the Knowing Ones should have been sent for.'

'You mean those charlatans with stars on their hats? Of course. About ten of them came running later, when it became known what lay in the sarcophagus. And what scrambled out of it at night. Thought it didn't start manifesting straight away. Oh, no. For seven years after the funeral there was peace. Then one night - it was a full moon - there were screams in the palace, shouting and commotion! I don't have to tell you, this is your trade and you've read the proclamation. The infant had grown in the coffin - and how! - grown to have incredible teeth! In a word, she became a striga.'

'Pity you didn't see the corpses, as I did. Had you, you'd have taken a great detour to avoid Wyzim.'"

- The Witcher II, The Last Wish

Official artwork depicts a striga biting/clawing a hole in steel plate armour.

"'...Unfortunately one, a jester with a pointed hat and a bald pate, a hunch-backed hermit, argued it was magic: the spell could be undone and the striga would turn into Foltest's little daughter, as pretty as a picture. Someone simply had to stay in the crypt throughout the night, and that would be that. After which - can you imagine such a fool? - he went to the palace for a night. Little of him was left in the morning, only, I believe, his hat and stick...'"

- The Witcher II, The Last Wish

Devours a man completely.

"'The fanged princess spread his entrails over a considerable distance.'"

- The Witcher II, The Last Wish

Teeth and fangs are sharp enough to scatter entrails over a large distance.

"'Does she always devour her victims?'

Velerad spat vehemently on the straw.

'Come on, Geralt, it'll be supper soon. Pish! Devours, takes a bite, leaves aside, it varies—according to her mood, no doubt. She only bit the head from one, gutted a couple, and a few more she picked clean to the bone, sucked them dry, you could say. Damned mother's—!'"

- The Witcher III, The Last Wish

Can bite heads from people and eat flesh to the bone.

"The following day, late in the evening, the miller was brought to the small chamber above the guardhouse allocated to the witcher. He was led in by a soldier in a hooded coat.

The conversation did not yield any significant results. The miller was terrified; he mumbled and stammered, and his scars told the witcher more than he did. The striga could open her jaws impressively wide and had extremely sharp teeth, including very long upper fangs—four of them, two on each side. Her claws were sharper than a wildcat's, but less curved. And it was only because of that the miller had managed to tear himself away."

- The Witcher IV, The Last Wish

Teeth and claw description.

"He reached for her hand, which was buried in her tangled hair. Before he took it he saw her open eyes. Too late.

She swiped him across the neck with her talons, cutting him deeply. Blood splashed onto her face. She howled, striking him in the eyes with her other hand. He fell on her, grabbing her by the wrists, nailing her to the floor. She gnashed her teeth—which were now too short—in front of his face. He butted her in the face with his forehead and pinned her down harder. She had lost her former strength; she could only writhe beneath him, howling, spitting out blood—his blood—which was pouring over her mouth. His blood was draining away quickly. There was no time. The witcher cursed and bit her hard on the neck, just below the ear. He dug his teeth in and clenched them until her inhuman howling became a thin, despairing scream and then a choking sob—the cry of a hurt fourteen-year-old girl.

He let her go when she stopped moving, got to his knees, tore a piece of canvas from his sleeve pocket and pressed it to his neck. He felt for his sword, held the blade to the unconscious girl's throat, and leaned over her hand. The nails were dirty, broken, bloodied but…normal. Completely normal.

The witcher got up with difficulty. The sticky-wet grayness of early morning was flooding in through the crypt's entrance. He made a move toward the stairs but staggered and sat down heavily on the floor. Blood was pouring through the drenched canvas onto his hands, running down his sleeve. He unfastened his tunic, slit his shirt, tore and ripped rags from it and tied them around his neck, knowing that he didn't have much time, that he would soon faint…

He succeeded. And fainted."

- The Witcher VII, The Last Wish

"He saw the whitened walls and beamed ceiling of the small chamber above the guardroom. He moved his head, grimacing with pain, and moaned. His neck was bandaged, thickly, thoroughly, professionally.

'Lie still, witcher,' said Velerad. 'Lie, do not move.'

'My…sword…'

'Yes, yes. Of course, what is most important is your witcher's silver sword. It's here, don't worry. Both the sword and your little trunk. And the three thousand orens. Yes, yes, don't utter a word. It is I who am an old fool and you the wise witcher. Foltest has been repeating it over and over for the last two days.'

'Two—'

'Oh yes, two. She slit your neck open quite thoroughly. One could see everything you have inside there. You lost a great deal of blood. Fortunately we hurried to the palace straight after the third crowing of the cock. Nobody slept in Wyzim that night. It was impossible; you made a terrible noise. Does my talking tire you?'

'The prin…cess?'

'The princess is like a princess. Thin. And somewhat dull-witted. She weeps incessantly and wets her bed. But Foltest says this will change. I don't think it'll change for the worse, do you, Geralt?'

The witcher closed his eyes.

'Good. I take my leave now. Rest.' Velerad got up. 'Geralt? Before I go, tell me: why did you try to bite her to death? Eh? Geralt?'

The witcher was asleep."

- The Witcher VIII, The Last Wish

"She sat on the edge of the bed and skillfully unwound the linen bandages wrapped thickly around the witcher's neck. He grimaced in pain.

As soon as he had arrived in Ellander, Nenneke had removed the painfully thick stitches of shoemaker's twine with which they had stitched him in Wyzim, opened the wound and dressed it again. The results were clear: he had arrived at the temple almost cured, if perhaps a little stiff. Now he was sick again, and in pain. But he didn't protest. He'd known the priestess for years and knew how great was her knowledge of healing, how rich and comprehensive her pharmacy was. A course of treatment at Melitele's temple could do nothing but good.

Nenneke felt the wound, washed it and began to curse. He already knew this routine by heart. She had started on the very first day, and had never failed to moan when she saw the marks left by the princess of Wyzim's talons.

'It's terrible! To let yourself be slashed like this by an ordinary striga. Muscles, tendons—she only just missed your carotid artery! Great Melitele! Geralt, what's happening to you? How did she get so close to you? What did you want with her? To mount her?'

He didn't answer, and smiled faintly.

'Don't grin like an idiot.' The priestess rose and took a bag of dressings from the chest of drawers. Despite her weight and low stature, she moved swiftly and gracefully. 'There's nothing funny about it. You're losing your reflexes, Geralt.'

'You're exaggerating.'

'I’m not exaggerating at all.' Nenneke spread a greenish mush smelling sharply of eucalyptus over the wound. 'You shouldn't have allowed yourself to get wounded, but you did, and very seriously at that. Fatally even. And even with your exceptional powers of regeneration it'll be months before your neck is fully mobile again. I warn you, don't test your strength by fighting an agile opponent during that time.'"

- The Voice of Reason 2 I, The Last Wish

After the curse was lifted and Adda is turning back into a human, she slices Geralt's throat with her claws which causes him to pass out. Most of Geralt's throat was exposed and everything inside was visible. It was described as a fatal wound which Geralt only survived because of his healing factor, and even with it Geralt needs months for it to be fully healed.

"'...I don't suppose I have to say that the striga, in the meantime, was getting her teeth into all sorts of people every now and again and paying no attention to the fraudsters and their spells. Or that Foltest was no longer living in the palace. No one lived there anymore.'"

- The Witcher II, The Last Wish

"'...His promised reward, the three thousand, has attracted any number of cranks, stray knights, even a shepard known better throughout the whole region as a cretin, may he rest in peace. But the striga is still doing well. Every now and again she gets her teeth in someone. And at least those heroes trying to reverse the spell have a use - the beast stuffs herself on the spot and doesn't roam beyond her palace. Foltest has a new palace, of course, quite a fine one.'

'In seven years,' Geralt raised his head, 'in seven years, no one has settled the matter?'"

- The Witcher II, The Last Wish

Foltest had to evacuate his palace and have another one built because nobody could subdue the striga.

"'...And witchers, castellan? Have they tried?'

'There were a few. But when they heard the spell was to be lifted and the striga wasn't to be killed they mostly shrugged and left. That's one of the reasons why my esteem for witchers has grown, Geralt. And one came along, younger than you - I forget his name, if he gave it at all. He tried.'

'And?'

'The fanged princess spread his entrails over a considerable distance.'

Geralt nodded. 'That was all of them?'

'There was one other.'

Velerad remained silent for a while, and the witcher didn't urge him on.

'Yes,' the castellan said finally. 'There was one more. At first, when Foltest threatened him with the noose if he killed or harmed the striga, he laughed and started packing his belongings. But then'—Velerad leaned across the table, lowered his voice to almost a whisper—'then he undertook the task. You see, Geralt, there are some wise men in Wyzim, in high positions, who've had enough of this whole affair. Rumor has it these men persuaded the witcher, in secret, not to fuss around with spells but to batter the striga to death and tell the king the spell had failed, that his dear daughter had been killed in self-defense—an accident at work. The king, of course, would be furious and refuse to pay an oren in reward. But that would be an end to it. The witty witcher replied we could chase strigas ourselves for nothing. Well, what could we do? We collected money, bargained…but nothing came of it.'

Geralt raised his eyebrows.

'Nothing,' repeated Velerad. 'The witcher didn't want to try that first night. He trudged around, lay in wait, wandered about the neighborhood. Finally, they say, he saw the striga in action, as she does not clamber from her crypt just to stretch her legs. He saw her and scarpered that night. Without a word.'"

- The Witcher II, The Last Wish

Kills a witcher, and another witcher who had accepted the contract fled after seeing the striga in action.

"'Geralt, do not spoil my impression of witchers! This has been going on for more than seven years! The striga is finishing off up to fifty people a year, fewer now people are avoiding the palace...'"

The Witcher II, The Last Wish

Kills fifty people a year.

"'No. This isn't an easy task. The king is offering three, and sometimes it's easier to lift a spell than to kill. But one of my predecessors would have done so, or killed the striga, if this were simple. You think they let themselves be devoured out of fear of the king?'"

- The Witcher II, The Last Wish

Geralt claims that the witchers killed by the striga would have been trying to kill it despite the king's orders.

“'So I heard. Do you know what, Geralt? I’m going to the crypt with you.'

'Out of the question.'

Foltest turned, his eyes glinted. 'Do you know, sorcerer, that I have not seen her? Neither after she was born, nor later. I was afraid. I may never see her, am I not right? At least I have the right to see my daughter while you're murdering her.'

'I repeat, it's out of the question. It is certain death. For me as well as you. If my attention, my will falters—No, your Majesty.'"

- The Witcher IV, The Last Wish

Geralt thinks that faltering even for a moment during the fight is enough to ensure death.

"'The striga appeared by the tower! I was sent to get a witcher. Already five soldiers have breathed their last! Help us!'"

- Viziman guard, The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

Kills five armed guards.

Kills a group of Knights of the Flaming Rose.

"'The description, although vivid, is reasonably accurate, and that's what you wanted, isn't it, witcher? Velerad didn't mention that the princess moves with incredible speed and is far stronger for her height and build than one would expect. And she is fourteen years old, if that is of any importance.'"

- The Witcher III, The Last Wish

Very fast and strong.

"The slab blocking the entrance to the crypt opened and fell to the floor with a thud. Geralt, prudently behind the staircase balustrade, saw the mishappen figure of the striga speeding swiftly and and unerringly in the direction of Ostrit's receding footsteps. Not the slightest sound issued from the striga.

A terrible, quivering, frenzied scream tore the night, shook the old walls, continued rising and falling, vibrating. The witcher couldn't make out exactly how far away it was—his sharpened hearing deceived him—but he knew that the striga had caught up with Ostrit quickly. Too quickly."

- The Witcher VI, The Last Wish

Striga can sprint silently and Geralt describes it as moving "too quickly."

"The moment the striga tensed and leapt the chain whistled through the air and, coiling like a snake, twined itself around the monster's shoulders, neck and head. The striga's jump became a tumble, and she let out an ear-piercing whistle. She thrashed around on the floor, howling horribly with fury or from the burning pain inflicted by the despised metal. Geralt was content—if he wanted he could kill the striga without great difficulty. But the witcher did not draw his sword. Nothing in the striga's behavior had given him reason to think she might be an incurable case. Geralt moved to a safer distance and, without letting the writhing shape on the floor out of his sight, breathed deeply, focused himself.

The chain snapped. The silver links scattered like rain in all directions, ringing against the stone. The striga, blind with fury, tumbled to the attack, roaring. Geralt waited calmly and, with his raised right hand, traced the Sign of Aard in front of him.

The striga fell back as if hit by a mallet but kept her feet, extended her talons, bared her fangs. Her hair stood on end and fluttered as if she were walking against a fierce wind. With difficulty, one rasping step at a time, she slowly advanced. But she did advance.

Geralt grew uneasy. He did not expect such a simple Sign to paralyze the striga entirely but neither did he expect the beast to overcome it so easily. He could not hold the Sign for long, it was too exhausting, and the striga had no more than ten steps to go. He lowered the Sign suddenly, and sprung aside. The striga, taken by surprise, flew forward, lost her balance, fell, slid along the floor and tumbled down the stairs into the crypt's entrance, yawning in the floor."

- The Witcher VI, The Last Wish

Snaps silver chains securing her body, which dampens her powers and puts her in pain, and then resists the Aard Sign and pushes back against it despite it showing its power in that specific instance.

"To gain time Geralt jumped on to the stairs leading to the gallery. He had not even climbed halfway up when the striga ran out of the crypt, speeding along like an enormous black spider. The witcher waited until she had run up the stairs after him, then leapt over the balustrade. The striga turned on the stairs, sprang and flew at him in an amazing ten-meter leap. She did not let herself be deceived by his pirouettes this time; twice her talons left their mark on the Rivian's leather tunic. But another desperately hard blow from the silver spiked gauntlet threw the striga aside, shook her. Geralt, feeling fury building inside him, swayed, bent backward and, with a mighty kick, knocked the beast off her legs."

- The Witcher VI, The Last Wish

After being kicked down into her crypt, the striga has already ran outside of it before Geralt can climb stairs. Afterwards, she leaps ten metres.

"The conjurer struggled with the striga for hours."

- Disenchanting a Striga, The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

The striga fights Geralt for hours on end, with neither tiring.

Drags a man across the ground into her crypt on all fours.

Tanks getting beaten around by Geralt of Rivia with strikes hard enough to knock her off her feet.

Fine after being launched into a wooden staircase hard enough to break it.

Easily climbs up a castle wall.

Gets up right after being punched off a castle wall by Geralt, and then gets up again after being kicked in the face hard enough to cause a blood spatter which covers the screen.

Leaps through roofs head-first without sustaining any damage.

Gallery

Strigas are generally much better than werewolves in every category, including strength and speed.

Gallery

Tosses a witcher at a brick wall hard enough to damage it and rips another witcher's arm off.

Ragdolls rooms full of people at once.

Geralt describes its physical attributes and says it was one of the hardest contracts he's ever taken. Though it should be noted that his aim was to lift the curse rather than to kill the beast.

"The roar she gave was louder than all the previous ones. Even the plaster crumbled from the ceiling."

- The Witcher VI, The Last Wish

Screams loud enough to crumble plaster off of the ceiling.