[WrathAscending]

Costin Moroianu said:

There is no witcher code. Geralt himself states that in the Last Wish. There is only a personal code each individual witcher has, but there is certainly no rule book they have to abide by.

The "don't get involved in politics" stuff seems more like enlightened self-interest, self-preservation, or simple common sense. When Witchers were new, they wouldn't have wanted to be entangled in politics becuase that would result in them being used as a military force rather than as monster slayers, which kind of defeats the point of having them around. By Geralt's time, Witchers are hated and feared, so getting involved in politics would give people even more reason to want to hurt or kill them.

Vesemir does try to drill the recruits on this, but Geralt was a bit of an idealist, seeing himself as a hero; for instance, he went to save a young lady from being raped, but she made it pretty clear she'd have preferred that to being anywhere near a Witcher. Getting involved in anything not directly related to monster problems usually doesn't turn out too well for Witchers.

Geralt gets tied up in politics for the first game because he wants Salamandra and the only way to get to them is via the Temerian court. In the second game he's busily trying to extricate himself from the court and all too soon needs to clear his name after being falsely labelled a regicide, but these are unusual circumstances to say the least.

[gab961111]

He wants a safe haven for him and the rest of his companions of the viper school.

[Bloth]

What Guy said, the hidden hand of the emperor.

[Kindo]

Many good points in here. I've always just jotted it down to nostalgia, myself, and that he misses the old days when life as a witcher - ironically - was simpler. The "simplicity" (it's seriously not the best word to describe this, but I hope you can bear with me) of constant training in a school among colleagues and friends, and to go out and hunt down evil monsters for pay (here, one can draw parallels to one's school years or even the military; you are always told what to do; someone else is in charge, be it an actual person or an intangible idea or ideology). Life is obviously more complicated, now, with the witchers kind of dying out altogether, and the few that are left are no longer considered the heroes they once were. Maybe, Letho is somewhat desperately trying to get back to those times. We've heard Geralt bemoan his current lifestyle, as well, since he's now forced to play at politics instead of simply going out and kill a few harpies, get paid, and spend it all getting drunk at the tavern with his mates. I guess I've always seen this part of Geralt reflected in Letho, only they go about trying to regain that in very different ways.

I've also briefly thought that Letho wants the witchers to rise again, because of his extensive knowledge of the looming invasion of those we know as the Wild Hunt. No amount of soldiers and siege engines are going to stand a chance if they manage to reach this (Letho's) world. I think he would've been more open about motivations such as these, though, if that were the case. Still, it's food for thought.

[KnightofPhoenix]

Here's my speculation.

Letho knows that the Wild Hunt is a threat, or at least a very possible threat.
And he knows, or thinks, that the Viper School is designed to combat the Hunt based on how much information they have on them.

So in addition to Letho wanting to find a place for both himself and his comrades, someplace they can call home and belong to, I think he believes that re-creating the Vipers would help fight the Wild Hunt. Also, monsters are still present and are increasingly prominent these days, esp in wartime.

[Thor666Arise]

Well to answer the question I think we actually need to ask what a monster is. A very dangerous being that kills innocent, a danger to people in general.
Keeping that in mind I think it is safe to say that there always be monsters around. Well maybe not creatures like a Basilisk or a Kikimore but monsters in human form.
So Letho was killing monsters all along (how many people are getting killed by a basilisk, not sure about that since it been a while I saw one the last time , but lets say 1000 people. Compared to the number of people that die in a war to satisfy the needs of a single being or a group of them, I think it is safe to say that kings and the aristocracy are the worst monsters that need to be put down)
Of course if the vipers would kill those kings and barons and so one some would call them assassins rather then monster slayers, but lets not be to petty with the terminology

[The Silver]

I agree with many of the mentioned points, such as a Viper Squad for Nilfgard, but for Letho personally, I think Costin made a good statement:

Costin Moroianu said:

As for why Letho cares for the order. Well maybe because he considers it his family? ›››

Isn't it the little things, our loved ones, the desire to return to the good old days, that drive us?
Between speculations, all very interesting, and the bits of Letho's personality and desires we have, I choose to believe that CDProject have created a character, that like us all, wants a place to belong. A family.

[KnightofPhoenix]

This is quintessential of the series, its whole theme.

People in face of an uncertain and changing future, trying to belong. To find "home". From nonhumans who've had it with persecution and want to create a state they can call home. To someone like Saskia who wants to create a home where her ideals are upheld. To the sorceresses who want to escape persecution and marginalization through dominance, because they think that's the only way they can survive and thrive. Even Jacques, tormented by his visions, wanted to lead an exodus to a new home where he can be finally free of the tyranny the Power has over him.

Letho is very similar. He watched as his Order crumbled, its purpose waning, while the very people they protected turned on them and massacred them to the point of extinction. The few survivors had to live on as pariahs, rejected by everyone.

Is there an element of vengeance in Letho? Maybe, afterall he does say that the Scoia'Tael as his "brothers in vengeance." But it's beyond just punitive revenge. His quest is that of belonging. Geralt had that sense of belonging through his friends, but Letho most likely never had that experience. His only friends were Witchers.

But what makes me like his motivation more is that like the others, he's not doing it only for himself or for his own group, unlike say Loredo. Philippa wants to advance the interests of the sorceresses but I have no doubt in my mind that she wants what's good for the North (and I actually think her vision was the best one) and thinks she's the only one who can do it.

Likewise, I think Letho believes that the Nilfgaardian empire would be the best outcome for the continent, hence calling it "the good life", and that if one had to be ruled by an authoritarian leader, better have someone like Emhyr, hence Letho describing him with certain admiration. But I also think as I mentioned before, that Letho believes it would be a tragic and dangerous waste for the Witchers, specifically the Vipers, to be extinguished, especially with the discovery that the Wild Hunt is not some random cavalcade but rather a group of warriors who know perfectly well what they are doing.

That's what makes Letho's motivations, even if disagreeable to you, understandable and I daresay sympathetic. And that's why he's an amazing antagonist.

[guipit]

KnightofPhoenix said:

Letho believes it would be a tragic and dangerous waste for the Witchers, specifically the Vipers, to be extinguished, especially with the discovery that the Wild Hunt is not some random cavalcade but rather a group of warriors who know perfectly well what they are doing. ›››

It's weird that Letho deems Henselt's death unnecessary but sends Serrit and Auckes to get killed by Sile or Geralt.

And about Letho and other witchers having a place to belong, I'm thinking Witchers weren't always outcasts maybe at the beginning they were truly needed but as monsters declined they were shunned. Letho wants witchers to be needed,treated with respect like agents/spies/assassins not outcasts.

[KnightofPhoenix]

Because although Henselt's death was no longer necessary, it was still desirable and better if it happened. That's why Serrit and Auckes were there.

[arkblazer]

I think its more that he wants nilfgaard to stop treating the witchers as exiles and outlaws. and allow them to enter their cities.

[donalbane]

Corylea said:

The books and the games have told us this:

1. The mutation process that makes a witcher is very painful and very dangerous. Out of every ten boys who underwent the Trial of the Grasses, SIX of them died, and that's just ONE of the trials. And even for the ones who survived, the experience was extremely painful.

2. Most of the really serious monsters -- the ones that only witchers could kill -- are dead. Groups of soldiers can take care of the monsters that are left.

So in taking a group of boys and training them to be witchers, one condemns two-thirds of them to death. The ones that don't die will suffer, will become infertile, and will be outcasts among most people.

Doing this might have been necessary right after the Conjunction of the Spheres dumped a lot of new monsters into the world, when there were lots of monsters that ordinary warriors couldn't kill. But the Conjunction was 1500 years ago, and witchers have killed off most of the monsters now.

Why re-start the Viper school, then? Why kill a bunch of little boys -- and torture the rest -- when it isn't necessary? Being the last of the witchers is sort of sad, but that's no reason to torture and kill a new batch of little boys.

I can see why the EMPEROR might want a witcher school in Nilfgaard, especially if he controls it. A power-hungry ruler who wants to conquer the world would surely want such super-warriors at his beck and call.

But why does LETHO want the school restarted? ›››

In the final dialogue with Geralt, Letho states that the Vipers had numerous texts on the Wild Hunt, so many that he speculated that the Vipers were a sect of the Witchers dedicated solely to hunting them alone. That's what he was doing when Geralt saved Letho... tracking the hunt.

With that in mind, I spared Letho hoping that the Vipers might lend assistance in the final game.

[Flixster]

You really have to do some digging to figure out Letho's motives, and even then it's mostly speculation. He seems a mystery to me. I projected a lot of possible emotions and motives onto him throughout the game, and none of them were correct.

Points I can agree with: All the regicide and chaos was probably more than just a job he was hired/forced to do, although that's almost all it appears to be at first blush. I would agree that he probably sees a future for existing Witchers in a Nilfgaard regime. The comments about finding a home and finding respect also ring true.

But... I still have to echo Corylea's questions. This doesn't explain why Letho would want to create more Witchers, and start up a new school. Why create a new generation of people who will have trouble fitting into the world, who will be called freaks, and become increasingly irrelevant?

If the explanation is that Nilfgaard could use them for combat, then the reasoning is circular: Letho wants to help Nilfgaard so he can create a world where he can help Nilfgaard. Good for the emperor, but for Letho and other Witchers? Is a continent-wide Nilfgaard regime really that desirable and great for everybody? Is there any reason that Letho or we should think so? How do we know Witchers wouldn't be treated poorly in Nilfgaard as well?

The Wild Hunt explanation makes the most sense to me. This would mean Letho's seemingly reckless actions are actually preparations, and that his sight is oriented toward the future in a profound way, much like Jacques De Aldersberg. Something big and bad is coming, and the world needs to be united and equipped with elite fighters who can handle it.

[vivaxardas]

Well, it is not so circular. Letho very convincingly demonstrated that the witchers were good for far more things then just hunting monsters. Letho was not just efficient and successful, he was also extremely smart, farsighted, calculating, good in reading people, careful, and deceitful. The only time he had setbacks were when he had to deal with interference of another witcher, Geralt. Not even sorceresses could manage to deal with him. By my lights, it is a waste to use guys like this just to hunt some dumb monsters.

In the world where the witchers are becoming extinct race because their main purpose for existence disappears, common sense requires to find another one, and not to give up and go out of existence. If somebody looses a job because present economy does not need this occupation anymore, it would be silly to give up and wait for death to come. So Letho is fighting for survival. He openly says that he is not a witcher anymore (by occupation), he is simply a genetically-modified super-assassin employed by the emperor. No ruler in a sane mind would treat poorly such valuable assets. With Nilfgaard heavily relying on diplomacy and covert ops, the new witcher school would be a gold mine. And a difficulty of creating such super-agents means that only a small number would exist, which would make the witchers not dangerous to a ruling regime. You can't train hundreds or thousands of them like Mamluks, who were slaves soldiers, but eventually overthrew their masters and created a Mamluk sultanate.

So I am with Letho on this one. No more monsters to hunt - so what, let's just find something else but equally exciting to do. There is this common theme in the books - the world is changing, no place for this or that. Stop whining, just create a new purpose, adapt to a new world order, and run with it. If Geralt and other witchers accept that they are a dying race, does not mean that Letho should do the same.

[Flixster]

vivaxardas said:

Well, it is not so circular. Letho very convincingly demonstrated that the witchers were good for far more things then just hunting monsters. Letho was not just efficient and successful, he was also extremely smart, farsighted, calculating, good in reading people, careful, and deceitful. The only time he had setbacks were when he had to deal with interference of another witcher, Geralt. Not even sorceresses could manage to deal with him. By my lights, it is a waste to use guys like this just to hunt some dumb monsters.

In the world where the witchers are becoming extinct race because their main purpose for existence disappears, common sense requires to find another one, and not to give up and go out of existence. If somebody looses a job because present economy does not need this occupation anymore, it would be silly to give up and wait for death to come. So Letho is fighting for survival. He openly says that he is not a witcher anymore (by occupation), he is simply a genetically-modified super-assassin employed by the emperor. No ruler in a sane mind would treat poorly such valuable assets. With Nilfgaard heavily relying on diplomacy and covert ops, the new witcher school would be a gold mine. And a difficulty of creating such super-agents means that only a small number would exist, which would make the witchers not dangerous to a ruling regime. You can't train hundreds or thousands of them like Mamluks, who were slaves soldiers, but eventually overthrew their masters and created a Mamluk sultanate.

So I am with Letho on this one. No more monsters to hunt - so what, let's just find something else but equally exciting to do. There is this common theme in the books - the world is changing, no place for this or that. Stop whining, just create a new purpose, adapt to a new world order, and run with it. If Geralt and other witchers accept that they are a dying race, does not mean that Letho should do the same. ›››

I can agree with this. He's rolling with the punches, and he outwitted/outmuscled everyone except Geralt. But that still leaves the title question of the thread to be answered: Why are new Witchers important to Letho?

To use your analogy about losing your job and finding a new one: if there are no more jobs for lawyers, an unemployed lawyer could then find a new use for his skills. But it wouldn't make sense for him to open a law school and train and release hundreds of new lawyers out into the workforce.

Furthermore, if Letho doesn't identify with being a Witcher anymore, why invest in reviving his old alma mater? Why not just share (or sell, or trade) Witcher's secrets to Nilfgaard so they can specialize the mutation and training process for the use of the empire?

I guess one explanation could be that he wants to do more than just survive, but to carve out a place for himself in the world, and as part of that goal he would want to be surrounded by others of his kind, to have a brotherhood and kinship with others.

[vivaxardas]

Letho can become a founding father of a new brotherhood. Geralt is a lone wolf, who, at the same time, has a sort of adapted daughter, and a sort of a wife. Letho, it seems, values a company of other witchers more then Geralt, but he does not have any kind of family at all. As Geralt, he can't have biological children, but he can have his witcher children, a kind of his own family. May be it is what he really wants, but to have this he must find another purpose in a new world order. Otherwise it would be meaningless - to make new witchers in a world where they are a dying race with no purpose, and no respect.

[rageface]

Letho definitely wanted to change the world and give purpose to the school he wanted to restart.

I think part of this is because he didn't see a good reason anymore for chasing after the wild hunt, which he believes is the reason the school of the Viper was created.

Geralt assures him in the epilogue that the wild hunt is up to something big and that it needs to stopped. Letho considers it possible. However, he still tells you that you'll never see him again if you don't challenge him. So it's unclear whether you may encounter him in Witcher 3 while pursuing the wild hunt if Letho is alive.

[Wurm65]

Having a group of hopped up on dru errr potions super soldiers is the reason the Emperor wants a Witcher school under his control.

Not for killing monsters, for killing anyone who stands in his way.