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In the Witcher game series there are different combat styles – indicated by the strong / fast combat trees, as well as Witcher 1's Wolf, Cat, and Griffin styles. I'm pretty sure the different Witcher schools in the written series imply this as well, although I don't remember the books very well. And, in the games, some of the quests involve unarmed combat, although there is no play style associated with it. However, I don't think there is mention of formal styles or techniques of unarmed combat.

My question is – is there any mention of formal unarmed combat anywhere in the Witcher universe – the show, the books, or the games? The answer does not have to be limited to Witcher schools – non-witcher humans, Elves, Dwarves, etc. are good too.

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    I think there's only the stuff you mention and it was only for game. While those trained in Kaer Morhen had something about their fighting that was recognizable it wasn't a 'formal style'. – Mithoron May 15 '20 at 14:15
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In the books, the schools are literally physical schools - places where you could be trained as a witcher. There is no indication that combat techniques or other studies would be all that different from school to school - that's something that the games have made up.

In particular, no witcher would be wearing heavy armor. So the games' concept of armor doesn't make much sense to begin with.

It is canon that some schools dropped monster hunting in favour for human assassinations, which is how witchers got a bad reputation. The non-canonical game lore has simply been spinning this further, indicating that for example School of the Cat would be using assassin-style combat.

I don't remember any mentioning of unarmed combat techniques specifically. There is an episode in Season of Storms where Geralt is sent to fight a monster unarmed, gladiator-style in an arena. Doing so was apparently a great risk, though he fights with the same techniques as he would when wielding a sword - relying on dodging etc.

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  • Anywhere in the Witcher universe would work, it doesn't necessarily have to be the books. I consider the games to be fully canonical in their own right - partly because many people know the Witcher universe primarily through the games, and partly because (imo) they are better written than the books. I'm less psyched about the show being part of the canon, but I'd take a reference to that too. – Misha R Jun 26 '20 at 23:40
  • @MishaR I can't think of any such source, canonical or otherwise. Closest thing you get are those various street brawl tournaments in Witcher 3. – Amarth Jun 28 '20 at 14:37

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