The Invention of Leshy

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine the role of a digital game series in elevating this relatively minor mythological figure to the status of a synecdoche for the broader concept of “Slavic mythology” and in its appropriation as part of Polish cultural heritage. To this end, this study analyzes Leshy's position in both Polish and global culture before and after the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with particular attention to how game design has shaped its popular perception. Drawing on Foster and Tolbert's concept of the folkloresque and Hobsbawm and Ranger's theory of invented tradition, this study analyzes how CD Projekt Red's interpretation of the forest spirit has become the dominant global representation, superseding previous fragmented and obscure references to Leshy in popular culture while simultaneously influencing Polish cultural discourse.

Introduction

In recent years, the figure of the Leshy, ¹ originating in Slavic folklore, has gained remarkable global prominence. It has appeared in numerous digital games, including Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster, 2022), Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Capcom, 2019), and Black Book (Morteshka, 2021), while assuming the role of a main character in titles such as Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games, 2021) and Leshy (Glivi Games, unreleased). Beyond the gaming industry, the Leshy features in several fantasy novels, appears in the television series The Witcher (Schmidt Hissrich, 2019), has been commemorated with at least one monument, and has inspired dedicated merchandise as well as extensive fan creations. In contemporary popular culture, the Leshy has thus emerged as a significant cultural icon, frequently described as one of the most recognizable figures associated with Slavic tradition (Bell, 2021; Švelch, 2023).

The sudden surge in popularity of this figure can be traced directly to the global success of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED, 2015). In the game, the Leshy – rendered as “Leshen” in the official English translation – appears as one of several Slavic-coded monsters hunted by Geralt, alongside Chorts, Noonwraiths, and Drowners. Importantly, this creature does not represent a straightforward adaptation of an established folkloric figure. Instead, CD Projekt RED borrowed the name of a monster briefly mentioned, though never described, in Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher novels, and redesigned it to fit gameplay purposes. Sapkowski himself had adopted the Russian term for the being, rather than its more familiar Polish equivalent, in order to exoticize it. Yet it was CD Projekt RED's redesign that came to be widely accepted – both internationally and domestically – as an authentic representation of Polish heritage, entering the global imagination as a synecdoche for “Slavic mythology. ² ” In this way, the game not only functioned as a medium for presenting local culture to an international audience – a practice widely discussed in game studies – but also actively reshaped them.

This paper therefore seeks to examine this process in detail. It begins with an investigation of the Leshy's purported mythological origins and its role in Polish folklore and culture prior to The Witcher 3, including its appearances in Sapkowski's Witcher series, in contrast with the figure's more prominent place in Russian tradition. The discussion then turns to the reinvention of the monster in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Finally, drawing on Foster and Tolbert's (2015) concept of the folkloresque and Hobsbawm and Ranger's (1983) theory of invented tradition, the study analyzes how CD Projekt RED's depiction of the forest spirit has become the dominant representation, supplanting earlier references to the Leshy in both global popular culture and Polish discourse. This process is considered in the context of the centuries-long contest over Slavic heritage between the Russian Empire and the Polish nation-state. In doing so, the paper seeks to offer insights into the influence of digital games on tradition and heritage, their role in ongoing political struggles, and the ways in which The Witcher 3 operates as an active cultural agent.

The Growth of Leshy

Google search trends provide some insight into the precise moment when Leshy began to gain popularity. The Polish version of the name, Leszy, was barely present until the first significant increase in search frequency occurred in February 2014. From this point onward, interest in the term remained elevated, reaching its peak in December 2021. Among the two common English transliterations of Leszy, Leshen was virtually absent from Google search data until June 2015, at which point it began to gain traction. However, it was eventually surpassed by the older and more direct transliteration, Leshy, in December 2021. Prior to these developments, searches for the term were largely confined to the Russian-language equivalent (Леший), which had been consistently searched since 2007. ³

Notably, these spikes in search activity coincide with key events related to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, developed by CD Projekt Red. The initial surge in interest aligns with the launching of the official website in late January 2014, which primarily attracted the attention of Polish audiences. A second notable increase corresponds with the game's official release in June 2015. Subsequent peaks in search frequency are associated with Leshy's inclusion in Monster Hunter World as part of a special event and, later, with the premiere of the second season of Netflix's The Witcher series in December 2021, where the alternative transliteration “Leshy” was used. Importantly, each of these surges in search activity - regardless of the specific transliteration - coincides with The Witcher franchise's representation of the creature. While the situation has begun to shift due to the creature's increasing presence in other games, such as Inscryption and Cult of the Lamb, Leshy remains strongly associated with The Witcher franchise.

More significantly, Leshen's influence extends beyond search trends. The creature has quickly become one of the most recognizable game monsters. Its popularity is reflected in extensive fanworks, as well as in widespread player discussions lamenting its relatively limited in-game encounters despite its prominence in promotional materials. Over time, Leshen has emerged as an unofficial symbol of The Witcher series, standing alongside Geralt himself. This is evidenced by its inclusion in Monster Hunter World as part of a tie-in event, its appearance on the cover of the first Dark Horse The Witcher comic book - painted by Mike Mignola himself (2014) - and its role in marketing materials for The Witcher: Old World board game (CD Projekt Red, 2023) and The Witcher: Monster Slayer (2021), an ill-fated mobile game inspired by Pokémon GO (Niantic, 2016). While Leshy has been depicted in various media with slight variations, the design originally introduced by CD Projekt Red has overwhelmingly become the dominant representation in contemporary popular culture.

This raises a number of important questions: Where does Leshy originate? What factors contributed to its sudden rise in popularity? How did it become one of the most recognizable figures of Polish folklore, despite receiving relatively little attention before 2014?

Leshy at Its Roots

Leshy has become widely associated with Slavic mythology and Polish folklore. Jaroslav Švelch (2023, p. 143) links the creature's prominence to a broader trend in which peripheral game developers incorporate non-Germanic and non-Japanese monsters into their designs. Diana Melnic (2018) identifies Leshy as an example of cultural syncretism, while numerous Reddit threads, blog posts, and Instagram posts reinforce this widespread perception – most notably emerging after 2015. While Leshy's Slavic origins remain undisputed, establishing its specific ties to Polish culture proves to be a more complex task. But a significant one: the concept of “Slavic Culture” and is a complex and politically-loaded, and the ongoing struggle over the ownership of the “Slavdom” is a part of an ongoing tension between Poland and Russia (see Janion, 2006; Pichnicka-Trivedi, 2024).

In pre-Witcher Polish studies on Slavic mythology, Leshy (also appearing under alternative names such as leśij, lesovik, leszyj, and leszowoj) is generally considered a minor figure, a shapeshifting woodland demon of Russian origin (Brückner, 1985; Gieysztor, 1982; Pełka, 1987; Podgórska & Podgórski, 2005), with the name derived either from Russian (леший) or Proto-Slavic (lěsъ) and meaning “he who belongs to the woods” (Kuśnierek, 2021, p. 78). Other Slavic languages use different names for the entity, including the Polish borowy and boruta (both derived from bór, meaning “old-growth forest”) or the Serbo-Croatian vücji pastir (“wolf shepherd”) (Gieysztor, 1982, p. 263; Pełka, 1987, p. 21). According to Andrzej Szyjewski (2003, p. 179), a leading scholar on pre-Christian Slavic beliefs, names derived from les are most prevalent in Eastern Slavic languages (Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian), whereas those beginning with bor are more common in Western Slavic languages, including Polish.

Across various studies, Leshy consistently exhibits several defining characteristics. It is a shapeshifting protector of the forest, capable of adjusting its size or assuming the form of a human or various animals. Depending on the tradition, Leshy can be either a malevolent trickster, leading travellers astray and inducing madness through eerie whistling; or a benevolent guardian and steward of the forest, protecting it from harm while helping lost wanderers find their way home and filling children's baskets with berries (Brückner, 1985; Gieysztor, 1982; Kuśnierek, 2021; Pełka, 1987; Podgórska & Podgórski, 2005; Zych & Vargas, 2012).

Such duality is a recurring theme in the folklore, Slavic or otherwise. Pełka (1987) argues that the contrast between benevolence and hostility may stem from the Christianization, during which mythological deities were replaced by Christian saints. Notably, Szyjewski (2003, p. 179) lists St. Nicholas (protector against wolves) as one of Leshy's alternative names. Concurrently, the imagery of Leshy as a devil-like figure emerged (Pełka, 1987, p. 106), as Leshy shifted from benevolent protector into a demonic creature following the adoption of Christianity. Meanwhile, Szyjewski (2003, pp. 179–184) maintains that Leshy's ambivalence predates Christianity, arguing that the creature represents the inherent Otherness of the forest – an untamed, enigmatic realm that is both alluring and perilous.

While once common across all Slavic cultures, in Poland the figure of the Borowy gradually faded into obscurity, disappearing from folklore and appearing only rarely in literary sources. Under the name dziad borowy (“the forest elder” or “forest pauper”), it is attested in a handful of child-oriented works, such as Maria Konopnicka's Na jagody (1903; Picking Berries), a well-known children's poem, and the cult comic Dzień Śmiechały (Day of the Prankster, Christa 1984), part of the Kajko i Kokosz series and its animated adaptation (Gordziejuk, 2021-present). The alternative name Boruta eventually lost its associations with the forest spirit. According to Barbara and Adam Podgórscy, Boruta may have originally functioned as the guardian deity of the sacred grove of Zutibure – “an indigenous, pre-Christian pine forest demon of diabolic nature, who, following Christianization, became a forest devil” (2005, p. 62). By the nineteenth century, however, Boruta had been transformed from a forest deity into a devil disguised as a Polish nobleman, emerging as the protagonist of numerous fables, anecdotes, and literary works (see Wich, 2021).

Out of two prominent lexicons of Slavic monsters published in early twenty-first Century, Barbara and Adam Podgórscy's Wielka Księga Demonów Polskich (The Great Book of Polish Demons, 2005) presents separate entries for Leszy (<rus. lešij>), described as either “the one-eyed Great-Russian demon of the forest and of the souls of the dead” or a “native Polish forest demon of benevolent features” (Podgórska & Podgórski, 2005, pp. 262–263) and Borowy, defined as a “Slavic demon, caretaker of the forest and its flora and fauna” (Podgórska & Podgórski, 2005, p. 61). Paweł Zych and Witold Vargas do not include a distinct entry for Leshy in their Bestiariusz Słowiański (Slavic Bestiary, 2012), instead classifying it under Borowy as an alternative name for the guardian of forest creatures, who can assume the form of a monstrous bear (p. 36).

As attested by Polish sources on Slavic mythology and bestiaries, prior to The Witcher 3 the forest spirit known as Borowy was not entirely unknown within Polish culture, yet it played only a marginal role. By contrast, the name Leshy remained obscure in Poland and, when explained, was typically associated with Russia – and with good reason. The earliest Russian sources that mention the Leshy among other pagan spirits date back to the seventeenth century (Antonov, 2017, p. 131). According to Linda Ivanits (1989), belief in the Leshy persisted among common people well into the late twentieth century. As Alexandria Ziegler (2022) observes, the figure underwent a significant transformation in Russian folklore, evolving from a benevolent guardian into “the grandfather of the devil” after the adoption of Christianity. In this capacity, the Leshy embodies the phenomenon of dvoeverie (“double faith”), simultaneously revered as a forest spirit safeguarding nature and feared as a malevolent demon (Ziegler, 2022, p. 31).

Leshy's modern position within Russian literary culture originates from early nineteenth-century attempts to reconstruct Russian folklore as a pan-Slavic mythology. Two encyclopedic presentations of supposed pre-Christian beliefs – Grigory Glinka's and Andrei Kaysarov's works, both published in 1804 – depict the Leshy as an ambivalent forest deity, possibly drawing inspiration from Vasily Trediakovsky's 1752 short poem Леший и мужик (Leshy and a Peasant) (Toporkov, 1997). These works, in turn, influenced numerous Russian authors, from Alexander Pushkin to Anton Chekhov to Vladimir Vysotsky, turning Leshy into an important literary figure, almost unknown in Poland.

The figure of Leshy appears to have been largely absent from globally distributed, English-language popular culture before its resurgence in gaming. One of the few identifiable instances occurs in the television series Supernatural (Kripke, 2005–2020), which frequently features obscure folkloric beings. In the 2009 episode Fallen Idols the protagonists investigate a series of deaths, uncovering the involvement of Leshy, depicted as a shapeshifting pagan deity who can take any shape, including that of Paris Hilton, and can be defeated by decapitation with an iron axe. It is not associated with Poland or Russia, originating from Balkans instead.

Sapkowski Plants a Seed

Although the Leshy is now widely recognized as an integral part of The Witcher universe, its role in Andrzej Sapkowski's original novels is minimal, as Geralt neither encounters nor battles the creature. It is just mentioned four times in the short story collection Ostatnie życzenie (The Last Wish) (Sapkowski, 1993) and once in the novel Wieża Jaskółki (The Tower of the Swallow) (Sapkowski, 1997), each time as a kind of monster that witchers commonly hunt.

In the short story Wiedźmin (The Witcher), included in The Last Wish, King Foltest inquiries about Geralt's profession, asking whether he has ever encountered vampires or Leshys, to which Geralt affirms (Sapkowski, 1993, p. 18). In Ziarno prawdy (A Grain of Truth), Geralt speculates about the possible culprit behind a violent attack, considering both a Leshy and a werewolf (p. 45). Later in the same story, he wonders whether the sound he hears from a tree nearby is made by a Leshy or a common wildcat (p. 65). Finally, in Głos rozsądku (The Voice of Reason) Geralt explains his trade to a young priestess and lists the Leshy among fifteen other monsters commonly hunted by witchers (p. 121). In the novel The Tower of the Swallow, a minor character fears to travel due to numerous possible dangers on the road, including the Leshy that killed his son-in-law two weeks prior (Sapkowski, 1997, p. 49).

Therefore, the Leshy is never directly described in Sapkowski's prose, only named, and no details about the creature are provided. Despite this lack of information, some inferences can be made regarding the nature of the monster. It is clearly a dangerous predator capable of consuming its victims entirely: in A Grain of Truth, Geralt dismisses the possibility of a Leshy being responsible for an attack as it would have left little remains for scavengers. Additionally, it produces noises similar to a wildcat and is small enough to hide within a tree canopy. Lastly, it appears to be common enough to be known across social classes, as it is mentioned by both royalty and commoners. It could be therefore assumed that in The Witcher literary canon, Leshy is more of an animal than a forest spirit from Russian folklore.

Although the Leshy does not play any direct role in the plot, its inclusion in Sapkowski's prose aligns with his writing techniques. Sapkowski commonly employs enumeration as an efficient mean to expand his fictional world, while simultaneously reinforcing the image of the protagonist as highly trained professionals with extensive knowledge. Additionally, he frequently integrates references to real-world phenomena drawn from various (predominantly European) cultures and languages, thereby avoiding equating his fantasy setting with a single cultural tradition (see Majkowski, 2011; Roszczynialska, 2009; for further discussion). Finally, he often obscures his sources by blending authentic references with invented terminology or by assigning new meanings to little-known real-life phenomena within the fictional universe.

Among the sixteen monsters Geralt lists while describing his profession in The Voice of Reason short story, two originate from Arabic sources, one from English tradition, and three from Slavic folklore. Additionally, two derive from traditional horror narratives, two are taken from real-life scientific classifications of insects, one is a specie of deep-sea fish, and one shares its name with a river in Germany. The remaining four are entirely made up by the author. Of these, two names mimic Polish folkloric patterns, one resembles a term derived from a Romance language, and one is simply a “giga-scorpion.” (Sapkowski, 1993, p. 121).

While Andrzej Sapkowski openly acknowledges drawing on “Slavic mythology” (as he notes, for example, in an interview with Literary Hub, 2020 ), he rarely specifies Russian tradition or literature as sources. Nonetheless, it is likely that he borrowed the name leszy from Alexander Pushkin's 1822 poem Руслан и Людмила (Ruslan and Lyudmila), a work that provides several names Sapkowski incorporates into his novels, including the famous Лукоморье (Lukomorye, the “Curved Seashore”), a mythical fairy-tale land in Pushkin and a geographic name in Sapkowski's works. In the poem's prologue, Pushkin describes various magical elements of this enchanted landscape, with the leshy mentioned directly in one stanza:

Там чудеса: там леший бродит,

Русалка на ветвях сидит. ⁴

What marvels there! The wood-sprite [Leshy] rides,

Among the leaves the mermaid hides. ⁵

Notably, in the 1954 Polish translation of the poem, the word leszy is not used, nor is the more common Polish equivalent, borowy. Instead, it is rendered as upiór leśny (“woodland phantom”), further highlighting the obscurity of the Leshy in Polish tradition prior to The Witcher (Puszkin, 1954).

By choosing the relatively obscure term leszy instead of the more widely recognized borowy, Sapkowski evokes a vague image of a forest-dwelling creature without relying on established depictions of humanoid woodland spirits from children stories. Borrowing from Russian folklore also introduces an element of semi-exoticism for Polish readers – the term itself is easily understandable and loosely connected to folklore and a general sense of “Slavicness,” yet it lacks strong, specific connotations. This approach aligns with Sapkowski's broader tendency to incorporate Eastern Slavic loanwords, most notably kikimora, another Russian folklore entity that he reimagines as a monstrous spider ⁶ . This linguistic and cultural ambiguity also allowed CD Projekt RED greater creative freedom in redesigning the creature for their adaptation.

Leshy Grows into Leshen

Due to its dual nature and shapeshifting abilities, there is no traditional consensus on the visual representation of a Leshy. In contemporary Slavic bestiaries and online sources pre-The Witcher 3, the creature was most commonly depicted as an old man with long hair and a beard, sometimes composed of leaves, often shown accompanied by wild animals. The image most often reproduced online ⁷ comes from early twentieth century: it is a cover illustration of the first issue of the Russian satirical journal Леший (Leshy) by anonymous artist N. N. Brutus, features a tall, green-skinned man walking through a forest, with pinecones entangled in his hair (1906, p.1). Beyond Eastern Europe, a unique representation of the creature can be found in J. Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire infernal, where léchies (defined as Russian forest satyrs) are depicted as half-human, half-goat (Infernal Dictionary, 1863, pp. 402–403). Notably, none of these historical representations resemble the Leshy design introduced later by CD Projekt RED.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is not the first game in the franchise to feature a Leshy. The creature appears as a possible opponent in Wiedźmin: Gra Wyobraźni (The Witcher: Game of Imagination, 2001), a tabletop RPG handbook. Drawing from Sapkowski's sparse descriptions supplemented by books on Slavic pagan religion, the RPG highlights the creature's dual nature: while commonly believed to be a woodland spirit, it is, in fact, an insatiable predator. Unlike later digital game adaptations, this version of the Leshy does not appear humanoid; rather a hybrid between a wildcat and a bear, though capable of shapeshifting. Notably, neither the description – seemingly influenced by Sapkowski's passing remark about the similarity between a Leshy's noises and animal sounds – nor the accompanying illustration, which depicts a cat-like creature leaping from the forest canopy, bears any resemblance to later digital adaptations. This representation is also unique in portraying the Leshy primarily as an animal.

Although the Leshy does not appear in the first two digital games of The Witcher series (2007, 2011), it makes its debut in the franchise's expanded universe in the two-part comic book The Witcher: Reasons of State (2011) , an official second game tie-in. In a manner consistent with Sapkowski's narrative style, the creature is once again employed as a red herring: Geralt is hired to eliminate a Leshy terrorizing the area, only to discover that the true culprit is an entirely different creature.

Despite the misleading premise, the comic provides valuable insights into Leshy's early characterization within CD Projekt RED universe, which seems to draw inspiration from the tabletop RPG Wiedźmin: Gra Wyobraźni (2001). Leshy is described as a nocturnal predator prowling the forest, a giant bear or cat (it remains unclear whether this is its natural form or a result of shapeshifting), capable of prolonged hibernation, potentially lasting several years. It is mistaken for werecat, reinforcing further the feline-like characteristics from the tabletop RPG. The narrative also emphasizes Leshy's association with dvoeverie (double faith), as discussed by Alexandria Zeigler (2022, p. 31): local peasants pay tributes to both an official deity and the forest spirit itself. Finally, the comic book introduces Spriggan, a creature from Cornish folklore (Miller, 2012), as an alternative name for the Leshy, suggesting that different cultures may refer to the same type of creature by different names. As the comic book was officially integrated into the video game continuity, it is reasonable to assume that, at this stage of development, CD Projekt RED's depiction of the Leshy closely followed Sapkowski's novels and the tabletop RPG.

Leshy played a prominent role in The Witcher 3 even before the game's release, appearing in the first screenshots and gameplay footage shared online in June 2013, as well as in a Leshy-centered quest showcased during a press event (Kuc, 2013, Woldański, 2013, Malik, 2013). While the monster's Russian name is consistent with Sapkowski's prose, the developers took advantage of the creature's relatively undefined image outside of the non-canon tabletop RPG handbook and decided to depart from concept of a monstrous wildcat. Instead, the Leshen in The Witcher 3 appears more influenced by Borowy description found in Bestiariusz słowianski (The Slavic Bestiary, Zych and Varga, 2012) than Leshy from The Witcher book series ⁸ . The shift is further emphasized in the English translation, where the established transliteration (“Leshy”) was altered to “Leshen”, while the Polish name remained unchanged (“leszy”).

The studio introduced a completely new and unprecedented design for the monster, which, over the following years, gained popularity and became widely recognized as the definitive version of the Slavic Leshy within international gaming communities, particularly on Reddit. The Leshen retains a vaguely humanoid silhouette, yet nothing about it is truly human. Its most striking feature is a deer skull in place of a head, adorned with massive antlers. Its body is composed of tree branches, bark, moss, and animal bones. In combat, the Leshen can dissolve into a cloud of smoke and reappear elsewhere, summoning crows or a pack of wolves for reinforcement. This design enhances the creature's mystery and menace, transforming it into a vengeful force of nature – an entity seemingly resurrected from the remnants of the forest, intent on punishing those who exploit and destroy the natural world.

Numerous online discussions and popular media outlets (e.g., Schmidt, 2021; Steve, 2019) have drawn comparisons between CD Projekt RED's Leshen design and the Algonquian Wendigo, particularly due to the prominent deer skull and antlers. However, the folkloric connection remains highly debatable. The depiction of the Wendigo as a monstrous antlered figure appears to originate not from Indigenous traditions but from modern artistic interpretations. One of the earliest known visual representations comes from the Famous Fantastic Mysteries reprint of Algernon Blackwood's horror story The Wendigo, in which illustrator Mathew Fox portrays the otherwise formless entity – described in the story as an incarnation of the northern wind – as a towering humanoid with deer antlers (Fox, 1944, p. 90–91). This imagery was later reinforced by the cult film Wendigo (Fessenden, 2001), which helped solidify the modern perception of the creature. While these artistic interpretations may have influenced the Leshen's design, they do not indicate direct inspiration from North American folklore.

It is worth noting that a similar skull-topped figure appears on the poster for the 2009 Canadian horror film The Wild Hunt (Franchi, 2009). While the image depicts a LARP costume rather than a supernatural entity, the striking visual resemblance – combined with the film's title referencing the same mythical spectral hunt – suggests yet another potential source of inspiration for the Leshen's design.

Other possible influences include the Celtic horned god Cernunnos, a connection hinted at within The Witcher 3 itself, as one of the named Leshen bosses is called Kernun – a clear play on the deity's name. Additionally, the British folklore figure Herne the Hunter, particularly the version from the British ITV series Robin of Sherwood (Carpenter, 1984–1986), seems to have left a mark. In this adaptation, Herne is reimagined as a semi-supernatural protector of the forest, wearing a headdress made of deer hide, complete with antlers. Given that the series first aired in Poland in 1986 and remains a cult classic among the generation that later held senior roles at CD Projekt RED, its influence are plausible. Another possible TV-related sources are the Stag Man from the NBC Hannibal television series (Fuller, 2013–2015), also based on the image of the horned god. Finally, a website devoted to Silesian culture claims that the Leshen's design is based on a 1561 map of the region by Martin Hedwig, which depicts Rübenzahl, a local mountain spirit, as a humanoid deer (Balczarek, 2022).

The exact origins of the Leshen's redesign are, of course, impossible to pinpoint, but all indications suggest that the inspiration lies outside Slavic tradition. The creature's highly original and influential visual design bears little resemblance to the traditional Russian imagery of the Leshy or the way Borowy figures appear in Polish Slavic bestiaries and mythology. It also significantly diverges from The Witcher's previously established lore.

According to Marcin Blacha, The Witcher 3's Story Director, the decision to change the Leshen's design was as much practical as it was aesthetic. The goal was to create a unique, powerful, and mysterious creature tied to the local setting. This ruled out the original cat-like design since all wildcats native to Poland – lynxes being the largest – are too small to serve as a miniboss in the game. Additionally, the humanoid form allowed for better implementation of spellcasting animations, providing clear visual cues to telegraph incoming attacks. This was particularly important given the Leshen's ability to use environmental attacks, such as summoning wolves or commanding ensnaring roots, in addition to more traditional, direct strikes. ⁹

This pragmatic aspect of the design is reinforced by the in-game bestiary entry, emphasizing Leshen's monstrous nature as a fiercely territorial woodland predator capable of controlling plants and animals within their territory. An expanded bestiary entry, available upon reading a specific book in-game, further dismisses the notion of Leshens as benevolent forest guardians, framing such beliefs as mere superstition among naive and uneducated villagers. In The Witcher 3's bestiary, Leshen is described as neither protective nor ambivalent, just a deadly monster. Such perspective is reinforced by game logic: Leshen – if encountered, which is not mandatory – follows the mechanic governing all monsters and lack any special qualities besides unique attacks – with one important exception discussed below. It therefore fits into the broader role of video game monsters, which, as Jaroslav Švelch (2023, p. 4) observes, “become targets of player action – dynamic obstacles that can be surmounted by perseverance, wits, or hand-eye coordination.”

The redesigned Leshen frequently appeared in promotional screenshots and artwork for The Witcher 3, beginning in mid-2013 with the first announcements of Geralt's new adventure and the game's initial demo. It was one of the first monsters revealed to the public, quickly capturing players’ imagination with its unique design and the engaging, standout combat sequence (Loewenmaeulchen03 2021). Despite the overwhelmingly positive reception, the Leshen is a rare encounter in the game world, with some players claiming they never came across it during gameplay (SpicyToasterOven, 2021). On one hand, this scarcity enhanced the monster's mysterious nature and encouraged players to actively seek it out, but on the other, it sometimes led to disappointment.

It is possible to actively engage with the Leshen through sidequests, though. In the Heart of the Woods is a mission presented among the earliest gameplay segments showcased to the public in 2013 (Malik, 2013) and exemplifies the Leshen's duality. The quest revolves around a conflict between two generational perspectives on the Woodland Spirit, a Leshen believed by the village elders to be an ancient force angered by the community's neglect of traditional rituals. They advocate for appeasement, while younger villagers view the creature as a dangerous predator that must be slain. However, fight against Leshen might be avoided if the player sides with village elders and appease the creature with an offering. Choosing youngsters approach makes the combat inevitable. The interaction with the Woodland Spirit is therefore dependent in player's behaviour in the forest, making it consistent with folklore sources and Slavic mythologies. Regardless of the choice the player makes, the quest inevitably results in bloodshed in the village, though, embodying what Sicart (2013) describes as a “wicked problem” – a scenario with no optimal solution (see also Kepsu, 2021).

While both positions are impossible to reconcile, the narrative subtly aligns Geralt's rationalism as an agent of modernity (Majkowski, 2018) with the scepticism of the younger villagers. Regardless of the side the witcher takes, the Leshen is irrevocably presented as a beast to be either slain or appeased: even in the latter case, the in-game journal refuses to address the Woodland Spirit as anything but a monster, highlighting Geralt's surprise that it is not entirely hostile. This way the game does not entirely dismiss old beliefs – the Woodland Spirit is real – but rather rationalizes them, reinforcing a perspective common in Slavic fantasy fiction (Obertová, 2022).

By setting the quest on the Norse-coded Skellige, The Witcher 3 paradoxically does not distance the Leshen from Slavic folklore. Instead, it reinforces a Romantic vision of a lost pre-Christian tradition, drawing on the perceived connection between Nordic Vikings and paganism. This Romantic ideal, which originally helped shape the concept of the Leshy in Russian culture, frames the Leshen as a relic of an older world – one that modern civilization has left behind. In doing so, the monster becomes part of the broader Romantic trope of a lost, primal culture, a notion fundamental to the very concept of Slavic mythology (Janion, 2006). This connection is further emphasized by the Leshen's design: a creature that is both hidden and only semi-alive, yet entirely natural and organic, embodying the mystery of a forgotten past and the raw, untamed power of the wilderness.

Leshy Branches Out

According to Marcin Blacha ¹⁰ , the Leshen became the most recognizable, popular, and discussed monster among the nearly 100 creatures featured in The Witcher 3, easily outperforming other Slavic-coded beings such as the Fiend (Bies) or the Noonwraith (Południca), despite their stronger presence in Polish folklore and popular culture prior to the game's release. This popularity led to three significant outcomes.

First, due to its “very unsettling but cool design” (Loewenmaeulchen03, 2021) and strong association with local folklore, the Leshen became a key part of The Witcher 3's marketing strategy. The monster featured in tie-in comic books, promotional images, merchandise, and collectibles such as Funko Pop figurines, confirming Jaroslav Švelch's assessment that “monsters have proved to be ideal items for consumption” (2023, p. 25). The Leshen's design also proliferated throughout gaming culture, appearing in numerous games such as Black Book, Inscryption, Cult of the Lamb, and unreleased Leshy.

Second, Leshen's design became a popular subject of fan art, tattoo designs, and other creative interpretations, culminating in the erection of a monument dedicated to the creature. In such works, Leshen is often presented not as a Witcher-specific monster but as a figure of local folklore or mythology. This is evident in instances such as the Bolków monument, which closely follows The Witcher 3's Leshen design yet makes no reference to the game series on the statue's website (QR Communications, 2020). Similarly, Google Maps reviews of the statue praise its authenticity and its role in commemorating local folklore. Additionally, online discussions often assume, uncritically, that the game's depiction of the Leshen accurately represents traditional Slavic folklore, sometimes debating whether it is specifically Polish or more broadly Slavic (ex. [Deleted user] 2022).

Finally, The Witcher 3 influenced Polish literature, contributing to a “Slavic fantasy” boom in young adult fiction starting in 2016. Prior to the game's release in 2015, the Leshy was relatively obscure in Polish popular culture – early articles covering the game's promotional materials in 2013 had to explain what a Leshy was (Malik, 2013). However, following the game's success, the creature became an essential part of the Slavic fantasy literary trend, appearing in popular book series by authors such as Marta Krajewska and Katarzyna Miszczuk (Mikinka, 2023, Brzóstowicz-Klajn, 2022), as well as Slavic mythologies published after 2015, for example by Bobrowski and Wrona (2017). While these literary depictions do not always align with The Witcher 3's Leshen design and lore, the name itself (leszy) gained widespread recognition, surpassing terms like Borowy and other regional variants. This shift cemented the Leshen as a significant element of Polish folklore, despite its previously minor role.

The influence of CD Projekt Red's interpretation of Leshy is therefore undeniable, both within and beyond Poland, reintroducing the creature as a part of Polish Slavic heritage and replacing older creature's version with a redesign in a process that Alexandria Ziegler describes as folkloresque. The term, originally coined by Michael Dylan Foster and Jeffrey Tolbert, refers to “popular culture's own (emic) perception and performance of folklore. That is, it refers to creative, often commercial products or texts (…) that give the impression to the consumer (…) that they derive directly from existing folkloric traditions” (2015, p. 5). Folkloresque narratives bring a strong sense of folklore (4) while not being “retellings of traditional narratives” (3), nor “wholly fictional or invented from scratch” (3). This was, indeed, the initial appeal of CD Projekt RED's Leshen: a creature designed by professional artists (rather than by communal, vernacular folk practices) yet presented as directly linked to pre-Christian Slavic beliefs. The game itself reinforces this notion. While most monsters – whether Slavic-coded or otherwise – are depicted as dangerous supernatural animals and are rarely correctly identified by non-player characters (the recurring motif being Geralt's recognition of a misidentified creature), the Leshen is explicitly regarded as a deity in at least one quest. It thus becomes an object of folk belief within the game world, alongside entities such as the Crones of Crookback Bog. ¹¹ In this respect, the Leshen functions not merely as an entry in the game's bestiary but as a component of in-game folklore in the strict sense.

The Witcher 3's Leshen is, therefore, a folkloresque creature that has successfully entered popular imagination, comparable to figures such as Totoro or Princess Elsa. This interpretation aligns well with the broader The Witcher media franchise, including board games and a Netflix series. It may be argued, however, that CD Projekt RED's redesign of the creature has outgrown its roots within the Witcher universe, effectively supplanting other representations of the Slavic forest spirit – as evidenced by its appearance in tattoo designs and even a monument in Bolków. Within online geek communities, the identification of the Leshy as a central figure of Polish/Slavic mythology, independent of its association with the game, has become part of common knowledge. In this sense, the new Leshen may also be regarded as reclaimed contemporary folklore figure. Following Alan Dundes (2019), we can define folklore as a body of informal knowledge shared by a group of people; in this case, Leshen's ties to both digital games and fantasy literature position it firmly within what we might call “geek folklore.”

It is to be noted that while CD Project Red work closely follows Sapkowski's approach to the European folklore, blending Germanic, Polish and Russian sources (among others), the popular reception of the Leshen often equate it specifically with Polish culture, framing it as a remnant of local pagan tradition. Such distinctly Romantic perspective (Dundes, 2019; Janion, 2006) is confirmed by online interactions among The Witcher 3 players (ex. Bortasz, 2015, LeHime, 2020, [Deleted user] 2022), commonly discussing the creature as a part of folk believes and pre-Christian Slavic mythology preserved within Polish folk tradition – despite its relatively recent (re)introduction to Polish culture.

As the appeal of this new Leshy stems from its supposed ancient origins, making its widespread recognition a prime example of the invention of tradition as defined by Hobsbawm and Ranger (1983). By establishing a symbolic link with the past, this process provides legitimacy to contemporary values and cultural identities – a practice closely tied to the political concept of a nation, legitimized by the antiquity of its heritage. As apparent in the players’ discussions, Leshy is often naturalized as part of Polish tradition, confirming the importance of supposed Slavic roots in the Polish national discourse. This way, it becomes a part of a pre-existing tradition invented in nineteenth Century and still important to Polish self-identity: namely, the Slavic mythology considered a basis for Polish folk culture. The Witcher's Leshen, while design by the CD Project RED in twenty-first century, was included into this practice and thus reinterpreted as timeless element of Polono-Slavic heritage,

The post–Witcher 3 Leshy is therefore a profoundly complex figure, owing its name to a passing reference in Andrzej Sapkowski's books, its distinct appearance to the work of professional concept artists based on the Anglophone popular culture rather than earlier depictions of the creature, and it's lore to a plethora of literary and folkloristic sources, combined with in-game logic rationalizing monsters with extensive taxonomy.

This hybrid composition situates the Leshy within what Fernando Ortiz terms transculturation (1995): a process through which cultural forms are appropriated, transformed, and recontextualized within new frameworks of meaning. It is at once a local adaptation and a global export – a Slavic spirit mediated through Polish national discourse, reimagined by Western-oriented digital artists, and circulated globally through various media. Paradoxically, this hybrid creature has come to be regarded not only as an authentic element of Polish folk culture but also as a surviving remnant of the pagan past. In this process, it has been naturalized and homogenized within local national tradition, linking contemporary Poland to its supposed pre-Christian roots and symbolically positioning it as both distinct from and continuous with the imagined Slavdom.

Among the three purposes that invented traditions serve, Hobsbawm and Ranger identify “establishing or symbolizing social cohesion or the membership of groups, real or artificial communities” (1983, 9), emphasizing how the emerging nation-states of the nineteenth century unified diverse regional, folk customs and beliefs to create a homogeneous national culture – legitimized as ancient and immutable while conveniently erasing its internal diversity. As Leshy gets included within the broader corpus of Polono-Slavic mythology, the its complexity and hybridity is erased by the homogenizing power of invented tradition. This highlights the capacity of digital games to serve as a platform for national ideology, even without any such intentions from designers.

The widespread acceptance of the Leshy in this role, as previously discussed, can be attributed to two primary factors: the strong reception of The Witcher 3 within the Anglosphere and the ongoing process of inventing Slavic traditions as one of the two central pillars of Polish national identity ¹² . The fact that the figure itself is rooted in Russian culture is both ironic and, in a sense, expected – fitting seamlessly into the broader context of the invention of Slavic mythological tradition in both Russia and Poland.

Emerging from the Romantic fascination with local folk beliefs and supposedly ancient mythologies, this project developed in the nineteenth century under similar material conditions but in radically different political circumstances. In the absence of written sources, the Slavic tradition had to be reconstructed from folk belief and, to a large extent, from invention. For early folklorists of the Russian Empire, the creation of a putative Slavic mythology was necessary to establish historical roots for the modern state (Toporkov, 1997) and to consolidate the idea of a unified Slavic culture over which Russia could claim legitimate authority – an ideological cornerstone of Russian Pan-Slavism (Diec, 2020, Janion, 2006). By inventing an ancient Slavic tradition, Russia distanced itself from the Greco-Roman legacy that underpinned Western empires, thus positioning itself as what has been described as a “Subaltern Empire” (Morozov, 2015; Tlostanova, 2015): simultaneously Orientalized by other European powers, yet recognized as a proper imperial state. In this framing, Russia frequently contrasted its own Slavic and Eastern Orthodox tradition with the unified concept of “the West,” defined as Germanic and Catholic (Diec, 2020).

For Polish Romanticism, by contrast, the invention of Slavic tradition was a matter of cultural survival. Following the collapse of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late eighteenth century, the dominant political ideology of the szlachta (nobleman's democracy) proved insufficient to sustain Polish culture in the absence of a sovereign state. The search for supposedly lost Slavic roots provided a unifying cultural paradigm that could encompass different social classes, while also offering a distinction from Russia – regarded by Polish Romantics as a barbaric, Mongolian state with no genuine ties to Slavdom. This distinction was politically necessary to reject the Russian Pan-Slavic project, which advocated the unity of all Slavic peoples under the rule of the Russian tsar (Janion, 2006). At the same time, the Polish Romantic invention of Slavic tradition reflected another, much older political anxiety: the perception of Poland as neither fully Western nor fully Eastern European, and the corresponding desire to construct a unique cultural identity rooted in its own mythological heritage ¹³ .

It should be noted that, beyond its symbolic dimension, this struggle has a concrete political aspect, with dominance over the states situated between Poland and Russia – namely Belarus and Ukraine – at stake, both of which are rarely recognized as fully autonomous actors by either local hegemon.

The cultural competition between Poland and Russia over the “ownership” of Slavicness as an aesthetic category (Janion, 2006) is far from over, with digital games serving as newest battleground. But it reaches far beyond gaming: the tendency to justify Polish cultural specificity through Slavic heritage is apparent in literature (Gemra, 2017; Mikinka, 2023; Brzóstowicz-Klajn, 2022), audiovisual media and so-called “ethno-design” (Brzezińska, 2014), and even fringe political projects (Wójcik, 2019). An example outside of gaming culture is Krakowskie Potwory (Cracow Monsters, Adamik & Chajdas, 2022), a Netflix-produced television series centered on the hunting of Slavic creatures. Created with a global audience in mind, the show draws on an obscure nineteenth-century attempt by the Polish philosopher Bronisław Trentowski to reconstruct an ancient Slavic religion (Szyjewski, 2022).

The Witcher franchise – including the games, comic books, and Andrzej Sapkowski's prose – is often considered part of this cultural struggle, sometimes even a central component, despite Sapkowski's own critical stance toward ethnocentric, particularly Slavic-focused, fantasy. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with is clearly folksy aesthetics, is an important milestone in Polish appropriation of the Slavicness: with numerous distinctly Polish visual cues labelled and considered Slavic in the game international reception (see Majkowski, 2018) it unwittingly yet strongly contributed to legitimizing Polish ethnocentric claim to be a local cultural hegemon, while the Netflix adaptation of The Witcher (Netflix, 2019) was met with massive backlash in Poland, criticized for its perceived “de-Slavicization” through the introduction of non-white characters and the rejection of ethnically coded visual designs (Gawroński & Bajorek, 2020; Imre, 2023).

The case of the Leshy highlights both the irony and complexity of digitally mediated transculturation (Ortiz, 1995, Rama, 2012). As a prominent and highly characteristic element of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – widely regarded as one of the foremost achievements of contemporary Polish culture due to its reception in the Anglosphere – it was readily incorporated into popular discourse as part of “Polish Slavic heritage,” as evidenced by online discussions and the creature's popularity in Polish fan works, and discussed above. At the same time, the author of the game's literary prototype likely borrowed the name from Pushkin's poem to create a Slavic-yet-unfamiliar monster, reflecting the creature's relative obscurity in pre-Witcher 3 Poland. In this sense, the Leshy initially belonged to a rival discourse, mediated through a network of intertextual references in Sapkowski's books and a multitude of non-Slavic visual inspirations for its redesign, borrowed mostly from British and American popular culture.

Interestingly, there is no significant evidence of Russian players disputing ownership of the Leshy on the international stage, perhaps due to a tendency to regard all Slavic elements as inherently domestic, or to the diminished cultural significance of the Leshy in Russia. Nonetheless, CD Projekt RED's redesign contrasts with the more traditional, yet still monstrous, depiction of the Leshy in the 2021 Russian game Black Book.

The cultural interaction in this case is highly complex, with Russian culture functioning simultaneously as dominant – due to historical influence and greater global visibility – and as subordinate to Polish culture, given the Polish perception of cultural superiority arising from their proximity to Western Europe (Czapliński, 2016, Janion, 2006, Pichnicka-Trivedi, 2024). Both local cultural idioms, however, are shaped and mediated by the authority of the Anglosphere, which becomes especially salient when the English-speaking community identifies the Leshen as part of Polish cultural heritage or conflates Polish with Slavic. In doing so, the Anglosphere effectively legitimizes the Polish Romantic interpretation of Slavic tradition (Janion, 2006).

This case opens multiple avenues for further inquiry: the cultural relationship between Poland and Russia, often framed in postcolonial terms (Grzechnik, 2019, Janion, 2006; Pichnicka-Trivedi, 2024); the reception of the creature in Slavic communities other than Polish and Russian; the role of popular culture and the folkloresque in shaping and inventing cultural heritage; the complex function of folklore in the history of the nation-state; the interaction between the global and the local; and the relationship between fan and folk cultures. All of these topics merit investigation and will be explored in future research. For the present discussion, however, we focus on a single question: why is it the Leshy – of all the creatures in The Witcher 3 – that has achieved such a significant international and domestic presence, despite its relative obscurity in Polish tradition and its Russian origins?

Leshy at its Core

As described above, Leshen perfectly fulfils the dual role of serving as both an international and domestic symbol of an invented Polish Slavic tradition. Its distinct visual design, engaging gameplay, and complex, branching narrative made it stood apart from other game monsters, compelling enough to generate global appeal. Domestically, its significance was further reinforced by the prestige of The Witcher 3 as an internationally acclaimed game, particularly as it fosters online interactions in which Polish players often assume the role of cultural experts. As the Leshy became commonly associated with Polish folklore, these players readily explained its invented traditions to foreign audiences, simultaneously appropriating a figure that holds greater prominence in Russian culture. However, this alone does not fully explain why the Leshen, out of all the Slavic-coded elements in The Witcher 3, emerged as the most influential.

Beside unique and attractive visual extensively analysed above, we identify three main reasons for Leshen's exceptional influence. The first is linguistic: among the many monsters encountered in The Witcher 3, Leshen is one of only two whose names were not translated but transliterated (albeit with some creative freedom) into English – the other being “Chort,” a lesser, animal-like creature without any dedicated quests. As a result, Leshen retained its ethnic character, unlike creatures such as Drowners or Noonwraiths, which, despite their deep roots in Polish folklore and strong presence in local literature and popular culture, were naturalized through English translation. For Polish speakers, in turn, Leszy feels slightly exotic – an unmistakably Eastern Slavic word without the strong connotations that burden other Polish monster names, most of which appear in legends, songs, proverbs, or everyday expressions.

The second reason is more complex and ties Leshen to broader preconceptions about Slavic pagan traditions. As Maria Janion (2006) points out, as pre-Christian Slavic customs failed to attract sufficient interest from missionaries to be thoroughly documented, and Slavs themselves did not use writing, almost no first-hand records of their culture have survived. The Slavs lack a foundational text comparable to Illiad, Eddas or even Kalevala (Kalik and Uchitel, 2018). In the absence of such sources, nineteenth Century Romantic proto-folklorists constructed their vision of Slavic paganism by piecing together sparse chronicle mentions and oral folk traditions, resulting in a rich corpus of folk spirits that came to be regarded as direct relics of ancient beliefs.

Monsters became ideal vessels for this practice, often reinterpreted as ancient deities degraded into bogeymen by Christianity – as is evident in interpretations of the role the Leshy plays in Russian folk culture, briefly summarized above. The Witcher 3 follows this pattern, incorporating Slavic monsters as enemies and using Polish Slavic gods’ names for runestones ¹⁴ . Notably, the game plays with deities ironically: the Hearts of Stone DLC (CD Projekt RED, 2016) introduces runestones named Pyerog (Dumpling) and Tvarog (Cottage Cheese), poking fun at how some common Polish words resemble supposed Slavic deities’ names (such as Svarog, a supposed sun god). Meanwhile, Leshen – an ancient, powerful, and enigmatic being lurking deep in the forest, presented with all seriousness – can be interpreted as a metaphor for Slavic tradition itself: banished and abandoned, yet still preserved in the dark corners of the world.

Thirdly, Leshens exist solely to be either slain or banished, making them an ideal vessel for one of The Witcher 3's central themes: the subjugation of nature by the rational mind at the advent of modernity (Majkowski, 2018; Feller, 2023). As a distinctly Slavic monster, the Leshen embodies Eastern Europe as an untamed, dangerous wilderness frozen in time – an image established by the Enlightenment (Wolff, 1994) and reinforced in Western popular culture through the vampire narrative. Dracula serves as the ultimate Eastern European figure – a mysterious and dangerous relic of the pre-rational past, ultimately repelled by modernity (Gibson, 2006). Similarly, the Leshen allows Geralt to assert his modern mindset and superior combat abilities, both taming the land and dispelling superstition. In doing so, the game enables a global audience to engage with long-standing perceptions of Slavic identity while also reflecting Poland's own ambivalence toward its Slavic heritage – viewed both as a cultural legacy and as a burden, given Poland's self-identification as a Western nation (Czapliński, 2016; Majkowski, 2018, Pichnicka-Trivedi, 2024).

The Leshen's Russian origins, though not widely recognized, may reinforce this dynamic locally: the name, as rendered in the Polish version of the game, sounds distinctly Eastern Slavic to a Polish ear, positioning the monster as simultaneously familiar and foreign. In this respect, the Leshen functions as a metaphor for the selective appropriation and domestication of Eastern Slavic tradition within a Polish framework. This process operates both in-game – through Geralt's modernizing interventions – and out-of-game, via CD Projekt RED's global dissemination of a Slavic aesthetic.

The Leshy thus encapsulates a complex mode of cultural negotiation through which Poland simultaneously resists and reproduces imperial hierarchies, positioning itself within what Homi Bhabha (1994) describes as a liminal or in-between space of cultural articulation – neither fully Western nor entirely Eastern European, but oscillating between these symbolic poles in search of recognition as a regional hegemon. Viewed through the lens of transculturation (Ortiz, 1995), the Leshy functions as a culturally hybrid figure: one that undergoes reinterpretation, reterritorialization, and eventual naturalization within the framework of national heritage, even as it circulates across transnational cultural networks. Its incorporation into what Hobsbawm and Ranger (1983) termed “invented tradition” illustrates the homogenizing power of national discourses, which absorb and stabilize hybrid forms by reconfiguring them as markers of cultural continuity and authenticity. In this sense, the Leshy's apparent rootedness in Polish folklore conceals the complex processes of cultural borrowing and re-signification underpinning its creation, transforming a transcultural artifact into a monolithic emblem of the nation's imagined pre-Christian past.

Yet an additional vector emerges when the Leshen is interpreted through the lens of imperial interactions between Western and Eastern Europe (Wolff, 1994). As Souvik Mukherjee (2024) notes, the Leshen engages with a central theme of colonial imagination, in which uncolonized, wild landscapes are framed as monstrous and dangerous. This introduces a new layer of ambivalence, rooted in the complex relationship between postcolonialism and ecocriticism (Chakrabarty, 2012; Mukherjee, 2024). On one hand, Geralt can be seen as an agent of environmentalism, embodying human responsibility for the natural world – eliminating threats to maintain balance. On the other hand, the Leshen can also symbolize resistance: nature's vengeance against human encroachment. This ambiguity reframes Leshy's traditional role within contemporary global discourse, positioning the forest as both a resource to be managed and a heritage to be preserved – in a way, restoring its original ambivalence, as described by Szyjewski (2003).

The skull atop Leshen's body underscores its chthonic nature. Emerging from the underworld, it is not undead – something once alive that has returned – but an entirely new entity, an assemblage of inanimate matter given form to embody the wild. This deepens the reading: Leshen is not only a symbol of nature's raw, untamed power but also of ecological catastrophe, representing a world damaged beyond repair. The symbiotic relationship between humans and nature has collapsed, leaving behind only hostility. This is particularly evident in In the Heart of the Woods, where a once-worshipped Leshen, abandoned by its followers, becomes a vengeful monster.

Conclusion

“The original Latin word monstrum means ‘that which reveals’ or ‘that which warns.’ […] Monsters speak to our deeper fears and voice the anxieties of our cultures and societies,” notes Jaroslav Švelch (2023, p. 10). His words echo Hobsbawm and Ranger's justification for studying invented traditions, which they see as “important symptoms and therefore indicators of problems that might not otherwise be recognized, and developments which are otherwise difficult to identify and to date” (1983, p. 12).

As we have demonstrated, the contemporary reinvention of the Leshy as a symbol of Slavic folklore in Polish and global popular culture follows a long process of tradition-making and positions itself within centuries-long rivalry of two ethnocentric nation states. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt played a key role in this reinvention, taking an ambivalent woodland spirit from Russian folklore and transforming it into a monstrous embodiment of the forest – both dangerous and primitive. In doing so, the game obfuscates the creature's Russian origins, presenting it instead as a general symbol of “Slavic mythology” with Polish culture as its primary reference point.

While The Witcher 3 is not the only cultural work to feature Leshy, the Leshen – its in-game name – has surpassed more traditional depictions of the monster, reshaping its global perceptions. It has also entered Polish discourse as a supposed relic of ancient local beliefs, fulfilling the core criteria of an invented tradition: a recent creation that presents itself as an unbroken legacy from pre-Christian times, aligned with the politics of the nation state.

The success of this redesign is rooted in both its striking visual form and its gameplay and narrative function. Its name and lack of direct references to well-known Polish folklore allowed it to be associated with an unfamiliar, yet exoticized, Slavic past. As an ancient and half-forgotten embodiment of the forest, the monster fits neatly into two intersecting narratives: rivalling Polish and Russian Romantic visions of a mysterious, lost pagan past and the Western tendency – shaped by Enlightenment-era thought and reinforced through the vampire myth – to depict Eastern Europe as backward, primitive, and deeply entangled with nature. This combination makes the Leshen a perfect synecdoche for Slavic tradition.

Moreover, its association with the forest reconfigures the traditional ambivalence of the Leshy. Where older folklore portrayed the creature as both protector and threat, The Witcher 3 shifts this duality toward a modern ecological discourse: the struggle between human responsibility as nature's caretaker and nature's violent resistance to human encroachment.

In a sense, this redesign casts Slavic Leshy as the opposite of Tolkien's Ents. Gone are the benevolent tree shepherds who rise up to defend the environment against destruction as part of nature alliance with humanity. What remains is only dead matter given shape – a being of decay and vengeance, doomed to be destroyed by humans, whether for good or for ill.