5 best (and 5 worst) dads from sci-fi and fantasy

Fourth Best Dad: Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher

Not every dad raises a child just because they’re their flesh and blood. You can be just as much of a great dad if you have no biological relationship to the child at all.

That said, Geralt of Rivia still has a pretty strong connection to his adoptive daughter Ciri. They are bound by destiny.

You see, before Ciri was born, Geralt saved the life of her father, Duny. Duny had no means to repay Geralt for the act, so Geralt made like a witcher and invoked the Law of Surprise, a kind of life debt. Duny must give him what he does not know he has. That ends up being Ciri, then gestating in her mother Pavetta’s womb. When Duny gets home and finds Pavetta pregnant, he knows the price he must pay.

That said, Geralt was never really interested in collecting this debt; he was fine saving Duny just because it was the right thing to do, but after invoking the Law of Surprise, powerful magical forces would push he and Ciri together wanted he wanted it or not.

Eventually, Ciri’s parents die at sea and she’s raised by her grandmother, Queen Calanthe. Calanthe dies too, in war. At a loose end, Ciri wanders only to be found by Geralt, who by that point was searching for her, fearful that she was in danger. When they meet, it’s like coming home for both of them.

Geralt had the good sense not to disturb Ciri’s home life when she was being raised by people who cared about her, but when she needed him, he was there. From then on, he basically adopts her, training her in the ways of the witcher, teaching her history, and forming a family unit with his lover the sorceress Yennefer as Ciri’s mother and his witcher colleagues as her uncles. He’s there to guide her development from a young girl into a highly capable woman, stepping up to be the dad he was destined to be.