2. Gradually becoming the popular monsters known today as vampires, the Striga of The Witcher were inspired by the Slavic mythology of both the Strzyga and Strigoi
A woman transformed by a curse in a monster in The Witcher, a striga is a hateful creature that seeks to kill and devour any humans it encounters. Only hunting during a full moon, the monster is possessed of great strength and can only be cured by being prevented from returning to its lair by the third crow of the rooster. Noticeably influenced by the Polish “strzyga”, a vampiric creature found in Slavic folklore, a strzyga is created when a person is born with two hearts and, consequently, two souls. Upon natural death, the second soul would resurrect the individual who would subsequently be transformed into a monster.
Preying upon humans and sucking their blood, it was believed that the decapitation of the corpse, staking of the deceased, as well as reburial, could cure the curse. Equally, both the striga and the strzyga retain similarities to the more famous “strigoi”. A troubled spirit risen from the grave, with the power to transform into an animal, become invisible, and gain strength from the blood of its victims, the strigoi originates from 16th century Croatia. Inspiring the modern-day vampire, the folklore was quickly adopted by nearby Transylvania and was immortalized in 1897 by Bram Stoker’s Dracula.