Taken during infancy, Ronin doesn't know much about his life before. He remembers Kaer Seren, and he remembers excelling in the care and instruction of other witchers - but little else. When the avalanche of Kaer Seren hit, he was still recovering from his Trial of the Grasses - the rockfall hitting him in the side of his head. While he lived, his ability to move the left side of his body and face were damaged, permanently. While stuck under rubble, Ronin began to detach himself from reality by making up stories in his own head about a unicorn coming to save him; this would be the basis for his obsession with fairytales for the rest of his life.
Three days after the avalanche, a mage named Kochan scavenging the area found him half-dead under the rubble and pulled him out. He thought he was saved - only to be taken, ripped open, and experimented on in an attempt to discover the secret of witcher mutagens. Two weeks into this, during his recovery, Kochan's base of operations was raided by the Blue Stripes - giving Ronin a chance to break out and kill Kochan with his own tools, and to escape. While the military officers never saw him, Ronin strongly believes that the men saved his life, and would go on to join their ranks in admiration.
To learn more about fighting and become a better asset to the military, Ronin swore himself in as a member of the Eternal Fire to gain access to the Order and train under them. It was here that he met Warren, another cadet, who he immediately became smitten and close friends with with. After confessing his feelings, however, Warren attempted to drown him - the commotion brought in guards of the Order to break up the fighting. Warren didn't tell the guards why he attempted to murder Ronin, though, instead letting him go free - to move up in the ranks and become a member of the Cintran royal guard. Ronin would continue to hold this grudge for years.
While working as a grunt in the royal guard, Ronin met Cisseis, the captain who immediately became intrigued by the mutant and viewed him as an important asset. Cisseis offered to promote him as lieutenant and acting captain who would do what she wanted, as well as free reign to do what he pleased. Ronin, mistaking this for love, agreed.
Directly after being promoted, Ronin framed Warren for practicing magic, and ordered him executed. Wracked with guilt over both of these actions - and being afraid of how much power his position afforded him - Ronin asked Cisseis to be able to leave to join the Temerian Blue Stripes. She accepted, so long as he would be willing to come back to the royal guard and do whatever she wanted at any time. Ronin agreed to this, and joined the Blue Stripes.
While working in the Blue Stripes, Ronin met Kuba - a witcher jailed for allegedly "using magic to transform into a terrible monster." Intrigued by this, Ronin personally took Kuba into custody. Kuba, realizing that Ronin was a witcher, offered to take Ronin to meet other witchers - in exchange for Kuba's freedom. Believing this, Ronin let a shackled Kuba lead him to Kaer Morhen.
While travelling through the forest, Ronin and Kuba were ambushed by Scoi'atel - wherein Kuba discovered that Ronin was a master swordsman and, while Kuba was protecting Ronin, Ronin discovered that Kuba had in fact transformed into a terrible monster -- he was a lycanthrope. Now falsely believing that the fight that formed a bond between them, Ronin let Kuba lead him up the Killer mountain to Kaer Morhen. Kuba abandoned him on this mountain, stealing his money and leaving.
Through half-skill - and half-luck - Ronin made it down the side of the mountain, though his injuries left him out of commission for six months. Once he was upright and able, Ronin hunted down Kuba and found him in a bar -- only to bludgeon Kuba's face into the wood for trying to have him killed. Kuba, who genuinely thought Ronin had died on the mountain, was impressed by Ronin's skill and willpower to keep going - and so an unlikely friendship formed.
Over the next nine years their friendship would deepen to an unhealthy state. Being the only ones willing to be close to one another, they found themselves dependent on one another, worsening eachother's mental state, Ronin's standing with Cisseis, and Kuba's mental state. At the last six months, Kuba's ability to control his werewolf form would fail...
Our story diverges here. In all forms, Ronin loses the finger on his good hand to Cisseis, after rebelling against her and refusing to give up information on Kuba. In all forms, Ronin is broken out of jail by Martin, who recognized that Ronin was finally standing up against Cisseis. In all forms, Kuba's monstrous form causes a mob, and in all forms, Ronin's complications with Cisseis leave him too late to stop the mob from turning violent...
- ... RONIN DIES: Ronin gets between Kuba and the mob. Kuba is too far gone to realize the man who stood in front of him was his only friend Ronin, and he gores him in his blind state. Ronin dies.
- ... KUBA DIES: Ronin is too late to stop the mob from killing Kuba, and only arrives in time to see his only friend murdered. Kuba's death forces Ronin to realize that his acceptance to never speak up and change his fate would eventually be the death of him: Ronin quits the forces, accepts himself as gay, and changes his name to Ronin of Kaer Seren, self-taught witcher. The loss of his index finger on his only good hand makes learning to be a witcher complicated, but he manages.
- ... NEITHER DIE: Ronin still gets between Kuba and the mob, and is gored; somehow, he survives. He is on bedrest for two years and, at Kaer Morhen with Kuba, learns the way of becoming a wolf witcher and completes his trials with them, despite his injury limiting his mobility further and leaving him with chronic pain. In true fashion, he becomes Ronin of Kaedwen, and travels the Path as a Witcher.
