Gaunter O'dimm's History
Gaunter O'Dimm, sometimes called Master Mirror or Man of Glass, was a powerful individual, creating pacts with people in exchange for their souls and being able to control time with a mere clap of his hands. Not much is known about Gaunter before his meeting with Geralt, but he stated that he was a former mirror merchant-turned-mangy vagrant because of the war.
Meeting in the White Orchard inn
In May 1272, Gaunter O'Dimm visited the inn of White Orchard, and was approached by the witcher Geralt, who was searching for Yennefer. O'Dimm asked to buy the witcher a drink, and that he knew about Geralt and Yennefer based off Dandelion's ballads.Pushing for an answer, Geralt continued asking whether he had seen Yennefer, so O'Dimm told him local rumors he had heard and advised him to go to the nearby Nilfgaardian Garrison to continue his search. He remarked that he didn't need a reward as one day he may need Geralt's help and then suddenly disappeared.
"Helping" Geralt
When a captive Geralt was on a ship en route to Ofier to await execution for unknowingly killing the Ofieri Prince, Gaunter O'Dimm mysteriously appeared. He offered to help free Geralt in exchange for a small favor. When Geralt agreed, O'Dimm burned a mark on his face as a sign of their bargain. He then caused a storm to destroy the ship and gave Geralt an opening to escape. The two later reunited at O'Dimm's rendezvous point at the crossroads of Yantra at midnight. There, O'Dimm contracted Geralt into helping him finish up a different contract: to grant three wishes to the immortal Olgierd, telling him once the wishes have been granted he will free Geralt of his pact. O'Dimm reappeared when Geralt went to confront Olgierd. As it turned out, their pact required a proxy to fulfill Olgierd's wishes. After Olgierd gave Geralt his first two wishes (to show his brother Vlodimir the time of his life and to bring him Maximilian Borsodi's house) O'Dimm appeared before Geralt, offering his help as the contract did not forbid it. He informed Geralt that Vlodimir was already deceased and thus provided a vial of von Everec blood to perform a Blood Summoning. However, he refused to make things easy on Geralt, telling him to rely on his wit and intelligence when it came to Maximilian Borsodi's house.Gaunter O'Dimm's true identity remained a mystery throughout most of the story, though he appeared to be a powerful being as he could take souls, grant wishes, see things for their true nature, cause ghosts pain, and even manipulate time itself, making Geralt increasingly suspicious of the true nature of O'Dimm. Despite asking who and what he is, O'Dimm refused outright to reveal his true name to Geralt, warning him that all of those who have ever learned who he really is have suffered a terrible fate. While seemingly untouchable to conventional attacks, Geralt did learn that O'Dimm possessed one weakness: he loves to make deals, deals with anyone who asked, so long as recompense was provided in the form of their soul. Playing into this, he will also take up challenges where one's soul is at stake, as he almost always wins (with the exception of one person, centuries ago, who managed to beat him at his own game).
However, his deals were often filled with conditions and wordplay loopholes through which O'Dimm could manipulate the mark and claim his payment. The clearest example of this trickery was shown with one Professor Premethine Shakeslock: O'Dimm came to the man offering him protection from his powers, as a "reward for all (his) hard work" in collecting information about O'dimm's past. Master Mirror drew a circle upon the floor and filled it with runes, stating that this Sigil in particular granted Shakeslock total physical protection from Gaunter and his power, but warned the Professor that should he ever attempt to leave, he'd be instantly at Master Mirrors mercy.Through the tasks Olgierd made him do, Geralt learned that Olgierd had previously made a pact with O'Dimm for the restoration of his wealth and power so that he could once again be of nobility and marry his noble-born love. However, O'Dimm delighted in difficult decisions and made Olgierd choose between sacrificing Iris or Vlodimir before granting his wish; Olgierd chose his brother, causing him to die the next day. However it was shown that as a "side effect" of his fulfilled desires, Olgierd had developed a heart of stone: losing his capacity for any emotions over time, culminating in the eventual death of his wife.
The plot thickens
After fulfilling Olgierd's final wish, Geralt encountered O'Dimm again at the Alchemy tavern where he was stopped by a drunk patron inviting him to drink, which caused O'Dimm to lose his patience and stop time itself so he could have a chat with the witcher. Through questioning, O'Dimm told Geralt that he was neither demon nor djinn and that it was not his fault that the negative intentions of his clients caused them to suffer, explaining to Geralt that he gave people exactly what they wished for. When questioned about who he was, O'Dimm became deadly serious and told Geralt that those who know his name had either gone mad or had died, and he was showing the witcher a mercy by not telling him. He ordered Geralt to bring Olgierd to a meeting at the Temple of Lilvani to complete their deal, then killed the interrupting drunkard with a spoon through the eye on his way out before restoring the flow of time.
Looking for more information on O'Dimm, Geralt, thanks to Shani's help, eventually found the Professor Shakeslock in Oxenfurt Academy, where he had cloistered himself in his house out of fear of what he had discovered. He told the witcher that Olgierd had hired him to research O'Dimm's identity and to figure out how Olgierd might get rid of him. He had "pored over countless tomes, delved into obscure incidents and analyzed folk legends" and came to believe that, in short, O'Dimm was "Evil Incarnate."
He further explained that O'Dimm was just one of many names belonging to the entity, a record of whose presence could be traced back thousands of years and across different cultures, and was a being who appeared to relish in meddling with human affairs, taking their souls, and sowing misfortune. However, O'Dimm had one weakness: he could be tempted into pacts where one's soul is at stake and he must always keep his end of the bargain.
The professor revealed that simply studying about O'Dimm had caused him to go blind, which had in turn attracted the attention of O'Dimm himself. O'Dimm had then drawn the professor a magical circle of protection as a reward of sorts, telling him that he would be safe as long as he remained in the circle. However, he then made the ceiling brace above the circle weaken, creating a death trap for the professor should he leave the circle. Geralt managed to get the information he wanted out of the professor who proclaimed that he felt happy just to be useful again. This reaction corresponded to the failure of the ceiling brace, causing structural damage and shaking the walls with enough force to cause a bookcase to fall. Geralt managed to hold the bookcase upright but the professor tripped over a bottle as he backed away, causing him to fall outside the circle and to break his neck on a small pile of books, instantly killing him.
O'Dimm greeted both Geralt and Olgierd at the temple ruins by walking down from the sky as though down a flight of steps, telling Olgierd that he is here for his soul as agreed. Olgierd disputed this by stating that O'Dimm could only claim his soul as per their agreement; by granting him three wishes through a third party and for the two of them to "be standing together on the moon," which Olgierd thought to be impossible. Still grinning wickedly, O'Dimm revealed that through Geralt he had granted the three wishes and, with a gesture, blew away the dust and dirt off the temple floor to reveal an old tile design of the moon, thus fulfilling his side of the bargain evidenced by the contract itself bursting into flames. At this point Geralt could do one of two things:
Do nothing and let O'Dimm take his due payment, leaving Master Mirror quite satisfied, after which he will cheerfully absolve Geralt of the pact and tells Geralt what a pleasure it was to work with him as he offers him an additional reward (which Geralt can decline) before he walks off with the skull of his victim.
Try to help Olgierd by playing for his and Olgierd's souls.If Geralt decided the second option: O'Dimm would take him up on that offer but on his own terms, and promptly sent Geralt to a hellish and twisted landscape filled with shadowy versions of monsters Geralt had fought before. He told the witcher a riddle which he needed to solve to find O'Dimm and catch him before the timer ran out. To add to the challenge O'Dimm also created illusions and distractions, among them: an illusion of Shani about to fall off a cliff, numerous dead ends and pitfalls, and continuous taunting as Geralt tried his luck.
Geralt initially concluded that the answer to the riddle is "mirror" and eventually managed to find a palace of mirrors, though O'Dimm altered the landscape while causing each mirror he approached to shatter, all the while mocking Geralt and speaking confidently of his victory. After several attempts, Geralt was able to reason through the problem and came to the realization that he needed to find an unbreakable mirror and released a dammed pool for a water fountain in order to look at himself on the water's surface. As he looked down, he saw O'Dimm hiding in his reflection and pulled him out of the water, which revealed O'Dimm to have eyes like a snake while his cheek and jaw bones become demonic. O'Dimm spoke to the witcher in three languages deriving from another world before being banished as agreed
Personality
Gaunter, while a primarily antagonistic entity, is a creature of extremes and ambiguity. While Shakeslock called him "evil incarnate", Gaunter doesn't fit so neatly into general nor absolute definitions. For the most part he is passive and almost never takes overt actions towards his aims. He often obscures his goals and desires and even the one definitive aim he has (the collection of souls) is wrapped in a veil of inscrutability as Gaunter never makes it clear which souls he is actively interested in or why.
Gaunter seems to take pleasure in the suffering of others, however he is only ever shown tormenting or harming people that have given him "just cause". He torments and savors the fear of those he makes deals with but only ever seems to make deals with malicious individuals who either are or capable of hurting people for their own ends such as Olgierd whom he rightly described as "a degenerate monster". In spite of this, Gaunter makes no distinctions between the severity of one's "misdeeds" as he horribly cursed a noblewoman from Toussaint and ruined her life while twisting her into a monster for insulting him and refusing hospitality when he came to her door seeking a handout. He also ruthlessly tormented Olgierd's brother's ghost after the spirit refused to leave Geralt's body when Gaunter politely directed the ghost to return to it's rest. Gaunter seems to use any excuse to enact torments on others and uses their "offense" as justification to punish them while taking pleasure in their misery.
He is also very strict with rules and agreements. He claims, firmly, that he never lies nor cheats and always sticks to an agreement. This also extends to social contracts such as using manners and following local custom. When he cursed the noblewoman it was due to being refused hospitality when he came to her home in the guise of a beggar but in her homeland it was custom to offer beggars that come to one's door some form of hospitality. He also kills a man in a pub for the "crime" of interrupting his conversation with Geralt by putting a spoon through the man's eye while Gaunter had stopped time. On the other hand, Gaunter seems to take delight in also finding loop-holes in agreements or contracts he makes to get what he wants while further tormenting the one's he makes deals with. His fulfilling Olgierd's conditions for claiming Olgierd's soul were physically impossible if taken by common definitions but Gaunter found ways to fulfill those obligations without contradicting the wording of the agreement (Showing Olgierd's dead brother the time of his life by having him possess and use Geralt's body to attend a party, having a faction that uses the sun as a crest to conquer another faction at night thus "making the sun rise" at night, and having them all meet on the moon by meeting Olgierd on a floor tiled mosaic of the moon).
For all of Gaunter's devious and maliciousness, he can also be surprisingly good natured, fair, and even benign towards others. He engages in light hearted banter with common folk such as talking to women about baking while also enjoying the simple pleasures of the company of others and having a good drink. He speaks in a disgusted tone when talking about the sins of others like Olgierd while giving genuine advice to people he takes a liking to such as giving Geralt advice about making Shani happy and later (based in the player's choices) tells Geralt what he needs to know to save Ciri with a tone of sympathy in his voice. In fact, if Geralt performs all of his tasks for Gaunter an lets him take Olfgierd's soul, he rewards Geralt for his service with no strings attached nor clever wordplay to bring Geralt misfortune.
