"a mark, to show we are associates"-the brands of Gaunter O'Dimm + the Crones

Both Gaunter and the Crones of Crookback Bog

\-brand those they make a deal with (the Barons wife in the vase of the Crones, and Geralt in the case of Gaunter)

\-the brands are visually and mechanically similar, both glow red and hurt, but not all the time, both leave scars, both seem to actually be the mechanism of control and enforcement of a deal

\-the motive behind them likewise seems similar, marks of associates, as Gaunter puts it, to enforce pacts

Now, I'm not making any deep lore theories of the kind you'll find on silly videos online of the kind that Gaunter and the Crones are the same species. No, we have zero indication of that.

I just want to ask what, if any, connection is there between these two brands? what lore on brands associated with pacts with beings like this do we have in the Witcher series and books? are there any other examples between these two? I note that the Crones symbol splits into three, like three sisters, what does Gaunters symbol mean? what theories would \*you\* draw from this? we know that Gaunter doesn't use conventional magic, so perhaps the mark on the Barons wife isn't either. The marks they leave are undeniably similar.

The most limited theory I could adduce: the Crones are pre-conjuration relicts, perhaps Gaunter is too, albeit of a different kind, and that's why this power looks similar.