Like many in the English-speaking world, I learned of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series through the 2007 of the game of the same name. The first book which is a collection of short stories titled The Last Wish, was published earlier the same year. I did not play the first game until after the ‘Enhanced Edition’ was released and my interest in the game also had me seek out related media. Though the original game sold very well, it was the third game where the series really took off. The first two games were mainly PC releases though the second did get an Xbox 360 port. The third game was a much-hyped multiplatform release and one of the biggest game releases of 2015.
For anyone unfamiliar, the series is about Geralt of Rivia who has undergone mutations that significantly enhance his physical characteristics to make him an ideal monster slayer — a witcher. He is part of a dying order of monster slayers who were taken as children and managed to survive the intense training and often fatal mutagens used to become an emotionless killing machine. Though not conceived as a game, it has parallels with the science-fiction setting of Halo where the protagonist Master Chief goes through a similar program to become a super soldier. Were I better read on science-fiction and fantasy, I am sure I would be aware of earlier examples too.
I enjoyed the game series and so read a the first few books as they were published in English beginning with The Last Wish and then the first three of the five novels, Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt and Baptism of Fire before stopping and forgetting about them. The last two were not published in English until after the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2016 and 2017 respectively. By this time, a lot of things were happening in my life (including my conversion to Catholicism) and I had lost interest in the series. Those familiar with the games (as well as the novels), will know they include some rather unsavoury elements such as some disturbing horror, violence and sexual content and I was generally re-thinking the kind of media I consumed at the time. This also included the Game of Thrones television series based on the unfinished novels by George R. R. Martin which contained frequently gratuitous sex and violence. This is less evident in the first novel in the series though I can’t speak of the others.
I mentioned I was re-reading the series in a previous post and have just today finished the concluding novel in the series though there are also two prequel novels by the author which I haven’t and likely will not read. I also replayed all three of the games over the last year for the first time in a decade. This I confess broke a pledge to avoid media like this and wanting to reappraise the series a decade after the third game’s release is a poor excuse. Still, it at least inspired this post.
Before moving on to the novels, I will give some general observations I have from replaying the games. One that stands out in particular is how the RPG mechanics of the series were simplified with each title and the third game (which most consider the best), is little more than an open-world action game with a simple progression system. That is, it is not much different to most AAA action games released today. The original had far more robust RPG mechanics and while aspects of it could be tedious, it is more authentic as an RPG than either of the sequels. Interestingly, the Mass Effect Trilogy had a similar though quicker downward trajectory. The sequel Assassins of Kings was notoriously demanding when released in 2011 and while smaller in scope, was more ambitious in other areas and on balance, it is probably my favourite of the three. As for the third game, back in 2015 I wrote a gushing review of it and even had a fawning interview (just questions sent via email), with one of the developers for the long defunct Another Castle website. Unlike most of my writings on that website, these are not present on this blog and I’m glad as my opinion of the game has changed considerably. I don’t consider it a bad game but I’m certainly nowhere near as enthusiastic as I was about it ten years ago. Games haven’t changed much from a decade ago and I was playing it with all the next-gen updates and at about the best visual settings possible — something not available for the earlier two games which I had a lot more fun with.
When going back to the books, I was first surprised at how little I remembered from the four I had read. I only remembered vague details and many of these were because of events in the game series. As a good example, the opening cinematic from the first game is taken from The Witcher, the title of the first story in The Last Wish. That I remember this is certainly more related to the game than the quality of the story. Others are Geralt’s paramour Yennefer who appears in many of the short stories and is a major character in the novels but is only mentioned in the first two games before her significant role in the third.
When I first read the novels, I didn’t have access to the other short story collection, The Sword of Destiny so I read this immediately after finishing the The Last Wish. Rather than wait until the end, I will state here that judging only by the English translations, the short stories are Sapkowski at his best (which is still not great), and I’m apparently not alone in thinking this. This remains so whether interested because of the video games or just as someone who enjoys fantasy. Almost all of the important background information for the games is found in these short stories which introduce Geralt, Ciri and other characters he crosses paths with in the novels and games. It is also in these short stories where Geralt more often works at his profession, something largely absent in the novels.
In fact, the novels are less about the titular witcher than they are about Ciri, a young girl with elven blood who is also the heir to the fallen kingdom of Cintra. This as well as mysterious powers she possesses due to her partially elven bloodline make her the major focus of the novels as powerful nations and individuals seek her out. Geralt is a father figure to Ciri and spends much of the series in pursuit of her himself. The novels begin with Blood of Elves which sets most of this up though the background to Geralt meeting Ciri happens in the short stories.
I wondered as I began re-reading why I could remember so little of the three novels I had read. There are plenty of novels I read an even longer time ago that I still remember more clearly. As a quick example, it has been over twenty years since I last read the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but I remember the major details pretty well and I think I would easily recall much of it if I were to read it again. It became clear some way into my second reading of the third book why this is. It is simply because the five books are really just one long meandering novel. This was a conclusion I reached by the third and finishing the fifth and final novel did nothing to change my mind. There is no moment I can recall that neatly closes any of the five books and there are some events I would not easily be able to place in the right place. I have read multiple different claims that the English translations may be bad but the narrative structure at least, is unlikely to be due to a poor translation.
The final book, The Lady of the Lake is probably the worst as far as pacing goes as many of the events (especially the early chapters), don’t have much relevance to the plot. There is a satisfying conclusion of sorts with major antagonists defeated and fallen comrades avenged but the novel carries on for a hundred or so pages after this and ends with a disappointing whimper. This again, can not be blamed on the translation.
The prose is functional and often engaging but there are stretches of the narrative in all five books that I simply found boring. I have no knowledge of other translations but I do think that it is possible these books could have been done better in English. Even still, I have still enjoyed bad translations of otherwise good novels before so the translation is an additional problem and not the main one.
The games are set after the events of the novels but there do seem to be some inconsistencies that I’m sure more enthusiastic fans might correct me on. To come back to the games, it is not difficult to understand why the series had much better success as a video game series. I think it unlikely these books would have ever been popular outside Eastern Europe if the games were not so successful. Geralt works perfectly as a protagonist and his vocation, abilities and the violent world he is part of adapt very well to an RPG. Though set after, there are a number of events that repeat in different ways and I think are much better done than in the five novels.
It is worth also adding a little aside about the sub-genre of dark fantasy which this series is usually classified as. From what I’ve read of it, I would classify it as fantasy with gratuitous sex, violence and profanity with few (if any) redeeming characters. Everyone has motivations but no morals. The religious ones are hypocrites and/or extremists. The only ‘good people’ are those with simple notions of justice such as protecting those they love and those that find themselves in evil situations beyond their control. There are no lessons to be learned or any central moral core to the stories. The only thing I can draw from these novels is that killing innocent people is bad and that racism is bad. But then towards the end of Time of Contempt, Ciri becomes part of a young band of outlaws who ruthlessly engage in the former before they are slaughtered in front of her a few books later. Despite their numerous transgressions, she still mourns them in one of the last chapters of the fifth novel.
The author is from the famously Catholic Poland but I doubt he is a believer based on the content and thematic elements in the novels. As mentioned, the organised religion that exists is mostly portrayed negatively and there is an obvious sympathy shown towards an idealised version of European paganism and pre-Christian folklore. Though their actions often put a lie to this, witches and warlocks (or sorcerers), are not considered bad. In one piece of exposition it is revealed that they provide abortions for women which is considered a “good” service. Geralt’s mutations make him sterile which is convenient given all the fornication he does but the purpose and end result of copulation is conveniently absent unless useful for a plot device. All of this makes it hard to engage with the major characters which once again: can’t be the translator’s fault.
Dark fantasy is often described as more realistic but I don’t see this. I would be the last to argue that anyone is perfect but there are good people in the world. There is a general sense of right and wrong that the vast majority of humanity can relate to. Not everyone is purely seeking after personal gain or comfort. I could go on but this puts a lie to the thematic conceit so common to this sub-genre. The Witcher series is not completely without genuinely good characters but it is the general sense you get from most characters including the titular one.
I was intending to do a dedicated post on the plagiarism controversy related to the similarities with Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné series but a short paragraph will suffice. I have not read all of Moorcock’s work so I will refrain from given anything definitive and I do think there is an understandable problem with the definition of ‘plagiarism’ in some cases. I will say that I think Sapkowski was certainly both aware and influenced by Moorcock though I believe he has denied this. Moorcock himself acknowledges his influences readily and while he hasn’t seen the same success, I think the quality of what I have read is much better than anything found in The Witcher series.
This video from Raz0rfist goes over similarities pretty exhaustively:
Finally, I know I have not discussed the Netflix series which is based off the events in the books. The short answer is I only watched a few episodes and didn’t like them. There is also the typical race-swapping and other social justice problems that put me off. Even putting these issues aside, I’ve heard very little positive about the series even from the more enthusiastic fans.
So unless you were already into the series, I would say you can safely give it a miss. Anyone who enjoyed the games could potentially enjoy the short story collections but I don’t think the novels are worth reading at all. Despite the success the series has had over the last few decades, I expect it will be largely forgotten a few decades hence.