The Witcher
Encyclopedia
Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski, born 21 June 1948 in Łódź, is a Polish fantasy writer. He is best known for his best-selling book series The Witcher.-Biography:...
is a cult series of fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
(collected in two books, except for two stories) and five novels about the witcher Geralt of Rivia
Geralt of Rivia
Geralt of Rivia is a fictional character and protagonist of The Witcher series by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, as well as its adaptations.-Fictional biography:...
. In Sapkowski's books, witchers are monster-hunters who receive special training and have their bodies modified at an early age to provide them with supernatural abilities so they can battle extremely dangerous monsters and survive. The books have been adapted into a movie and television series
The Hexer (film)
Wiedźmin is a 2001 Fantasy film by director Marek Brodzki, starring Michał Żebrowski as main character Geralt of Rivia...
, a video game series, and a graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
series. The novel series (excluding the short stories) is also called the Witcher Saga or the Blood of the Elves Saga. The Witcher short stories and novels have been translated into several languages.
The Witcher Stories
- Miecz Przeznaczenia (The Sword of Destiny) (1992)
- Ostatnie życzenieThe Last Wish (book)The Last Wish is one of the two collections of short stories , preceding the main Witcher Saga, written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski. The first Polish edition was published in 1993, the first English edition in 2007...
(The Last Wish) (1993, English edition: 2008)
The Saga
Saga of Ciri, called Child Of Destiny by The Witcher's Right.By this Right, claimed from one of The Kings by Geralt Of Rivia, to become a Witcher.
The Witchers Right is based on promise to save the ones live, from exchenge for "The unexpected thing the one discovers when returns home, but it wasn't there when the one left".
- Krew elfów (Blood of Elves) (1994, English edition: 2008)
- Czas pogardy (Times of Contempt) (1995, English edition: Planned 2012)
- Chrzest ognia (Baptism of Fire) (1996)
- Wieża Jaskółki (The Swallow's Tower) (1997)
- Pani Jeziora (Lady of the Lake) (1999)
In non-Witcher anthologies
- Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna (Something Ends, Something Begins) (2000) (this collection contains various stories by Sapkowski, including two from the Witcher saga).
- A Polish Book of Monsters, an English anthology edited and translated by Michael KandelMichael KandelMichael Kandel is an American translator and author of science fiction. He received a doctorate in Slavistics from Indiana University, and is an editor at the Modern Language Association. Kandel is also a part-time editor at Harcourt, editing Ursula K...
, contains a unique translation of "The Witcher" short story, translated as "Spellmaker". The same story is found in The Last Wish but a different translation was used. (2010)
Setting and story
Sapkowski's short storiesShort story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
and novels are appraised for their ironic sense of humor and subtle anachronisms (e.g. one of the wizards taking part in the Gathering of the Wizards is constantly complaining about "ecological" issues). Sapkowski tries to emphasize the shades of gray
Virtue ethics
Virtue ethics describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior, rather than rules , consequentialism , or social context .The difference between these four approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way moral dilemmas are...
in everyone (e.g. one of the local rulers engaged in an incestuous
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
relation with his own sister is shown as a caring father – at least according to the standards of Sapkowski's world).
The Blood of the Elves series proper consists of five novels, in which Sapkowski links together the plot lines conceived in the short stories and merges them seamlessly into one coherent plot. Along with Geralt is another character named Ciri, a princess who is bound irrevocably to Geralt, by the Strings of Fate. Their story is set against the background of a struggle between the Northern Kingdoms and the invading Nilfgaard Empire.
Short stories
The Witcher series is a series of short stories, at first published in FantastykaFantastyka
Fantastyka , is a Polish speculative fiction monthly fantasy and science fiction magazine....
, a Polish science fiction and fantasy magazine. The first short story, "Wiedźmin" ("The Witcher") (1986), was written for a contest held by the magazine, where it won third place. The first four stories of the witcher Geralt — and the story "Droga, z której się nie wraca" ("The Road with No Return"), which took place in the same world, but dozens of years before the witcher stories — were originally collected in a short story collection titled Wiedźmin (out of print and now obsolete; all fifteen short stories were later collected in three books published by superNOWA.)
The second short story collection to be published was Miecz przeznaczenia (Sword of Destiny). While The Last Wish
The Last Wish (book)
The Last Wish is one of the two collections of short stories , preceding the main Witcher Saga, written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski. The first Polish edition was published in 1993, the first English edition in 2007...
collection was published after Miecz przeznaczenia, it replaced Wiedźmin as the first book, as it included all of the stories collected in Wiedźmin except "Droga, z ktorej się nie wraca" (the only one not featuring Geralt). Although new short stories were added in The Last Wish, they took place before the ones in Miecz przeznaczenia.
"Droga, z której się nie wraca", along with "Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna", a non-canon story/alternative ending of the Witcher saga about Geralt and Yennefer
Yennefer
Sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg is a fictional character, created by Andrzej Sapkowski for his Witcher stories. Yennefer first appeared in the collection of short stories, The Last Wish, featuring in both The Last Wish short story and The Voice of Reason frame story. She went on to appear in...
's wedding, written as a wedding gift for Sapkowski's friends, were later published in the book Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna. The rest of the stories in this book are not connected to the Witcher series in any way. In some Polish editions, "Droga, z której się nie wraca" and "Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna" are added to either The Last Wish or Miecz przeznaczenia.
Translations
The stories and novels have been translated into CzechCzech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
, Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
, Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
and Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
. An English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation of the Ostatnie życzenie
The Last Wish (book)
The Last Wish is one of the two collections of short stories , preceding the main Witcher Saga, written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski. The first Polish edition was published in 1993, the first English edition in 2007...
(The Last Wish) short story collection, was published in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by Gollancz
Victor Gollancz Ltd
Victor Gollancz Ltd was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century. It was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz and specialised in the publication of high quality literature, nonfiction and popular fiction, including science fiction. Upon Gollancz's death in 1967, ownership...
in 2007 and was published in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Orbit in 2008. Krew elfów
Krew elfów
Blood of Elves is the first novel in the Witcher Saga written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, first published in Poland in 1994...
(Blood of Elves) was published by Gollancz in 2008 and in the US by Orbit in 2009, and Czas pogardy (Times of Contempt) will be published by Gollancz in the UK in spring 2011.
The name "witcher"
The original Polish name for "witcher" is wiedźmin. The English translation preferred by Andrzej Sapkowski was initially "hexer" and is the name used in the international version of the film adaptation. "Hexe" and "Hexer" are the German terms for "witch" and "warlock". However, CD ProjektCD Projekt
CD Projekt is a Polish video game publisher. The company was founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. From the beginning their goal was to publish software in the Polish market on compact discs...
chose to translate "Hexer" literally to "witcher" in The Witcher
The Witcher (computer game)
The Witcher is a computer role-playing game for the PC developed by CD Projekt RED STUDIO and published by CD Projekt in Poland and Atari for the rest of the world. The game is based on the book series of the same name by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The game utilizes BioWare's proprietary...
computer game, and this version was subsequently used by Danuta Stok in her translation of the book The Last Wish, as well as by Sapkowski himself in the book Historia i fantastyka. Michael Kandel
Michael Kandel
Michael Kandel is an American translator and author of science fiction. He received a doctorate in Slavistics from Indiana University, and is an editor at the Modern Language Association. Kandel is also a part-time editor at Harcourt, editing Ursula K...
, in his translation of the story "Wiedźmin" (2010) used the word "Spellmaker."
Alternatively, the word warlock
Warlock
The term warlock in origin means "traitor, oathbreaker".In early modern Scots, the word came to be used as the male equivalent of witch ....
has been used informally in English translations, while "witcher", being a neologism in English (as wiedźmin is in Polish - derived from wiedźma - "witch") arguably describes the uniqueness of Geralt's profession better.
Controversy
Physical similarities between the main hero Geralt of RiviaGeralt of Rivia
Geralt of Rivia is a fictional character and protagonist of The Witcher series by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, as well as its adaptations.-Fictional biography:...
and Elric of Melnibone
Elric of Melniboné
Elric of Melniboné is a fictional character created by Michael Moorcock, and the antihero of a series of sword and sorcery stories centering in an alternate Earth. The proper name and title of the character is Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné...
have been noted. Both also are called The White Wolf. Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
, the creater of Elric of Melnibone, has spoken of Geralt being a "passing off" situation on his website. Andrzej Sapkowski has never made any reference to Moorcock's novels in relation to his work.
Comic books
In 1993-1995, Sapkowski's stories were adapted into six comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s by Maciej Parowski
Maciej Parowski
Maciej Parowski is a Polish publicist, essayist, writer and translator. Critic of science-fiction, chief editor of Nowa Fantastyka from 1992-2003, editor of several science-fiction series and anthologies. Chief editor of Czas Fantastyki...
(story), Bogusław Polch (art), and Sapkowski himself. They are:
- Droga bez powrotu (The Road with No Return, based on the short story "Droga, z której się nie wraca")
- Geralt (based on the short story "Wiedźmin")
- Mniejsze zło (Lesser Evil, based on a short story of the same title)
- Ostatnie życzenie (The Last Wish, based on a short story of the same title)
- Granica możliwości (Border of ability, based on a short story of the same title)
- Zdrada (Betrayal, based on an "unused idea for a short story")
Currently Przemysław Truściński (art), Maciej Parowski (story) and Sapkowski are preparing another comic book series, based on the three most important short stories: Kwestia ceny (A Matter of Price), Miecz przeznaczenia (Sword of Destiny) and Coś więcej (Something More) - and the novels.
Film and television
The Hexer is the international title of both a 2001 movie and a 2002 TV series, directed by Marek Brodzki, and Michał Żebrowski starring as Geralt.Both the movie and the TV series got very negative opinions from the critics and the audience.
Role-playing game
In 2001 a role-playing gameRole-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
called Wiedźmin: Gra Wyobraźni (The Witcher: A Game of Imagination), based on Sapkowski's books, was published by MAG.
The Witcher
A 2007 computer role-playing game based on Sapkowski's saga called The Witcher was developed by CD Projekt
CD Projekt
CD Projekt is a Polish video game publisher. The company was founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. From the beginning their goal was to publish software in the Polish market on compact discs...
, and was released in Europe on October 26, and the US on October 30. It was advertised far more than its predecessor, and although it was one of CD Projekt's first games, it was received very well by reviewers in both the EU and the US. The game contains mature content. The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf
The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf
The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf was an upcoming console role-playing game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms by CD Projekt RED...
, a console role-playing game using the same story, but a different engine and combat system was to be released in Fall 2009. On the 29th of April 2009 the production of the console game was announced to have been halted. The game is published by CD Projekt itself in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and worldwide by Atari, Inc. (Atari, SA subsidiary).
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is the sequel to The Witcher, developed by CD Projekt RED. Before Assassins of Kings was officially announced, a video showing the game was leaked on 16 September 2009. On 18 September 2009, CD Projekt RED officially confirmed that the game is in development. The game is published by CD Projekt itself in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, by Namco Bandai Games
Namco Bandai Games
is an arcade, mobile and home video game developer and publisher based in Japan which is the product of a merger between the video game development divisions of Bandai and Namco. Namco Bandai Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings and specializes in production and sales of...
in Europe and by Atari, Inc. (Atari, SA subsidiary) in North America. The Witcher 2 is also distributed digitally through Steam and DRM
DRM
-Information technology:*Digital rights management, access control technologies that limit the usage of digital content and devices*Data Reference Model, one of the five reference models of the Federal Enterprise Architecture...
-free on Good Old Games.
Mobile phone game
The Witcher: Crimson Trail (Polish: Wiedźmin: Krwawy Szlak), also known as The Witcher Mobile is a mobile phone action game created developed by BreakpointBreakpoint
In software development, a breakpoint is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a program, put in place for debugging purposes. It is also sometimes simply referred to as a pause....
on the license from CD Projekt. It features Geralt in his youth as a promising young student, has just completed his training to become an elite monster slayer – a witcher.
Card games
Two card games based on CD Projekt's The Witcher computer game have been designed by Kuźnia Gier. One, Wiedźmin: Przygodowa Gra Karciana (The Witcher: Adventure Cardgame) has been published by Kuźnia Gier and is being sold in Polish gaming stores, while the other, Wiedźmin: Promocyjna Gra Karciana (The Witcher Promo Card Game) is a simpler game added to the collector's edition of The Witcher in some countries.Browser game
The Witcher: Versus is a Flash-based multiplayer fighting browser game, developed for CD Projekt RED by one2tribe and launched in 2008. The game has you create a character from one of three classes and challenge other players to deadly battles. When you first sign up for Versus, which is tied into your thewitcher.com forum account if you have one, you choose from one of three character classes: Witcher, Sorceress and Frightener.Influences on popular culture
Andrzej Sapkowski's saga has had widespread influence on the popular culture, predominantly in Russia and Poland. Many bands in Russia and Poland name songs or themselves after things in the saga. Russian band Династия (Dinastiya, 'Dynasty'), for example, has produced the song "Yennefer" about Geralt and Yennefer's love.A New York-based metal band also took the name "Gwynbleidd", after the name that was given to Geralt of Rivia by the Elves of Brokilon, meaning "White Wolf".
The books have been described as having a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
.
Witcher series
Games
- Official website of the computer game
- Official website of the role-playing game
- Metacritic score of 86%
- review by Wired magazine
- Penny Arcade commentary on the appropriateness of witcher as an English translation of wiedźmin
- Zero Punctuation review of The Witcher