80-475: The Hexer may also refer to: An early translation of the title of Andrzej Sapkowski's Polish-language book series known more commonly as The Witcher The Hexer (film) , a 2001 Polish fantasy film directed by Marek Brodzki and based on Andrzej Sapkowski's book series The Witcher The Hexer (TV series) , a Polish fantasy television series which aired in 2002, also based on The Witcher Topics referred to by
160-439: A one-shot webcomic titled Matters of Conscience was released by CD Projekt Red to expand on the events following their second video game . In 2007, a video game The Witcher developed by CD Projekt Red was released. A sequel, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings , was released in 2011 by the same team. The final game of the trilogy, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt , was released in 2015. Sapkowski had no involvement with
240-572: A card game named "Gwent" that was included in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as an in-game activity. They have created two stand-alone video games based on it, titled Gwent: The Witcher Card Game and Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales , both released in 2018. A remake of The Witcher was announced in October 2022, which was formerly first teased under the codename "Canis Majoris". Entitled The Witcher Remake , it will be developed using Unreal Engine 5 ,
320-406: A cell with Chireadan. Chireadan tells Geralt that Yennefer enchanted him into rampaging through the town, punishing those who had previously insulted her. Geralt and Chireadan are brought before the town's mayor and head priest, but the proceeding is interrupted. There is chaos outside: Yennefer has lured the genie to the town, and is trying to capture it. The genie is stronger than expected, and she
400-536: A fragment of the first chapter of the book was published. Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna ( Something Ends, Something Begins ) is a 2000 collection of short stories by Sapkowski, including two from The Witcher : "The Road with No Return" and "Something Ends, Something Begins". Published in 2012, Maladie i inne opowiadania ( Maladie and Other Stories ) is another Sapkowski short story collection that includes "The Road with No Return" and "Something Ends, Something Begins". Chosen by Fate: Zajdel Award Winner Anthology
480-452: A huntsman, due to an evil stepmother. She later meets a band of seven dwarves and convinces them that highway robbery is more profitable than mining. This can be seen as an allusion to the fairy tale character Snow White . All these references exemplify that the structural motif of reworking plots from fairy tales, making them darker and more brutal than the original, is present in many of his works. The stories in these books take place after
560-401: A monster. Nivellen insists that he and Vereena are in love and is hesitant to break his curse, unsure if she would love him if he was an "ordinary" human. Geralt leaves. Along the road, Geralt has a realization and returns to the mansion. He meets Vereena, whom Geralt identifies as a bruxa, a vampire -like monster. She loves Nivellen, but has been killing his other female companions, including
640-410: A problem, but under no circumstances should be killed. In the countryside, Geralt and Dandelion confront the "devil". Dandelion insults it, which provokes the devil to drive them away. Back in the village, the "devil" is identified as a sylvan by a local witch and her young female companion, who had forbidden killing the sylvan. In a second confrontation, Geralt and Dandelion are knocked out and taken to
720-691: A recently conquered country and a pawn of international politics, becomes a witcher-in-training. Geralt is drawn into a whirlwind of events in his attempts to protect her. Three more novels quickly followed at a pace of one a year; Time of Contempt (1995), Baptism of Fire (1996), and The Tower of the Swallow (1997). The fifth and final installment, The Lady of the Lake , was published in 1999. After 14 years, Sapkowski released Season of Storms in 2013. Set between short stories included in The Last Wish , it
800-484: A single word, an obscene, albeit a short one." In 2015, Platige Image planned an American film adaptation of the novel series to arrive in 2017. In May 2017, they announced that they would be producing a The Witcher TV series in cooperation with Netflix and Sean Daniel Company, with Tomasz Bagiński as one of the directors and Sapkowski as a creative consultant. Created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich , it stars Henry Cavill as Geralt. On October 10, 2018, it
880-479: A skyscraper in Łódź. Spanning three 70-meter-high walls and covering almost 2,000 sq/m, it is the largest mural in Poland and one of the largest in the world. From 1993 to 1995, Sapkowski's stories were adapted into a six-issue comic The Witcher by Maciej Parowski and Sapkowski (story), Bogusław Polch (art). In 2011, Egmont released a 2-part comic book, titled Reasons of State, containing an original story. It
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#1732876027818960-556: A stranger. She orders him to remove his helmet and tricks him to make him think it's past midnight when he can remove the helmet. To everyone's shock, he has the face of a furry beast. Geralt asks Pavetta whether she will agree to marry Urcheon. To the outrage of the other suitors, she accepts. The suitors attack Urcheon, but he is defended by Geralt and the King of Skellige, Eist Tuirseach, who loves Calanthe. The attack provokes Pavetta, revealing her latent magical powers, which threaten to destroy
1040-451: A temple, who cursed him to be a beast before killing herself. The priestess told him how to lift the curse, but he has forgotten her words, which were related to a kiss from a woman. Returning to his family mansion, he paid the daughters of local villages to stay with him. None lifted his curse, and eventually he gave up, enjoying their company. Before departing, Geralt warns Nivellen that his newest relationship, named Vereena, may actually be
1120-563: A temple. During that time he has flashbacks to recent events in his life, with each flashback forming a short story. The Last Wish was first published in English on 7 June 2007 by Gollancz , and has also been translated into several other languages. In 2003, it won the Premio Ignotus for Best Anthology. Wiedźmin The King of Temeria, Foltest, has offered a reward to anyone who can lift
1200-481: Is a 2000 English anthology by SuperNowa, in cooperation with the Silesian Club of Fantasy Literature, that includes a translation by Agnieszka Fulińska of "The Witcher" short story entitled "The Hexer". 2010's A Polish Book of Monsters is an English anthology edited and translated by Michael Kandel that includes a translation of "The Witcher" entitled "Spellmaker". Maladie and Other Stories (not to be confused with
1280-497: Is a standalone prequel to The Witcher Saga . In 2020, Sapkowski stated that he had "some plans" for a new entry in The Witcher , but "My future plans are vague, nothing is fixed yet". On November 21, 2024, it was announced that new entry to the series, Rozdroże kruków (lit. "Crossroads of Ravens"), would be a prequel to the saga presenting Geralt as a young witcher, and will be released on November 29, 2024. In issue 12/24 of Nowa Fantastyka , which went on sale on November 22, 2024,
1360-402: Is an alternate ending to The Witcher Saga about Geralt and Yennefer 's wedding that was written in 1992 as a wedding gift for Sapkowski's friends. It and "The Road with No Return" are included in some Polish editions of The Last Wish or Sword of Destiny . With the positive reader reception to his short stories, Sapkowski decided to write a fantasy saga. He claimed that Polish publishers at
1440-401: Is at the castle of Cintra, at the invitation of Queen Calanthe, attending the betrothal celebration for Crown Princess Pavetta. An uninvited knight with his face covered enters. He introduces himself as Urcheon of Erlenwald and claims Pavetta's hand in marriage, promised to him by her father Roegner, whose life Urcheon had saved. Calanthe admits that he has a claim, but refuses to marry Pavetta to
1520-429: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages The Witcher The Witcher ( Polish : Wiedźmin , pronounced [ˈvjɛd͡ʑmin] ) is a series of eight fantasy novels and 15 short stories by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski . The series revolves around the eponymous witcher, Geralt of Rivia . Witchers are monster hunters given superhuman abilities for
1600-435: Is losing hold of it, threatening to destroy the town. Geralt tries to pull Yennefer to safety, but she refuses, although she offers to save Geralt. After a fight, Geralt realizes that the genie is bound to him, who last held the seal to its urn. It granted his first wish by obeying the "exorcism" (which literally translated as an instruction to "fuck off"), granted his second by killing one of the guards beating him in prison, and
1680-580: Is mostly unknown. The book series mentions overseas countries with whom the Northern Kingdoms trade, including Zangvebar, Ofir, Hannu and Barsa. Sapkowski created a language for the series known as Elder Speech , based on Welsh, English, French, Irish, Latin and other languages. Unique dialects are spoken on the Skellige Islands and in Nilfgaard. In an interview, Sapkowski explained that he wanted
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#17328760278181760-631: Is now awaiting his final wish. Geralt uses his wish in an unknown way that saves Yennefer, and the genie escapes. Under the rubble of the inn, Yennefer and Geralt make love. Głos rozsądku Geralt and Dandelion leave the temple, but are stopped by Falwick, Tailles and a company of soldiers. They are accompanied by Dennis Cranmer, dwarf captain of the prince's guard. The knights outline an unwinnable situation to Geralt, in which he must accept Tailles' challenge but not harm Tailles, under penalty of death. Geralt accepts, but avoids punishment by parrying Tailles' sword so that it bashes Tailles. Dennis accepts
1840-502: Is the third published short story collection in Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski 's The Witcher series. Published by SuperNowa in 1993, it was preceded by 1992's Sword of Destiny , but is officially considered the first entry in the series and Sword of Destiny the second. The collection contains seven short stories interspersed with a continuing frame story : Geralt of Rivia , after having been injured in battle, rests in
1920-451: The 2001 film adaptation and the first official English translation in the 2000 short story collection Chosen by Fate: Zajdel Award Winner Anthology ); Hexe and Hexer are the German words for female and male 'witch' respectively. CD Projekt used "witcher" for the title of its 2007 English release of the video game , and Danusia Stok used it in her translation of Ostatnie życzenie that
2000-511: The Brothers Grimm in 1812. Similarly, the story "A Grain of Truth" features a man who has been turned into a beast through witchcraft, who is eventually turned back into a man through finding 'true love' - as in the classic story Beauty and the Beast . Most notably, in the story "A Lesser Evil", the character Shrike is introduced as a princess who was forced to flee her kingdom with the assistance of
2080-623: The Continent are halflings and dryads ; werewolves and vampires appeared after a magical event known as the Conjunction of the Spheres. During the centuries preceding the stories, most of the Continent's southern regions have been taken over by the Nilfgaard Empire; the north belongs to the fragmented Northern Kingdoms. The Witcher Saga takes place in the aftermath of the first major war between
2160-539: The Deep with Doug Cockle voicing Geralt of Rivia, directed by Kang Hei Chul, is releasing on Netflix on February 11, 2025. A live-action prequel series, The Witcher: Blood Origin , was released by Netflix in 2022, set 1200 years before Geralt's time to show the origin of the Witchers developed by Hissrich. A tabletop role-playing game based on Sapkowski's books, Wiedźmin: Gra Wyobraźni ( The Witcher: A Game of Imagination ),
2240-650: The Netflix TV adaptation was released in 2020, revenue from the books was reportedly up 562% compared to the same period in 2018. Entries in The Witcher series have earned Sapkowski the Janusz A. Zajdel Award three times; "The Lesser Evil" (1990), "Sword of Destiny" (1992), and Blood of Elves (1994). The Last Wish won the 2003 Premio Ignotus for Best Anthology in Spain. In the United Kingdom, Blood of Elves won Best Novel at
2320-432: The Nilfgaard Empire and the Northern Kingdoms, with a second war beginning in the middle of the series. Although no map of the universe created by Sapkowski has been released, fans have created several maps. According to Sapkowski, the existing maps are "mostly accurate", and he uses a version created by Czech translator Stanislav Komárek. The Continent can be divided into four regions. The Northern Kingdoms (where most of
2400-586: The above Polish book of the same name) is a 2014 English e-book sampler with translations of "The Witcher", "The Edge of the World", and the first chapters of Blood of Elves and Baptism of Fire . With Sapkowski's permission, the Polish publishing house Solaris published a collection of eight short stories entitled Opowieści ze świata Wiedźmina [ pl ] ( Tales from the World of The Witcher ). Written by Russian and Ukrainian fantasy writers (including Andrei Belyanin and Vladimir Vasilyev ), they are set in
2480-425: The assassin, named Renfri, has entered Blaviken with her band of mercenaries. Geralt meets her, and she explains to Geralt that she is under protection from a king, which Caldemeyn confirms. That night, Renfri finds Geralt, and explains that Stregobor had previously tried to kill her out of superstition, and encourages Geralt to kill Stregobor instead. Geralt refuses, and pleads with Renfri to forgive Stregobor, to prove
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2560-443: The castle. Geralt and Eist's druid councilor, Mousesack, subdue her. When the princess approaches Urcheon, he transforms into a man named Duny. Pavetta and Duny have been seeing each other secretly, and fallen in love. Calanthe agrees to their marriage, and, having been saved from Pavetta's magical outburst by Eist, agrees to marry him. Thanking Geralt for saving him, Duny offers him whatever he asks. Geralt invokes The Law of Surprise,
2640-493: The city authorities have imposed heavy duties for spellcasting, and mages are boycotting Rinde. As such, there is only one spellcaster in the city - the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg. When dawn breaks, Geralt goes to meet Yennefer. She agrees to help Dandelion, but aside, Chireadan warns Geralt not to trust her. Yennefer heals Dandelion, but demands to use him as bait to capture the genie and harness its power. Geralt refuses, but she paralyzes Geralt, who passes out and wakes up in
2720-477: The collection earned Sapkowski the Janusz A. Zajdel Award in 1990. The Last Wish won the 2003 Premio Ignotus for Best Anthology. In 2011, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk gave U.S. President Barack Obama diplomatic presents, as is custom, on his visit to Poland. One of these was a signed copy of The Last Wish . The English edition charted on The New York Times Best Seller list in June 2015, coinciding with
2800-463: The corpses' path, the Witcher arrives at a seemingly deserted mansion. He notices a woman nearby watching him, who runs away. Geralt approaches the house and its owner, a bear-like beast named Nivellen, fails to scare him away. Nivellen allows Geralt to enter the house, which supernaturally obeys his commands. Nivellen relates that, as the leader of his late father's gang of bandits, he raped a priestess of
2880-494: The cure to work. Mniejsze zło On the eve of a festival, Geralt rides into the town of Blaviken with a monster carcass in tow. He seeks out Caldemeyn, the town's alderman, to get a reward for killing the monster. Caldemeyn refuses, but his guards direct Geralt to the town wizard, Stregobor, a mage Geralt had met previously. Stregobor claims that a supposedly cursed woman wants to assassinate him, and wants Geralt's protection. Geralt refuses in disbelief and leaves. Meanwhile,
2960-424: The curse on his daughter (the result of an incestuous union with his late sister, Adda), who was born as a striga , and terrorizes the town every night. Foltest insists that his daughter not be harmed, but grants Geralt permission to kill her if the curse cannot be lifted. Geralt is unsure whether she can live a normal life even if the curse is lifted. Geralt prepares to spend the night at the old palace which houses
3040-421: The curse. In the morning, Geralt approaches the seemingly-restored girl, but the she attacks and wounds him. Geralt binds his wounds and faints, but regains consciousness in the temple, being told that the princess is being cared for by the King, and Geralt has earned his reward. Ziarno prawdy While traveling through a forest, Geralt comes across the corpses of a man and a girl with strange wounds. Tracing
3120-473: The fight, Stregobor approaches Geralt, intent on performing an autopsy on Renfri's body to prove that the curse had affected her, but Geralt stops him. Stregobor leaves, and the townsfolk, believing Geralt had just murdered a group of innocent men, hurl rocks at him. Caldemeyn stops the villagers, but demands Geralt leave and never return. Geralt is now known as "the Butcher of Blaviken." Kwestia ceny Geralt
3200-456: The first David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy in 2009. Sword of Destiny won the 2012 Tähtifantasia Award in Finland. In October 2018, Sapkowski's hometown of Łódź officially renamed a garden square Witcher Square ( Skwer Wiedźmina ) and announced plans to add benches, swings and other installations based on the series to the area. In October 2021, a mural of Geralt was painted on the side of
3280-500: The five stories in The Witcher , in addition to three other stories. The fifth story, "The Road with No Return", is not in the book. Sapkowski announced a new book about Geralt will be published by the end of 2024. In 1985, Andrzej Sapkowski was a 38-year-old traveling fur salesman with an economics degree and a love of fantasy literature. He decided to enter a short story competition, limited to 30-pages, held by Polish science fiction and fantasy magazine Fantastyka . He did so at
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3360-503: The former hauls up an ancient sealed vase. Ignoring Geralt's warnings, Dandelion opens the vase, releasing a genie . He begins to recite three wishes, but the "genie" attacks him. Geralt banishes the creature with a local exorcism, and rushes Dandelion to the nearest city, Rinde, for medical aid. Visitors are not admitted after nightfall, forcing Geralt to spend the night in the guardhouse. Three other detainees - elves Chireadan, his cousin, Errdil, and half-elf knight Vratimir - inform him that
3440-405: The girl and her father that Geralt had found. A fight ensues, and Vereena overwhelms Geralt, but Nivellen joins the fight and impales her. The bruxa confesses her love for Nivellen just before Geralt kills her. The confession breaks Nivellen's curse. Geralt confides that the old stories about a kiss from a maiden lifting a curse like Nivellen's contain "a grain of truth": there has to be true love for
3520-426: The hideout of Aen Seidhe elves, with whom the sylvan, Torque, is taking refuge. The elves are angry with Geralt and Dandelion, but Torque reminds them that they agreed that nobody would be killed. The elves break Dandelion's lute, angering him and Geralt. When the elves' leader, Filavandrel arrives, he orders them executed, as any witnesses threaten the elven hideout. While Geralt and Dandelion bargain for their lives,
3600-474: The jurors relegated it to third because fantasy was considered to be for children at the time in Poland. However, reaction from readers was overwhelmingly positive and Sapkowski wrote more stories, about one or two a year, in response to their demand. He based " A Question of Price " (and later " Sword of Destiny ") on the universally known fairy tale in which a monster or sorcerer saves somebody's life and then demands payment. The first four stories dealing with
3680-406: The language to be reasonably legible to a reader, to avoid footnotes. As he said: "In my book, I do not want for an orc telling to another orc 'Burbatuluk grabataluk!' to be supplied with a footnote: 'Shut the door, don't let the flies in!'" The stories and novels have been translated into 37 languages worldwide. Sapkowski denied having any involvement in the English translations, explaining, if
3760-504: The legendary Queen of the Fields appears - she is the young witch from the village. While she and Filavandrel talk, Torque frees Geralt and Dandelion. Filavandrel releases them, declaring that he and Geralt will meet again. The elves give their lute to Dandelion as compensation. The story ends with Geralt, Dandelion, and Torque sitting around a campfire, wondering where to go next. Ostatnie życzenie Dandelion and Geralt are fishing, when
3840-528: The loophole and permits Geralt to leave. Falwick is outraged, but Geralt asks if the knight is willing to accept a challenge from Geralt. Falwick falls silent, and Geralt congratulates him for listening to "the voice of reason." Before Geralt leaves, he accidentally touches Iola's hand, inducing a trance. Geralt, Iola, and Nenneke see a bloody vision of Geralt's future. Geralt dismisses the vision, claiming to have seen it before, and says goodbye to Nenneke. The first collection of Andrzej Sapkowski 's short stories
3920-437: The mountains, and the elves settled in the plains and forests. Human colonists arrived about five hundred years before the events in the stories, igniting a series of wars. The humans were victorious and became dominant; the non-human races, now considered second-class citizens, often live in small ghettos within human settlements. Those not confined to the ghettos live in wilderness regions not yet claimed by humans. Other races on
4000-451: The purpose of killing dangerous creatures. The Witcher began with a titular 1986 short story that Sapkowski entered into a competition held by Fantastyka magazine, marking his debut as an author. Due to reader demand, Sapkowski wrote 14 more stories before starting a series of novels in 1994. Known as The Witcher Saga , he wrote one book a year until the fifth and final installment in 1999. A standalone prequel novel, Season of Storms ,
4080-426: The release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video game. Rob H. Bedford of SFF World praised the interconnected "story within a story" framework of the collection as a great introduction to Geralt and "the fantastical world in which he resides, only hinting at the depth of the world and intrigue of the character." Although the magical elements are familiar, he found them refreshing because they were "reinterpreted through
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#17328760278184160-521: The saga occurs) consists of Aedirn, Cidaris, Cintra, Hengfors League, Kaedwen, Kerack, Kovir and Poviss, Lyria and Rivia, Redania, Temeria and Verden and several minor duchies and principalities such as Bremervoord or Ellander. The Nilfgaard Empire occupies most of the area south of the Northern Kingdoms. The eastern part of the Continent, such as the Korath desert, Zerrikania, Hakland and the Fiery Mountains,
4240-475: The same engine in use for the planned second trilogy. Fool's Theory will mainly develop the remake with full creative supervision from The Witcher series staff and CD Projekt Red. The Witcher was adapted into a 2002 TV series and a shorter 2001 film version, both titled The Hexer ( Wiedźmin ) and directed by Marek Brodzki . Michał Żebrowski portrayed Geralt. In several interviews, Sapkowski has criticized these screen adaptations: "I can answer only with
4320-484: The same law which gave Duny his claim to Pavetta's hand. Pavetta reveals that she is pregnant, so Geralt has a right to claim the child. He leaves, showing no sign of wanting to do so. Kraniec świata Geralt and Dandelion fail to find work in Upper Posada, Geralt dismissing the locals' tales of monsters as superstition. Moving on to Lower Posada, the village elder, Dhun, tells of a "devil" whose mischief has become
4400-414: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title The Hexer . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Hexer&oldid=939211686 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
4480-449: The series for a third season. Starting in the show's fourth season, Liam Hemsworth is scheduled to replace Cavill as Geralt. Netflix released an animated film, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf , on August 23, 2021, with their TV series showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich as producer and writer BeAu DeMayo, and animation provided by Studio Mir . Another animated film The Witcher: Sirens of
4560-539: The series. They released the second short story collection, Sword of Destiny , in 1992. The Last Wish was published by SuperNowa in 1993 to replace The Witcher as the first book, and includes all of its stories except "The Road with No Return" (the only story without Geralt). Although new short stories were also added to The Last Wish , they chronologically take place before those in Sword of Destiny . "Something Ends, Something Begins" ("Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna")
4640-532: The short story "The Road with No Return". The novel Season of Storms (excluding the epilogue) takes place between "The Last Wish" and "The Witcher". A Polish-language audio book based on The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny was released in 2011 by Fonopolis and audioteka.pl. The Last Wish , lasting about 12 hours, was voiced by 52 actors, including Krzysztof Banaszyk as Geralt, Anna Dereszowska as Yennefer, Sławomir Pacek as Dandelion, and Krzysztof Gosztyła as narrator. "The Lesser Evil" story included in
4720-421: The similarity between those two words, as well as between the German terms, was the inspiration coining wiedźmin as a new Polish word. Polish video game designer Adrian Chmielarz claimed to have invented the translation of wiedźmin into English as witcher around 1996–1997. Although wiedźmin is now usually translated into English as "witcher", an earlier translation of the title was "hexer" (the title of
4800-804: The story". Although admitting to using Slavic mythology often due to it being very rich and abundant, Sapkowski said he does not have any preferred mythologies, folklores or bestiaries that he draws on for monsters in The Witcher ; "The story dictates the necessity. And, mostly, I put aside existing mythologies and invent something myself". He said that the monsters in the series can be put into one of three categories. First, those that already "exist" with established names, appearances, habits and habitats, such as dragons. Second are those that he invents but gives names that can be found in nature, mostly insects because they are "horrible and scary". Third are those that are completely original creations, some of which are only named, because, "When it has no importance as far as
4880-424: The storyline is concerned whatsoever, why bother?" The author has also stated that he personally abhors politics and considers his books to be politically neutral. The stories are set on an unnamed Continent, which was settled several thousand years earlier by elves from overseas. When they arrived, the elves encountered gnomes and dwarves . After a war between the elves and dwarves, the dwarves retreated into
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#17328760278184960-399: The striga. Lord Ostrit, a magnate from Novigrad, tries to bribe Geralt into leaving. Ostrit wants to use the striga as proof of Foltest's inability to rule, to support Novigrad's usurpation of Foltest. Geralt refuses, knocks out Ostrit, and uses him as bait. Geralt fights the striga, but, unable to subdue it, seals himself into its crypt, forcing it to spend the night outside its lair, lifting
5040-437: The superstition wrong. Renfri refuses, but implies she will leave town, before spending the night with Geralt. In the morning, on the day of the festival, Geralt realizes that Renfri lied, and will massacre the people of Blaviken to draw Stregobor out and kill him. Geralt finds Renfri's mercenaries in the marketplace, and kills them. When Renfri arrives, Geralt asks her to leave, but she refuses, so Geralt kills her as well. After
5120-560: The time believed only Anglo-Saxon fantasy authors were worth publishing and that Polish writers of the genre were too risky. SuperNowa were the only publisher willing to take the risk, and "Now everybody envies" them. For the saga, the author expanded on the story he used for "A Question of Price" and "Sword of Destiny". Blood of Elves , the first novel in The Witcher Saga , was published in 1994. The story focuses on Geralt of Rivia and Ciri , who are linked by destiny. Ciri, princess of
5200-435: The translations and see if they are good or not. Sometimes it's terrible; sometimes I'm very happy because the spirit, the spirit, is in the translation". Sapkowski chose wiedźmin as the male equivalent of the Polish word for witch ( wiedźma ). In his book 2005 book-interview Historia i fantastyka , Sapkowski states that he believes the word "witcher" is a natural male version of the English word "witch", and implied that
5280-461: The translator "is polite enough, sometimes he asks me questions, sometimes he presents me with a fragment of the first page, but it is his own will – I have nothing to do with it". When asked his opinion on the quality of the translation, the original author stated, "We Poles, we say, 'Translations are like women: if they are beautiful, they are not true; if they are true, they are not beautiful.' I speak some 15 languages so for me it's very easy to read
5360-412: The urging of his son Krzysztof, who was an avid reader of the magazine. Sapkowski submitted " The Witcher " (1986), which was conceived as a retelling of a Polish fairy tale where a princess turned into a monster as punishment for the incest of her parents. He had to wait about a year for the results of the contest, and came in third place. Sapkowski felt that his work was the best in the competition, but
5440-419: The video games, giving the studio license to create a completely new story using his characters. All three games were positively received, with Metacritic giving them an 81, an 88, and a 93 out of 100 respectively. They were also extremely successful commercially, selling more than 75 million copies as of May 2023, with over 50 million being from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt alone. CD Projekt Red developed
5520-403: The witcher Geralt of Rivia were collected into a 1990 short story collection titled The Witcher — now out of print — by publisher Reporter. It includes 1988's "The Road with No Return" ("Droga, z której się nie wraca"), which is set before The Witcher stories and features Geralt's mother-to-be. After what he called a chance meeting, Sapkowski made a deal in 1990 with SuperNowa to publish
5600-422: The world of The Witcher and feature its characters; Vasilyev story is part of his The Witcher of Grand Kiev universe. Szpony i kły ( Claws and Fangs ), a similar collection of eleven short stories by authors chosen through a 2016 competition by the Polish magazine Nowa Fantastyka , was published in 2017 by SuperNowa. When he first created The Witcher , Sapkowski had not thought up any background on
5680-403: The world of the series, "I began with short stories; you don't create universes in short stories, there is—literally and metaphorically—no place for them". But when he switched to writing full novels, "the necessity of some coherent background became imminent. And slowly, step by step, something resembling a universe started to emerge. But it's only in the background, so it plays a secondary role in
5760-560: Was announced in February 2021. Designed by Łukasz Woźniak and produced by Go on Board in partnership with CD Projekt Red, the game is set prequel to the main video game series with deck building and role-playing elements. In May 2021, the game raised more than $ 3 million on Kickstarter and was planned to be shipped in June 2022. In 2007, Kuźnia Gier developed two card games based on CD Projekt's The Witcher video game. One, Wiedźmin: Przygodowa Gra Karciana ( The Witcher: Adventure Cardgame ),
5840-403: Was announced that Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra had been cast as main female characters, Ciri and Yennefer. The first season was released on December 20, 2019, with all eight episodes available. A second season was announced on November 13, 2019. All eight episodes were released on December 17, 2021, featuring many of the same characters and some new stars. In September 2021, Netflix renewed
5920-444: Was conceived as a retelling of a Polish fairy tale where a princess turned into a monster as punishment for the incest of her parents. "A Question of Price" (and later " Sword of Destiny ") were based on the universally known fairy tale in which a monster or sorcerer saves somebody's life and then demands payment. The 'Law of Surprise' in the story mirrors a similar 'law' established in the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin , as popularized by
6000-530: Was published by MAG in 2001. Another tabletop RPG based on the video games, produced by R. Talsorian Games , was planned for release in 2016 but was delayed and finally released in August 2018. CD Projekt Red and Fantasy Flight Games released The Witcher Adventure Game , a board game designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek, in 2014 in physical and digital forms. The digital version is available on Windows, OS X, Android and iOS. The board game The Witcher: Old World
6080-483: Was published by Kuźnia Gier; the other, Wiedźmin: Promocyjna Gra Karciana ( The Witcher Promo Card Game ) was added to the "Collector's Edition" of The Witcher in some countries. A rock opera and a musical entitled The Road of No Return [ ru ] based on the series were produced by Russian symphonic rock band ESSE in 2009 and 2011–2012 respectively. The Last Wish#⁘A Question of Price⁘ The Last Wish ( Polish : Ostatnie życzenie )
6160-599: Was published in 2013. The books have been described as having a cult following in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe . They have been translated into 37 languages and sold over 15 million copies worldwide as of July 2020. They have also been adapted into a film ( The Hexer ), two television series ( The Hexer and The Witcher ), a video game series , and a series of comic books . The video games have been even more successful, with more than 75 million copies sold as of May 2023. The Last Wish contains four of
6240-424: Was published the same year. Michael Kandel however used "spellmaker" in his 2010 translation of the "Wiedźmin" short story for A Book of Polish Monsters anthology. The Witcher series has been described as having a cult following in Poland and Central and Eastern European countries. They have been translated into 37 languages and sold over 15 million copies worldwide as of December 2019. Two weeks after
6320-563: Was simply titled The Witcher and published by Reporter in 1990. SuperNowa acquired the publishing rights to the series that same year and published their first entry, Sword of Destiny , in 1992. In 1993, they published The Last Wish to replace Reporter's collection as the first book in their official order. It includes the same stories, except "The Road with No Return", with the addition of "The Voice of Reason", "A Question of Price", and "The Last Wish". The Last Wish contains many references to classic fairy tales . "The Witcher" (1986)
6400-449: Was written by Michał Gałek, illustrated by Arkadiusz Klimek , and colorized by Łukasz Poller. In 2013, Dark Horse Comics announced a comic book series called The Witcher , based on the video-game series and made in collaboration with CD Projekt Red . It began publishing in 2014. Most of the stories are based on original plots not written by Sapkowski, with different writers and artists working on different issues. In October 2015,
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