Can 'Something Ends, Something Begins' short story fit into Witcher 3 game canon? (spoilers)
This post has spoilers for 'The Witcher 3' and the short story in question, so steer clear if you don't want to know the ending for TW3.
Basically, 'Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna' (Something Ends, Something Begins) is a short story written by Andrzej Sapkowski depicting the wedding of Geralt and Yennefer. The text of the whole story, in English, can be found here: http://witcher.gamepedia.com/Fan_translation_of_Something_Ends,_Something_Begins .
Mr. Sapkowski did not intend for the story to be canon (he wrote it to use as a wedding gift). However, considering how players can end 'The Witcher 3', is there some way this story can fit into game canon (with the story fitting in after the ending of The Witcher 3)? Even if just for fun.
Spoilers for The Witcher 3 ahead:
'Something Ends, Something Begins' was just meant to be a funny story showing an idealized world state for Geralt and his friends. But I'm wondering now if the game can actually lead into this state, and make the whole story "canon" with the games (depending on the ending you get, of course). Does my reasoning work?
This post has spoilers for 'The Witcher 3' and the short story in question, so steer clear if you don't want to know the ending for TW3.
Basically, 'Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna' (Something Ends, Something Begins) is a short story written by Andrzej Sapkowski depicting the wedding of Geralt and Yennefer. The text of the whole story, in English, can be found here: http://witcher.gamepedia.com/Fan_translation_of_Something_Ends,_Something_Begins .
Mr. Sapkowski did not intend for the story to be canon (he wrote it to use as a wedding gift). However, considering how players can end 'The Witcher 3', is there some way this story can fit into game canon (with the story fitting in after the ending of The Witcher 3)? Even if just for fun.
Spoilers for The Witcher 3 ahead:
First of all, Princess Adda is mentioned as one of the guests to the wedding in the story, so any playthrough of the Witcher games would have to keep her alive in The Witcher 1.
The books mention that Emperor Emhyr survives long after the timeframe of the books and games. Therefore, the ending in The Witcher 3 with Emhyr triumphant (assassinating Radovid and then defeating DIjkstra) would be the only one that works, since all other "Northern Kingdom" endgame states end with Emhyr's immediate assassination.
Geralt will obviously choose Yen over Triss if the playthrough is to lead into the short story of him marrying Yen. Ciri is mentioned in 'Something Ends, Something Begins' to be a freelancer who meets Galahad, so The Witcher 3 ending of Ciri become a Witcher would best lead into the short story.
The only thing that doesn't seem to fit is that Vesemir is killed in 'The Witcher 3', whereas he shows up alive as a wedding guest in 'Something Ends, Something Begins'. Maybe we can pretend that Vesemir's injuries from TW3 were not as severe as initially believed, he was mistakenly declared dead while really in a top-secret Witcher trance, and he awoke later on. I haven't actually gotten far enough in the game to see Vesemir's death scene, so maybe someone who's seen or played that scene could elaborate if he could somehow survive to appear in the short story and make it "game canon"...
The books mention that Emperor Emhyr survives long after the timeframe of the books and games. Therefore, the ending in The Witcher 3 with Emhyr triumphant (assassinating Radovid and then defeating DIjkstra) would be the only one that works, since all other "Northern Kingdom" endgame states end with Emhyr's immediate assassination.
Geralt will obviously choose Yen over Triss if the playthrough is to lead into the short story of him marrying Yen. Ciri is mentioned in 'Something Ends, Something Begins' to be a freelancer who meets Galahad, so The Witcher 3 ending of Ciri become a Witcher would best lead into the short story.
The only thing that doesn't seem to fit is that Vesemir is killed in 'The Witcher 3', whereas he shows up alive as a wedding guest in 'Something Ends, Something Begins'. Maybe we can pretend that Vesemir's injuries from TW3 were not as severe as initially believed, he was mistakenly declared dead while really in a top-secret Witcher trance, and he awoke later on. I haven't actually gotten far enough in the game to see Vesemir's death scene, so maybe someone who's seen or played that scene could elaborate if he could somehow survive to appear in the short story and make it "game canon"...
'Something Ends, Something Begins' was just meant to be a funny story showing an idealized world state for Geralt and his friends. But I'm wondering now if the game can actually lead into this state, and make the whole story "canon" with the games (depending on the ending you get, of course). Does my reasoning work?