Geralt's Food Intake

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Geralt's Food Intake

So, I was thinking, and I have a question for those lucky souls who've read all the novels. Twice during the game, Triss tells Geralt that he's healed amazingly quickly and says, "Must be that witcher metabolism." We know that Geralt can drink more alcohol than most people without passing out. We know that he can drink potions that are so toxic that they would kill a normal person. We know that he's stronger and faster than an ordinary human.If his body is repairing damage very quickly, it must need something to make those new cells out of. And if alcohol and other poisons leave Geralt's system quickly enough to do less damage to him than to others, he must metabolize those things very quickly. We know that he expends prodigious amounts of energy being strong and fast.Put that all together, and it seems to me that Geralt must eat at least twice as much as an ordinary man (I mean an ordinary warrior, not someone like Velerad), and maybe even three times as much.Does Sapkowski make any mention in the novels about how much Geralt eats? Given that he's so frequently short of orens, it would seem to make life all the more difficult if he needs to eat enough for two or three. What do the novels tell us -- anything?Thanks!
 
That's a common mistake in fantasy literature, albeit forgivable. Authors seem to forget the pre-quantum era rule of physics which states that matter cannot be created or destroyed, so they tend to do things like you described there. It's the same as morphing/transformation: if a man were to morph into a werewolf, considered that the man weighs about 170 lbs, where does the extra tissue for the were-form come from (and werewolves must weight 300+ lbs, given their size)? Or vice versa, if a wizard were to transform into a smaller creature, lots of weight simply "disappears" from the equation. A fantasy author might argue that the weigh comes from/disappears into a parallel plane of existence, but that explanation is pretty thin.I guess we'll just have to use the old willing suspension of disbelief. :)
 
Well, well. Discussing physics issues of a world full of magic and monsters. I guess, if you don't mention vampires or sorcerers, there's nothing extraordinary about them. But the energy preservation law... it's sacred ::)
 
in ancient times when human didnt understand something it was explained with god and miracles.in a world of magic everything can be explained with magic, curses and destiny. regeneration is mostly a matter of supernatural effect. vampires, ghouls do regenerate. anyone ask how come blood can heal anything?
 
Hmmm.... I suppose I could argue that the mutations the Witchers undergo might possibly affect certain enzymes (or entire families of enzymes), altering the boichemical pathways in such a way as to make them more efficient. Assuming that that is the case, one could then get creative and say that the new metabolical pathways use nutrients more efficiently, which could mean the Witchers wouldn't need quite as much as three times the food a normal man (warrior) needs. Another idea would be a mutation that affects ATP synthesis (and I mean the entire electron pathways complex), intensifying ATP synthesis enough to explain the enhanced strenght and endurance of teh Witchers.Of course, this is just an idle biologist musing here... ;)
 
she-wolf, that doesnt have any sense.ATP is not a measure of human strength and endurance. its a kind of human fuel, energy gained during compound breakdown. you wont get more power from engine by delivering more fuel.. same with human
 
Actually, you will. As long as you can keep your muscles "well-fed" with ATP and the Corey's cycle running, you'll be able to exert yourself continuously. A normal human body tires after a while; a Witcher's enahcned body would take much longer to tire. I could take this one step further and, calling the mutations for help again, hazard a guess about the Witchers' muslce fibers also undergoing mutations that would enhance them enough to cover for both the hightened endurance and stenght, while relating to the increased ATP production.The problem these musings hit would possibly be the slower heartbeat rate of the Witchers (I'm sure someone mentioned something like that on the boards here) - It would, essentially, mean slower rate at which ATP, nutrients and other compounda are delivered to the tissues which would run against the supposed inhuman speed, strenght and endurance.
 
You'd get a rather large build up of toxic substances from tireless use of muscles though (nevermind the high requirement of certain ions), and we haven't seen the witcher go to the toilet either ;D
 
LOL! Makes one wonder how does the Witchers' high resistance to toxins figure into that picture, no? Re-entering the metabolism to be broken down even further? That might explain the lack of toilet activites a bit, though it does put a pretty weird image in my head right now. ;D
 
She-Wolf said:
Actually, you will. As long as you can keep your muscles "well-fed" with ATP and the Corey's cycle running, you'll be able to exert yourself continuously. A normal human body tires after a while; a Witcher's enahcned body would take much longer to tire. I could take this one step further and, calling the mutations for help again, hazard a guess about the Witchers' muslce fibers also undergoing mutations that would enhance them enough to cover for both the hightened endurance and stenght, while relating to the increased ATP production.The problem these musings hit would possibly be the slower heartbeat rate of the Witchers (I'm sure someone mentioned something like that on the boards here) - It would, essentially, mean slower rate at which ATP, nutrients and other compounda are delivered to the tissues which would run against the supposed inhuman speed, strenght and endurance.
yes, you are right but that again is not strength, its fuel again. you can just be sure that your car (body) wont stop on the road.more ATP will never give more strength. human body is not limited by ammount of ATP but cardial and respiratory system. organism cant allow ATP shortage, ever. without ATP we would just stop literaly, our whole organism would stop. ATP is human's last problem, only serious famine could cause its shortage and these are extreme situations. organism will use carbohydrates, without it there are lipids. even extremely starving human organism would first devour itself using own structure, own proteins then allow the lack of ATP. only possible for people dying from starvation.the first and major problem is cardial system. oxygen is not a problem because of our breathing but ammount of erythrocites, hemoglobin. respiratory system will always give enough oxygen but there's a question if blood can transport it fast enough to muscles. without oxygen we suffer from pain caused by lactic acid. and again, thats still not strength im talking about. its endurance.strength depends on the ammount and type of cross sectional muscle fibers. type 1 - slow twitching red fibers are weak but resistant to fatiguetype 2 - fast twitching white fibers are strong but not very resistant. there are further divisions but thats unnecessary here.its about the ammount and proportion between muscle types. their endurance depends on oxygene efficiency.
 
Yep, the cardiovascular system would indeed present the major problem here. I brought up ATP as only a part of possible mutations of the WIthcers (though I should ahve made that part a bit clearer in retrospect). I brought it up ainly to try and explain a protion of the OPs question - how much food would Geralt have to consume daily in order to support his altered metabolism. If ATP production (and all teh adjoyning systems) are altered, it might mean more effective nutrient usage, therefore enabling Withcers to support themsleves on more food than a regular human, yet not as much as three times the normal amount of food. But again, that would be only a part of the mutations neded to nmake a Witchers' body work as presented in the books/game.An enhacenment of both red and white muscle fibers would also be an option (basically, making red ones stronger and white ones more resistant), though what mutation(s), exactly, would those be is somehting I'm not really up to guessing at this point. It still leaves the heartbeat rate issue unsolved, though. One thing that comes to mind would be more erythrocites, hemoglobine etc present in the blood. That way, while the blood flow might be slower, every 'beat' could deliver more of the needed substances to the periferal tissues, thus compensating for the slower 'flow' rate. Again, jsut a possibility and surely, not the entire explanation.You know, I'm not sure how interesting this discussion is to most people, but I must say, as a biologist, I'm having a blast right now. ;)
 
Thanks for all of your interesting responses!I don't have a problem with sorcerers doing amazing things, because as Planewalker says, they could simply stash the extra mass elsewhere for a time. It's because the witchers are presented as undergoing mutations, which seems like a far more ordinary process than magic, that I wondered, though She-Wolf's explanation of much more efficient use of nutrients seems like a good one.As for slower heartbeat, maybe witchers have a really BIG heart. I read somewhere that pro-quality athletes have hearts that are very different from ordinary human hearts, even from the hearts of people who exercise a lot and are extremely fit, to the point that one may need to be born with a different sort of heart in order to make it as a professional athlete. If that's so for us ordinary folks, I'd imagine a mutated heart could be enormous or ultra-efficient or both.
You know, I'm not sure how interesting this discussion is to most people, but I must say, as a biologist, I'm having a blast right now.
Well, I'm not a biologist, but I'm finding it interesting, so I encourage you to continue. *smile*
 
overgrown heart is a serious sickness and can be lethal. to make long story short, heart is growing bigger because of some disorder or inefficiency, usually after coronary thrombosis (heart attack). every heart attack means that some coronary arteries are blocked and stopped transporting blood. sometimes there are other problems like valves disorders or heart punctures.like with every muscle, heart needs oxygen to function. bigger heart means bigger "feeding" demand. while the muscle is getting bigger, veins and arteries arent. they stay in same size and amount leading to serious problems, which may cause death. in that case surgery is needed.the only explanation for witcher's endurance with slower heartbeat is extreme blood efficiency in transporting oxygen and other blood components. but.. there will always be another "but". thick blood is leading to another health problems. dense blood can coagulate in veins, blocking them. there's also a risk of stroke. i'm sorry but you wont find satisfying answer from medical point of view. better leave it under vague terms of mutations and magic. ::)why nobody asks how is it possible that witchers age much slower. no, there's no medical explanation for this but nobody questions it :p. what about elves and dwarves?
 
Of course we can never come up with a completely plausible, purely medical explanation, but that still doesn't make it less fun o theorize about. ;) I, for one, am always trying to toss in as much 'medical/biological' facts into explaining things away before resorting to magic to fill in the ever-present blanks.I'll have to ponder the heart issue some mro before throwing anything definite on the discussion table. Bigger heart is not an option I would go with, though, mostly due to problems described by flash_in_the_flesh. Dense/thick blood can present a problem also, although I supose we could always try and come up with sutiable "compensating" mutation regarding blood vessels and such. More food for idle thought, there... As for aging, though, far as elves and dwarves go, I'd leave them out of this discussion for now since they are different races entirely, therefore their metabolic pathways and physiology might be very different from those of humans, regular or mutated variety. But as far as witchers' slow aging goes, again as we know it is mainly the product of the cels acumulating mutations, losing their ability to replenish tehmselves over time and, of course, the apopthosis (programmed cell death). If a mutation preventing cell death occurs, or if a mutation enabling the cells to enter the germinative cycles for a longer period of time than is normal, then... Normally, you'd get something we call cancer. But in the world of witchers, it just might be possible to have such mutations be beneficial instead of hazardous, provided there's still some measure of control over the altered cell cycle left in place. Take the witchers' toxin resistance, for example. By all means, they should all have their livers busted by now, yet they don't. My guess would be that their livers' cells retain a heightened regenerative potential therefore remaining healthy and functioning where normal human livers would not. Now, we could try drawing a paralel from there to the rest of the somatic cells... though at the expanse of the germinative ones. ;)
 
Just a couple happy thoughts to ponder...A pregnant woman's blood volume and hemoglobin double while she's preggers.People who live at higher altitudes have more blood volume and more hemoglobin , but generally have "thinner" blood, than people who live at sea level. (search engine: altitude sickness)How do we know there isn't some stunting of loss of or retention of telemeres caused by the Trial of Grasses? Perhaps an herbal HGH replacement?I have nothing against magic, but a lot of things that used to be magic are now technology.~~~walks away muttering that it's been too many years since I opened my textbooks~~~
 
I was wondering about telemeres, too, though I didn't know enough about them to make any suggestions.As for the enlarged heart being a Bad Thing, that's in people whose hearts aren't supposed to be that big and where the rest of the cardiovascular system isn't set up to support it. As long as we're speculating about mutations, we might as well speculate that if a big heart were normal for a witcher, they'd have the vascular system to support it.
I have nothing against magic, but a lot of things that used to be magic are now technology.
Exactly. If Sapkowski said that the witchers' abilities were magic, I'd just accept that. But since he said that the bulk of them are mutations, then I have to wonder what form the mutations take ... not as a way of spoiling the books but as a way of enhancing my enjoyment of them.
 
I want so badly to say the following, but I don't have the degree to back it up:yes, to the telomeric regeneration idea> that explains more than just the long life, it also explains the enzymic stuffyes to the super catalytic eradication of the lactic buildup and other poisonous substances>additional enzymes other than the standard, what, 40? 20? I forgot how many.yes to more blood volume and larger/ better functioning lungs> more fuel (O2) for the firewouldn't these things have implications for the bone marrow and structure?the game and the books mention that the heart and the liver are the limiting factors for the Trials. what if the children who are converted share a genetic predisposition? I can't buy the larger heart idea because there are just too many problems with it...what's that disease that causes gigantism? Yes, there are a few biology geeks around here, and it's fun to speculate. I have been,for about five months, wondering about the genetic transformations that could explain these changes scientifically.
 
I've asked this question before on the forum, but had no luck with answer...in that I was wondering how Tall Geralt could be, and if Sapkowski ever referred to it. Shrike apparently was nearly as tall as he....then playing EE I found myself somewhat gobsmacked at the gravedigger's comments that Geralts coffin [should he so need one] would be 5 ells wide???? Hey is Geralt a Giant? gonna need a lot of food!cubit = 45cms = 18 inchesEll = 94.50cms= 37 inches [ but will often refer to the alias of the cubit - elbow to the wrist, that is to say 18 inches]
 
dianathe said:
I've asked this question before on the forum, but had no luck with answer...in that I was wondering how Tall Geralt could be, and if Sapkowski ever referred to it. Shrike apparently was nearly as tall as he....then playing EE I found myself somewhat gobsmacked at the gravedigger's comments that Geralts coffin [should he so need one] would be 5 ells wide???? Hey is Geralt a Giant? gonna need a lot of food!cubit = 45cms = 18 inchesEll = 94.50cms= 37 inches [ but will often refer to the alias of the cubit - elbow to the wrist, that is to say 18 inches]
*laugh* Cute! I was just assuming that they were using ell to mean "antique system of measurement," rather than using its literal dimensions. Geralt isn't all that much taller than some of the other folks in town ... they must ALL be giants!
 
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