Interview to Andrzej Sapkowski by Daniele Cutali - Translation from Italian
Thought of translating it to the best of my abilities (accepting any correction) and sharing it here with all you guys.
By Daniele Cutali
for Sugarpulp Magazine.
http://sugarpulp.it/intervista-ad-andrzej-sapkowski/
He interviews Andrzej Sapkowski, author of the Witcher books, which served as source material for the well known videogame saga "The Witcher", by CD Projekt RED.
Welcome to the pages of Sugarpulp Magazine, Mr. Sapkowski. No need to say how much of an honor it is for us to interview an author like you, pillar of european and worldwide fantasy, so let's get straight to the questions.
- Editrice Nord, which publishes your works in Italy, is releasing in chronological order everything regarding Geralt of Rivia. The Last Wish (Ostatnie życzenie) and The Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia) consist of a total of 13 tales, the first ones you wrote, which introduce the world, the story and background of Geralt of Rivia.
Genius is the change of point of view: the deeds of Geralt, interspersed by the structure of The Voice of Reason, make it a narrative and character development masterpiece. In your first tale The Witcher (Wiedźmin), for example, you utilized the figure of the Striga monster to condemn the wrong of incest, but Geralt is not a morally immaculate character either. How do you reconcile the two and then get to the final catharsis?
Let's make something clear: I don't condemn anything or anyone. I'm a writer, not a preacher or a social commenter. Wiedźmin was conceived as a new version of a polish fable where the king's daughter becomes a monster cause of her parents' incest, as punishment: I simply reused the idea.
And, if you remember correctly, in the story the witcher explains that it's not true: incest is not the real cause of the transformation. The other things you mentioned calling them "masterpieces" are simply the result of hard work. And talent.
- The short story The Last Wish (Ostatnie życzenie) is a long metaphor about being very careful what you wish. The way to reach our desires at all costs can be full of dangerous Djinns, meaning unscrupulousness. Here we meet for the first time Yennefer of Vengerberg, who can also be a very dangerous sorceress. Love is born between the two but don't you think it's really too dangerous for Geralt to keep craving for a woman we find out to be not that reliable?
Ha! That's what makes the story interesting, don't you think? Being a huge fantasy reader, sometimes I find boring or disgusting the stories where the hero can have sex with any woman, because those women can't wait to have sex with him. In those stories women are the hero's prize, the warrior's reward, and as such they have nothing to say, they can only moan and faint in the hero's strong arms.
I am convinced that only with contact with the other sex - wether it is cause of attraction, care, confrontation or opposition - a hero can fully grow. When I created Yennefer's character I wanted Geralt to fully grow, but then I decided to make things complicated. I created a female character who refuses to be a fantasy stereotype. To please the reader.
- In The Bounds of Reason (Miecz przeznaczenia) we find out that in Geralt's world dragons exist too, like in every good fantasy. In this tale the metaphor is that everything has a limit, even if you are a creature of mythical power and magic. Why in your world dragons are noble creatures and, for the ethical code of the witchers, not to be killed?
First of all, as you can read in The Last Wish, there's not really an ethical code of the witchers, at least not officially, nothing legally valid. Geralt created his own moral code. To avoid doing something he personally finds wrong, immoral or ignoble, rather than directly refusing, he uses diplomacy and says "My witcher ethical code forbids me".
As for dragons, it's a typical aspect of fantasy: dragons are noble creatures, rational beings, unique and rare. And in my book they're almost extinct. Geralt considers wrong to kill them and doesn't accept contracts requiring killing them, that's all.
- Elves have always been persecuted and cast away by every one of the Northern Realms. Therefore they ally with Nilfgaard Empire when it moves to invade the Northern Realms. But the Aen Seidhe and the Scoia'tael are always independent and will never subdue to humans. Why this alliance, then? It's just lust for revenge or is there racism in their character too?
In my books, elves consider themselves better than humans physically and intellectually, consider their culture and tradition more evolved and complex: to their eyes, humans are primitive barbarians. Also, since they are not product of evolution, elves despise humans because they "come from animals". Yes, you can call that racism.
Their alliance with Nilfgaard though, is a political matter above all: they ally with the strongest, that wins the war, and hope to get advantages. Younger elves, the more or less 100 years old, are instead hot heads, violent guys who believe in armed resistance, guerrilla and terrorism.
- Ciri is a central figure in Blood of Elves (Krew elfów) and Times of Contempt (Czas pogardy). Her story messes up Geralt's life. His obsession towards this child, the desire to make her like them making her develop and study magic, might that be the reflex of the witcher's desire of paternity, since it's well known the infertility of the witchers because of the potions and venoms they assume?
Obviously that is the very reason why I introduced Ciri's character in the story. The plot is based on an universally known fairytale, where a monster (or a wizard) saves someone's life and then asks something in return: "You'll give me something you'll find at home and you don't expect". On this is based the tale A Question of Price (Kwestia ceny) and The Sword of Destiny and at the end of the day, the entire saga.
A girl promised by fate and destiny, the stepdaughter of an infertile witcher and an equally infertile sorceress, who chabges both's life, becomes a "damsel in distress", must be found (like the Graal) and saved... a valid story, don't you think?
- In Baptism of Fire (Chrzest Ognia) Geralt and Ciri are separated. She learns how to be a killer. Is it really possible that her mind, and the teachings of Geralt, Triss and Vesemir were so weak to make her change so quickly and so easily?
Here I suppose my imagination became more real and realistic. What happens to Ciri happens to hundreds of teens, some of them I know. Imagining themselves neglected and abandoned, believing themselves cast away or excluded, they end up - especially in bad company - becoming malicious, sociopaths, monsters. And anyway, it's me, the author, the one who created Ciri and her fate, the entire story, and in that story Ciri had to become a teen killer. It was part of her rite of passage.
- Your first short story, The Witcher, which originated the entire Geralt's saga, saw the light in 1986 on Fantastyka, the first fantasy magazine ever published in Poland. Tell us how you got to the pages of Fantastyka: were you always a fan of fantasy literature?
With fantasy, it was love at first sight. I remember when I read Tolkien for the first time, in the 60s: Tolkien was published in Poland in the early 60s, pretty much at the same time as the USA. I was completely fascinated.
Then I read Earthsea's saga by Ursula LeGuin, The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny, the series of Elric of Melniboné bt Michael Moorcock, the Lyonesse cycle by Jack Vance, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. When, in 1985, Fantastyka - the only fantasy and science fiction magazine in Poland - organized a literary contest, I decided, I don't know why, to write a story and participate. That's how it all began.
- From there on it was a succession of stories that formed the first collections and then the novels. When and how did you get to the publisher who releases your works, when did you become a professional writer?
With my current publisher, which is the second one, it all happened by chance, we met by chance. We met, we talked and they made me an offer. It was 1990, if I remember correctly. I became a professional shortly after, I think in 1995 or something.
- A character like Geralt of Rivia, it's evident how it was destined to have a great presence, such is the strength, the personality, the character that he has. How was his gestation? I mean, was he born from a precise planification or in a natural way and then he followed an autonomous evolution, as the stories came to your mind?
At first it wasn't so evident: I had never thought to start a writer carreer. I conceived Wiedźmin as something unique, for the contest I previously mentioned. I ended up third, but after the publication it had quite an impact among polish readers, who started asking for more "stories about the witcher". So I changed attitude and I started writing some. At first, one or two a year.
After four years I had enough to publish a collection. After two more years, a second collection. At that point, having created a solid basis, I decided to write something big, a fantasy saga in five novels, like The Chronicles of Ambra or the Belgariad saga. It was something that practically didn't exist in polish fantasy, at that time: at that time, publishers in Poland were firmly convinced it was only worth it to publish fantasy and sci-fi works translated from English, only those granted profit. Publishing a polish author was too risky for them. One publisher took the risk, and now everyone envies them.
- Geralt is a witcher, a monster slayer for hire. With due proportions, you could compare him to a bounty hunter, only that at his back he's got a school with martial teachings, a moral and ethical code. The interior conflict that generates every time when Geralt has to choose not between good and evil, but rather between what is right to do and what is not, and every shades of grey around him, in your opinion makes the character more real and believable?
Of course, I created him that way for that, to raise questions like the ones you just asked me. And to make him more interesting for the readers.
- In which measure these shades, these conflicts, make the difference between your novels and the rest of fantasy literature?
Maybe they're not different from all the rest but certainly they are from part of the novels included in the genre. In my opinion (and I had the best teachers), some deep thougths and interesting meanings are the marks of a good fantasy novel: it's what separates good fantasy from... well, from fantasy novels where a hero slays some orcs, then some more, then he f*cks some (consentient) girl, then he slays some more orcs.
- The world where Geralt of Rivia moves around is very dangerous, lethal, even beyond the monsters that live there. How much is there from our society in the Witcher universe?
A lot.
- The bestiary you created is alive, that too has a great presence, suspending the disbelief in an unmatched way. How are the creatures Geralt faces born in your mind? Are there inspirations from our society's imagery? The first ones that come to my ming are Griffins and Harpies.
In general, the creatures that appear in my stories can be sorted out in three groups. The first one: creatures that "exist". In folklore, in legends, in mythologies, in demonologies, in literature or even in role-play games. They are classical creatures, canonical, and they have classical names, appearances, uses and habitats. A dragon is a dragon, a griffin is a griffin, a harpy is a harpy, a hunicorn is a hunicorn, and everyone knows what they look like.
The second: the creatures that come out of my own imagination. I made them up, but I gave them names that exist in nature. Especially insects names. Insects are horrible, freaky: looking at them with the microscope is enough, or even simple macro photos!
The third group: creatures that are completely product of my imagination, names included. Sometimes only the name exists, I provide the reader with only a few info, or maybe nothing at all, concerning what the moster looks like, or how it behaves. If it doesn't have any importance in the story, why should I care?
- Magic is something common within fantasy. In your stories it seems more similar to the wizardry some women were killed for in our past, gathering herbs or preparing infusions was enough. Can you explain to us what is magic and where it comes from in Geralt's world?
I don't provide the reader with enough information, and certainly no details, but from certain parts of the books you can suspect that magic appeared because of some disaster, a huge catastrophe named "Conjuction of Spheres", that deeply changed the universe, almost destroyed it to then recreate it.
I've talked too much: both magic and those who use it are so important in my books, and I describe them in such detail, that it wouldn't make sense keeping talking about it here. If someone wants to know more, reading the books is the most convenient choice.
- One last question: do you prefer Triss Merigold or Yennefer of Vengerberg?
This is not the place for having preferences. Both Triss and Yennefer are fictional characters created to serve the story. Their appearance, their actions, what they say and those who they talk to serve the story and the plot. Both serve the plot, exclusively the plot, not my preferences. Period.
Thought of translating it to the best of my abilities (accepting any correction) and sharing it here with all you guys.
By Daniele Cutali
for Sugarpulp Magazine.
http://sugarpulp.it/intervista-ad-andrzej-sapkowski/
He interviews Andrzej Sapkowski, author of the Witcher books, which served as source material for the well known videogame saga "The Witcher", by CD Projekt RED.
Welcome to the pages of Sugarpulp Magazine, Mr. Sapkowski. No need to say how much of an honor it is for us to interview an author like you, pillar of european and worldwide fantasy, so let's get straight to the questions.
- Editrice Nord, which publishes your works in Italy, is releasing in chronological order everything regarding Geralt of Rivia. The Last Wish (Ostatnie życzenie) and The Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia) consist of a total of 13 tales, the first ones you wrote, which introduce the world, the story and background of Geralt of Rivia.
Genius is the change of point of view: the deeds of Geralt, interspersed by the structure of The Voice of Reason, make it a narrative and character development masterpiece. In your first tale The Witcher (Wiedźmin), for example, you utilized the figure of the Striga monster to condemn the wrong of incest, but Geralt is not a morally immaculate character either. How do you reconcile the two and then get to the final catharsis?
Let's make something clear: I don't condemn anything or anyone. I'm a writer, not a preacher or a social commenter. Wiedźmin was conceived as a new version of a polish fable where the king's daughter becomes a monster cause of her parents' incest, as punishment: I simply reused the idea.
And, if you remember correctly, in the story the witcher explains that it's not true: incest is not the real cause of the transformation. The other things you mentioned calling them "masterpieces" are simply the result of hard work. And talent.
- The short story The Last Wish (Ostatnie życzenie) is a long metaphor about being very careful what you wish. The way to reach our desires at all costs can be full of dangerous Djinns, meaning unscrupulousness. Here we meet for the first time Yennefer of Vengerberg, who can also be a very dangerous sorceress. Love is born between the two but don't you think it's really too dangerous for Geralt to keep craving for a woman we find out to be not that reliable?
Ha! That's what makes the story interesting, don't you think? Being a huge fantasy reader, sometimes I find boring or disgusting the stories where the hero can have sex with any woman, because those women can't wait to have sex with him. In those stories women are the hero's prize, the warrior's reward, and as such they have nothing to say, they can only moan and faint in the hero's strong arms.
I am convinced that only with contact with the other sex - wether it is cause of attraction, care, confrontation or opposition - a hero can fully grow. When I created Yennefer's character I wanted Geralt to fully grow, but then I decided to make things complicated. I created a female character who refuses to be a fantasy stereotype. To please the reader.
- In The Bounds of Reason (Miecz przeznaczenia) we find out that in Geralt's world dragons exist too, like in every good fantasy. In this tale the metaphor is that everything has a limit, even if you are a creature of mythical power and magic. Why in your world dragons are noble creatures and, for the ethical code of the witchers, not to be killed?
First of all, as you can read in The Last Wish, there's not really an ethical code of the witchers, at least not officially, nothing legally valid. Geralt created his own moral code. To avoid doing something he personally finds wrong, immoral or ignoble, rather than directly refusing, he uses diplomacy and says "My witcher ethical code forbids me".
As for dragons, it's a typical aspect of fantasy: dragons are noble creatures, rational beings, unique and rare. And in my book they're almost extinct. Geralt considers wrong to kill them and doesn't accept contracts requiring killing them, that's all.
- Elves have always been persecuted and cast away by every one of the Northern Realms. Therefore they ally with Nilfgaard Empire when it moves to invade the Northern Realms. But the Aen Seidhe and the Scoia'tael are always independent and will never subdue to humans. Why this alliance, then? It's just lust for revenge or is there racism in their character too?
In my books, elves consider themselves better than humans physically and intellectually, consider their culture and tradition more evolved and complex: to their eyes, humans are primitive barbarians. Also, since they are not product of evolution, elves despise humans because they "come from animals". Yes, you can call that racism.
Their alliance with Nilfgaard though, is a political matter above all: they ally with the strongest, that wins the war, and hope to get advantages. Younger elves, the more or less 100 years old, are instead hot heads, violent guys who believe in armed resistance, guerrilla and terrorism.
- Ciri is a central figure in Blood of Elves (Krew elfów) and Times of Contempt (Czas pogardy). Her story messes up Geralt's life. His obsession towards this child, the desire to make her like them making her develop and study magic, might that be the reflex of the witcher's desire of paternity, since it's well known the infertility of the witchers because of the potions and venoms they assume?
Obviously that is the very reason why I introduced Ciri's character in the story. The plot is based on an universally known fairytale, where a monster (or a wizard) saves someone's life and then asks something in return: "You'll give me something you'll find at home and you don't expect". On this is based the tale A Question of Price (Kwestia ceny) and The Sword of Destiny and at the end of the day, the entire saga.
A girl promised by fate and destiny, the stepdaughter of an infertile witcher and an equally infertile sorceress, who chabges both's life, becomes a "damsel in distress", must be found (like the Graal) and saved... a valid story, don't you think?
- In Baptism of Fire (Chrzest Ognia) Geralt and Ciri are separated. She learns how to be a killer. Is it really possible that her mind, and the teachings of Geralt, Triss and Vesemir were so weak to make her change so quickly and so easily?
Here I suppose my imagination became more real and realistic. What happens to Ciri happens to hundreds of teens, some of them I know. Imagining themselves neglected and abandoned, believing themselves cast away or excluded, they end up - especially in bad company - becoming malicious, sociopaths, monsters. And anyway, it's me, the author, the one who created Ciri and her fate, the entire story, and in that story Ciri had to become a teen killer. It was part of her rite of passage.
- Your first short story, The Witcher, which originated the entire Geralt's saga, saw the light in 1986 on Fantastyka, the first fantasy magazine ever published in Poland. Tell us how you got to the pages of Fantastyka: were you always a fan of fantasy literature?
With fantasy, it was love at first sight. I remember when I read Tolkien for the first time, in the 60s: Tolkien was published in Poland in the early 60s, pretty much at the same time as the USA. I was completely fascinated.
Then I read Earthsea's saga by Ursula LeGuin, The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny, the series of Elric of Melniboné bt Michael Moorcock, the Lyonesse cycle by Jack Vance, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. When, in 1985, Fantastyka - the only fantasy and science fiction magazine in Poland - organized a literary contest, I decided, I don't know why, to write a story and participate. That's how it all began.
- From there on it was a succession of stories that formed the first collections and then the novels. When and how did you get to the publisher who releases your works, when did you become a professional writer?
With my current publisher, which is the second one, it all happened by chance, we met by chance. We met, we talked and they made me an offer. It was 1990, if I remember correctly. I became a professional shortly after, I think in 1995 or something.
- A character like Geralt of Rivia, it's evident how it was destined to have a great presence, such is the strength, the personality, the character that he has. How was his gestation? I mean, was he born from a precise planification or in a natural way and then he followed an autonomous evolution, as the stories came to your mind?
At first it wasn't so evident: I had never thought to start a writer carreer. I conceived Wiedźmin as something unique, for the contest I previously mentioned. I ended up third, but after the publication it had quite an impact among polish readers, who started asking for more "stories about the witcher". So I changed attitude and I started writing some. At first, one or two a year.
After four years I had enough to publish a collection. After two more years, a second collection. At that point, having created a solid basis, I decided to write something big, a fantasy saga in five novels, like The Chronicles of Ambra or the Belgariad saga. It was something that practically didn't exist in polish fantasy, at that time: at that time, publishers in Poland were firmly convinced it was only worth it to publish fantasy and sci-fi works translated from English, only those granted profit. Publishing a polish author was too risky for them. One publisher took the risk, and now everyone envies them.
- Geralt is a witcher, a monster slayer for hire. With due proportions, you could compare him to a bounty hunter, only that at his back he's got a school with martial teachings, a moral and ethical code. The interior conflict that generates every time when Geralt has to choose not between good and evil, but rather between what is right to do and what is not, and every shades of grey around him, in your opinion makes the character more real and believable?
Of course, I created him that way for that, to raise questions like the ones you just asked me. And to make him more interesting for the readers.
- In which measure these shades, these conflicts, make the difference between your novels and the rest of fantasy literature?
Maybe they're not different from all the rest but certainly they are from part of the novels included in the genre. In my opinion (and I had the best teachers), some deep thougths and interesting meanings are the marks of a good fantasy novel: it's what separates good fantasy from... well, from fantasy novels where a hero slays some orcs, then some more, then he f*cks some (consentient) girl, then he slays some more orcs.
- The world where Geralt of Rivia moves around is very dangerous, lethal, even beyond the monsters that live there. How much is there from our society in the Witcher universe?
A lot.
- The bestiary you created is alive, that too has a great presence, suspending the disbelief in an unmatched way. How are the creatures Geralt faces born in your mind? Are there inspirations from our society's imagery? The first ones that come to my ming are Griffins and Harpies.
In general, the creatures that appear in my stories can be sorted out in three groups. The first one: creatures that "exist". In folklore, in legends, in mythologies, in demonologies, in literature or even in role-play games. They are classical creatures, canonical, and they have classical names, appearances, uses and habitats. A dragon is a dragon, a griffin is a griffin, a harpy is a harpy, a hunicorn is a hunicorn, and everyone knows what they look like.
The second: the creatures that come out of my own imagination. I made them up, but I gave them names that exist in nature. Especially insects names. Insects are horrible, freaky: looking at them with the microscope is enough, or even simple macro photos!
The third group: creatures that are completely product of my imagination, names included. Sometimes only the name exists, I provide the reader with only a few info, or maybe nothing at all, concerning what the moster looks like, or how it behaves. If it doesn't have any importance in the story, why should I care?
- Magic is something common within fantasy. In your stories it seems more similar to the wizardry some women were killed for in our past, gathering herbs or preparing infusions was enough. Can you explain to us what is magic and where it comes from in Geralt's world?
I don't provide the reader with enough information, and certainly no details, but from certain parts of the books you can suspect that magic appeared because of some disaster, a huge catastrophe named "Conjuction of Spheres", that deeply changed the universe, almost destroyed it to then recreate it.
I've talked too much: both magic and those who use it are so important in my books, and I describe them in such detail, that it wouldn't make sense keeping talking about it here. If someone wants to know more, reading the books is the most convenient choice.
- One last question: do you prefer Triss Merigold or Yennefer of Vengerberg?
This is not the place for having preferences. Both Triss and Yennefer are fictional characters created to serve the story. Their appearance, their actions, what they say and those who they talk to serve the story and the plot. Both serve the plot, exclusively the plot, not my preferences. Period.
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