Question about the Books

[rhian]

Question about the Books

Hi everyone =)I have ordered "The Last Wish" and "Blood of Elves" from amazon.co.uk. I know that "Blood of Elves" isn't released yet as English translation. Well, I have to wait for the books to be delivered.I could read them in german, but I despise my language when it comes to fantasy stories. But besides german and english I know no other language (I guess Latin doesn't count and I probably have forgotten a lot)Now to my question since the world of the Witcher interests me I want to know all the background stuff that's not mentioned in the game and perhaps also not in the book. I guess there is a lot background knowledge floating around, just not in a language I understand.What about gnomes? Are they just a race that merely gets mentioned in the books, like in the game?Will there be more about them than just a short description?What about some of the characters in the gameI asked this once before at another board on this website - but somehow the information didn't really satisfy me.Possible Game Spoiler and please don't butcher me for asking such questions. I am an information and lore hogging fantasy devouring fan-girl ;-)For example - Regis was just mentioned in the game - but what I heard was extremely interesting and I yearn to know more.Is there more about Regis in the books? Same goes for Shani and Triss.What about Professor/Magister? I found in the game he got away rather bad. He was by far more striking and interesting than Azar javed but there was just soooo little about him.Do the designers and the Mr. Sapkowski (I heard he mentioned someone like Professor/Magister in his books) even realize what an interesting character they have created there?I found the death very anti climatic - and it pained me that he was no match for Geralt. Not even a real struggle Is there more about him in the book? By more I mean more background - who he actually is, why he does what he does... why he is called Magister/Professor... and and and...I was told Magister in the books and game aren't the same person... well... still wanna know =)Jup jup I admit it - I am a stupid fangirl who likes Magister and Kalkstein more than Geralt and Jaskier

 

[Teer1]

SMALL SPOILERRegis - yes there is more about him in books. He is important person in last parts of saga.Shani - she is mentioned only in one storyTriss - is one of impotrant peripheral hero in witcher's saga - she is the best friend of Yennifer, she unfortunately (without mutuality) fallen in love with Geralt, she has stings of remorse that she love friend's sweetheart... She is mentioned in several places of saga.

 

[tezeusz84]

Well, when you read the Saga you will be knowing more about gnomes. Geralt meet a company of dwarfs with one gnome called Schuttenbach. He tells a stories about his race that gnomes has a innovation technologies of metallurgy especially in hardening alloys surface, polishing blades, crystals and so on... Magister is a charachter only in game. I agree with you that he is a very interesting personallity. In Sapkowski's book you will find a lot of that characters. Magister could be similar to wizard Vilgefortz, who has used similar sofisticated and ironic longuage

 

[mayen]

Hi everyone =)What about gnomes? Are they just a race that merely gets mentioned in the books, like in the game?Will there be more about them than just a short description?

There's one "gnomish" character Percival who appears along with Zoltan in the same moment and his presence is significant.And yes, the gnomes have few lines dedicated to them especially to their technological knowledge and abilities.

For example - Regis was just mentioned in the game - but what I heard was extremely interesting and I yearn to know more.Is there more about Regis in the books?

Yes, Regis is very important in the last three books of Saga, He's Geralt's companion almost to the end.

Same goes for Shani and Triss.

Shani appeares twice - in the first tome of saga an the last one (in the last book she shows up only during the main battle in the field hospital and she is not involved in the main plot)Triss Merigold is (I think) third most important female protagonist in whole Saga, after Yennefer and Ciri. She showes up in every tome beside the short stories, she has the influence on what is happening in the story.

What about Professor/Magister? I found in the game he got away rather bad. He was by far more striking and interesting than Azar javed but there was just soooo little about him.Do the designers and the Mr. Sapkowski (I heard he mentioned someone like Professor/Magister in his books) even realize what an interesting character they have created there?

Prossesor. As far as I remember he's real name was Ralf Blunden (I'll check the book in the evening to be sure). He was a killer for hire and had a team of two/three more companions.And, although, here in game he is important, in Saga he shows up only in one chapter of the second tome. He was called Professor because of his speech and words he used to use while talking - he was speaking (or at least trying to speak) very sophisticated language and was using complicated difficulf words which sounded funny comparing to his companions.Anyway his desctription is short and if you want I can translate it for you, if you don't afraid my lame translation ;P

Jup jup I admit it - I am a stupid fangirl who likes Magister and Kalkstein more than Geralt and Jaskier

Hih, I like bad guys tooo, they're usually far more interesting....

 

[ausir]

As for gnomes, there are a few minor characters and one major character - Percival Schuttenbach (who is mentioned in the game as well). There are also some halfling characters (as far as I know, there are no halflings in the game).The character called the Professor in the English version of the game (and called Magister in the Polish version) does not appear in any of the books. A similar character called Professor in the Polish version appears, but he's not the same person and is much less important. Kalkstein also doesn't appear in any of the books.Triss is a major character in the books (although not one of the main characters). Shani appears only twice in the books, in a fairly major role, but not nearly as important as Triss.Regis is one of the main characters from "Chrzest ognia" ("Baptism by Fire", fifth book and third novel) onwards.By the way, the English translation of "The Last Wish" isn't very good. I hope they get a new translator for "Blood of Elves". Also, for unknown reasons, the second book (short story collection), "Miecz przeznaczenia" ("The Sword of Destiny") was skipped by the English publisher, even though some of the stories introduce characters and themes that are essential to the novels.

 

[rhian]

Thank you all so much for the heads up =)I really can't wait to get my hands on those books, I just wonder why amazon is taking so long. I rechecked my sent-status and they say they can't sent before march 2008... meh.But i can't wait to read more about Regis, gnomes and the other characters =) you helped me to ease my mind and fill me with positive anticipation.@Mayen:A translation of his profile/character description would be really sweet if it doesn't cause you too much trouble. And I am by far not an english specialist, so don't worry about your translation.Ralf Blunden, I heard that name once... but where +scratches her head+

What about Professor/Magister? I found in the game he got away rather bad. He was by far more striking and interesting than Azar javed but there was just soooo little about him.Do the designers and the Mr. Sapkowski (I heard he mentioned someone like Professor/Magister in his books) even realize what an interesting character they have created there?

Prossesor. As far as I remember he's real name was Ralf Blunden (I'll check the book in the evening to be sure). He was a killer for hire and had a team of two/three more companions.And, although, here in game he is important, in Saga he shows up only in one chapter of the second tome. He was called Professor because of his speech and words he used to use while talking - he was speaking (or at least trying to speak) very sophisticated language and was using complicated difficulf words which sounded funny comparing to his companions.Anyway his desctription is short and if you want I can translate it for you, if you don't afraid my lame translation ;P

Jup jup I admit it - I am a stupid fangirl who likes Magister and Kalkstein more than Geralt and Jaskier

Hih, I like bad guys tooo, they're usually far more interesting....

 

[rhian]

As for gnomes, there are a few minor characters and one major character - Percival Schuttenbach (who is mentioned in the game as well). There are also some halfling characters (as far as I know, there are no halflings in the game).The character called the Professor in the English version of the game (and called Magister in the Polish version) does not appear in any of the books. A similar character called Professor in the Polish version appears, but he's not the same person and is much less important. Kalkstein also doesn't appear in any of the books.Triss is a major character in the books (although not one of the main characters). Shani appears only twice in the books, in a fairly major role, but not nearly as important as Triss.Regis is one of the main characters from "Chrzest ognia" ("Baptism by Fire", fifth book and third novel) onwards.By the way, the English translation of "The Last Wish" isn't very good. I hope they get a new translator for "Blood of Elves". Also, for unknown reasons, the second book (short story collection), "Miecz przeznaczenia" ("The Sword of Destiny") was skipped by the English publisher, even though some of the stories introduce characters and themes that are essential to the novels.

I hate it when they do that. When a story line is successful and people are interested a publisher shouldn't hold back any books from translation.*grumbles*Oh well - the english translation might be bad - bit I doubt that the german one is any better.Could someone perhaps translate this to me into english, pretty please? ;D I got that from http://fantasy-scifi.net/encyklopedie/pojem.php?k=7&r=1&r2=1&p=2008Zabiják, společn

 

[ausir]

AFAIK the publisher decided that since novels sell better than short story collection, they're going to skip the second book and go directly to the third, which is the first novel in the series. They *might* transalte "The Sword of Destiny" at a later date if the other books sell well. Maybe you should at least get the second book in German, then?As for the Professor (the book one, which is NOT the same as the game one/Magister), it's in Czech, so I'll translate his description in the Polish Witcher Wiki:Ralf Blunden - a professional killer known as the Professor, he worked with Heim Kantor and Short Yaxa. They were killed by Geralt in the town of Anchor, when they were trying to track down Ciri and Yennefer.

 

[guardian1982]

I'd love to spill all info I have here but I won't do it to You Rhian, it would be a sin ;DRegis is best character to me, with Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach as close second. But you see, it would be best for You to completely forget about everything You saw in game and here untill You'll get all books properly translated. It's not a shitty RPG book when You know straight away "this is my friend", "this is my foe", "this is guy will make a team with me for next four volumes" etc. Many names mentioned start in grey zones, when reader considers them only as NPC. Or enemies. Or whatever really. So if You'll see the name in the book and You'll know who he/she is, You'll loose a lot from the story in my opinion.@AusirNow You've worried me. Sapkowski's books are by far greatest challenge for translators (because it sits heavily in medieval and pre-medieval Europe and religion), so in order to not screw it up we need professionals to do that, ordinary ones won't do ;DAnd Rhian, the books... If You like the game, get some valium before You'll start the books, they can give You heart attack from excitement. Only because Tolkien was a father of modern fantasy I'm still considering Him as the best writer, otherwise it would be that inflated buffoon, Sapkowski ;D He's the meaniest person ever, but we still love him xPPPPPP.S. YES, Sword of Destiny is a prelude to the Saga, without it there's no fluent progression from stories to Saga, another "smart" decision to go with Last Wish, but not Sword of Destiny.... : :

 

[ausir]

Unfortunately, "The Last Wish" was translated into English not by a native speaker of English, but by a Pole, Danusia Stok, and it shows. While there are no blatant errors, the language is rather bland compared to the original (or compared to Michael Kandel's translation of the first short story "The Witcher" for an anthology - Kandel is also the translator of most of Stanislaw Lem's works into English).

 

[rhian]

Thank you very much for the translation Ausir *bows*@GuardianI already need valium *grins* because I am damn thrilled about the game and can't wait to get my hands on the books. I am afraid but Mr. Sapkowski has created a world that entirely captured me.I love it even more now than D&D (just because of the elves and dragons) and Tolkien. Yes Tolkien is a great writer (not a surprise after all he studied language-science or what it is called and created a whole language by himself) yet the only thing that really caught me was Simarillion because the stories or "drafts" in there were more my taste - all nicely dark and dramatic.And for some odd reason I believe Regis will be my other favorite character next to Professor *sigh* I love character with depth and highly sophisticated conversation skills. It always makes me smirk when I read stories with characters that give comments about something, but also add enough sarcasm or subliminal messages to their dialogues that it warms my heart. And what I heard about Regis so far gives me the feeling that he sees himself somewhat of a babysitter of a horde of children - especially Jaskier.

 

[darthmael]

And for some odd reason I believe Regis will be my other favorite character ...

Seems like one more Hellwitcher idea...Regis is a vampire, after all ;D and who knows...

 

[rhian]

And for some odd reason I believe Regis will be my other favorite character ...

Seems like one more Hellwitcher idea...Regis is a vampire, after all ;D and who knows...

Thread hijacker! *hugs* just kidding.Hmm sec: http://ellaine.deviantart.com/art/Geralt-s-party-Regis-62966713 there it is.That's and what I heard in the game about him intrigued me quite a lot But which character could he be in Hellwitcher?

 

[darthmael]

If he wasn't a vampire he would make a perfect Walter He's a lot like him both in appearance and in general attitude.

 

[mayen]

And for some odd reason I believe Regis will be my other favorite character next to Professor *sigh* I love character with depth and highly sophisticated conversation skills. It always makes me smirk when I read stories with characters that give comments about something, but also add enough sarcasm or subliminal messages to their dialogues that it warms my heart. And what I heard about Regis so far gives me the feeling that he sees himself somewhat of a babysitter of a horde of children - especially Jaskier.

I bet he will be your favourite . Especially that if we stick precisely to the books, then comparing these two characters is simply pointless. Regis is one of the most impressive and well described persons, Professor its just a flash through the three pages. Regis is an intellectual and can be quite annoying e.g. while answering the question while the question hasn't been even asked yet. No mentioning that the whole Saga is simply soaking with sarcasm and intelligent humor .BTWI'm not far into game, so I cannot tell precisely but, you guys who read the whole story, don't you think that the Magister/Professor isn't quite like Rience?And I heard also that the Sword of Destiny would be skipped and it was sad news for me because, besides the clear introdunction to the Saga plot, I consider that the stories from "Sword.." are simply better...

 

[rhian]

BTWI'm not far into game, so I cannot tell precisely but, you guys who read the whole story, don't you think that the Magister/Professor isn't quite like Rience?And I heard also that the Sword of Destiny would be skipped and it was sad news for me because, besides the clear introdunction to the Saga plot, I consider that the stories from "Sword.." are simply better...

Hmm who's Rience?I checked web - but only found this... (I only figured out that it must be some quote from the book )Čaroděj, ale ke své škodě velmi mizerný, který slouž

 

[mayen]

Rience was a sorcerer (banned from sorcerer's school after two years) a henchman or schould I say a factotum of the main black character in saga - Vilgefortz. He was doing all the dirty job for Vilgefortz from the first to the fourth tome. As I said before, I'm no further than the III act, but i think the devs took Professor and put him in a role of someone much more importatnt.

 

[ausir]

SPOILER:Rience is a henchman of Vilgefortz, the wizard who is the main antagonist (or at least one of the main antagonists) in the books.

I'm no further than the III act, but i think the devs took Professor and put him in a role of someone much more importatnt.

As I've said before, the Professor in the game (called Magister in the Polish version) and the Professor in the book (called Profesor in the Polish version) are separate characters.

 

[mayen]

I'm no further than the III act, but i think the devs took Professor and put him in a role of someone much more importatnt.

As I've said before, the Professor in the game (called Magister in the Polish version) and the Professor in the book (called Profesor in the Polish version) are separate characters.[/QUOTE]I finally came to that conclusion myself and now I must laugh at myself that I let me follow the suggestion that it was the same person. Anyway, there're a few traits in common for both Magister and Professor. And I think that old good Ralf Blunden had a hind in Magister's/Professor's creation.

 

[rhian]

Good to have you around =)I can see that Profesor and Magister aren't quite the same, but that Profesor had given the template to create another glasses wearing antagonist.

I'm no further than the III act, but i think the devs took Professor and put him in a role of someone much more importatnt.

As I've said before, the Professor in the game (called Magister in the Polish version) and the Professor in the book (called Profesor in the Polish version) are separate characters.

I finally came to that conclusion myself and now I must laugh at myself that I let me follow the suggestion that it was the same person. Anyway, there're a few traits in common for both Magister and Professor. And I think that old good Ralf Blunden had a hind in Magister's/Professor's creation.[/QUOTE]Jup, I can see that now, too Perhaps I cancel my order at amazon.co.uk and buy the german versions (even if I have to fear that they are worse than the english translation)