Sapkowski world... What do you know about it...

[mobidoy]

Sapkowski world... What do you know about it...

hello everyone, as a lot of you know, i am from Canada, Sapkowsky and it`s world is unknown to us... What we know is Geralt.Are there some of you that could please, talk to us about it... Where do Witcher come from, how is the land, it`s people, the different races. All that you know about the story This would simply be awesome Thanx, Mobidoy !

 

[username_2061574]

Well - the easiest way to find out more is to read the book(s) . The Witcher (the PC game) is really similar to them (like Godfather - the movie - is similar to the original book of the same name ). The world is geographically described only few times in the books. The plot is more important, in fact, books look more like "normal novels" where everything is realistically described and the reader doesn't feel any difference between the real world and the "world of Geralt of Rivia". In that world exists magic - it is a secret knowledge, art, and the wizards are mostly something like "political advisors" of kings. A lot of monsters causes problems in everyday life and therefore emerged new profession - a witcher. Witchers are mutants since they need extra quick reflexes because normal humans would die to soon when doing their job - killing monsters for money. People do not like witchers a lot since they are "different" (have snake-like eyes, among other things...) and people in that world usually do not like somebody who is different - like dwarfs, eves, gnomes and others (people from the South/the North, etc.). The areas where Geralt lives are called the Northern Kingdoms and in times of the books are at war with the southern Nilfgaard empire. Northern kingdoms aren't a unified country - they are composed of various little states which have often opposite interests and the political intrigues are described in detail (and, again, very realistically) in the books and form another "dimension" of the story. Another (or the first?) dimension is the relation between Geralt and his love Yennefer and later also between Geralt and his adoptive daughter Ciri. Ciri is important to the world because she is supposed to give birth to somebody "really, really important" and almost every king, spy or wizard is interested in her because of it. Geralt's only intension is to protect her and to mantain his relationship with Yennefer which he really loves. In the meantime he just tries to earn some money, not get killed and enjoy the life the best he can. The books describe the world in a really beautiful (and realistic ) way: the landscape looks (or sounds?) either marvelous or sad, the combat is described only occasionally but with great detail and (again) very realistically. Also there are described erotic scenes of Geralt and his lover - Yennefer, everything in a really poetic way.

 

[mobidoy]

Woot, awesome. Please if anyone can add to this, feel free If you have questions, go ahead, ask them, you can learn about What brought us this game Why is there a passion for Sapkowski work in Poland and surrounding countries

 

[ausir]

You can learn more about the world in the Witcher Wiki:http://witcher.wikia.com/

 

[zahratustra]

Mobidoy, you have asked a question which would take many, many pages to answer properly. My advice would be to follow Ausir's link to witcher.wiki and than, if you have concrete questions, I am sure many here will be happy to answer

 

[mobidoy]

I know it would take a lot but, this is a good place for people to gather and ask questions. Some answer from one question could generate some questions from others... Making it more human... Yes i do agree that the wiki is a great source of information but, it lacks the communication. Read a book about a subject, yes you will have most of the information you need but, your missing the emotion, the different opinions, the interactivity. This is what all this is topic is about, get people to share things they like. you will see more and more of those in the next days / weeks. I am trying to get the community to communicate more. This is something missing. We are a special community, many things are different here than on many other game forums. You never know what this could generate, someone from lets say Mexico comes here and see something about the food in the Witcher world. Then he decide to start a topic about food from different countries... Ok the example is not that good but lets look at it in another way. The game is a lot about politics. What if me, in canada, see the post about the politic in the game and would love to know how is the politic in the author country... You see where i am heading ? It all about human relation And finding the exact answers to your questions

 

[zahratustra]

I see where you are heading and I don't mind taking about Witcher Saga. But you see my problem? 5 books and two collections of short stories! That's a lot to talk about! Let's take politics as an example: IMO Sapkowski doesn't take the easy road and restrict what he writes about just to Poland or even just to one particular period of time. Witcher background is more universal. Maybe not worldwide universal but certainly Europe-wide! And politics are inextricably linked to history so one theme begets the next You see the problem? If the question isn't specific the answer will have to be very long and complicated and, almost certainly, somebody else will have different vision which disagrees with yours. Witcher is a fantasy book and not a textbook about politics or history after all

 

[mobidoy]

Oh yes i totaly agree with you... But this is why i go one topic by one, it needs to be monitored We will see which direction it will take But, as you say, there are 5 books (with only one available for us in america) and the short stories... So, all of the richness of it could not be implemented in the game. I know a lot of people would like to know more about it... We could make this post as a case studie... IE: someone decide to talk about politics in Sapkowski world.... Just a general feeling of it but a bit more in depth. Then we could stay on the subject till everyone is satisfied If need be, it can be moved to a whole new topic.You guys know about all that, we dont. Prior to game release, i did not even knew a thing about witcher.. or cdpr, or anything else related to it. But, i have learned and i know that it is something big and that us, Americans, no nothing about it. It is here, from you guys that i learned it was based on a book.... Then suddenly, i learned it was from many books.... A big thing which if i got it right, is bigger than LOTR. So, i think that this will no be the first game and i see sequels.... Why not learn about it so we can appreciate the sequels even more than just playing a game made from Zeros and Ones

 

[mayen]

Woot, awesome. Please if anyone can add to this, feel free If you have questions, go ahead, ask them, you can learn about What brought us this game Why is there a passion for Sapkowski work in Poland and surrounding countries

Well, I can only answer for myself Why I love Witcher's Saga so much? Maybe because I can enjoy the works in many ways. Not only the great story itself or comic elements or situations, but also the language: rich and colorful, sophisticated or strong or archaic exactly when needed. Sapkowski is for me a true "master of a word" regarding the style and the vocabulary. He is one of that rare genre of authors whose lines with description are as much fun and interesting to read as the "action" ones .There's also lets call it a "cultural aspect" - the thing I believe keeps the books so popular here, especially among adults, also the thing that makes the books even harder to translate. I remember rereading the whole story couple of times in a row just to hunt some new elements from mythology, history, culture. Some of them are universal like the "Snow White" story transformed into "Lesser Evil" but some are just known to the people aware of polish history and culture. E.g. In the "The Edge of the World" story with the same title in Polish (and the title is importatnt here ), we have Torque, a sylvan which is sometimes referred as "diaboł" - devil (the word is a bit archaicly styled). The story ends when Geralt, Jaskier (Dandelion) and Torque are sitting by the fire and talking, and the last words are "-Good Night - said "diaboł"". How many of you know that in Polish we sometimes say about some distant place, far far away "where devil says "Good Night""? There are many of that flavours, elements in the stories to discover. And I enjoyed very much searching for them.Another thing ith the Witcher's world. For me its not the land from a fairytale; its a mix of middleage, modern, magic universe with dragons, feminist sorcerers talking about genotype, developped economy and xenophobia. And I'm very fond of it just like of Terry Pratchett's Discworld ...

 

[equilibris]

How many of you know that in Polish we sometimes say about some distant place, far far away "where devil says "Good Night""?

Oh, I didn´t know that. We say "where foxes say Good Night". Well, this is the kind of thing that is bound to get lost in translation ... Anything else you can think of?

 

[mayen]

How many of you know that in Polish we sometimes say about some distant place, far far away "where devil says "Good Night""?

Oh, I didn´t know that. We say "where foxes say Good Night". Well, this is the kind of thing that is bound to get lost in translation ... Anything else you can think of?

Hmm lets take this one...it's not a spoiler.. i think A bit of background:There's one sentence from deep Middle age which is considered as the first or the second first sentence in Polish ever written (XIII cent). Its " Daj, ać ja pobruszę, a ty poczywaj" which means sth like "Stop, i'll do the milling/grinding and you rest" (or "you watch" depending on the source). Every kid in school knows the sentence from Polish lessons. In one of the novels ("Swallow's Tower" exactly) Dadelion says to someone sth like that:"Daj ać ja pobruszę, a ty skocz po piwo" - which means "Stop, i'll do the milling and you go get the beer" . I did a classic ROTFL when I was reading that for the first time. I'll look for more if you want And i'll write something more e.g. about geography or society in the Witcher's world as soon as I have a spare minute - unfortunately I have to work

 

[nimue]

Hmm lets take this one...it's not a spoiler.. i think A bit of background:There's one sentence from deep Middle age which is considered as the first or the second first sentence in Polish ever written (XIII cent). Its " Daj, ać ja pobruszę, a ty poczywaj" which means sth like "Stop, i'll do the milling/grinding and you rest" (or "you watch" depending on the source). Every kid in school knows the sentence from Polish lessons. In one of the novels ("Swallow's Tower" exactly) Jaskier says to someone sth like that:"Daj ać ja pobruszę, a ty skocz po piwo" - which means "Stop, i'll do the milling and you go get the beer" . I did a classic ROTFL when I was reading that for the first time. I'll look for more if you want And i'll write something more e.g. about geography or society in the Witcher's world as soon as I have a spare minute - unfortunately I have to work

Please do! This has the makings of a really interesting thread - thanks for starting it, Mobidoy! I was aware that there are many puns and innuendoes in both the game and the books which make sense only to someone who knows both the Polish language and culture and which inevitably lose a lot in translation. So I see this as a chance to broaden my horizon The Wiki is a nice starting point for information, but it doesn't cover everything (yet?). For example, just yesterday I looked for information on the Elves, their culture and their history, and I was a little disappointed when I didn't turn up much more than the glossary entry from the game. There has to be more than that. By the way, is there any place where I could find more on the Elven language?

 

[Corylea.723]

The story ends when Geralt, Jaskier (Dandelion) and Torque are sitting by the fire and talking, and the last words are "-Good Night - said "diaboł"". How many of you know that in Polish we sometimes say about some distant place, far far away "where devil says "Good Night""?

That's so cool! Thanks for passing that along! Yes, it's this sort of thing that simply does not translate, that only a native speaker can explain to us. I don't want to be greedy, but I'd be thrilled to hear any other such things that you care to tell us.You mentioned Terry Pratchett's Discworld. I said to my husband one day, "You know, Terry Pratchett reminds me of an even more famous author." He said, "Who?" I said, "Entertaining stories, vast insight into human nature, elegant and memorable turns of phrase, social commentary lightened with comic relief...." And he said, "You can't possibly mean..." I said, "Shakespeare!" For all that he's a big Pratchett fan, my husband nearly fell off his chair.

 

[SaLi]

You mentioned Terry Pratchett's Discworld. I said to my husband one day, "You know, Terry Pratchett reminds me of an even more famous author." He said, "Who?" I said, "Entertaining stories, vast insight into human nature, elegant and memorable turns of phrase, social commentary lightened with comic relief...." And he said, "You can't possibly mean..." I said, "Shakespeare!" For all that he's a big Pratchett fan, my husband nearly fell off his chair.

OTTerry Pratchett rules all over the world ;DEOT

 

[ausir]

The Wiki is a nice starting point for information, but it doesn't cover everything (yet?). For example, just yesterday I looked for information on the Elves, their culture and their history, and I was a little disappointed when I didn't turn up much more than the glossary entry from the game.

I'll try to translate more of it later.

There has to be more than that. By the way, is there any place where I could find more on the Elven language?

Sapkowski didn't really create an entire language, but mostly made it up as he went along. As he himself puts it:

It is based mostly on Italian, Swedish, Welsh and Irish, while in places where I want it to hint at the meaning, I base it on the better known English and German. The two basic verbs, "be" and "have" are taken from Italian/Latin.

There is a dictionary of known Old Speech phrases on his official website (in Polish). I'll also translate it into English later.

 

[dianathe]

and jumping in....I've been enjoying this discussion. I have played the game, and am fascinated by the glimpses of geralts character and the world sapkowski created....Still waiting for the book to be published here ['The Last Wish'] but it will be out soon. I Have been playing a sort of mind game with assumptions and perceptions about this rather intriguing world and have happliy left my western mindset at the door, ...rather liberating it was too...Please guys more of this type of chat...!!I read somewhere in the forum that sapkowski was non commital on the idea that his fantasy played out in earths past or that the timeline of his dimensional shift runs concurrent with ours....and though it was stated that the first humans arrived during the 'conjunction of the spheres' they came with the knowledge that earth was destroyed... Since in the game there is no mention of the social orders ie religion [except for Melitele]/democracy that one might expect to find in some form or another in this new world, it would put that cataclysmic event prior to the christianification of middle europe somewhere around the 6th century.... and in the 6th century the human population was exceedingly sparse ...and superstitious to a high degree... A major eathquake or some such might indeed lead them to think that the earth was destroyed...

 

[mayen]

That's so cool! Thanks for passing that along! Yes, it's this sort of thing that simply does not translate, that only a native speaker can explain to us. I don't want to be greedy, but I'd be thrilled to hear any other such things that you care to tell us.

As you wish This one is related to one of legends concerning Kraków/Cracow, our former capital city. Loooong time ago there'was a princess named Wanda, a daughter of a city fouder name Krak. Some say that she refused to marry a German prince and to protect the city from his rage she jumped to the Vistula river and got drowned.And in the "Sword of Destiny" we can read sth like that: A banquer Vimme Valdi to Dandelion - "You know, Mr Dandelion, I've been picturing you in a completely different way but I know your songs, I have heard them. About princess Vanda who drowned herself in Duppa river because nobody wanted her...(...)"BTW - hope mods will forgive me - "Duppa" resembles the Polish word "dupa" which means "ass"

 

[ausir]

and jumping in....I've been enjoying this discussion. I have played the game, and am fascinated by the glimpses of geralts character and the world sapkowski created....Still waiting for the book to be published here ['The Last Wish'] but it will be out soon. I Have been playing a sort of mind game with assumptions and perceptions about this rather intriguing world and have happliy left my western mindset at the door, ...rather liberating it was too...Please guys more of this type of chat...!!I read somewhere in the forum that sapkowski was non commital on the idea that his fantasy played out in earths past or that the timeline of his dimensional shift runs concurrent with ours....and though it was stated that the first humans arrived during the 'conjunction of the spheres' they came with the knowledge that earth was destroyed...Since in the game there is no mention of the social orders ie religion [except for Melitele]/democracy that one might expect to find in some form or another in this new world, it would put that cataclysmic event prior to the christianification of middle europe somewhere around the 6th century.... and in the 6th century the human population was exceedingly sparse ...and superstitious to a high degree... A major eathquake or some such might indeed lead them to think that the earth was destroyed...

Sapkowski said numerous times that, unlike Tolkien or Howard, he never intended his books to portray the past nor future of our Earth. It is a different world. Although it is certainly possible that the humans came to the Witcher World from our Earth after some cataclysm. By the way, there is a fan theory that elves, who also came from another world some time before humans, were actually descendants of humans (yes, time travel exists in this world, even though it's very rare).

And in the "Sword of Destiny" we can read sth like that: A banquer Vimme Valdi to Jaskier - "You know, mr Jaskier, I've been picturing you in a completely different way but I know your songs, I have heard them. About princess Vanda who drowned herself in Duppa river because nobody wanted her...(...)"

Jaskier is Dandelion in the English version. Since this is an English forum, let's use the English translation not to confuse the other users. By the way, "jaskier" literally means "buttercup", but it was too feminine in English, so the translators used a different flower instead.

 

[dianathe]

"Sapkowski said numerous times that, unlike Tolkien or Howard, he never intended his books to portray the past nor future of our Earth. It is a different world. Although it is certainly possible that the humans came to the Witcher World from our Earth after some cataclysm. By the way, there is a fan theory that elves, who also came from another world some time before humans, were actually descendants of humans (yes, time travel exists in this world, even though it's very rare)."Well I only have the game to go by at this stage, and I think in the journal there was a clear reference to humans coming to the Witcher World after a cataclysmic event destroyed Earth...

 

[ausir]

According to the fan theory I mentioned, the elves were the descendants of humans from Earth and opened a portal to a new world, but as a side effect, some of their human ancestors from various eras were also transported to this world (hence a mix of different cultures from various time periods among humans of the Continent).