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

[mayen]

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).

Oh, interesting, i've never heard of that theory. Anyway the fact that Witcher World is different from ours and they both exist somehow paralelly is clearly stated in the very last book and, yes, travelling through time and space to take a look into diffents universes requires very special abillities...

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.

OK, you're right. I'll correct it. But I personally hate translations of the original names in any book...

 

[ausir]

Oh, interesting, i've never heard of that theory. Anyway the fact that Witcher World is different from ours and they both exist somehow paralelly is clearly stated in the very last book and, yes, travelling through time and space to take a look into diffents universes requires very special abillities...

Here it is (in Polish):http://ezena.activnet.pl/otm.php

 

[mayen]

Here it is (in Polish):http://ezena.activnet.pl/otm.php

Hey, thank you I'll read that. Hi hi, it seems I heve a lot of things to catch up since the last time I was browsing the AS fan pages...

 

[dianathe]

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).

Yes well that's kinda a little far out there., for me at any rate...I'll stick to the 'facts' as related in the game, which given the developers passion for the books must more or less mirror Sapkowski's vision...But agreed., there a pleasing mix of European and a touch of english culture liberally mixed in..tho not sure as to the various time periods you refer to...I rather allow that the humans came from various places where 'rifts' in the dimensional forces plucked them into the 'Witcher World'...pretty cataclysmic for a mindset from the 6th century wouldnt you say?... It states in the game that Elves were the eldest race that inhabited this other dimensional earth, but that possibly dwarves and gnomes were even older....Humans from the 6th century would be very familiar with alchemics and magicks...given that during the so called Dark Ages there was much thought and purpose given over to the subject....it was just that in this dimension there was 'the way of it' which therefore allowed those with innate abilities to actually produce a spark or two..and the Elves probably showed them the way initially before the human nature of greed and conquer began to show itself... and social culture began to develop in fits and starts, which is probably why there are some static moments in various pursuits...It's possible to conjecture that the Elves DNA was compatible with the Human Genome, but I would rather see them as a seperate race, far older than man.There is a school of thought that postulates that significant changes occur in our brain when we employ our imagination....and when there is the original spark of an idea the brain fires up like a roman candle... Scientists espouse the notion that at that precise moment we touch/see something that is beyond our world...a fleeting glimpse [of other dimensions in this case] which then fires our imagination....I like to look at it this way..most especially when an idea [the spark], whether creative or technological , resonates with so many people in the world or in fact changes peoples lives...I can't decide yet whether or not sapkowski falls into this catergory, but 600,000 copies of the game and climbing, much discussion regarding the World he created , excitement at the release of his books in other languages...makes me wonder...

 

[ausir]

There are are many references to things (in terms of society, culture, clothing, etc.) much later than the 6th century. As for the elves being older than humans, the only certain thing is that they came to the Continent before the humans did.

 

[dianathe]

There are are many references to things (in terms of society, culture, clothing, etc.) much later than the 6th century. As for the elves being older than humans, the only certain thing is that they came to the Continent before the humans did.

Well yes certainly human society would develop on from the 6thC, would certainly not remain static. The game opens up 1500 years after humans arrival..

 

[nimue]

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

That would be nice

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.

OK, you're right. I'll correct it. But I personally hate translations of the original names in any book...

He's called "Rittersporn" in German, which translates to "larkspur" in English. Probably because both "Butterblume" and "Löwenzahn" would have sounded silly. Although that reason didn't stop them from translating Ramsmeat's name literally :dead:

 

[boylech]

There is another famous legend connected to Cracow used by Sapkowski in "Sword of Destiny" book - legend about the Wawel Dragon.You can read about this legend here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smok_Wawelski.In Sapkowski novel shoemaker named Kozojed/Goateater used almost the same trick to kill dragon. The difference was in the recipe for poisoned sheep

 

[ausir]

Well yes certainly human society would develop on from the 6thC, would certainly not remain static. The game opens up 1500 years after humans arrival..

Actually, it's been only 500 years since the arrival of humans to the Continent.

 

[dianathe]

Actually, it's been only 500 years since the arrival of humans to the Continent.[/QUOTE]I'm not sure if perhaps we are having a translation issue?According to the English version of then Game Journal 'Conjunction of the Spheres' it states"A Cataclysym which occured 1,500 years ago, trapping in our dimension many unnatural creatures, inclusing ghouls, graviers and vampires. These Beasts have no ecological niches of their own and are merely relics of bygone times.Acording to Elven lore, humans arrived during the conjunction, their own world having been destroyed. These human ancestors learned how to harness the power of pimordial chaos and thus the first human wizards were born. Looking for a place in the world, humans took up arms against the Eldar Races, who were unable to withstand the barbarians and ultimately surrendered.This is how humans came to rule the world.

 

[ausir]

The humans first came to the Continent 500 years ago, but it's possible that they first came during the Conjunction of Spheres to some other part of the world.

 

[Guest 2067613]

I just started reading The Last Wish, in an English translation by someone that I'd swear had played the game. Small-town australia, chain bookstore.Perhaps I have to learn Polish and read it in the original. Sigh...Reads well, though. To start with, it just brought back the game world to me, but a little way in it started to remind me what was missing from the game.

 

[mobidoy]

Is there a way to know how Witcher became Witchers? Was it an incident, something that always existed ?

 

[ausir]

It was an experiment of some renegade mage. The first witchers appeared around 300 years ago.

 

[mamolope]

His the corruption and prostitution is has bad as the game try to make it ? Dont know but, you have church or religious symbols all over the place and you have something bigger than the sicilian mafia going on all over the place ! Use a proper languageMODERATOR EDIT: you received a warning for use of improper language.

 

[ausir]

Depends on whether you really consider prostitution "bad". It's not more prevalent than it was in medieval or renaissance Europe.