yes that was my original thought too...then came across a posting on the forum....and for the life of me canna find it again...something about Sapkowski writing in great detail about the layout of Kaer Morhen, and describing 'The Path'...and as I am beginning to realize with Sapkowski there is much subtle 'undercurrents' in what he writes...and I became somewhat curious...
english translations can sometimes be...understated... :-\ tone of voice can convey the deeper meaning...but the written word is something else altogether...Any chance ofchicra said:
twisting your arm a little to give a little more on the subject.??I am still awaiting Blood of the Elves...sigh : was supposed to arrive after the 15th..still not here...ditto for a coupla other things imported from the UK...methinks the exchange rate is the cause for the delay...In "Price of Neutrality", Lambert asks Geralt "How was the Path?" or something, to which Geralt responds something along the lines that it was nothing out of the ordinary. (I don't remember the correct lines.) From that dialogue I understood the Path to mean the witchers' way of life, killing monsters and adventuring for money during the three seasons, before coming back to Kaer Morhen for winter.
thankx for all the responses..!I'm thinking that maybe we've hit a snag here... there is the general understanding that "the Path' as in The Path a witcher takes in his journeys around the Northern Kingdoms..but to my mind, there is a sense of an intonation, a meaning greater than what the English reader perceives...it is I suspect related to "The Path" as hinted at by Chicra in an earlier post.it's rather like a translation of a spade...the translator might then translate it as a shovel LOL..or the other way around...depending on the context..
In Sapkowski books about Witcher you can read about Szlak(Path) and Mordownia (i dont know translation). The Path is a part of witchers life. On springs witchers leave Kaer Morhen and go on a path, they travling, killing monster and earning money.When winter starts witchers come back to Kaer Morhen. I think path means here especially travling (Lambert asks Geralt "How was the Path?" - he ask him about a travel) but it also can be interpreted as a symbol of witchers life(this is my opinion).Wherease Mordownia is some kind of extremly hard obstacle course where young witcher training. It is located in Kaer Morhen and You can read about it in "Blood of Elves".Sorry for my English
Well my understanding of The Gauntlet, which even today the expression in English 'Running the Gauntlet' means to traverse obstacles. In the olden times knights used to train by using a sort of mechanical wooden wheel devices each carrying maces, swords, balls and chains et al, that could be set off at different speeds, and differing heights. You, the knight would have to run through this maelstrom of whirling blades et al along a set path, dodging, rolling, timing your move from one obstacle to another. I think I remember seeing a highly stylized hollywood version of this in 'First Knight'
You, the knight would have to run through this maelstrom of whirling blades et al along a set path, dodging, rolling, timing your move from one obstacle to another. I think I remember seeing a highly stylized hollywood version of this in 'First Knight'I think that "Mordownia' was an extremely brutal and harrowing "Path" of which the "Gauntlet" of which I spoke of earlier was but a small part. Chomping at the bit here to get my hands on the Book! Those mutations, or gene manipulations that produced a witcher, was further entrenched into muscle memory by these extremely harsh often fatal 'training exercises'....my english is not sufficient here to describe this...mental images of 21st century training exercises ala Mossad or Rangers aint even going to come close to what these enhanced and mutated males went through. Chicra mentioned that kids died on the "Mordownia" so I expect that these 'exercises' were a constant part of a training witchers life until he was ready to go out into the world at large and earn his keep.