The Witcher books (SPOILERS)

[JediHlaalu]

OMG you guys I lied. I had finished the series, but I guess Sword of Destiny was skipped somewhere along the lines when the higher ups decided to translate the books.

Can I just spend a few lines here fangirling over how beautiful and adorable "Something More" is? I think of everything - all the books and all the short stories - this is officially my favorite

 

[Lieste]

It is I think deliberately ambiguous.

Spoiler

The Isle of Avallach is referred to as a kind of Valhalla/Avalon afterlife-ish type place, and this is echoed by Ciri's link to Arthurian Legends, and their use of Avallon as the "resting place" for a "not dead only resting" Arthur Pendragon.

Ciri seems to be 'talking up' their status ~ she left them there happy, but to be honest I am not always convinced by her grasp on reality (if such a thing even exists for her).

There was "unicorn magic", and neither Geralt nor Yennefer were ever explicitly "dead-dead" ~ so from that point of view it is quite possible that they were alive and well and just taken to a better place by Ciri... but I can't help reflecting on our use of "gone to a better place" to not always mean more than "pushing up daisies" "feeding the worms" etc. A cause for this uncertainty is the presence of other characters who really are dead while the unicorn and Ciri are performing their rescue...

The non-canon, but Sapkowski approved CDP-Red timeline (although it has some errors in numerical dates/time gaps ~ but these can be hand-waviummed by Ciri/Elf magic and differential passage of time), has Geralt and Yennefer alive and well on the "Isle of Ava'llach" between Lady of The Lake and The Witcher.

If this was totally contradicted by Sapkowski's vision then I doubt it would have been allowed to be made in that way?

Remember that the books are largely 'historical reporting by unreliable narrator' mixed with 'broad stroke' story telling, and gems of detail.... so they are supposed to have a slightly unreal, exaggerated aspect to them, but one that feels "real".

Personally... I go with alive, but where their time here is done. In the same way as the Arthurian legend ends, and the Third Age of Middle Earth, with the departure of the High Elves, the Bagginses, and the last of the Rings of Power with Galadriel and the Maia Mithrandir/Olorin/Tharkun/Gandalf.
It could be an ending like that of Romeo and Juliet ~ with the lovers dying tragically and unneedfully, or Beowulf, with the triumphant hero dying while saving "his" people, but that doesn't quite fit with the intervention of Ciri and Ihaurraquax.

 

[Jamessh1]

Hi all,

I'm reposting from a thread I created in the general forum, and with that thread to be deleted I'm hoping to discuss the end of the Lady of the Lake.

SPOILERS AHEAD,

I spent the past few weeks reading through the English translated books (either fan subs or via iTunes) and just finished them today. There doesn't seem to be much discussion online regarding whether Ciri is able to save both Geralt and Yennefer or whether they pass on. It may be left to imagination by design but I was hoping for some clarity, for better or worse, as to whether the main character especially goes on to live on at the end. If they did go on to live...were they sent to another "plane", or just a far off island in their current "time"? Or did they die....together?

If anyone's willing to share their thoughts on the subject or have some info to contribute I'd love to hear it.

PS. I was going to read the fan translated version of something ends, something begins, but I first need to fully come to grips with the true novel ending. Please help

 

[dragonbird]

OK, that just got very complicated. @Jamessh1 - the reply to your question is in the post above yours. (Lieste had already replied in the other thread, which I'm just about to delete).

 

[Jamessh1]

OK, that just got very complicated. @Jamessh1 - the reply to your question is in the post above yours. (Lieste had already replied in the other thread, which I'm just about to delete).

Thanks for that, and my apologies for the double post!

And thank you to Lieste for the detailed explanation. I'm leaning towards a happier ending (at least in my opinion), which in turn makes the existence of the games more plausible.

One question, if anyone can contribute, is the likeness of certain novel themes to Arthurian legend and Avalon......this is all material I'm not too familiar with. Is there any book recommendations for Arthur and Camelot? I could always go on Wikipedia and get full spoilers/explanations. But I'm now in need of something new to read :/

 

[Sephira]

Thanks for that, and my apologies for the double post!

And thank you to Lieste for the detailed explanation. I'm leaning towards a happier ending (at least in my opinion), which in turn makes the existence of the games more plausible.

One question, if anyone can contribute, is the likeness of certain novel themes to Arthurian legend and Avalon......this is all material I'm not too familiar with. Is there any book recommendations for Arthur and Camelot? I could always go on Wikipedia and get full spoilers/explanations. But I'm now in need of something new to read :/

You can read Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'arthur, a sort of collection of all the legends of the original Breton cycle, so that Malory in the book occasionally refers to the "French Book". The title may be decepting but it doesn't include only Arthur's death, but the king's life and myths about his knights.
Or go with Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon Cycle, starting with The Mists of Avalon, this is a revisitation of the myth told by Igraine and Morgane point of view.

 

[Jamessh1]

You can read Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'arthur, a sort of collection of all the legends of the original Breton cycle, so that Malory in the book occasionally refers to the "French Book". The title may be decepting but it doesn't include only Arthur's death, but the king's life and myths about his knights.
Or go with Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon Cycle, starting with The Mists of Avalon, this is a revisitation of the myth told by Igraine and Morgane point of view.

MUch appreciated, thank you

 

[Lieste]

My favourite rendering so far of the Arthur legends is probably that of Catherine Christian in "The Pendragon", though it differs from most other ones in being firmly Romano-British in setting, with little/no genuine magic but some superstition and religious ceremony.

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=0330256785&cm_sp=mbc-_-0330256785-_-all
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580843.The_Pendragon

Most seem to have also enjoyed it, but a few didn't get on. I'd say if you liked Sapkowski, you'd enjoy the tone of Catherine's Arthurian retelling too.

 

[GuyNwah]

Don't leave out T. H. White, The Once and Future King. It's as far as can be from a straight retelling of the Arthur stories, but it is the best development of the character of the young Arthur, something frankly missing in most epic writing. It also relates the Arthurian world to the then-modern world, which was still reeling from the shock of World War II. White's anachronisms and backward-living Merlin may be off-putting to those who take Arthur too seriously. But for fantasy writers such as J.K. Rowling, Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman, and Gregory Maguire, it is a wellspring; and for the rest of us, it's as much fun as the Hitchhiker "trilogy".

 

[Engagerade]

I have a question regarding the end of chapter 4 of Lady of The Lake?

Spoiler

Did Geralt lie to Fringilla about the location of Vilgefortz hideout or did Fringilla lie to the lodge about it?

 

[Lieste]

It is certain that

Spoiler

Geralt pulled a fast one.

He wants to get Yennefer himself, not leave it to the Lodge... it is *personal* after he failed to help Ciri he *must* do what he can for Yennefer (he may also be a bit pissed about her scrying for his pursuers (though I think he has figure out that she may be being coerced by then)).

To confirm that this is the case:

Spoiler

Fringilla goes on to develop a blush concealing cream (she is severely compromised within the Lodge and acutely embarrassed about it... I mean she was bested by a machine designed to kill animals without thinking. (Sorceresses underestimate many others in the world because they see themselves as superior without limit ~ with a few tentative exceptions).

 

[NorthernXY.291]

Finished Blood of Elves, chapter 7 was painful to read. Maybe it's because the last fantasy novel I read was A Dance with Dragons/ASoIaF, but wasn't nearly has good as I thought it would be. The short story collections were pretty good, but was extremely disappointed by Blood of Elves. Starting Time of Contempt today; will get all the novels knocked out by Feb 24th, but won't make much difference because I'm still trying to come-up with the money to get a computer that'll run TW3.

 

[Jvdm2001]

The Witcher books and similar series

I am most of the way through the witcher book series and they have quickly become my favourite books i have ever read. I wanted to read the books to pass the time until The Witcher 3 for which i am super hyped (obviously) but I'm going through the books way too fast. This thread is to talk about and suggest similar series and also discussing the early books.
I hope i can interest more fans in reading the books as they are extraordinary.
Thank you very much for your time.

 

[Sephira]

Finished Blood of Elves, chapter 7 was painful to read. Maybe it's because the last fantasy novel I read was A Dance with Dragons/ASoIaF, but wasn't nearly has good as I thought it would be. The short story collections were pretty good, but was extremely disappointed by Blood of Elves. Starting Time of Contempt today; will get all the novels knocked out by Feb 24th, but won't make much difference because I'm still trying to come-up with the money to get a computer that'll run TW3.

This is because Blood of Elves is a huge prologue, starting after short stories collections it sets widely the story and the world and prepare the ground on which the novels will go on.

 

[maork22]

Sword of Destiny

it sucks that there's no translation to English. I finished The Last Wish. and the first three books in the Saga and I understood that Sword of Destiny is the first book to introduce Ciri and I really want to read it

 

[jerf.674]

it sucks that there's no translation to English. I finished The Last Wish. and the first three books in the Saga and I understood that Sword of Destiny is the first book to introduce Ciri and I really want to read it

There is a decent fan translation of Sword of Destiny (and other Witcher books still untranslated officially) available here: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/16494-Our-Community-Fan-Translations

 

[Lieste]

Sword of Destiny is reasonably tight, as far as fan translations go. There were a handful of changes I made to my reset version, but not enough to warrant proofing again and releasing a new version... Otherwise it is slated for release in "soon". I can't find the article announcing the publication date, but it was either 2016 (I think ~ or possibly 2015... fairly sure it is the latter, which is kind-of missing the boat a bit...)

The earlier versions of Tower of The Swallow and Lady of The Lake are a bit rough, but are available in more formats than I have produced of a tidied up version... there were a *lot* of corrections and other changes though, so you might find the .pdf more comfortable to read. I make no claims that mine are error free, but they are cleaner than the original translation that I used. Wouldn't have been able to do anything at all without that work though, so kudos to the original fan translators.

 

[Jorgengarcia94]

SPOILERS:

It got spoiled to my that

Spoiler

the emperor of Nilfgaard Emhyr is the father of Ciri.

My question is if this is a huge spoiler or just a minor plot point.
I have obviously not read the books, just played The witcher 1&2.

 

[ReptilePZ]

SPOILERS:

It got spoiled to my that

Spoiler

the emperor of Nilfgaard Emhyr is the father of Ciri.

My question is if this is a huge spoiler or just a minor plot point.
I have obviously not read the books, just played The witcher 1&2.

I mean, it's not an insignificant spoiler but I don't think it's going to matter that much. Judging by the trailers released so far, it seems like something that will be revealed fairly early on.

P.S. Wouldn't browse this thread too much either, if you don't want further spoilers.

 

[Jorgengarcia94]

I mean, it's not an insignificant spoiler but I don't think it's going to matter that much. Judging by the trailers released so far, it seems like something that will be revealed fairly early on.

P.S. Wouldn't browse this thread too much either, if you don't want further spoilers.

Well it was this thread that spoiled it, so i kinda know the other thing about Emhyr regarding.