Three basic motives for narrative and atmosphere in the novels Witcher 3 doesn't feature on the same level
Let's talk a bit about general narrative motives in Sapkowski's Witcher books. I think there are three such main narratives motives that defined the specific atmosphere in the books. I don't speak about the details of the plot or single adventures here but about more in-depth features of Sapkowski's general approach towards writing and fantasy storytelling in his Witcher books.
So let's start about what I think makes the books so special:
1) Euhemerism
This is a huge motive in the books. If you don't know the term, Euherism is (wikipedia): "an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that historical accounts become myths as they are exaggerated in the retelling, accumulating elaborations and alterations that reflect cultural mores." So basically Sapkowski took fairytales, myths and legends from all over Europe (many from Slavic countries but also quite a few with a more Western heritage) and turned them into real elements of his world, as a part of history. One of the best examples - that is also present in the game - is the Wild Hunt. It's an old myth that was well known in central and northern Europe during medieval times. Sapowski took this myth and made it real. So his fantasy has a very strong root in already existing human mythology on top of which he implements ideas and creatures and stories of himself. Pretty much every plotline in the Witcher books is somehow connected to old, already existing fairytales and myths Sapkowski just used for his stories, often in a twisted way though. I miss that element in Witcher 3 for a great deal to be honest. Of course the Wild Hunt is still present but that's something Sapkwoski already created. Where is CDPR's own take on that? I can't remember any story of Witcher 3 (one werewolf quest excluded) that reminded me of euhemerism. Maybe CDPR didn't want to follow Sapkowski's footsteps. But to me that was one element that made the books so special. It set the mood.
2) Destiny and the conflict between faith, doubt and reality
This is the second big motive in the book. The whole destiny aspect of the books is rooted in the question what people believe and how much they think that their free will counts. Faith plays a big role as well, if we only look at Ithlinne's prophecy. The whole plot of the Witcher pentalogy is built on people believing in this prophecy. But there is always tension between reality and doubt and faith in the books. They hardly ever come together, they serve as two elements to define the world and its characters. The things people believe in don't materialize. Just like deities in our real world faith rarely materialize. Ithlienne's prophecy is the Witcher counterpart to the biblical apocalypse or maybe Nostradamus' prophecies. People in the Witcher world are always caught in the conflict between believing in something and acting according to their believings and their real life and real life subjects. It's also on of Geralt's internal conflicts in the books, the struggle between free will and destiny. The bottom line is that it is an everlasting fight in the books that defines the playing field. It's not concrete. The games break with that tradition, mainly by making the White Frost a concrete entity or something that really threatens the world, taking it down from the world of faith and philosophy to the very real world. That trivializes the whole aspect and take away from the tension and the conflicts this world and characters are caught in.
3) Perspective and the issue of truth
The books are about many people's perspectives, on many different levels. The reader is always the external obersver but for different characters and even different times. On top of that and even more importantly there a blurring lines between "truth" and "fairytale" with the ending of the pentalogy being the best example. It's not completley clear whether we're still the Godly spectator of things that really happend or whether we are already listening to a fairytale Ciri tells to Galahad. With this element so late in the books Sapkowski played with our believes and challenges much of what he presented as "Godly truth" before. How much of it really happened in the way we read? How much was just exaggeration, fairytale, myth? With this element Sapkowski made his whole stories an euhemism in iself, playing with different meta levels. That becomes quite obvious in the various elements with Nimue in the books, best portraited in the ending of Seasons of Storms, where the lines between reality and dream blurred again. This has also much to do with the conflict between faith and doubt or faith and reality I spoke about before. How much is the reader willing to believe? What's the purpose and goal of the storyteller? Whose perspective do we really share in which situation?
To me, many aspects of these motives are lost in Witcher 3. Of course that has a lot to do with the different medium. Many of these aspects are core strengths of books as storytelling medium that can depict such things like internal conflict or different (meta-)perspectives better than any other medium. But nevertheless, much of that is still what defined the special atmosphere of the Witcher books for me (besides Sapkowski's fine mix of sad, cruel and humorous elements). What do you think?
Let's talk a bit about general narrative motives in Sapkowski's Witcher books. I think there are three such main narratives motives that defined the specific atmosphere in the books. I don't speak about the details of the plot or single adventures here but about more in-depth features of Sapkowski's general approach towards writing and fantasy storytelling in his Witcher books.
So let's start about what I think makes the books so special:
1) Euhemerism
This is a huge motive in the books. If you don't know the term, Euherism is (wikipedia): "an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that historical accounts become myths as they are exaggerated in the retelling, accumulating elaborations and alterations that reflect cultural mores." So basically Sapkowski took fairytales, myths and legends from all over Europe (many from Slavic countries but also quite a few with a more Western heritage) and turned them into real elements of his world, as a part of history. One of the best examples - that is also present in the game - is the Wild Hunt. It's an old myth that was well known in central and northern Europe during medieval times. Sapowski took this myth and made it real. So his fantasy has a very strong root in already existing human mythology on top of which he implements ideas and creatures and stories of himself. Pretty much every plotline in the Witcher books is somehow connected to old, already existing fairytales and myths Sapkowski just used for his stories, often in a twisted way though. I miss that element in Witcher 3 for a great deal to be honest. Of course the Wild Hunt is still present but that's something Sapkwoski already created. Where is CDPR's own take on that? I can't remember any story of Witcher 3 (one werewolf quest excluded) that reminded me of euhemerism. Maybe CDPR didn't want to follow Sapkowski's footsteps. But to me that was one element that made the books so special. It set the mood.
2) Destiny and the conflict between faith, doubt and reality
This is the second big motive in the book. The whole destiny aspect of the books is rooted in the question what people believe and how much they think that their free will counts. Faith plays a big role as well, if we only look at Ithlinne's prophecy. The whole plot of the Witcher pentalogy is built on people believing in this prophecy. But there is always tension between reality and doubt and faith in the books. They hardly ever come together, they serve as two elements to define the world and its characters. The things people believe in don't materialize. Just like deities in our real world faith rarely materialize. Ithlienne's prophecy is the Witcher counterpart to the biblical apocalypse or maybe Nostradamus' prophecies. People in the Witcher world are always caught in the conflict between believing in something and acting according to their believings and their real life and real life subjects. It's also on of Geralt's internal conflicts in the books, the struggle between free will and destiny. The bottom line is that it is an everlasting fight in the books that defines the playing field. It's not concrete. The games break with that tradition, mainly by making the White Frost a concrete entity or something that really threatens the world, taking it down from the world of faith and philosophy to the very real world. That trivializes the whole aspect and take away from the tension and the conflicts this world and characters are caught in.
3) Perspective and the issue of truth
The books are about many people's perspectives, on many different levels. The reader is always the external obersver but for different characters and even different times. On top of that and even more importantly there a blurring lines between "truth" and "fairytale" with the ending of the pentalogy being the best example. It's not completley clear whether we're still the Godly spectator of things that really happend or whether we are already listening to a fairytale Ciri tells to Galahad. With this element so late in the books Sapkowski played with our believes and challenges much of what he presented as "Godly truth" before. How much of it really happened in the way we read? How much was just exaggeration, fairytale, myth? With this element Sapkowski made his whole stories an euhemism in iself, playing with different meta levels. That becomes quite obvious in the various elements with Nimue in the books, best portraited in the ending of Seasons of Storms, where the lines between reality and dream blurred again. This has also much to do with the conflict between faith and doubt or faith and reality I spoke about before. How much is the reader willing to believe? What's the purpose and goal of the storyteller? Whose perspective do we really share in which situation?
To me, many aspects of these motives are lost in Witcher 3. Of course that has a lot to do with the different medium. Many of these aspects are core strengths of books as storytelling medium that can depict such things like internal conflict or different (meta-)perspectives better than any other medium. But nevertheless, much of that is still what defined the special atmosphere of the Witcher books for me (besides Sapkowski's fine mix of sad, cruel and humorous elements). What do you think?
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)Ahh i need to play Neutral/Gray Wolf thats how it was supposed to be . Ok lets start a 3 Playtrough. DAMN YOU,gray wolf, now i need to slaughter all/evryone to get to the top of mountain rly? My verdict back then you can choose between Jon Vorhees/Humans vsFredy Kruger/Nonhumans and it dont let you to happiness.Regret factors of choices maybe 15 times.