Not many in the English-speaking world had heard of Andrzej’s Sapkowski’s Witcher series until the first game came to PC. The Witcher books were not published in English until 2007 and only then slowly. As of this writing, one novel is still not officially translated (it will release in May). Meanwhile, as the Witcher books trickled out of Poland, CD Projekt Red’s games became mega hits. Since 2015, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has sold 25 million copies worldwide. This is one of the reasons that, outside of Poland, Geralt of Rivia is mainly a video game character. The games overshadowed the books. But having read these books myself now, I think we need to fix this.
CD Projekt Red didn’t merely borrow the Witcher characters, they wanted to write their own Witcher novels in game form. They are massive fans who set out to make playable what they had read in Sapkowski’s stories. The games directly imitate his tone, plots, and themes. You’re missing a key part of the games’ intent if you haven’t read the source material. You’re also missing out on Geralt’s exploits in these incredible fantasy novels.
Short Stories to Epic Saga
Andrzej Sapkowski created Geralt of Rivia in a series of short stories beginning in 1986. Those short stories would be collected into two volumes, The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, which cover the early part of Geralt’s witcher career. In the ’90s, Sapkowski took his characters and created the Witcher Saga, a series of five novels. The series brought Geralt and his adopted daughter Ciri into a massive struggle between empires, evil wizards, and inter-dimensional elves. It begins with stand-alone episodes which then evolve into a five-part war epic as complicated as Game of Thrones.
But what about The Witcher is so impressive that they stoked the creative fires of CD Projekt Red?
Power Fantasies Subverted
Geralt of Rivia is, on the surface, a power fantasy. That’s why he fits so well into the role of a video game hero. Witchers are mutant monster hunters who travel the world having adventures. Geralt is the perfect combination of badass warrior and dark loner that makes for a sexy protagonist. He even has a habit of falling into bed with beautiful sorceresses. Yet Geralt is bitter. His world is subverted so that classical heroes can never simply fight evil. There’s always some tough moral choice.
Sapkowski’s style plays on your expectations. The early Witcher stories are satires of folktales and legends but with realistic complications based on gritty medieval history. In one story, Geralt stumbles upon some local knights out to bravely slay a dragon that attacked a village. However, we soon learn that the knights are corrupt, the villagers are evil (and murdered the dragon’s mother), and the dragons are actually quite friendly. Geralt is a cynic, but this is a world where the cynic is usually right. Yet, no matter how gray things get, he keeps acting like a black and white hero. He knows no other way to be.
Grim Darkness or Black Comedy?
There are dozens of characters in these books, from great kings to small thieves, who all contribute something to the snarl of betrayals that drive the plot. Beyond the mess of would-be Littlefingers, Sapkowski writes in themes of racism, colonialism, and climate change. (The Witcher, for ’90s fantasy, was ahead of its time.) Humans are invaders on this continent, dwarves are forced into ghettos, and the planet is doomed to freeze over in centuries. Geralt’s life is action-packed. But everything he does only adds up to “pissing into a hurricane,” as one villain puts it.
This sounds bleak, but these books are actually very funny. The power struggles are more absurd than dark. Nobody really knows what’s going on. All the schemes of emperors or witches add up to blind luck in the end. The big battle in the last book is won by a tiny mistake. One individual scout gets too scared to check over a hill, which leads his army into an ambush. The black comedy, however, stops being very funny once Sapkowski takes you on the ground. The bloodbath is a very realistic nightmare.
Human Center
However, when it comes to the human relationships, Sapkowski plays it straight. Geralt’s life is anchored by his relationship with two women, his girlfriend Yennefer and his daughter Ciri. The Ciri connection is more important and is the centerpiece of the Witcher Saga. The two are tied together by destiny thanks to a fairy tale rule called “the Law of Surprise.” At first, Geralt stays his sour loner self and avoids this destiny. But at the end of Sword of Destiny, when Ciri’s kingdom, Cintra has been destroyed, Geralt takes off his cynical armor and takes her in.
Ciri is a princess by birth, the heir to powerful elven magic, and eventually a deadly witcher in her own right. That would make her a Mary Sue in most stories, but not here. Instead, she is the target of half a dozen conspiracies. Ciri’s life is a series of horrors and scars. As the Saga continues, Ciri is separated from Geralt, leaving her to fend for herself in a brutal world. She becomes an active protagonist and a hero equal to her father. The Witcher Saga is not Geralt’s story alone, but Ciri’s too.
Something Familiar
When CD Projekt Red took on the Witcher series, they imitated what made Andrzej Sapkowski’s work great. They adapted the books’ fighting scenes into a Dark Souls-esque combat system. They kept the complicated storylines and multitudes of characters. There’s even that same winking satire of fairy tales. The Witcher 3’s main plot is a replay of the Saga novels. The war repeats, Geralt travels the world again, and Ciri is a secondary playable character. Many of the sidequests feel like the short stories — only, the player is making the moral choices now.
I read these books after playing the games and found that I was already familiar with the words on the page. The Witcher games are not just great on their own terms, they’re excellent adaptations of an already great fantasy world. Netflix recently announced they, too, would take on Sapkowski’s series. Hopefully, their upcoming TV series will also replicate the comedy, drama, and humanity that made the Witcher books such a joy to read.