The Witcher' books, games, and TV

Even a series as action-packed and poignant as ‘The Witcher’ cannot be faithfully recreated. Just as it has been difficult to physically adapt ‘Game of Thrones’, it is unthinkable to bring up the same old comparison again (for the last time, actually, because the new Netflix series deserves respect).

As with ‘The Witcher’, CD Projekt Red’s video games adapted Andrzej Sapkowski’s books before the Netflix series, creating a brilliant trilogy that made Geralt of Rivia famous beyond fantasy literature readers. Between the three Geralts (and some more ones we will also discuss), a fundamental figure has been developed to understand fantasy fiction today, and the three have more similarities than differences.

Book, video game, and Netflix series depictions of the White Wolf are examined. How are they alike/different? Do three Geralts of Rivia exist, or just one from different angles? The Witcher’s evolution is here.

Originally published in Polish, The Witcher (or Wiedźmin) is a collection of novels and short stories by Andrzej Sapkowski. They started small with The Witcher in Fantasyka in 1986. A few years later, in 1990, four stories about the character were published in an independent anthology with the same name (one detailing his roots before his birth).

The Sword of Destiny and The Last Wish, short story collections from 1992 and 1993, are many readers’ greatest introduction to Geralt of Rivia. The Witcher is a pentalogy of novels written in the second half of the 1990s about Geralt and Ciri, the young heiress of the Tone of Cintria with superhuman powers: The Blood of Elves, Time of Hatred, Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and The Lady of the Lake.

We read ‘Storm Season’ in 2013, a standalone novel set between the first stories, many years later (genre authors prefer to take things easy).

Beginning in 2007, when CD Projekt Red’s computer game was a bestseller, the novels were translated into English and had an international influence. Spanish translations arrived early that decade.

Geralt of Rivia (who is not from Rivia but can simulate the accent: the moniker is to inspire confidence) was born to a witcher brotherhood. They tortured him during the Trial of the Herbs, where he developed superhuman powers and changed his skin and hair color. Although cold and cynical, he follows a strict ethical code in a world full with moral dilemmas, which has led some critics to compare him to Raymond Chandler’s iconic investigator Philip Marlowe.

Sapkowski depicts a hero who is loyal to his friends and has a strange sense of humor that breaks through his frigid exterior in the books. His personality is more nuanced in the books, and Geralt is more melancholy and vulnerable, often self-pitying (“I’m just a simple, stupid witcher”), as usual. He will make wrong decisions, choosing the “least bad” road, which will darken his character.

The protagonist of the books is thin and sinewy, and it is said that it is rare for someone with such a physique to be able to massacre monsters. Thus, in the stories, he suffers brutal beatings that often leave him near death, making him very cautious about who he associates with. That doesn’t happen in videogames or action shows like those he starred in later.

The Witcher games are sequels, not adaptations. After the literary series ended, CD Projekt Red hit a story wall. It reset by sending the Witcher to Kaer Morhen, where he gained his powers as a youngster. Typical video game plots feature convenient amnesia, but this Geralt is different because of the game’s genre, an action RPG.

Geralt is more active here, and his powers expand as you progress. The storyline is also improved to make the character more empathic and make gamers want to control him throughout the game. The player decides whether Geralt stays the grouchy witcher from the novels or helps others with charming comments. The character is somewhat warped and all alternatives are presented.

None of that matters since these are great games, and The Witcher 3 shows that this Geralt is different from the literary one. In this 2015 release, the Wild Hunt is after Ciri to harness her powers, and Geralt and Yennefer must rescue their adopted daughter. Their aim is obvious, and while the characters’ relationships are dark and brutal, they lack the novels’ moral chiaroscuro.

The Witcher’ books, games, and TV

By triji

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