The Witcher

The Witcher short stories by the author Andrzej Sapkowski were first published in Polish science fiction and fantasy magazine Fantastyka, beginning in the mid-1980s. The first short story, "Wiedźmin" ("The Witcher") (1986), was written for a contest held by the magazine and won third place. The first four stories dealing with the witcher Geralt of Rivia were originally featured in a 1990 short story collection titled Wiedźmin (The Witcher) — now out of print — with "Droga, z której się nie wraca" ("The Road with No Return"), which is set before the Witcher stories and features Geralt's mother-to-be.

The second published short story collection was Sword of Destiny (orig. Miecz przeznaczenia). Although The Last Wish (orig. Ostatnie życzenie) was published after Sword of Destiny, it replaced The Witcher as the first book since it included all the stories in The Witcher, except "The Road with No Return" (the only story without Geralt). Although new short stories were added to The Last Wish, they took place before those in Sword of Destiny.

Although "The Road with No Return" and "Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna" ("Something Ends, Something Begins", an alternate ending of the Witcher saga about Geralt and Yennefer's wedding written as a wedding gift for Sapkowski's friends) were later published in 2000 in Something Ends, Something Begins and in 2012 in Maladie and Other Stories (Maladie i inne opowiadania) collections, the other stories in those books are unconnected to the Witcher series. In some Polish editions, "The Road with No Return" and "Something Ends, Something Begins" are added to The Last Wish or Sword of Destiny.

• Sword of Destiny (orig. Miecz Przeznaczenia, 1992, English edition: 2015)
• The Last Wish (orig. Ostatnie życzenie, 1993, English edition: 2007) – Note that while The Last Wish was published after Sword of Destiny, the stories contained in The Last Wish take place first chronologically, and many of the individual stories were published before Sword of Destiny.

The saga focuses on Geralt of Rivia and Ciri, who are linked by destiny. Ciri, princess of a recently conquered country and a pawn of international politics, becomes a witcher-in-training. Geralt is drawn into a whirlwind of events in his attempts to protect her.

• Blood of Elves (orig. Krew elfów, 1994, English edition: 2008)
• Time of Contempt (orig. Czas pogardy, 1995, English edition: 2013)
• Baptism of Fire (orig. Chrzest ognia, 1996, English edition: 2014)
• The Tower of the Swallow (orig. Wieża Jaskółki, 1997, English edition: 2016)
• The Lady of the Lake (orig. Pani Jeziora, 1999, English edition: 2017)

• Season of Storms (orig. Sezon burz, 2013, English edition: 2018) – Set between short stories in The Last Wish.[7]

In Polish:

• Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna (Something Ends, Something Begins) (2000) – Stories by Sapkowski, including two Witcher stories: "The Road with No Return" and "Something Ends, Something Begins".
• Maladie i inne opowiadania (Maladie and Other Stories, not to be confused with the English e-book sampler of the same name) (2012) – Stories by Sapkowski, also including "The Road with No Return" and "Something Ends, Something Begins".

In English:

• Chosen by Fate: Zajdel Award Winner Anthology (2000) - English anthology, by SuperNOVA in cooperation with the Silesian Club of Fantasy Literature, included a translation by Agnieszka Fulińska of "The Witcher" short story entitled "The Hexer". The story also appears, with a different translation, in The Last Wish as well as in A Polish Book of Monsters.
• A Polish Book of Monsters (2010) – English anthology edited and translated by Michael Kandel, with a translation of "The Witcher" short story entitled "Spellmaker".
• Maladie and Other Stories (2014) – English e-book sampler with a translation of "The Witcher" and "The Edge of the World" short stories, and also the first chapters of Blood of Elves and Baptism of Fire.

In 2013, with Sapkowski's permission, the Polish publishing house Solaris published a collection of eight short stories, Opowieści ze świata Wiedźmina, written by eight Russian and Ukrainian fantasy writers (including Andrei Belyanin and Vladimir Vasilyev) set in the world of The Witcher and/or featuring characters from the saga.[8] In 2017, Szpony i kły, a similar collection of eleven short stories by eleven authors, chosen through a competition organized in 2016 by the Polish magazine Nowa Fantastyka, was published by SuperNowa.[9][10][11]

The stories are set on an unnamed Continent,[12] which was settled several thousand years earlier by elves from overseas. When they arrived, the elves encountered gnomes and dwarves. After a period of war between the elves and dwarves, the dwarves retreated into the mountains and the elves settled in the plains and forests. Human colonists arrived about five hundred years before the events in the stories, igniting a series of wars. The humans were victorious, and became dominant; the non-human races, now considered second-class citizens, often live in small ghettos within human settlements. Those not confined to the ghettos live in wilderness regions not yet claimed by humans. Other races on the Continent are halflings and dryads; werewolves and vampires appeared after a magical event, known as the Conjunction of the Spheres.

During the centuries preceding the stories, most of the Continent's southern regions have been taken over by the Nilfgaard Empire; the north belongs to the fragmented Northern Kingdoms. The Witcher saga takes place in the aftermath of the first major war between the Nilfgaard Empire and the Northern Kingdoms, with a second war beginning in the middle of the series.

• Geralt of Rivia (Polish: Geralt z Rivii), known also as Gwynnbleid (Elder Speech: "White Wolf") and the Butcher of Blaviken,[13] is the protagonist of the series and its adaptations. A witcher, who travels the Continent and makes a living hunting monsters that plague the land. He is linked to Ciri by destiny. Péter Apor argues that he embodies the "neo-liberal anti-politics" spirit of the Polish popular culture of the 1990s.[14]
• Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon (known as Ciri, from the name Zireael in the Elder Speech (meaning "Swallow"; Polish: Jaskółka)), also known as the Lion Cub of Cintra, Child of the Elder Blood, Falka, and the Lady of Time and Space, is the princess of Cintra, daughter of Pavetta and Duny (also known as the Urcheon of Erlenwald) and granddaughter of Queen Calanthe. She is also Geralt's destiny and adopted daughter, around whom much of the plot is centered. Ciri is a descendant of Lara Dorren and has the Elder blood which gives her access to powers that allow her to cross space and time. Ciri has ashen grey hair and green emerald eyes, a trait that runs in her family. In Polish 2002 film and 2002 TV series she was played by Marta Bitner.[15]
• Yennefer of Vengerberg (Polish: Yennefer z Vengerbergu) first appeared in the collection of short stories, The Last Wish, featuring in the short story of the same name. She is a powerful sorceress, is a mother figure to Ciri, and becomes Geralt's lover. In Polish 2002 film and 2002 TV series she was played by Grażyna Wolszczak.
• Dandelion (Polish: Jaskier) is a poet, minstrel, bard and Geralt's best friend. The Polish word jaskier actually refers to the Buttercup flower (Ranunculus). Some of his more famous ballads were about the relationship between Geralt and Yennefer. By the time of the saga he is already in his 40s though it is said that he appears to be in his 30s and is sometimes mistaken for an elf. He accompanies Geralt in many of the short stories and ends up joining his hansa while searching for Ciri. He is played by Joey Batey in The Witcher TV series.[16] In the 2001 Polish Wiedźmin he was played by Zbigniew Zamachowski.[17]
• Triss Merigold of Maribor, a sorceress and a friend of Geralt and Yennefer. She took care of Ciri for some time and is like an older sister to her. She was a member of the Lodge of Sorceresses. Triss is in love with Geralt. The image of Triss Merigold from The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings appeared as cover girl in the Polish edition of Playboy in May 2011.[18] She also appeared in a live model calendar for the game in Russia.[19]

Although no map of the universe created by Sapkowski has been released, several maps have been created by fans. According to Sapkowski, the existing maps are "mostly accurate" and he uses a version created by Czech translator Stanislav Komárek.[20]

Kovir & Poviss	Hengfors	Kaedwen
Redania	Mahakam	Aedirn
Cintra	Temeria	Lyria & Rivia
	Nilfgaard

The Continent can be divided into four regions. The Northern Kingdoms (where most of the saga takes place) consists of Aedirn, Cidaris, Cintra, Hengfors League, Kaedwen, Kerack, Kovir and Poviss, Lyria and Rivia, Redania, Temeria and Verden and several minor duchies and principalities such as Bremervoord or Ellander. The Nilfgaard Empire occupies most of the area south of the Northern Kingdoms. The eastern part of the Continent, such as the Korath desert, Zerrikania, Hakland and the Fiery Mountains, is mostly unknown. The book series mentions overseas countries with whom the Northern Kingdoms trade, including Zangvebar, Ofir, Hannu and Barsa.

Sapkowski created a language for the series known as Elder Speech,[21][22] based on Welsh, English, French, Irish, Latin and other languages. Dialects are spoken on the Skellige Islands and in Nilfgaard. In an interview Sapkowski explained that he wanted the language to be reasonably legible to a reader, to avoid footnotes. As he said: "In my book, I do not want for an orc telling to another orc 'Burbatuluk grabataluk!' to be supplied with a footnote: 'Shut the door, don't let the flies in!'"[23][24]

Sapkowski chose wiedźmin as the male equivalent of the Polish word for witch (wiedźma).[26] In his book 2005 book-interview Historia i Fantastyka Sapkowski noted that the word "witcher" is a natural male version of the English word "witch", and implied that the similarity between those two words, as well as between the German terms, was the inspiration coining wiedźmin as a new Polish word.[26] Polish video game designer Adrian Chmielarz claimed to have invented the translation of wiedźmin into English as witcher around 1996-1997.[27]

Although wiedźmin is now usually translated into English as "witcher", an earlier translation of the title was "hexer" (the title of the 2001 film adaptation and the first official English translation in the 2000 short story collection Chosen by Fate: Zajdel Award Winner Anthology);[28] Hexe and Hexer are the German words for female and male 'witch' respectively.[26] CD Projekt used "witcher" for the title of its 2007 English release of the video game,[27] and Danusia Stok used it in her translation of Ostatnie życzenie that was published the same year.[29][30] Michael Kandel however used "spellmaker" in his 2010 translation of "Wiedźmin" short story for A Book of Polish Monsters anthology.[31]

From 1993 to 1995, Sapkowski's stories were adapted into six comic books by Maciej Parowski (story), Bogusław Polch (art) and Sapkowski:[32]

• Droga bez powrotu (The Road with No Return) – Based on the short story "Droga, z której się nie wraca"
• Geralt – Based on the short story "Wiedźmin" ("The Witcher")
• Mniejsze zło (The Lesser Evil) – Based on the short story with the same title
• Ostatnie życzenie (The Last Wish) – Based on the short story with the same title
• Granica możliwości (The Bounds of Reason) – Based on the short story with the same title
• Zdrada (Betrayal) – Based on an "unused idea for a short story"

In 2013, Dark Horse Comics announced a comic book series called The Witcher, based on the video-game series and made in collaboration with CD Projekt Red.[33]

The Hexer is the title of a 2001 film and a 2002 TV series, both directed by Marek Brodzki. Michał Żebrowski played Geralt in both. In several interviews, Sapkowski criticized the screen adaptations: "I can answer only with a single word, an obscene, albeit a short one."[41]

As of 2021, Netflix has produced an adaptation of The Witcher and two adaptations are planned. All are created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich.

In 2015, Platige Image planned an American film adaptation of the novel series to arrive in 2017.[42] In May 2017, they announced that they would be producing a The Witcher TV series in cooperation with Netflix and Sean Daniel Company, with Tomasz Bagiński as one of the directors and Sapkowski as a creative consultant.[43][44][45] Henry Cavill portrays Geralt in the Netflix adaptation.[46][47][48][49] On 10 October 2018, it was announced that Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra had been cast as main female characters, Ciri and Yennefer.[50] The first season released on 20 December 2019, with all eight episodes available.[51] A second season was announced on 13 November 2019.[52]

Netflix announced a new animated film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf in development in January 2020, with the involvement of series showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and series writer BeAu DeMayo, and animation to be provided by Studio Mir.[53]

A second live-action prequel series, The Witcher: Blood Origins was announced by Netflix in July 2020, set 1200 years before Geralt's time to show the origin of the Witchers. The prequel is also being developed by Hissrich.[54]

A tabletop role-playing game based on Sapkowski's books, Wiedźmin: Gra Wyobraźni (The Witcher: A Game of Imagination) was published by MAG in 2001. Another tabletop game based on the video games, produced by R. Talsorian Games, was planned for release in 2016[55] but was delayed and finally released in August 2018.[56]

In 2007, Kuźnia Gier developed two card games based on CD Projekt's The Witcher video game. One, Wiedźmin: Przygodowa Gra Karciana (The Witcher: Adventure Cardgame), was published by Kuźnia Gier;[57] the other, Wiedźmin: Promocyjna Gra Karciana (The Witcher Promo Card Game) was added to the collector's edition of The Witcher in some countries.[58] A card game, known as "Gwent", was included in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as an in-game activity. Two stand-alone games based on it, titled Gwent: The Witcher Card Game and Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, were released in 2018.[59][60]

CD Projekt Red and Fantasy Flight Games released The Witcher Adventure Game, a board game designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek,[61] in 2014[62] in physical and digital forms.[63] The digital version is available on Windows, OS X, Android and iOS.