Tome Thursday: The Last Wish

Hello everyone!

I'm currently on a Witcher binge, as you may be able to tell, so naturally the book for tonight is going to be covering the world Sapkowski dreamed up, too.

I should at some point actually sit down and start reading Blood of the Elves, but the thing is, I tend to need a bit of a break between my reads when I'm doing a series, and this one is no different. Especially since there are characters within it that I just can't stand.

On the surface of it, however, the books that launched Geralt of Rivia out into the wide world certainly have a way of drawing the audience in; it's later on when you dig deeper that you may find certain personalities you might wish to generally avoid.

Of course it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be agreeing with me - heck, I already know a lot of people who don't!

Without further ado, then, let's stop chatterboxing about things that aren't important.

The Last Wish wants to be introduced.

I'll be linking the post to my season one review of the television show down at the bottom of this page, and of course there will be other books from the series as I go along. At the moment, I've managed to get through the two short stories collection, which is basically what you need to know (and some more) for the first season anyway.

As for this particular blog, I'll be doing a quick recap of each short story, since that's the best option we have with the time jumps that the book introduces.

Why the time jumps, you ask?

Well, our Geralt got himself into a bit of a pickle. And he needs to recover from it.

THE WITCHER

The first short story is how Geralt lands himself n the situation which then requires time jumps. He bumps along the road until he finds a notice from a King Foltest, who's offering a huge sum of reward if anyone gets rid of the striga in his kingdom. Naturally, our monster hunter heads right over, even if he gets himself into a bar brawl first and foremost, through no fault of his own. 

Honestly, people are idiots.

Anyway, the master of the town listens to Geralt's request, and after failing to dissuade him, they send him over to Foltest, who initially wants to kill the witcher, but Geralt is made of sturdier stuff than that. He also figures out the striga isn't actually a monster, but a cursed child.

Now whether she was cursed because of the courtier who wanted Foltest deposed, or if it was the Queen Mother who couldn't abide knowing her two children were having an affair, remains a little up in the air since the striga attacks before anything else can happen.

Geralt manages to keep her out of her tomb, though, which transforms her back into the body of a teenager but the mentality of a child, but the parting gift she gives him as a bite to the neck (the only thing she really knows how to do, anyway), and he bites her right back.

It's how he lands himself at Melitele's temple, where the High Priestess, Nenneke, patches him up.

She also listens to him recount some of his adventures while he heals, at that.

THE VOICE OF REASON

He keeps denying her the chance to put him in a trance, although that's probably because he might be afraid of what he'd reveal while under, and Nenneke seems to sense it, which is why she's pushing.

She also knows the most of Geralt's history, it would seem, as they turn out to be quite long lasting friends.

A GRAIN OF TRUTH

This seems to be a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but this one has a macabre twist to it.

Geralt is riding through the countryside, minding his own business, when he and his faithful horse Roach stumble across a couple of bodies.

This seems to be a common occurrence for Geralt, but he follows a hunch and his nose and comes across what looks to be an abandoned manor, where he's accosted by its lord, Nivellen, the beast of our story, who's been cursed. The manor serves him, but considering the way he looks, he can't really go out and mingle with the populace now, can he?

How did he get cursed? Well, he was idiotic enough to rob a temple and rape a priestess with his gang of ruffians, and the priestess cursed him.

Oops.

Geralt can't do anything for Nivellen, so he leaves, but he once again stumbles over something in the woods which frightens Roach, and he clocks in to the fact that he's been a little stupid - should have listened to your horse earlier, my boy.

Hotfooting it back, he sees the woman Nivellen had been talking about earlier, only she's not a woman, she's a vampire. And seeing as she's the actual monster of the story, Geralt engages her in a fight, as you do.

He manages to defeat her, and in the process Nivellen is freed of his curse - through the power of true love, as Geralt guesses.

(It's at this point in the story that a group of soldiers arrive at the temple and demand the witcher's head on a spike, or that he leaves the land, though Nenneke is annoyed to no end because SHE commands her own guests, not some petty lordling.)

THE LESSER EVIL

This is probably the most well-known story as it is covered in the premiere of The Witcher, the story of Snow White in a little bit of a different fashion when the princess is taken out of the castle, raped, then she kills her rapist and swears vengeance on the stupid sorcerer who deemed she was evil simply because she was born during an eclipse.

Also because her stepmother has her own kids and wants to see them on the throne.

This is the story of the Butcher of Blaviken, where Geralt must choose the lesser evil, and in the end kills Renfri (the princess) in a duel to prevent her from starting a siege/hostage situation in which she will kill innocent people until the sorcerer comes out. Since the sorcerer couldn't care less for the people of Blaviken, it's Geralt who has to solve this, not that anyone thanks him.

We humans can be such fickle creatures.

(Our Geralt, meanwhile, finds himself a willing audience in a priestess, Iola, who doesn't speak, and to whom he explains how he became a witcher, how he somehow ended up in the predicament at Cintra, and how he's terrified of what they might find if anyone looks inside him.

Don't worry; we're all afraid, Geralt.)

A QUESTION OF PRICE

In which Geralt finds himself in Cintra, the heart of all his problems ... er, well, destiny, if you'd call it such.

Another famous story made so through the show, this is the one in which Geralt has his verbal duels with Calanthe, Lioness of Cintra, and refuses to hack to pieces one Duny, who demands the hand of Pavetta, the princess. Pavetta also happens to be incredibly magically powerful, which is how she ends up tossing a maelstrom into their middle.

Geralt and the court druid, Mousesack, manage to get things back under control, also with the help of Eist, one of the visiting nobles, and together they persuade Calanthe to recognize and respect the Law of Surprise.

It's also where Geralt makes a doodoo and asks for his own Law of Surprise, although in the book it's not so much a mistake since he seems to realize Pavetta's pregnant before anyone else. And he specifically asks for the child, because witchers are dying out, and he wants to see if he can cheat fate somehow.

(Thankfully at this point, wondering about Geralt's sanity, we are introduced to Dandilion, the English translation of Jaskier the bard, who comes to visit Geralt at the temple and together they reminisce about the time they met, way back when.)

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

And how DID the two of them meet, you ask?

Well, they met in the story of the sylvan (who has the head of a goat attached to the body of a man) who knocked them over, annoyed Geralt to no end (the fact that he tried playing the riddle game with him is hysterical) and landed them in hot water with the Elves.

This is the story in which readers begin to understand how wide-spread humans have become, and how everything else magical is beginning to withdraw, which consequently means less work for the witchers, too. But the Elves are also sick, as they can't support themselves on the mountain soil, which is how Geralt is able to persuade their king, Filavandrel, to up and relocate his people to a different land.

To ADAPT.

He also manages not to get himself and Dandilion killed, which is a feat unto itself.

(He's also told point-blank by Nenneke that he can't hit the road yet, because he's sick, he doesn't react well to his elixirs, and he's clumsy. In short, he needs treatment, and a trance, and also Yennefer wants to reverse what was done to her and be able to have kids again. You'll understand in a moment.)

THE LAST WISH

The story about a witcher, a bard, and a djinn, who ends up breaking Dandilion's throat or vocal chords, or something, which prompts Geralt to find a healer for his best friend. This leads him to the sorceress Yennefer, who's taken up residence in a small town that really doesn't even like sorcery, so naturally they've been petty to her.

She also seems to test Geralt at every twist and turn when they finally meet, because what reasonable person turns themselves naked to take a bath, but know the soap suds will cling to their body anyway, so obviously the guy in the room with her is going to look?

Anyway.

To heal Dandilion, she casts a spell over Geralt, which is a feat in itself since witchers need extra work done for that, and sends him off onto the town to "right her wrongs" (honestly though, only an idiot would set up shack in a town that didn't want them and then think they could FORCE them to like her). This naturally lends itself to Geralt landing in prison, but since he's the wish carrier for the djinn, he manages to get free again and get to Yennefer, who's trying to catch said djinn so that she can FORCE it to grant her the three wishes.

See a pattern here?

Geralt manages to both make his last wish, and to save Yennefer from the djinn's wrath, though this does mean the djinn can't be harnessed again by her - but it means she can have wild, happy sex with a witcher, so there's that.

At this point, our stories conclude, and we're back with Geralt and Dandilion, leaving Nenneke's sanctuary and being accosted by those moronic soldiers who've wanted the witcher gone for a bit now. Eyerolling, Dandilion stands to the side while Geralt agrees to the wish of one of these "knights" to duel them - and makes sure the kid hits himself with his own sword, thus allowing them free passage, though apparently everyone and their mother in the group of soldiers wants him dead.

Well boys, you'll have to do it another time, sadly.

Before we leave them, however, we should touch on the fact that EVERYTHING magical, or anything that can't adapt to this new world, is slowly changing, decaying, and dying, and it seems to apply to witchers and Melitele's priestesses both, among other things. 

Also, Iola touches Geralt's hand and has a vision of blood and gore and death, the same one Geralt's seen before, and it looks like it's some sort of prediction of the future.

Geralt, however, can't spend his life looking over his shoulder and wondering when death will come for him, so instead, he and Dandilion take their leave of Nenneke, and hit the road.

A charming collection of stories that introduce us to Geralt, some of his history, a lot of his moral code, and the friends he manages to collect along the way even though he keeps swearing up and down he'd be better off alone, The Last Wish is a very good place to start reading the Witcher books if you want an introduction to this world. Sapkowski underlines everything with a certain sense of urgency because humans are about to overrun the Continent - and anyone who isn't capable of adapting will basically go extinct.

The witchers are going that route, at this point, but Geralt might turn the tide of destiny with his Law of Surprise.

Whether or not he does so, however, remains to be seen. You might want to check back next week when I'll be reviewing the other short story collection, Sword of Destiny.

Until then, remember - toss a coin to your witcher! 😉

xx

*image not mine

The Witcher (TV show)