The Witcher 3's Cut Content | The Original Ending & Epilogues
The Witcher 3's original ending had different epilogues and a different final boss - Geralt's love for Ciri. And as Ciri tries to be a witcher, it turns out harder than she thinks.
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Avallac'h & Ciri's Relationship in The Witcher Books | La Maladie D'espoir
Does Avallac'h love or hate Ciri? In a twisted Grail Quest, Merlin condemns himself to the Lady of the Lake who becomes his salvation through unexpected compassion. The Swallow does bring rebirth to the elves, but it is impossible to heal the whole world. Only the Waste Land of the (non)human heart.
Who is Nimue, How Does Ciri’s Power Work, and Why Lady of the Lake Confuses Readers? | Part 4 of 'History and Fantasy'
The Lady of the Lake confuses The Witcher's readers because Nimue is us – the lighthouse that completes the story. Ciri, adrift in timeless mythosphere, searches for one more moment with Geralt and Yennefer, waiting for someone to believe. For a fairy tale ceases to be just a tale when readers do.
Archetypal vs Sci-fi Take on Time in The Witcher | Part 3 of 'History and Fantasy'
What could 'eternity' mean for the Aen Elle in a meta fantasy? The Conjunction closed the door into infinite possible worlds, trapping the elves in The Witcher's. Power over Time might be better thought of not in sci-fi terms but as of being able to cross the border between Myth and reality at will.
The Blood of Elves – What Came Before the timeline of The Witcher? | Part 2 of 'History and Fantasy'
The Conjunction of Spheres is the true catastrophe that trapped elves and fantastic beings in The Witcher's historical time where one race consumes others. In Myth though, they remain neither dead nor alive, and Elder Blood preserves this power of moving freely between Myth and History.
History and Fantasy. Or 'How to Think About Time Travel in The Witcher?' | Part 1
Why is Ciri so powerful? Can Ciri time travel in The Witcher books? With Elder Blood, the Lady of the Lake accesses Mythic Time where past, present, and future exist simultaneously. Sapkowski writes fantasy about fantasy, showing a fairy tale unfolding endlessly.
Sapkowski the Pagan - The Grail and the Goddess
Andrzej Sapkowski wrote Ciri as the Holy Grail. Drawing from Celtic mythology and Arthurian scholarship, The Witcher and The Hussite Trilogy explore the Triple Goddess, Wiccan theology, female sovereignty, and love as the Grail's power. The Grail is a Woman.
The Witcher 3's Cut Content | Appendix C | Elven Lore
Why is there an elven Tower, Tor Gval'cha, on Skellige? What is Ragh nar Roog really? Why are the Aen Elle taller than the Aen Seidhe? The Witcher 3's cut content tells of Freyja the elf, Alderwalk, Leib-Olmai, the white ships, and even the cult of the Eternal Fire - created as a joke.
The Witcher 3's Cut Content | The Aen Elle and Wild Hunt Power Struggle
Who created the Wild Hunt? Why did Eredin and Avallac'h fight? Who will be the new king of the Aen Elle? The Witcher 3's cut content digs into the 'family drama' behind elven politics.
Who is Eredin Bréacc Glas in The Witcher books?
In the Witcher games, Eredin is a template death knight. In game-fanon, he is frequently a BDSM, ultra-top/dom, plotting maniac. In the Witcher books though, Eredin is a reckless but loyal servant of the Aen Elle, disillusioned, haunted by the prospect of failure, and resolved to do what’s needed.
Why Did Avallac’h Get Cursed? | The Ugliest Man Alive in The Witcher 3's Cut Content
In The Witcher 3, we discover that UMA - the Ugliest Man Alive - is actually Avallac'h, transformed by a curse. Cut content reveals how CDPR used the Curse of Inversion to transform Avallac'h from the books' antagonist into Ciri's mentor.
Reflecting on Andrzej Sapkowski’s Thoughts on Le Guin & the Healing of the Waste Land
The loneliness and alienation, the Waste Land of the human heart, is a recurrent motif in The Witcher. Re-reading "Pirog, or There’s No Gold in the Gray Mountains" by Andrzej Sapkowski I get stuck on how he analyses Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle.
Headcanons
Through the Looking Glass: Understanding Ard Gaeth & the Gate of Worlds
Between every reality in The Witcher lies a mirror-like barrier. As Ciri travels through time and space, we discover how the Gate of Worlds functions. Ard Gaeth, for example, seems but one special manifestation of interdimensional travel. And what about the elven towers? Let's see.
Commentary
The Ciri Papers | First Thoughts on The Witcher 4 & CDPR’s New Trilogy
Three meditations on Ciri in The Witcher 4: from trauma's narrative potential to bodily autonomy, exploring how CDPR's vision aligns with A. Sapkowski's character.
Article
Marriage & Sexual Politics Among Elves
In The Witcher, elven women get the chance to have children only a handful of times. But when human colonizers arrive, biology becomes destiny. In Tolkien, elves control their fertility through divine will. In Sapkowski, fertility controls the elves through inconvenient timing.
Character Study
Cursed Rulers Who Wouldn’t Be Fathers – Auberon Muircetach & Emhyr var Emreis
The Witcher often presents us with shadow doubles – like Auberon Muircetach & Emhyr var Emreis. Both pursue the greater good at the expense of decency & their own (un)humanity. A greater good to be achieved by begetting a prophesised child through incest with Cirilla, their descendant.
Article
The Law of Surprise | The Central Fairy Tale of the Witcher Saga
The Witcher’s plot is based on a universally known fairy tale, where a monster (or a wizard) saves someone’s life and asks for something in return. The Law of Surprise. In its frustration and desperation, Ciri’s offer to Avallac’h comes off as a perversion of the way Ciri first chooses Geralt.
Article
Nietzschean Witchers: Beyond Master and Slave Morality in Crossroads of Ravens
'The vast majority of people who claim that rape and violence are disgusting and morally unacceptable to them are simply unable to use violence.' But what of witchers: created as tools of violence by the powerful, yet cast out by the society?
Review
Rozdroże Kruków | Crossroads of Ravens–Andrzej Sapkowski's Latest Witcher Novel
We live (on) in our successors. In them, our sins live on too. In A. Sapkowski's new Crossroads of Ravens, Geralt learns his profession and internalizes witchers’ generational trauma. Witchers have absent mothers and distant fathers who'd love to vivisect them.