Article
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.
Article
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.
Article
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.
Article
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.
Article
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.
Character Study
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.
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.
Headcanons
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
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
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
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 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.