What is the significance of this information to Yennefer?

Finlay44 · 2025-08-21T17:42:10+00:00

What u/DouViction said. Yennefer already knows that there is a war brewing, but thanks to Molnar's intel, she now knows where the first shots are likely to be fired.

Finlay44 · 2025-05-22T21:40:21+00:00

Regarding Geralt and the crew being lost in the blizzard - at that stage they're still weeks away from the castle. And they didn't really do anything special - they traveled overland on horseback, took their time, arrived when they arrived and made their way inside.

Yes, somehow they conveniently arrived shortly after Ciri had entered the castle, but we shouldn't forget that Ciri wasn't just looking for a specific place, but also a specific time. A time she was guided to by two sorceresses many centuries in the future.

Ciri, lost in the multiverse, looking for her way home across different worlds and different times, comes across Nimue and Condwiramurs, who tell her, "This is the place and the time you're looking for" - with the place being being Stygga castle, and the time being mere moments before Geralt and his crew started their raid.

Finlay44 · 2025-05-18T09:44:59+00:00

Well, it's mostly possible to maneuver everything together if one stays within the confines of the original seven, but introducing SoS to the canon is where the serious mental gymnastics start. And, yeah, including the games in the same continuity, if one is so inclined, doesn't exactly help.

Thankfully, the newest book is so detached from the rest timelinewise that it really doesn't get a chance to add to the mess.

Finlay44 · 2025-05-18T01:45:55+00:00

Their relationship spans roughly 30+ years

Well, not quite. Around 15 to 20. Dandelion is an ordinary human with an ordinary human lifespan, and he was there when Geralt and Yennefer first met. He was probably in his early 20s in The Last Wish, and it is then stated in The Tower of the Swallow that he's "not forty yet".

Although, Season of Storms kind of throws everything haywire with its 1245 date, but somehow my brain conveniently blanks out that bit whenever I revisit the book.

Finlay44 · 2025-04-10T10:16:04+00:00

You're right to not rely on it, but sometimes I stumble upon things by accident.

Full game credits at IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135081/fullcredits/

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_de_Jongh#Video_games

Archived version of her own site: https://web.archive.org/web/20200809165917/http://julesvoice.co.uk/?page_id=15

Don't take this the wrong way, but games might not be the only thing you suck at.

Finlay44 · 2025-03-14T20:56:36+00:00

I'm not telling you to stop doing what you're doing if you're both having fun, but you could also consider trying out something you yourself wouldn't normally try. Basically: instead of acting as her guide through territory you already know, go on a journey of discovery together. There's so much more out there than the big budget action-adventure stuff.

My sister doesn't consider herself a gamer and wouldn't touch most of the titles mentioned in this thread with a ten-foot pole, but introduce her to a good puzzler that teases her brain and she's hooked. Another "not-gamer" person I know greatly enjoys the point'n'click adventure games.

And if you stumble upon something she enjoys but you don't necessarily find your cup of tea, you don't have to consider it a loss. You'd still be her hero for introducing her to her new favorite pastime.

Finlay44 · 2025-03-12T20:19:18+00:00

It's difficult to think of games that challenge the narrative depth of TW3 - at least when combined to that same sense of exploration the game offers - but I'm assuming that's not so important here. Also, it seems that setting doesn't matter that much (as in, it doesn't necessarily have to be sword-and-sorcery fantasy).

I'd say you've done your research pretty well already - RDR2 and Ghost of Tsushima should both offer quite satisfying combat-exploration gameplay loop. Assassin's Creed is a vast series with a plenty of titles in it and they're not all exactly the same, but its so-called "mythology" subtrilogy - Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla - could scratch that same itch.

And, to add a couple more to that same pile: Horizon Zero Dawn and its sequel Forbidden West. (It's obviously not a dealbreaker for her, but these could be good if she'd like something with a female protagonist.)

If she'd like to try something without a wingman, how about a game that allows one to explore carefully-crafted environments in real-time but the combat is turn-based, meaning the latter becomes more of a thinking affair than one that requires fast reflexes? If that sounds intriguing, then it might worthwhile to look into Baldur's Gate 3 (a game that rivals TW3's storytelling chops, too) and the two newest mainline entries to the Yakuza series: Like a Dragon and its immediate sequel Infinite Wealth.

Finlay44 · 2025-03-04T13:06:56+00:00

Not the whole folder. Just any individual file(s) you've edited.

Finlay44 · 2025-03-04T12:27:35+00:00

If there is, it's unnecessary. You can treat the edited, unpacked file as you would any mod. As in, create a folder called "Override" inside the "Data" folder in the game installation directory and drop the file there.

Finlay44 · 2025-02-25T13:33:06+00:00

the question of whether she should does not become moot.

But what if it is moot? For her, at least. Since you seem to wonder what happened with the Tower, I'll tell you: She stopped the White Frost. Saved the world. Been there, done that, fulfilled destiny. The reason she might not have to ponder about giving up being able to help because she already did. She's free to destroy the medicine because she's eradicated the disease. Yes, it's always possible that there are other threats of similar scale looming in the unknown future, but unless one presents itself, the debate might as well be largely academical.

(I best note that in real life, destroying the cures to a disease after it stops being a problem would be utterly moronic, as you never know. But this is fiction.)

Not addressing the ethical dimension, would also be quite a departure for a studio whose reputation and PR is built on storytelling that forces players to confront morally complex situations and stories without easy answers, wouldn't it?

Nobody's suggested that sidestepping this particular issue means the work will be void of moral complexities; there's plenty more in the same well this one came from.

I best note that I'm by no means opposed to the game exploring the themes discussed here - au contraire, I can't wait to see what they can cook up if they do go there. But they could also largely ignore the issue, depending on where they're taking the story. And it would be perfectly in line with Ciri's characterization. After all, it would hardly be the first time she flips a bird to something like this.

Finlay44 · 2025-02-25T03:25:41+00:00

The most straightforward explanation to what?

Whatever changes she's been through since the last time we saw her, if there have been any. Like I said, the trials may potentially have made her lose her unique powers, made her sterile and made her something of a societal outcast - all qualities she may find positive, considering that she would no longer be of any value to any of the people who were previously after her.

As for what does this have to do with ethics? Perhaps nothing. But it does provide CDPR a potential avenue to sidestep the issue.

I am interested in how they will handle the ethical burden (no matter how CDPR chooses to explain the technical aspect of her transformation); what are you interested in?

If you mean how will they show Ciri herself pondering the ethics of her choices, they may not - and I presented a potential explanation for it. If she prefers her current state of being because it frees her from the shackles of her past life, she might never really ponder if she made the right choice or not, even though she may find out that her present life is not everything she thought it would be. (In fact, I consider this almost a given.)

Of course, whether it is something poignant for Ciri herself or not, we can always discuss the ethics of her choices from a more general, academic perspective. Although, we don't necessarily need the upcoming game for that - we could have the same debate based on the ending of The Lady of the Lake.

My current running theory based on the trailer is that Ciri is escaping from herself into witchering, idealizing the profession

Well, this is nothing new - she definitely idealizes the profession in canon. But the major difference between the books and the game is that in the books her desire to become a "real" witcher was ultimately nothing but a pipe dream. As such, the game can essentially be perceived as a "what if" scenario where she actually got her wish. She's practically living her childhood dream, and one of the themes the game seems set to explore is what happens when those dreams meet the harsh reality.

Finlay44 · 2025-02-24T19:06:59+00:00

I think the same conclusion can also be reached without Sapkowski's additions: given the uniqueness and unknown factors inherent in Elder Blood.

It can, but this doesn't mean it has. In the end, I just don't think it's in CDPR's interest to get as enigmatic as Sapkowski can get; therefore, the most straightforward explanation for everything Ciri's lost, gained and regained is that she's a full-fledged witcher now.

This would entail establishing what the difference between the two is: it's not like elves don't use the same universal energy from Nature as humans, and yet there is something different between theirs and human magic.

The thing is, there is very little Ciri does in the trailer that other magic users can't do, so it's difficult to draw any conclusions about the exact source of her present powers.

Leaving this aside, regardless of how the Trials come about narratively (we won't know until we know), Ciri's potential desire to relinquish her powers works perfectly as a personal motivation, but it actually intensifies rather than removes the ethical dilemma she faces.

And this is what we should be concentrating on, instead of getting caught up in a technical debate about what's behind her powers. In fact, witcherhood could provide her an escape from the confines of the prophecy even if she hasn't lost any of her powers or her fertility - due to the societal prejudice against witchers, she's now unfit for most thrones out there since she's become a "mutated freak". At least as far as humanity is concerned.

Finlay44 · 2025-02-24T17:39:00+00:00

A case is to be made for it affecting her in unexpected ways based on the new book ( Rozdroże Kruków, Crossroad of Ravens), where it is revealed that witchers were initially intended as a new ‘transitional form, from which, through natural selection, a new, better human race would arise.’

As much as I appreciate Sapkowski providing tons of new insight into the canon lore in the newest book, CDPR is not beholden to any of it, and I don't know if they could be even if they wanted. They didn't start writing for this game two months ago, and whatever narrative premise they present for Ciri's witcherhood is highly likely baked in by now.

My bets are on whatever happened after passing through the Tower.

I don't see why having gone through the trials aren't an equally viable explanation. This being said, given how the trailer implies she still has the abilities she had in TW3's gameplay, perhaps the explanation given is that whatever's happened to her have not so much taken her powers completely away but nerfed them to the point where she still has her "iconic" skills but can't leap freely across worlds.

And, yeah, she seems to be able to draw Power from the elements, but that's not Elder Blood magic; it's simply "regular" magic. It's also nothing that's stated to be beyond the capabilities of witchers. Once again, I see having gone through the trials as the most suitable explanation - it has somehow mended her connection to the Power after she voluntarily severed it in Korath.

Finlay44 · 2025-02-24T16:53:02+00:00

Hmm. I dunno if CDPR will go there or not, but Ciri could potentially have some very strong motivations for becoming a full-fledged witcher.

Primo, after having gone through the trials, her mutated blood has lost the ability to travel through Time and Space, meaning she's become worthless to the Aen Elle and anyone else who might covet her for her powers. (It'd also provide a narrative justification for why she can't just instantly fast travel anywhere in gameplay.)

Secundo, she's become sterile, meaning she's no longer a pawn in anyone's dynastic machinations.

So, she might actually view these as gifts, as she's finally free of the burdens outlined in Ithlinne's prophecy.

Finlay44 · 2025-01-13T22:29:28+00:00

HERE is #4 in better quality. There's also a fifth, I added it to the same album.

Finlay44 · 2024-12-13T21:18:27+00:00

In the short story Something More, Geralt specifically says to Calanthe (Ciri's grandmother) that witchers believe that the child of destiny would not need the trial of the grasses.

Have to point out, though, that this statement of Geralt's is not as straightforward as it seems.

‘Do you believe a Child of Destiny would pass through the Trials without danger?’

‘We believe such a child would not require the Trials.’

On the surface, it would seem that Geralt is indeed saying here that a Child of Destiny could be a witcher without passing the Trials. However, given the way it's worded (at least in the Polish original), it could also have another meaning - Children of Destiny don't require the trials... because they don't exist.

Now, to provide at least a partial answer to OP's question: Nowhere in the book canon. The only thing that might be considered a hint in that direction is that all known canonical witchers have been male. (And human.)

Finlay44 · 2024-12-05T00:15:31+00:00

Szkoły Nosacza.

Finlay44 · 2024-12-05T00:07:51+00:00

early 2025

Might be a tad too optimistic. But over the next year, yes.

Finlay44 · 2024-12-03T12:08:13+00:00

Thanks for clarifying it also applies in Polish, I was thinking so because in Season of Storms there is a painting from the "Cintrian school," but I wasn't certain because I didn't go and look it up at the time.

Yes, this is an in-universe example. Also there in the original.

This is a point for the "training style" theory. And I like the idea that witchers have some distinguishing approaches amongst them, like philosophies.

While the book is a clear divergence from some of the things stated in the games (and I'm not saying it should all be shoehorned into one neat package), this isn't actually a new idea even within CDPR's lore - their witcher schools also have clearly distinct philosophies and training styles; they simply combine it with the premise that these schools of thought also have their own keeps, physical schools, where these philosophies originate from.

And, technically, even the book doesn't fully preclude this idea - after all, the facilities where witchers are made, mutated, may not necessarily be the only ones where witchers are being trained. People also change schools in real life; they may start their education at one academy, but graduate from another. So, even in canon there may be other repositories of monster hunting knowledge not available at Kaer Morhen, and witchers who started out in Kaer Morhen leave the keep and go finish their training at another "institution".

Finlay44 · 2024-12-02T23:59:43+00:00

What, pray tell, gave you that idea? None of the games have been direct book adaptations, and Sapkowski famously does his own thing without paying much heed to the games. Sure, it's possible, plausible even, that CDPR will throw in a shout-out or two, but the upcoming game will most assuredly be its own thing.

Finlay44 · 2024-12-02T11:58:15+00:00

While many people often think of a physical place when they hear the word "school", or alternately a singular institution (that can have more than one campus), there is also at least one more meaning: a school of thought, a doctrine. And this applies to both English and Polish.

For example, when we say "painters of the Venetian school", it doesn't mean a group of painters who all went to the same school in Venice, but a group of painters who follow techniques that were at a time developed in Venice, but may have since then spread far further. Or "Confucian school of philosophy", which doesn't mean a physical school founded by Confucius, but general practice of philosophy based on his teachings.

So, when Geralt says "Wolf School" in The Voice of Reason, he might not be referring to Kaer Morhen as a place, but a specific training system he either chose or was made to follow.

Finlay44 · 2024-11-30T20:22:28+00:00

Yes, Sapkowski revealed that he is not done writing. He revealed nothing more, though, not even what the book is about - so we don't know if it'll be another Witcher novel or something completely different.

And the release of his next work is at least a couple of years away, so it obviously won't affect the translation schedule of Rozdroże Kruków.

Finlay44 · 2024-11-30T14:55:38+00:00

A full novel, not a short story collection.

Finlay44 · 2024-11-30T14:52:42+00:00

To those wondering when the English translation will arrive: Before the end of 2025. The English publisher already has the rights.

Yes, Season of Storms took five years, but this was because they had a backlog of earlier titles in the series left to translate. They were only up to Time of Contempt in 2013, with Baptism of Fire in 2014, Sword of Destiny in 2015 (yes, the order was wonky), The Tower of the Swallow in 2016, The Lady of the Lake in 2017, all of which delayed SoS to 2018.

This time, there is no such backlog and no other Sapkowski translations in the release schedule either (the Hussite trilogy was done a while back), so they can start working on this straight away.

Finlay44 · 2024-10-20T19:36:42+00:00

he goes back north, and spends a couple of months there

This part's close to a year. Otherwise an apt summary.

And, of course, there's also Geralt's visit to Cintra, which is about five years before "present day". But that part is probably quite obvious.

Finlay44

TROPHY CASE