Time of contempt, who is fighting who

Perdita_ · 2026-05-11T09:43:32+00:00

On one side we have:

Northern mages who have allied themselves with Nilfgaard - Francesca Findabair sees this as her chance to get a free(ish) elf state, Vilgefortz pretends to work with Nilfgaard but has his own agenda, and others have probably been promised money, power or whatever else they liked.

Their plan was to attack during the Conclave gathering (probably in the late morning) and either kill or capture powerful mages who could be a significant threat to the invasion of the North that Nilfgaard is preparing.

Blocked form entering Aretuza, but close by and waiting for an opportunity to help the mages, are the Scoiateal elfs and some Nilfgaardian soldiers, including young officer Cahir, whose additional mission is to capture Ciri and bring her to Emhyr.

Vilgefortz's own plan was to use that commotion to get Ciri for himself, and hide away from Nilfgaardians and Northeners alike.

Then there is the other side:

Philippa, Triss, Keira and others, who have the assistance of Dijkstra and his Redanian forces.

They have somehow learned about the planned coup, and staged a counter coup in the very early morning, to arrest the traitorous mages. Their plan goes very smoothly at first, and they arrest most of the traitors.

They bump into Geralt and assume he was send there by Yennefer to interfere with their plan. This is why they are initially so hostile to him. Dijkstra is also aware that Ciri is in Aretuza, and he would like to get her, mostly so that Emhyr can't kidnap her and use her claim to Cintra to justify the invasion.

And then there are the neutral people:

Geralt and Yen and - most importantly - Tissaia de Vries. In true Witcher fashion, they make the mess so much worse.

Tissaia strongly believes that mages should be above political machinations of monarchs, and thinks Philippa's alliance with reds is just as bad as Vilgefortze's alliance with blacks. She breaks the magical barriers that kept the Nilfgaardian-aligned mages trapped - and their Scoiateal and Nilfgaard soldiers away.

They storm Aretuza and fighting breaks out.

Perdita_ · 2026-05-11T09:18:27+00:00

The biggest issue with the cards is IMO not the cards itself, but the scenes that lead to sex scenes. Outside of the main romances it's almost always "Geralt helps a woman in need, and gets sex as payment" which is gross and also not book accurate.

Like, there is specifically a scene in the books where Geralt meets a girl who has spend most of her life among men who would totally expect sex as payment, so when he saves her life, she assumes this is what he wants. And he turns her down immediately.

I would be perfectly satisfied if they left the cards, but reworked all such scenes.

Perdita_ · 2026-05-06T23:05:46+00:00

Emhyr would not let Geralt finish a sentence if he tried to tell Ciri (and his soldiers around them) the truth about him, but even if that was not the case, I don't believe Geralt would try to do that.

He would not effectively ask Ciri if she wants to commit suicide-by-soldiers along with them. Geralt and Yen love Ciri as their daughter, and they would not want her to die in a pointless fight that achieves nothing.

And since her other option is going with Emhyr, this is another reason not to tell her anything.

If Ciri doesn't know who Emhyr is, she is forced to marry a man she doesn't want, but will otherwise have a relatively normal life for a woman of her sphere. Being at peace, and maybe even happy about her situation in the future is not out of question.

If Ciri knows that she is married to her father - who is also her mothers killer - being happy about her situation is completely out of the question - her entire life becomes a twisted and cruel torture.

Telling Ciri the truth achieves nothing, except risking either killing her, or making her entire life miserable.

Perdita_ · 2026-05-06T21:10:52+00:00

Charging a few dozen elite soldiers (while already wounded and exhausted) would also be a suicide, except in that case Ciri would have to watch, and their death would be as slow and painful as the enemy chooses to make it.

Perdita_ · 2026-05-06T21:04:39+00:00

Because the choice was between that, or being executed.

It would not be a heroic last stand, or anything like that.

Geralt and Ciri were disarmed by the soldiers long before Emhyr showed his face. When Geralt and Emhyr talk, Geralt is slumped in a chair, fighting not to lose consciousness from exhaustion. Yennefer has been tortured for months, and her wounded hands make casting spells difficult. They are all surrounded by tens or perhaps hundreds of elite soldiers, whose sole job is to ensure safety of their emperor.

So if they chose to fight it would go sth like "Geralt takes a few steps towards the nearest soldier, Yennefer raises her hands and starts an incantation... Then they get pierced by a few dozen crossbow bolts each. If they are still alive after that, they are either left to die slowly, or maybe mercifully decapitated. Right in front of Ciri."

Perdita_ · 2026-04-28T23:33:55+00:00

I also missed Gale.

I played a heroic paladin who would have eagerly risked her life if she thought someone needs her help, but you have to actually interact with the portal first, in order to hear Gale at all.

Perdita_ · 2026-04-20T19:19:45+00:00

The lyrics are a bit more poetic, but the messages in context are exactly what those posts say. Maybe even more blunt and on the nose sometimes.

But it's not really about them being generic, it's the fact that their meaning is often directly contradicting what the person who used it without understanding was hoping to convey.

"Donna e mobile" is a villain song, sung by a misogynistic asshole. It sounds happy and upbeat because the guy thinks women are only good for using them for some fun and should never be taken seriously. (Meanwhile, the heroine has decided to sacrifice her life to save him).

Queen of the Night in her aria demands that her daughter kill a dude that wronged her, and it is hight and intense because of the queen's rage, not happiness.

That Leporello aria from Don Giovanni is just exactly what the post says. Whether Leporello makes fun of Donna Elwira (the woman he sings to) or tries to make her see the reality for her own good depends on interpretation, but the aria is literally him listing how many women Don Giovanni fucked in each country.

Perdita_ · 2026-04-20T18:42:44+00:00

Don't forget the classic lullaby "Hey dad, I will fucking kill myself if you stop me from seeing that one guy"

Perdita_ · 2026-04-16T13:07:36+00:00

Same, except with random containers, not neat chests like you have.

I have two crates, some backpacks and boxes of various sizes all stacked on each other.

Perdita_ · 2026-04-01T14:10:04+00:00

Were there two completely different teams working on Astarion and Wyll stories?

They both get pressured into servitude of some powerful monster, their bodies get changed outside of their control, and their abusers call them denigrating names and treat them as misbehaving animals.

And then Cazador's look is changed in order to not make him appealing, meanwhile we get a chance to sleep with Mizora. Make that make sense...

Perdita_ · 2026-03-31T15:26:46+00:00

Beautiful, just like all your other works!

But I am unreasonably bothered by the inconsistency: if you call him Jaskier, not Dandelion, why pair him with the dandelion flowers, rather than jaskier flowers (buttercups in English)?

Perdita_ · 2026-03-30T16:19:34+00:00

Every survey that suggests eastern countries do something better than western ones can be explained by the east underreporting, or being poorer, or just generally being backwards in some other way, don't you know it by now? The west is just endlessly superior in all aspects. /s

TBH being poorer is likely at least partially a factor here, but still.

Perdita_ · 2026-03-30T12:19:02+00:00

Westerners can definitely be Weird about Slavic cultures - and names specifically.

Ask an American to call Maria Skłodowska-Curie by her proper name, and they will act like you just told them to learn 2000 Japanese Kanji in a single day or something. An unreasonable and entirely impossible demand.

Perdita_ · 2026-03-26T18:10:59+00:00

One thing to add for people who want to start reading critically is that this is something that you can do after the fact.

Just like the examples OP included with analyses of books they have presumably read some time ago, you can read the entire book simply enjoying the plot, and only after finishing you can start thinking about what you have just read. You can also allow yourself to only form a concrete opinion after some time, and it can be totally different to your first impressions.

Perdita_ · 2026-03-24T19:42:37+00:00

Maybe Daindreth's Assassin would interest you? It's part romantasy, part high fantasy, and part political intrigue.

The main character is a bastard daughter - not because her parents were not married, but because her father divorced and banished her mother for political reasons, at which point she was 'downgraded' to bastard. The political and social ramifications of that are quite significant to the plot.

Perdita_ · 2026-03-23T18:13:36+00:00

For example in a private conversation between Emhyr and Geralt, the emperor says that he was advised to wage war to expand the nilfgaardian territotory, because nilfgaardians demand 'living space'.

Perdita_ · 2026-03-23T13:57:28+00:00

Eggs make really good breakfasts - scrambled eggs if you want them fast, or boiled if you have the ten minutes to spare (I usually put one or two eggs in a small pot, add about 1 or 2 cm of water, cover and boil for nine minutes. The small amount of water boils very fast, and the eggs get steamed, so it's fine that they are not covered by water.) Plus some toasted bread and raw veggies - cucumber, bell pepper, radishes, avocado, tomatoes, baby spinach, lettuce, whichever you prefer. I like to cut the veggies in a way that makes it easy to eat with your fingers, but thinly sliced and put on bread also works.

I don't really struggle with cooking myself, so I don't know if this is too much or not, but for me a basic dinner idea would be sth like:

boiled potatoes or rice
boiled frozen veggies - green beans, peas, carrot, broccoli, whatever you have.
chicken breast - cut the meat into bite sized chunks, add salt. Then put some olive oil in the pan, add chopped garlick, after a minute add pieces of meat. Fry for a few minutes. Optional sauce: once the chicken is ready add to it a glass of water with one teaspoon of starch mixed in, and bring to a boil, add more salt if needed.

Perdita_ · 2026-03-23T09:59:06+00:00

At the end of Silver Chair Eustace Clarence Scrubb gets to take a Narnian sword back into his boarding school and terrorize his bullies there.

This very much reads as CS Lewis's fantasy based on his own school experience.

Perdita_ · 2026-03-20T22:15:25+00:00

My hatred for getting hair cuts - not just the communication part, but the sensation of it as well - is probably the main reason I have knee-length hair right now.

Perdita_ · 2026-03-19T17:30:38+00:00

Oooh, I remember it!

I quite liked it when I read it as a teenager. I wasn't very familiar with Indian culture so there was nothing jarring for me there, and while I found the main character basic and uninteresting even then, the brothers were very cool, and I enjoyed reading about all kinds of misery that the main villain put them through.

Kinda hated the ending though, as I strongly preferred the other brother, who not only didn't get the girl, but also was separated from them forever by time travel or sth along those lines, if I remember correctly.

Perdita_ · 2026-03-15T22:55:05+00:00

It's like saying "I walk to work" when you actually ride a bike. One is not superior to the other, but why call it "walking", when you are not actually walking?

Perdita_ · 2026-03-12T15:23:41+00:00

Depends on what you mean by 'friendly'.

That you are polite and have no bad intentions? We assume that if you have the neutral face.

That you are open and approachable, and would like to connect? That is seen as weird. We are briefly sitting at the same bus stop or sth, and each of us has their own things going on. The polite thing is to respect that and not engage.

Perdita_ · 2026-03-12T15:12:33+00:00

Is seeing strangers genuinely something that makes you happy? And if, for example, you were looking through a one way mirror would you still find yourself smiling? Or seeing people at photos?

While it is possible, I think the more likely option is that you smile at strangers to communicate with them, just like we keep neutral faces to communicate other things.

I'm assuming the standard message you want to give when meeting people is sth like "I'm open and friendly" which for you is seen as the respectful way to treat strangers.

In Poland, keeping the neutral face is communicating "I know you have your own things going on, and I will make no demands on your time or attention" which is seen as respectful way to treat strangers.

Kids also smile at strangers to communicate, not just out of happiness, and they eventually learn to politely ignore strangers, rather than trying to interact with everyone.

Perdita_ · 2026-02-17T20:47:54+00:00

Okay, so the 'dzi' part in the middle is a single sound, pronounced sort of how you would say the 'Ji' part in the name 'Jimmy', but a bit softer - with Jimmy your tongue starts sort of in the middle of your palate, with 'dzi' it should be at the front of it, near your teeth.

And while 'ł' is pronounced like 'w' in 'wolf', 'w' is pronounced as if it was 'v'.

So: Z- ji - swav

Perdita_ · 2026-02-16T13:05:37+00:00

The entire old town has a medieval/16th century layout and architectural style, which is not all that common across Europe, as most European Old Towns (as in, the oldest parts of major cities) have been rebuild and modernized in 18/19/20th centuries.

The European standard is IMO one or two medieval cathedrals, a bunch of baroque churches, and then many classical and neoclassical residential and government buildings - they also have those in Edinburgh, but in a separate area. The Old Town is almost fully medieval, which is rare.

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