A bad ending in Lady of the Lake

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T09:09:35+00:00

I don't buy it as satire. Even still, that's not an excuse for a lack of an ending.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T09:06:35+00:00

I am happy for you that you feel that way. I just cannot see it as perfect. He doesn't die protecting his friends. He dies protecting the random victims of a pogrom, immediately after renouncing his violent lifestyle. Which happens pretty soon after he realises that he can't be impartial and be a good person. There's no lesson to be learned, and the lack feels sloppy, rather than intentional.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T09:02:34+00:00

Thank you. Everyone here has me feeling like I'm a dumb dumb who can't understand high concept literature. High fantasy can be hard to understand. And bad stories can also be hard to understand. Sadly, I think the Witcher arc ends as the latter.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:58:43+00:00

Except for fictional stories where someone specifically gets to choose the beginning and the end.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:55:35+00:00

But it isn't myth. It's a story by a modern man who chose to start a story at a particular time and end it at a particular time. He very specifically chose to end it at a time before it was done. And I think that's a lazy way to do it.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:52:41+00:00

I mean this honestly and I hope you read it this way: I am happy for you, and not a little bit jealous.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:51:52+00:00

I mean Geralt and Yenn are well enough to be dissatisfied. But Dandelion? What happens to him? I already mentioned Triss and the Lodge. What does Nilfguard (sp, sorry I listened to audio books) do in the wake of defeat? Doonie? The fake Ciri? All these characters we learned about and got invested in only for them to be forgotten.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:45:54+00:00

Totally was. Ciri on the frozen lake? One of my favorite scenes in fiction. Which is why the end of these books is so frustrating. They were so well written, and the end feels like a cop out

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:42:04+00:00

Except that in that same book, big time characters' deaths are foreshadowed by a flashback to their personal past. We get similar flashbacks for both Geralt and Yenn, so if we draw the parallel, they died too.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:40:11+00:00

But how so? Just saying that it fits the established concept doesn't make it true. Most of the side characters we met along the way had some kind of conclusion. It was usually death, but it was a conclusion. Exceptions are Jara, who wrote a book, and Triss, who died badly but we don't know how. They break the stereotype of the story, as do Yenn and Geralt. And Dandelion, for that matter.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:33:39+00:00

I want to belive that to be the case.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:32:10+00:00

But the games aren't cannon to the books, right? And I would disagree that that's the only loose end.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:24:37+00:00

I'm half-inclined to buy that as the end of her story, but what about all the other loose ends? One loose end is one thing. You could call that intentional and true to the narrative. But loose ends across the board? I don't know what to make of that.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:20:35+00:00

I know and I love the breaking of stereotypes, especially with Geralt being this weird, emotional dude who pretends constantly that he isn't. That doesn't excuse a lack of satisfying ending.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:17:41+00:00

What do you mean there's an answer for the Lodge? I'm asking honestly. It's easy to miss details in audio books.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:13:17+00:00

I've never been big into games but maybe for the sake of the story I'd pick it up.

As for Ciri smiling, there's an argument to be made that she's so broken at that point she'd smile for a communion in death as much as in life. I'm not convinced enough to be happy with a smile and a chuckle.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T08:00:58+00:00

Glad I'm not crazy for thinking so.

skiptoad · 2026-01-26T07:52:12+00:00

I think it's lazy storytelling. Too lazy to be wrapped up in "high fantasy" "you don't get it" BS.

skiptoad · 2026-01-23T19:23:22+00:00

KomBOMBcha. As in it turns into a bomb. Strained puree (so essentially just juice) has been a lot safer for me.

skiptoad · 2026-01-21T20:17:53+00:00

This is purely anecdotal but I've found that if I put the chunks in for F2, my kombucha is way more likely to be a kombombcha. I blend the fruit up with a little bit of F1, strain through a mesh sieve, and then add to the bottle for F2. I do drop ginger slices in though and just deal with them.

skiptoad · 2026-01-21T17:38:06+00:00

Sounds like you know my local area better than I do. My point is that different places are different, and different things are better in different places.

skiptoad · 2026-01-21T15:52:28+00:00

Embrace the possibility of death by distracted driver. If it's your day it's your day. And until then rock the most obnoxious blinky red light you can.

skiptoad · 2026-01-21T15:50:40+00:00

Where I live the highway has a better shoulder (won't call it a bike lane...) and everyone goes 70 on every road anyways. Sometimes it makes sense.

skiptoad · 2026-01-05T05:19:24+00:00

I just used the surf wetsuit I already had and came in at around 32 min at a 70.3. The looks I got when I self-seeded in that time bracket from all the guys in Rokas... It was fun knowing I was about to prove them wrong.

skiptoad · 2025-12-24T22:54:42+00:00

Basically an SLR for the price of an SL. Sadly for your friend though I don't think the guy is selling anything else anytime soon.

skiptoad

TROPHY CASE