For the SGN’s Video Game Book Club we read The Witcher novel the Last Wish, a prequel to The Witcher book series. It’s a sort of short story collection of Geralt of Rivia reminiscing about his adventures as a Witcher. Each chapter starts off with a “Voice of Reason” which is the current day timeline. It starts with Geralt being offered a job to reverse the curse of a princess who has become a striga. If that sounds familiar it’s because it is the opening cutscene to the Witcher video game. There is also a retelling of sorts in the Witcher comic book series Curse of Crows that is set in the video game continuity. Princess Adda the White will show up in the first Witcher game and due to the fact that this game is going to get a remake soon I will not spoil her quest line. Lets just say if she manages to stay alive she will be mentioned in both The Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. Geralt can also have sex with her. Her father and uncle Foltest will also be an important figure in the Witcher 1 & 2.
In the story “ a Question of Price” we learn about Ciri’s mother Pavetta who at the time was a princess having her 15th birthday party in a room full of suitors. Geralt is tasked with keeping the peace at this party but when he has to step in to defend Duny ( a character we know as Emhyr var Emreis in The Witcher 2 & 3) Geralt invokes the law of surprise. This means that Geralt has the right to claim Pavetta’s child since we find out at the end of the story that she is pregnant. We later learn that that child is Ciri.
The next story “ The Edge of the World”, we are not only introduced to Dandelion, famous poet and friend to Geralt but also introduces us to elves. More importantly Toruviel who appears in the Witcher one. In the novel Geralt and Dandelion get kidnapped by a group of elves living in the Blue Mountains. Toruviel is one of the elves that kidnaps them, she breaks Dandelion’s lute and convinces the other elves in the group that the two cannot live since they saw them. This obviously gets fixed since those two go on many more adventures after this and Toruviel and her group of elves leave. You can find her again in the first Witcher game in the Swamp and she has a couple quests. Depending on which path you take Geralt can also have sex with her.
Finally, let’s talk about Yennefer and Dandelion who are the main focus of the last chapter titled The Last Wish. As I said before Dandelion is Geralt’s long time friend and he shows up in every game, usually to be the comedic relief similar to the novels. Yennefer is Geralt’s special lady friend who via this story we find out why the two are bound together. Turns out that was Geralt’s fault, he used the last wish he had after releasing a Djinn to wish that he and Yenn were bound together forever. Yennefer isn’t actually in the first two Witcher games; she got separated from Geralt and then he lost his memories. But, as you probably already know, she is a very important part of the third game.
The monsters in the story along with the knights The Order of the Flaming Rose (who are called the Order of the White Rose in the book, they rebranded) are in the games as well. I also didn’t include all the characters who were turned into Gwent cards because there are too many. For full discussion check out the VGBCs Youtube or Spotify. For what we are currently reading check out GoodReads. If you wanna join in the conversion we can talk chapter to chapter on Fable .
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