The Last Wish

“Twenty years ago who would have thought, even in a drunken stupor, that such a profession as a witcher would exist? Itinerant killers of basilisks; traveling slayers of dragons and vodniks!” 

The castellan’s claim creates some ambiguity about the role of the witcher in the larger world. Though we know that the witcher profession is several hundred years old, the castellan makes it clear that knowledge of witchers is quite new—and quite disturbing—to regular folk.

“You do not understand me. It’s obvious you’ll kill her if it becomes necessary, whether I like it or not. Because otherwise she’ll kill you, surely and inevitably. I won’t punish anyone who kills her in self-defense. But I will not allow her to be killed without trying to save her.”

Foltest’s statement touches on the larger theme of choice and the motif of ambiguity and misdirection. Foltest recognizes that his daughter might die during her attempted rescue, but he wants Geralt make a conscious choice to attempt not to harm her, rather than assume he will.

“The cult of Melitele was one of the oldest and, in its day, one of the most widespread cults from time immemorial. Practically every prehumen race and every primordial nomadic human tribe honored a goddess of harvest and fertility […] Many of these religions merged into the cult of Melitele.”

Given the fact that in this world, the supernatural is an everyday occurrence, the absence of pantheistic or polytheistic religion is surprising. Instead, it appears that older religions have coalesced into a nature-based monotheism. 

“I’ve heard about witchers […] They’re taught to kill, and all human feelings and reactions are trained out of them. They’re turned into monsters in order to kill other monsters.”

Nivellen’s statement reinforces the theme of the nature of monstrosity. The witcher, he claims, must become that which he hunts in order to hunt it. This paradox haunts Geralt, who must fight the monstrous within himself. 

“The bruxa, like a white butterfly on a pin, hung on the other end of the stake, clutching it with both hands.”

The comparison has several layers. On the one hand, by likening her to an insect on display in a case, it reinforces the idea of the bruxa as an object for Geralt to hunt and slay. On the other hand, the butterfly analogy ascribes beauty to the bruxa, complicating her nature.

“Count Falwick met [Geralt’s] eyes and Geralt realized his mistake. There was pure, unwavering hatred in the White Rose knight’s eyes.”

Geralt often makes mistakes when he follows his better nature. He made foolish choices with the striga and nearly got himself killed. Now, he seriously miscalculates again, threatening his ability to navigate the monstrously human.

“Admittedly, to become [a knight] it’s enough, lately, to pay a thousand Novigrad crowns into the Chapter’s treasury, so the Order’s full of sons of money-lenders and tailors—but surely some manners have survived?” 

Although the collection is concerned with the nature of change, it generally doesn’t take a position. Geralt, on the other hand, views change as negative and longs for an earlier—and to him, purer—time.

“During his life, the witcher had met thieves who looked like town councilors, councilors who looked like beggars, harlots who looked like princesses, […] and kings who looked like thieves.” 

In keeping with the motif of misdirection, the suggestion here is that people are rarely what they appear to be. Stregobor is an exception, apparently, as he actually looks like a wizard. However, this raises the question of how we know what something is supposed to be, and the validity of larger roles and conventions.

“Except that [the Curse of the Black Sun] was called the Mania of Mad Eltibald after the wizard who started the lark and caused dozens of girls from good, even noble, families to be murdered or imprisoned in towers.” 

Furthering the motif of misdirection and matters of perception, Geralt here hits on how perception changes sharply depending on one’s own biases. For Stregobor, the curse comes from an eclipse; Geralt, on the other hand, knows it by a name that attributes the events to the ravings of a madman. Undoubtedly, Renfri would agree with the latter term.

“You don’t believe in [lesser evil], you say. Well you’re right, in a way. Only Evil and Greater Evil exist and beyond them, in the shadows, lurks True Evil. […] True evil seizes you by the throat and demands that you choose between it and another, slightly lesser, Evil.” 

As the title of this chapter suggests, its events force Geralt to wrestle with the nature of evil and personal choice. Renfri and Stregobor make similar appeals to Geralt, and their opinions on the nature of evil highlight the ways they justify their actions. Renfri justifies the slaughter of innocents with the idea that no one is truly innocent. 

“And as I listened to him gurgle and choke, watched him kicking and flailing, I felt the marks left by his feet and fists fade, and I felt, oh, so great, so great […]” 

Renfri’s vengeance-based morality undermines the idea that killing is difficult. In harming a person who harmed her, she believes herself to be in the right. Driven by the desire for increasingly brutal retribution, she fails to see any distinction between self-defending vengeance and the slaughter of innocents she intends to carry out the following day. 

“Because your faith and sacrifice, the price you’re [Iola] paying for your silence, will make you a better, a greater being. Or, at least, it could. But my faithlessness can do nothing. It’s powerless.”

Geralt wrestles with his own lack of faith. To do the work he does, he must have faith in it—so what happens when he doesn’t?

“The difference, my dear witcher, is that one who is bought is paid according to the buyer’s whim, whereas one who renders a service sets his own price.” 

The queen is suggesting that Geralt has the choice to put himself into a position of strength or a position of subjugation. However, for Geralt, this is a false choice—either way, he must carry out her task; the difference is merely what he takes away from it.

“So I, a poor witcher, am to face down a destiny which is stronger than the royal will. A witcher fighting destiny! What irony!” 

Witchers are themselves products of destiny—Geralt is unable to escape his own fate; hence, he finds it ironic that the queen is asking him to defeat the destiny of another. 

“You witchers, after all, deprive yourselves of work, slowly but surely. […] Your goal is a world without monsters, a world which is peaceful and safe. A world where witchers are unnecessary. A paradox, isn’t it?” 

Dandelion homes in on the fundamental paradox of witchers. While Geralt laments the changing world, Dandelion knows that change is inevitable.

“Because it was us, human beings, who were the intruders here. This land was ruled by dragons, manticores, griffins […] And this land had to be taken from them bit by bit, every valley, every mountain pass, every forest and every meadow. And we didn’t manage that without the invaluable help of witchers.”

The responsibility of humans for changing the landscape in negative ways is a motif throughout the collection—a motif that correlates to our own ecosystem. In the world of the Witcher, human intrusion brings the wholesale elimination or subjugation of intelligent species.

“People […] like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves.” 

This returns us to the nature of the monster—how we define the monstrous. We create a hated and fearsome other to make our own monstrous actions look more benign by comparison. 

“‘The world is huge,’ repeated [Filavandrel]. ‘That’s true, human. But you have changed this world. At first, you used force to change it. You treated it as you treat anything that falls into your hands. Now it looks as if the world has started to fit in with you. It’s given way to you. It’s given in.’” 

Filavandrel critiques anthropocentrism. Humanity has changed the world so fundamentally that the elves can no longer survive—they must lose their way of life by adopting human culture, or die. 

“We [the elves] can’t afford to go to war with you, and we won’t be taken in by trade and exchange. We’re not so naïve that we don’t know your merchants are just outposts of your way of life. We know what follows them.” 

Filavandrel is making an interesting postcolonial argument related to soft power—the less vicious, but more insidious method of the colonizer. Filavandrel rejects trade with the humans because he sees humans as colonizers who reshape the world. Though Geralt sees trade as innocuous and necessary, Filavandrel sees only its potential to destroy the elves’ traditional culture. 

“[Yennefer] surprises you, but what about you? It ought to be clear to you too, that you’re never going to be human, but you still keep trying to be one. Making human mistakes. Mistakes a witcher shouldn’t be making.”

Nenneke zeros in on an important feature of Geralt’s character. Though he acts as if he doesn’t care about being an outsider, he persistently tries to align himself with humanity. He wrestles with his outsider status more than he accepts it.

“But if you don’t want to waste time on it, maybe you’ll be happy with the explanation that the crystal roof acts like a filter. It eliminates the lethal rays which are increasingly found in sunlight. That’s why plants which you can’t see growing wild anywhere in the world grow here.” 

This moment is a metaphor for climate change in our own world—this cave is now the only place where witcher elixir plants grow. The world is changing and, as a result, leaving less room for people like Geralt.

“The young sorceress would become attractive only because the prestige of her profession demanded it. The result was pseudo-pretty women with the angry and cold eyes of ugly girls. Girls who couldn’t forget their ugliness had been covered by the mask of magic only for the prestige of their profession.” 

The collection frequently reinforces patriarchal tropes common in the fantasy genre. Several moments touch on gender disparities. Here, the underlying critique is similar to the inherent contradiction Geralt faces: The sorceress must use magic to look conventionally attractive because she is a woman, no matter how little her appearance fits.

“My [Yennefer’s] accounts in Rinde could be settled by anyone, including Chireadan. But you’re the one who’s going to do it because you have to pay me. For your insolence, for the cold way you look at me, for the eyes which fish for every detail, for your stony face and sarcastic tone of voice.” 

Geralt has thought himself above everyone else because of the very things Yennefer is criticizing: Geralt has more than once congratulated himself for noticing every detail, which is not only ironic given his situation, but has made Yennefer angry at him.