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Summary
Chapter One: “The Voice of Reason” and “The Witcher”
The Voice of Reason: One
The witcher wakes up because he hears an unnamed woman entering his bedchamber. He had been in a half-sleep that he compares to the depths of the sea. The witcher pretends he is still asleep and he watches through his eyelashes as the young woman approaches, disrobes, and climbs onto his bed. He notes that her hair smells of chamomile and he thinks of her as a nymph as the two make love.
The Witcher
A man who will later be identified as the witcher, Geralt, arrives in the village of Wyzim. The locals recognize that he has a Rivian accent. Geralt enters a tavern and a man there says that all Rivians are thieves. Geralt fights the man and his friend, killing them before guards arrive to arrest him. As the guards approach, Geralt draws a Sign in the air and demands that they take him to the castellan. The guards obey and take him to meet the castellan, Velerad. Geralt asks Velerad about a reward for saving a Wyzim princess from a curse. Velerad tells him it’s true and explains how King Foltest and his sister conceived a child together. Both mother and child died during the birth and their bodies were placed in a sarcophagus. After seven years, the child emerged from the sarcophagus as a striga, a monster that hunts people at night. The striga has been killing people for seven years, and many people have tried to stop her and failed.
Geralt then speaks with King Foltest about trying to save the princess. King Foltest insists that Geralt must not harm her in any way. Geralt says the task will be difficult and explains that the only way to break the curse is to trap the princess outside of her sarcophagus for an entire night until a cock crows the following morning. King Foltest and Geralt discuss what the princess might transform into if Geralt succeeds. King Foltest worries that the princess might still seem like a monster, even if she is no longer a striga. Geralt believes that she will be physically human but will experience mental or emotional difficulties. Before King Foltest leaves, he says that Geralt may kill the princess if he is uncertain that the curse is broken or if he believes she is suffering.
Once at the palace, Geralt prepares to face the striga. Ostrit, one of the king’s men, offers Geralt one thousand orens to leave without saving the princess. Geralt believes that Ostrit wants to use the princess’s state as a striga to remove King Foltest from the throne. Tension rises, and Ostrit pulls his sword on Geralt, but Geralt ties him up in the temple. At midnight, Geralt frees Ostrit to use him as bait for the striga. The plan works and the striga sneaks up on Ostrit while the witcher stations himself near her sarcophagus. When the striga returns, she and Geralt fight a long, exhausting battle. Geralt uses his power to direct his feelings of rage toward her. This causes the striga to run away, giving Geralt a chance to hide inside the striga’s sarcophagus, next to the body of her mother. Geralt drinks a potion, performs a Sign, and falls into a deep sleep.
When Geralt wakes, he finds a naked, unconscious girl on the floor next to the sarcophagus. As he checks her teeth to see if she still has the striga’s fangs, she awakens and slashes him across the neck with her claws. She clamps down on the bloody wound and drinks his blood. Geralt tries to pin her down and he bites her. As he does, she begins to cry like a human girl. Geralt retreats and tries to staunch the blood pouring from his neck, but he passes out. The last sound he hears is the cock crowing. Geralt wakes up two days later, still recovering from his serious injury. Velerad tells him that the princess has been restored to her human form. He says that, although she cries a lot and wets her bed, King Foltest is certain that she will get better.
Analysis
The chapter entitled “The Witcher” illustrates what it means to be a witcher by introducing Geralt as a travelling, mercenary-like figure who uses cunning, magic, and strength to free people from monsters. The story of Geralt and the striga gives provides a glimpse into the day-to-day life of a witcher. Geralt is a road-worn, savvy man who can seem callous and emotionally detached. These characteristics hint at a moral framework that is different than the everyday ethical concerns of a regular person. In this chapter, Geralt doesn’t hesitate to kill the men who harass him at the tavern, but he does everything in his power to save the life of the princess. This suggests that altruism is not necessarily the witcher’s main concern. Similarly, by using Ostrit as bait to distract the striga, Geralt underscores a core truth of the The Last Wish: Witchers are not traditional heroes. Their principles and motivations are unlike those of knights and other classic heroes.
More than one kind of magic is used in “The Witcher,” suggesting that magic is a complex element that takes many different forms in the book. The curse on the princess indicates that many people in Wyzim can use magic. Not knowing who cast the spell gives the setting a sense of mystery and danger. Geralt tells King Foltest that the princess should wear a sapphire necklace for the rest of her life, advice that reveals magic’s lasting effect on the story’s characters. The fact that Geralt cannot reverse the striga curse with a simple spell reveals how magic can deeply complicate characters’ lives. Geralt also uses several kinds of magic in “The Witcher,” including Signs, incantations, and potions. This suggests that, in the world of The Last Wish, magic can exist in words, movements, and thoughts. It can also change characters physically, mentally, and emotionally. Different people have different magical abilities.
Geralt’s encounter at The Fox tavern illustrates the kind of xenophobia that he experiences as a Rivian. Many people in Wyzim openly discriminate against Rivians. Geralt is in the tavern for a few moments before his identity as a Rivian leads to prejudice and conflict. First, the innkeeper refuses to give Geralt a room and describes Geralt’s voice—and likely his accent—as unpleasant. Then, the pockmarked man and his friends pick a fight with Geralt before he can even finish his beer. In the tavern scene, the omniscient narrator describes Geralt as an “outsider” and “The Rivian.” Highlighting these characteristics shows that the townspeople see Geralt as an outsider and a Rivian, and little more. As Geralt gains other characters’ trust, he is not identified as simply a Rivian. Instead, the narrator uses his name and other characters are eager to collaborate with him and seem less skeptical and prejudiced.
During his quest to rescue the princess, two characters offer Geralt secret deals to betray King Foltest. This illustrates the book’s political and social environment, and it reveals the motivations of the powerful elite. The first deal comes from Velerad, who offers to pay Geralt fifteen hundred oren to kill the princess and tell King Foltest he had to in order to save his own life. Velerad claims that he wants to prevent the striga from killing more people. This may be true, because King Foltest will kill anyone who kills the princess, even in self-defense. Later, Ostrit offers to pay Geralt a thousand oren to leave without reversing the curse because he wants to use the striga to prove King Foltest is insane and overthrow him. Geralt also rejects this offer, using Ostrit as bait for the striga instead. By rejecting these deals, Geralt proves that he is not part of this social world and refuses to let other people use him for purposes that he does not agree with.
King Foltest’s efforts to save his daughter show how much a person will sacrifice for love. Even though Foltest has never met his daughter, he feels a strong connection to her. He allows her to live as a striga and kill people in his kingdom because he hopes that she can be restored to a human form. This demonstrates his love for her, and that he values her more than others in Wyzim. Waiting for someone to break the spell, King Foltest is sacrificing the townspeople. Velerad tells Geralt about the many people the striga has killed. Geralt tells King Foltest that he will do everything he can to save the princess, but he may need to kill her in self-defense. King Foltest tells Geralt that he will not punish him if he needs to kill her. He also orders Geralt to kill her if the spell cannot be completely reversed. However, King Foltest makes it clear that this decision is not to save Geralt or the people of Wyzim. It is because he believes that the princess is suffering and her pain may be irreversible.
