Summary

The Last Wish 

Dandelion and Geralt find a stoneware amphora caught in their fishing line. When it breaks open, a red plume of smoke billows out and forms into a head with enormous eyes and a beak. Geralt tells Dandelion to run, but Dandelion believes the creature is a djinn, a being that will grant three wishes. Dandelion starts making wishes. As Dandelion is about to make his third wish, the djinn bites his throat. Geralt finds the amphora’s seal and he shouts an exorcism that a priestess taught him. The creature retreats. Dandelion is wheezing, unable to talk, and vomiting blood. Geralt rushes Dandelion to the nearest city, but they are not allowed through the gates because it’s nighttime. They wait with three other men, Chireadan, Errdil, and Vratimir. Realizing that Dandelion will need magical healing, Chireadan tells them that a sorceress named Yennefer of Vengerberg is hiding out in the home of a merchant-ambassador. She is the only one in the city because of a boycott. 

The next morning, Geralt breaks into the merchant-ambassador’s house and finds Yennefer. Geralt explains that he needs her help, but Yennefer insists on having a bath before hearing more. Yennefer turns herself invisible and bathes while Geralt explains what happened to Dandelion. Yennefer agrees to help, so Geralt takes her to him. Chireadan warns Geralt that Yennefer is not trustworthy, but Yennefer seems to heal Dandelion. After noticing symbols on the floor, Geralt is suddenly hit by a delayed spell that Yennefer rigged, and he loses control of his body. She explains that she plans to have him settle her accounts in the city before she leaves. She kisses him violently before he falls unconscious.  

Geralt wakes up in a dungeon with Chireadan. Chireadan explains that, while under Yennefer’s spell, Geralt attacked several people. When one of the guards kicks him, Geralt wishes the man would burst, and the guard suddenly roars in pain and explodes. Soon, Mayor Neville and a priest named Krepp arrive to decide what to do with Geralt and Chireadan. When Geralt explains the situation, Krepp tells them that Yennefer may be attempting to capture the djinn for herself. Sorcerers and sorceresses can draw nearly endless power from a djinn and become nearly omnipotent. Dandelion appears through a portal and he begs the mayor to believe Geralt is innocent. The walls shake and a thunderous noise comes from outside as Yennefer tries to capture the djinn. Krepp explains that the djinn is too strong for her to control. Geralt uses the portal Dandelion used to get to the dungeon to go help Yennefer.  

Outside, Geralt attempts to stop Yennefer. He and Yennefer fight until Geralt explains that he’s in command of the djinn because he has its seal. Yennefer tells him that he should make his final wish so that she can capture it, but Geralt insists that she doesn’t have enough strength left to control it. The djinn cracks through the ceiling above them and reaches for Yennefer. Geralt suddenly realizes what to wish for, and makes his wish. The building explodes and the djinn flies away. Geralt and Yennefer find each other in the wreckage and he is intoxicated by her presence. Yennefer tells him that Geralt has condemned himself to be with her. They kiss again and make love in the inn.  

Analysis

After being attacked by the djinn, Dandelion’s voice is endangered. Geralt works hard to find a way to preserve Dandelion’s voice because such an injury would forever alter Dandelion’s life as a troubadour. While the loss of a voice is a significant physical impairment for almost anyone, it would be especially difficult on Dandelion. Dandelion, who is famous for his voice, would be fundamentally changed if he was no longer able to sing. Though he jokes about becoming a gardener if he weren’t a musician, his entire personality is constructed around his career. Beyond this, this loss of Dandelion’s voice builds on a recurring presence of muteness in the book.  

Krepp’s longwinded explanation of the genies and the djinn helps to expose some of the ways that magic works in the world of the book. While Geralt and several other characters use magic in their respective stories, very little is known about how magic works as a whole beyond that it is derived from the Force. But from Krepp we learn that there are some beings that are inherently magical, like the djinn. These creatures gain their magic powers because they are tied to the elements of nature. These creatures come from various planes of existence, so they can act as reservoirs that allow enchanters to bypass the Force. This suggests that people who control magic can gain more power from sources other than the Force.  

Yennefer uses her sexuality as a tool and a weapon to get men to do what she wants. Though the chapter leaves off with Geralt and Yennefer together, there are several other men that Yennefer has under her spell by the time she is introduced. Most notable are Beau Berrant and Chireadan. Beau Berrant is a wealthy and influential person who Yennefer is sleeping with so she can hide in his home. Chireadan is willing to do anything for Yennefer because he is so attracted to her. This is the reason why Chireadan refuses to help after Geralt falls under Yennefer’s spell. He fears what Geralt will do to Yennefer. When Yennefer makes her first appearance in the book, she is naked and unashamed of showing her body to Geralt even though they’ve just met. Geralt immediately finds her attractive and is drawn to the smell of lilac and gooseberries that radiates from her. Despite making herself invisible, by bathing in front of him, she destabilizes Geralt and puts him in a position to underestimate her. Ultimately, this is one of the reasons why Yennefer is so easily able to trap Geralt in the following scene. She has likely used similar techniques to gain so much power in the city.  

Geralt’s first and last wishes are not explicitly stated in the story, but they can be inferred. Geralt’s first was likely for the djinn to leave him and Dandelion alone, which is supported by the fact that he proclaimed an exorcism when he picked up the seal. Geralt doesn’t understand the words he is saying, but Krepp later reveals that it it’s a vulgar way to tell someone to go away. The djinn flees, which suggests that the vulgar “exorcism” counted as Geralt’s first wish. The words of Geralt’s final wish aren’t revealed in the story, but its consequences are seen. After Geralt makes his wish, the djinn leaves. Most importantly, it stops attacking Yennefer after it has been freed from Geralt’s command, suggesting that Geralt’s last wish involved her safety. Yennefer understands how far Geralt’s wish went to keep them together. Although they seem happily in love at the end of the chapter, Yennefer seems to believe that Geralt will come to regret his last wish. Once they are both safe, she says that Geralt’s wish condemned him to her, implying it binds them together. This recalls Nenneke’s statement in “Chapter Six: The Voice of Reason,” that Geralt and Yennefer have a bond.