Summary

The Lesser Evil 

Geralt brings the remains of a kikimora to the alderman of Blaviken, Caldemeyn. Caldemeyn can’t offer a reward for the kikimora, so he takes Geralt to meet the local wizard to sell the creature. When they arrive at the wizard’s tower, Geralt realizes that the wizard is actually an old acquaintance, Stregobor. Stregobor is glad to see Geralt as he is being pursued by someone who wants to kill him. He explains that a woman who was once part of a prophecy has been chasing him from city to city. The prophecy, known as the Curse of the Black Sun, foretold sixty women who would be born after an eclipse and would cause great violence. Geralt thinks the prophecy is nonsense, but Stregobor tells him how wizards could tell the girls were mutated. 

Stregobor tells Geralt about one of the girls. He calls her Shrike, but she goes by Renfri. Renfri’s stepmother, Aridea, used an artifact called Nehalenia’s Mirror to see that Shrike would be responsible for many horrible deaths. On Aridea’s request, Stregobor carried out several tests on Renfri and confirmed she was mutated. Afterward, Aridea hired a huntsman to take Renfri into the forest and leave her there. But the huntsman was found dead with a brooch-pin stabbed through his ear, so Aridea organized a hunt to find Renfri. She was found living as a bandit with seven gnomes. Aridea hired several assassins to go after her, but none of them were successful, and Renfri became famous. At some point, Aridea was poisoned and the gnomes were all killed. Stregobor suggests Renfri was behind both incidents. 

Stregobor explains that when he encountered Renfri again, she recognized him immediately as the man who experimented on her and she tried to kill him. He used magic to escape, but she has hunted him ever since. The only place he is safe is in his tower, but he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life there. He asks Geralt to kill Renfri, but Geralt insists that he is not a hired killer. Witchers like Geralt kill monsters. Stregobor argues that Renfri is not human because she kills for pleasure. Geralt still refuses. When Stregobor asks him to choose the lesser evil, Geralt tells him that he prefers not to choose between two different evils. When Geralt leaves, Stregobor hopes he will return in time to save him.  

Geralt meets Renfri at a local tavern. She produces a writ saying that she is the princess of Creyden and that she is protected by the kingdom. She tells him that Stregobor will die the following day. When Geralt returns to his rooms, Renfri is there. She asks him to side with her and kill Stregobor to avoid unnecessary bloodshed in Blaviken. She argues that Stregobor is an evil man and tells Geralt about the terrible things she endured as a result of his work. She was sexually assaulted by the hunter Stregobor and Aridea hired to kill her. She had to become a sex worker and thief to survive. She philosophizes about the nature of evil and tries to convince Geralt that killing Stregobor will be the lesser of two evils. When Geralt asks her if she could choose between two evils, she tells him she cannot and says that she and her men will be leaving in the morning. She and Geralt sleep together, and she stays in his rooms overnight. 

The following morning Geralt learns that one of Renfri’s men slaughtered the people of another town. Fearing that Renfri set a trap to kill the people of Blaviken in a similar way, he insists that Caldemeyn gather the guards. Caldemeyn refuses because he fears retaliation from the king. Geralt says that they must pick the lesser evil and he rushes out alone. Geralt kills several of Renfri’s men at the marketplace before Renfri appears. She insists that she had no plan to harm the citizens of Blaviken. Seeing that Geralt has made the choice to stand against her, Renfri draws her sword. Geralt tells her that he won’t be able to stop if they start fighting, but she advances and Geralt kills her. Stregobor arrives and Geralt threatens to hurt him if he touches her body. Stregobor invites Geralt to join him when he leaves town because the people of Blaviken don’t know why Geralt killed Renfri. When Geralt doesn’t reply, Stregobor leaves. Assuming Geralt is a murderer, Blavikens start throwing stones at him, but Caldemeyn intercedes and banishes Geralt from Blaviken forever.  

Analysis

This chapter discusses the nature of evil, one of the major themes of the book. While other chapters have alluded to the existence and effects of evil, this is the first chapter that explores it more deeply. Geralt’s conversations with Stregobor and Renfri touch on the philosophical nature of evil, including whether it appears in different degrees. Both Stregobor and Renfri believe that there are greater and lesser evils, while Geralt initially views all evil as being the same. His conversation with Renfri, however, forces him to consider that some evil outweighs others. Ultimately, he makes a choice to eliminate what he believes to be a greater evil. While this results in Geralt making what is arguably the wrong choice, he comes to understand that some evils are more severe in nature than others.  

Renfri’s death traumatizes Geralt. While Geralt has killed a number of people up to this point in the book, killing Renfri has a much different effect on him than any of others. Unlike when he callously kills three men in a tavern in an earlier chapter, he tries not to hurt Renfri and is appalled when she dies. When Stregobor tells Geralt to help him autopsy Renfri, Geralt draws his sword against Stregobor. He describes feeling as though someone he doesn’t know took hold of his sword. The shock he experiences in this moment leads to a feeling of dissociation from his body. This shows that Geralt has been traumatized by the event. Once Renfri is fatally wounded, Geralt barely speaks and avoids making eye contact with Stregobor, Caldemeyn, and the angry crowd. When Caldemeyn asks him if this is what he considered to be the lesser evil, it takes great effort for Geralt to reply. This shows that Geralt regrets killing Renfri and realizes he made a mistake. He does not try to explain his actions. 

Renfri’s past is characterized by sexual and physical violence, which reveals an entirely different perspective on who she is. This forces Geralt to question whether she is actually the evil person that Stregobor claims she is. During their conversation in Geralt’s room, Renfri explains the truth behind her experiences with a number of people that Stregobor accused her of murdering without cause. She explains that she was raped by the huntsman who took her to the woods, but she does not admit to killing him. Likewise, she explains that she poisoned Aridea but only after Aridea had spent years trying to have her killed. By explaining the terror and violence she faced before turning to revenge, she is arguing that her actions were justified. By providing her perspective about the people she killed, the chapter poses the question of whether she is evil or monstrous at all. Each of her victims had attacked, imprisoned, or injured her, which makes Renfri’s violent actions seem more like self-defense. 

This chapter draws on fairy tales as a starting point for a new perspective on a familiar story. Renfri’s background closely mirrors the plot structure of Snow White. Renfri’s story touches on most of the elements of the classic story, including the magic mirror, a poisoned apple, and a cruel stepmother. Renfri even ends up living with seven men, although they are gnomes and not dwarves. Renfri’s story, however, deviates from Snow White’s in the ways that it connects to the world of the book and how it ends. In the traditional fairy tale, Snow White is exiled to the woods because her stepmother is jealous of her beauty. Renfri is exiled and subsequently hunted down by Aridea because of a prophecy, the Curse of the Black Sun. Likewise, the end of Renfri’s story deviates significantly from the original. She is not rescued by a wandering prince, but instead takes control of her own life and seeks revenge. Her actions make it difficult for Geralt to trust her, and he kills her in the end. Renfri’s story does not have the happy ending we expect from a fairy tale. Unlike the passive Snow White, who is rescued from a curse, Renfri actively works to save herself from people who fear her. Ultimately, this leads to her death. 

This chapter explores how an individual’s perception of a situation can either hide or reveal the truth. Both Stregobor and Renfri describe the same events to Geralt, but their personal perspectives fundamentally change the events’ meaning. After speaking with Stregobor, Geralt believes his version of events until he actually speaks with Renfri. Stregobor has painted Renfri as a bloodthirsty monster and someone who is destined to murder others. However, when Renfri later describes her actions as a means of survival and justified revenge, Geralt’s opinion shifts significantly, which demonstrates how important perspective is. The importance of perspective also emerges at the end of the chapter, when the crowd responds to Geralt killing Renfri and her men. They do not know that Renfri and her men were a potential threat to Blaviken or Stregobor, so, from their perspective, Geralt is a murderer. As Stregobor points out, the crowd knows only that Geralt slaughtered a number of people in broad daylight. Perhaps with more context, they would be more sympathetic to Geralt.