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Summary
Chapter Four: The Voice of Reason
Geralt tells Iola that he needs to speak to her. While Geralt speaks, Iola is silent through the whole chapter. Geralt commends her for her vow of silence and says that her sacrifice will make her a better being. He tells her that his own faithlessness is powerless. Geralt tells her that he believes in the sword, like every witcher, and explains that all witchers carry two swords, one of iron and one of silver. He explains that people mistakenly believe the silver one is for monsters while the iron one is for humans. In reality, some monsters can only be killed by the iron sword. He tells her that it is a special iron sourced from meteorites. He also explains that he was training before she found him in the furthest corner of the temple’s gardens because it is important for him to keep up his skills.
He questions whether she knows him at all and explains that he is Geralt of nowhere. His home is Kaer Morhen, which was the Witcher’s Settlement, though very little of it remains. Vesemir, a man Geralt refers to as his father, still lives in Kaer Morhen. He explains that Vesemir is not his biological father but admits that he doesn’t know his birth parents. He describes the process of becoming a witcher. It involved a mutation, a trial, and a series of hormones, herbs, and infections. Because he was resilient, he was chosen for further experimentation and is the only witcher to have survived those trials. The experimentation is what turned his hair white.
When he earned his medallion, known as the Sign of the Wolf, he set out from Kaer Morhen to find work. He describes his first “monster” as a man with rotten teeth and a bald head. The man was attempting to rape a teenage girl while a gang restrained her father. Geralt intervened and killed the man. He confesses to Iola that he had wanted the girl and her father to be thankful. But instead, father and daughter were terrified. Geralt says that since then he has only rarely intervened in situations like that.
Geralt tells Iola that he keeps to his own principles as there is no central witcher’s code. He tells her that he hasn’t always kept to it, however, as he listens to his instincts. He says he should have listened to the voice of reason and becomes upset. He says it was wrong to choose the lesser evil and calls himself the Butcher of Blaviken. He tells Iola not to touch him because he doesn’t want her to see what he is thinking about. He confesses that he knows his fate is closing in. He wonders aloud about what it was that tempted him in a place called Cintra and tells Iola that he will never go back there. He talks about a child who was born around the feast of Belleteyn, which he thinks is an interesting coincidence because that is when Yennefer was born. He thanks Iola for listening to him and insists that he’s quite fine.
Analysis
The topic of faith is explored once again in Geralt’s conversation with Iola. His monologue hints that he is experiencing a moral or spiritual crisis. While he doesn’t directly discuss his concerns, he circles the topic as he speaks. Geralt takes a distinctly different tone with Iola on the subject of religion and belief than he has previously. In an earlier conversation with Nenneke, Geralt was dismissive of religion, but here he admits that he respects Iola for her faith. Most importantly, however, he speaks of his own faithlessness as powerless. Through his conversation, he touches on various ways he has found meaning through his life, from his belief in the sword to the home he found in Kaer Morhen to his first attempt at heroism. Ultimately, his ruminations lead him back to his regret about killing Renfri in Blaviken. His focus on this event suggests that he is still haunted by what he did there, and it leads him to think about other mistakes from his past. His code, instinct, and belief system cannot bring him any comfort or ease his regret. He repeats Nenneke’s words from “Chapter 2: The Voice of Reason,” describing his faithlessness as powerless. Geralt’s crisis of meaning carries through his entire conversation with Iola.
The unusual structure of this chapter creates a space in which Geralt is able to put voice to his innermost thoughts while also providing crucial background information for his character. Iola has taken a vow of silence, so only Geralt speaks. There is no third-person narration in this chapter, so all the events unfold as Geralt describes them and reacts to Iola verbally. One example is when Geralt tells Iola not to touch him after he describes himself as the Butcher of Blaviken. This suggests that Iola has reached out to him in some way. Using the context and Geralt’s words, readers can piece together how Iola responds. This makes the chapter function like a soliloquy, which can put more focus on Geralt’s inner thoughts. It is almost as though Geralt is talking directly to an audience as he shares his thoughts and background with Iola. He can be entirely open with her because she will never repeat anything he tells her.
Geralt’s “first noble deed,” as he describes it, was a moment of disillusionment. Geralt questions his motivations for helping the peasant girl on the side of the road and recognizes that he had dreamed of becoming something of a heroic figure to her. He admits that he wanted her to express gratitude for being her savior, and wanted her father to do the same. This naïve vision of how a situation like that might play out is shattered when Geralt is treated very differently than he expected. The girl has been traumatized by the event, including Geralt’s bloody killing of her attacker. This moment informs how Geralt approaches his role as a witcher. In the future, he avoids similar situations and focuses on non-human monsters. In so doing, Geralt effectively admits to giving up on the idea of heroism and instead approaches his work like a job.
Geralt describes the process of becoming a witcher, which provides a better understanding of their order. While there have been given implications about what witchers do, this is the first glimpse into what it takes to become one. The process is rigorous and involves several alarming steps, including mutations, intentional viral infections, and complicated experiments. Even more notably, Geralt tells Iola that he’s the only witcher to have survived an advanced set of trials, implying that the process can be fatal. On top of this, Geralt tells Iola about the witchers’ home, the fortress Kaer Morhen. All of this reveals many things, but none more important than the fact that the witchers are made. They are not born with the skills and physical makeup that set them apart from humans.
