In Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher books, monster hunter Geralt of Rivia tends to speak plainly, and he doesn’t have much patience for verbal evasions or flattery from the nobles and sorcerers perpetually trying to draw him into their schemes. The author himself is similarly blunt. While CD Projekt RED’s Witcher video games and Netflix’s Witcher TV show helped make Sapkowski’s books into global bestsellers, translated from their native Polish and shared around the world, he doesn’t want to talk much about those adaptations. He also doesn’t like working too hard, sharing much about his writing process, or talking to journalists in general.
Yet Sapkowski has a new book coming out Sept. 30, so he agreed to a brief email Q&A with Polygon. The prequel The Witcher: Crossroads of Ravens (read a preview excerpt here) tells the story of Geralt’s first big adventure as he’s offered the chance to become the heir to Holt, a veteran Witcher considering retirement. Sapkowski provided some quick, candid answers to our questions about returning to the series, his audience, and his muse.
Polygon: What made you decide to write a new entry in The Witcher series?
Andrzej Sapkowski: Put the blame on the Muse. Since the dawn of time, it is the Muse who has been responsible for a writer’s inspiration. The Muse flies over writers’ heads and gives him that spark. And that’s exactly what happened to me.
What interested you in exploring Geralt when he was young?
Who knows? Perhaps it was the prospect of viewing the character from a slightly different perspective? Maybe the addition of details to the character’s life that might intrigue the reader? Perhaps the explanation of certain connections linking the effects, which the reader already knows from previous books, to their actual causes? Maybe something akin to a quasi time travel?
Holt’s training of Geralt feels very similar to Geralt’s training of Ciri. How does writing a prequel let you add depth to your characters?
Let’s leave the judgment to the readers. It ultimately depends on their perception whether a character has gained depth or not. I could bust my guts and put in a tremendous effort to give a character as much depth as the Pacific Ocean, yet a reader might read it and decide there’s no depth at all. And that’s that. The beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder.
What were your inspirations for Holt? Why did you want to give Geralt a very different mentor from Vesemir?
The inspiration was the imagined and detailed-ly planned plot of the book. The plot required Holt, so he had to be invented and included. In other words, the plot created him. In this plot, Vesemir did not fit; he was unnecessary both as an active character and as Geralt’s mentor. The plot is the queen; it decides who appears in the book, what they do, what they say, and what fate befalls them.
You’ve said that the developers of The Witcher games sometimes come to you with questions. Have they been reaching out to you about The Witcher 4?
I don’t recall. Maybe. In any case, whenever I was asked for advice or guidance, I certainly provided it.
Is there anything you hope to see from that game as the story shifts focus to Ciri?
I can’t respond because I don’t know the topic. As I’ve mentioned on various occasions, I don’t play games. Any games. Therefore, I don’t know what any particular game is about or what its focus is or what I hope to see, so please don’t ask me about it. To clarify, I have nothing against games as such. It’s just not a form of entertainment for me; I prefer other ways to spend my free time.
What are your thoughts on Netflix’s The Witcher TV series?
My thoughts vary depending on the situation and the specific matter at hand.
Many fans have explored your worlds through adaptations but not read your books. Is there anything you’d like to tell them to encourage them to pick up the novels?
True book lovers need no convincing about the value of books and their advantage over visual adaptations; they know well that the written word always and decidedly triumphs over images, and no picture — animated or otherwise — can match the power of the written word.
Devoted fans of visual media are unlikely to be swayed by this argument, and it is futile to try. The same applies to those who live by the motto “TL, DR” (Too Long, Didn’t Read). No argument will reach them. We simply need to wait for them to mature and discover books in their own time. And they surely will, eventually.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
