Good evening to everyone,

recently, I've been completely captivated by the Witcher universe - having finished The Wild Hunt for a second time and read most of the short stories related to the saga, and I have to say it's been a very pleasant surprise. Not that my expectations were low, but its naturalistic portrayal of people and the profundity of some underlying thoughts was something that really appealed to me, and maybe it's just me, but even though it's known as a story-driven fantasy series, I often found it very thought-provoking; sometimes brooding, sometimes life-affirming.

What I especially appreciate is that it seems (at least to me) that unlike in most epic tales, where courage or a love story is usually the most important, here, it all gravitates towards the value of family - at least that's the way I see it, and the fact that it is sought by characters who, as it happens, cannot start a family of their own, makes its impact even more powerful. That's also why the story "Something More" was one of the most stimulating short stories I've read - the last lines, in particular, are outright formidable.

The irony is that I, incidentally, don't have my own family yet, either, but then I guess it only goes to show what they say - you value the most what you do not have. It's books and ideas like these, though, that always make me realize how ludicrous we can be - arguing with, hurting, or even killing one another over retardely trifling things, and point out how groundless all the hate, anger and pain is.

Of course, I'm a human too, but that shouldn't be a redemptive statement which you can use any time you do something wrong and with which you can shrug off the realization of your mistakes, and simply carry on with them. So I think the thing to do is next time you're about to get angry or anxious about your payroll being a few bucks lower, about your neighbor getting that nice swimming pool built, about your wife grazing the paint of the left door of your beloved Audi, about your husband being pinned down to the chair on a football matchday while you're missing the seventy-fifth episode of your favorite show, consider this: We've all been given but a few decades in this world; is that what you want to have spent them doing?

But back to family, whose decline and disintegration, I believe, is one of the greatest problems of these days. Many tend to (myself included, at times) blame the state of society on the system, be it political, educational, or another. But I'd that there is something much more basic at the heart of most problems - the family. What else can possilby come out from a broken family than a broken man? I see so many families of this sort, and I do not, of course, have in mind the typical notion of a family riven with drugs, violence or alcohol, which you might encounter in a movie, but seemingly normal families in which the children get raised on their own - by their peers or idols, but not by their parents, who probably have them like pets for decoration or just because they felt like, or because all the neighbors had had them too; not by parents, who, perhaps, just pursue their careers and work until the evening every day with no sense of family responsibility...

If I were to mention another fundamental (and increasingly more so now) value, it would be tolerance, which is a concept that also pervades the Witcher universe, but tolerance, I suppose, is connected to the family, anyway - it's something that you can (and should) be guided towards, not an inherent trait that have to be born with, even though it might be an easy and convenient excuse for some.

Well, what's your take on this, guys?

Peace out,

Rev

PS. The Witcher inspired me so much that I even wrote a short poem; feel free to have a read, if you will

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2015

Interesting conclusion you came to .
I have read all 8 books portaying Geralt, actually not that long ago (I started with the 1st one after Wild Hunt was released - didn't have HW for it so I read the books instead) and throughout the entire saga and the short stories I never came up with such idea.
But on retrospect I have to agree - neither of them could start a family. Never to experience something that is supposed to be your birth right - to see your children grow up before you're dead.
Notion of this world is - nothing is permanent - so in turn petty fights over who's right are in fact a waste of life. There's this saying "Time is Money", but there's one that best it:
"Time is more valuable than money, you can get more money, but you cannot get more time."

Regarding the story, I was actually on a quest to find out what made Yen so attractive to Geralt. But maybe I misunderstood the 1st book ending.


Very nice that poem of yours. Be careful, someone may turn it into a song

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2015

Just wait until you have a family of your own, and when that time comes I would bet diamonds to doughnuts that you just might reconsider, re-evaluate that notion.

I have not read a word of any of the series of which you speak, though I heard a distant sound of horse's hooves an a cobble stoned drive upon reading yours. A mighty fine stumble, thanks.

 

Heh, that idea actually had crossed my mind, but since my singing is not exactly presentable, I think I'll gladly let someone else do the honors

As for the conclusion I came up with - that's what's so great about fiction: people of various mindsets can read the same book, and yet each one of them might find a familiar spot or idea in it, different as they may be.

To make the impression I had even more intense, this ethereal piece of music has been hanuting me ever since I first heard it:

Glad you liked it, and I really do heartily recommend the Witcher, because as far as literature is concerned (and not only literature, as a matter of fact), I'm not easily impressed, but the first two books of short stories managed to do just that.