"The Last Wish" by Andrzej Sapkowski, summary

This book opens the series about the mercenary hunter Geralt of Rivia, subverting familiar fairytale tropes through the cold lens of biological expediency, egoism, the professional witcher code, and the harsh laws of medieval reality. Animal nature confronts human nature. This collection of fantasy novellas by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski was published in 1993.

The work formed the basis for a 2001 Polish television series, a 2019 American film adaptation, and a world-famous series of computer role-playing games.

The book is the first in the "Witcher Saga" series, which also includes the "Sword of Destiny" collection, the novels "Blood of Elves," "Hour of Contempt," "Baptism of Fire," "The Tower of the Swallow," "The Lady of the Lake," and the prequel "Season of Storms."

The Sanctuary Frame and the Curse of Vizima

A large reward was announced in Vizima. King Foltest promised three thousand orens to the brave soul who could undo the curse on his fourteen-year-old daughter from her incestuous relationship with her sister. The child grew up to be a bloodthirsty vampire. The monster emerged from the dungeons of the old palace at the stroke of midnight, tore apart the betrayed nobleman Ostrit, and furiously attacked the White Wolf, who defended himself with silver-spiked gauntlets, restraining chains, protective magical Signs, and his mother’s heirloom sarcophagus. The third rooster crowed, signaling the lifting of the curse. The princess transformed into a weak girl, slashing the unguarded hunter’s throat with her long claws before collapsing from blood loss. Velerad generously paid the reward. The seriously wounded witcher took the silver he was entitled to and hurried away from the royal court for treatment.

Nivellen’s mansion in the wilderness

The blue rose smelled overly strong. Geralt plucked the wilted flower from the tattered dress of a merchant’s daughter, found in a remote, heather-covered forest clearing. The tracks led to the estate. The enchanted half-man, half-bear Nivellen hospitably treated the traveler to a hearty meal, recounting the story of the plunder of the Temple of the Lionheaded Spider, the retribution for the crime, the fruitless attempts to break the spell with the affections of the merchant’s daughters, and the recent appearance of the mysterious winged lover, Vereen. The mare sensed the presence of a greater vampire.

Near a dried-up fountain, the hunter encountered a pale bruxa, capable of tearing human bodies apart with a deafening, sonic ram of inhuman destructive power. Nivellen rammed a pole through the beast’s chest. The silver blade severed the winged bloodsucker’s head in a desperate leap, and hot blood restored the forest monster to its former human form as a handsome youth. Love demanded great sacrifice. The hunter left its healed master to heal, hurrying to continue his endless wanderings along the dusty roads of the devastated kingdom. The roach obediently quickened its pace. New dangerous assignments, cold nights under the stars, and the roadside dust of foreign lands awaited the witcher.

Bloody Choice in Blaviken

Blaviken greeted the traveler with a commotion. The sorcerer Stregobor had taken refuge inside an impregnable tower, fleeing the inevitable bloody vengeance of Princess Renfri, nicknamed the Shrike. The ultimatum demanded immediate murder. Stregobor justified the brutal reprisal as a lesser evil, believing the girl to be a product of dark forces due to a rare congenital mutation, the Curse of the Black Sun, which supposedly condemns all those born during the eclipse to inhuman cruelty. The witcher Geralt flatly rejected the offer. That night, Renfri secretly entered the witcher’s room, recounting her humiliation, poverty, forest robbery, and her stepmother’s betrayal. The girl rejected the call to leave. A chance conversation with Mayor Caldemeyn revealed to the hunter the bandits’ plan to seize hostages at a crowded fair to lure out the barricaded mage.

In the morning, the square was stained with blood. Geralt blocked the path of Shrike’s thugs, cold-bloodedly dispatching six experienced fighters with masterful blows from his drawn steel witcher sword. Chieftain Renfri herself stepped forward. A precise strike severed an artery in the princess’s thigh, causing her to fade away before the eyes of the onlookers gathered around the scene of the massacre. The crowd responded with a hail of stones. Mayor Caldemeyn banished the shocked witcher from the city forever, bestowing upon him the shameful nickname "The Butcher of Blaviken." In fear, Stregobor hastened to escape. The lone traveler left the inhospitable walls to the whistles and curses of the terrified inhabitants of the coastal trading settlement. He had no choice. The cold calculation of the rulers once again turned a sincere desire to save the innocent into a senseless tragedy of violated justice.

Dynastic feast in Cintra

The feast resounded with the clink of goblets. Queen Calanthe seated a disguised witcher, posing as Lord Ravix, nearby, hoping to sabotage her courtship of Princess Pavetta. Urchin of Erlenwald appeared. The spiky knight demanded the heir to the Cintran throne, promised by right of surprise, removing his closed helmet before the enraged guests and revealing the hideous, bristly snout of a forest beast at the supposed hour of midnight. Pavetta consented to the monstrous suitor. The guards rushed at the unarmed stranger, forcing Geralt and the Skellig warrior Eist Turseach to defend the stranger. The princess lost control of her senses. The girl’s primal family magic lifted heavy oak tables, embroidered carpets, and shattering tableware into the air. The witcher and the druid dispelled the whirlwind. True Midnight lifted the curse on the knight Duny thanks to Calanthe’s sincere maternal consent to a happy, unequal marriage. The rescued groom offered payment. Geralt demanded as a reward something his father didn’t yet know, having heard Pavetta’s confession of pregnancy.

Crops of the Dol Blatana Valley

Dandelion discussed peasant labor. The villagers of Nizhny Posad asked the travelers to drive the mischievous goat-legged sylvan Torque from the hemp thickets without causing harm. The settlers revered the mute soothsayer. The hunt for the horned imp ended with a surprise attack by a mounted detachment of free elves from the Blue Mountains, who tied up the companions to preserve the secret of the systematic theft of seed grain and sentenced the defenseless witnesses to immediate and brutal execution. Torque shielded his friends with his body. In a rage, the elf Toruviel managed to smash the stranger’s lute before the mysterious savior of the doomed captives appeared. The radiant Maiden of the Fields emerged. Leader Filavandrel knelt before the majestic goddess Dana Meabdh, who appeared in the guise of the meek village orphan Lille. Seidhe’s death sentence was commuted. Toruviel silently presented Dandelion with a precious elven lute of exquisite craftsmanship to replace the broken instrument before the detachment retreated back to the mountains.

Soon, Torque decided to change homes. An ancient book revealed to the travelers the secret of the eternal veneration of a fertility deity by the ancient races of the flourishing southern plain. The travelers had left the edge of the world. Ahead, the lights of new settlements flickered, promising new worries, odd jobs, and the road dust of endless wanderings. Dandelion composed sublime verses. The soft ringing of renewed strings accompanied the travelers for a long time along the picturesque chain of clear lakes in the border province. Snow-capped peaks lay behind them. The witcher silently listened to his friend’s song, reflecting on the passing of time and the inexorable flow of eras.

Hurricane within the walls of Rinda

A clay amphora concealed a prisoner. The freed djinn severed Dandelion’s vocal cords, forcing the witcher to hastily seek magical aid in rebellious Rinde. Yennefer exuded lilac and gooseberries. The power-hungry, black-haired sorceress healed the poet, captivated the witcher’s will with enchantments, and sent him to punish the city’s offenders, while she herself constructed a complex trap to capture an elemental monster right in the middle of a tavern undergoing renovations. Geralt came to his senses. The prison guard suddenly burst from a curse cast in anger, revealing the true identity of the wishes he had made. The city shook from the hurricane. The hunter leaped through an unstable portal into the epicenter of the catastrophe, finding the sorceress on the verge of complete physical exhaustion. The roof of the building collapsed. Geralt uttered a final, life-saving wish, forever linking his own fate with that of the proud, beautiful sorceress. Beneath the rubble of the building, the surviving lovers gave in to their suddenly ignited passion.

Vision in the Temple Courtyard

At the edge of the forest near the sanctuary, a detachment of the Knights of the White Rose blocked the path of the travelers. Tayles was eager for easy glory. Count Falwick threatened to force a duel, forbidding any harm to the king’s favorite under penalty of immediate and shameful execution. Geralt parried the attack with someone else’s sword. The arrogant youth’s weapon bounced off an oncoming iron block and smacked him in the face, clearing the hunter of blame thanks to the incorruptible dwarven captain of the prince’s guard, Dennis Cranmer, who faithfully recorded the duel. The farewell in the temple was cut short. The mute Iola handed over a chest of fresh elixirs, suddenly shuddering from a terrifying, spontaneous, prophetic attack. The vision promised blood and death. Nenneke vainly prayed to the White Wolf to remain within the reliable protection of the sacred walls of the ancient monastery. The rider touched the horse’s reins.

Ahead lay a dangerous, unknown road, calling him to face the trials to come and the great battles predestined by fate. The witcher never looked back. Behind him lay the peaceful poplars of the temple alley, concealing the secret of an inexorable and menacing destiny. The path lay south. Dandelion began his usual journeying song, dispelling the disquieting shadows of the twilight gathering over the kingdoms.