How many witches and wizards are there in England? What is the magical population of the UK? This is a question that most folks who write fanfiction have pondered at least once. I seem to recall that somewhere JKR herself stated that there are roughly 3,000 magicals in the UK. Watching the movies, especially the final battle where thousands of Dark Lord supporters seem to attack Hogwarts, seems to contradict this image though, and we all know how bad Dear Jo is at mathematics. So I decided to waste a bit of time to see if I could come up with a reasonable SWAG at what the population would be.
Let's start off with some basic assumptions. We can speculate that there were 40 first year students when Harry started Hogwarts. I say speculate because it is always possible for there to be any number of students simply left unmentioned; JKR herself has stated that there are two other, unmentioned girls in the Griffindor class along with Hermione, Parvati and Lavender. But let's go with 40 kids. Assuming there are also 40 kids in each of the other six years there is a total of 280 students in Hogwarts during Harry's tenure. Now to extrapolate this out to the size of the population: if we assume that all magical children attend Hogwarts we conclude that there are 280 people in the British magical population between 11 and 18.
Now, if we look at the population as a whole and try to get a handle on the age spread of that we can draw some conclusions. We know that magical live longer than non-magicals, but how much longer? We know that Dumbledore is approximately 125 during the HP series, and we know that at least one member of the Wizarding Exam Board was an examiner when Dumbledore took his OWLS so we can assume that she is around 165 and still working. So let us assume that magical live twice as long, on average, as non-magicals; that would make Dumbledore roughly the equivalent of a school principal in his early 60's, which seems reasonable, and dear old Grizelda Marchbanks in her 80's and still working. From personal experience I have worked with a couple of folks who worked well into their 80's so this is also reasonable. It is also easy to work with.
So now we look at the population vs. age distribution of Great Britain and simply double the ages. Not incredibly accurate but reasonable for a SWAG. A little work tells us that if magical Britain follows the same age distribution as Non-magical then 5.5% of the magical population should be between the ages of 11 and 18. If all school age children attend Hogwarts and there are 280 students then the total magical population of Great Britain is approximately 5100; which is remarkable not too far off from what JKR posited. In the 1190's the total population of Great Britain was roughly 58 million so the idea that magic occurs in about 1 in 1000 is pretty close to the mark. This conclusion also fits well with the facts that there is only one totally magical village in Britain, namely Hogsmeade, and one major magical shopping district, Diagon Alley, likely with a permanent magical population similar to Hogsmeade. The village of Godrics Hollow has a significant magical population, with at least the Potters, the Dumbledores, and the Bagshots living there, and several other clusters of families, such as the Weasleys, Lovegoods, and Diggorys in Ottery St. Catchpole, scattered throughout.
Now in the US in the 1990's the population was approximately 250 million, or roughly 5 times the size of GB. So we can then extrapolate that there would be roughly 25000 magicals in the US and reasonable up to 5 schools of magic, if we keep the size of each to around Hogwarts standards. We are told of only one in canon, the Salem Witch's Institute, assumedly located near Salem Massachusetts. So where would the others be located? The first five colleges founded in the US were: Harvard in Mass, William and Mary in Virginia, Yale in Connecticut, Princeton in New Jersey, and U Penn in Philadelphia. If SWI is in Mass, it may be safe to assume that one would be located in Virginia and at least one in the mid-atlantic region of NJ/Penn.
One of my personal favorite fanfic writers, DrT, wrote several stories where the Druids left England in a manner similar to how the Puritans did but traveled further west before settling, establishing schools in the American far west. Excellent reads if you are interested and his work is posted on several sites, including , Ficwad, and Schnoogle. He is a prolific writer with a wide range of plots.
Anyways, to conclude my little piece of distraction, we can reasonably guess that approximately one in a thousand births result in a magical child. There are roughly five thousand plus witches and wizards living in Great Britain and twenty five thousand in the US. If there is only one magical school in Great Britain there are likely five in the US and considering the greater geographical size of the US these are likely boarding schools as well. Maybe next time I have an hour to kill I'll look at the Galleons to dollars conversion and see how much sense the 1G to $5 rule of thumb goes?
The Last Wish (1993) Sword of Destiny (1992) Blood of Elves (1994) Time of Contempt (1995) Baptism of Fire (1996) The Tower of the Swallow (1997) The Lady of the Lake (1999) Season of Storms (2013) | |
Author | Andrzej Sapkowski |
---|---|
Country | Poland |
Language | Polish |
Genre | Fantasy |
Publisher | Gollancz, Orbit Books |
The Witcher (Polish: Wiedźmin, Polish pronunciation: [ˈvʲɛd͡ʑmʲin]), by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, is a fantasy series of short stories and novels about the protagonist character Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's books, 'witchers' like Geralt are monster hunters who (with training and body modification) develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle deadly beasts. The books have been adapted into a film, a television series, video games, and a graphic novel series. The series of novels is known as the Witcher Saga. The short stories and novels have been translated into numerous languages, including English.
The books have been described as having a cult following in Poland,[1] the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria and other Central and Eastern European countries.[1] The video games have been very successful, and as of March 2018, they have sold over 33 million copies worldwide.[2]
- 1Books
- 2Setting
- 3Translations
- 4Adaptations
- 4.1Comic books
- 4.3Games
Books[edit]
The Witcher short stories by the author Andrzej Sapkowski were first published in Polish science fiction and fantasy magazine Fantastyka, beginning in the mid-1980s. The first short story, 'Wiedźmin' ('The Witcher') (1986), was written for a contest held by the magazine and won third place. The first four stories dealing with the witcher Geralt of Rivia were originally featured in a 1990 short story collection titled Wiedźmin (The Witcher) — now out of print — with 'Droga, z której się nie wraca' ('The Road with No Return'), which is set before the Witcher stories and features Geralt's mother to be.
There Are So Many
The second published short story collection was Miecz przeznaczenia (Sword of Destiny). Although Ostatnie życzenie (The Last Wish) was published after Sword of Destiny, it replaced The Witcher as the first book since it included all the stories in The Witcher, except 'The Road with No Return' (the only story without Geralt). Although new short stories were added to The Last Wish, they took place before those in Sword of Destiny.
Although 'The Road with No Return' and 'Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna' ('Something Ends, Something Begins', an alternate ending of the Witcher saga about Geralt and Yennefer's wedding written as a wedding gift for Sapkowski's friends) were later published in 2000 in Something Ends, Something Begins and in 2012 in Maladie and Other Stories (Maladie i inne opowiadania) collections, the other stories in those books are unconnected to the Witcher series. In some Polish editions, 'The Road with No Return' and 'Something Ends, Something Begins' are added to The Last Wish or Sword of Destiny.
The Witcher stories[edit]
- Miecz Przeznaczenia (Sword of Destiny) (1992, English edition: 2015)
- Ostatnie życzenie (The Last Wish) (1993, English edition: 2007) – Note that while The Last Wish was published after Sword of Destiny, the stories contained in The Last Wish take place first chronologically, and many of the individual stories were published before Sword of Destiny.
Saga[edit]
The saga focuses on Geralt of Rivia and Ciri, a child of destiny. Ciri, princess of a recently conquered country and a pawn of international politics, becomes a witcher-in-training. Geralt is drawn into a whirlwind of events in his attempts to protect her.
- Krew elfów (Blood of Elves) (1994, English edition: 2008)
- Czas pogardy (Time of Contempt) (1995, English edition: 2013)
- Chrzest ognia (Baptism of Fire) (1996, English edition: 2014)
- Wieża Jaskółki (The Tower of the Swallow) (1997, English edition: 2016)
- Pani Jeziora (The Lady of the Lake) (1999, English edition: 2017)
Standalone novel[edit]
- Sezon burz (Season of Storms) (2013, English edition: 2018) – Set between short stories in The Last Wish, but containing a few hints on events which follow the original pentalogy.
Non-Witcher anthologies[edit]
In Polish:
- Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna (Something Ends, Something Begins) (2000) – Stories by Sapkowski, including two Witcher stories: 'The Road with No Return' and 'Something Ends, Something Begins'.
- Maladie i inne opowiadania (Maladie and Other Stories, not to be confused with the English e-book sampler of the same name) (2012) – Stories by Sapkowski, also including 'The Road with No Return' and 'Something Ends, Something Begins'.
In English:
- Chosen by Fate: Zajdel Award Winner Anthology (2000) - English anthology, by SuperNOVA in cooperation with the Silesian Club of Fantasy Literature, included a translation by Agnieszka Fulińska of 'The Witcher' short story entitled 'The Hexer'. The story also appears, with a different translation, in The Last Wish as well as in A Polish Book of Monsters.
- A Polish Book of Monsters (2010) – English anthology edited and translated by Michael Kandel, with a translation of 'The Witcher' short story entitled 'Spellmaker'.
- Maladie and Other Stories (2014) – English e-book sampler with a translation of 'The Witcher' and 'The Edge of the World' short stories, and also the first chapters of Blood of Elves and Baptism of Fire.
Spin-offs[edit]
In 2013, the Polish publishing house Solaris published a collection of eight short stories, Opowieści ze świata Wiedźmina, written by eight Russian and Ukrainian fantasy writers (including Andrei Belyanin and Vladimir Vasilyev) set in the world of The Witcher and/or featuring characters from the saga.[3] In 2017, a similar collection of eleven short stories by eleven authors, chosen through a competition organized in 2016 by the Polish magazine Nowa Fantastyka, was published by SuperNowa.[4][5][6]
Setting[edit]
Background[edit]
The stories are set on an unnamed Continent,[7] which was settled several thousand years earlier by elves from overseas. When they arrived, the elves encountered gnomes and dwarves. After a period of war between the elves and dwarves, the dwarves retreated into the mountains and the elves settled in the plains and forests. Human colonists arrived about five hundred years before the events in the stories, igniting a series of wars. The humans were victorious, and became dominant; the non-human races, now considered second-class citizens, often live in small ghettos within human settlements. Those not confined to the ghettos live in wilderness regions not yet claimed by humans. Other races on the Continent are halflings and dryads; werewolves and vampires appeared after a magical event, known as the Conjunction of the Spheres.
During the centuries preceding the stories, most of the Continent's southern regions have been taken over by the Nilfgaard Empire; the north belongs to the fragmented Northern Kingdoms. The Witcher saga takes place in the aftermath of the first major war between the Nilfgaard Empire and the Northern Kingdoms, with a second war beginning in the middle of the series.
Major characters[edit]
- Geralt cosplay
- Yennefer cosplay
- Ciri cosplay
- Dandelion (with the lute) cosplay Audiophile diy speaker kits.
- Triss cosplay
- Geralt of Rivia (Polish: Geralt z Rivii), known also as Gwynnbleid (Elder Speech: 'White Wolf') and the Butcher of Blaviken,[8] is the protagonist of the series and its adaptations. A witcher, who travels the Continent and makes a living hunting monsters that plague the land. Péter Apor argues that he embodies the 'neo-liberal anti-politics' spirit of the Polish popular culture of the 1990s.[9]
- Yennefer of Vengerberg (Polish: Yennefer z Vengerbergu) first appeared in the collection of short stories, The Last Wish, featuring in the short story of the same name. She went on to appear in numerous other Witcher stories as the 'soul mate' of Geralt and is one of the main characters of the Witcher saga.[citation needed] In Polish 2002 film and 2002 TV series she was played by Grażyna Wolszczak.
- Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon (known as Ciri, from the name Zireael in the Elder Speech (meaning 'Swallow'; Polish: Jaskółka)), also known as the Lion Cub of Cintra, Child of the Elder Blood, and the Lady of Time and Space, is the princess of Cintra, daughter of Pavetta and Duny (also known as the Urcheon of Erlenwald) and granddaughter of Queen Calanthe. She is also Geralt's and Yennefer's adopted daughter, around whom much of the plot is centered. Ciri is a descendant of Lara Dorren and has the Elder blood which gives her access to powers that allow her to cross space and time. Ciri has ashen grey hair and green emerald eyes, a trait that runs in her family.[citation needed] In Polish 2002 film and 2002 TV series she was played by Marta Bitner [pl].[10]
- Dandelion (Polish: Jaskier) is a poet, minstrel, bard and Geralt's best friend. The Polish word jaskier actually refers to the Buttercup flower (Ranunculus). Some of his more famous ballads were about the relationship between Geralt and Yennefer. By the time of the saga he is already in his 40s though it is said that he appears to be in his 30s and is sometimes mistaken for an elf. He accompanies Geralt in many of the short stories and ends up joining his hansa while searching for Ciri.[citation needed] He is played by Joey Batey in the The Witcher TV series.[11] In the 2001 Polish Wiedźmin he was played by Zbyszek Zamachowski. Zamachowski will play the same role in the Polish Pół wieku poezji później ('Half Century of Poetry Later') fanfic film.[12]
- Triss Merigold of Maribor, a sorceress and a friend of Geralt and Yennefer. She took care of Ciri for some time and is like an older sister to her. She was member of the Lodge of Sorceresses. Triss is in love with Geralt. The image of Triss Merigold from The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings appeared as cover girl in the Polish edition of Playboy in May 2011.[13] She also appeared in a live model calendar for the game in Russia.[14]
Geography[edit]
Although no map of the universe created by Sapkowski has been released, several maps have been created by fans. According to Sapkowski, the existing maps are 'mostly accurate' and he uses a version created by Czech translator Stanislav Komárek.[15]
Kovir & Poviss | Hengfors | Kaedwen |
Redania | Mahakam | Aedirn |
Cintra | Temeria | Lyria & Rivia |
Nilfgaard |
The Continent can be divided into four regions. The Northern Kingdoms (where most of the saga takes place) consists of Aedirn, Cidaris, Cintra, Hengfors League, Kaedwen, Kerack, Kovir and Poviss, Lyria and Rivia, Redania, Temeria and Verden and several minor duchies and principalities such as Bremervoord or Ellander. The Nilfgaard Empire occupies most of the area south of the Northern Kingdoms. The eastern part of the Continent, such as the Korath desert, Zerrikania, Hakland and the Fiery Mountains, is mostly unknown. The book series mentions overseas countries with whom the Northern Kingdoms trade, including Zangvebar, Ofir, Hannu and Barsa.[citation needed]
Language[edit]
Sapkowski created a language for the series known as Elder Speech,[16][17] based on Welsh, English, French, Irish, Latin and other languages. Dialects are spoken on the Skellige Islands and in Nilfgaard. In an interview Sapkowski explained that he wanted the language to be reasonably legible to a reader, to avoid footnotes. As he said: 'In my book, I do not want for an orc telling to another orc 'Burbatuluk grabataluk!' to be supplied with a footnote: 'Shut the door, don't let the flies in!'[18]
Translations[edit]
The stories and novels have been translated into various languages, including Slovak, Czech, Danish, Portuguese, German, Russian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Finnish, French, Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Swedish, Hungarian, Dutch, Chinese, Georgian, English and Persian.[19]
English translations[edit]
Title | Publication date[20] | Publisher |
---|---|---|
The Last Wish (Ostanie życzenie) Translated by Danusia Stok | 2007 | Gollancz |
2008 | Orbit | |
Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia) Translated by David French | 2015[21] | Gollancz |
Orbit | ||
Blood of Elves (Krew elfów) Translated by Danusia Stok | 2008 | Gollancz |
2009 | Orbit | |
Time of Contempt (UK) The Time of Contempt (US) (Czas pogardy) Translated by David French | 2013 | Gollancz |
Orbit | ||
Baptism of Fire (Chrzest ognia) Translated by David French | 2014 | Gollancz |
Orbit | ||
The Tower of the Swallow (UK) The Tower of Swallows (US) (Wieża jaskółki) Translated by David French | 2016[21][22] | Gollancz |
Orbit | ||
The Lady of the Lake (Pani Jeziora) Translated by David French | 2017[21] | Gollancz |
Orbit | ||
Season of Storms (Sezon burz) Translated by David French | 2018[23] | Gollancz |
Orbit |
The name 'Witcher'[edit]
Sapkowski chose wiedźmin as the male equivalent of the Polish word for witch (wiedźma).[24] In his book 2005 book-interview Historia i Fantastyka Sapkowski noted that the word 'witcher' is a natural male version of the English word 'witch', and implied that the similarity between those two words, as well as between the German terms, was the inspiration coining wiedźmin as a new Polish word.[24] Polish video game designer Adrian Chmielarz claimed to have invented the translation of wiedźmin into English as witcher around 1996-1997.[25]
Although wiedźmin is now usually translated into English as 'witcher', an earlier translation of the title was 'hexer' (the title of the 2001 film adaptation and the first official English translation in the 2000 short story collection Chosen by Fate: Zajdel Award Winner Anthology);[26]Hexe and Hexer are the German words for 'witch' and 'warlock' respectively.[24]CD Projekt used 'witcher' for the title of its 2007 English release of the video game,[25] and Danusia Stok used it in her translation of Ostanie życzenie that was published the same year.[27][28]Michael Kandel however used 'spellmaker' in his 2010 translation of 'Wiedźmin' short story for A Book of Polish Monsters anthology.[29]
Adaptations[edit]
Comic books[edit]
From 1993 to 1995, Sapkowski's stories were adapted into six comic books by Maciej Parowski (story), Bogusław Polch (art) and Sapkowski:[30]
- Droga bez powrotu (The Road with No Return) – Based on the short story 'Droga, z której się nie wraca'
- Geralt – Based on the short story 'Wiedźmin' ('The Witcher')
- Mniejsze zło (The Lesser Evil) – Based on the short story with the same title
- Ostatnie życzenie (The Last Wish) – Based on the short story with the same title
- Granica możliwości (The Bounds of Reason) – Based on the short story with the same title
- Zdrada (Betrayal) – Based on an 'unused idea for a short story'[citation needed]
In 2013, Dark Horse Comics announced a comic book series called The Witcher, based on the video-game series and made in collaboration with CD Projekt Red.[31]
Issues[edit]
Story Arc | Issue | Release Date | Story | Art | Colors | Cover |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
House of Glass | #1 | March 19, 2014 | Paul Tobin | Joe Querio | Carlos Badilla | Dan Panosian & Dave Johnson |
#2 | April 23, 2014 | Joe Querio | ||||
#3 | May 21, 2014 | |||||
#4 | June 18, 2014 | |||||
#5 | July 16, 2014 | |||||
Fox Children | #1 | April 1, 2015 | Paul Tobin | Joe Querio | Carlos Badilla | Joe Querio |
#2 | May 6, 2015 | |||||
#3 | June 3, 2015 | |||||
#4 | July 1, 2015 | |||||
#5 | August 5, 2015 | |||||
Killing Monsters (HC) | May 19, 2015 | Paul Tobin | Max Bertolini | Carlos Badilla | Joe Querio | |
Curse of Crows | #1 | August 31, 2016 | STORY: Paul Tobin with Borys Pugacz-Muraszkiewicz & Karolina Stachyra DIALOGUE: Travis Currit | Piotr Kowalski | Brad Simpson | Grzesiek Przybyś |
#2 | October 5, 2016 | |||||
#3 | November 2, 2016 | |||||
#4 | December 7, 2016 | |||||
#5 | March 22, 2017 | |||||
Of Flesh and Flame | #1 | December 19, 2018 | Aleksandra Motyka | Marianna Strychowska | Marianna Strychowska | |
#2 | January 23, 2019 | |||||
#3 | February 20, 2019 | |||||
#4 | April 3, 2019 |
Collections[edit]
Title | Release Date | Collects | Cover | ISBN |
---|---|---|---|---|
The Witcher – Volume 1: House of Glass[32] | September 24, 2014 |
| Mike Mignola | 9781616554743 |
The Witcher – Volume 2: Fox Children[33] | December 16, 2015 |
| Julián Totino Tedesco | 9781616557935 |
The Witcher – Volume 3: Curse of Crows[34] | June 21, 2017 |
| Grzesiek Przybyś | 9781506701615 |
The Witcher – Library Edition Volume One[35] | October 31, 2018 |
| Mike Mignola | 9781506706825 |
Film and television[edit]
The Hexer is the title of a 2001 film and a 2002 TV series, both directed by Marek Brodzki. Michał Żebrowski played Geralt in both. In several interviews, Sapkowski criticized the screen adaptations: 'I can answer only with a single word, an obscene, albeit a short one.'[36]
In 2015, Platige Image planned an American film adaptation of the novel series to arrive in 2017.[37] In May 2017 they announced that they would be producing a The Witcher TV series in cooperation with Netflix and Sean Daniel Company, with Tomasz Bagiński as one of the directors and Sapkowski as a creative consultant.[38][39][40]Henry Cavill will be portraying Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix adaptation.[41][42][43][44] On October 10, 2018, it was announced that Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra had been cast as main female characters, Ciri and Yennefer.[45] Season one is expected to be released towards the end of 2019.[46]
Games[edit]
Tabletop role-playing games[edit]
A tabletop role-playing game based on Sapkowski's books, Wiedźmin: Gra Wyobraźni (The Witcher: A Game of Imagination) was published by MAG in 2001. Another tabletop game based on the video games, produced by R. Talsorian Games, was planned for release in 2016[47] but was delayed and finally released in August 2018.[48]
Video games[edit]
In 1996 and 1997 a Witcher video game was being developed by Metropolis Software in Poland, but it was cancelled. The game's director was Adrian Chmielarz, former People Can Fly co-owner and creative director, who coined the translation 'The Witcher' during its development. According to Chmielarz, the game would have been a 3Daction-adventure game with role-playing elements such as moral choices and experience points.[49]
In 2003, Polish video-game developer CD Projekt Red negotiated with Sapkowski for rights to The Witcher, given the languishing work at Metropolis,[50] and released The Witcher, a role-playing game based on the saga in October 2007 for personal computers. It was well-publicized and, although it was the developer's first game, it received critical praise in Europe and North America. The Witcher was published in Poland by CD Projekt and worldwide by Atari. A console version, The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf with the same story and a different engine and combat system, was scheduled for release in fall 2009 but was cancelled that spring.
The Witcher: Crimson Trail (Polish: Wiedźmin: Krwawy Szlak), also known as The Witcher Mobile is a mobile-phone action game created by Breakpoint on license from CD Projekt in November 2007.[51] It features a young Geralt as a promising student who has completed his training to become a monster-slayer – a witcher.
The Witcher: Versus was a Flash-based multiplayer fighting browser game, developed for CD Projekt Red by one2tribe and released in 2008. In the game, which has been discontinued, players created a character from one of three classes and challenged other players in battle.[citation needed]
Promotional models dressed as Geralt and Triss at IgroMir 2010
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is the sequel to The Witcher, developed by CD Projekt Red. On September 16, 2009, before Assassins of Kings was introduced, a video of the game was leaked;[52] two days later, CD Projekt Red confirmed that it was in development.[53]Assassins of Kings was published in Poland by CD Projekt, by Namco Bandai Games in Europe and by Atari in North America. The game was also distributed digitally through Steam and DRM-free on Good Old Games.
CD Projekt Red announced The Witcher: Battle Arena, a free-to-playmultiplayer online battle arena game for mobile devices, on July 1, 2014.[54]
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released on May 19, 2015, and has become considered one of the greatest games of all time, shipping over ten million copies by March 2016.[55] By March 2018, the series as a whole has sold over 33 million.[56]
Geralt appeared as a guest character in the 2018 fighting game, Soulcalibur VI.[57]
In October 2018, Sapkowski sent notice to CD Projekt demanding he be remunerated for sales of The Witcher video games, asking for more than 60 million Polish złoty (more than US$15 million) representing between about 5% and 15% of the game's revenues over the years. Sapkowski had originally provided the license to CD Projekt based on a lump sum payment, but now believes he is due more since the series has become much more successful than expected. CD Projekt stated that while they had met all obligations on the initial acquisition of the license, they will work amicably with Sapkowski's legal representatives to come to a fair outcome for all parties.[58] By February 2019, CD Projekt worked out a settlement agreement that would provide Sapkowski additional royalties for their video game series, though not as great that Sapkowski had asked for, as to maintain a working relationship with the author for future Witcher projects.[59]
Card games[edit]
Promotion of Gwent at IgroMir 2016
In 2007, Kuźnia Gier developed two card games based on CD Projekt's The Witcher video game. One, Wiedźmin: Przygodowa Gra Karciana (The Witcher: Adventure Cardgame), was published by Kuźnia Gier;[60] the other, Wiedźmin: Promocyjna Gra Karciana (The Witcher Promo Card Game) was added to the collector's edition of The Witcher in some countries.[61] A card game, known as 'Gwent', was included in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as an in-game activity. Two stand-alone games based on it, titled Gwent: The Witcher Card Game and Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, were released in 2018.[62][63]
Board game[edit]
CD Projekt Red and Fantasy Flight Games released The Witcher Adventure Game, a board game designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek,[64] in 2014[65] in physical and digital forms.[66] The digital version is available on Windows, OS X, Android and iOS.
References[edit]
- ^ abWhitbrook, James (June 21, 2015). 'How To Get Into The Witcher Novels'. Io9.gizmodo.com. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
- ^'The Witcher series has sold over 33 million copies worldwide'. VideoGamer.com.
- ^'Opowieści ze świata wiedźmina (antologia) - literatura.gildia.pl - książki, recenzje, artykuły, nowości'. Literatura.gildia.pl.
- ^'Nowa Fantastyka'. Fantastyka.pl.
- ^'Tylko dla fanów wiedźmina Geralta. Szpony i kły - recenzja Spider's Web'. Spidersweb.pl. November 16, 2017.
- ^'Nikczemnie wprowadzająca w błąd okładka. Wiedźmin: Szpony i Kły nie jest książką Sapkowskiego, ale… fanów'. Spidersweb.pl. November 2, 2017.
- ^Maciej Nowak-Kreyer, Book of the Continent in Wiedźmin: Gra Wyobraźni Handbook, p152, 2001, Wydawnictwo MAG, Warsaw, ISBN83-87968-39-0
- ^Sapkowski, Andrzej (May 2008). The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher (Original title (Polish): Ostatnie Zyczenie) (1st ed.). New York: Orbit. pp. 92, 149. ISBN978-0-316-02918-6.
- ^Péter Apor (2008). Past for the eyes: East European representations of communism in cinema and museums after 1989. Central European University Press. p. 198. ISBN978-963-9776-05-0. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
- ^Marta Bitner on IMDb
- ^The Witcher on IMDb (TV series)
- ^'Nowy Wiedźmin nadchodzi. Ostatni klaps na zamku w Iłży'
- ^'The Witcher 2 Casts A Sexy Spell On Polish Playboy'
- ^'Russian Witcher 2 Calendar Bares All in the Name of Marketing'. Kotaku. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
- ^''Nie bądź, kurwa, taki Geralt' - interview on author's page' (in Polish). Archived from the original on December 15, 2007.
- ^Marek, Ruszkowski (2004). Wielojęzyczność w perspektywie stylistyki i poetyki. Wydawnictwo Akademii Swiętokrzyskiej. p. 98. ISBN83-7133-232-7.
- ^'Projekt słownika Starszej Mowy'. Archived from the original on March 24, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
- ^НО МЫ ЖЕ СЛАВЯНЕ! РАЗГОВОР С АНДЖЕЕМ САПКОВСКИМ, An interview with Sapkowski for Russian monthly magazine 'World of Fatnastics'
- ^'حماسهی ویچر'. Opac.nlai.ir. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
- ^'superNOWA - Andrzej Sapkowski' (in Polish).
- ^ abc'Gollancz Acquire Three More Witcher Novels'. Gollancz Blog. January 19, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
- ^Hall, Lindsey (February 1, 2016). 'Cover Launch: THE TOWER OF SWALLOWS'. Orbit Books. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
- ^'Orbit and Gollancz to Publish Season of Storms by Award-Winning Polish Author Andrzej Sapkowski'. Orbit Books. May 19, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
- ^ abcAndrzej Sapkowski; Stanisław Bereś (2005). Historia i fantastyka (in Polish). SuperNOWA. p. 268. ISBN978-83-7054-178-1.
- ^ abPurchese, Robert (May 19, 2015). 'The Witcher game that never was'. Eurogamer.net. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
- ^'The Witcher: The Road from Rivia to Hollywood'. Culture.pl. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
- ^'Title: The Last Wish'. Isfdb.org. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
- ^Sapkowski, Andrzej (December 14, 2008). The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher. Orbit. ISBN9780316055086.
- ^Wodzynski, Lukasz (2011). 'A Polish Book of Monsters: Five Dark Tales from Contemporary Poland'. Cosmopolitan Review. 3 (2). Retrieved October 14, 2018.
- ^'Wiedźmin: droga z Rivii do Hollywood'. culture.pl.
- ^'NYCC 2013: THE WITCHER COMES TO DARK HORSE'. Dark Horse Comics. October 11, 2013. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
- ^'The Witcher Volume 1 TPB'. Dark Horse Comics.
- ^'The Witcher Volume 2: Fox Children TPB'. Dark Horse Comics.
- ^'The Witcher Volume 3 Curse of Crows TPB'. Dark Horse Comics.
- ^'The Witcher Library Edition Volume 1 HC'. Dark Horse Comics.
- ^'Анджей Сапковский: 'Мне пришлось искать свое русло. И я его нашел..''. Fantlab.ru.
- ^Eddie, Makuch. 'The Witcher Movie Coming in 2017 From The Mummy Producers'. Gamespot.com. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
- ^Image, Platige. 'We started production of the series based on 'The Witcher' in coop. with @NetflixUS and SeanDanielCompany. Tomek #Bagiński one of the dir!pic.twitter.com/hYXWCHySOF'. Twitter.
- ^'The Witcher Saga: has Netflix found its Game of Thrones?'. Telegraph.co.uk. May 17, 2017.
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on January 23, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2018.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
- ^'Henry Cavill on Instagram'.
- ^'Henry Cavill to Star in 'Witcher' Series at Netflix'.
- ^'Henry Cavill to Topline Netflix Drama Series 'The Witcher''.
- ^Sandra Gonzalez. 'Henry Cavill will lead 'The Witcher' series for Netflix'. Edition.cnn.com.
- ^Petski, Denise (October 10, 2018). ''The Witcher': Netflix Fantasy Drama Series Casts Its Females Leads Ciri & Yennefer'. Deadline. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
- ^'When is The Witcher released on Netflix? Who's in the cast, and what's going to happen?'. Radio Times. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
- ^'CD Projekt Red and R.TALSORIAN GAMES Announce The Witcher Role-Playing Game'. July 29, 2015. Archived from the original on July 31, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- ^'R. Talsorian: Buy yourself a witcher'. Rtalsoriangames.wordpress.com. August 3, 2018.
- ^Purchese, Robert (June 16, 2014). 'The Witcher game that never was'. Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
- ^Purchese, Robert (May 17, 2015). 'Seeing Red: The story of CD Projekt'. Eurogamer. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
- ^'The Witcher: Crimson Trail'. GameBanshee. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
- ^The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings video leaked, possibly at Destructoid
- ^The Witcher official Facebook page
- ^Yin-Poole, Wesley (July 1, 2014). 'The Witcher: Battle Arena is a F2P MOBA for mobile'. Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
- ^Makuch, Eddie. 'Witcher 3 Ships Almost 10 Million Copies - Report'. Gamespot.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
- ^Harradence, Mike. 'The Witcher series has sold over 33 million copies worldwide'. Videogamer.com. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
- ^Wong, Alistair. 'Geralt Shows Off His Sword And Signs Gameplay In Soul Calibur'. Siliconera.com. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
- ^Martin, Matt (October 2, 2018). 'CD Projekt refuses to pay The Witcher author's new demands of $16 million for rights to work'. VG247. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
- ^Kerr, Chris (February 5, 2019). 'CD Projekt agreed to pay The Witcher author additional royalties'. Gamasutra. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
- ^'Wiedźmin: Przygodowa Gra Karciana'. Gildia.pl.
- ^'Gry na zamówienie. Kuźnia Gier. Produkcja i kreacja gier planszowych na zamówienie klienta!'. Grynazamowienie.pl.
- ^Newhouse, Alex. 'PS4/Xbox One/PC Gwent: The Witcher Card Game Open Beta Coming Next Week'. Gamespot.com. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
- ^Robert, Purchese (September 18, 2018). 'CD Projekt Red dates full Gwent: The Witcher Card Game release, and standalone Thronebreaker adventure'. Eurogamer. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
- ^'The Witcher Adventure Game - Board Game'. BoardGameGeek.
- ^Matulef, Jeffrey (January 8, 2014). 'The Witcher gets a board game spin-off'. Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
- ^Purchese, Robert (November 27, 2014). 'The Witcher Adventure Game has been released'. Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Witcher. |
- Novel series
- Official website of Andrzej Sapkowski‹See Tfd›(in Polish)
- The Witcher Saga series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Video game series
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Witcher&oldid=904511009'
How Long The Witcher 3 Is and How Many Quests There Are
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the most beautiful and popular open-world RPGs available on current generation platforms but, to many, it may be one of the most daunting. It is widely known that The Witcher 3 is a huge experience that is full of stunning locations, compelling quests, and unique characters, but you may want to know just how long it’ll take to complete before you commit to it.
You can expect to complete the main quest line of the game, which is made up of 57 quests, in around 70 to 100 hours, with that number increasing if you decide to stray from the beaten path and complete some side quests.
In fact, if you want to 100 per cent the game and complete each and every one of the quests in the game, you’re looking at 200 hours or more of play time. Also, if you added all the main quests, side quests, and quests in the expansion packs together, you’d have 405 quests to work through. Whether you simply want to complete the main story or see everything The Witcher 3 has to offer, you’re sure to have a thrilling adventure.
For more tips and tricks on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, be sure to check out our comprehensive wiki.
Witches are among us, and far more of them than you think. Today, when people talk about 'witches' in this country, they are often talking about members of the 'Pagan' movement, a group of perhaps as many as 1 million Americans whose practices draw from a combination of pre-Christian European religions, Western occult and Masonic societies, and forms of witchcraft. I spent much of the last five years immersed in the American Pagan community — first at arm’s length, as a journalist; then as someone personally curious about the rituals I’d observed; and finally, for a couple of years, as an active student and participant. The result is Witches of America, both a snapshot of present-day witchcraft across the United States and a memoir of my own searching and questioning. Now that we’re in the thick of Halloween season, here are some facts about witches that may surprise you.
1. Witches are often invisible. Not literally, of course. But the women and men who consider themselves witches or Pagans don’t always announce themselves in goth gear, tattoos, and piercings. Many are just as likely to dress in utterly innocuous ways — in the daily uniforms of, say, a single mother driving her kid to track practice, a grade-school teacher, a tech entrepreneur, or a cashier at Trader Joe’s. Morpheus, the Pagan priestess who served as my personal entrée into the witchcraft community in the Bay Area, was actually working for an environmental protection group when I first met her. She’d drive to work in a pickup, dressed in khakis and a hoodie, her hair in a long red braid. The local ranchers she consulted with had no idea that she regularly hosted rituals under the moonlight out on her property, just a few miles away.
Some witches choose to remain 'in the broom closet,' as they call it — because they work for the government or with children, live in a conservative community, or are simply afraid that the word 'witchcraft' still carries too much baggage. At the same time, since the ’80s, Pagans have been gathering in outdoor festivals and indoor hotel conferences all around the country, sometimes in groups of a few thousand. And with the rise of the Internet in the ’90s, vast networks have also spread online, making it that much easier for someone Craft-curious, in an area without a visible Pagan presence, to connect with a mentor in a chat room.
2. While Hollywood horror films have (unfairly) made witchcraft out to be the work of the Devil, they’ve gotten plenty of details right. Pagans are not interested in worshipping the Devil — many would say that the Satan of Christianity is a god they don’t even believe in — so that’s a major strike against the Hollywood horror-movie depiction of witchcraft. On the other hand, there is a certain amount of drama and flair to ritual magic that the movies have come close to getting right. Witches do gather in a circle to perform rituals, sometimes outdoors, under the moon. They use wands and ritual daggers (or athames) to guide magical energy in the right direction; they chant, sometimes in ancient languages. Depending on the specific tradition a person trained in, they may also practice magic while 'skyclad,' or in the nude. This isn’t an invitation to sex but instead a way of letting go of the mundane, material world and entering a heightened state that allows for more powerful magic.
3. Most witches follow a strict moral code. Returning to the sinister Devil-worship thing: The horror-movie assumption that anyone who labels herself a 'witch' is out to harm others is false and unfair. This community follows an ethical standard that’s similar to a concept of karma: The Threefold Law warns that any action you take will come back at you three times over. Or, for witches of the Wiccan tradition, there’s the Wiccan Rede: 'An’ it harm none, do what thou wilt' — follow your own lead, as long as you don’t cause harm to anyone else.
Yes, some witches perform 'hexes,' and a personal or coven rivalry might, in a rare situation, escalate into a 'witch war.' But this kind of behavior is frowned on. The goal, as with many religious practices, is to bring yourself closer to spiritual enlightenment and balance — which is that much harder to achieve if you’re busy creating chaos.
4. Witches often do practice in 'covens.' A witchcraft tradition can spawn many 'lines' (or splinter sects) founded by the disciples of a particularly influential priest or priestess. And those lines, in turn, are each often made up of at least a few covens. African percussion instruments pack fl studio.
At the same time, while many old-school Pagans believe that the only way to become a full-fledged witch is through disciplined, in-person training with — and initiation by — a coven, the Internet helped spawn an entire generation of 'solitary' witches who learned through mentors online, connecting with looser, long-distance covens and practicing alone in their own homes, backyards, or nearby woods. (There are no churches or synagogues in Paganism: any natural place can be made into a place of worship.)
5. Many men also call themselves 'witches.' Because Pagans believe the universe is driven by forces that are equally male and female, the community seems to be equal parts men and women. (For women, there’s the significant appeal of having the opportunity to become priests, something that’s rare in more mainstream religious traditions.) The person credited with founding Wicca was a man: Gerald Gardner. A retired civil servant from a well-off merchant family, Gardner spent most of his life in Asia before returning home to England and eventually claiming he’d uncovered a long-practicing coven in the New Forest.
A side note: Pagan men today are much more likely to label themselves 'witches' rather than 'warlocks.' Though the words 'pagan' and 'witch' started out as historical slurs and have since been revived and reclaimed, 'warlock,' for some reason, is still mostly considered an insult, taken to mean 'oathbreaker.'
6. The Salem witch trials had nothing to do with real-life witchcraft. In spite of our relentless fascination with the trials, in pop culture and literature, there’s still no real evidence that those tried and executed in Salem back in the 1690s practiced witchcraft. There is also no clear proof that the people executed as Satan-worshipping 'witches' in Europe during that same time period — possibly as many as 60,000 between the late 1500s and early 1700s — practiced anything connected to the witchcraft of the Pagan movement today. Some American Pagans, however, consider these persecuted women and men their spiritual ancestors, identifying with these victims as outsiders who somehow did not fit into the larger Christian culture.
7. Many witches are polyamorous. The witchcraft movement spread throughout this country largely because of its absorption into ’60s counterculture and second-wave feminism, and it’s just as open-minded about sex and different stripes of sexuality. While plenty of Pagans may be in conventional relationships or marriages — they may live in a house in the suburbs with three kids and a collection of family pets — there has long been an overlap with the polyamory movement. By this I mean that it’s not uncommon for a witch, particularly on the West Coast (the Bay Area is the nucleus of American witchcraft), to find herself in more than one committed relationship at a time. Some Pagans say that if you’re devoted to multiple gods, it makes sense to devote yourself to multiple partners.
8. Witches do celebrate during Halloween season, but, for them, it’s a very different holiday. During Halloween, our annual time of Spider-Man costumes, candy binges, and slasher films, hundreds of thousands of Americans are observing the high holiday of Samhain (pronounced SAH-win). For Pagans, this is the time of year, from late October into early November, when they say that 'the veil' — the boundary between the living and the dead — is thinnest, making it a special time to commune with lost loved ones or distant ancestors. All around the country, witches hold particularly intense rituals, evoking people who have passed away and hoping to receive a message or help from the other side. Many will dance and drink and eat the things the person they are remembering enjoyed, giving the dead the pleasure of living again through their own body, if just for that one night each year.
9. Unlike many other religious groups, witches have no interest in converting you. Witches are not out to convert you or your kids. They don’t believe in proselytizing — in fact, they find it rude. There are many ways to live a spiritual life, the consensus goes, and you don’t have to subscribe to ours.
Follow Alex on Twitter.
Witches are among us, and far more of them than you think. Today, when people talk about 'witches' in this country, they are often talking about members of the 'Pagan' movement, a group of perhaps as many as 1 million Americans whose practices draw from a combination of pre-Christian European religions, Western occult and Masonic societies, and forms of witchcraft. I spent much of the last five years immersed in the American Pagan community — first at arm’s length, as a journalist; then as someone personally curious about the rituals I’d observed; and finally, for a couple of years, as an active student and participant. The result is Witches of America, both a snapshot of present-day witchcraft across the United States and a memoir of my own searching and questioning. Now that we’re in the thick of Halloween season, here are some facts about witches that may surprise you.
1. Witches are often invisible. Not literally, of course. But the women and men who consider themselves witches or Pagans don’t always announce themselves in goth gear, tattoos, and piercings. Many are just as likely to dress in utterly innocuous ways — in the daily uniforms of, say, a single mother driving her kid to track practice, a grade-school teacher, a tech entrepreneur, or a cashier at Trader Joe’s. Morpheus, the Pagan priestess who served as my personal entrée into the witchcraft community in the Bay Area, was actually working for an environmental protection group when I first met her. She’d drive to work in a pickup, dressed in khakis and a hoodie, her hair in a long red braid. The local ranchers she consulted with had no idea that she regularly hosted rituals under the moonlight out on her property, just a few miles away.
Some witches choose to remain 'in the broom closet,' as they call it — because they work for the government or with children, live in a conservative community, or are simply afraid that the word 'witchcraft' still carries too much baggage. At the same time, since the ’80s, Pagans have been gathering in outdoor festivals and indoor hotel conferences all around the country, sometimes in groups of a few thousand. And with the rise of the Internet in the ’90s, vast networks have also spread online, making it that much easier for someone Craft-curious, in an area without a visible Pagan presence, to connect with a mentor in a chat room.
2. While Hollywood horror films have (unfairly) made witchcraft out to be the work of the Devil, they’ve gotten plenty of details right. Pagans are not interested in worshipping the Devil — many would say that the Satan of Christianity is a god they don’t even believe in — so that’s a major strike against the Hollywood horror-movie depiction of witchcraft. On the other hand, there is a certain amount of drama and flair to ritual magic that the movies have come close to getting right. Witches do gather in a circle to perform rituals, sometimes outdoors, under the moon. They use wands and ritual daggers (or athames) to guide magical energy in the right direction; they chant, sometimes in ancient languages. Depending on the specific tradition a person trained in, they may also practice magic while 'skyclad,' or in the nude. This isn’t an invitation to sex but instead a way of letting go of the mundane, material world and entering a heightened state that allows for more powerful magic.
3. Most witches follow a strict moral code. Returning to the sinister Devil-worship thing: The horror-movie assumption that anyone who labels herself a 'witch' is out to harm others is false and unfair. This community follows an ethical standard that’s similar to a concept of karma: The Threefold Law warns that any action you take will come back at you three times over. Or, for witches of the Wiccan tradition, there’s the Wiccan Rede: 'An’ it harm none, do what thou wilt' — follow your own lead, as long as you don’t cause harm to anyone else.
Yes, some witches perform 'hexes,' and a personal or coven rivalry might, in a rare situation, escalate into a 'witch war.' But this kind of behavior is frowned on. The goal, as with many religious practices, is to bring yourself closer to spiritual enlightenment and balance — which is that much harder to achieve if you’re busy creating chaos.
4. Witches often do practice in 'covens.' A witchcraft tradition can spawn many 'lines' (or splinter sects) founded by the disciples of a particularly influential priest or priestess. And those lines, in turn, are each often made up of at least a few covens.
At the same time, while many old-school Pagans believe that the only way to become a full-fledged witch is through disciplined, in-person training with — and initiation by — a coven, the Internet helped spawn an entire generation of 'solitary' witches who learned through mentors online, connecting with looser, long-distance covens and practicing alone in their own homes, backyards, or nearby woods. (There are no churches or synagogues in Paganism: any natural place can be made into a place of worship.)
5. Many men also call themselves 'witches.' Because Pagans believe the universe is driven by forces that are equally male and female, the community seems to be equal parts men and women. (For women, there’s the significant appeal of having the opportunity to become priests, something that’s rare in more mainstream religious traditions.) The person credited with founding Wicca was a man: Gerald Gardner. A retired civil servant from a well-off merchant family, Gardner spent most of his life in Asia before returning home to England and eventually claiming he’d uncovered a long-practicing coven in the New Forest.
A side note: Pagan men today are much more likely to label themselves 'witches' rather than 'warlocks.' Though the words 'pagan' and 'witch' started out as historical slurs and have since been revived and reclaimed, 'warlock,' for some reason, is still mostly considered an insult, taken to mean 'oathbreaker.'
6. The Salem witch trials had nothing to do with real-life witchcraft. In spite of our relentless fascination with the trials, in pop culture and literature, there’s still no real evidence that those tried and executed in Salem back in the 1690s practiced witchcraft. There is also no clear proof that the people executed as Satan-worshipping 'witches' in Europe during that same time period — possibly as many as 60,000 between the late 1500s and early 1700s — practiced anything connected to the witchcraft of the Pagan movement today. Some American Pagans, however, consider these persecuted women and men their spiritual ancestors, identifying with these victims as outsiders who somehow did not fit into the larger Christian culture.
7. Many witches are polyamorous. The witchcraft movement spread throughout this country largely because of its absorption into ’60s counterculture and second-wave feminism, and it’s just as open-minded about sex and different stripes of sexuality. While plenty of Pagans may be in conventional relationships or marriages — they may live in a house in the suburbs with three kids and a collection of family pets — there has long been an overlap with the polyamory movement. By this I mean that it’s not uncommon for a witch, particularly on the West Coast (the Bay Area is the nucleus of American witchcraft), to find herself in more than one committed relationship at a time. Some Pagans say that if you’re devoted to multiple gods, it makes sense to devote yourself to multiple partners.
How Many Witches Are In Macbeth
8. Witches do celebrate during Halloween season, but, for them, it’s a very different holiday. During Halloween, our annual time of Spider-Man costumes, candy binges, and slasher films, hundreds of thousands of Americans are observing the high holiday of Samhain (pronounced SAH-win). For Pagans, this is the time of year, from late October into early November, when they say that 'the veil' — the boundary between the living and the dead — is thinnest, making it a special time to commune with lost loved ones or distant ancestors. All around the country, witches hold particularly intense rituals, evoking people who have passed away and hoping to receive a message or help from the other side. Many will dance and drink and eat the things the person they are remembering enjoyed, giving the dead the pleasure of living again through their own body, if just for that one night each year.
9. Unlike many other religious groups, witches have no interest in converting you. Witches are not out to convert you or your kids. They don’t believe in proselytizing — in fact, they find it rude. There are many ways to live a spiritual life, the consensus goes, and you don’t have to subscribe to ours.
Follow Alex on Twitter.