[SPOILERS] The Sword of Destiny: 'Something More'

Good evening kind sir, truth be told I feel a great sentiment towards "Something more". The sheer amount of character development present in such a short chapter and the way it ties the whole collection together, providing an emotional payoff along the way really hit it home for me. I had no problems following the story, but admittedly I did read it in Polish a few good years back. I've only read fragments of the English translation of "Sword of Destiny" since then so I can't really comment on it's quality, but I do remember being very critical of the English version of the "Last Wish" back when it came out.

Odinus was pretty much spot on with his summary but if I may I'd like to elaborate on a few little things, which may make your future reading more enjoyable. Generally speaking, Sapkowski tends to jump back and forth with the timeline of his storytelling sometimes, so it's definitely something you will stumble upon in your future reading. I feel that "Something more" is a particularly good example of using retrospection to enhance ones storytelling. At the beginning of the chapter it seems Geralt is at an all time low, and throughout his journey with Yurga we get to fill in the missing pieces progressively. Who knows whether he would even help the merchant out were things any different. Since he's hurt throughout most of this chapter it's just natural that he's spending a lot of his time on contemplating. Meeting Yennefer during Belleteyn, Calanthe in Citra and Dandelion at the river crossing were no visions but actual memories, memories which have left a heavy imprint on him. At this point in the story Geralt thinks he lost Ciri and is seriously questioning his earlier actions and cynical worldview. It all finally comes crashing down as he dreams of the mages who supposedly perished on Sodden Hill. He's broken, full of regret, and hopeless in the face of loosing everything he cared for, suspecting to find Yennefer's name on the tombstone. Personally I think Geralt had already "grown up" a bit in the earlier chapters but this is him finally going over the edge, which considering the string of events that lead him to finding Ciri makes their reunion so much more memorable. Oh and as others have already mentioned Triss isn't in fact dead, but the circumstances of that battle will return no hunt her throughout the saga and shape her character development to some extent.

/r/witcher Thread Parent