The Tower of the Swallow

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I want to talk more about stuff like how assassin Bonhart reminds me of DC's Deathstroke, and I want to talk about how fascinated I am with world of Witcher because of some crazy and similar aspects it share with our own world (Months, twisted Norse mythology, festivals), and Spawaski's writing style which at one point reminded me of old western. (Rat's last stand) Ciri finishes her tale. When Galahad asks if that's the end, Ciri says that she doesn't want the story to end like that. She claims the tale ends with Yennefer and Geralt getting married and living happily ever after, but cries as she says it. Galahad invites her to Camelot, which she accepts. The two ride toward Camelot, holding hands. A table, on one side sits Geralt, snearing in contempt. On the other sit someone who wants to hurt him. Geralt speak with veiled threats, beliving himself in a superior positon. The tables are turned and Geralt is wounded, outnumbered, disarmed or trapped. Then fate intervines and he escapes, weaker then he was. Now he enters a new room, a new table ans another person wanting him harm.... Later on, Ciri discovers an enslaved human in the Tir ná Lia stables of the Aen Elle world, realizing that humans originally inhabited the Aen Elle world. She also encounters a sea of human remains in a ravine. If Geralt mentions the female who claimed Avallac’h hated Ciri, he denies this, but retorts, “You really don’t expect me to reveal my feelings to you?”

Bonhart, a sadistic bounty hunter, really enjoys killing off the Rats, a bunch of highwaymen who think of themselves as lovable rogues. In contrast to earlier books, Sapkowski really goes out of his way to paint the Rats in a negative light here. Ciri still genuinely mourns them and Bonhart is even more of a monster, but he hammers home that they were not nice people. Had someone crept up after nightfall to the cottage with the sunken, moss-grown thatched roof, had they peered inside, in the dimly lit interior they would have seen a grey-bearded old man listening to a tale told by an ashen-haired girl sitting on a log by the fireplace." Fantastic Drug: Fisstech (effectively, cocaine) is first introduced in this book and then retroactively spread across the world. One day, old Vysogota finds a very badly injured girl in the swamp surrounding his retreat. He saves her life and she tells him her story... the story of Ciri and how she became a cruel killer meeting death at every step. Until she met her retribution - Leo Bonhart, who killed her fellow bandits and captured her.

She regards Ciri with disgust, calling her a “degenerate half-breed” whose only purpose to Avallac’h is to help him with his task. After Ciri “does what she must”, the elf claims that Avallac’h will finally be free of her. Meanwhile, Geralt meets the elven sage Avallac'h, who talks to him about Ithlinne's prophecy of the end of the world. Avallac'h tells Geralt that he must not seek out Ciri, since what is predestined will happen regardless. Geralt remains committed to finding Ciri. Kenna, too. She's one of the most emphatic characters in the book, and easily one of the nicest people in the whole saga. Yet she's on Skellen's payroll and just does her job. Similar to Mun, she is creepied by the sort of company she ends up in, and probing into Bonhart mind makes her literally puke. The world has fallen into war. Ciri, the child of prophecy, has vanished. Hunted by friends and foes alike, she has taken on the guise of a petty bandit and lives free for the first time in her life.

The kingdom of Redania's spymaster, Sigismund Dijkstra, travels to the neutral nation of Kovir, seeking financing to rebuild Redania's army in anticipation of a Nilfgaardian invasion. He discovers that the magicians of the newly formed Sorceress' Lodge have begun to establish Kovir as a nation sympathetic to magic, under their control. Sorceresses under the leadership of Phillipa Eilhart gather information on the various nations, and set their own plans in motion. Triss Merigold, a member of the Lodge privately questioning its motives, searches for information on Yennefer of Vengerberg, who is believed to be dead. I get the appeal of heroes who always do what is right, who are ready to die for their country or whatever greater cause they have in mind. Yennefer however admits that she doesn’t WANT to sacrifice anything, even for some greater cause, that she LIKES taking vengeance for all the wrong that was done to her. It must sound selfish, but I can completely respect that attitude! Baptism of Fire mostly focused on Geralt’s mission to find and rescue Cirri, supposedly from the clutches of Nilfgaard, after the devastating events on the isle of Thanedd. The third book of the series was fun, although upon reflection it did not do much to further the overarching plot of the story. This is a difficult question which has many fans scratching their heads. It seems the timeline doesn’t quite add up. Nonetheless, translation errors only cause more confusion. In the original novel, Polish fans say she is “almost twelve”, but in the English translation she is named to be “almost fifteen”. Thanks for reading and taking the time to write such a detailed comment! My apologies for missing some things. Even though I was poring over the books while writing this, I clearly missed a few things. I love the Witcher and don’t want anything to be inaccurate, so I really appreciate this.The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Ciri initially refuses to take the fisstech Bonhart tries to force on her, only relenting when he threatens to strip her and apply the drug to some of her other "mucous membranes". Spoilers ahead! If you haven’t finished the main questline, we encourage you to scroll past this section. Bogeyman: Bonhart is this to Ciri. Even after killing almost all of Skellen's other men, she's still terrified of facing him in a one-on-one fight. The fact that Aen Elle used the Gate of Time to travel to other worlds and conquer them is untrue. The book gives no such information – the only known instance is in the world of the Aen Elle but not anywhere else. Auberon makes it sound like they were used to leaving places that became boring/no longer suited them. Nowhere is it mentioned they enslaved and conquered everywhere they went.