Sword of Destiny (The Witcher – Book 2)
“In a fairy tale – Calanthe’s smile was becoming increasingly unpleasant – the queen would, as I imagine it, allow the witcher to guess three times. But we, Geralt, are no longer in a fairy tale. We’re here, really, you and I, and our problem. And our destiny. This isn’t a story, this is life. Wretched, evil, hard, which doesn’t forgive mistakes, insults, regret, disappointments and misfortunes, spares no one, not even witchers, nor queens. And that’s why you, Geralt of Rivia, will guess only once” – Queen Calanthe
And we continue with Geralt’s adventures…
“Sword of Destiny” is the second book in “The Witcher” series and together with the previous book (“The Last Wish”) represents an introduction to the saga of Geralt (also known as the White Wolf or Gwynbleidd in Elvish) and the epic adventures that will await him and people close to him.
“Sword of Destiny” follows a similar concept as the previous book, namely that this work is in the form of stories, but with a slightly different approach – there are fewer stories (but they’re more extensive) and it touches on some very important events that will shape the future of Geralt’s adventures… but also the nations that inhabit this fantasy continent.
And the stories are:
- “The Bounds of Reason” – on his travels (and search for work in his profession), Geralt meets an unusual and eccentric traveler named Borch Three Jackdaws (and his charming and dangerously deadly entourage consisting of two attractive bodyguards). And so while they travel together (and chat about various topics, but Borch is especially interested in Geralt’s view of dragons and whether they’re a threat to humans), they come across an unusual (and very armed) expedition that, in the name of local ruler Niedamir, is going to kill… a dragon. There are armed (and rude) dwarves milling about, a lonely knight, the occasional wizard… and there’s Geralt’s friend, troubadour and charmer Dandelion (because someone has to sing a ballad about this event and scrape together a free meal and alcohol)… and unexpectedly, there’s also the fatal sorceress Yennefer, with whom Geralt now isn’t exactly on good terms (she’s angry at him because he, in a way, ran away from her and they haven’t met in four years… ladies, no comments about “typical male,” the situation is a bit more complicated 😅). However, Yennefer apparently has some deeper motive for hunting the dragon than the treasure hoard it guards. And what if we add that the expedition encounters a very unusual dragon?
- “A Shard of Ice” – this story catches us in the unusual city of Aedd Gynvael where, lo and behold, now Geralt and Yennefer (as if) are living together for some time. However, Geralt doesn’t like this city at all, and he likes even less that Yennefer spends a lot of time with her colleague wizard, Istredd. To say the least, Geralt and Istredd can’t stand each other like dog and cat, and the reason for them is mutual – Yennefer. On one occasion Geralt and Istredd have a very sharp and painfully direct conversation about Yennefer and her future, with a potential serious consequence on the horizon. And meanwhile, Yennefer seems to want to remain neutral in this conflict?
- “Eternal Flame” – Geralt arrives in a city looking for work, when he unexpectedly meets Dandelion (whom some woman is just throwing out onto the street). Hoping to find someone to treat them to food and beer, they go to the local tavern and there meet Dandelion’s acquaintance, a halfling named Dudu Biberveldt, whom they join at the table. However, after some time, an angry Dudu Biberveldt bursts into the tavern… wait a minute, which of the two is the real Dudu Biberveldt? And how will one unusual creature and the eternal flame that burns in this city perhaps cost Geralt and Dandelion their heads?
- “A Little Sacrifice” – in this story we catch Geralt (and his companion Dandelion) who got an unusual task as translator in communication between local prince Agloval and the mermaid Sh’eenaz. Namely, it seems they’re in love with each other, but they’re divided by… well, physiology (yes, a parallel can be drawn with “The Little Mermaid”). The prince wants to find a way for her to become human so they can love each other and have children, and the mermaid wants the prince to tighten his… courage and grow a tail like a triton, because the mermaid is ready to spawn and wants him to fertilize her eggs (I really don’t know why I wrote it like this, I could have simplified what was written in the book so much…)… but in the end nothing comes of their union. Since nothing comes of the couple, and Geralt and Dandelion are pretty hungry and broke, luck smiled on them when a merchant asked Dandelion to perform at his daughter’s wedding. However, Dandelion would be the second troubadour (not to say “second fiddle”) of the event, and the first would be a certain Vespula, with whom Dandelion has some history (but not the kind you thought). However, some strange chemistry develops between Geralt and Vespula… but what kind?
- “Sword of Destiny” – and we’ve reached the titular story, perhaps the most significant in the book. Geralt in the capacity of envoy of a nearby king arrives on the territory/forest of mystical Brokilon, ruled by dryads headed by Lady Eithné, and which is absolutely inhospitable to humans… in translation, you’ll get an arrow (precisely) in the eye. Quite unexpectedly, Geralt in the forest catches wounded Freixenet, a knight and his acquaintance, whom he tries to help. Suddenly dryads appear and Geralt barely convinces them not to kill his friend (and him in the process) and to allow him to see the Lady of Brokilon. Geralt accompanied by one of the dryads (Braenn) moves through the forest, when at one moment, unexpectedly they encounter a (human) 10-year-old girl with ashen hair and green eyes, who’s moreover of the opinion she’s a princess (though now she’s all stained and snotty). All three arrive at Eithné, and it seems the girl’s fate (who, by the way, is named Ciri, short for Cirilla) is to become a dryad and forever live in the forest and fight against humans, although she doesn’t want this and seems to have bonded in a strange way with Geralt (but in Brokilon Eithné’s word is final). Geralt and the Lady of Brokilon have a very strange (and sharp) political-philosophical-metaphysical conversation concerning the future of relations between humans and other races, as well as the destiny that seems to bind him and Ciri (I assume you already have an idea from the first book about what this is)?
- “Something More” – Geralt unexpectedly rushes to help good-natured merchant Yurga, whose cart full of goods got stuck, and it seems something is preparing to attack him. Yurga realizes he’s met a witcher and gives him, in despair, an oath he’ll do anything if the witcher helps him, to which the witcher obliges him with the words “You’ll give me what you find at home when you return and don’t expect.” Soon, some nasty vermin (resembling gnomes) attacks Yurga and Geralt. The witcher manages to drive them away, but is seriously wounded, so much that Yurga has to load him onto the cart and urgently bring him to a nearby house and find him a doctor. Under the influence of elixirs (to calm the bleeding) and fever, Geralt falls into a heavy sleep, in which he recalls the meeting of him and Yennefer during the (slightly orgiastic) Belleteyn holiday and their painful conversation. Geralt briefly wakes from the fever and again falls into sleep, except this time in the dream he’s in Cintra’s castle and talking with Queen Calanthe, who’s angry at him and Destiny, because he just happened, after six years, to come for his promise (if you remember the story from the previous book). However, Geralt apparently doesn’t want what was promised to him, and decides to defy Destiny. When he next woke in a slightly better condition, he saw he was being treated by a sorceress-herbalist with whom he’s inseparably (and painfully) connected… but it’s not Yennefer. Also, what will Yurga have to give Geralt from his home. Perhaps his Destiny?
Like the previous book, “Sword of Destiny” also reads incredibly easily and quickly. This is contributed not only by the flowing and dynamic writing style, but also that the plot unfolds in such a way that it drives the reader to see what will happen next, while piecing together the puzzle pieces from the first story collection.
Now we get an even better picture of Geralt as a witcher (i.e., his profession), but especially about what kind of person he is. We see he’s a man torn between how the world sees him and what he willingly wants to embrace (outcast from a society that fears him and sees him as a soulless and emotionless killer of monsters), but also what in him, it seems, has more humanity than in many “more sublime” people. Geralt is one of the rare and reasonable people (even compared to many other races) who doesn’t see black and white and who somehow views the world quite objectively and neutrally, and on the other hand is aware that in the depths of his soul (human) emotions he thought he no longer had (like love, hope, fear) also torment him.
One of the interesting motifs following Geralt is the idea of neutrality and insignificance. Geralt is guided by the logic (and profession) that he’s here to kill beasts (and thereby protect people) and shouldn’t interfere in their personal problems, as well as politics between rulers and races, and that he’s just an ordinary, insignificant cog in the Universe that isn’t worthy of attention from great inexplicable forces like Destiny or the Law of the Universe. And even when the exact opposite of the stated is imposed on him, he convulsively struggles not to accept more significant roles out of some… well, it’s hard to describe what it is… something like fear, but not for himself… maybe rather fear that life won’t give him some false hope that he can do something more in his life, that maybe he can defeat an unsolvable challenge and be… happy? And this is something in which both Yennefer and Ciri are involved…
All this promises that Sapkowski will in the following parts develop Geralt’s character even better (and other heroes, especially Ciri, Yennefer and Dandelion) and that he’ll become quite an interesting (anti)hero.
And with this, we enter a new chapter of “The Witcher” series, where the stories end and epic events begin, which will unfold through the next six novels, where very turbulent and challenging (and mystical) times will arrive, where the lives of entire nations will shake in the vortex of chaos and magic, and in the center of that vortex will be a witcher, a sorceress and a girl of great power (and dangerous destiny)… and somewhere there troubadour Dandelion will be milling about as (quasi)support.
See you in the third book, and first novel – “Blood of Elves”!
And you, dear reader, have you started reading the novels from this series? 😊
Book price: Čarobna Knjiga | Delfi
