The Hexer
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Wiedmin.jpg
The Hexer or the Witcher (Polish: Wiedźmin) is a character created by Andrzej Sapkowski. Hexers appear in Sapkowski's Hexer cycle, comprising two short story collections and five novels. The novels sometimes wrongly described as the Hexer Saga (Saga o wiedzminie), where the correct over-title is Blood of the Elves. The stories and novels have been translated into Czech, Slovakian, German, Russian, Lithuanian, French and Spanish.
Hexers are professional monster killers who receive special training and preparation. They are sterile mutants with supernatural abilities. During their training they are also taught to suppress their feelings, which leads many people to believe that they have no emotions. Geralt, the central character in Sapkowski's stories, is one of the best hexers.
Alternatively, the word warlock has been used informally in English translations, while witcher, being a new word in English (as wiedźmin is in Polish) describes better the spirit of Geralt's profession. Witcher is also used by the makers of a computer game based on the books. Sapkowski himself prefers the translation hexer.
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The Hexer cycle
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Short stories
The hexer cycle started as a series of short stories, at first published in Fantastyka, a Polish science fiction magazine. The first short story was "Wiedźmin" ("Hexer") (1986), written for a contest of Fantastyka magazine, where it won the 3rd place. The first four stories of Geralt (and "Droga, z której się nie wraca", which took place in the same world, but dozens of years before the Hexer stories) were published in a short story collection titled Wiedźmin. All fifteen short stories were later collected in three books published by superNOWA - Ostatnie życzenie, Miecz przeznaczenia and Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna.
The Saga
Blood of the Elves is the over-title of the five novels about Geralt (Krew elfów, Czas pogardy, Chrzest ognia, Wieża jaskółki, Pani jeziora), in which Sapkowski joins the threads started in the short stories, and adds new ones. Apart from the hexer himself, another central character is princess Ciri.
List of books
Short story collections:
- The Final Wish (Ostatnie życzenie) (1993)
- Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia) (1992)
- Something ends, Something begins (Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna) (2000)
Hexer saga:
- Blood of the Elves (Krew elfów) (1994)
- Season of Contempt (Czas pogardy) (1995)
- Baptism by Fire (Chrzest ognia) (1996)
- The Swallow's Tower (Wieża jaskółki) (1997)
- Lady of the Lake (Pani jeziora) (1999)
Comic books
In 1993-1995, Sapkowski's stories were adapted into six comic book albums by Maciej Parowski (story), Boguslaw Polch (art), and Sapkowski himself. They are:
- The Road with no Return (Droga bez powrotu, based on short story Droga, z której się nie wraca)
- Geralt (based on the short story Wiedźmin)
- Lesser Evil (Mniejsze zło, based on a short story of the same title)
- The Final Wish (Ostatnie zyczenie, based on a short story of the same title)
- The Border of Possibility (Granica mozliwosci, based on a short story of the same title)
- Betrayal (Zdrada)
Film
The Hexer is also the title of a movie (2001) and television series (2002), directed by Marek Brodzki, written by Michał Szczerbic, and produced by Lew Rywin. The role of Geralt was played by Michał Żebrowski, and the music was composed by Grzegorz Ciechowski.
Role-playing game
In 2001 a role-playing game called The Hexer: A Game of Imagination (Wiedźmin: Gra Wyobraźni) based on Sapkowski's books was published by MAG. A second edition of the game is currently in production.
Computer game
A computer role-playing game based on Sapkowski's saga called The Witcher is in develop stage by CD Projekt's studio called CD PRojekt RED and it will be released on 2005.
External links
- Official website of Andrzej Sapkowski (http://www.sapkowski.pl)
- Unofficial website of the movie (http://film.sapkowski.pl)
- Internet Movie Database page for the movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300657/)
- Official website of the role-playing game (http://www.wiedzmin.rpg.pl)
- Official website of the computer game (http://www.thewitcher.com)