00:00:48.880I'm checking in from a secluded spot at a lake near Kaer Morhen, The Witcher's Keep.
00:00:56.480So, as you might have discerned from the title, today I will talk a little bit about The Witcher games and books.
00:01:05.120And before you ask, no, I have not watched the Netflix series for the simple reason that I don't want to be annoyed by it.
00:01:13.360Because, you know, if you have a good opinion on something then you see a lot of forced diversity in it.
00:01:21.760It destroys it, I get annoyed, and yeah, if I want to watch something nice I don't want to be annoyed and have to overanalyze things.
00:01:30.960So I'm just not going to watch it, I'm just gonna continue enjoying the books.
00:01:35.920So I'm halfway through now and that's enough for me to, yeah, recommend the books and talk a bit about them.
00:01:44.000Now first and foremost, I do recommend you to, if you have to choose between, you know, if you have a limited amount of time I would recommend you playing the third game.
00:01:53.920It's probably the best game I've ever played. You know, it's just an injection of European folklore and mythology and aesthetics into it.
00:02:03.680So the aesthetics of it is medieval Europe with mythology and folklore.
00:02:08.240Absolutely love it, gained so much aesthetic inspiration from it.
00:02:12.000So yeah, that is something I definitely recommend.
00:02:14.880And what you get in the game that you don't really get in the books, of course, the aesthetics and the music and that feel.
00:02:22.640But the books are very entertaining, very well written, you know, they're a classic and they're a hit for a reason.
00:02:29.520Now I would say though, before I begin to talk about more the two topics, which is racial relations and sexual morality.
00:02:39.680I would also mention that you don't really need to play the second Witcher game.
00:02:44.480I haven't played the first game, but I don't think you should really play the second game unless you are a really hardcore fan.
00:02:51.040I played it once, actually streamed it on Twitch. It was actually five years ago I did that.
00:02:56.320Shout out to all of you who were with me back then, but that game is not even nearly on par with the third game.
00:03:05.040So if you're gonna play one game, just play the third game and yeah, you're in for a treat.
00:03:11.520Actually, on a second note, I think you can actually play the game if you have the time and opportunity.
00:03:18.400And since many of you are actually in quarantine right now, I suppose you do have the time.
00:03:23.360What I like with the second game is that they explore more of the racial tensions between the Scoia'tael, which is the non-human gorilla, and the humans.
00:03:34.560So you see this screenshot before you right now I took in the second game.
00:03:39.120Yet race is the very reason we fight. We have pointed ears, yours are rounded. We are few, yet long-lived.
00:03:46.480Your kind multiplies like vermin, though thankfully expires quickly.
00:03:51.360So if you can't read the books, but you have access to the game, you can play the second game.
00:03:58.080But the reason I don't necessarily recommend it is because gaming-wise it is quite difficult in the sense that it's unsmooth, if that makes sense.
00:04:08.960Whereas the third game is just a true pleasure in every way.
00:04:13.520But yeah, play the second game if you want. It deals more with the racial component of the series, at least.
00:04:20.960And even if you haven't played any video games earlier, you know, it's like you play a story.
00:04:26.160It's not like you are playing a game, you play a story.
00:04:30.640So yeah, great, absolutely great game.
00:04:33.920The books, there are two themes in the books that I thought would be particularly interesting to you, my dear audience.
00:04:43.440First and foremost, perhaps the relation between humans and non-humans.
00:04:47.520So the humans can be seen, what I thought about was the Saxons and Welsh.
00:04:53.440And you have non-humans, primarily the elves being Welsh, being driven off from their lands into the mountains.
00:05:00.480And the humans coming in a few centuries later to the continent and establishing kingdoms of their own.
00:05:49.680So both in the games and the books, you can stumble upon guys such as this, who says the following.
00:05:56.480Readily, you are a mutant, a freak, a useless relic of a bygone age that should be burned like a withered branch.
00:06:04.800So, as I said, he's being viewed with mistrust by a lot of humans, but he also has his profession.
00:06:10.880He's a Witcher, so he kills monsters to protect humanity, basically.
00:06:16.000That being said, moving on to the second theme I'd like to discuss in regards to sexual morality.
00:06:22.560Something to note as well in regards to the sorceresses is that they are infertile, so therefore they can be promiscuous.
00:06:34.240But, you know, some guys, they will say that the Witcher books promote degeneracy.
00:06:40.080It doesn't really. I found this really interesting quote in regards to Triss Marigold.
00:06:45.200As far as her erotic life was concerned, Triss Marigold had the right to consider herself a typical enchantress.
00:06:52.080It had begun with the sour taste of forbidden fruit, made all the more exciting by the strict rules of the academy and the prohibitions of the mistress under whom she practiced.
00:07:01.920Then came her independence, freedom and a crazy promiscuity which ended, as it usually does, in bitterness, disillusionment and resignation.
00:07:11.280Then followed a long period of loneliness.
00:07:14.880So you see, yeah, there is a lot of promiscuity in the books, but it's not seen as something good.
00:07:19.600And the way it is written is quite crude in the language.
00:07:24.000And I like that. It's nothing fantastical about it.
00:07:28.960It's very base human nature on display.
00:07:32.240And that's also part of the charm of the books.
00:07:35.360That it's very, you know, gritty and filthy like that.
00:07:39.200And of course, you know, crudeness, sexuality, it goes into it.
00:07:43.520But I wouldn't say it is something that hails up sexual decadence as something virtuous.
00:07:49.360It's just it's there, just as plundering of villages, it's there because that's how humans are in these situations.
00:07:58.240So the sorcerer says they are promiscuous because they are infertile, basically.
00:08:04.960Witchers are also infertile, applies to Geralt, of course, too.
00:08:08.880So he doesn't really have that option to settle down and have a family.
00:08:12.320So he and Jennifer, they have this sort of complicated relationship.
00:08:16.640So those are two aspects that I thought were particularly interesting.