40 pages • 1 hour read
Andrzej SapkowskiThe Last Wish
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Geralt of Rivia
Geralt of Rivia is the protagonist of the collection and the only character to appear in every chapter. Geralt is a hard, stoic man who often relishes his outsider status. However, as the collection progresses, a softer, kinder version of Geralt emerges, one who insists on doing the right thing even if he can’t always be certain what that is.
Geralt is a witcher—a freelance hunter paid by people to rid their towns of monsters. Geralt also has some monstrous qualities—his senses and abilities are superhuman because to become a witcher, one must be born into it through fate, survive a series of brutal tests at an early age, and go through a lifetime of training. Because of this, Geralt, like all witchers, is simultaneously necessary and reviled—brought in to face mortal danger, then sent away as soon as possible (sometimes without even receiving payment). Yet, despite how humans treat him, the novel hints that Geralt wishes he could be one of them.
Witchers cannot have children, and the two most poignant stories address Geralt’s roundabout ways of bypassing this restriction. In one, he claims the right to take a couple’s child through the Law of Surprise—the way he himself was taken from his family. In another, he uses a djinn to make a wish for a sorceress with whom he develops an unexpected bond to be able to conceive.
Nenneke
Nenneke is the high priestess of the Cult of Melitele and one of Geralt’s oldest friends—they have known each other for a very long time, so she is intimately familiar with desires and facets of his personality that he doesn’t fully understand. Nenneke loves and respects Geralt, but she is also impatient with him, both for not listening to her advice and for making foolish mistakes that his training should. However, Geralt resists her guidance, often for reasons not entirely clear to himself or to the reader.
Dandelion
Dandelion, a poet and Geralt’s travel companion, is a crass drunkard who enjoys traveling with Geralt for the adventure even if he prefers not to listen to Geralt’s advice. Dandelion’s refusal to listen to Geralt—as well as his inability to take anything seriously—is the catalyst for the final adventure of the collection. Like Nenneke—who dislikes Dandelion—Dandelion is one of Geralt’s chief defenders, even if he spends most of his time with Geralt finding new ways to frustrate him.
Yennefer
The sorceress Yennefer doesn’t appear until the end of the collection, but her importance to Geralt’s larger tale is hinted at throughout the book. Like Geralt, Yennefer is a confident outsider; unlike Geralt, she prefers to challenge the establishment that puts her on the outside rather than accept her role. She is charming and crafty, and she is unafraid to use people to achieve her ends. However, her cold, cynical exterior is a shell covering a compassionate depth—Yennefer primarily wants to make her way towards a place of stability in a world that doesn’t want her. Both Geralt and Yennefer wish they could sever ties with fate—for Yennefer, that means defying the natural order of their world and finding a way to have children.
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By Andrzej Sapkowski
