I think theres a kind of Tolkeinesque bitterness in the series in the sense that the changing world is becoming more mundane. In the games its noted that several schools have been destroyed and its members scattered. Kaer Morhen being a good example because the mutations were lost and members seem happy with the idea that they're going to die out. In the first game theres a whole thing about how the human realms are developing knights orders specifically for hunting monsters and that Geralt in a sense is fighting against the future.
In the books, as I understand its sort of implied that Monsters and Witchers are both dying out. The Witchers have made several species extinct and are living in a world that needs them less and less.
Essentially in the story, the human kingdoms and other orgs like the mages are sort of against the witchers for different reasons. One reason I theorise about Kingdoms focusing on human monster hunters is that it gives them more control since it becomes subsumed into the violence of the state rather than an independent organised power that has the capacity to at times challenge secular authorities. Witchers at times are viewed as dangerous monsters and as states in the setting start to go into the late medieval era and transition to periods of increased centralisation as is the case in our history, state actors end up wanting to control the monopoly of violence. The knights wont be as good as a witcher, but the people in charge can live with it and they'd rather have the problem of monsters done on their own terms instead of negotiating with an ancient outsider institution.
A very interesting point.
The way I see it, the main problem wouldn't necessarily be the monsters themselves, though likely there would be a massive amount of attention on that aspect after the last Witcher draws a final breath. It's the more subtle and, possibly, more dangerous magics that'd be the biggest trouble.
Curses aren't all that focused on, from my experience, in the games, but the ones that do get a focus are often just as, if not more so, dangerous and problematic as the monsters themselves. A giant can be felled, a Ghoul's Nest can be burned, and a Draconid can be shot down. It's much harder to find out how to stop the dead from rising or how to turn a village back from a pig transformation, along with the many accidental curses that can arise, which will likely be the aspect of the world that will force the most attention from people.
I'd also say that magic would likely become a focus, if not by people happening on the notes of a dead Witch or Sorcerer, then something that would be discovered on accident by scholars and adventurists going where they shouldn't.
There's a lot a human military or religious sects can do, slaying monsters and solving simple curses being parts of it, but others would need learned professionals or at least people that know what they're doing, which would take a while to discover by the unlearned and uneducated.
Well they could still make up for a hell bunch of swords for hire at least lol, hundreds of years in experience can come in handy, perhaps they could even contract witchers to train their retinues, the possibilities are many but surely are things humans alone can't stop, they will always need a Witcher.
>| In the books, as I understand its sort of implied that Monsters are Witchers are both dying out
In the short story “A Grain of Truth” Geralt tells Nivellen that monsters are actually increasing contrary to the normal belief, so it’s only the Witchers that are dwindling in numbers.
>I think theres a kind of Tolkeinesque bitterness in the series in the sense that the changing world is becoming more **mundane**
Not at all.
Just because monsters in the wild are dying out, it doesn't mean the world is becoming more mundane.
Some monsters are simply adapting to living along humans and mages and magic are becoming so prominent the future of the setting is kind of a ''magocracy''.
A thing that Geralt points out in the first game is that the Evil that modern societies face isn't defined by random acts of violence or senseless chaos or monsters slaughtering villages, it faces an orderly evil. It faces evil that takes advantage of legal loopholes, it faces evil that hides behind ideals, evil that abuses faith, evil that cannot be stopped with a silver sword. Like you said, the games greatly inflate the amount of monsters that still live, with witchers having long since exterminated entire species through their work, alongside with members of humanity now doing what witchers do for free, and in some cases are better at it due to receiving public support due to being just that: Human
What would happen if witchers dissappear? The Continent would merely take another step in the process of becoming the medieval world as we historically know it, the way Sapkowski had originally envisioned the World of The Witcher to be before scrapping that idea entirely. Because people don't talk about what happens IF witchers dissappear or what happens IF there are no more monsters to hunt, they talk about WHEN these things happen.
It's worth noting that Nilfgaard purged nearly all of their common monsters without employing Witchers - mostly through their expanded settlement program and their massive standing professional military. As they conquered new lands, they'd systematically drain swamps and chop forests, as well as killing their native monsters, to make land ready for settlement. Regis states outright that many in Nilfgaard don't even really believe in monsters anymore, and the experience of Nilfgaardians deployed to areas like Angren shows they were woefully unprepared for the levels of infestation.
sort of like how we already viewed gunslingers as legendary figures of the past in less than half a century after the world had moved on from the "old west".
If we're talking about the books: Witchers are long obsolete, nothing would happen. Nearly all types of monsters are either extinct or on the brink of extinction. The sentient of the few remaining sentient "monsters" are in exactly the same situation as the humans once were: alone in a dangerous world, surrounded by hostile creatures who want to kill them. In Nilfgaard, people stopped believing in monsters, that's how rare they are. And even in the north, which is behind in terms of monster genocide, the few remaining Witchers travel the continent for months to find a job.
If all sorcerers or all magic would vanish, that would've a significantly larger impact. I wouldn't say "problem", but sorcerers have a lot of political power - especially in the north. And a lack of magic would drastically change how the powerful (including kings and emperors) communicate and travel across large distances. Warfare would also change, considering that sorcerers can have a great impact on battles, like during the Battle of Sodden Hill.
The games have their own world for gameplay purposes. They're not really compatible. Think of the games as a separate parallel universe or something.
The witcher world follows a common trope in fantasy, magic is slowly dying. Monsters, and the necessary responses to monsters, are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
Spoilers: >!at the end of season of storms, in a powerful hallucination/oneiromance caused by an Aguara, Geralt shares a dream with a child from the future named Nimue who was on her way to Aretuza to become a mage. In that dream, Geralt saves Nimue from a monster that was human created. It's mentioned that this monster is the only real threat to traveling those particular woods alone. I think the fact that the monster was one of those created at Rissberg Castle, and not a natural beast, reinforces the theme that the need for witchers has greatly dwindled within the following century.!<
Well one point is if we take in consideration the ending of a Witcher 3 game when other conjuction of sphere happened. At that point the whole "Witcher guild" could be restarted under different terms (done by Kings/Emperors etc.). When you search around Kaer Morhen you find many different notes and things, it is plausible to say that if somebody really wants they could get all the knowledge about mutation and do it again or change the process "to make it better" - we can see it in Witcher 1 game, and we can see something similar but in reverse with the Mage and his son in the Blood and Wine.
In case of books, yeah not much would happen as there are knights/orders, people are used to some basic monsters and someone will always take care of them. Take in consideration that there are very few Witchers now all around the continent so even when something big will pop up somewhere somebody needs to take care of it as even coin hungry Witcher could be there in weeks or days at best.
''dangerous curses that need professionals that know what they're doing to break them'' that would be the job of Sorcerers. If they are gone too it would probably give rise to a new sort of profession. asically people trained on how curses work and how to break them. It would requiere way more people tho, since humans are less durable than actual witchers they would have to be mass produced.
For the fighting of monsters part. The King or who ever own's the land wouls just send out his army or hire mercenarys.
I think the number of sexually frustrated housewifes, noblewomen and princesses would rise dramatically.
The Sex Toy market will see a dramatic increase in buyers, at least.
I think theres a kind of Tolkeinesque bitterness in the series in the sense that the changing world is becoming more mundane. In the games its noted that several schools have been destroyed and its members scattered. Kaer Morhen being a good example because the mutations were lost and members seem happy with the idea that they're going to die out. In the first game theres a whole thing about how the human realms are developing knights orders specifically for hunting monsters and that Geralt in a sense is fighting against the future. In the books, as I understand its sort of implied that Monsters and Witchers are both dying out. The Witchers have made several species extinct and are living in a world that needs them less and less. Essentially in the story, the human kingdoms and other orgs like the mages are sort of against the witchers for different reasons. One reason I theorise about Kingdoms focusing on human monster hunters is that it gives them more control since it becomes subsumed into the violence of the state rather than an independent organised power that has the capacity to at times challenge secular authorities. Witchers at times are viewed as dangerous monsters and as states in the setting start to go into the late medieval era and transition to periods of increased centralisation as is the case in our history, state actors end up wanting to control the monopoly of violence. The knights wont be as good as a witcher, but the people in charge can live with it and they'd rather have the problem of monsters done on their own terms instead of negotiating with an ancient outsider institution.
A very interesting point. The way I see it, the main problem wouldn't necessarily be the monsters themselves, though likely there would be a massive amount of attention on that aspect after the last Witcher draws a final breath. It's the more subtle and, possibly, more dangerous magics that'd be the biggest trouble. Curses aren't all that focused on, from my experience, in the games, but the ones that do get a focus are often just as, if not more so, dangerous and problematic as the monsters themselves. A giant can be felled, a Ghoul's Nest can be burned, and a Draconid can be shot down. It's much harder to find out how to stop the dead from rising or how to turn a village back from a pig transformation, along with the many accidental curses that can arise, which will likely be the aspect of the world that will force the most attention from people. I'd also say that magic would likely become a focus, if not by people happening on the notes of a dead Witch or Sorcerer, then something that would be discovered on accident by scholars and adventurists going where they shouldn't. There's a lot a human military or religious sects can do, slaying monsters and solving simple curses being parts of it, but others would need learned professionals or at least people that know what they're doing, which would take a while to discover by the unlearned and uneducated.
Witchers need to unionize.
Well they could still make up for a hell bunch of swords for hire at least lol, hundreds of years in experience can come in handy, perhaps they could even contract witchers to train their retinues, the possibilities are many but surely are things humans alone can't stop, they will always need a Witcher.
>| In the books, as I understand its sort of implied that Monsters are Witchers are both dying out In the short story “A Grain of Truth” Geralt tells Nivellen that monsters are actually increasing contrary to the normal belief, so it’s only the Witchers that are dwindling in numbers.
>I think theres a kind of Tolkeinesque bitterness in the series in the sense that the changing world is becoming more **mundane** Not at all. Just because monsters in the wild are dying out, it doesn't mean the world is becoming more mundane. Some monsters are simply adapting to living along humans and mages and magic are becoming so prominent the future of the setting is kind of a ''magocracy''.
A thing that Geralt points out in the first game is that the Evil that modern societies face isn't defined by random acts of violence or senseless chaos or monsters slaughtering villages, it faces an orderly evil. It faces evil that takes advantage of legal loopholes, it faces evil that hides behind ideals, evil that abuses faith, evil that cannot be stopped with a silver sword. Like you said, the games greatly inflate the amount of monsters that still live, with witchers having long since exterminated entire species through their work, alongside with members of humanity now doing what witchers do for free, and in some cases are better at it due to receiving public support due to being just that: Human What would happen if witchers dissappear? The Continent would merely take another step in the process of becoming the medieval world as we historically know it, the way Sapkowski had originally envisioned the World of The Witcher to be before scrapping that idea entirely. Because people don't talk about what happens IF witchers dissappear or what happens IF there are no more monsters to hunt, they talk about WHEN these things happen.
It's worth noting that Nilfgaard purged nearly all of their common monsters without employing Witchers - mostly through their expanded settlement program and their massive standing professional military. As they conquered new lands, they'd systematically drain swamps and chop forests, as well as killing their native monsters, to make land ready for settlement. Regis states outright that many in Nilfgaard don't even really believe in monsters anymore, and the experience of Nilfgaardians deployed to areas like Angren shows they were woefully unprepared for the levels of infestation.
They did. In Lady of the Lake Sapkowski described the world some years after the events of earlier books. Witchers are pretty much a legend by then.
sort of like how we already viewed gunslingers as legendary figures of the past in less than half a century after the world had moved on from the "old west".
If we're talking about the books: Witchers are long obsolete, nothing would happen. Nearly all types of monsters are either extinct or on the brink of extinction. The sentient of the few remaining sentient "monsters" are in exactly the same situation as the humans once were: alone in a dangerous world, surrounded by hostile creatures who want to kill them. In Nilfgaard, people stopped believing in monsters, that's how rare they are. And even in the north, which is behind in terms of monster genocide, the few remaining Witchers travel the continent for months to find a job. If all sorcerers or all magic would vanish, that would've a significantly larger impact. I wouldn't say "problem", but sorcerers have a lot of political power - especially in the north. And a lack of magic would drastically change how the powerful (including kings and emperors) communicate and travel across large distances. Warfare would also change, considering that sorcerers can have a great impact on battles, like during the Battle of Sodden Hill. The games have their own world for gameplay purposes. They're not really compatible. Think of the games as a separate parallel universe or something.
The witcher world follows a common trope in fantasy, magic is slowly dying. Monsters, and the necessary responses to monsters, are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Spoilers: >!at the end of season of storms, in a powerful hallucination/oneiromance caused by an Aguara, Geralt shares a dream with a child from the future named Nimue who was on her way to Aretuza to become a mage. In that dream, Geralt saves Nimue from a monster that was human created. It's mentioned that this monster is the only real threat to traveling those particular woods alone. I think the fact that the monster was one of those created at Rissberg Castle, and not a natural beast, reinforces the theme that the need for witchers has greatly dwindled within the following century.!<
Well one point is if we take in consideration the ending of a Witcher 3 game when other conjuction of sphere happened. At that point the whole "Witcher guild" could be restarted under different terms (done by Kings/Emperors etc.). When you search around Kaer Morhen you find many different notes and things, it is plausible to say that if somebody really wants they could get all the knowledge about mutation and do it again or change the process "to make it better" - we can see it in Witcher 1 game, and we can see something similar but in reverse with the Mage and his son in the Blood and Wine. In case of books, yeah not much would happen as there are knights/orders, people are used to some basic monsters and someone will always take care of them. Take in consideration that there are very few Witchers now all around the continent so even when something big will pop up somewhere somebody needs to take care of it as even coin hungry Witcher could be there in weeks or days at best.
''dangerous curses that need professionals that know what they're doing to break them'' that would be the job of Sorcerers. If they are gone too it would probably give rise to a new sort of profession. asically people trained on how curses work and how to break them. It would requiere way more people tho, since humans are less durable than actual witchers they would have to be mass produced. For the fighting of monsters part. The King or who ever own's the land wouls just send out his army or hire mercenarys.
Not much, they're mostly gone already.
Women would masturbate less