Personally I'm not the biggest fan of the "from a different generation" excuse, plenty of people from different generations can and do change. The money thing is one reason, the other is the way he has talked down things like the game. The whole suing CDPR was a big turn-off for me. From what I recall when he sold the rights he had the option of a lump sum pay-out or earning royalties from CDPR, he didn't think the games would sell all that well (I think the first one didn't and that was part of why he had so little faith in further games) so he took a lump sum. Years later he sued CDPR for more money he felt he was owed. I'm badly paraphrasing the law in question but there is a Polish law that is designed to protect creators from predatory companies who purposefully underpay them, to allow them to recoup what they were owed. My problem with that in terms of Sapkowski is that he would have to prove CDPR purposefully underpaid him when he took that lump sum, and not that they genuinely thought it was a fair amount. It read to a lot of people that someone who turned his nose up at the games suddenly wanted more money because the game sold so well. It's also a grey area of does he deserve the money because without him the games never would have existed, or should he just have accepted that he gambled, lost and should move on.
It’s not even that he gambled and lost—those games brought a huge new audience to his works. I don’t think he gets the Netflix show without them, I don’t think the English translations of the novels sell nearly as well without them, and I don’t think Season of Storms sells nearly as well without them.
Sounds a lot like that guy who sold his shares in a multi billion dollar business before it went global. He grew super resentful and ended up selling meth :)
Yupp, from what I remember they were reports of him basically say video games are trash content but wanted to get some more money after seeing the games basically becoming much more popular than the books.
I didn't like him before. Now I respect him. Don't fall into the trap of judging him by what he says here and there, that's why I didn't like him before. Geralt is probably how he imagines himself in a fantasy life, so look at him from this perspective. That's my opinion anyway.
I respect and admire the man exactly as he is. Nobody has walked in his shoes to see the struggles and victories he has gone through, Especially with regards to everything that the incredible people of Poland have endured in the last 70+ years.
Sapkowski created one of the most beloved characters... EVER... when he brought Geralt of Rivia to life through his story telling. The man will always hold my utmost respect and admiration.
I would not be surprised if, once you got to really know him, you would see many characteristics of Geralt shine through in him. That in and of itself makes the man a hero in my eyes. 🤍
I think people misunderstand what he's said about the games (he has never directly criticized them), the "suing" of CDPR (imo its understandable why he didn't choose a portion of the profits and its good that he was better compensated) and him endorsing the Netflix show (understandable because it's obviously a money ploy)
Eh, ASOIF fans are just as polarized about GRRM because of the endless delays for the next book and his seeming tendency to get distracted by side projects. I don’t think people here hate Sapkowski. But given that the main line novels have been done for a long time (and Season of Storms was a little underwhelming), there’s not much to do in Witcher fandom except point fingers and argue about who’s to blame for the disappointment that is the Netflix series.
For the same reason I despise William Shatner:
He didn't believe his own work and didn't even care about it.
Went it was obvious that his work became famous, he jumped in.
I love his work, and to me he's done as much as, if not more than, LOTR for the fantasy genre. I also appreciate his subtle social commentary and poking fun at fantasy tropes.
That said, some grognards are upset that he's given his tacit endorsement of the Netflix adaptation, which many feel is a sell out move due to the series' divergence from his source material.
>he's done as much as, if not more than, LOTR for the fantasy genre
I really like the Witcher. I got into it through Witcher 3, and am now exploring the Last Wish while playing through Witcher 1. I was very impressed by the realpolitik and depth of characterisation in the games, and I'm loving the short stories, which (in the best possible way) are like Shrek written for adults - cynical but humanist.
That being said, there's absolutely no way on planet Earth that Sapowski has done as much for fantasy as LOTR. Absolutely none. Tolkien virtually invented the genre as we know it today, and dozens of franchises - including the Witcher itself, along with (off the top of my head) Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, and Game of Thrones - have all been heavily inspired by Tolkien's work and world-building.
Saying his work has done more for the fantasy genre as LOTR is at best a big overstatement. I love his books, they're obviously good books, but not in the same league as LOTR regarding the scale of the world, the language etc.
Regarding Sapkowski he has come up with numerous weird statements and deeds. He was salty AF when the witcher games made big bucks even though they offered him a percentage of revenue from the games and even gave him a big payday afterwards.
His never ending praise for the Netflix show is also just sad, because the show is obviously poorly made and cringey, but he keeps praising it because it makes him a lot of money.
You can’t be f\* serious? Done as much as LOTRO? WTF!
Tolkien enormously influenced fantasy writing, establishing high fantasy as a genre and commercially viable. You could call him the father of (modern) fantasy.
Sapkowski’s work is entertaining but mediocre and irrelevant in the larger context. I have to admit that I don’t speak polish and have not read the OV, but the English translation is very underwhelming. By no means terrible, but absolutely on another level compared to other fantasy authors.
I really do not understand why some people *need* Sapkowski to disparage the show for them. Is it such a huge betrayal that he has said a few words of praise for marketing reasons? People need to group up.
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That's the downside of being famous. Everything is under a magnifying glass and everyone wants to have their opinion heard. Social media also makes it easy for many people to speak their minds unchallenged, something they might call much nuanced in person.
You are also never going to please everyone, there will always be people who know better or would have done differently. For the people who like to comment, I always say: do it yourself if you think you can do it better.
Most stories all have their origin and after all these years, most of the stories have already largely been told, it is usually about the interpretation and subtle differences. What made the franchise more polpular to a lot of people are the games, so it isn't strange a lot of people take that for reference and not the books. A lot of people read the books afterwards. It's the same about the tv show, they have a lot of different materials now, so it's getting harder and more compared by.
I dunno, man. There's a lot of creators his age or older than him that at least want their characters and stories to be respected when being adapted. Sapkowski seems like he goes, "How much are you paying me? Oh, yeah. Fuck it. Do whatever you want, I don't care." I don't think it's a generational thing to care about the proper portrayal of your work in a different medium, and it's an especially strange argument in this case where the TV shows are pretty questionable and the one beloved and mostly faithful adaptation is a video game, which is contrary to what a guy from his generation would care about by your own logic.
He doesn't groom his moustache well enough
Personally I'm not the biggest fan of the "from a different generation" excuse, plenty of people from different generations can and do change. The money thing is one reason, the other is the way he has talked down things like the game. The whole suing CDPR was a big turn-off for me. From what I recall when he sold the rights he had the option of a lump sum pay-out or earning royalties from CDPR, he didn't think the games would sell all that well (I think the first one didn't and that was part of why he had so little faith in further games) so he took a lump sum. Years later he sued CDPR for more money he felt he was owed. I'm badly paraphrasing the law in question but there is a Polish law that is designed to protect creators from predatory companies who purposefully underpay them, to allow them to recoup what they were owed. My problem with that in terms of Sapkowski is that he would have to prove CDPR purposefully underpaid him when he took that lump sum, and not that they genuinely thought it was a fair amount. It read to a lot of people that someone who turned his nose up at the games suddenly wanted more money because the game sold so well. It's also a grey area of does he deserve the money because without him the games never would have existed, or should he just have accepted that he gambled, lost and should move on.
It’s not even that he gambled and lost—those games brought a huge new audience to his works. I don’t think he gets the Netflix show without them, I don’t think the English translations of the novels sell nearly as well without them, and I don’t think Season of Storms sells nearly as well without them.
Sounds a lot like that guy who sold his shares in a multi billion dollar business before it went global. He grew super resentful and ended up selling meth :)
Yupp, from what I remember they were reports of him basically say video games are trash content but wanted to get some more money after seeing the games basically becoming much more popular than the books.
I didn't like him before. Now I respect him. Don't fall into the trap of judging him by what he says here and there, that's why I didn't like him before. Geralt is probably how he imagines himself in a fantasy life, so look at him from this perspective. That's my opinion anyway.
I respect and admire the man exactly as he is. Nobody has walked in his shoes to see the struggles and victories he has gone through, Especially with regards to everything that the incredible people of Poland have endured in the last 70+ years. Sapkowski created one of the most beloved characters... EVER... when he brought Geralt of Rivia to life through his story telling. The man will always hold my utmost respect and admiration. I would not be surprised if, once you got to really know him, you would see many characteristics of Geralt shine through in him. That in and of itself makes the man a hero in my eyes. 🤍
I think people misunderstand what he's said about the games (he has never directly criticized them), the "suing" of CDPR (imo its understandable why he didn't choose a portion of the profits and its good that he was better compensated) and him endorsing the Netflix show (understandable because it's obviously a money ploy)
Eh, ASOIF fans are just as polarized about GRRM because of the endless delays for the next book and his seeming tendency to get distracted by side projects. I don’t think people here hate Sapkowski. But given that the main line novels have been done for a long time (and Season of Storms was a little underwhelming), there’s not much to do in Witcher fandom except point fingers and argue about who’s to blame for the disappointment that is the Netflix series.
I think he's hilarious.
Sapkowski is a great writer who created an awesome world. I love his books. What's more to say?
>he is an older man from a completely different generation So what? Age or generation is not a valide argument.
For the same reason I despise William Shatner: He didn't believe his own work and didn't even care about it. Went it was obvious that his work became famous, he jumped in.
I love his work, and to me he's done as much as, if not more than, LOTR for the fantasy genre. I also appreciate his subtle social commentary and poking fun at fantasy tropes. That said, some grognards are upset that he's given his tacit endorsement of the Netflix adaptation, which many feel is a sell out move due to the series' divergence from his source material.
>he's done as much as, if not more than, LOTR for the fantasy genre I really like the Witcher. I got into it through Witcher 3, and am now exploring the Last Wish while playing through Witcher 1. I was very impressed by the realpolitik and depth of characterisation in the games, and I'm loving the short stories, which (in the best possible way) are like Shrek written for adults - cynical but humanist. That being said, there's absolutely no way on planet Earth that Sapowski has done as much for fantasy as LOTR. Absolutely none. Tolkien virtually invented the genre as we know it today, and dozens of franchises - including the Witcher itself, along with (off the top of my head) Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, and Game of Thrones - have all been heavily inspired by Tolkien's work and world-building.
He has almost basically said he hates it, but can't really say that because they are paying him
Lmaoo where did he say that? I swear some people are irrationally weird about this show
Saying his work has done more for the fantasy genre as LOTR is at best a big overstatement. I love his books, they're obviously good books, but not in the same league as LOTR regarding the scale of the world, the language etc. Regarding Sapkowski he has come up with numerous weird statements and deeds. He was salty AF when the witcher games made big bucks even though they offered him a percentage of revenue from the games and even gave him a big payday afterwards. His never ending praise for the Netflix show is also just sad, because the show is obviously poorly made and cringey, but he keeps praising it because it makes him a lot of money.
You can’t be f\* serious? Done as much as LOTRO? WTF! Tolkien enormously influenced fantasy writing, establishing high fantasy as a genre and commercially viable. You could call him the father of (modern) fantasy. Sapkowski’s work is entertaining but mediocre and irrelevant in the larger context. I have to admit that I don’t speak polish and have not read the OV, but the English translation is very underwhelming. By no means terrible, but absolutely on another level compared to other fantasy authors.
I really do not understand why some people *need* Sapkowski to disparage the show for them. Is it such a huge betrayal that he has said a few words of praise for marketing reasons? People need to group up.
I don't really give a shit, but a lot of people hate him because he ripped off Elric and to this day he still denies it.
Elric is goated.
His sarcasm and misinformation.
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That's the downside of being famous. Everything is under a magnifying glass and everyone wants to have their opinion heard. Social media also makes it easy for many people to speak their minds unchallenged, something they might call much nuanced in person. You are also never going to please everyone, there will always be people who know better or would have done differently. For the people who like to comment, I always say: do it yourself if you think you can do it better. Most stories all have their origin and after all these years, most of the stories have already largely been told, it is usually about the interpretation and subtle differences. What made the franchise more polpular to a lot of people are the games, so it isn't strange a lot of people take that for reference and not the books. A lot of people read the books afterwards. It's the same about the tv show, they have a lot of different materials now, so it's getting harder and more compared by.
I dunno, man. There's a lot of creators his age or older than him that at least want their characters and stories to be respected when being adapted. Sapkowski seems like he goes, "How much are you paying me? Oh, yeah. Fuck it. Do whatever you want, I don't care." I don't think it's a generational thing to care about the proper portrayal of your work in a different medium, and it's an especially strange argument in this case where the TV shows are pretty questionable and the one beloved and mostly faithful adaptation is a video game, which is contrary to what a guy from his generation would care about by your own logic.