The Last Wish

“It was hot but the man [Geralt] had a black coat thrown over his shoulders. He drew attention to himself.”

Geralt drawing attention to himself is interesting given his internal contradictions. Geralt is not a man who prizes attention, yet he frequently relishes his outsider status.

“Twenty years ago who would have thought, even in a drunken stupor, that such a profession as a witcher would exist? Itinerant killers of basilisks; traveling slayers of dragons and vodniks!” 

The castellan’s claim creates some ambiguity about the role of the witcher in the larger world. Though we know that the witcher profession is several hundred years old, the castellan makes it clear that knowledge of witchers is quite new—and quite disturbing—to regular folk.

“You do not understand me. It’s obvious you’ll kill her if it becomes necessary, whether I like it or not. Because otherwise she’ll kill you, surely and inevitably. I won’t punish anyone who kills her in self-defense. But I will not allow her to be killed without trying to save her.”

Foltest’s statement touches on the larger theme of choice and the motif of ambiguity and misdirection. Foltest recognizes that his daughter might die during her attempted rescue, but he wants Geralt make a conscious choice to attempt not to harm her, rather than assume he will.