I wrote a short Andrzej Sapkowski biography for a separate assignment some weeks back and I delved quite deeply into his life.  Right now, I can barely remember the sources I used, so let’s hope that everything I can recall from memory is correct.

I know he was a fascinating fellow. During the early days of his career, Fantasy was mostly disregarded as children’s fiction in Poland, unworthy of serious consideration.

As such, when Andrzej wrote Wiedzim for a contest, he did not expect much in the way of positive feedback. To his shock, the same public that had rejected fantasy loved his story. They wanted more. Already in his late 30s but certain his passion lay in writing, not selling fur, Andrzej started cranking out ‘Witcher’ stories.

Most of them were short, disparate tales but, over time, they gave birth to a rich and detailed world, one that the author finally cemented when he amalgamated his short stories into a single volume.

Wiedzim roughly translates into Witcher, though ‘Hexer’ and ‘Spellmaker’ might be more accurate. Andrzej was already a household name in his country when CD Projekt Red approached him with the intention of turning his stories into video games. The author was as dismissive of video games as the Polish public had been of fantasy.

He did not hesitate to sell the rights to The Witcher for a meagre sum. He also showed no interest in claiming royalties from the video game adaptation down the line, mostly because he expected the project to fade into obscurity.

He was wrong. The Witcher went on to become one of the biggest video game series of all time. This initially drew the ire of Andrzej. For the longest time, the author was quite bitter, not because his initial deal with CD Projekt Red prevented him from sharing in the franchise’s financial success, but because the video games had extinguished the fame of his literary works.

Most ‘Witcher’ fans had no idea his novels existed. Those that eventually discovered them assumed that they were mere novelizations of the video games.

Andrzej eventually made peace with the situation. He accepts that, in one or two decades, most of the world will associate The Witcher, his legacy, with the video games. But he has a good reason to celebrate these days; the Netflix adaptation is based on his novels, not the video game.

And in case anyone cares, I enjoyed season 1 of The Witcher. It exceeded my expectations.  

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