Ep. 40 — Chapter 5 from "Blood of Elves" (Part 1)

Josh from The Pod Called Quest and Erick Schwartz from the US join Alyssa for Part 1 of our discussion of Andrzej Sapkowski’s first Witcher novel Blood of Elves, Chapter 5. Very important bits include: the famous “Dear Friend…” letter and the relationship between Geralt and Yennefer, the strengths of a short story format, Sapkowski’s possible attitude toward academics of the Continent, that one “helpful” co-worker, and a biologist demystifies the aeschna, plus Eeyore, Mr. Collins, and stealing clout from Beyoncé.

This episode is available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.

Transcript

Cold Open

ERIC:  The cool thing is, is none of my players read The Witcher books and it was only me. So, I got to kind of revel in it. And they thought, Oh, this is so cool. How'd you come up with this? I'm like, Oh, you know—

ALYSSA: “Inspiration.”

ERIC: I copied and pasted it. “Inspiration. “Yeah. Yeah. 

JOSH: Yeah, isn't that the hardest thing? As like a GM when you're really into something and you're like, I'm going to draw inspiration from this. But you also want to tell your closest friends about it that so—

ERIC: Yeah. 

JOSH: —then you're like, “Oh, no. But, but don't, don't, don't read the third one though, because I mean, that one's not any good and I ripped it entirely off.”

[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]

Introduction

ALYSSA: Welcome to Breakfast in Beauclair, a global Witcher Podcast. My name is Alyssa from GoodMorhen, and I’ll be your host as you, I, and our international hanza accompany Geralt of Rivia and his destiny, Cirilla of Cintra, across the Continent.

[Birthday]

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[Episode Details]

As for this episode, Josh from The Pod Called Quest and Erick Schwartz from the US call in for Part 1 of our discussion of Blood of Elves, Chapter 5. Join us as we break down the famous “Dear Friend…” letter and the relationship between Geralt and Yennefer, discuss the strengths of a short story format, examine Sapkowski’s possible attitude toward academics of the Continent, and a biologist demystifies the aeschna, plus Eeyore, Mr. Collins, that one “helpful” co-worker, and stealing clout from Beyoncé.

In our mid-episode news segment, “Tidings from Toussaint,” Lars from Witcherflix shares exciting news about Netflix’s “Nightmare of the Wolf”, “The Witcher: Blood Origin”, and “The Witcher” Season 2.

Without further ado, let’s begin our discussion of Blood of Elves, Chapter 5.

Discussion

[Breakfast in Beauclair stinger by MojoFilter Media]

ALYSSA: Welcome to Breakfast in Beauclair. My name is Alyssa and I'm pleased to welcome two new guests to the show. My first guest is the GM, writer, producer, and editor for The Pod Called Quest, a Pathfinder actual play podcast. He's an avid miniature painter as well, often found at his painting desk, painting miniatures for Warhammer, Kingdom Death or Pathfinder D&D. It's Josh from The Pod Called Quest. Hey, Josh. 

JOSH: Hey, thanks for having me on.  

ALYSSA: Yeah. Absolutely! And we have one more guest for you today. My second guest is a molecular biologist, and good Lord. Pharmaco-. We're gonna get to that word. 

ERIC: Pharmacogenomics. 

ALYSSA: Phargo-. Okay, we're going to skip over that. From Cincinnati, he was previously a member of the nation's leading laboratory in COVID-19 testing and research before moving to his current genetics department. He enjoys scuba diving, backpacking, enjoying the outdoors and digital character drawings. It's Eric Schwartz from the US. Hi Eric.

ERIC: Hello, thank you. Thank you for having me on. Yeah, no, that, that word. I struggle with saying it myself. So, we just short-hand it to PGX so. 

ALYSSA: I can say PGX. It's impressive that I've now just, I think this is the fastest that I've gone through an episode and completely butchered something. 

ERIC: Well, we gotta shoot for the stars. You know? Shoot for the stars, land on the moon.

ALYSSA: Yeah, I, I've beat my own personal record and I think that's fantastic. So, I'm very excited to have you both on for chapter five. This is actually the very first recording that we're doing in my in-house sound booth, which is really exciting. So, now that we're actually kind of like, diving into The Witcher yet again, I'd love to hear from you both, Josh and Eric, how you both got into the Witcher universe?

JOSH: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, really, for myself, I started kind of a while back, I had seen the games, I had never really heard of the books or anything. I played the first Witcher game way back in the day, and then a while later, I got into The Witcher 3, which was just, you know, it's a masterpiece, and it really kind of grabbed me lore-wise, and just felt like something different, you know? And eventually, after, you know, spending too many hours in, in there, I realized there was a book series as well. And then went and picked up all the audio books. Picked up, you know, the physical copies. Was just fascinated by what Sapkowski had created, you know? I had just realized, like, how have I been a fantasy fan my entire life and not had the chance to, to read this? You know? By reading Lord of the Rings, and, and so many other different series since I was a really young kid, and really, it just kind of changed my entire perspective on a lot of things with fantasy. I've always been someone pulled between like two poles of fantasy. Like, I love the hyper realism of, you know, A Song of Ice and Fire. But I love, like, the epic fantasy of, like, Lord of the Rings. All of the different magical races and the magical spells and stuff. And I'm also an avid D&D and Pathfinder player. And I never could find something that was both, that kind of felt, like, something in the middle. And this was exactly that. Like, there's elves and gnomes and magical swords and incredibly powerful wizards and sorceresses. But also, like, there's like politics and like economics. The story with like, Biberveldt, and everything in the short stories like, just was like, this is insane as a story about like, local economics. And it just grabbed me so much as like, okay, Sapkowski is the GOAT. And this is exactly my kind of fantasy, so, it has changed, like the way that I write my podcast and the way that I write, like, anything that I'm working on now because somehow you can make a gnome work alongside, you know, grand, overarching politics between, you know, nations and stuff. So, I, I, I love it. It's my new favorite. 

ALYSSA: Eric, what about you? How did you get into The Witcher? 

ERIC: Way, way back when Witcher 1 came out it caught my interest. And I started playing it a little bit, and I'm just like, Man, wasn't this based on something? So, I did a quick Google Search and found on GameFAQs, that old site. You know, the message board talking about it, and they're like, oh, no, that's, uh, you should probably read the books before diving into this because it kind of bookends off of Geralt's story at the very least. So, I'm like, All right. I'll give that a chance. I was absolutely infatuated with how Sapkowski took a lot of classical fairy tales and myths and stuff and kind of twisted it in a, in a very kind of tongue-in-cheek — I, I don't want to say satirical, but a very inspired kind of way. Even, even in the most subtle ways, like, with the short story with the, the beast in his manor. 

ALYSSA: A Grain of Truth? 

ERIC: Yeah, A Grain of Truth. Yeah. Oh, that's, that's probably my favorite one. And I based a lot of my NPCs. In my own D&D stories, campaigns, off of Nivellen. I just love the character building, and that was the next thing that really grasped me with The Witcher was not only the world building, but like the character development in the character arcs. I always rooted for every character in one way, shape, or form and how they grew. No matter how small or, or how much. I, I really appreciated that. Now, I make it almost an annual ritual to listen or read all the books once, sometimes even twice a year.

ALYSSA: Oh, how fun. So, WitcherCon was about two days ago. It's now the Sunday after WitcherCon. And we actually found out two things from the convention. That, one they're adapting A Grain of Truth for The Witcher Season Two and that'll be the very first episode for this upcoming season. And that they're also adapting A Grain of Truth into a comic book. 

JOSH: Wow. 

ALYSSA: Which I've already pre-ordered. It's not coming out until, I think, next year. But the cover art looks so beautiful, so, if you are interested in A Grain of Truth, you've got both of those things to look forward to.

ERIC: I am very, very excited for the comic for sure.

ALYSSA: Today we'll discuss Blood of Elves: Chapter Five in which we see how the mysterious Rience's schemes begin to converge on The Witcher and affect the actions of secret services across the continent. So, this is a very fun chapter just because the first part of it certainly reads like one of the short stories. When we get into this first section Geralt takes a job with the Malatius and Grock Company escorting transport ships down the Delta between Foam and Novigrad. On a routine voyage, he is suddenly threatened by officers looking for Ciri on behalf of Rience, and the confrontation ends in bloodshed. This first part of the chapter certainly reads like one of the short stories that we're so familiar with. We get all of the information, all of the characters that we need upfront. And by the end of it, everything is tied fairly nicely into, like, a nice little bow.

JOSH: Yeah, I mean, this is, this is actually one of my favorite chapters in Blood of Elves, you know? There's, there’s plenty of good stuff in this book overall but I think it was kind of fun to almost, kind of, go back to the old format for a little while. Like, the focus on one particular beast, kind of, driving the story. I really just enjoyed a lot of the, like, the interactions. I mean, it's classic Sapkowski, like, he has this kid, that's kind of a constant touch point that he keeps coming back to over and over again. And then that kid being a nosy little shit. So, it's just one of those wonderful things as a writer, like, oh, okay. This is why this buck-tooth kid, and this Karen, are on this boat. So, I really enjoyed this one. I love all of, like, the interesting world-building with Linus Pitt. First of all, very obvious what Sapkowski thinks of academics and the men of letters, you know? It's very apparent. 

ERIC: Love that. 

JOSH: And that, that always makes me laugh whenever that comes up. But all of, like, the strange like, you know, the subgroups in the genuses and stuff like, I remember first reading this and like just stopping and going on the internet and trying to find all of the touch points to see where he's pulling those from. That's one of my favorite parts of what Sapkowski does, like, the anachronisms that he puts into The Witcher are some of my favorite things, where it probably wouldn't make sense for this vaguely almost Renaissance era to have a lot of these phrasings for things and these, this way that the scientist looks at things, but I, I think that's super interesting. And then, of course, he finds a beautiful way to tie it into the overarching story. It's not just one of the short stories. 

ERIC: Yeah.

JOSH: You know?

ERIC: I'll have to pair it with what Josh said about the anachronisms. I love that. He's not trying to hide it. He's not trying to make some quasi-science to, to fit the time period. It's like a lot of personality and motives and stuff that you would see in the 21st century is stuff that he's putting into this ambiguous medieval setting. It makes no sense, but it's amazingly artistic and I, and I absolutely love it. It is very tongue-in-cheek with how Sapkowski does view academics, right. I love that. But also too, I have to as a biologist, kind of cringe at a few things, like, it's either the character who's trying to sound smart and be real uppity and up his own ass. Or it's Sapkowski trying to adapt some of the, the jargon of natural sciences and stuff. And that, it's like, it's endearing. It really is, but it's like —

ALYSSA: Yeah. 

ERIC: But that's not a knock on him because ultimately, I do find it endearing and a lot of it does make sense. It's definitely he, he did his homework for coming up with this genus and the phyla and all. Everything he did with the, the Aeschna. The return to what felt like a short story was feel good food. Like, comfort food kind of deal. I absolutely love the scathing letter from Yennefer. That's a big highlight. Big highlight of the chapter for me, but I do have some opinions I have about that and Geralt as, as people, but we don't have to discuss that right now.

ALYSSA: Yeah, I mean, we'll certainly get into it. And I'm sure that by the time we get to all of the wonderful science that Linus Pitt regurgitates at us, we will turn to you for some clarity. So, as we get into the chapter, we are with Geralt on the ship, he is being pestered by the little shit as it is put, whose name is Everett. As Josh said, Everett will be kind of a key touch point throughout the entire section. Again, as this kind of reads as a short story, he becomes crucial at some point as to all the characters we meet. Geralt is leaning over the side of this boat reading a letter from Ciri. And I'm not going to read this letter in full but she's kind of chittering about all the things that are happening at the Temple of Melitele. What she's learning in school, the trials and tribulations of somebody who was, like, only about 10 or 11. Like, being in school and everything is like worlds crushing and ahhhh. Like, so, we get all of that from Ciri. We also get a cute little bit of lore in Ciri's letter that the name of The Witcher's Keep is actually from the Elder Speech and in elder runes, would be written as Caer a'Muirehen which means Keep of the Elder Sea. So, she talks about how there are fish, fossils and shells. Like, all in the walls of the keep which makes that space feel a little bit more rich. After Ciri's letter, Geralt also goes and reads a letter from Yennefer. And I will actually read this in full, because like Josh and Eric have said, it is fantastic. And we also do know that it is the name of one of the episodes within The Witcher Season 2. I believe it's episode six or episode five that is called Dear Friend. Peter Kenny, if you do have the audio books, does such a fantastic job in this chapter of reading for all of these individual characters. It's absolutely stunning. And the scathing nature with which he reads this letter is just amazing. It's incredible.

JOSH: It's perfect. He's just an amazing —

ERIC: Yeah.

JOSH: —person. 

ERIC: I love, I love his narration so much. 

ALYSSA: Yeah, he's absolutely fantastic. So, we'll read this in full because it's great and because it provides a little bit more context for what we're going to chat about and what we're going to see in later sections. And I will give this my best shot. “Dear friend, your unexpected letter, which I received not quite three years after we last saw each other, has given me much joy. My joy is all the greater as various rumors have been circulating about your sudden and violent death. It is a good thing that you have decided to disclaim them by writing to me. It is a good thing too that you are doing so, so soon. From your letter, it appears that you have lived a peaceful, wonderfully boring life devoid of all sensation. These days such a life is a real privilege, dear friend. And I am happy that you have managed to achieve it. I was touched by the sudden concern which you deign to show as to my health, dear friend. I hasten with the news that yes, I now feel well. The period of indisposition is behind me. I have dealt with the difficulties, the description of which I shall not bore you with. It worries and troubles me very much that the unexpected present you received from fate brings you worries. Your supposition that this requires professional help is absolutely correct. Although, your description of the difficulty, quite understandably, is enigmatic. I'm sure I know the source of the problem, and I agree with your opinion that the help of yet another magician is absolutely necessary. I feel honored to be the second to whom you turn. What have I done to be so high on your list? Rest assured, my dear friend. And if you had the intention of supplicating the help of additional magicians, abandon it because there is no need. I leave without delay and go to the place which you have indicated in an oblique, yet to me, understandable way. It goes without saying that I leave in absolute secrecy and with great caution. I will surmise the nature of the trouble on the spot, and will do all that is in my power to calm the gushing source. I shall try, in so doing, not to appear any worse than other ladies to whom you have turned, are turning, or usually turn with your supplications. I am, after all, your dear friend. Your valuable friendship is too important to me to disappoint you, dear friend. Should you in the next few years was tried to me, do not hesitate for a moment. Your letters invariably give me boundless pleasure. Your friend, Yennefer.”

JOSH: Oof. 

ALYSSA: That is so fun. So fun.

JOSH: It works every time. Every single time I'm just like, chomping at the bit, like, yeah. Hit 'em. Get 'em. Like, this is the moment I fell in love with Yen, you know? This chapter. She's really great. She's awesome in The Last Wish and everything. But when I read that letter, it's, oh, this is my gal. I love her. She doesn't let this 90 year-old boy, like, be an ass like he is. She's gonna tell him in the subtlest, most wonderful way possible. So this is when I was like, she's my girl. I love her. This is my favorite love story ever told. I'll keep pushing that on everybody. It's the best love story in, you know, in a novel ever. So, yeah, that letter. I can't wait to see how they're gonna do that on the show. We'll have to see. 

ERIC: Okay, if we're going to talk about the letter, I want to play a little bit of devil's advocate here. Just a little bit. 

ALYSSA: Okay. 

ERIC: I think that a lot of how Yennefer treats and responds to Geralt, though a lot of the times warranted, I think sometimes it's a little unfair, given to his, uhhh, the side effects of him becoming a Witcher. Like, he has said multiple times, like, he's stunted emotionally. Love and attachment is always a, a very challenging thing for him. And we are still very early in the Geralt Saga. With that kind of response, we haven't seen Geralt's letter to her correct? I'm trying to remember.

ALYSSA: No, we do know that he tossed and turned for about two nights and then eventually ended on “dear friend” but he's asking Yennefer to, of course, go to the Temple of Melitele and train Ciri. That was ultimately the, the contents of his letter from what we know.

ERIC: Yeah, she knows him. They had that discussion in A Shard of Ice. She should know and have a little bit more patience with how he is and in his struggles that he has, and maybe, maybe this is me projecting modern idealisms onto this, but there's a little bit to that where I think, okay, yeah. Like, she is warranted to feel a little offended to her being number two, because number one was, was Triss. And now that I think about it, I can't really think of a motivation as to why, you know, they called for Triss first over Yennefer other than the fact that maybe the, the other witchers were more familiar with Triss in the first place, than Yennefer.

JOSH: Geralt might have had a, from what I kind of read it like, he had a little bit of his tail between his legs. Like, a little bit nervous to ask Yen. At this point, as he says it's like, or as she says, like, it's been three years, I think, since Belleteyn. It's just like a big Oof. It's like, dude, you're magically and emotionally bound to this person. You got to be a little more present. So, that's probably why he was like, he was like, Yeah. Let's get Merigold. She won't come here and yell at me. She does anyways. But.

ERIC: Another thing too, is three years to us with, you know, life expectancies of 90. That's I mean, that's a good amount of time. But I mean- 

JOSH: Sure. 

ERIC: Yennefer is what? What, like, 200?

ALYSSA: No, Yennefer is 94. At this point in the books.

ERIC: Oh! Okay. 

ALYSSA: And then Geralt is actually younger than her. 

JOSH: Yeah, they're both a little shy of 100 years. Right? Give or take. Hence, she's a little older than him.  

ERIC: Okay. Okay. Then, I don't know, maybe, maybe again, this is me just devil's advocating here, but maybe three years doesn't feel much to them as it would you or I. But I don't know, I just like doing these kind of thought experiments with the motivations of these characters. Because also too, I will, I will have to say that even if Yennefer was right in how she felt and responded to. She does seem to kind of harp on that with Geralt. Almost like she wouldn't be the bigger person to let it go. So, I think ultimately my, my final opinion of just this letter in particular, that they were both in the wrong in some way.

ALYSSA: I think I will just add a little bit more context to the conversation just because this is a really dense three years. We do know that Ciri and Geralt spent two years in Kaer Morhen. And the previous year was the first Nilfgaardian war, at the end of which Yennefer was blinded, and possibly presumed dead and Geralt disappeared. So, I think it was probably they hadn't heard from each other all the way through the war. Yennefer was horribly attacked and disfigured at the last battle of the war. Didn't hear from him. Like, she didn't get anything. Not while she's recovering, no news of him. He was on the run with Ciri and then hiding in Kaer Morhen for two years. And she has had no idea where he is throughout all of her recovery. So, I feel like that probably colors a lot of it as well. 

ERIC: Yeah, that’s a good point. 

JOSH: Yeah, and it's kind of a classic thing, you know? I think the whole idea of the Witchers being emotionally stunted, I kind of always read it as like, it's not actually a cause of the mutation. It's actually just their indoctrination and kind of some, to be frank, like, some toxic masculinity of like, You don't talk about your emotions. You don't do this. You, You stay out of things. Like, it plays into like the evil is evil line, which is not really what Geralt believes, you know? It's not actually who he is.

ALYSSA: Mmh-hmm. 

JOSH: I think it's something that endears me a lot to Cavil's portrayal is that, I think he gets it right, that Geralt is a good guy. Like, he is a white knight, he wants to be the good guy. He's just been told that he has to play the middle his entire time. And I think that plays into him just retreating from his emotions because in all honesty, like, I know as a, as a 30 year-old man, like, that can be easier sometimes, of just not dealing with it, and him going to Kaer Morhen with Ciri while it's to protect her and to train her and to go back to Uncle Ves. It really is him physically retreating from the world and being like, I don't want to deal with the war. I've been told I’m not supposed to deal with that. I don't really want to do this thing with Cirilla but I kind of have to. I don't have a choice now. And I don't want to have to deal with Yen because I can't do this right now. And so, I can totally see where you're coming from Eric of like, Yen is not um, she's not often soft. Part of me kind of like loves her for that.

ERIC: Yeah.

JOSH: Because she doesn't really have a reason to in like the world that they're living in. Because no one's really ever been nice to her in many ways. And I think it's a, it's just interesting to see at this point, when Geralt has, like, full on retreated into himself. Retreated into the mountains like a hermit. And like you said Alyssa, like, she basically as close to dying is like you could as a person as powerful as her, you know? She was rent asunder and she doesn't hear from, like, her guy for this many years. And so I think I can totally get where you're coming from Eric, of like, maybe she could have reached out to him. But we could all you know, there's that, there's the what if game forever with that. But I think they're both often not as understanding of each other as they should be. But I think Geralt does have a history of like playing up the oh, I don't have emotions. When Yen as like a sorceress, like, knows, like, that's not what those, like, concoctions they gave you would do to you. That's not how it works. So you got to open up a little bit here, you know? In the end, whether it's like the Trial of the Grasses or whether it's just masculine indoctrination of these boy, like, either way it's not something that you're bound to and Geralt like, he's lived nine decades and it's like, hey, bro, you got to, you got to learn how to deal with people by now. Like, you're, you're a witcher. Like, your whole thing is, like, you work in the service industry. You got to be good with people, man. You got to figure this out. So, yeah, I think on both sides, for sure, both of them could learn to be a bit more empathic. But Yen is like, actually rather open, I think in many ways. And I just think Geralt just likes to shut himself off. He almost uses it as, like, an excuse to not have to do things, you know?

ERIC: Yeah, I concede. Yeah, you, you guys are right. Yeah, I, after hearing that, I, I have to say like, I, I think I agree with you now, Josh. I, I think it's, it's, you're right. I think he does use it as an excuse, like, much as someone who, you know? Before they can get help, they don't want to help themselves. So, it's like, like a Eeyore, why bother mindset. 

JOSH: Geralt is kind of our white-haired Eeyore. He's a little bit of an Eeyore. 

ERIC: Yeah, he is. Yeah,  yeah, yeah.

ALYSSA: And I think this brings us really nicely to the actual exposition that we get throughout this first section, in which Geralt at some point does say, “I lose a great deal of my charm when someone gets to know me better.” There are two really big themes that we actually get from the first part of this section. The first part is as we introduced him Linus Pitt, the master tutor and lecturer in Natural History at the Academy of Oxenfurt, talks a lot about the fauna and flora that is here in the Delta. And all of the monsters that are here as well, which he and Geralt go back and forth on for quite some time. And then we also hear littered throughout the chapter, the kind of preparations that the Northern Kingdoms are undergoing in regards to Nilfgaard. So, things like there's an influx of warships coming down the river. Linus Pitt talks about the customs war that is happening now that Nilfgaard is flooding the Temerian Market with goods. Geralt says there that in a nutshell, Nilfgaard is slowly taking over with goods and gold that which it couldn't take with arms. We eventually do meet a customs officer but with all of these learnings, we're kind of in the weeds of exposition for like 15 pages. Did you guys have any thoughts on either the war preparations in the Northern Kingdoms or Linus Pitt's very delightful monologue?

JOSH: Yeah, I mean, this is kind of like some of my other favorite stuff that Sapkowski does somehow, making this kind of exposition really interesting and tied into what the people are doing in this current chapter, you know? Like, I, I think a lot of the times, like me as a writer myself, like, I'm always trying to get information like this out, but figuring out how to do it in a way that's not just dull and tying it in with this uppity professor and then you know, having them actually be literally on the river as they're seeing these things. I, I really enjoyed that. I mean, the first thing that stood out to me is that is a gigantic ship. 140 yards. 

ALYSSA: 140 yards!

JOSH: 140 yards is huge. 

ALYSSA: A football field and a half. 

JOSH: Yeah, 

ALYSSA: It's crazy. 

JOSH: And I looked up and there are big galleons from back in the day that were that big, but it is a size of a boat. 

ALYSSA: It's unfathomable. 

JOSH: Yeah, it's insane. I mean, mine, modern day, there's a lot more boats that size. But there were big galleons that were that large. And they were the three mastered ones. So, it all makes sense, of course. Sapkowski did his research and all this, but like it's just a gigantic boat, and I can't believe it can fit in a river. Like it just tells you how much like this Delta, it's a massive river. It's not a little dinky thing. It's a huge gigantic waterway.

ALYSSA: Yeah, I mean, I'm peering over the Hudson River right now in New York. And I'm just like trying to imagine like a football field and a half-sized galley in the middle of it. And I'm like, Yeah, like, that's a good fit. But still. 

JOSH: Yeah. 

ALYSSA: Like, I feel like they've talked about the Delta before and like how it's, you know, smaller in other areas. But like, as you get kind of closer to the cities and to the ports, it just widens considerably.

ERIC: Yeah. Scaling is, as a DM, is something I've always struggled with. I don't know why, but I can't scale properly in my head. So reading, like, that detail with the galley and being that big. It's like, I'm trying to picture in my head. I'm like, okay, I'm picturing a football field. And now I'm trying to put it in the river and I'm picturing the Ohio River. And I'm like, man, how is that fitting? But then again, the, even the Ohio River can, can fit something like that, because we have coal barges going through it all the time. So, I, I keep on defaulting to small, like, rowboats when I'm reading The Witcher books for some reason. So, I don't know. I just thought that was —

ALYSSA: Yeah? 

ERIC: —a funny thought that popped in my head.

ALYSSA: I love it. Like, yeah, that's definitely something that adds to the immersion. Just being able to either picture these or to see images of historical images of what these things could look like. Well, with things that we can actually tangibly see. Unlike the monsters that we learn a great deal about here. Linus Pitt is such an interesting character. Between the description in the books and the prose as well as with Peter Kenny's performance of Linus Pitt. It immediately brings to me the actor who played Mr. Collins in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley. And I don't know if you guys would be familiar with him, but maybe there are listeners that are familiar with that, but he's just so pompous and just like the way he speaks just—now, I imagine Linus Pitt as Mr. Collins from 2005 Pride and Prejudice and I think it seems pretty spot on.

JOSH: Yeah, I haven't seen that Pride and Prejudice in a while, but I just looked up who this is, and I can absolutely see, like, the whole getup too. 

ERIC: Yeah, that's perfect. 

JOSH: Reading this the first time in the books, I did have my own kind of idea of how Linus sounded but yeah, Peter Kenny's vocalization of him just to be the most posh. Like, almost as if he's putting on this accent in-world. I love characters like this. And I love the way that Sapkowski does academics because we get stuff later in the stories with Ciri, the way he just writes academics and people who've been in that world, and how it ties into all the little blurbs between chapters and stuff is one of my favorite bits that he does and Linus Pitt is both so endearing and insufferable.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

JOSH: It's just perfect. 

ERIC: He's a caricature.

JOSH: Yeah.

ERIC: He's a professor caricature.

JOSH: Right. Yeah. And he's, it's so toes the line so perfectly of like, he is a caricature, so, he doesn't seem quite like what a real person would be. But I can also imagine someone like this exists somewhere, you know? And so, I think that's the beauty of, of the writing here. But yeah, I found a lot of this really interesting. I, I love that line, “aking over with goods and gold, that which he couldn’t take with arms.” It just really starts to push like, how, like, overarchingly kind of in control and intelligent that the Nilfgaardian forces are, essentially. They're not going to be able to get in and just take over basically this region, because it's, you know, whole stronghold and all that, but they know that if they get in with things that are cheaper, they get in with things that are going to entice the people, they can spend less money to get the same stuff. They're going to basically completely own the country anyways, and so it's something I think is often missed in like political intrigue, when it comes to fantasy books is that, like, it's not all just war, or even subterfuge. It's just like manipulating commerce and it's super common. And we see it in our, you know, our modern day with tariffs and everything on different countries to kind of hold economics and in kind of a stasis in many ways. And this is just very, I think, timely and interesting somehow, you know? What? 30, 40 years after this was written, like, it's still hitting the same way when it comes to this. So, very interesting to see that, that almost seems as if Linus is talking about, like, this is a particular tactic the Nilfgaardia's use, that you almost wouldn't see like a Temerian King doing this, though, they're obviously reacting to it. But it seems like Nilfgaard is just, it's Sapkowski setting up like how they have a grasp on everything. Like, conquering is like, they just do it. Like, they're very good at it. They're very efficient. Emhyr is just a conqueror. And this keeps, continues to sell that throughout. And it sets up everything, obviously for later. So, I really, really enjoyed that. I love when economics and commerce come into fantasy because it really does ground it and makes it feel like something that's real. It's not just magic spells, and dwarves and elves. This is a place where like people actually exist.

ALYSSA: Yeah, and absolutely, like de-stabilizing the economy, you know? That in of itself is a feat. And then if you later have people then conquered a destabilized country, like—

JOSH: Yeah. You disrupt it and then you come back in to just re-establish peace.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

JOSH: And then people are bound and like, love their conquers because they brought back order.

ALYSSA: Right. Right. So, I'd love to kind of turn the conversation. Eric, like, do you mind, like, demystifying some of the pseudoscience that Linus Pitt shares with us here? It's, it's very very long because Geralt and Linus go talk about it quite a bit. But I think the long and short of it is Linus Pitt is like, hey, this is what we know from science. And Geralt is like, well, evolution happened. And then Linus Pitt was like, mmm, I don't think so. And that's basically like a TLDR.

ERIC: Right. So the theory behind that all is definitely sound. Not to sound reductive, it is pretty elementary with how Geralt, you know, describes okay, yeah, evolution happens. Like, the primary food source of the, the Aeschna is river porpoises and all the river porpoises are gone because I think he was talking about the pollution. 

ALYSSA: Yes, and the Aeschna have eaten them all. It sounds like.

JOSH: Yeah, I think they were hunted too. I think is what they mentioned.

ERIC: Yeah, he does say like, yeah, the main food source is gone, but it doesn't matter because the next porpoises are, like, you and me. Like, humans are, cattles are, people that fall in the river are. Like, it is a, a food source for them and they don't have an apex predator. Maybe the Aeschna is the apex predator there but there's nothing that's controlling them from, you know, hunting other things to replace their first diet. Again, very basic, and I think Sapkowski kind of, I don't want to say dumbed down Linus because I think any biologist would pick up on that. But it, it does kind of like highlight Geralt's naturalist in him because though he's a monster hunter, though he's a Witcher, Witchers are required to have a degree of naturalism of, of biology. They have to know what they're hunting. Just like hunters, like, when we're hunting white-tailed deer. We have to know what we're hunting. We have to know why we're hunting them, because of overpopulation and population control. Much as a modern day hunter, they have their theories of what, why and how they're hunted. The Witchers do as well and I guess that's the point of kind of, quote unquote dumbing down Linus, where he doesn't see like, oh, the Aeschna doesn't exist anymore because their main dietary source is missing. I was like, well, dietary sources can be simply replaced and that happens a lot of time with carnivorous predators. So, I think the introduction of that simple Darwinism in a, a presumably medieval set piece is an anachronism, but very, very endearing. And frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, scholars back in that time period, put one and one together and probably picked up on the same patterns. But what really gets me is the naming, the genus, the phyla in, in everything he says. That's, that's what I really wanted to try to find it spelled out for me, because it's not too far from how field biologists talk. As uppity and as snarky, and like as frankly, goofy as that sounds of how he's referring everything as their, their phyla, their genius and their, their species. The second word, their epithet, it is how field biologists speak, then again, that's how field biologists speak to other field biologists. So, not really to a bunch of laymen in which you will just get a response of raised eyebrows and like, kind of like, Look at this, look at this mother—. Look, at this guy, like—

ALYSSA: Yeah.

ERIC: Look at this son of a bitch. He thinks he's smarter than all of us. So, I think again, that really highlights Linus' characterization because biologists really don't talk like that. But anyway, I think I rambled a little bit there. I, I don't know how much insight that gave you to the demystifying of it. But a lot of it, like I said, a lot of it is, I will call it quasi-biology, but it's Sapkowski definitely did his homework to a degree, for sure.

ALYSSA: Yeah, I mean, the interesting thing here is that Geralt has to contend with something that most people in real life probably don't have to, which is the mystery and the myth of a lot of these, a lot of these monsters. He has to kind of, like, argue with Linus that like, no, this thing is real. It's like actively herein the Delta right now. And Linus is like, Oh, well, it was extinct, it did this, it did that. Stop sharing, like all these like, widow’s tales of these monsters. So, I think that also adds an element of frustration, and adds to the worldbuilding. Like, Geralt is a monster slayer in a world that has monsters, but nobody knows what is real and what's made up. That is, I think another, another level of this as well. He has to contend with that when it comes to arguing with the, this master tutor and lecturer from Oxenfurt Academy.

JOSH: Yeah. I think it's really very much Sapkowski kind of like, reiterating once again, that like getting out into the world and, and learning things that way or doing something is really important. As you mentioned, Eric, like field biologists are out doing stuff, which is great. So, I don't think he's knocking on academics as a whole. I think that Linus has had his nose shoved a little too close to the books, and in his academia for a little too long. And I think that's the comparison of, like, it's not that Geralt is uneducated. It's not that, you know, Linus is necessarily wrong, it's that he hasn't left Oxenfurt probably in a long time to actually do things. So, I think that's the comparison that I think is trying to be drawn here of that, like, Geralt, I think is more than willing to hear what Linus has to say. And I think that the Witchers are very scientific in what they do, and have a huge appreciation for that. But he just also, like, is out in the world and sees things with his own eyes and has fought things that they probably wouldn't think exist. I mean, it plays into like the, the dragon stories and stuff. I imagine that Linus would have an opinion about dragons and Geralt would be like, no, dude, I, I've met one. So, I think that's kind of what's going on here is like it is like a jab at academics in a specific way. Like, folks who don't go out and, and do. They just read, they just research, they pontificate which is not necessarily bad. I was a philosophy major in college. So that's what I did for, you know, many years, but I think he is very much pointing out, like, get out and go figure things out for yourself. Very much like pro-empiricism, I think in a lot of ways, like active hands-on empiricism.

ERIC: Another thing too, is I think it also kind of highlights with our scope, like, you, me and Alyssa. Like, our scope is all of this information of any animal, of any flower, of any extinct animal. It's at our fingertips, you know, with the internet. But as much as we have highlighted the anachronisms that Sapkowski put into The Witcher universe, there's one thing that held true is that laymen are still laymen. You mentioned it about Linus. He's too sheltered. He hasn't gone out there and experienced the world. And a lot of people, a lot of laymen are going to stay in their villages. They're going to stay in their cities. There, there's not many travelers that are going to go really explore aside from going on their trading routes and stuff like that. So, with that kind of scope, like, if we use like the real world example, someone in like Medieval England, a giraffe sounds like a fucking alien to them, like, much as like the Aeschna sounds completely made up to Linus. It exists. But you're right, like he's sheltered in his own environment. That's just the reality of people in this kind of setting. That's another really neat thing that I think is really cool about The Witcher universe is what if all these monsters and stuff that he’s slaying really isn't mystical. They're just the natural flora and fauna of the world. But people see them as mystical because they're so isolated, just from the limitations of the time. I, I think that's really highlighted with Linus and like Josh said, with his nose being too close to the books. I think that's a very interesting detail.

ALYSSA: Yeah, absolutely. And all of this learning about the Aeschna. All of the exposition about it, between Linus and Geralt, as we said earlier, in this, like, pseudo short story, sets up a very important part when it comes to the main climax of it. The Aeschna is like that first key plot point.

ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Before we reach the conclusion of this pseudo-short story section, we're gonna hand it over to Lars from WitcherFlix for recent news on the Netflix show. When we come back, Josh, Erick, and I will continue our discussion of Blood of Elves, Chapter 5.

“Tidings from Toussaint”

[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by MojoFilter Media]

LARS FROM WITCHERFLIX: Hey, it's Lars from WitcherFlix and this is "Tidings from Toussaint". Welcome back everybody! This month is a very special one as we will finally have the chance to go back to the Continent again. No, unfortunately Season 2 will not be released until December 17, but the Witcher spin-off anime movie "Nightmare of the Wolf" will be available on Netflix on August 23. So, let's start with the prequel movie about a young Vesemir first.

After the short little glimpse at the show on WitcherCon, Netflix released an actual teaser for the anime movie a week ago. It is full of spectacular animations, landscapes, sorceresses, monsters and a Kaer Morhen before its destruction. Moreover, Netflix revealed the character descriptions for four main characters of "Nightmare of the Wolf" and their voice actors.

Theo James will voice Vesemir. He "grew up as a servant on a nobleman’s estate, working long days for too little coin. He yearns to break free of his social standing and to explore the Continent to find his destiny." Lara Pulver will voice Tetra Gilcrest. She "is a powerful sorceress who is descended from one of the Continent’s first mages, and believes magic connects all things of beauty. She and her followers work to keep peace on the Continent by ensuring that magic is not abused." Mary McDonnell will be the voice actress for Lady Zerbst. She "is a Kaedwen noblewoman who inherited her husband’s seat on the king’s advisory council after his death. She has since risen to become one of the king’s most trusted advisors, and a fierce supporter of the witchers." Last, but not least, the witcher Deglan will be voiced by Graham McTavish who will also play Dijsktra in The Witcher Season 2. Deglan "was raised on the harsh, unforgiving Skellige Isles and is the hardened warrior-leader of the witchers. He is fiercely loyal to his 'boys,' and committed to doing whatever is necessary to protect them." So, to summarize: "Nightmare of the Wolf" is shaping up to be an exciting adventure!

Let's move on to the Witcher main show. While the long wait for Season 2 has begun, some of actors have done interesting interviews. Therica Wilson-Read, for example, who played the sorceress Sabrina Glevissig, talked to EditHer.com and tackled some interesting Witcher-related questions. Of course, Therica talked about Season 2. She said: "There’s nothing about that project that I didn’t love and so to be back for another season blew my mind – it broke my heart in all the best ways, so I’m incredibly grateful and very happy. [...] And from what I’ve seen, I think that people will love season two even more than season one – there’s amazing things coming for you guys." Of course, a very spicy detail of Sabrina's story in the Witcher books and show is her relationship with Yennefer. This is what Therica had to say about it: "As much as Sabrina and Yennefer have this kind of competitive edge, she would never ever want to hurt Yennefer. She’ll always stand up and fight [for her] when that needs to happen; all of [the rage] goes in the bin as soon as she needs to be there for her girls."

Moreover, Swiss actor Basil Eidenbenz, who will play the witcher Eskel in Season 2, talked to the Swiss outlet 20 Minuten about what filming for The Witcher meant to him. He said: "Some actors and actresses had told me about their 'superhero moments'—those moments when they completely realized what was happening, when they were absorbed in their role, and at the same time could hardly believe that they were allowed to embody the role. I had my personal 'superhero moment' the first time I walked around the set in full costume, sword on my back, and passed a mirror."

Last, but not least, there is of course the Witcher prequel miniseries "Blood Origin". On July 30, the cameras started rolling in the beautiful country of Iceland. Actors and actresses like Michelle Yeoh, Laurence O’Fuarain or Sophia Brown have arrived on the island in the far north, as well as showrunner Declan de Berra. Moreover, there is also some casting news for "Blood Origin" to report: According to RedanianIntelligence, actress Ozioma Whenu will play main character Eile’s older sister Níamh in the prequel miniseries. She is part of a group of elves said to favor knives as a weapon. In addition actors Nathaniel Curtis and Tut Nuyot have also been cast in currently unknown roles.

Anyway guys, that's it for me for today. I hope you all stay safe and well. We'll talk again in the next episode of Breakfast in Beauclair. Until then, thanks again for listening and good luck on the path!

[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by MojoFilter Media]

Discussion

ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Hey, everyone! Welcome back from the break. When we left off, Geralt had joined the Malatius and Grock Company as a security escort for their passenger ships. On this trip, he meets academic, Linus Pitt, and certified snot-nosed scamp, Everett, and learns about the life teeming in the Delta.

ALYSSA: At this point, the barge is boarded by Redanian customs officers. One of whom is familiar with Geralt and knows him, greets him as a friend. Geralt has made this trip from, from to Novigrad quite a few times. And this customs officer Olsen, gives us a little bit more about the world. He talks about the fact that King Demavend is recruiting for special troops to fight against the Scoia'tael. We're hearing how the kingdoms, this is Aedirn specifically, are responding to that looming threat of war. The other thing that we hear is Geralt had also asked Olsen to keep an ear out for anyone asking about him. Olsen was like, are you in conflict with the Temerians? Are there Temerian guards who have asked the customs officers about you? Don't laugh at what I'm about to say, but they're asking if you have an under-aged girl with you. Geralt immediately is just like, oh, shit. And he takes the letters from Ciri, he takes the letters from Yennefer, tears them up into tiny pieces, throws them overboard, and then tells Boatbug, the skipper, like, hey, take care of my horse. We'll see you later. And apparently fully intends to, like, jump off the ship. Or to, like, at least get off at Acorn Bay. And of course, at this point, this is when the Temarian guards come in. But do you guys have any thoughts about Geralt's conversation with Olsen and what happens after the Redanian customs officers get on board?

JOSH: I mean, number one is, like, Geralt just knows everyone. Geralt has friends everywhere. There's not a moment in these stories where somehow Geralt isn't just, like, oh, no, no. I have somebody I know over there somehow, you know? But partially because he's famous, but it really is, you know, as much as he kind of acts like he's not, he is good with people. People like him. 

ALYSSA: Yeah.

JOSH: So, that's always interesting to see. Also, I love that his name's just Olsen. Just another regular name. 

ALYSSA: Yeah.

JOSH: Makes everything feel like a regular place, but no, there's a moment in here where it describes, I wish I could find it in the book. There's a reaction to that idea of Geralt having his underaged girl around from Linus. Yeah, well, “Linus Pitt looked at the Witcher with eyes filled with the distaste which befitted someone looking at a white-haired man who has drawn the attention of the law on account of his preference for underaged girls.” We don't need to give a, a special, like, simile here. It's just the whole thing is weird. Sapkowski does that stuff all the time, and I've never really seen another writer do that, you know? It's kind of funny. I mean, it's sort of plays into the next chapter. But it's kind of confirmed it's not out of the ordinary for Geralt to maybe be traveling around or being involved with underaged women. 

ALYSSA: Good Lord.

JOSH: So, um, we'll talk about that probably later.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

JOSH: It definitely seems vaguely believable. I, I don't know. Maybe I'm not reading it correctly. But are we supposed to kind of get the idea that maybe, like, this was manufactured or that this is a legitimate thing that people have been concerned, that this man has this underage girl with him? I think it's supposed to be manufactured, right? To give a reason to get him, basically.

ALYSSA: Yes and no. So, I mean, it seems like there are only a certain upper echelon of people who are familiar with who this underage girl is. It is Ciri. She's a princess, like, people on the higher side of that tier. The secret services of the kingdoms know that this could be the Princess of Cintra, making her a very, very valuable asset in the company of this famous person. This is basically, like, you're essentially looking for Beyonce. And like, Beyonce has this girl with her and you would know Beyonce from a distance, right? But it doesn't seem, like, other people below that rank are familiar with the details of who that person is and why she's important. They're looking for their Beyonce and then just know to look to the right.

JOSH: Yeah.

ALYSSA: Like, that's all they're doing. 

JOSH: Geralt, the Continent’s Beyonce. I like it.

ALYSSA: Yes. So, I feel like there's a certain, like, disconnect in the knowledge of, like, who this girl might be? They just know, they have their marker and that's what they're looking for.

ERIC: I would, I wouldn't have seen it as manufactured. I see it as, like, a commanding officer. You know, just like Alyssa said, like, hey, he's got this underage girl, that's the defining key. If you don't know what Beyonce looks like, look for a guy with white hair with an underage girl. That's who you're looking for. Because if anything, if it was manufactured you know, painting Geralt as this creeper. If that was the intent, then I feel like the word would have spread a lot more. But also, I think it may have backfired on Rience and others looking for him. Because now, everyone's going to be, like, well, this guy's a creep. Like, let's all go after him. No, no. I think, I think it was just kind of like a, a need to know basis, your commanding officer telling them a description, telling him the, the modifier of the situation, which is Ciri, an underage girl. And that's, that's it.

ALYSSA: Some of the other things that color this section as well. You know, once the Redanian officers get on board, we hear a couple of the characters again that are just gonna have, like, little moments here. As a short story, we are only introduced to the characters who have some relevance to the plot, however minor. So, we hear about a dwarf who has, like, a bunch of silver fox skins that he's insisting come from large cats. And like, he's throwing up a tantrum. We hear of Everett's mother, who's like, no, my husband, rahhh. And doesn't want to be inspected at all, and there's like a big commotion coming from this. But the main meat of what we get from their arrival is that people are looking for Geralt, and they're only interested in this girl. And he knows what that means. He knows that people are looking for her, that she's alive, and he reacts appropriately. Olsen does mention that, like, oh, I think they're, like, doing this on behalf of Rience, of Rience, whatever. And then Geralt is immediately cued to react. As soon as Geralt finds out that the Temarian guards are looking for him, on behalf of Rience, they obviously show up. So, there's a lighter in the distance that comes over and the crew of that lighter come and board the barge. When they do immediately, like, I think a number of men come on board. The leader of them is notably bald, which again, because that description is here, is then used in the plot later on. But this bald guard, you know, confronts Geralt. He's looking for Geralt of Rivia and he pushes straight past the skipper Boatbug and goes looking for him. And the people on board lie and they say, no, there's no Witcher here. And Geralt pushes past them and says, like, I'm Geralt of Rivia, what do you want? And the bald Temerian guard says that he's there to arrest Geralt and where's the girl? Everyone around Geralt insists that, like, there has not been a girl here this whole trip. The bald guard frowns and he's like, no look for her. And then there's this, like, mild confrontation in which Olsen, the Redanian guard is like, no, I'm the one already arresting Geralt of Rivia. He's already in my custody. So, you guys can come with us to Oxenfurt and we'll speak to our people, you speak to your people, we'll get all your seals and deals in order. And then you can maybe have the Witcher. So, they're really looking out for Geralt here. And then the whole thing takes a sudden turn when this man who's actually referred to as Baldy throughout the chapter says, enough of this, grabs the little kid Everett puts a sword up to his throat and says I'm going to slit his throat if you don't give me the Witcher right now. And nobody really cares. So, then Geralt is like, No, no, no. I'll go with you. Goes to be bound and board the Temerian lighter, when of course, all hell breaks loose. The Aeschna comes, grabs a bunch of the Temerian guards, pulls them into the water, Baldy drops Everett, and all hell absolutely breaks loose.

JOSH: People are willing to put their neck out for our guy. The people on the barge are just like, no, no, no, there's, there's no, there's no guy here. And he's, first of all, has a wonderful moment of, like, I can handle this, it's totally okay. But even Olsen, like, steps basically in front of Geralt in many ways, like, via his profession. He's basically acting outside of, like, the bounds of what he does. Like, he's a customs officer. He's not here to really, like, really arrest people. He can do that if, you know, something comes up, but I just love how it really is established that, you know, everyone's constantly kind of trying to help, you know? You would think this big scary, terrible, you know, viper-eyed man would not be someone you would stick up for. You'd be immediately like, Oh, he's right over there. You can't miss him. Like, just take him, we don't want trouble. Just grab him. But like everyone, like, Boatbug and Olsen all stick up for him. They all value him because I think they see him as, like, a friend, which is great, and a protector, you know. It almost comes in conflict with the idea of the way that witchers are seen in the world. And I think it actually particularly points out, like, Geralt is different, like, he is The Witcher. He's not a witcher. He's the reason our stories' focused around him, because he is slightly different than the others. So, I found that really interesting that he in particular has folks on his side which is atypical for someone of his guild.

ERIC: I like to try a thing from Geralt's perspective during that whole conflict because he's there to protect people and these people are putting their neck out on the line for him. I like to think that he's sitting there, like, grateful that people are doing it, like, in theory. But I think he might be a degree of annoyed with it because it's almost like he knows he can handle himself. He knows what's going on and he just doesn't want anybody's blood on his hands. Now, like, people are trying to hide him and now next thing he knows is this little kid has a knife to his throat. And though the little kid is  this snot-nosed-punk, it's still a little kid. And I'm sure Geralt's like, sitting there throwing his hands up. Like, guys seriously. Their heart is in the right place, but they're going to get someone killed and they did. They almost, they almost got Everett killed and plenty of others killed, when he could have done this bloodlessly. He knows what he's doing. So, I think that though he is the common man's hero, he is just trying to do his job and sometimes I mean, we've all seen this in our own workplaces that someone wants to be helpful and they're, they're honest to God trying to be helpful and they, their heart is in the right place, but a lot of times you just want to tell your co-worker, like, Dude, you're just getting in the way now. Like, thank you but I'm just-, let me do my-, I can do this. Just trust me. Where on one hand, I think it's very cool that the, the common folk really do want to look after Geralt. I think the professional side of Geralt just kind of knows what he's doing. We don't know how he's thinking, but through his actions of him constantly stepping forward, like, no, seriously, I'm Geralt. He repeatedly keeps on trying to turn himself in. But people repeatedly keep on trying to protect him even though he's already kind of like accepted the end to all this. So.

ALYSSA: I think this speaks back to one of the themes that we've spoken about on Breakfast in Beauclair quite often, everyone is the hero of their own story. Olsen thinks he's doing the right thing, Geralt thinks he's doing the right thing. Even Baldy thinks that he's doing the right thing by getting this girl for whatever reason, even if it is for nefarious purposes. However, everyone is interfering with Geralt's goal. As he tells Olsen, he's trying to get himself arrested so that he can find Rience. Rience is not on the lighter that is connected to the barge right now, and he wants to get himself arrested so that he can confront this man. Nobody will let him do it and neither will an Aeschna, apparently. As I said, all hell breaks loose. Everett is dropped in the water. Half of the guards are picked off by this Aeschna. Everything goes up in flames. Like, Everett's mother is screaming. Everyone on the lighter is screaming. The water is continually bloodied red. And, you know, eventually the dwarf, you know, as we heard about briefly, as well as Olsen start picking off guards in the water with their crossbows. Geralt has a brief tussle with Baldy in the water, tries to grab him by the, by the belt and hair, and he can't because this guard is notably bald, which ties back to that short story element of giving us only the information in which we need. Geralt and Everett are eventually pulled back onto the boat. The dwarf and Olsen shoot all of the remaining guards and Geralt is like, no, I need to question one of them. Leave one of them alive. Please. Olsen is, like, well, we left Baldy. He's over there swimming to all hell. They're just like, yeah, we'll just get the boat hooks. We'll fish him out. It'll be fine. You'll have your person and then all of a sudden a second Aeschna comes out through the lilies and through the water and just devours this man. Geralt at the end is just like, fuck, I'm too old for this.

ERIC: I love that line. I love that line. It's so corny, but I love it. 

JOSH: Yeah, he is Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon. Like, he's going, he's just too old for this shit at this point. We could say like the Aeschna, I think is like a big lobster is what we kind of been talked about, right? Looks like a swamp lobster. Like, a big crawdad kind of?

ALYSSA: Essentially. Yeah, it's such a delightful description, in that it looks like a rotting log. And it has all of these tentacles, praying mantis claws and it is foul. From what we can hear. Yeah.

ERIC: I love that. We can make up our own little monsters in our heads with the little, little details. It's almost Lovecraftian, like, very, very few details. He's not going into hyper details to paint this picture of this monster. It's very broad strokes and it's like eh, kind of picture it how you will. I will say about the whole tussle that happens. What I absolutely love writing wise, is that Sapkowski says Geralt saved Everett just by luck, pure luck. He's like, I think the line was like, “Geralt dove into the water and it was nothing by pure luck that he was able to grab —”

ALYSSA: The boy by his beaver collar.

JOSH: The boy by his beaverskin collar.

ERIC: Yeah, yeah. So, just that word of using the word luck further grounds The Witcher universe. It further blends like what Josh said at the very beginning of this episode is that The Witcher universe has this very nice mesh of high fantasy and ground, and grounded low fantasy. It's, it's a nice in between. It's its own flavor of fantasy and the fact that Sapkowski to me, at the very least. Sapkowski simply says Geralt got lucky. He is not an omnipotent hero that he simply got lucky to save the kid's life. I like those kind of modifiers where it makes it believable. It's, it's not like a deus ex machina that occurred. It's, he just got lucky.

ALYSSA: Yeah, absolutely. You know, when the last, like little snide remarks we get toward the end of the section, Linus Pitt announces that he's going to name this creature yet again. Geraltia maxiliosa pitti, and Geralt just says, Oh, fu—, don't name it after me. If you're going to name it anything, name it Everetta, which is the name of the little snot that's been running around on the ship. And I think, just again adds to Sapkowski's humor as a writer. But also Geralt's humor as a character.

ERIC: It's very deadpan. A lot of the things that happen, all the comedy in these books is just deadpan humor. Like, you were saying earlier about Linus looking at Geralt and saying, oh, come on. You're, you're this old guy with his underage chick. That's, that's going to look really weird. When Josh said that it didn't need a simile, it was just a matter of fact, to me struck as another degree of deadpan humor. It was almost at that point where Linus turned from a caricature to almost the straight man that you would see in a lot of comedies like Wallace in The Office. He just said it. So matter of factly. Straightforward without any flowery talk. Geralt's insistence that he names it after this snot-nosed-punk is just another degree of deadpan blunt humor. Where he might not even trying to be funny, but we as readers are taking it as funny.

JOSH: Yeah, Eric, I'm curious is this sometimes how like, species get named? Like, they just literally they will take like one of the people who had discovered it, and they just make it sound more Latin and then insert a name in it. Is that common? 

ERIC: That, it does happen. Yes, it does happen.

JOSH: Okay. And so that's an interesting thing of thinking this guy who's like, oh, I'm going to name it after this Witcher which is very like-

ALYSSA: And himself.

JOSH: Yeah. And himself as well, right? But it's just kind of funny to think of like, you're going to name it as we kind of say and be like, if you happen to discover new species on a boat with Beyonce. Like, come on, man. It's, it gets pretty obvious what you're doing. It's almost like he's like clout-stealing. Like, oh, we're gonna do this and we'll use Geralt's name.

ERIC: That's a good point. 

JOSH: Yeah?

ERIC: That is clout-stealing. Yeah, yeah.

JOSH: I was curious if like actual field biologists if that ever happens, like just inserting a name?

ERIC: Yeah.

JOSH: Because I imagine there's only so many Latin roots. There's only so many times you can use things like that. 

ERIC: It's like a lot of names are based off of the, the scientists who discovered it. There are instances where species were named after like, the location, or the tree it was next to. The shape of it, the color of it. Honestly, a lot of times, it's kind of like, an on the spot identifier, because scientists want to be the one that, “I named this!” I'm not going to wait until I get home because someone else in my crew, they, they could mail in their identification before me. So, they will want to do it right then and there. So, having that occur with Linus, it's funny to me, because there was just a fucking bloodbath. People were murdered in front of a scholar. Someone who obviously hasn't traveled, someone who hasn't left school or the sheltered life. And he just saw all of this happen but the first thing that comes to mind is like, I'm naming him. I'm naming him. 

ALYSSA: Priorities, yeah.

ERIC: There are a dozen bodies floating in the river. I'm naming this, this monster.

JOSH: Right. This is my chance. Like, I'm gonna put my name. I want to be in the natural history books.

ERIC: Yeah. I think that is another comedic take I, I take from it is his response to the literal bloodbath that just occurred.

JOSH: I, It's a continuation of almost, you know, Sapkowski's idea of sheltered academics of like, dude, six to ten people just died and this is what you're concerned about? Just —

ALYSSA: Read the room. Absolutely, yeah.

JOSH: Linus read. Yeah, yeah. Wonderful.

ALYSSA: Oh, my. Well, do you guys have any last thoughts on this section before we close the chapter and shuffle on to the second half of Blood of Elves Chapter Five?

JOSH: Yeah, I mean, Geralt is once again, kind of, thwarted by his own Witcherness. Like, the, the fact of this monster kind of stops him from doing what he's doing. It's funny, it's almost continuing to the set up that like, as he says, I'm too old for this shit. It kind of is setting the seeds of, like, Geralt kind of doesn't want to do this anymore. Like, he's found for the first time in his life, a little bit with Yen obviously, they're on kind of the rocks right now. But with Ciri something he probably hasn't really grappled with, this is some of the earliest I think setting the foundation for him literally wanting to just like revoke his profession, and literally only care about this one thing. I think he's finally seeing in kind of an offhanded way, like, he can't keep being a Witcher and look after Ciri. Because I mean, not directly, but his Witcheriness being tied to these monsters in a sense, his monster hunting is basically what gets the last man gets, you know, Baldy killed. And not be able to get this information. It's, it's really interesting, because I think, I don't think it's for another couple books before we get him actually saying I'm not doing this anymore. I'm just concerned about my kid, essentially.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

JOSH: But I think this is some of the earlier stuff we're seeing of how he's just like, I can't do this anymore, you know? I gotta retire and do something else now. So, it's like weirdly really important, this story. It's so interesting how, like, Sapkowski's a masterclass at all this, but like he's setting these seeds in a point where like, you don't really ever get a payoff for this for another like, two, three novels. But he really is setting that tone of that, like, Geralt is tired of his job and actually has something to live for now. Like, he has a thing that's important to him now, which I don’t think really had before.

ERIC: Yeah, I, I agree. I think this is, like, kind of like an insight. His first step towards retirement, like, unless my memory is not serving me correctly right now, but I think this is the first time where he ever did express, like, you said, he's getting too old for this. He's just done. Like, I see him as almost just a, exhaust— well, we always see him as exhausted. He says he's exhausted. He says he's tired, like, in the later books, but like, right now, I can just picture him, his hands just dropping to his side, like, come the fuck on, kind of deal. Like, I can just see him just feeling so defeated by everything around him. Like I said earlier, he's just trying to do one thing and things keep on not letting him do that. Everything that happens to him is really pushing the border of irony, like, almost everything that thwarts him is ironic in some shape, or form. And maybe that's thwarting is by nature. But with him, it's just, it's almost just oozing with irony by the fact that he was just trying to turn himself in so he can see Rience but everyone wants to stick up for him, and, and now the monster that they were just talking about if it was a myth or not, is the thing that he was supposedly there to protect the barge against just completely undid his plans because it, it killed all the, the remaining survivors. It's just all irony. And I'm sure Geralt, like, I'm sure that's what enticed him to say, I'm getting too old for this, because it's just at that point, what else can you do but roll your eyes and say, oh, come on. Like, I think that's him just feeling defeated by not his own actions, but the actions of literally everything and everyone around him.

ALYSSA: And you know, the shift in The Witcher that we're starting to see in Blood of Elves gives way to a lot of exciting things for us to see in later books as well. Before we continue our discussion of Blood of Elves: Chapter five, we are going to end our discussion here. Join me, Josh from The Pod Called Quest, and Eric Schwartz, we continue our discussion of Blood of Elves: Chapter five.

ERIC: Thank you. Bye. See you.

ALYSSA: Goodbye guys.

JOSH: I'll see you later. Bye.

Outro & Credits

[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]

ALYSSA: Thanks for joining us at the breakfast table! For show notes, transcripts of each episode, and a complete list of our social platforms and listening services, head over to breakfastinbeauclair.com.

Breakfast in Beauclair is created by Alyssa from GoodMorhen. It’s hosted by Alyssa with the “Tidings from Toussaint” News Segment by Lars from WitcherFlix. The show is edited by Alyssa with music by MojoFilter Media.

Breakfast in Beauclair is produced by Alyssa in New York City with Luis of Kovir, The Owner of The Churlish Porpoise, Arix the Godling, Katie (The Redhead of Toussaint), Jacob B., Ayvo of Gulet, Bee Haven of the Edge of the World, Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye, RedKite, The Original Roach, Codringher’s Cat, Dustin, Libby, Clare Odell, Jennidy Mundilovitch, Brett from California, Wolf, Corey from the US, John of Ryblia, Sebastian von Novigrad, and Tom from Australia.

Special thanks to Josh and Erick for joining us for this episode and our international hanza for their support.

Transcriptionist: Krizia Casil

 

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Podcast EpisodeAlyssa EstebanBlood of Elves