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As far as I know, the Witcher games take place after the books, but the author of the books kinda turned their back on the games and is continuing to write and is diverging from what is said happened before the games in the codex files filling in the story within the games.

Is there a solid point where you could say that the books and the games start to diverge? Where is the point that what happens after in the books has no impact on the games?

Timmy Jim
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Fredy31
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1 Answers1

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The first game takes place a few years after the last events of the book series. This should be the main point of divergence, as Andrzej Sapkowski explicitly stated games are a completely separate continuity - at least according to him.

You said the author is continuing to write - that's not true. The series was finished in 1999, with The Lady of the Lake, but it's only been translated to English very recently (2017). He has written one book since, Season of Storms, in 2013 (with official English translation bound in 2018), but it is more of an interquel, because it is set somewhere between the first two books (The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny). It doesn't touch the continuity of the games for the most part - although its epilogue is set way into the future, it doesn't contradict the games, and vice versa.

TL; DR: there's no real divergence to speak of, except some minor creative decisions taken by the game designers. Overall the games and the books match.

Timmy Jim
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Gallifreyan
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  • Ah ok. The books are still releasing in english if I can remember right, but I guess they are done in the original polish? – Fredy31 Mar 02 '18 at 16:07
  • Ah ok I just went to wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher What I'm reading right now (Lady of the Lake) is the last book of the original series. It was released in 1999 in polish, but only released in the summer of 2017 in english. The 'Interquel' you spoke about should be releasing in 2018 – Fredy31 Mar 02 '18 at 16:09
  • The released in 2017 and I heard there was a book coming soon bit was what made me think the series was not yet ended. – Fredy31 Mar 02 '18 at 16:10
  • So TLDR of the answer : Season of storms is the only book in the series that is not canon thinking in the games continuity – Fredy31 Mar 02 '18 at 16:11
  • I don't say Season of Storms is not compatible with the games, since it's ending is deliberately open (like the main series') to interpretation. It doesn't contradict the games in any way. – Gallifreyan Mar 02 '18 at 16:31