#sapkowski was like ok this book is for the gamers but the epilogue? this is for my lady of the lake homies

[hanzajesthanza]

every time i think about the season of storms epilogue i cry

Geralt of Rivia has been dead for many years. (...) But I think he would be happy, if… he’d be happy if people remembered him (...) If they remembered who he was. Why, even if they remembered the name of his horse. Yes, I think, he would be happy … if he could know it.

in-universe, this is a meeting of geralt and nimue, but in a more meta context, because this is the epilogue of the last witcher book written, this is just a conversation between the "fan" and the hero. our hero. nimue, a devout follower of the legend and the later the lady of the lake, represents the pursuers of the legend, those who become possessed by a mania, who devoured the story when young and later came to a cool, reserved relationship with it… whose every waking moment is filled with this obsession... about geralt and ciri… the legend of the witcher girl…

because it's not just nimue who remembers his name and brims with excitement about him, it's us — the readers. us, obsessed with this poor little meow meow, our tragic hero.

after all, she too knows how the story ends.

geralt's story, the witcher saga being defined by this tragic, ultimate destiny of death... nimue, like us, is powerless to prevent the tragedy from occurring, because in her time it has already occurred... no matter how much she loves the story, no matter how much she loves the heroes, that will not change the way the story ends. their deaths. like us, she is a witness "watching" the story from afar, from a distant time. we watch from so far away that the characters of the legend cannot see the future, they cannot see other universes, the readers, their audience.

and geralt, our tragic hero, as much as he loathes and curses himself through all of his difficulties, isolates himself in his otherness, doubts his ability to love and feel… he cannot know how much he is loved. he has no way of it. he doesn’t know… he could not even imagine how many people love him worldwide. how many fans follow his story, think he’s badass or pathetic (affectionate), not to mention don wolf-headed medallions, decorate their bedroom walls with posters, paint themselves with tattoos of all the witcher signs… and all the other geeky chintz which follows the fandom around… if he knew, he’d be happy… if only he could know it.