In 1997, Sapkowski won the prestigious Polityka's Passport award, which is awarded annually to artists who have strong prospects for international success. Ultimately, Avallac’h is a complex character, and it’s impossible to describe him as completely good or evil. The fact that Aen Elle used the Gate of Time to travel to other worlds and conquer them is untrue. The book gives no such information – the only known instance is in the world of the Aen Elle but not anywhere else. Auberon makes it sound like they were used to leaving places that became boring/no longer suited them. Nowhere is it mentioned they enslaved and conquered everywhere they went. As they get closer to the tower, Geralt and his companions learn more about the tower’s history and the powerful magic that surrounds it. They also learn that there are others who are trying to reach the tower before them, including a group of elves and a powerful dragon.

New Powers as the Plot Demands: If you are a descendant of a long line of Elven eugenic experiments, it's only natural that magical powers bubble up unexpectedly. Speaking of the characters, the protagonists known as Geralt and Ciri have become cantankerous and pathetic. They whinge and moan and act like little children not getting their own way. And yet no-one minds because one is a part of a prophecy and the other characters are all in love with the other. It is as if nothing can touch them-which is apparently the case since they elude capture, maiming and death numerous times through no reason other than they must to keep the story going. What makes this volume stand out from others is the bold narration and widened explanation of what the hell has been going on outside the main characters. All the installment before Swallows gave me an impression that I am looking at the great Nifflegardian War through the wrong end of the telescope. Tower of Swallow finally confronts or at least untangles the politics of war and character motivations through chapters featuring Twany owl as well as Dijkstra.Rience is fond of threatening people about the pain he will cause "With these hands/fingers". Ciri slices off his fingers, causing him to sink into a frozen lake and drown. For bonus points, Rience had previously mutilated Yennifer's fingers, and was the one to cause the ice to break open. Vysogota, an elderly philosopher living alone in the Pereplut swamp, comes upon an injured Ciri near his retreat and takes her in, caring for her. During her recovery, Ciri recounts the events of the last few months.

The world has fallen into war. Ciri, the child of prophecy, has vanished. Hunted by friends and foes alike, she has taken on the guise of a petty bandit and lives free for the first time in her life.If Geralt mentions the female who claimed Avallac’h hated Ciri, he denies this, but retorts, “You really don’t expect me to reveal my feelings to you?” Aside from his own personal pain at losing Lara to a human, her union with Cregennan derailed the elves’ carefully laid plans for fulfilling the prophecy. Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Bonhart tries to charge at the Wild Hunt to go after Ciri. Unfortunately, his horse is terrified of the wraiths and crashes through the ice, nearly killing Bonhart and giving Ciri enough time to vanish into the Tower of the Swallow. Thats it. I had my hopes of Geralt rising to greatness. I had hoped of seeing the skills of a witcher in him as he travels in his search. Yet I now see how this was ment to lower him down to a simple man. Less capable then a pregnant woman. The entire writen stpry about Geralt of Rivia reminds me, thus far, of the real life of a war hero. You hear about the stories abd think the man is a great man. A man who is capable and wise. Yet here we see the truth. Riddled with doubt, remorse and lashing out in vain anger only to fail at everything and remain unable to act. Seeking lonesome punishment yet being denyed even that. It makes him pathetic. Even when they travel through monster riddled territory where his skills could have been shown we get nothing. For the only monster this witcher fights are men. And those he fights badly. Damnit he never asked for her, in the villages or towns or the people he met. Not once did he ask if someone seen her. One of my qualms about previous entries was about needless information dumping sections about political happenings one hundred years ago or who married someone else previously and what effect it had on characters I don't know. They distracted from the main story and thus far haven't heightened my enjoyment at all. There is only one such section here and although I did want to skip past it, it was an okay read but still seemed a bit like a dull interlude.

Fighting Fingerprint: This is Bonhart's final clue to Ciri's identity. He realized right at the beginning that the girl is more than just a common brigand with a mark on her head, which led him to renege on the contract and keep her alive rather than bringing her head in and reaping the reward, but couldn't quite figure it out until finally he sent her to fight in Claremont arena. As a competent swordsman himself, he noticed that her deadly fencing is essentially improvisational, which was a hallmark of witchers' fencing. Given that witcher-trained girls were, shall we say, uncommon, the rest was more or less a formality.Avallac’h’s storyline in Witcher 3 deviates slightly from the book lore. In the game, Avallac’h’s imprisonment of Ciri and attempts to get her pregnant by Auberon is mentioned only briefly. In any case, Ciri appears to have gotten over it and trusts him. Because Destiny Says So: Esterhazy the sword-merchant, who parted with the best sword in his shop for free, because he realized something bigger is going on. Destiny is a big deal in this series, after all. Not long after this conversation, Ciri makes her way to the stables for her daily ride with her mare. Eredin, an Aen Elle general and the leader of the Red Riders (known as the Wild Hunt to the humans of the Continent), enters the stable. He instructs her to follow him and reveals that Avallac’h lied to her: Geralt and Ciri fight the last of Skellen's mercenaries until a Nilfgaardian force led by Emhyr suddenly arrives. Skellen is arrested for treason. Geralt recognizes Emhyr as Ciri's father, who married her mother Pavetta under the name Duny, [N 2] and realizes "Duny's" death was faked. To produce Ciri's prophesied child and save the world, Emhyr plans to make her Empress and impregnate her. Since Geralt recognizes him and Yennefer knows the genealogy, Emhyr means to execute them to keep the incest secret, but grants them the option of committing suicide together. As they prepare to do so, Ciri interrupts them, because Emhyr changed his mind and left after Ciri's tears over losing the only loving parents she had known. Ciri concludes that Avallac’h used her as a means to an end — to save his people and make it possible for them to travel between worlds once again. Avallac’h’s Intentions in Witcher 3