Duke Agloval is far from impressed with Geralt's report of an intelligent race residing below the sea at Dragon Fang. Dismayed by the news, the Duke and his court discuss options including waging war on the sea creature's. He refuses to pay Geralt once again for the service the Witcher has provided, as in the Duke's opinion the job was incomplete. The Duke makes Geralt an offer to be the skipper of his armed guard until the problem is eradicated, in return for lodgings and warm food. Geralt refuses, and once the Duke claims Geralt to have no choice, Essi interjects. She exclaims to the Duke how he cannot buy Geralt, merely hire him to undertake work. He cannot own Geralt, and she imparts wisdom on the Duke not to interfere with the vasts of the ocean or what dwells below the waves at Dragon Fang. The Duke, with his usual stubbornness informs her that either himself, or his grandsons, or grandsons' grandsons will conquer the ocean as his ancestors did in the past, this time without requiring the Witcher's aid. With a gleam in her eye, Essi reveals the gravest of realities to the Duke, as at that moment Sh'eenaz appears. She has been transformed into a woman with legs and is capable of speaking the common tongue, having made a sacrifice of no longer being a mermaid so she can be with the one she loves. Suicide by Cop: Upon learing that Yennefer doesn't want him, Istredd descides to face Geralt in duel without using magic hoping the later would kill him. Guile Hero: Dudu. By assuming the right identities, hearing the latest news, and making the most lucrative trades, he's able to turn himself into one of the richest people in Novigrad in record time. Most impressively, he's even able to convince Geralt into leaving him alone.

Royal Brat: Ciri is a very whiny princess in Sword of Destiny who often threatens that she'll have Geralt beheaded. In 2001, a Television Series based on the Witcher cycle was released in Poland and internationally, entitled Wiedźmin (The Hexer). A film by the same title was compiled from excerpts of the television series but both have been critical and box office failures. I really enjoyed this short story collection, more so than the first The Last Wish. I think it helped that I had a better grounding in the lore and history of the world, and was less put off by the odd time jumps and pacing. I will say that the second half is a lot snappier in pace, and introduces the wonderful Ciri, which helped propel this to a 4 star read for me.More specifically, he refuses to claim Ciri to become a Witcher since the likely result is her grisly death.

Insane Troll Logic: Where Istredd tries to lecture Geralt on why he, as a Witcher, doesn't have human emotions. What's terrible, though? It works. It also serves as a Breaking Speech. During the journey it has become increasingly clear that, this being Brokilon, Ciri will likely never be permitted to leave. So now, in addition to his original message, Geralt must now speak with Eithné about Ciri's fate as well. The queen of the dryads is proud and determined, not to mention particularly unsympathetic towards the humans who have relegated her people to one tiny patch of forest. The Bounds of Reason. A deconstruction of dragon-slaying epics. Our Dragons Are Different is prominent. Sword of Destiny ( Polish: Miecz przeznaczenia) is the second [a] published short story collection in Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher series. Although published in 1992, [1] it is officially considered the second entry in the series, behind The Last Wish, which was published the following year. Sword of Destiny was first published in English in the UK by Gollancz in 2015.

Tropes found in the book:

I’ll be lying if I say I’m not worried about how I’ll fare with the series after reading Sword of Destiny. I have heard many mixed things regarding the main novels of the series, especially in its ending, but tons of praises seem to have been given to the first two collections of short stories. I fully understand that technically this is Sapkowski’s first published collection of stories in The Witcher Saga even though it chronologically takes place after The Last Wish. But still, I expected more out of it because I enjoyed reading The Last Wish, and of course, I love the video games adaptation so much. However, I felt so mixed about this collection of short stories. Dandelion knew that few would believe the story told by the ballad, but he was not concerned. He knew ballads were not written to be believed, but to move their audience. This is the end of the paragraph you thought you read but didn't because you're drunk and because I never wrote it. You're welcome. The collaboration arrives alongside Season of the Wish, perhaps a coincidental reference to the first Witcher book, The Last Wish. Bungie also enjoys another easy reference to the beloved fantasy series, with the second Witcher Book being the Sword of Destiny.

Dead Person Impersonation: Eternal Flame involves a doppelgänger assuming the identity of a dead inquisitor. Nobody catches on, despite a rather radical shift in personality (they assume the man has changed due to a near-death experience and old age in general). While Geralt mostly just threatens to spank Ciri, her grandmother and primary caretaker, queen Calanthe, was mentioned to be a firm believer that sparing the rod means spoiling the child, which is why Ciri tends to take those threats seriously. And of course Geralt himself did it to a corrupt burgher in The Last Wish, albeit under Yennefer's influence. And, of course, Geralt and Yennefer. Even if human by birth, they both became something quite different, and in-universe no one would consider Geralt human anymore. I have also previously written about the first book in the series, titled The Last Wish, which you can find here: The Witcher: The Last Wish Becomes Darker and Edgier with Sword of Destiny and Something More. Indeed, Something More is arguably the darkest Witcher story of all time.

The trio rest for a night and Geralt discusses more with Ciri, discovering her parents died and her grandmother, the Queen, is her guardian. He does not realise who she is, but she explains how her nanny told Ciri that her mother was a witch and her father had magical properties. She was born to destiny. To help her rest for the night, Geralt tells Ciri a tale about a cat and a fox in a forest. Both Ciri and Braenn listen intently, about how the animals are hunted and only one survives, a moral of the story being run when you are in danger. The continue their journey the next day and Braeen informs Geralt he must be blindfolded if he wishes to continue. Ciri takes him by the hand and brings him along, telling Geralt of all the beautiful plants, animals, and fish she can see. The Witcher informs Ciri that this is Brokilon, and is where all the beauty is, and that's why it is known as The Last Place. She does not understand, and Geralt informs her that nobody does, and that nobody wants to understand. I believe this is in reference to Brokilon being the final place in existence where dryads live and defend their home for themselves, having not accepted the fate man would put upon them. Geralt doesn’t try to attract women, he’s still too caught up on Yennifer, but they all throw themselves at him anyway. Something about his quiet power and complete confidence draws them in and convinces them that he’s worth chasing. I think that they secretly think that they’ll be the ones to finally capture his heart. So when it turns out that he will return their physical advances but never the emotional ones, they always break. Geralt leaves a string of broken hearts behind him without even trying. It’s sad. Both for the women and for him. After all, Geralt is always alone and sad because of how Yennifer toys with him, but he can’t change how he feels for her, and so he can’t try with anyone new. Joey Batey as Jaskier (aka Dandelion) in The Witcher season 2 (Netflix) How Sword of Destiny ties to The Last Wish Dandelion: Or... like Calanthe ... Headlong from the battlements, from the very top. They say she asked someone to ... But no one would. So she crawled to the battlements and ... Headfirst. They say dreadful things were done to her body. I don't want to ... Dandelion, staring into the dying embers, sat much longer, alone, quietly strumming his lute. It began with a few bars, from which an elegant, soothing melody emerged. The lyric suited the melody, and came into being simultaneously with it, the words bending into the music, becoming set in it like insects in translucent, golden lumps of amber. This tale shows us the human side of Geralt, although it is not something we often consider with the Witcher, it becomes immensely apparent as the tale ensues. He is residing with Yennifer in a town known as Aeed Gynvael. The are residing together and we learn of an elven legend within the town regarding a "Winter Queen" who casts shards of ice from her sleigh as she roams the lands, piercing the souls and hearts of those she encounters. Geralt, initially unbeknown to him, is one of these such victims who has been pierced by the Winter Queen; Yennfier. He does not wish to remain in the town for long but Yennifer has other ideas, as she is constantly busy with an acquaintance known as Istredd.

Flat-Earth Atheist: Geralt argues that golden dragons don't exist, even when he's standing looking at one.Like the original book, Sword of Destiny is a collection of six novellas (minus a Framing Device) that continue the trend of merrily deconstructing your favorite fairy tales, though the motif of You Can't Fight Fate comes across even stronger. I liked this short story collection less than the 1st one in this series. The first 3 stories were quite boring and useless and I preferred the on screen version of the last 2 where Ciri first appeared. As the previous book, there is a lot of dialogue and verbal confrontation. There was less fighting and more philosophy . I still enjoyed listening to this volume and I am planning to continue with the series as soon as Ionut Grama will record it (Hurry Up!)