The Witcher

The Witcher

Cover of The Witcher (1990)
The Witcher Sword of Destiny The Last Wish Blood of Elves Time of Contempt Baptism of Fire The Tower of the Swallow The Lady of the Lake Season of Storms
Author	Andrzej Sapkowski
Country	Poland
Language	Polish
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	SuperNowa
Published	1986–2013
Published in English	2007–2018 by Hachette
No. of books	9

The Witcher (Polish: Wiedźmin, pronounced [ˈvjɛd͡ʑmin]) is a series of eight fantasy novels and 15 short stories by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the eponymous witcher, Geralt of Rivia. Witchers are monster hunters given superhuman abilities for the purpose of killing dangerous creatures. The Witcher began with a titular 1986 short story that Sapkowski entered into a competition held by Fantastyka magazine, marking his debut as an author. Due to reader demand, Sapkowski wrote 14 more stories before starting a series of novels in 1994. Known as The Witcher Saga, he wrote one book a year until the fifth and final installment in 1999. A standalone prequel novel, Season of Storms, was published in 2013.

The books have been described as having a cult following in Poland and throughout Central and Eastern Europe. They have been translated into 37 languages and sold over 15 million copies worldwide as of July 2020. They have also been adapted into a film (The Hexer), two television series (The Hexer and The Witcher), a video game series, and a series of comic books. The video games have been even more successful, with more than 75 million copies sold as of May 2023.^[1]