By Jéssica Iolanda Costa Bispo (Nova University Lisbon/CETAPS)
The witcher Geralt of Rivia became, especially of late, a remarkable character in the Western collective imaginary, as a prominent figure in popular culture. Having first appeared in Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s short story The Witcher (Wiedźmin, 1990), and later in the novel The Last Wish (Ostatnie życzenie, 1993), this character (which continued to figure in later works by Sapkowski), as well as the complex medieval-inspired heterocosm in which it performs, gave rise to an enthusiastic interest on the part of the general public and scholars alike. This happened, to a large extent, following the numerous adaptations of the saga to different media, including movies and TV series, but especially after the release of the well-known The Witcher video games. The third installment, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) – by far the most popular and awarded of the series – functions as a sequel to the novels, revisiting Sapkowski’s intricate characters. Among these figure many women who, depending on the medium in which we read (or play) them, see their agency expanded or diminished.
One such character is Yennefer of Vengerberg, who serves as Geralt’s main love interest in the novels and games. While Sapkowski constructs Yennefer as a somewhat powerful character (due to her ability of using magic), Yennefer’s identity is regularly framed not as an individual but as a gendered and sexist archetype: the sorceress. While both the novels and games define sorceresses as untrustworthy women, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt does strive to construct sorceresses as fundamentally distinct from one another in terms of personality and goals, also incorporating different traits according to each’s sociocultural background. Sapkowski’s novels, however, imply that being a female magic user means being inherently deceitful and manipulative, and sorceresses are thus written through a lens of suspicion and cynicism. Similarly, more often than not, Yennefer is defined through her relationship with Geralt, frequently being shown as emotionally unstable, and irrevocably bound to him only through the work of a djinn. The game, however, strives to emancipate Yennefer from this representation, especially during the quest “The Last Wish”, which sees the sorceress removing the ties of fate that bind her to Geralt, leaving the player to decide whether the relationship continues or not. In any case, Yennefer is shown as being assertive, capable of making independent decisions and confronting Geralt on her own terms, and even holding political power.
![Screenshots of Yennefer and Geralt with captions that read: [Yennefer] ‘You asked that djinn to bind us together forever. I want to ask this one to take that wish back.’ / ‘We repeatedly split up, then return to one another… Something draws us to each other. But I can never be certain if it’s a true feeling or merely a bit of mischief by a djinn.’
[Geralt] ‘ What if I don’t want to know?’
[Yennefer] ‘I’m afraid you no longer have a choice’](https://middleagesinmoderngames.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIGURE-2-–-THE-LAST-WISH-1024x706.jpg)
A not so different approach is developed in relation to Ciri, Geralt’s protégé. Despite being described as one of the most powerful beings in Sapkowski’s fictional universe, in the novels, Ciri is frequently victimized despite her abilities, and her journey includes instances of sexual violence, control, and grooming, which substantially undermine her empowerment arc. On the contrary, the game comes to highlight Ciri’s power, as well as her capacity to face countless enemies (of a much powerful nature than those presented in the novels) alone, and this is emphasised by expanding the player’s agency and allowing them to experience the game through Ciri’s perspective at times, making her a playable character. Ultimately, Ciri’s ending can involve her becoming an empress or a full-fledged witcher based on player choice, which also comes to emphasise her agency.
Much could be analysed in relation to other relevant female characters in The Witcher universe, namely Triss Merigold, Philippa Eilhart or Fringilla Vigo. However, the tendency is to find these characters only limitedly empowered in the novels, often lacking agency. This portrayal is potentially influenced by the historical status of women in Medieval Europe, as they were not allowed to participate in political affairs. Furthermore, the dominant religious ideology of the time – primarily shaped by Roman Catholic Christianity – perceived them as inherently disobedient and, thus, in need of being controlled. Although The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt contains many female characters who appear to fall within this spectrum, it does so, mainly, in relation to NPC’s, as a way to enrich the gameworld, making it more plausible in the process. Narratively important female characters, however, seem to be exempt from this representation, and it is then possible to note that not only does the game subvert the traditional role of women in the Middle Ages when taking into account these characters, but also expands their agency when compared to Sapkowski’s novels.
Thanks so much for your paper Jéssica. I think the questions of agency and empowerment for female characters in games is inherently really complicated, especially with a text like The Witcher, which is based on a book series by a male author, from a game studio with a majority male development team, with a male player-character for most of the series. I was wondering if you could comment more on how the player’s configurative role in the plot lines of these female characters impacts how much they can ‘subvert’ sexist stereotypes, and how we can analyse the game as a text? For example, with your example of Ciri’s endings of empress or witcher being based on player choice, they are two of the three options for Ciri’s character, as the third (popularly dubbed the ‘bad ending’) is her death, which results from the player choosing unsupportive and denigrating answers as Geralt in certain key interactions with Ciri. In that example in particular, it seems to me like Ciri’s entire fate is shaped by the choices of the player who is embodying a white male father-figure to Ciri. How does that factor into your argument that those potential plot lines emphasise her agency?
Doubling up here but I had two separate questions! I’m also interested in this notion of a “traditional role of women in the Middle Ages” with a fantasy game like this that is such an amalgamation of different historical sources (or historical stereotypes, perhaps). How are you defining your concept of traditional medieval roles in your work, given the temporal and geographical breadth of the periodisation, and how do you factor in ‘exceptional’ or outlier historical examples?
I always find this really tricky in my own research, as I think we often have a tendency to compare examples of exceptional women in a game like The Witcher, like the sorceresses who are a very small number of women relative to the game world’s populations (though obviously their institutional presence is still really significant!), to a more general sense of women’s expected sociocultural roles, but then just comparing them with the various examples of role-defying historical medieval women seems reductive too! How do you tackle this challenge in your wider work on these games?
Thank you for your comments and questions, Tess! I do think that the way in which Ciri’s fate is decided based on Geralt’s course of action does complicate things a lot. It is even more complicated (but, utimately, more interesting!) if we consider the RPG aspect of the game, and the agency of the player themselves, as our own identity and sociocultural context might determine which choices we make, and how Geralt is developed as a character. I do think that, despite this, Ciri’s role is expanded in the games when we compare her story arc with the literary works. We do get to play as Ciri, to use her powers, and to destroy some really powerful entities in the process (like the Crones or the werewolf in Crookback Bog). Even if we do not get to make determining choices related to the end game as Ciri, there are moments where her voice is heard, and our answers determine the immediate outcome of specific sequences/actions. Regarding your second question, I do find this tricky as well, and I am just starting to research how to tackle this problem, as it is very difficult to apply certain sociocultural conventions (of a specific time period) to a fantastical gameworld like that of The Witcher. I am considering the game as possessing neomedieval tones, and so draw on those to make these comparisons. However, I do think that more research is in order to properly pinpoint and explain how this might be done in a concise manner. Thank you so much for your thoughts!
As I seem unable to answer to Markus’ comment, I shall leave here the reply: Thank you for your thoughts Markus! I do think that Sapkowski might fail to consider such implications, especially as he is so critical of the games and strongly emphasises how much he deslikes them. Who knows, this might be related to the developers’ attempts to deconstruct some supposedly “stereotype-free” characters (?), even if it is ultimately impossible to construct or reinterpret something without considering the creators/reinterpreters’ own sociocultural context, gender, etc., just like Tess expressed in the previous comment!
My comment actually seems to have disappeared, but thank you for answering it anyway, Jessica (and for all your interesting Witcher thoughts)!
Thank you for the paper, Jéssica!
I have a somewhat hard question, but it’s something I’ve been really curious about ever since I wrote an article on The Witcher myself (back in 2016).
The Witcher novels come from a very specific time in modern Polish history, following the break with the Soviet Union, the end of Communism and all of that. There are authors who have made parallels between certain elements in the book series and the zeitgeist of the time. E.g. Kacper Pobłocki, IIRC interpreted Geralt’s “Witcher neutrality” as a nod to the Classical Liberal notion that money (and thus, Capitalism) has no ‘politics’.
Have you come across any analyses that interpret the portrayal of women in the novels in light of particular conceptions of gender brought about by this historical context?
Thank you for your question and suggestion, Vinicius!
I did not, actually! But I will definitely take a look at Kacper Pobłocki’s thoughts!