The fictional universe of The Witcher saga was created by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski in his[1] series of books (The Witcher Saga). The universe was never officially named by the writer; the largest entity – the continent – is simply called The Continent, and Polish fans have labeled the universe Wiedźminland ('Witcherland').
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The Continent was settled a few thousand years ago by the elves who came from overseas, meeting the gnomes and the dwarves. After a period of elven-dwarven wars, the dwarves retreated to the mountainous regions, and the elves settled in plains and forests. The story repeated itself about five hundred years ago, when human colonists arrived. The humans defeated the older races, and are now the dominant race; the others are considered second-class and often are forced to live in small ghettos inside human settlements, or in the most inhospitable regions of wilderness, as of yet unclaimed by the humans. In addition to elves, gnomes and dwarfs, other notable races on The Continent are the halflings and the dryads. Some other races – such as werewolves or vampires – appeared on The Continent due to a magical event known as the Conjunction of the Spheres.
Over the past several centuries most of the south-west and south-center of The Continent has been taken over by the growing Nilfgaard Empire. The north belongs to the fragmented Northern Kingdoms. The Witcher saga takes places in the aftermath of a major war between the Nilfgaard Empire and the alliance of Northern Kingdoms, and the second war begins in the middle of the series.
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No official map of the universe created by Sapkowski has been released, but several fan-made maps have been created. Sapkowski has refused to create a map, having stated that the existing maps are 'mostly accurate'. Most recently, a new map has been created by CD Projekt for The Witcher computer game and Sapkowski himself was consulted on it. See external links for maps.
The Continent can be divided into four regions. The Northern Kingdoms are the area where most of the Saga takes place, they are Aedirn, Cintra, Kaedwen, Kovir, Poviss, Lyria, Rivia, Redania and Temeria. South of the Northern Kingdom lies the Nilfgaard Empire. East of both of them are mostly unknown territories, such as the Korath desert, Zerrikania, Haakland and Zangwebar.
Geralt of Rivia (Polish: Geralt z Rivii), known also as Gwynnbleid (Old Speech: "White Wolf", given to him by the Dryads) is a witcher and the protagonist of the Witcher series and its adaptations. He is also known as the "Butcher of Blaviken".
He has been described as a character embodifying "the neo-liberal anti-politics" spirit of the Polish popular culture of the 1990s.[2]
Yennefer is a powerful and beautiful sorceress who lived in the capital city of Aedirn – Vengerberg. She was the youngest member of the Council of Wizards and later the Lodge of Sorceresses. She was the love of witcher Geralt of Rivia and a mother figure for Ciri.
Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon' (known as Ciri or the Lion Cub of Cintra), is the princess of Cintra, daughter of Pavetta and Duny (also known as Hedgehog of Erlenwald) and granddaughter of Queen Calanthe. She is Geralt's adopted daughter, around whom much of the plot is centered.
Triss Merigold of Maribor, a sorceress and a friend of Geralt and Yennefer. She took care of Ciri for some time and is like an older sister to her. Triss is unhappily in love with Geralt. Merigold appeared as cover girl in the Polish edition of Playboy in May 2011.[3]
Dandelion (Polish: Jaskier) is a poet, minstrel, bard and the closest friend of Geralt.
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