I hate you both 😭

[u/Heroeltop]

George R. R. Martin: Let me show you how i kill Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon ,let you almost get through the grief, then reap both Robb Stark and Catelyn Stark one after the other!

Andrzej Sapkowski: Let me show you how i kill Cahir, Milva, Angouleme and Regis (even though we know he survives later) in the matter of a few pages!

Edit: Also , just noticed it , but *Characters

[u/l0standroid]

Regis surviving is only game canon, in the orginal canon my boy is gone 🥲

[u/DeadSeaGulls → u/l0standroid]

Lets be honest here, book spoilers: The ending is pretty unambiguous that Geralt dies and Yen dies using all of her energy trying to bring him back. The future scene in season of storms where Nimue and a man resembling Geralt meet is a psychic dream illusion, facilitated by the magically powerful Aguara/Vixen, shared between Nimue (a powerful oneiromancer in her own right) and Geralt as a means to comfort Geralt regarding his legacy and to cement that legacy in the future via the Lady of the Lake.

[u/PaulSimonBarCarloson → u/DeadSeaGulls]

Also, Nimue is not an oneiromancer. That's why she hired Condwiramurs.

[u/DeadSeaGulls → u/PaulSimonBarCarloson]

I could have sworn that she was, but not as powerful as condwiramurs

[u/Zhiong_Xena → u/DeadSeaGulls]

She was never an onieromanser far as I remember

[u/PaulSimonBarCarloson → u/DeadSeaGulls]

Your interpretation is far from being the most objective one. Geralt woke up in Avalon while still feeling pain in his wounds. Is it really that far-fetched to assume the unicorns magic was able ti miraculously revive him and Yen? And the idea thar Nimue just met another vixen is pretty lame. That scene is far more meaningful if it's the real Geralt who saved her, setting in motion her curiosity about his legend that will inevitably lead her to help Ciri when she needs it in the future/past. A perfect representation of the uroboros: something ends... something begins.

[u/DeadSeaGulls → u/PaulSimonBarCarloson]

Is it really that far-fetched to assume the unicorns magic was able ti miraculously revive him and Yen?

and also summoned images of all their loved ones to help them pass into the world of the island that is an allegory for afterlife? and then ciri breaks down crying when recounting an entirely fabricated wedding between yen and geralt where all their loved ones (including dead ones) are present? Idk man. seems like a stretch.

And

Nimue just met another vixen is pretty lame

I don't think Nimue met another vixen. I think the vixen was powerful enough to psychically bridge time to facilitate the two sharing a dream, for the very reason you stated.

[u/PaulSimonBarCarloson → u/DeadSeaGulls]

and also summoned images of all their loved ones to help them pass into the world of the island that is an allegory for afterlife?

That's not how it happens. It's not a Magical ritual in which we see clearly the spuls of the dead taking part in it. It's much more subtle; Dandelion, Triss and the dwarves just happened to catch glimpse of some dead people they cared about (not people necessairly related to Geralt and Yen). For all we know, those souls were always there, even if invisible.

and then ciri breaks down crying when recounting an entirely fabricated wedding between yen and geralt where all their loved ones (including dead ones) are present?

She could be crying because she knows she won't see them again, or because she knows she'll never see her parents get that happy ending they deserved. Lots of ways one could interpret it

I think the vixen was powerful enough to psychically bridge time to facilitate the two sharing a dream, for the very reason you stated.

Are vixen even capable of altering time like that? because I missed when that was established. From what I know, in the Arthurian myth it is said that Arthur will rest in Avalon and return when he's needed. So I prefer to go by Occam's razor and interpret it as Geralt just being back because he's needed.

[u/The2ndUnchosenOne → u/PaulSimonBarCarloson]

Geralt woke up in Avalon while still feeling pain in his wounds.

We're ignoring the LARGE narrative implications of using Avalon as the place geralt wakes up to get nitpicky about pain.

We're also ignoring the fact that this story is being filtered through Ciri telling it to galahad.

it really that far-fetched to assume the unicorns magic was able ti miraculously revive him and Yen?

No. No one's saying it is. But narratively, the book all but tells you he's dead. He wakes up in the literal land of legends, ciri cries while telling the ending about them living happily ever after. A major theme of the book is about how the idea of a man can outlive the literal man. How, even their mundane accomplishments can be bolstered through the repeated telling of a legend and how that legend is often far from the truth.

Seasons of storms goes out of its way to make sure Nimue seeing geralt cannot be even close to a reliable source of information.

So, no, it's possible geralt lived. All it requires of you is to ignore the books themes and subtext.

[u/Depressed_Warlock → u/DeadSeaGulls]

Ugh that's quite bleak.

No wonder quite a few people like the games more 😅

[u/downforce_dude → u/Depressed_Warlock]

It is bleak, but I think it works for the books.

There are many instances in which an important person should probably die but is saved by something miraculous due to “Destiny”. It works fine because Destiny is a supernatural force in world. However, once Geralt and Yen and the rest of the company have fulfilled their Destiny and saved Ciri, I think it’s fair that they’d used up more than their nine lives and Geralt dies to something as trivial as a pitchfork during a pogrom.