Thread:Bizippo/@comment-27075564-20190104002151/@comment-3131473-20190118075517

Our difference in perceiving fan-art could be a result of geographic distinction though. The Witcher entered Anglocentric world as brand, with specified authors. It wasn't the case in Poland – we've always seen Wiedźmin as popcultural fenomenon created by Sapkowski and then, before being officially adapted, spread across Polish comedy series like „Świat według Kiepskich”, additions for imported tapletop RPGs etc. Even Sapkowski's first website itself encouraged to upload art and stories, to debate on forums (some of which even inspired Sapkowski, like the story of Lebioda's demise). This went even further with Gra Wyobraźni official website, 90% content of which were homebrew reviewed by authors and community. The point is: until TW3 and recent hate campaign against Sapkowski, Poles (and Sapkowski) viewed only his books as the canon, while both adaptations and homebrew were labelled as "reinterpretation" tier, interacting each other in interesting ways.

And though I agree that adding homebrew lore is definitely not an option, fan art is a thing on its own. The first images of The Witcher characters were fan-arts, the first images on the first Sapkowski's site were fan-arts. They've accompanied Wiedźmin for decades.