Changes: The Voice of Reason

Revision as of 17:21, 12 April 2008

The Voice of Reason is the framing story in The Last Wish, divided into seven parts.

Most of this story takes place in the Temple of Melitele in Ellander while Geralt is recovering from injuries he gained in a recent fight.

Summary

Template:Spoiler The Voice of Reason 1 describes how Iola, a priestess of Melitele, enters the chamber Geralt's slumbering in and the subsequent sex.

The scene is followed by the short story "The Witcher".

The Voice of Reason 2 begins with Nenneke waking up Geralt and Iola; the girl leaves, and the elder priestess and the witcher talk while Nenneke checks Geralt's injuries. She chides him for 'losing his touch', for letting himself get hurt so bad by an ordinary striga. Meanwhile, Geralt's stand on faith and belief is made clear.

Later, the temple's area, the cult of Melitele, are introduced while Geralt's walking the pathways, looking for both Iola and Nenneke.

He finds Nenneke and they discuss faith anew. The priestess tries to get Geralt to agree on a trance, for she senses something 'wrong' about the man. He refuses, arguing that his lack of faith would make such an attempt pointless. She merely remarks that it would be the first time lack of faith would have any power at all.

This segues into the short story A Grain of Truth.

The Voice of Reason 3 opens with the introductions of Falwick, count of Moën and Sir Tailles of Dorndal, both knights of the Order of the White Rose, on a mission from Prince Hereward. Nenneke doesn't like either of them, her remarks growing more scathing the more Tailles revels in his youthful righteousness. The knights demand that Geralt leave immediately; Nenneke counters by telling them that the temple is not under the jurisdiction of any prince. Tailles sees red, and throws down his gauntlet, demanding a duel with Geralt. Nenneke ignores the gesture, calmly telling the adolescent to pick up what he dropped.

The knights leave with a promise to return, throwing one of Geralt's many aliases, Butcher of Blaviken, into the conversation, thus introducing the third short story, The Lesser Evil.

The Voice of Reason 4 is a monologue without any description other than Geralt's own, while he's sitting with the silent Iola in the gardens of the temple. Geralt tells her about witchers, how they come to be, about Kaer Morhen and Vesemir. About destiny and how he shouldn't have stuck his spoon into that soup, cueing the short story A Question of Price.

The Voice of Reason 5 serves as the introduction of Dandelion, Geralt's friend. Nenneke despises him, but the witcher and the bard get along very well. Having hit a patch of blues, Geralt wonders outloud about the sorry state of witchers, about how he can barely make a living any more. Dandelion deals out some words of wisdom, asks if Geralt remembers all that happened at The Edge of the World.

The Voice of Reason 6 takes place in glass-roofed caves on the temple grounds, where the air is humid and many plants and herbs grow. While Nenneke's tending to the flora, the priestess and Geralt discuss Yennefer. The witcher wishes to give the reward he received for the striga to the temple, and asks Nenneke if she would forward a couple of the gems to Yennefer, to help her. Nenneke refuses to work as an intermediary, and they argue about Yennefer and her situation. The priestess pleads Geralt to stay some more, bringing up the trance again. He refuses.

Finally, Nenneke asks about how this thing between the witcher and the sorceress began, setting up The Last Wish.

Unlike the others, The Voice of Reason 7 happens outside the safety of the temple walls. Geralt and Dandelion are riding down a road, when they're suddenly surrounded, stopped, by lancers, knights of the Order of the White Rose, and the captain of Hereward's guards, a dwarf named Dennis Cranmer. Geralt is demanded to either accept Tailles' challenge, or the gallows. The rules of the duel further state that if Geralt touches Tailles with his sword, the witcher will suffer a slow death.

Geralt accepts the challenge, and the duel is short, ending as the blades meet and Tailles' own slashes his face. Falwick demands the footmen to take Geralt, but Cranmer judges that the rules of the duel were fulfilled to the letter, and Geralt is free to go. The witcher plans his route with Dandelion, and they make a brief stop at the temple of Melitele. Nenneke has restocked Geralt's box of elixirs, which Iola brings. The witcher's and the girl's hands touch, and the girl is whisked away by a vision.

Nenneke calms her, then turns to Geralt, who merely comments that he's seen it before, that there's no point in watching over one's shoulder. Still, the priestess begs him to stay.

Geralt leaves. Template:Endspoiler

Characters

Cintrian child (mentioned only)
Dandelion
Dennis Cranmer
Ermellia (mentioned only)
Falwick
Geralt
Hereward (mentioned only)
Iola
Lunin (mentioned only)
Nenneke
Roderick de Novembre (mentioned only)
Striga (mentioned only)
Tailles
Tyrss (mentioned only)
Vesemir (mentioned only)
Yennefer (mentioned only)

Trivia

The witchers' blades, the medallion and the trials are explained, more or less, in part 4.
Roderick de Novembre's The History of the World and Lunin and Tyrss' The Arcane Mysteries of Magic and Alchemy are mentioned in part 5.

Adaptations

TV series

The seven parts of this story served as a base for many scenes in The Hexer TV series.

(elaborate)

Template:Game section

The Order of the White Rose was the base upon which the Order of the Flaming Rose was built.

"This is my story, not yours. You must let me finish telling it." — This article/section is a stub. You can help Witcher Wiki by expanding it.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The Voice of Reason is the framing story in ''[[The Last Wish]]''.
+The Voice of Reason is the framing story in ''[[The Last Wish]]'', divided into seven parts.
+Most of this story takes place in the [[Temple of Melitele]] in [[Ellander]] while [[Geralt]] is recovering from injuries he gained in a recent fight.
-==Plotline==
+==Summary==
-The Voice of Reason begins with [[Geralt]], slumbering, awakened by the entrance of [[Iola]]. She has sex with him. Afterwards, he falls to sleep. Here Geralt dreams of his encounter in [[Wyzim]] with a [[striga]] ("[[The Witcher]]"). In the morning, he is woken up by [[Nenneke]], the priestess of [[Melitele]]. He is in the [[Temple of Melitele]] in [[Ellander]]. Iola leaves - with Geralt musing that in the early morning, she reminded him of [[Yennefer]]. She talks with him, worried that he was horrifically injured by a normal striga. Geralt and Nenneke argue about Geralt taking part in a trance. Geralt argues that his inability to be hypnotised and his lack of faith makes it pointless. Here, the second short story, "[[A Grain of Truth]]" is introduced.
+{{spoiler}}
+'''The Voice of Reason 1'''  describes how [[Iola]], a priestess of [[Melitele]], enters the chamber Geralt's slumbering in and the subsequent sex.
+The scene is followed by the short story "[[The Witcher]]".
-Afterwards, he meets with Count [[Falwick]] and Ser [[Tailles]], both knights of [[Order of the White Rose]]. They are here to chase Geralt from Ellander in the name of Prince [[Hereward]]. Geralt says he will leave after three days. Falwick tells him to leave immediately. Geralt and Tailles almost come to blows when the latter insults Nenneke. Tailles and Falwick leave, warning that they will be back (at this point, the third short story, "[[The Lesser Evil]]"). Later, he meets Iola, and carries a monologue explaining himself to her (she unable to talk due to a vow she has made). At the end, he muses on his destiny (introduces the short story, "[[A Matter of Price]]").
+'''The Voice of Reason 2''' begins with [[Nenneke]] waking up Geralt and Iola; the girl leaves, and the elder priestess and the witcher talk while Nenneke checks Geralt's injuries. She chides him for 'losing his touch', for letting himself get hurt so bad by an ordinary striga. Meanwhile, Geralt's stand on faith and belief is made clear.
-Some time later, [[Dandelion]], a poet friend of Geralt arrives. Together, they reminisce on times gone past, of how Geralt's profession as a witcher is growing less and less profitable. Finally, they reminisce on their first adventure ("[[The Edge of the World]]"). Geralt talks to Nenneke about Yennefer, wishing to give some of his payment to her. Nenneke dismisses it, and asks him how he met Yennefer. He recounts to her the story ("[[The Last Wish]]").
+Later, the temple's area, the cult of Melitele, are introduced while Geralt's walking the pathways, looking for both Iola and Nenneke.
-When Geralt and Dandelion venture out of the temple, Geralt is waylaid by Falwick and Tailles, accompanied by a lot of lancers and the captain of Hereward's guards, a dwarf named [[Dennis Cranmer]]. They explain Geralt's options to him. If he does not accept Tailles's challenge, he will be hung. If he touches Tailles with his sword, he will be dragged to Hereward to be tortured. Geralt chooses to fight, and causes Tailles to hit himself with his own sword. Dennis Cranmer, stating that he obeys his orders to the letter, allows Geralt to go, as Geralt did not actually touch Tailles. Geralt chooses to leave, and just before he leaves, when he touches Iola's hand (Iola was bringing him his box of elixirs) she has a vision of him. Geralt dismisses it, saying he's seen it before, and leaves. Nenneke says goodbye, but does not look him in the face.
+He finds Nenneke and they discuss faith anew. The priestess tries to get Geralt to agree on a trance, for she senses something 'wrong' about the man. He refuses, arguing that his lack of faith would make such an attempt pointless. She merely remarks that it would be the first time ''lack'' of faith would have any power at all.
+This segues into the short story [[A Grain of Truth]].
+'''The Voice of Reason 3''' opens with the introductions of [[Falwick]], count of [[Moën]] and Sir [[Tailles]] of [[Dorndal]], both knights of the [[Order of the White Rose]], on a mission from Prince [[Hereward]]. Nenneke doesn't like either of them, her remarks growing more scathing the more Tailles revels in his youthful righteousness. The knights demand that Geralt leave immediately; Nenneke counters by telling them that the temple is not under the jurisdiction of any prince. Tailles sees red, and throws down his gauntlet, demanding a duel with Geralt. Nenneke ignores the gesture, calmly telling the adolescent to pick up what he dropped.
+The knights leave with a promise to return, throwing one of Geralt's many aliases, ''Butcher of Blaviken'', into the conversation, thus introducing the third short story, [[The Lesser Evil]].
+'''The Voice of Reason 4''' is a monologue without any description other than Geralt's own, while he's sitting with the silent Iola in the gardens of the temple. Geralt tells her about witchers, how they come to be, about [[Kaer Morhen]] and [[Vesemir]]. About destiny and how he shouldn't have stuck his spoon into that soup, cueing the short story [[A Question of Price]].
+'''The Voice of Reason 5''' serves as the introduction of [[Dandelion]], Geralt's friend. Nenneke despises him, but the witcher and the bard get along very well. Having hit a patch of blues, Geralt wonders outloud about the sorry state of witchers, about how he can barely make a living any more. Dandelion deals out some words of wisdom, asks if Geralt remembers all that happened at [[The Edge of the World]].
+'''The Voice of Reason 6''' takes place in glass-roofed caves on the temple grounds, where the air is humid and many plants and herbs grow. While Nenneke's tending to the flora, the priestess and Geralt discuss [[Yennefer]]. The witcher wishes to give the reward he received for the striga to the temple, and asks Nenneke if she would forward a couple of the gems to Yennefer, to help her. Nenneke refuses to work as an intermediary, and they argue about Yennefer and her situation. The priestess pleads Geralt to stay some more, bringing up the trance again. He refuses.
+Finally, Nenneke asks about how this thing between the witcher and the sorceress began, setting up [[The Last Wish (short story)|The Last Wish]].
+Unlike the others, '''The Voice of Reason 7''' happens outside the safety of the temple walls. Geralt and Dandelion are riding down a road, when they're suddenly surrounded, stopped, by lancers, knights of the Order of the White Rose, and the captain of Hereward's guards, a dwarf named [[Dennis Cranmer]]. Geralt is demanded to either accept Tailles' challenge, or the gallows. The rules of the duel further state that if Geralt touches Tailles with his sword, the witcher will suffer a slow death.
+Geralt accepts the challenge, and the duel is short, ending as the blades meet and Tailles' own slashes his face. Falwick demands the footmen to take Geralt, but Cranmer judges that the rules of the duel were fulfilled to the letter, and Geralt is free to go. The witcher plans his route with Dandelion, and they make a brief stop at the temple of Melitele. Nenneke has restocked Geralt's box of elixirs, which Iola brings. The witcher's and the girl's hands touch, and the girl is whisked away by a vision.
+Nenneke calms her, then turns to Geralt, who merely comments that he's seen it before, that there's no point in watching over one's shoulder. Still, the priestess begs him to stay.
+Geralt leaves.
+{{endspoiler}}
 ==Characters==
-* [[Adda (Foltest's daughter)|Adda]] (mentioned only)
+* [[Ciri|Cintrian child]] (mentioned only)
-* [[Ciri]] (mentioned only)
 * [[Dandelion]]
 * [[Dennis Cranmer]]
+* [[Ermellia]] (mentioned only)
 * [[Falwick]]
 * [[Geralt]]
 * [[Hereward]] (mentioned only)
 * [[Iola]]
+* [[Lunin]] (mentioned only)
 * [[Nenneke]]
+* [[Roderick de Novembre]] (mentioned only)
+* [[Adda the White|Striga]] (mentioned only)
 * [[Tailles]]
+* [[Tyrss]] (mentioned only)
+* [[Vesemir]] (mentioned only)
 * [[Yennefer]] (mentioned only)
+==Trivia==
+* The witchers' blades, the medallion and the trials are explained, more or less, in part 4.
+* Roderick de Novembre's [[The History of the World]] and Lunin and Tyrss' [[The Arcane Mysteries of Magic and Alchemy]] are mentioned in part 5.
+==Adaptations==
+===TV series===
+The seven parts of this story served as a base for many scenes in ''[[The Hexer]]'' TV series.
+''(elaborate)''
+==={{Game section}}===
+The Order of the White Rose was the base upon which the [[Order of the Flaming Rose]] was built.
+{{stub}}
 [[Category:Short stories]]
+[[pl:Głos rozsądku]]