History Literature / TheLastWish

As you may have noticed, the book is mainly a DeconstructorFleet and {{Fractured Fairy Tale}}s.

The first book in ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' series by Andrzej Sapkowski, originally in Polish but translated to English [[AdaptationDisplacement after the game became popular]].

It consists of six short stories [[FramingDevice framed]] by a seventh narration. While not an immediate part of "The Witcher Saga" (which spans books three through seven), it introduces most of its protagonists (Geralt, Yennefer, Dandelion) and foreshadows Ciri's origin.

* ContinuitySnarl: In-universe, Filavandrel really should have known why nature no longer feeds elves. However, in real life, Ithlinne's Prophecy didn't start to play any role in the series until ''Literature/BloodOfElves''.

* CursedWithAwesome: A robber baron[[note]]As in, a literal noble who lives off as a highwayman, rather than an oldtimey CorruptCorporateExecutive, that is.[[/note]] is cursed to become a beastly monster in a direct homage to ''Beauty and the Beast.'' The thing is, the curse comes with innate magic catering to his every whim and he quickly finds out that despite his appearance, women are won over by his wealth and charming personality[[note]]not to mention his considerable vigour ''in rebus eroticis'' [[/note]] more often than not. Given the crime he committed was raping a priestess ([[NotHelpingYourCase of an evil Temple, he defends]]), this renders his whole punishment moot and is a serious dissonance toward the typical stance the other short stories and the saga [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil take toward rape]].

* WildChild: Geralt warns King Foltest this will be a very likely case with Adda even if he manages to lift the curse. Turns out he was right.

* TheButcher: Geralt is named "The Butcher of Blaviken" in ''The Lesser Evil''. The truth is more complicated: [[spoiler:He killed seven bandits in a CurbStompBattle to stop them from massacring the town to draw out its town wizard, against whom the leader Renfri had a [[UnreliableExpositor (probably justified)]] grudge.]]

* CorruptedCharacterCopy: Renfri's story is a darker retelling of Literature/SnowWhite. She was a princess whose stepmother foresaw that she would become a danger, and hired a thug to kill her. Renfri was raped by the man and fell in with some gnomes, became a notorious bandit, got with a prince... and then hunted down the sorcerer who ruined her life.

* OneTrueLove: Invoked in few of the stories

* PropheciesRhymeAllTheTime: This is one of the arguments Geralt uses to discredit the Black Sun prophecy, which suggested that Renfri was a bloodthirsty mutant. It speaks of "sixty women in crowns of gold, which will fill the rivers with blood". As Geralt points out, it obviously can't be a proper prophecy: it doesn't rhyme. The [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Ithlinne Prophecy]] on the other hand does rhyme, at least in the original Elven...

* RevengeBeforeReason: Renfri intends to kill Stregobor even if innocents get caught in the crossfire. Geralt is really annoyed by this as his sympathies are clearly with Renfri rather than Stregobor, but he wants to protect the town.

** Subverted in ''The Lesser Evil''. Rather than take part in the brewing conflict between Renfri and Stregobor, Geralt tries to tell the former to let go of her grudge against the latter, but it doesn't take. [[spoiler:Eventually, he's forced to kill her and her entire gang to prevent them from the slaughtering the townspeople, giving Stregobor what he wanted.]]
* TakingYouWithMe: Attempted by [[spoiler: Renfri]] in her dying breath

* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: Hiring Geralt to kill the boyfriend of latent sorceress [[spoiler:Pavetta]] might have been a bad idea.

* UnreliableExpositor: In ''The Lesser Evil'' Geralt doesn't really believe either Renfri or the wizard. The princess claims she was driven to evil by the abuse suffered at various hands (and caused by the bloody wizard meddling, thank you very much); the wizard says, with conviction, that Renfri is a mutant who was born AxCrazy.

-->'''Tavik''': We don't like magicians. It seems to me, Civril, that we're going to have more work in this hole than we thought. There's more than one of them here and everyone knows they stick together.
-->'''Civril''': Birds of a feather. To think the likes of you walk the earth. Who spawns you freaks?
-->'''Geralt''': A bit more tolerance, if you please, as I see your mother must have wandered off through the forest alone often enough to give you good reason to wonder where you come from yourself.

* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Geralt was originally told that the phrase he shouted at the genie was an exorcism spell. [[spoiler:Later, he learns from Krepp that it actually means "[[PardonMyKlingon Go fuck yourself]]". Since at the time the genie was bound to obey Geralt's wishes, it was forced to do so literally. No wonder it was pissed.]]

* ''A Question of Price'': A critical look at the fairy tales like "Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}", where a supernatural being asks for "what you don't expect to find back home". Sets up one of the key plotlines of the rest of the series with foreshadowing of Ciri's origin story.

* CursedWithAwesome: A robber baron[[note]]As in, a literal noble who lives off as a highwayman, rather than an oldtimey CorruptCorporateExecutive, that is.[[/note]] is cursed to become a beastly monster in a direct homage to ''Beauty and the Beast.'' The thing is, the curse comes with innate magic catering to his every whim and he quickly finds out that despite his appearance, women are won over by his wealth and charming personality[[note]]not to mention his considerable vigour in rebus eroticis [[/note]] more often than not. Given the crime he committed was raping a priestess ([[NotHelpingYourCase of an evil Temple, he defends]]), this renders his whole punishment moot and is a serious dissonance toward the typical stance the other short stories and the saga [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil take toward rape]].

* CursedWithAwesome: A robber baron[[note]]As in, a literal noble who lives off as a highwayman, rather than an oldtimey CorruptCorporateExecutive, that is.[[/note]] is cursed to become a beastly monster in a direct homage to ''Beauty and the Beast.'' The thing is, the curse comes with innate magic catering to his every whim and he quickly finds out that despite his appearance, women are won over by his wealth and charming personality more often than not. Given the crime he committed was raping a priestess ([[NotHelpingYourCase of an evil Temple, he defends]]), this renders his whole punishment moot and is a serious dissonance toward the typical stance the other short stories and the saga [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil take toward rape]].

* AngstWhatAngst: [[{{Invoked}}]] Discussed by Nivellen. He ''did'' grieve and got depressed about his curse initially... until he realised it's [[CursedWithAwesome not that much of a curse]] and eventually grew fond of it. By the time he and Geralt meet, the former robber baron is living the height of his life, and couldn't care less about lost humanity.

* AngstWhatAngst: [[Invoked]] Discussed by Nivellen. He ''did'' grieve and got depressed about his curse initially... until he realised it's [[CursedWithAwesome not that much of a curse]] and eventually grew fond of it. By the time he and Geralt meet, the former robber baron is living the height of his life, and couldn't care less about lost humanity.

** At large, it is capable of great things in-universe, working like a force of magic, lifting a curse in two out of six stories presented in the anthology and ending up tangling Geralt's fate in another. However, it is uncontrollable and uncontrollable, so whenever it ends up actually working, it's much to the shock of [[SeenItAll Geralt]].

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Invoked, discussed and then inverted in ''A Grain of Truth'' about the concept of both relationships and love as such. Nivellen points out that he might have a monstrous look and even be a literal, physical beast, but that doesn't matter one bit, for he's also ''filthy'' rich, and all objections are out of the picture once hard cash is on the table. However, not only did he end up with genuine bonds with various women that stayed around, subverting their status as {{Gold Digger}}s, [[spoiler: his mutual feelings with Vereena were completely pure and honest... which ''didn't'' prevent them from also being destructive and possessive]]. The main appeal of the story is just how much it [[DeconstructorFleet just rips apart]] ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast''.

* AngstWhatAngst: Discussed by Nivellen. He ''did'' grieve and got depressed about his curse initially... until he realised it's [[CursedWithAwesome not that much of a curse]] and eventually grew fond of it. By the time he and Geralt meet, the former robber baron is living the height of his life, and couldn't care less about lost humanity.

* FantasticRacism: A recurring theme in the book and in the setting at large. Just in the original story Geralt is given crap over being a witcher, simply ''because''. And it's kind of a running joke how everything wrong in the world is the fault of elves and carters[[note]]Which is a LostInTranslation Polish joke saying that everything wrong is the fault of Jews and cyclist[[/note]], even if the line itself comes from ''[[Literature/SwordOfDestiny A Shard of Ice]]''.

* FantasticRacism: A recurring theme in the book and in the setting at large. Just in the original story Geralt is given crap over being a witcher, simply ''because''. And it's kind of a running joke how everything wrong in the world is the fault of elves and carters[[note]]Which is a LostInTranslation Polish joke saying that everything wrong is the fault of Jews and cyclist[[/note]], even if the line itself comes from [[Literature/SwordOfDestiny A Shard of Ice]].

* FantasticRacism: A recurring theme in the book and in the setting at large. Just in the original story Geralt is given crap over being a witcher, simply ''because''. And it's kind of a running joke how everything wrong in the world is the fault of elves and carters[[note]]Which is a LostInTranslation Polish joke saying that everything wrong is the fault of Jews and cyclist[[/note]].

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Invoked, discussed and then inverted in ''A Grain of Truth'' about the concept of both relationships and love as such. Nivellen points out that he might have a monstrous look and even be a literal, physical beast, but that doesn't matter one bit, for he's also ''filthy'' rich, and all objections are out of the picture once hard cash is on the table. However, not only did he end up with genuine bonds with various women that stayed around, subverting their status as {{Gold Digger}}s, [[spoiler: his mutual feelings with Vereena were completely pure and honest... which ''didn't'' prevent it from also being destructive and possessive]]. The main appeal of the story is just how much it [[DeconstructorFleet just rips apart]] ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast''.
%%* FantasticRacism: A running theme in the book.

* AltarDiplomacy: In ''A Question of Price'', the fifth story, Queen Calanthe of Cintra wants to ensure a good political marriage for her daughter Princess Pavetta, and entertains suitors at Pavetta's fifteenth birthday celebration. She specifically wants Pavetta to marry into the royal house of the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Viking-like]] Skellige Islands to make Cintra a less-attractive target for Skellige pirates, and contracts Geralt of Rivia to help ensure Pavetta [[ExactWords marries well]]. [[spoiler:So Pavetta ends up in a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage with Duny, a lord formerly under BalefulPolymorph to whom Calanthe's deceased husband had promised "what he finds at home but does not know about" [[IOweYouMyLife in exchange for saving his life]], while Calanthe herself ends up in a love match with Eist Tuirseach, a knight of Skellige with whom it's implied she was having a covert affair offscreen.]]

* BalefulPolymorph: They are so common in-universe, three out of seven stories have one such character. There is Adda, Nivellen and Urcheon.

* ChainmailBikini: A downplayed example gets deconstructed in ''The Lesser Evil''. Renfri dresses in an outfit that [[ShowSomeLeg exposes her legs]] and continues to do so when she fights Geralt. [[spoiler: This leaves her with [[AttackItsWeakPoint an easy target]], which Geralt takes advantage of, cutting an artery in her thigh and leaving her to bleed to death]]. Notably, in ''Series/TheHexer'' adaptation, she wears a functional armour over her torso... which obviously still doesn't reach to her lower thights.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Eist Tuiseach]] to Queen Calanthe in ''A Question of Price'' after the latter is thrown against the wall by [[spoiler:Princess Pavetta's runaway magical gift]].

* CursedWithAwesome: A robber baron[[note]]As in, a literal noble who lives off as a highwayman, rather than an oldtimey CorruptCorporateExecutive, that is.[[/note]] is cursed to become a beastly monster in a direct homage to ''Beauty and the Beast.'' The thing is, the curse comes with innate magic catering to his every whim and he quickly finds out that despite his appearance, women are won over by his wealth and charming personality more often than not.

* CursedWithAwesome: A robber baron[[note]]As in, a literal noble who lives off as a highwayman, rather than an oldtimey CorruptCorporateExecutive, that is.[[/note]] is cursed to become a beastly monster in a direct homage to ''Beauty and the Beast.'' The thing is, the curse comes with innate magic catering to his every whim and he quickly finds out that despite his appearance, women are won over by his wealth and charming personality more often than not. Given the crime he committed was raping a priestess ([[NotHelpingYourCase of an evil Temple, he defends]]), this seems like MoralDissonance.

* FracturedFairyTale: The entire book is more or less a bunch of variations on Grimms Fairy Tales ([[{{MyFriendsAndZoidberg}} and]] [[{{Literature/TheArabianNights}} Aladdin]]) with Geralt thrown into them.

As you may have noticed, the book is mainly a DeconstructorFleet and FairyTaleFreeForAll.

As you may have noticed, the book is mainly a DeconstructorFleet of classical FairyTales.