History Headscratchers / TheWitcher

** Some medieval longswords even have an unsharpened portion of the blade called ''ricasso'', which is specifically intended to be grabbed onto in combat and used for thrusting and heavy cleaving attacks against a heavily armored opponents, [[BladeOnAStick much like a polearm would've been used]].

*** You just described the first one, while missing the point entirely. It it really that hard to grasp the following? Silver is softer than steel, but still harder than flesh and bones. This makes it perfect against monsters, who won't parry with metal-made weapons nor use metal-made armour. This also makes it inferior against humans, who are going to use metal-made weapons and armours, which will be harder than silver, which is going to chip and bend, requiring constant costly repairs... while you can just carry a second sword. It's that simple.

** Or you can treat it as a SchmuckBait. Since they didn't commit suicide and Ciri is with them, most of the readers relax and assume it's an EarnYourHappyEnding. The author decided to still go with KillEmAll and TorchTheFranchiseAndRun plans he had for a while, providing a fake HopeSpot for extra sadism.

*** Second one. Soft core, steel outer, plated or inlaid in silver. Cut down on how much silver you need and how often you'd have to repair the damn thing.

*** When Geralt is given a replacement sword by Zoltan in ''Baptism of Fire'', they discuss basics of sword making. As far as it goes, you can do it two ways: make a hard core with softer metal around it, which is easier to make, but unfortunately wears down easily and damages even faster ''or'' you do the reverse, with soft metal inside as a core and hard metal on the outside. This makes it harder to make, but far, far more durable when used. Now with this reasoning in mind, answer yourself where in this "silver plated steel sword" is and if it solves anything.

*** I meant that why ''doesn't'' Geralt use a silver plated steel sword instead of a second, expensive and as you put, soft, silver sword? even though it has a meteor iron core according to the lore meteor iron is also crap metal, whereas at least plating his regular steel sword in sliver or inlaid in silver (as silver hurts monsters when they touch it, not just from cuts made by silver) probably would save on the expenses that Geralt has most of the time.

** It's (a) not silver-plated, but solid silver and (b) silver is relatively soft. Aside that, there is also ShrugOfGod, because Sapkowski's answer to continously repeating this question was, is and probably always will be "Why not?"

* So, is it ever adequately explained why Witchers use two different swords for monsters and men(ish)? You would think a silver plated steel sword could pull double duty and probably be less expensive on the wallet to repair than a pure silver sword.

** At the end of ''Literature/BaptismOfFire'', it's noted that Geralt's signs are not as effective as he hasn't had access to his usual array of potions which boost his magical ability.

** This happened mostly because of the PTSD equivalent that Geralt was suffering at this moment. He traveled half of the known world to get there, made some very close friends along the way and in the end, saw them all die. He rescued Ciri, but at what cost? After hearing Emhyr explanation of his actions and of his plans, he was so bitter and disillusioned (not to mention severely wounded after combat with Vilgefortz) that he simply didn't have the strenght to endure it anymore. There was also aproximattely entire Nilfgaardian military around, so even with Yennefer's sorcery and his swordmanship, it was a lost cause. To make it even worse, there was no way for Yennefer to teleport them off this place, since it was clearly said earlier that the evil aura of Stygga castle would warp and skew every teleportation effort. And finally, there are Geralt's word's to Emhyr in which he vowed to steal Ciri from him, no matter what. So no, letting Geralt live wasn't an option and despite all his abominable plans, Emhyr still had enough honor left in him to offer them a swift and mercifull death, instead of disgrace of an executioner's blade.

** He uses them infrequently, more in short stories than novels. Perhaps he is used to the swords as default choice and just mostly lives by without Signs. At one point he implicitly states he needs the medallion to cast Signs, which makes for a simple answer after he loses it.