History Literature / LadyOfTheLakeSapkowski

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:The entire hanse - save Geralt and Dandelion (who stayed behind) -]] die very suddenly during the battle at Stygga. And then Geralt gets [[spoiler: nearly killed by a random guy with a pitchfork and Yennefer almost dies failing to heal him.]]

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:Geralt and Yen almost die... and they are on the island of Avalon at the same time? Or is it the afterlife? ''[[Literature/TheMistsOfAvalon Avalon]]?'' And Ciri leaves for [[KingArthur Camelot, with Galahad]]?]]. Lampshaded and foreshadowed at the very beginning of the book by an AudienceSurrogate character, discussing in-universe legend about Geralt and Ciri some hundreds years in the future -- she grudges she hoped for HappilyEverAfter fairy-tale like ending, and was dampened by the real one.

* LifeWillKillYou: Geralt battles monsters, omnipotent sorcerers, leads an army to victory, survives a SuicideMission... and is [[spoiler: nearly killed with a pitchfork by an angry mob]]. Just a moment later, Yennefer (who also duked it out with aforementioned omnipotent sorcerers and stood up to an entire coven of witches) [[spoiler: almost dies from magical overexertion while trying to heal him.]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:The entire hanse - save Geralt and Dandelion (who stayed behind) -]] die very suddenly during the battle at Stygga. And then Geralt gets [[spoiler: killed by a random guy with a pitchfork and Yennefer dies failing to heal him.]]

* LifeWillKillYou: Geralt battles monsters, omnipotent sorcerers, leads an army to victory, survives a SuicideMission... and is [[spoiler: killed with a pitchfork by an angry mob]]. Just a moment later, Yennefer (who also duked it out with aforementioned omnipotent sorcerers and stood up to an entire coven of witches) [[spoiler: dies from magical overexertion while trying to heal him.]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:The entire hanse - save Geralt and Dandelion (who stayed behind) -]] die very suddenly during the battle at Stygga. The only member of the group who isn't killed is [[spoiler: Regis, being a higher vampire, and able to regenerate from even what Viglefortz did to him]]. And then Geralt gets [[spoiler: nearly killed by a random guy with a pitchfork and Yennefer almost dies failing to heal him.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:After all the struggle Geralt finally rescues both Ciri and Yennefer and decides to quit his job and settle down, but all his friends who were helping him saves for Dandelion die. He decides to defend victims of pogrom for the last time and is nearly killed in proces. Yennefer tries to heal him but also nearly dies of exhustion. It all takes place before Ciri's eyes and she can't save her foster parrents.]]

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:Geralt and Yen almost die... and they are on the island of Avalon at the same time? Or is it the afterlife? ''[[Literature/TheMistsOfAvalon Avalon]]?'' And Ciri leaves for [[KingArthur Camelot, with Galahad]]?]]. Lampshaded and foreshadowed at the very beginning of the book by an AudienceSurrogate character, discussing in-universe legend about Geralt and Ciri some hundreds years in the future -- she grudges she hoped for HappilyEverAfter fairy-tale like ending, and was dampened by the real one. [[spoiler: It turns out that Geralt and Yennefer did survive, but worse things happened while they were healing from their wounds.]]

* LifeWillKillYou: Geralt battles monsters, omnipotent sorcerers, leads an army to victory, survives a SuicideMission... and is [[spoiler: nearly killed with a pitchfork by an angry mob]]. Just a moment later, Yennefer (who also duked it out with aforementioned omnipotent sorcerers and stood up to an entire coven of witches) [[spoiler: almost dies from magical overexertion while trying to heal him.]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:The entire hanse - save Geralt and Dandelion (who stayed behind) - die very suddenly during the battle at Stygga. And then Geralt gets nearly killed by a random guy with a pitchfork and Yennefer almost dies failing to heal him.]]

* LifeWillKillYou: [[spoiler:Geralt battles monsters, omnipotent sorcerers, leads an army to victory, survives a SuicideMission... and is killed with a pitchfork by an angry mob. Just a moment later, Yennefer (who also duked it out with aforementioned omnipotent sorcerers and stood up to an entire coven of witches) dies from magical overexertion while trying to heal him.]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:The entire hanse - save Geralt and Dandelion (who stayed behind) - die very suddenly during the battle at Stygga. And then Geralt gets killed by a random guy with a pitchfork and Yennefer dies failing to heal him.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:After all the struggle Geralt finaly rescues both Ciri and Yennefer and decides to quit his job and settle down, but all his friends who were helping him saves for Dandelion die. He decides to defend victims of pogrom for the last time and is killed in proces. Yennefer tries to heal him but also dies of exhustion. It all takes place before Ciri's eyes and she can't save her foster parrents.]]

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:Geralt and Yen die... and they are on island of Avalon at the same time? Or is it the afterlife? ''[[Literature/TheMistsOfAvalon Avalon]]?'' And Ciri leaves for [[KingArthur Camelot, with Galahad]]?]]. Lampshaded and foreshadowed at the very beginning of the book by an AudienceSurrogate character, discussing in-universe legend about Geralt and Ciri some hundreds years in the future -- she grudges she hoped for HappilyEverAfter fairy-tale like ending, and was dampened by the real one.
* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies: And his love interest, too. However, in the video games, both come BackFromTheDead five years later.]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/qik9km7.jpg]]

* ShipTease: ''Very'' briefly between Ciri and Cahir. [[spoiler:Then he gets killed off.]]

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:Geralt and Yen die... and they are on island of Avalon at the same time? Or is it the afterlife? ''[[TheMistsOfAvalon Avalon]]?'' And Ciri leaves for [[KingArthur Camelot, with Galahad]]?]]. Lampshaded and foreshadowed at the very beginning of the book by an AudienceSurrogate character, discussing in-universe legend about Geralt and Ciri some hundreds years in the future -- she grudges she hoped for HappilyEverAfter fairy-tale like ending, and was dampened by the real one.

** LowerDeckEpisode: The battle is shown through the eyes of multiple minor characters (both appearing first time ever or the ones that figured in the previous books) having their 15 minutes of fame one after another. [[spoiler: And most of them die. Horribly]].

* ConsummateLiar: Elf sage Avallac'h [[spoiler:He spins the tale about how Aen Elle need Ciri's powers in order to save the inhabitans of her world from impending apocalypse. Turns out they are power hungry conquerors just wanting an option to kill and enslave in every existing universe.]]

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:Geralt and Yen die... and they are on island of Avalon at the same time? Or is it the afterlife? ''[[TheMistsOfAvalon Avalon]]?'' And Ciri leaves for [[KingArthur Camelot, with Galahad]]?]]. Lampshaded and foreshadowed at the very beginning of the book by an AudienceSurrogate character, discussing in-universe legend about Geralt and Ciri some hundreds years in the future, - she grudges she hoped for HappilyEverAfter fairy-tale like ending, and was dampen by the real one.

* BigBadassBattleSequence: The battle of Brenna. Which in itself has nothing to do with the plot, but is immensely important InUniverse.
** LowerDeckEpisode: The battle is shown through the eyes of a minor and unimportant character from ''Literature/BloodOfElves'', who now receives the spotlight. [[spoiler: And most of them die. Horribly]].

* ConsummateLiar: elf sage Avallac'h [[spoiler:He spins the tale about how Aen Elle need Ciri's powers in order to save the inhabitans of her world from impending apocalypse. Turns out they are power hungry conquerors just wanting an option to kill and enslave in every existing universe.]]

* TheMultiverse: [[spoiler:Ciri's powers allow her to travel trought time and universes. While it sounds as a very bad case of NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, it's justified in earlier books, where her sole existence - and thus powers - is described as a result of elven eugenic experiments.]]

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:Geralt and Yen die... and they are on island of Avalon at the same time? Or is it the afterlife? ''[[TheMistsOfAvalon Avalon]]?'' And Ciri leaves for [[KingArthur Camelot, with Galahad]]?]]. Lampshaded and foreshadowed at the very beginning of the book by an AudienceSurrogate character, discussing in-universe legend about Geralt and Ciri some hundreds years in the future, - she grudges she wanted HappilyEverAfter fairy-tale like ending, not the actual one.

* IdiotBall: [[spoiler:Vilgefortz]], who despite all his power apparently can't notice a well-crafted illusion until it's too late.

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:Geralt and Yen die... and they are on island of Avalon at the same time? Or is it the afterlife? ''[[TheMistsOfAvalon Avalon]]?'' And Ciri leaves for [[KingArthur Camelot, with Galahad]]?]] The author clearly decided to TorchTheFranchiseAndRun, [[spoiler: with lots of [[SaltTheEarth salting the Earth]], killing almost all named characters and resolving GambitPileup with really blunt ShaggyDogStory ]].

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:The entire hanse - save Geralt and Dandelion - die very suddenly during the battle at Stygga. And then Geralt gets killed by a random guy with a pitchfork and Yennefer dies failing to heal him.]]

* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:Stefan Skellen and his men try to stop Gerralt from leaving Stygga after Vilgefortz bites it.]]
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:The entire hanse - save Geralt and Dandelion - die very suddenly during the battle at Styyga. And then Geralt gets killed by a random guy with a pitchfork and Yennefer dies failing to heal him.]]

* VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The castle itself may look unassuming, but it's surrounded by [[DerelictGraveyard scores]] [[SaharanShipwreck of shipwrecks]], not to mention being host to enough evil to make Ciri's powers fail. Almost every plot thread is resolved there.

* StableTimeLoop: While Ciri travels [[spoiler:TheMultiverse in search of her home,]] she receives unexpected help from two sorceresses [[spoiler:from her future]]. How exactly it worked is a bit complicated - upon researching [[FutureImperfect the Legend of the Unexpected Child]], they realized that [[spoiler:being lost between times and spaces, she can be practically anywhere - thus, she may appear to them just as well as anywhere else.]] So by some effort on their side they summon her, and show her the way to her destiny - [[spoiler:the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon]].

* BreatherEpisode: The hanse's stay at Beauclaire. Which is more or less a lot of {{Padding}}.

* TheMultiverse: [[spoiler: Ciri's powers alow her to travel trought time and universes. While it sounds as a very bad case of NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, it's justified in ealier books, where her sole existence - and thus powers - is described as a resault of elven eugenic experiments.]]
* PartyScattering: The sequel game suggest that [[spoiler:Geralt and Yennefer end up NotQuiteDead on opposing ends of the known world and Ciri is TrappedInAnotherWorld altogether]]. However, since their canonicity is unclear, [[spoiler:Geralt and Yennefer only really end up on the isle of Avallach, where they live (?) HappilyEverAfter, if you go by the books alone]]. And as for Ciri, [[spoiler:only Sapkowski knows if she's actually ''trapped'' as such]].

* StableTimeLoop: While Ciri travels [[spoiler:TheMultiverse in search of her home,]] she receives unexpected help from two sorceresses [[spoiler:from her future]] - they realize that [[spoiler:being lost between times and spaces, she is, in practice, everywhere]]. Thus, she may as well appear to them. So by some effort on their side they summon her, and show her the way to her destiny - [[spoiler:the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon]].
* StormingTheCastle: The final battle. [[spoiler: Ending with EverybodysDeadDave]].

* VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon
* TheWildHunt: [[spoiler:It's Aen Elle, elves living in another world, who travel between the dimensions to kidnap humans for later enslavement.]]