Contributors viii
Introduction: Toss a Coin to Your Witcher . . . and Your Philosopher xiv
Matthew Brake
Ethics 1
1 A Friend of Humanity: On Mercenaries, Mutants, and Morals 3
Zachary Vereb
2 The Witcher’s Dilemmas: Genuine or Apparent? 13
Walter Barta and Graham Lee
3 Lesser of Two Evils: Deliberation and the Witcher’s Moral Dilemma 22
Corey R. Horn
4 Friendship in the Wild: Kant, the Witcher, and Curiosity 30
Cisil Vardar
Free Will and Existentialism 37
5 Destiny, Fate, and the Law of Surprise: Determinism, Free Will, and The Witcher 39
Graham Lee Copyrighted Material
6 Compatibilism and the Law of Surprise: Myth, Free Will, Destiny, and Hedgehogs 48
Shane J. Ralston
7 Silver or Steel?: Rethinking Rational Choice in an Irrational World 55
Erin Williams and Darian J. Shump
8 Nothing Is Ever Black and White: Existentialism in Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt 63
Tim Miechels
Feminism 71
9 “This Is the Version of Myself I Have to Be”: Understanding Yennefer’s Feminism(s) 73
Edwardo Perez
10 “They Took My Choice, I Want It Back”: Infertility in The Witcher 84
Zoe L. Tongue
11 Ciri’s Agency and Autonomy: Princess, Sorceress, and Witcher Girl 92
Emily Vega and Walter Barta
Race and Culture 101
12 Race and Racism in the World of The Witcher 103
Gerald Browning
13 Disadvantage, Demeaning, and Power: Is Geralt of Rivia Being Discriminated Against? 109
Wulf Loh
14 “I’m Part Elf, I’m Part Human”: Understanding Racism in The Witcher 117
Edwardo Perez
Magic 127
15 Magic and the Elder Speech in The Witcher 129
Andriy Ivanchenko
16 Worlds within Words: Names and Naming in The Witcher 137
Fiona Tomkinson
17 Between Two Camps in the Swamps of Velen: Platonism and Naturalism in the Worlds of The Witcher 146
Steven Kammerer
18 “Witch Hunts Will Never Be About Witches”: Scapegoating and Stereotypes of Persecution 156
Ryan Smock
Postmodernism 165
19 The Witcher as Postmodern Fairytale 167
Emily Vega and Walter Barta
20 Shocks of Destiny: The Witcher’s Unlawful Surprise 177
Corry Shores
21 Post-Apocalyptic Prognostications in The Witcher 184
Matthew Crippen
Political Philosophy 195
22 King Foltest, John Locke, and Political Sovereignty in Temeria 197
John P. Irish
23 Stolen Mutagens and Frustrated Neutrality: Carl Schmitt and “the Political” in The Witcher 205
Florian R.R. van der Zee
24 Sometimes You Have to Pick Sides: Against Geralt’s Neutrality 214
Matthew Brake
Monsters 223
25 Origin and Desires as Monster Makers in The Witcher 225
Julie Loveland Swanstrom and Victoria Lyle
26 The Witcher and the Monstrous Feminine 236
Yael Cameron
27 The Dialectics of Monstrosity 244
Paul Giladi
Index 253