The Tower of the Swallow

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In the Northern Kingdoms centuries after the main story, the sorceress Condwiramurs is apprenticed to Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, to study the legend of Geralt and Ciri. Condwiramurs has clairvoyant dreams and recovers many scenes about them. In 2001, a Television Series based on the Witcher cycle was released in Poland and internationally, entitled Wiedźmin (The Hexer). A film by the same title was compiled from excerpts of the television series but both have been critical and box office failures.

Some fans also speculate that Avallac’h fancies Ciri in the Witcher 3 because she shares Lara Dorran’s features. The main piece of evidence for this is the drawings you find in Avallac’h’s lab that look a lot like Ciri. Swallows even stepped up the action. The action scenes featuring Witcher and Co were complete mayhem as always, and there are many memorable moments.But Ciri stole the show with amazing finale fight on the ice. Seriously, words fail me!The Empath: Introduced here with Joanna "Kenna" Selborne, and like many other elements, retroactively added to the setting. She is not an actual magician, but she did receive formal training in her in-born powers. She mostly uses them for mind-reading, minor suggestions and alike, which makes her one of the best interrogators one can hire. Psychic Nosebleed is the good result when she pushes it too hard. In her specific case, she can also be a seer, too, but only when induced into a trans by someone else first, but that skill is considered rare and she has very poor control over it. Apart from the above I pretty much like everything about this book. Just how Baptism of Fire was Geralt's book this is Ciri's book. The plot follows Ciri's life after the Rats were killed. She regards Ciri with disgust, calling her a “degenerate half-breed” whose only purpose to Avallac’h is to help him with his task. After Ciri “does what she must”, the elf claims that Avallac’h will finally be free of her. We also don’t know why Aen Elle killed the humans of their world – was it policy (not to end up like Seidhe on the Continent), was it revenge for Lara’s death? We don’t know. We do know that they took an entirely indifferent view to humans in the world of the Witcher and left it preferring instead someplace more interesting. How can Ciri trust that Avallac’h, who makes no secret of his disdain for humans, really plans to save them from the White Frost, too?

Meanwhile, having saved Queen Meve of Rivia, Geralt and his party – the bard Dandelion, Milva the archer, higher vampire Regis, and former Nilfgaardian soldier, Cahir – travel with her army. Geralt seeks a group of druids whom he believes can locate Ciri. During their journey, they learn that a bounty has been placed on their heads by a half-elf and a group of criminals led by a man named Nightingale. Partnering up with the young woman Angoulême, a former member of this group, they decide to ambush the bandits and discover who hired them, who Geralt suspects to be the wizard Vilgefortz. Eventually, they stumble upon the half-elf, named Schirrú. A fight breaks out, in which Cahir is injured, forcing him and Geralt into hiding. During this time, the two reconcile. They reunite with the rest of the party, who have entered Toussaint, where the druids are. They attempt to locate the criminals, but are captured instead by the druids, who kill the criminals before Geralt can question them. Gladiator Games: Bonhart — implicitly a fan and occasional participant— forces Ciri to take part in arena fighting. It includes a protester who finds animal fights immoral, but human against human a fair game. It’s true that Avallac’h sacrifices himself by hiding Ciri away on the Isle of Mists before The Wild Hunt curses him. Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Leo Bonhart's obsession with Ciri is so great, he's prepared to fight the Wild Hunt for her.As they get closer to the tower, Geralt and his companions learn more about the tower’s history and the powerful magic that surrounds it. They also learn that there are others who are trying to reach the tower before them, including a group of elves and a powerful dragon. Protecting Ciri from the dangerous effects of her uncontrolled power, like severe mental illness, is only a secondary benefit, not his primary motive. Ciri and Avallac’h: Forbidden Romance? Drawings of Ciri in Avallac’h’s lab. Meanwhile, Geralt meets the elven sage Avallac'h, who talks to him about Ithlinne's prophecy of the end of the world. Avallac'h tells Geralt that he must not seek out Ciri, since what is predestined will happen regardless. Geralt remains committed to finding Ciri. To fully understand Avallach’s goal, we need to first talk about other lore elements like Ithlinne’s Prophecy and the Conjunction of the Spheres. Bogeyman: Bonhart is this to Ciri. Even after killing almost all of Skellen's other men, she's still terrified of facing him in a one-on-one fight.

Avallac’h’s true intentions both in the books and The Witcher 3 are as mysterious as the elf himself. The Conjunction of Spheres, Ithlinne’s Prophecy, and the Elves The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Ciri initially refuses to take the fisstech Bonhart tries to force on her, only relenting when he threatens to strip her and apply the drug to some of her other "mucous membranes".

Baptism of Fire mostly focused on Geralt’s mission to find and rescue Cirri, supposedly from the clutches of Nilfgaard, after the devastating events on the isle of Thanedd. The third book of the series was fun, although upon reflection it did not do much to further the overarching plot of the story. Meanwhile, Geralt is on his way to find Druids who might know where Ciri is. But someone is determined that the witcher should not find her... Enter The Tower of the Swallow, Book 4 of the Witcher series, which pushed the plot so far ahead that I’m convinced this particular installment could have easily been two books. Note: For reasons unknown, some of the translations have "Swallow" in its plural form in the title while the original, the Polish title is in singular form. Thus, the most correct translation would be "Tower of the Swallow" or "The Swallow's Tower". The mentioned swallow is a representation of a single person so it feels like a rather big error in translation. The error itself might be related to Polish language complexity; the word "Jaskółki" in itself is in a plural form, however in a phrase "Wieża Jaskółki" it is not, here it is in its 2nd (of 7) declination case.

As for the books, Auberon does confirm in The Lady of the Lake that the elves traveled between several worlds, although he doesn’t mention specifics:

Tropes found in the book:

Leo also gets one for attempting to charge the The Wild Hunt while pursuing Ciri, surviving only because his horse panics and flees.