Sword of Destiny
core collection 1992 The Witcher
Record
| Original title | Miecz przeznaczenia |
|---|---|
| First published | 1992 |
| Original language |  PL |
| First English translation | 2015 |
| Translator | David French |
| Work type | collection |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.27 (233,992 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 405 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781473211551 |
| First-edition publisher | superNOWA |
| First-edition country | PL |
Synopsis
A collection of short stories featuring Geralt of Rivia, the monster-hunting witcher, introducing his relationship with the sorceress Yennefer and his fateful encounter with the child of destiny, Ciri. The stories are set across the same fantasy continent as the rest of the saga, showing Geralt taking on contract work and navigating court intrigues and old debts between larger adventures. As the second book to be published in the series but chronologically preceding the events of the first-published collection, it fills in details of how Geralt's key relationships and obligations came to be, establishing the emotional stakes that the following novels build on, without yet resolving where any of those threads will lead.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Witcher
- Series: The Witcher core; position 2 of 9 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Notes
- Foundational collection, reading order #2 despite the earliest Polish year (1992); introduces Ciri. English translation appeared after four saga novels.
- From the series record (The Witcher): Reading order: collections first (official superNOWA numbering), then the 5-novel saga, then standalones. Polish and English publication orders both differ from reading order.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Witcher: position 1 of 9: next The Last Wish (1993)
Sources
← The Witcher dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.