Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher Series: Fantasy’s Appropriation of Modern Political Landscapes
Abstract
The Witcher series, by Andrzej Sapkowski, has recently become an international phenomenon. On top of its international pop-cultural success, one of the most interesting aspects about the series is the political landscape of the world, specifically in regards to politics and magic. From the very beginning of the series, Sapkowski interweaves very specific politico-legal philosophies through the world’s government systems, some of the most prominent of which are Naturalism and Positivism. This is done in his creation of the loose coalition of northern kingdoms, typically embodying Naturalism, being put into conflict with the authoritarian southern empire, which typically embodies Positivism. In addition to this, Sapkowski also uses different historical philosophies of real-world government systems in the systems he creates for his world. In addition to the politico-legal philosophies embedded within the government systems in the series, Sapkowski also organizes politics and magic in very particular ways. For example, the magical community is, for all intents and purposes, divided by male and female magic users (enchanters and enchantresses respectively), each with their own functions in the magical community and world at large; enchanters dominate fields such as scientific, magical, and academic research, while enchantresses dominate fields such as politics and other governmental affairs. In addition to this, Sapkowski grants enchanters and enchantresses a sort of religious rhetoric that allows them to navigate through both religious and secular political landscapes. In using historical government philosophies in creating his own governments, Sapkowski is keeping up a long-standing tradition of fantasy being affected by, as well as having the capability to affect, pop-culture and politics. His government systems within the series are reflected by real-world politico-legal philosophies, and because it has had such an impact on pop-culture, it could very well impact the political realm of western society as other popular fantasy series have done.
Subject
AnderzejSapkowski
Witcher
Legal philosophy
fantasy
politics
law
rhetoric
magic
magic and politics
gender roles
magic and rhetoric
Witcher series
Citation
Bertram, Caleb Micheal (2021). Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher Series: Fantasy’s Appropriation of Modern Political Landscapes. Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /194339.