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Swing a dead werewolf around and you're likely to hit at least one person with a big opinion regarding The Witcher franchise. Whether we're talking about the Netflix series or the CD Projekt Red game The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, the adaptations of Geralt of Rivia's adventures have inspired some of the hottest takes in the fantasy community. But has anybody thought of asking The Witcher's actual creator what he thinks?

Well, Reddit apparently did, as author Andrzej Sapkowski took part in an r/Fantasy AMA during which he was asked his opinion on the adaptations of the world he created. In case you somehow didn't know, Sapkowski is the author of the nine canon Witcher novels (if you need an explainer - check out the brilliant coverage Popverse's Ashley V. Robinson and Jules Chin Greene put together for our series, Lore Corner) - and this is what he had to say about when asked "What's your opinion of the TV and video game adaptations so far and are you happy with the direction they are moving in?"

"I'll put it this way," wrote Sapkowski, "There's the original and then there are adaptations. Regardless of the quality of these adaptations, there are no dependencies or points of convergence between the literary original and its adaptation. The original stands alone, and every adaptation stands alone; you can't translate words into images without losing something, and there can't be any connections here." 

Lest you get the idea that Sapkowski has any particular problem with something the show or games have done to his source material (or if you're a certain kind of Witcher fan, lest you get the idea that Sapkowski is specifically condemning the Liam Hemsworth casting choice), it seems that what the author is really saying here is that any visual adaptation of a prose-first piece of art is going to fall short.

"Adaptations are mostly visualisations," the author concluded, "Which means transforming written words into images, and there is no need to prove the superiority of the written word over images, it is obvious. The written word always and decidedly triumphs over images, and no picture - animated or otherwise - can match the power of the written word."

Beautifully said, Andrzej, and as one of the most important people in the world of fantasy prose these days, it's no wonder that this is a belief that you hold. Now, far be it for this humble Popverse journalist to argue with you over the power of words over images, but I do wish to show you a certain picture of Geralt in the bathtub that I think you should at least consider.

The Witcher is streaming now on Netflix. 

Return to the Continent - be it the original Witcher books, the great Witcher games, or the excellent Witcher TV series franchise at Netflix. To help you on your journey, we have our key articles about Geralt's adventures here:

• How to read the Witcher novels & short stories in order
• How to watch the Witcher series and spinoffs in order
• The Witcher timeline explained