Steel for Men
How does one forge steel in a land torn by war, greed and anger? Quite easily, and yet with great difficulty.
The first of Geralt's Swords is an alloyed silver blade. The second weapon, one forged of steel, reflects the humanity - and hypocrisy - of the substance and the swordsman.
It is not only Geralt and other Witchers that use steel, unlike the silver blades they use to fight monsters specifically. Steel swords, axes, maces, and the like are at the hips of men, with the exception of Geralt’s daughter Ciri, a female Witch hunter and a few shieldmaidens. Should he choose to raid a bandit camp for treasure and coin, Geralt will sometimes find steel longswords he may take and use in the bloodied dismembered corpses of the men he’s slain.
“Oh my God, that guy has no legs anymore.” I find myself saying more often than not when I pick through a man’s pockets for a half-eaten ham sandwich he'd saved. Like it or not, Geralt’s got to eat.
Steel is what cleaves away bandits, what commits the thievery itself, and what the black-clad Empire of Nilfgaard uses to conquer what scraps of the Continent that it hasn’t already laid waste to.
Casual mentions of steel are notable as well. “Choke to death on three pounds of steel” Is a remark that I can hear in passing by the red and white clad guards that serve a religious zealot of the King of Redania.
The Redanian soldier’s remark is subtly telling, even though it is in truth a naked threat to Geralt. Redanian steel is shorthand for Redanian rule. It is not through statecraft nor philosophical cunning that King Radovid is able to command his men, but through arms. As the country gains influence in the game’s two most prominent cities, Oxenfort and Novigrad, the red-clad soldiers grow in numbers, as do their brother in arms, dour Witch Hunters in Brown leather.
These ruthless soldiers and policemen use steel not only to enforce the law, but to burn mages, elves, shapeshifters and dwarves. They do. Liberally. By the time Geralt is running around these cities in endgame, pyres burning books and the bodies of the nonhuman are everywhere to be found.
Steel is never just the sword, but also the decisions behind where it is deployed. That’s where the story and the gameplay gets interesting.
Geralt, because he is controlled by you, the player, has a choice to draw swords or try something else. The game’s many dialogue options often will give him opt-outs from combat. He may bribe, he may use a Witcher sign to persuade, or he may simply refuse to fight. It’s an option that’s also available to most monsters capable of communicating back. On most playthroughs, I spare succubi, find homes for godlings and buy paint for a rock troll fond of art. These instances of nonviolence establish Geralt’s principles, even if they are flawed as the Witcher himself.
I was watching a streamer and commentator, James Stephanie Sterling, play through a few portions of one of the smaller narrative arcs of the Witcher 3. In short, Geralt’s goal was to interrogate and aid a small-time noble and warlord, the Bloody Baron, to find information on his daughter.
I was struck by some of the comments Sterling had on the writing of this quest chain. They said, in essence, that as loathsome the Baron and his raping, pillaging henchmen are, they narratively compel Geralt onwards. He must be judicious in how he chooses to treat this loathsome man, who beat his wife but is willing enough to not kill the miscarried child they parented. It’s turned into a botchling, which he must carry, writhing and screeching, to be buried and turned into a more benign spirit.
It’s a lot of gruesome backstory to take in during the very short period of time the player receives this information. Geralt, however, is not a human video game player. He’s been given mutating poisons that dampen the emotional responses that humans might have to killing and maiming.
Who is he to judge humans? Men that wield the same swords as he does will draw their weapons, proclaiming that he is a mutant and a freak. Yet the question remains unanswered. At the end of the day, Geralt must wander away from the places he inks contracts with once monsters and bandits are dispatched. The steel sword is many things in this world, but it remains seldom the absolute solution to things. Perhaps that’s written in such a way on purpose.
Dad Joke of the Moment
What is a necrophage’s favorite soup?
Ghoulash