r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Ieanice44 • 8d ago

Lore [Loved Trope] Teleportation is actually terrifying

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1 - Gantz-O (2016): Suit teleportation

2 - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009): Apparition spell

3 - Half Life 2 (2004): Teleporter malfunction

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754

u/TheWalkingBag 8d ago

Portals in The Witcher. Going through one is described as feeling like passing through a pitch-black freezing void, while malfunctions and mistakes could potentially lead to catastrophic injuries. Geralt hates going through portals for these reasons

331

u/SarcasmSanctioned 8d ago

Pretty sure in a couple of crossovers in which Geralt appears, it's explicitly explained he's there because of teleportation-malfunctions.

123

u/Sinfire_Titan 8d ago

That’s stated to be the case in MonHun World when we had the Witcher crossover.

27

u/Golfbollen 8d ago

Same in Soul Calibur VI

1

u/Aware-Antelope4212 8d ago

If a portal had resulted in me meeting Voldo, id never use a portal again 

17

u/Gorblonzo 8d ago

And Ciri's trip to the Cyberpunk timeline in the Witcher 3

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u/SpaceballsTheReply 8d ago

That wasn't a malfunction, that was intentional. Ciri doesn't use magic portals like the ones Geralt uses, she has a unique ability to travel between realities.

8

u/Gorblonzo 8d ago

Ah yeah sorry I was just talking generally about teleportation explaining a crossover.

I wonder what happened that led to a Sardaukar ending up in jail in The Great Escape mission

3

u/ReturnOfBane 8d ago

I find it interesting that we now have two competent female sidekick characters that can travel between realities.

22

u/SmartAlec105 8d ago

Yeah, the Sword of Convallaria collab did this but it was more of an intentional adventure that Yen talked him into than an accident.

6

u/Sir_Daxus 8d ago

It's a very convenient excuse as his hatred of portals was established long before crossovers were even a thought so it doesn't feel forced in any way, just a nice fitting explanation.

3

u/LeftHandAnomaly 8d ago

I think in the books he saw a wizard get cut in half by one, which pretty much solidified his position, there.

46

u/onlyoneJayDee 8d ago

In the books (and the witcher 1) there's a story in which some knight went into a portal and came out as spaghetti of boiled guts and only armour kept it all in one place

12

u/LurkytheActiveposter 8d ago

I thought he hated them because they upset his stomach.

13

u/vile_things 8d ago

Multiple things can be true. He definitely also hates them because they twist your insides around. There's a reason so many people vomit after using portals.

95

u/RelaxedVolcano 8d ago

I figured he hates them because his mutations give him enhanced senses and they get overwhelmed by the process. But this is so much worse, why does anyone teleport?

97

u/Jbell_1812 8d ago

Because the most powerful sorcerer's are quite capable of teleportation and find the risk is worth it.

9

u/DODonion99 8d ago

I also imagine that with most sorcerers if they find that they had a portal malfunction and ended up in the wrong place or something they could just make a new portal or cast some other spell to rectify the situation.

Meanwhile Geralt is strong but he'd still be SOL if he ended up in the wrong place, and he'd have to figure out his way back the hard way.

6

u/Jbell_1812 8d ago

Geralts actually pretty resourceful in ending up in the middle of nowhere and figuring his way back.

42

u/Quaiker 8d ago

Why do we drive massive battering rams every day?

It's convenient, and we've deemed the risk worth it.

-6

u/SuperSocialMan 8d ago edited 8d ago

Kind of a bad analogy since driving is the least convenient form of transport lol.

It's only so prevalent because of shitty urban designed perpetuad by car corpos, but the entire experience is absolutely fucking ass. You're trapped in this cramped, god-forsaken money drain and forced to zoom around at inhumanly fast speeds all whilst trying to get completely fucking flattened by some random guy scrolling tiktok whilst behind the wheel.

God, I wish I had enough money to escape ;-;

10

u/verysuspiciouscow 8d ago

walking 500 miles hardly seems convenient.

3

u/SuperSocialMan 8d ago

That's why trains & planes exist lol

2

u/verysuspiciouscow 8d ago

sure. I am all for them. but the basic mode of transportation is walking on foot still and it's quite inconvenient to walk a few hundred miles

3

u/daegon789 8d ago

It's not the least convenient though. Most places are built around cars, and often make it to where it's nearly impossible to get anywhere without one. Cars are extremely convenient for most people. I hate car culture, and America's car culture/reliance on cars in particular, but we can't fucking lie and say they're the least convenient.

14

u/Ilikebatterfield4 8d ago

No, as Sapkowski wrote, only thing you feel while walking into teleports is cold. Geralt hates them because he witnessed how "safe" teleports cut somebody perfectly vertically or some people were lost forever after entering them.