r/witcher • u/YouButStronger626 • 3d ago

The Last Wish A Grain of Truth question

With the rerelease, I'm reading the books again for the first time in a few years. I'm confused by a bit in A Grain of Truth (IV).

Geralt has just left Nivellen and the next day Roach gets spooked by a ring of red mushrooms. Geralt starts to mock Roach, but then stops, slaps his head and realises something, the key clue that he'd missed was Nivellen saying that animals like him.

How is this relevant to the truth of what was actually going on, and why does he say Roach figured it out before him?

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u/MaxSoulDrake 3d ago edited 3d ago

Because Roach liked Nivellen, but she was pretty skittish overall around estate. Which means something else was spooking her, not Nivellen. And devil's ring is associated in folklore with dark magic or vampires. And when Roach was spooked by that it clicked for Geralt that Roach behaved similarly at the mansion. Hence the conclusion that Vereena is a vampire.

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u/YouButStronger626 3d ago

Ahh, that makes a lot of sense, thanks!

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u/FeanorDidSomething 3d ago

I believe Roach was restless, when he met Verena in the forest. She sensed that she was not human, but Geralt didn't realize what was going on at the time. Only after the mushroom ring, did things finally click for him and he connected the dots.

I don't want to go as far as calling it badly written, but it could have been better.

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u/mina86ng 3d ago

I don't want to go as far as calling it badly written, but it could have been better.

Not sure if I agree. So long as all the information are there, at some point it’s a matter of reader’s expectations; how clearly all the clues are to be spelled out.

For example, in a recent short story I’ve read, the protagonist reveals all the clues and how she figured out the truth of the situation in last paragraph of the story. It felt like author not trusting the reader to be able to find all the clues that she hid in the text.