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The Witcher artwork

The Witcher Books and Games in Order

The books behind Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri, and where they fit.

Andrzej Sapkowski, a Polish writer, began writing about Geralt of Rivia in the 1980s: first short stories, collected in two books, then a five-novel saga about Geralt, a mutated monster hunter, the sorceress Yennefer and Ciri, the princess fate ties to him. Two prequel novels came much later.

CD Projekt Red's games are sequels to the books, not adaptations. They start a few years after the saga ends and use its characters, places and history freely, and Wild Hunt in particular builds on the last two novels. The Dark Horse comics listed here add side stories in the games' style, mostly following on from the third game and its expansions.

The Last Wish is the place to start however you came in. If you haven't played yet, read through The Lady of the Lake before the first game, because the games give away how the saga ends. If you've already played Wild Hunt, read the books anyway: much of what the game assumes is explained there.

Best experience

The games are sequels to Sapkowski's books, and from the first one on they give away how the saga ends, so this order puts the two story collections and the five novels before the first game. If you've already played Wild Hunt, that's no reason to skip them: start with The Last Wish and you'll recognize half the cast. After the saga come the three games, with the optional comics and the lore book placed right after what they build on. Thronebreaker, a side story set during the saga's war, follows the trilogy in release order. The two late prequels, Season of Storms and Crossroads of Ravens, close it out, because both read best once you know the older Geralt.

  1. 1
    Cover of The Last Wish

    The Last Wish2007

    Short storiesEssential

    Geralt of Rivia is laid up at the temple of Melitele in Ellander, healing from a wound, and between his conversations with the priestess Nenneke the stories show the jobs that brought him there. He lifts a curse on King Foltest's daughter, gets caught between a sorcerer and a vengeful woman in Blaviken, and turns up at a royal betrothal feast in Cintra where a stranger's claim upsets everything.

    What this adds

    If Witcher 3 was your way in, this is where the people you met there come from. You get the job that earned Geralt the name Butcher of Blaviken, his first meeting with Yennefer, and the Law of Surprise bargain that ties him to Ciri. It's a set of short stories rather than a novel, so it's easy to read a chapter between quests. Start here even if you don't plan to read the rest.

  2. 2
    Cover of Sword of Destiny

    Sword of Destiny2015

    Short storiesEssential

    More stories from Geralt's years on the road, with Yennefer now in his life and not making it easy. He joins a dragon hunt in the mountains, chases a shapeshifter through the streets of Novigrad with Dandelion, and, deep in the dryads' forest of Brokilon, runs into a runaway girl from Cintra who refuses to do as she's told.

    What this adds

    This is where Ciri arrives. Her first meeting with Geralt in Brokilon is the bond Wild Hunt runs on, and the last two stories set up everything the novels do with it. You also meet Dudu Biberveldt, the halfling doppler who turns up again in Novigrad in the third game. Several stories are about Geralt and Yennefer failing to make things work, which says a lot about why the games treat them the way they do. Read it right after The Last Wish.

  3. 3
    Cover of Blood of Elves

    Blood of Elves2008

    NovelEssential

    War with Nilfgaard has burned Cintra, and Ciri, its lost princess, is hidden at Kaer Morhen with the last witchers of the Wolf School. Geralt, Vesemir, Eskel, Lambert and Coën try to train her, Triss Merigold comes to help, and the kings of the North meet in secret to decide what to do about Nilfgaard and about the girl everyone seems to be looking for.

    What this adds

    If you've played Wild Hunt, Kaer Morhen will feel like home. This is where Ciri runs the Killer, the witchers' training course, under Vesemir's eye, and where Triss becomes something like an older sister to her. Later Yennefer takes over her schooling. The game's flashbacks of Ciri as a girl come almost straight from these chapters. It's the first of five novels and ends on a setup rather than a climax, so plan to keep going.

  4. 4
    Cover of The Time of Contempt

    The Time of Contempt2013

    NovelRecommended

    Ciri goes with Yennefer to Gors Velen to begin her studies at Aretuza, the sorceresses' school, while Geralt tries to work out who has been hunting her and Dandelion carries messages he'd rather not. Everything comes together on the island of Thanedd, where the mages of the North gather for a conclave just as the truce with Nilfgaard starts to fall apart.

    What this adds

    Most of the North's grudges in the games start here. Philippa Eilhart shows what she's capable of, Vilgefortz becomes a real presence, and the mages split into camps that Witcher 2 is still dealing with. The middle is heavy on politics, with long letters and council talk, but the night on Thanedd is one of the best stretches in the saga. Read it if you want to know why the games' kings and sorceresses trust nobody.

  5. 5
    Cover of Baptism of Fire

    Baptism of Fire2014

    NovelRecommended

    Hurt and furious, Geralt leaves Brokilon to find Ciri, and a company forms around him on the road south: Dandelion, the archer Milva, a Nilfgaardian knight named Cahir he'd rather not trust, the dwarf Zoltan Chivay, and an oddly well-mannered barber-surgeon called Regis. Ciri, meanwhile, rides with a gang of young outlaws, and a group of sorceresses meets in secret.

    What this adds

    This is the book to read before Blood and Wine. Regis joins Geralt here, and the friendship the expansion takes for granted is built on this road trip. Zoltan Chivay, whom you meet in the first and third games, gets his best material too. It's the warmest book in the saga, with less politics and more arguing around the campfire. The Lodge of Sorceresses also forms here, and that's the group Witcher 2 drops you in the middle of.

  6. 6
    Cover of The Tower of Swallows

    The Tower of Swallows2016

    NovelRecommended

    Ciri lies badly hurt in a hut in the marshes, telling her story to an old hermit named Vysogota, and the book moves between her account and the present. Geralt's company keeps pushing south through a country at war, picking up enemies as it goes, while Yennefer heads off on a search of her own that takes her to Skellige.

    What this adds

    The darkest of the five novels, and the one that shapes the Ciri you play in Wild Hunt. What she goes through here explains the hardness and the guilt she carries in the game. Yennefer's chapters spend time with the an Craites, Skellige's ruling family, whose children you meet in the third game. The timeline jumps around and some readers find it slow going, but the Ciri chapters are worth it.

  7. 7
    Cover of The Lady of the Lake

    The Lady of the Lake2017

    NovelRecommended

    The last book of the saga opens in another world entirely, where a young knight named Galahad finds Ciri at a lake and asks to hear her story. From there it moves between her account, Geralt's company waiting out the winter far from the fighting, and the war in the North heading toward its final battles.

    What this adds

    Wild Hunt is built on this book. Avallac'h, Eredin, the Aen Elle and their world all appear here, Ciri's power over time and space comes into focus, and the game assumes you know how the saga ended. You also see Geralt's earlier stay in Toussaint, which Blood and Wine remembers. It's long, it jumps around in time, and it only works after the four books before it, but it pays off more in the third game than anything else Sapkowski wrote.

  8. 8
    Cover of The Witcher

    The Witcher2007

    Game

    Geralt is found half-dead near Kaer Morhen with no memory of who he is or how he got there. When a gang of mages and bandits raids the keep and steals the witchers' mutagens, he sets off after them, ending up in Vizima, the capital of Temeria, in the middle of a plague and a vicious fight between the Order of the Flaming Rose and the Scoia'tael rebels.

  9. 9
    Cover of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

    The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings2011

    Game

    Geralt is serving as King Foltest's bodyguard during the siege of a rebel castle when the king is murdered and Geralt is blamed for it. To clear his name he goes after the real killer, a witcher turned assassin, starting in the river town of Flotsam and heading into Aedirn, with Iorveth's Scoia'tael, Vernon Roche's special forces and a circle of sorceresses all playing their own game.

  10. 10
    Cover of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

    The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt2015

    Game

    Geralt finds Yennefer again, and she brings news: Ciri, the girl he raised as a daughter, has been seen on the Continent, and the Wild Hunt is on her trail. While Nilfgaard's armies push into the North, he follows her tracks through war-ravaged Velen, the free city of Novigrad and the Skellige Isles, a long open-world game packed with side quests and contracts.

  11. 11
    Cover of The World of the Witcher

    The World of the Witcher2015

    Lore bookOptional

    A large illustrated hardcover told in character: Dandelion and other people Geralt knows take turns describing the Continent's kingdoms, the monsters that live there and the weapons used to deal with them. It's built from the games' own art, so places and creatures look the way you remember them.

    What this adds

    It's a guide to the world the games show you, from the kingdoms of the North and Nilfgaard to the creatures in your bestiary, told by voices you already know instead of a dry encyclopedia. There's no new story, so it's for browsing between quests rather than reading straight through. It came out alongside Wild Hunt and fits that game best. If you just want more plot, skip it.

  12. 12
    Cover of The Witcher: Curse of Crows

    The Witcher: Curse of Crows2017

    ComicOptional

    Geralt and Ciri are working together as witchers, tracking a striga through the countryside. An early fight leaves Ciri hurt, Yennefer gets involved, and the three of them are pulled into an old story of revenge where crows keep turning up and nobody is quite what they seem.

    What this adds

    It picks up Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer after Wild Hunt as something like a family, and that's the main reason to read it, since the game ends before you see much of that. Two of CD Projekt Red's writers helped plot it, so the characters sound like themselves, even if the dialogue sometimes explains too much. Finish Wild Hunt first. It's short and easy to skip if comics aren't your thing.

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    Cover of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Hearts of Stone

    The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Hearts of Stone2015

    Game

    Once Geralt is around level 30

    A contract in the sewers under Oxenfurt goes wrong, and Geralt is rescued by a soft-spoken stranger he's met before, at a price. To pay it, he has to grant three wishes for Olgierd von Everec, a nobleman who leads a gang of bandits and can't seem to die. It's a self-contained story of about ten hours, set around Oxenfurt and the countryside of Redania.

  14. 14
    Cover of The Witcher: Of Flesh and Flame

    The Witcher: Of Flesh and Flame2019

    ComicOptional

    A worried father hires Geralt to find out what keeps visiting his daughter's tower at night. The culprit turns out to be Dandelion, and a magic trunk he's brought along carries the two of them off to Ofier, a far-off kingdom where Geralt is the last person who should be showing his face.

    What this adds

    If you played Hearts of Stone, you'll remember the job in the Oxenfurt sewers that starts it. This comic is about what that job cost Geralt. Aleksandra Motyka wrote for Wild Hunt, and the tone matches the expansion closely. Ofier, which the games never visit, finally gets drawn, and Dandelion is the one who lands Geralt in trouble, as usual. Of the Dark Horse books, it's the one that fits the games best. Read it after Hearts of Stone.

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    Cover of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine

    The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine2016

    Game

    Two knights from Toussaint ride north with a request from their duchess, Anna Henrietta: something is killing her knights in gruesome ways, and she wants Geralt to stop it. The job takes him south to Toussaint, a sunny duchy of tournaments, storybook manners and vineyards, and one of those vineyards comes with the contract.

  16. 16
    Cover of The Witcher: Corvo Bianco

    The Witcher: Corvo Bianco2025

    ComicOptional

    Geralt has settled at his vineyard in Toussaint, getting used to good wine and quiet mornings. Then a descendant of the estate's original owner arrives with a claim to Corvo Bianco, and Geralt has to choose between packing up for the road again or taking up his sword on the heir's behalf to keep what's his.

    What this adds

    Blood and Wine hands Geralt a vineyard. This comic asks what a witcher actually does with a quiet life, and whether anyone will let him have one. It's the only Dark Horse book set at Corvo Bianco, and Bartosz Sztybor, who wrote most of the recent volumes, keeps it close to the expansion's mix of comedy and blood. Read it after both Wild Hunt and Blood and Wine, because who's living at the vineyard with him gives away how the main game can end.

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    Cover of Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales

    Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales2018

    Game

    Queen Meve of Lyria and Rivia is the first ruler to face Nilfgaard's armies when they cross into the North again. You lead her and a growing band of loyalists across Lyria, Aedirn and beyond in a story-driven RPG where battles are card duels built on Gwent, and the choices you make along the way change who stays at her side.

  18. 18
    Cover of Season of Storms

    Season of Storms2018

    NovelRecommended

    Most of it takes place between the stories in The Last Wish. In the city of Kerack, Geralt lands in jail and comes out without his swords, and getting them back drags him into a royal succession fight, the sorcerers' research complex at Rissberg and an affair with a sorceress he should have stayed away from. Dandelion is along for much of it, usually making things worse.

    What this adds

    Lighter than the saga and easy to pick up, it's Geralt in his prime doing what he does in the games: taking contracts, getting cheated and losing patience with sorcerers. You get plenty of Dandelion, and Kerack is a corner of the North the games never show. The short epilogue jumps forward past the end of the saga and only lands if you've read The Lady of the Lake, which is why it sits late in the order. A good one to save for after the games.

  19. 19
    Cover of The Witcher: Fox Children

    The Witcher: Fox Children2015

    ComicOptional

    Geralt takes passage on a ship crowded with renegades, smugglers and criminals, and one passenger is hiding something that puts everyone aboard in danger. Something has started following the ship, and its grievance is personal: a vengeful fox mother wants back what was taken from her, and she isn't particular about who pays.

    What this adds

    Paul Tobin turned an episode from Season of Storms into five issues, so this is the only Dark Horse volume here with roots in Sapkowski's own writing. You'll know where it's going if you've read the novel, but seeing it drawn out at length is the appeal. It doesn't touch the games' plots or add anything they rely on. Pick it up after Season of Storms if that part of the novel stuck with you.

  20. 20
    Cover of Crossroads of Ravens

    Crossroads of Ravens2025

    NovelOptional

    Geralt has just left Kaer Morhen and is short on judgment. In his first weeks on the road he kills a deserter to protect a peasant and his daughter and ends up sentenced to hang in Neuhold. An older witcher, Preston Holt, steps in, and the book follows Geralt's first year of contracts with Holt looking over his shoulder.

    What this adds

    Here Geralt is younger than you'll ever see him, long before Blaviken, Yennefer or Ciri. It shows what a witcher's first year after Kaer Morhen looked like, and it says more about the old school's history than any of the other books. It doesn't connect to the games' plots and it's slighter than the saga, mostly one fight after another, so it's optional. Read it last, when you know the older Geralt well enough to enjoy the contrast.

Last reviewed October 10, 2026