The video games have been even more successful, with more than 50 million copies sold as of May 2020. They have also been adapted into a film ( The Hexer), two television series ( The Hexer and The Witcher), a trilogy of video games ( The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt), and a graphic novel series. They have been translated into 37 languages and sold over 15 million copies worldwide as of December 2019. The books have been described as having a cult following in Poland and Central and Eastern European countries. A standalone prequel novel, Season of Storms, was published in 2013. Known as The Witcher Saga, he wrote one book a year until the fifth and final installment in 1999. Due to reader demand, Sapkowski wrote 14 more stories before starting a series of novels in 1994.
The Witcher began with a titular 1986 short story that Sapkowski entered into a competition held by Fantastyka magazine, marking his debut as an author.
In Sapkowski's works, 'witchers' are beast hunters who develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle wild beasts and monsters. The series revolves around the eponymous 'witcher,' Geralt of Rivia. The Witcher ( Polish: Wiedźmin, pronounced ) is a series of six fantasy novels and 15 short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.
