TLW - Would you want to be a Witcher? Maybe spoilers for the next two books/tv show?

[Michele]

Okay, I'm just going to say, it's been a while since I read the books (the first two collections and the first novel) and I watched some of the TV show so I hopefully won't be spoiling anything with this thread, but they're all mixed together in my head.

But just in case I'm going to say now there may be a few spoilerish things for other books than the first one. Stop now if that worries you, but I'm mostly asking about the flashbacks to Geralt's training days and the process of becoming a Witcher which I don't think spoils anything.

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What did you think of the way new Witcher boys are recruited? Are the Witchers justified? And what do you think of their organization/religious order?

It's a very standard fairy tale idea - that you promise the first thing you find when you get home, or the first thing you see, etc. I'm guessing it doesn't usually work out to be a child, but when it does...new Witcher.

Do you think it's worth it? Would you make such a promise if your life was at stake? And when they come to claim your son, would you fight them?

Of course, it's the mothers who don't even know about it that I feel the most sorry for - "What do you mean you promised our son to some stranger and now he's going to become an outcast mutant monster killer?"

And then there's the Witchers themselves, who seem to be a sort of order of warrior priests with all their hidden training and magic and the "making" of a Witcher and the lore. They're outsiders, they get no glory, only fear and disgust, and not a lot of money generally. It's the early indoctrination and then the torturous changing process - if they make it they really don't have any choices left besides outlawry.

But they are pretty badass.

Personally, I'd want to be a magic user in this world.

[Daryl]

If I was guaranteed to pass the trials that you must go through to mutate into a witcher, then maybe :)

[Darren]

No way. I love being a dad.

[Ryne]

It's tough to say. In modern times probably not, but the world of the Witcher is just as terrible as Westeros when it comes to surviving. So the chance to survive the Trial is possibly just as challenging as surviving monsters and wars that constantly terrorize the countryside. It stands to reason that the life of a Witcher is more fortuitous than the life of an average peasant.

[Iain]

I am not sure there are any interesting stories that I would want to live in :-(

Chinese curse and all that.