If you’ve ever spent a few hours exploring the charred remains of the continent in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you’ve probably asked yourself where it all started. THE WITCHER: Before becoming one of the most recognized characters in gaming as Geralt of Rivia, Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski first created the world and character in a series of short stories entitled ‘The Last Wish. When people say The Witcher 3: The Last Wish — The Perfect Prequel, what they’re really referring to is something fans naturally discover for themselves: If anyone came to love the world of The Witcher through CD Projekt Red’s masterpiece, The Last Wish isn’t just a pleasant companion — it’s possibly the ideal prequel, giving players the emotional and mythological underpinnings that makes everything in the games hit that much harder. 

In this article we detail why The Last Wish is a must-read (no pun intended!) for every Witcher fan, what it brings to the table for your understanding of The Witcher 3, and why it is such a brilliant place to step into Sapkowski’s wider saga. 

What Is The Last Wish?

The Last Wish is a collection of short stories originally published in Poland in 1993, later translated into English in 2007. Rather than being a traditional novel with a single continuous plot, it's structured as a series of interconnected fairy-tale-inspired stories, framed around Geralt recovering from injuries at a temple while reflecting on his past adventures. Each story subverts a classic fairy tale — Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and various Slavic folklore — reimagining them through the lens of a morally grey, monster-hunting world.

It's in these stories that readers first meet Geralt as a fully formed character: witty, world-weary, fiercely principled despite his reputation as a monster for hire, and burdened by the isolation that comes with being a witcher. It's also where we're introduced to two of the most important relationships in the entire Witcher saga — his complicated, magnetic romance with the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg, and his found-family bond with the bard Dandelion (Jaskier in the original Polish and the Netflix series).

Why It Works So Well as a Prequel to The Witcher 3

1. It Introduces the Emotional Core Long Before the Game Does

The Witcher 3 leans heavily on the emotional weight of Geralt's relationships — particularly with Yennefer and his adoptive daughter, Ciri. But the game largely assumes players already understand the history behind these bonds. The Last Wish is where that history begins. The story "The Last Wish" itself (which lends the collection its title) is the very tale of how Geralt and Yennefer's fates become magically intertwined through a genie's wish gone wrong, creating the push-and-pull dynamic that defines their relationship for the rest of the saga.

Playing The Witcher 3 without this context, you can still appreciate Geralt and Yennefer's chemistry, but reading The Last Wish first transforms it. Their bond suddenly carries years of shared history, tension, and near-misses that make every reunion and argument in the game land with far more depth.

2. It Establishes Geralt's Moral Code

One of the things that makes The Witcher 3 so compelling is its refusal to offer easy answers. Nearly every quest forces players into morally ambiguous choices with no clean "good" or "evil" option. This philosophy isn't something CD Projekt Red invented for the games — it's baked into Sapkowski's writing from the very first pages of The Last Wish.

In stories like "The Lesser Evil," Geralt is forced to choose between two terrible outcomes, ultimately landing on the idea that witches don't get to play judge and moralizer — they simply try to do the least harmful thing in an impossible situation. This single story arguably defines the entire ethical framework of the Witcher universe, and understanding it makes the game's morally complex quest lines feel like a natural extension of who Geralt has always been, rather than just clever writing from the game's developers.

3. It Introduces Key Lore and Creatures

The Witcher 3 throws players into a richly built world filled with strikers, djinns, doppelers, and a wide range of monsters drawn from Slavic mythology. Many of these creatures make their first appearance in The Last Wish, giving readers a foundational understanding of the bestiary long before they're hunting these same monsters in the Bestiary menu or tracking them down for contracts in-game.

Beyond monsters, the book also lays early groundwork for the political landscape of the Witcher world — the tension between mages and kings, the uneasy tolerance (and open hostility) toward witches and non-humans, and the constant undercurrent of prejudice that shapes so much of the game's storytelling around elves, dwarves, and other persecuted groups.

4. Dandelion's Introduction Adds Weight to His Role in the Game

In The Witcher 3, Dandelion serves as one of Geralt's few genuinely trustworthy allies, someone who's been by his side through decades of adventures. The Last Wish is where that friendship is first fully established, showing readers exactly how these two mismatched companions — a stoic monster hunter and a flamboyant, cowardly-but-loyal bard — came to rely on each other. Their banter in the game carries the weight of a friendship you've actually seen form on the page, rather than one you're simply told exists.

5. It Doesn't Require Prior Knowledge to Enjoy

Perhaps the best thing about recommending The Last Wish as a prequel is that it was genuinely designed as an entry point into the series by Sapkowski himself. Unlike jumping into a middle installment of a long-running saga, The Last Wish eases readers into the world with self-contained short stories, making it approachable even for someone who has never touched a Witcher game or read a word of the source material before. This makes it an ideal starting point whether you're a longtime fan of The Witcher 3 looking to deepen your understanding, or a newcomer wanting to explore the books before or after finishing the game.

What The Last Wish Doesn't Cover

It's worth noting that The Last Wish is not a direct narrative prequel in the sense of leading chronologically into The Witcher 3's plot. The game is actually based on the events following the final novels in Sapkowski's saga, taking place after the books' ending and following an original story crafted by CD Projekt Red. So while The Last Wish won't explain plot points like the Wild Hunt itself, Ciri's role as the "Lady of Space and Time," or the political fallout from the Northern Wars in granular detail, it absolutely delivers the emotional, thematic, and mythological DNA that the game builds upon.

For players wanting a more direct connection to the game's specific plot threads, later novels like Blood of Elves, The Time of Contempt, and especially Baptism of Fire and The Lady of the Lake dive much deeper into Ciri's story and the political conflicts referenced throughout The Witcher 3. But as a jumping-off point that captures the tone, characters, and philosophy of the series in digestible form, nothing beats starting with The Last Wish.

How to Approach Reading It Alongside the Game

If you're a Witcher 3 fan considering picking up The Last Wish for the first time, there's no wrong way to do it. Some players prefer reading it before diving into the game, allowing the emotional groundwork to enhance their first playthrough. Others prefer finishing the game first and then reading the book as a way of understanding "how it all began," almost like a director's commentary on the characters they've grown attached to. Either approach works — the important thing is recognizing that the book and the game are two halves of a much larger, deeply interconnected world.

Conclusion

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt stands on its own as one of the greatest RPGs ever made, but its emotional depth, morally complex storytelling, and richly realized characters owe an enormous debt to Andrzej Sapkowski's original writing. The Last Wish isn't just a nice-to-have supplement for curious fans — it's the emotional and philosophical blueprint the entire series is built on. It's where Geralt's code of ethics takes shape, where his bond with Yennefer first sparks to life, where Dandelion becomes more than comic relief, and where the world's monsters and moral gray areas are first introduced in vivid, memorable detail.

For anyone who has finished The Witcher 3 and found themselves longing for just a little more time in Geralt's world, or for newcomers wanting the richest possible entry point into the franchise, The Last Wish truly earns its reputation as the perfect prequel. It doesn't just add context to the game — it deepens every relationship, choice, and creature encounter, turning a great gaming experience into an even more meaningful one.