PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Unicorns play an important role throughout The Witcher storyworld: A unicorn serves as Ciri‘s guide between worlds. Yennefer and Geralt are also connected to unicorns: They like to have sex on a stuffed unicorn’s back. This paper will focus on religious symbolism and medieval unicorn discourses involved in The Witcher storyworld.1 Ciri’s connection to the unicorns and especially her virginity in relation to mariology will be adressed as well. Further biblical symbolism will be discussed in the Falka-desert episode in Time of Contempt2. Another important unicorn episode occurs at the end of The Lady of the Lake3 when Yennefer and Geralt, with Ciri’s help, transition to another world. The paper will explore the abundant unicorn symbolism in the books and compare it to unicorn scenes in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt4 and ultimately answer the question why Geralt and Yennefer have sex on a stuffed unicorn.

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Dieser Aufsatz untersucht religiöse Symbolik und Wissen über Einhörner im Mittelalter und ihre Rezeption in der Witcher Storyworld, insbesondere Ciris Verbindung zur den Einhörnern, Maria und ihre Jungfräulichkeit. Die Rezeption mittelalterlicher Diskurse in den Werken Andrzej Sapkowskis ist allgegenwärtig. Die Analyse vergleicht Einhornmotive im Spiel ,,The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” und in den Witcher-Büchern.