Golem

Golem
Περιγραφή
Occurrence	A golem is a creature made of stone or wood, brought to life by a mage and animated with the use of magic
Immunity	Its tough body is immune to sword blows and most effects
Susceptibility	A golem can be stopped by its maker; usually the giant is set in motion by a lightning bolt, so a major electric shock might incapacitate or even annihilate it
Tactics	A golem uses its superhuman strength to knock down, stun and crush opponents
Alchemy	Golem's obsidian heart

Στο παιχνίδι The Witcher

Frustrating jobs happen in every profession. Golem contracts are just such a job for witchers, as they involve slashing through solid rock animated by μαγεία. Luckily, what is brought to life by a lightning bolt can very well be destroyed by one. This is something we all truly wish the golem, from the very bottom of our hearts.

In the game, Γκέραλτ finds an old golem cemetery in the swamp with four or five of the beasts "frozen" in place. As it happens, he must re-animate and then kill one of them to complete the main quest in Chapter II.

καταχώρηση στο ημερολόγιο

"Once an absent-minded mage created a golem, animated it by casting Alzur's Thunder, and ordered his new servant to fetch water, before burying himself in his scholarly books. The golem kept carrying water day and night, without pause, and ultimately flooded not only the mage's house, but the whole city. As you can see, my young students of the Art, improper use of tools and a lack of elementary training may cause a tragedy.

— Anabelle Radfind, Lectures on Security and Hygiene in Magic"

Location

• Golem burial ground

Πηγή

• Animating the Inanimate
• Καλκσταιν
• Physiologus

Notes

• This monster is encountered during The Sentry quest. Tips for beating it are found there.
• The in-game journal entry could be a reference to the story The Sorcerer's Apprentice; Disney's version with Mickey Mouse and Yensid (as part of Fantasia), is likely the best known retelling of the story.
• You can either do your damned best to defeat the Golem by using Signs (Aard is useless, it does no harm to Golem, Igni is better, despite the fact that its fire against stone) and swords (Ατσαλένια is twice as effective as Ασημένια) and Φίλτρα, or you can try to dodge the Golem's blows, touch each one of the three pylons so that they light up and a lightning strikes the beast. Third time the lightning strikes, the Golem shatters.
• The Tower mage's book refers to the research the mage Alzur had made towards the construction of a Golem, specifically the importance that the Thunder and Shield spells have in animating inanimate matter.
• Καλκσταιν's research (and resulting treatise) on alchemical methods of creating a Golem fell short of an actual successful theory; the treatise mentions the solution could possibly lie in performing "reverse transmutation", but the alchemist admitted that since no-one knew how to perform this, the problem of animating the inanimate remained unsolved.

Monsterbook

Developer CD Projekt's characterization of the golem taken from the monsterbook, which was enclosed with the Collectors Edition of the computer game The Witcher for Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia:

The golem is often portrayed as a clumsy, faceless figure made of clay or as a perfect effigy of a man. Neither of these ideas was suitable to the world of The Witcher. Ultimately, our golem became a piece of roughly hewn rock animated by a magical obsidian heart placed inside the beast's chest by its maker. The mage who created it was no sculptor; he cared little for aesthetics and focused on functionality. This creature was meant to work and defend its master's property. And the golem performs these tasks (especially the latter) perfectly, with ruthless efficiency.

The hero encounters the golem in the swamp forest, near the Golem Burial Ground. The creatures stands still, frozen in mid-step, having expended all the power which animated it. Γκέραλτ's task is to bring the creature to life, which he does by summoning a storm with the help of friendly druids. We obviously drew the concept of a thunderbolt giving life to inanimate matter from the story of Doctor Frankenstein's monster. Having Γκέραλτ yell "It's alive!" was too tempting to pass up. The golem is thus inspired both by the legend of a rabbi from Prague who created an artificial human being and by Mary Shelley's novel. This combination fits our world of grim and gritty fantasy.

"The sorceress gazed at him and smiled. Only her lips moved. 'On that issue,' she said, 'leave judgement to us humans. You, witcher, are not meant to judge. You are meant to work.' 'Like a programmed, will-less golem?' 'Your comparison, not mine.' Γιενέφερ replied coldly. 'But yes, accurate' " — Andrzej Sapkowski, Τα Όρια των Πιθανοτήτων

Στο παιχνίδι για υπολογιστή The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

There are three types of golem in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings referred to in the journal as Earth elemental and Fire elemental. The third is a sentient Talking Golem in Dearhenna's laboratory beneath Loc Muinne.

Videos

Earth elemental	Fire elemental

Gallery

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  Journal image from The Witcher

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  The earth-toned golem, placed in the swamp, resembles an unfinished sculpture

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  Earth elemental in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

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  Fire elemental in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings