The Tower of the Swallow

This article is about the fourth volume in the saga. For the location in the saga, see Tor Zireael. For the sword, see Tor Zireael (sword).

The Tower of the Swallow

Publication information
Original	Wieża Jaskółki. SuperNOWA, 1997
Author	Andrzej Sapkowski
Translated by	David French
Type	Novel
Published	Gollancz, May 19, 2016 (UK) Orbit, May 17, 2016 (US)
ISBN	978-1473211568 (UK) 978-0316273718 (US)
Preceded by	Baptism of Fire
Followed by	The Lady of the Lake
Translations	More...

The Tower of the Swallow (Polish: Wieża Jaskółki), written by Andrzej Sapkowski, first published in Poland in 1997, is the sixth book in the Witcher series and the fourth novel in the Witcher saga.

Brief synopsis[ | ]

One day, old Vysogota finds a very badly injured girl in the swamp surrounding his retreat. He saves her life and she tells him her story... the story of Ciri and how she became a cruel killer meeting death at every step. This death - Leo Bonhart.

Meanwhile, Geralt is on his way to find Druids who might know where Ciri is. But someone is determined that the witcher should not find her...

Spoiler warning: Significant plot details follow.

Vysogota, an old philosopher living in the Pereplut swamp, finds an injured Ciri near his retreat and takes her in, caring for her until she is ready to continue her journey. She tells her life story to the old man: how all the Rats were killed by Leo Bonhart, all except for Ciri whom the bounty hunter kidnaps and drags through the countryside until she manages to escape. As she readies herself to leave, she is convinced that both Geralt and Yennefer are dead. Based on this assumption, she leaves Vysogota to find Tor Zireael.

Meanwhile, Geralt and his hansa are making their way from Lyria, southward towards Toussaint in search of Ciri. Along the way, they pick up a new member, Angoulême, and Geralt meets an elf named Avallac'h who tells him about a prophecy connected with Ciri. He needs to find some druids who will reportedly know where Ciri is. Yennefer is in Skellige trying to find Vilgefortz's hiding place, but it is no easy task, and Triss is trying to find Yennefer.

Significant plot details end here.

Translations[ | ]

Note: For reasons unknown, some of the translations have "Swallow" in its plural form in the title while the original, the Polish title is in singular form. Thus, the most correct translation would be "Tower of the Swallow" or "The Swallow's Tower". The mentioned swallow is a representation of a single person so it feels like a rather big error in translation. The error itself might be related to Polish language complexity; the word "Jaskółki" in itself is in a plural form, however in a phrase "Wieża Jaskółki" it is not, here it is in its 2nd (of 7) declination case.

Bulgarian: Вещерът: Кулата на лястовицата, translated by Vasil Velchev (ИнфоДар, 2010)
Czech: Zaklínač VI. - Věž vlaštovky, (Leonardo, Ostrava 1998)
French: La Tour de l'Hirondelle, translated by Caroline Raszka-Dewez (Bragelonne, 2010)
German: Der Schwalbenturm, (dtv, 2010)
Italian: La Torre della Rondine, translated by Raffaella Belletti (Nord, 2015)
Lithuanian: Kregždės bokštas, (Eridanas, 2007)
Russian: Башня ласточки', (АСТ, 1999)
Spanish: La torre de la golondrina, (Alamut, 2011)
Finnish: Pääskytorni, translated by Tapani Kärkkäinen (WSOY, 2015)
Japanese: ウィッチャーIV　ツバメの塔, translated by Reiko Kawano (川野靖子) (Hayakawa Publishing) (2019/1/10)