"I was just assuming that they'll have the right to have an opinion!"
It might be a little too energetic, but I think it works because Geralt is a simple boy and that's a very simple solution to a complex problem.
Mutagens made him an albino. Hard to cast albino black men, I suppose.
He's called the white wolf and is a pale albino. While it's true they could change his character to be different, they figured they would stick to the race of the character on this character and have more liberties with another. This isn't "filling a quota" or just deciding they're going to do an all black cast or Witcher. It's the writers saying they want representation. You don't need to go all in.
The catch here is that the change happened in an alternate universe imprint with a gimmick of radically reinventing familiar characters.
Sure, you don't exactly "drag" her there, but still, you can roleplay a Geralt who cons Ciri into going there because he secretly wants to get paid and, negative or not, that's just an inconceivable heel turn for Geralt to make.
I don't think Sapkowski gave any consideration to skin tones back then, as even the most "exotic" foreigners in his stories were fair-haired maidens.
They could easily cast a random kid for a short scene/flashback and then have her be older later. Why is the assumption that they are going to do a faithful 1:1 adaptation of the short story collections vs using the books (and part of the games) to write their own story with these characters and worlds?
None of the characters in the book are Polish. It isn't changing anything.
Ah yes, dont' change the race of the lead to better reflect society as it is today. Only do it to a minor character. Can't show society as it really is in our leads.
The books are deeply rooted in the Slavic culture and the world is similar to the early Middle Ages in Eastern Europe + magic. That was a known fact from the moment the books were written.
It's fantasy. None of it takes place in Poland. None of the characters are Polish. Poland doesn't have magic and fantasy creatures either. Changing a race is far less of a "change" than all the fantasy elements in the story. Not to mention the author is 100% on board her not being white.
So the argument is the author is secretly racist (and yes, being angry about a character not being white is absolutely an argument based in racism) but doesn't want to be attacked for it? That's conspiracy theory nonsense. He says he is on board so we should take him at his word.
In the books the characters literally don't speak Polish, yes it's inspired by parts of the slavic mythos that existed at the time but wasn't the sole influence of the series, many of the stories were twists on classic fairytales.
As far as we know, the author is on board with diversifying the setting, he hasn't spoken (or been quoted) publicly regarding any specific character changes.
Exactly. The outrage being so damned disproportionate speaks volumes about the true intention behind it.
Yes because where was the outrage when the non-slavic was cast with Cavill?
Yup. People are trying to pretend like it's only about being true to the books/wanting to stick to slav roots.
