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Today I’m going to explain to you the criminally overlooked Radovid’s chess monologue. That is not a comical crazy nonsense. That’s absolutely gorgeous speech about devotion, betrayal and *lub-dub, lub-dub*!
"Chekmate. They say that's the game of kings. That chess teaches one to think strategically. What a load of rubbish! Both sides have identical pieces, the rules stay invariably the same. How does this mirror real life?"
Radovid, despite his young age, is a rather experienced ruler. He had to solve this most difficult puzzle called “politics” more than once. Politics is not chess, and here no one plays by the rules. Therefore, Radovid had very quickly accustomed himself to cold calculation, flexibility of mind and a certain amount of cynicism.
"Witcher, do you know why I play chess?"
Whatever the answer, Radovid ends the introductory part of the monologue and proceeds to the main one.
"I play chess to reveal the game's secret. Blood thumps inside this chessmen. You need only listen - and you will hear. Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub...A heart pumping with life. I take a pawn - and hear flesh being rent. I win a piece - and hear screams from the depths of its bowels. I want to break the chessmen open, squeeze the truth from them. Do you see what I mean?".
This whole piece is one continuous metaphor. Let's look at it in more detail.
"Blood thumps inside this chessmen. You need only listen - and you will hear. Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub..."
This is the most memorable moment, although Radovid only poetically compares the figures with people, and “lub-dub” is nothing more than an imitation of a heartbeat; a symbol of how noisy life is in a chess piece, if instead of it we imagine a living person, but on the political "board" of kings.
"A heart pumping with life. I take a pawn - and hear flesh being rent. I win a piece - and hear screams from the depths of its bowels".
Through chess images, Radovid paints a picture of real political life with numerous deaths and sacrifices in the name of a certain goal. Dead flesh, death screams - this is what remains of the "pawns" that kings sweep away from their political board with a wave of their hands.
"I play chess to reveal the game's secret. Do you see what I mean?"
What secret is he talking about? What is the "truth" that Radovid set out to squeeze out of chess? Perhaps these are the most difficult questions of the chess monologue. In order to fully understand them, you need to answer the king “No, I don't” and listen to Radovid’s further explanation.
"You do not beacause you are not a king. Pawns see only the comrades at their sides and the foes across the field. The king has the differen view of the chessboard. His greatest foes surrounds him. His own chessmen might trap him. And that is check...and death. You see, witcher: сhess is a art of sacrificing your own pieces. Now do you see?"
This is the key point of the monologue. Here is a real possibility in chess, when the king gets a checkmate only because he is blocked by his own pieces, and an analogy with royal power, when lieges betray their monarch. This is a clear allusion to a conspiracy against the king of Redania, arranged by the Temerians and Dijkstra (which is typical, none of the king's inner circle or from other Redanians, with the exception of a traitor soldier, is involved in the conspiracy. This makes one seriously doubt the veracity of Dijkstra's speeches and the journal entry that, they say, everyone would be happy about the death of the White Eagle).
The king is afraid of betrayal, because recently several rulers of the North have fallen victims of evil intentions: Demavend III, Foltest, and even earlier - his own father, Vizimir II, who was killed by Philippa Eilhart. Radovid is very afraid of repeating his fate. The situation is doubly aggravated by the war with Nilfgaard and the beginning of the Witch Hunt. The king is always on the alert, because he knows for sure: a lot of spiteful critics have divorced around, who in the most decisive way decided to throw him off the throne.
Thus, the “truth” that Radovid wants to squeeze out is the desire to obtain convincing evidence of the loyalty of his pawns, close associates and subjects (Geralt, Roche, etc.). Not without reason follows the explanation of the message about the king, locked in a trap by his own pawns.
"His greatest foes surrounds him. His own chessmen might trap him. And that is check...and death"
He is absolutely right. Vernon Roche and Geralt are exactly those "pawns" that can lure the king into a deadly trap.
Another aspect of this monologue is reasonable sacrifices for the common good. In chess, one must be able to sacrifice one's pieces, as well as on the field of big politics - one's subjects (for example, Whoreson Junior). In the context of the infidelity of the lieges to their king, Radovid probably also takes into account the need to sacrifice unreliable pawns in time so that they do not harm the monarch. No wonder he orders to kill Geralt on the bridge of St. Gregory, because he suspects him of treason and barrier of all kinds. This is a fair assumption, given that on behalf of the witcher, the player can interfere with the plans of the king more than once.
"You see, witcher: сhess is a art of sacrificing your own pieces"
It turns out that, on the one hand, chess doesn't mirror the real life (after all, no one plays by the rules in politics!), and on the other hand, how many figurative references can be found in chess to the real life of kings (and not only kings! ). Here is such a duality and depth. Perhaps, this is precisely the “secret” of chess for Radovid. Speaking more globally, chess in an incomprehensible way combines many different motives: ethics, metaphysics, music, mathematics, philosophy, and even love. The game is full of a bottomless amount of hidden meanings, and Radovid, as a talented chess player, understands and feels this very well.
And if we go back a little and answer the king's question "Yes, I do"?
Radovid: "…I want to break the chessmen open, squeeze the truth from them. Do you see what I mean?"
Geralt: "Yes, Sire, believe I do".
Radovid will react quite sharply to this:
"You know shit. You're merely humoring me! I was not speaking literally".
These words of Radovid destroy any ridiculous assumption that the king, they say, in a fit of madness treats chess as if it were alive. And the king clearly does not tolerate any sycophancy. Perhaps it is for this reason that His Majesty will not give such a detailed explanation and will limit himself to only one phrase:
"First hidden truth: a monarch is always surrounded by fools. Understand?"
Around the monarch there are always a lot of sycophants who naively think that they are smarter and more cunning than their ruler and can easily deceive him. Radovid was surrounded by the ambitious sorceress Philippa Eilhart, who wanted to rule over Redania through obedient “pocket king”, and arrogant, blooming nobles, who did not respect the young heir.
At the end of the scene, Roche gives an extremely strange assessment of the king's speech:
"Radovid's sinking ever deeper into madness, as I see it".
Also, an equally strange entry appears in the journal on behalf of Dandelion, where, among other things, it is indicated that
"Geralt's meeting with Radovid confirmed the rumors circling around the king's mental state. The Redanian king was a dangerous madman trapped in his own world of disturbing visions".
It is completely incomprehensible, on the basis of what Radovid's phrases we should have the impression that His Majesty is insane. If you listen to the king carefully, it is quite obvious that he says the right and logical things, in fact, describing his royal life, and the Eagle uses very beautiful images for this.
The words about the "mad king" looks like a deliberate denigration of Radovid. "Madness" is an inappropriate word to describe the state of mind of His Majesty, his pain and his anguish. But, of course, by the events of The Witcher 3, the king is on the verge of breaking, and a real abyss has opened up inside him. However, this is not about chess at all.