Summary
TheWitcherbooks,The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and by extension, Geralt’s whole life is a series of ‘the lesser of two evils’ choices. In the dark and dreary world Geralt lives in, the endings for all stories are just in different shades of grey instead of black (tragic) or white (happy).
And, this is an aspect of the source material that CDProjekt Red, the developers of theWitchergames, got right for the most part. But, out of all the choices Geralt can make inWitcher 3: Wild Hunt, which ones are the closest to just being purely negative? Let’s take a look.
Updated May 31st, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter:Regardless of how much time passes, how many new open-world games come out, and how much technology advances, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will still be one of the best open-world RPGs of all time. This game just has so much content in it, such complex decisions, and so much to do (and that doesn’t even include mods). Across the huge number of different main quests, side quests, and DLC quests, there are a whole of decisions to make. And, a lot of these decisions lead to some pretty hefty consequences. In fact, let’s dive deep and talk about some of the overall worst decisions someone could make in this game.
15Turning In Napp The Arsonist
Twisted Firestarter Side Quest
White Orchard is basicallyThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s’tutorial area'. It’s where a lot of the mechanics of the game are slowly introduced, it’s mostly separated from the rest of the world in regards to the plot, and the storyline hasn’t really ‘kicked off’ yet while Geralt is roaming around this area. And, one of the early side quests players can take on in this town is calledTwisted Firestarter. In it, Willis, a Dwarven blacksmith, is one of the only non-humans in the village, and his forge has recently been burned down. Willis is sure that this fire was intentional and asks Geralt to find out who did it. Geralt does, and it turns out a drunkard named Napp did it while intoxicated.
Geralt has two choices here, either turn Napp in (to the Nilfaardians) or take a bribe from Napp and let him go. The obvious choice would be to turn in the racist arsonist, but choices inTheWitcherare never quite so black and white. If Geralt turns Napp in, he’s basically immediately executed, and Willis is even further alienated from the rest of the village. Plus, despite offering to give him a discount for finding the arsonist, nothing in Willis' shop is any cheaper after picking this option.
However, if players take the bribe, they get more money for the quest overall, Willis still gets a new forge, and the problem doesn’t escalate any further. Plus, the Nilfgaardians don’t get as involved in the affairs of White Orchard, which for the most part is a net gain.
14Bringing The Bones To Graham
A Towerful of Mice Side Quest
It’s funny, two of the worst choices anyone playingThe Witcher 3can make are tied to two quests in one small area.A Towerful of Miceis basically the same questline in which Geralt has to choose what to do with Keira Metz. But, before that, he needs to make the correct choice when it comes to saving or getting rid of Anabelle, the Pesta/Plague Maiden of Fyke Isle.
After listening to her horrifying story and how she died (spoiler alert, it was pretty rough), Geralt needs to decide what to do to actually exorcise her. There are two choices:
Both choices end in death, but if Geralt takes Anabelle’s remains from Fyke Isle, there are a whole lot more innocent deaths. Meanwhile, if Graham comes to her, the two kiss(?) (It’s horrifying), and Anabelle is put to rest alongside Graham. One option leads to the death of one man, while the other also kills Graham then additionally releases a plague maiden upon the surrounding area, leading to much more death overall. So, sadly, Graham needs to die for the greater good.
13Ciri Returning Home For Good
Something Ends, Something Begins Main Quest
Disclaimer:Most of these have quest/story spoilers in them, but this one in particular has some pretty heavy spoilers related to Ciri
Ciri has a couple of different endings for her after the events of theSomething Ends, Something Beginsquestline. One ending has her finally becoming a Witcheress, traveling around and taking jobs with her surrogate father Geralt. Another ending has her tragically pass during her final confrontation against the White Frost with Geralt ending up as an unfeeling mess (even more so) as a result.
The final of three endings have Ciri and Geralt ultimately come to terms with their positions in life, with Ciri returning to become the next Empress of Nilfgaard. While there are some positive implications to this ending, and it’s certainly better than the ending where she dies, Ciri becoming Empressis the ending she would want the least for herself.
All her life, Ciri has just wanted to be free to see the world, experience new things, bond with people, and make a life for herself. She was persecuted, hunted down, used by countless people, and told what she ‘had’ to do all her life. So, to have an ending where she just ‘gives up’ and accepts her destiny is so realistic but also so tragic.
12Letting Keira Metz Go To Radovid
For the Advancement of Learning Side Quest
Keira Metz is a charming and powerful Sorceress who used to belong to the Lodge of Sorceresses. She often toes the line quite well between helping those around her for her own selfish needs and actually being altruistic for the sake of it. And, at the end of the questline for A Towerful of Mice, she demonstrates this by using Geralt’s expertise to exorcise a Plague Maiden so that she can take the formula for the Catriona plague to Radovid V ‘The Stern’ in exchange for her safety.
This is, of course, the same Radovid who spends his free time torturing magic users of any kind and putting their heads on pikes. So, obviously, her half-baked plan isn’t going to work (she ends up dead). Instead, players must convince her to go to Kaer Morhen during theFor the Advancement of Learningquestline. This is by far the best option, as the other two involve Geralt killing her himself, or letting her go to Radovid, only to be brutally executed.
11Choosing, Well…Anything While Dealing With The Spirit in the Tree
The Whispering Hillock Side Quest
The Whispering Hillockquest is one of the earliest ones in the game that forces players to come to terms with the whole ‘lesser of two evils’ thing. Basically, no matter what decision Geralt makes in regard to this spirit trapped in the roots of a tree, there will be irreparable consequences. On one hand, if Geralt frees the spirit and even gives them a new body to dwell in (a horse body, to be exact), the Spirit saves thechildren held hostage by the three Crones in Crookback Bogbut also attacks Downwarren, a village that follows the orders of the Crones simply because they were left with no other real ‘alternative’.
Alternatively, if Geralt kills the Spirit, Downwarren is saved (well…sort of), but the children are kidnapped by the Crones and most likely killed. Either way, the outcome is awful, and this isn’t even taking into account what happens to Anna, the wife of the Bloody Baren who was keeping the children safe in the first place.
10Not Helping Cerys (Or Hjalmar) Ascend To The Throne
King’s Gambit Side Quest
The Witcher 3is a ridiculously huge game, like, seriously big, so much so that it has two different open-world (technically 5, including White Orchard, Kaer Morhen, and Toussaint) maps to explore. Players will spend the first half of their gameexploring the wilds of Velenand Novigrad, while the second half takes place, mostly, in Skellige. On his hunt for Ciri, Geralt ends up in Skellige, and as soon as he gets there, the guy gets dragged into their selection process for their next ruler.
Now, the game doesn’t really make it clear thatthe wholeKing’s Gambitline of tasksis actually a side quest and not a mainline quest, but it is. And, if players choose to ignore Cerys and Hjalmar altogether, Svanrige becomes the next ruler instead, and Skellige undergoes a civil war of sorts. It might not be the worst thing for the country in the long run, but compared to Cerys’ ideals, it’s a lot worse. There’s an argument to be made for siding with Hjalmar being a bad choice, but that’s a bit more up in the air than if Svanrige leads Skellige.
9Refusing To Put The Baby In The Oven
Possession Side Quest
And, speaking of Cerys an Craite, before anything can even go down, Cerys first has to complete a legendary task so that she’s even “worthy” of competing for the throne. It gets a bit convoluted and hard to explain, but, essentially, Geralt and Cerys team up to save Jarl Udalryk from the curse of a creature called a Hym. Hyms latch on to a person’s guilt and feed off it. Luckily, one of the ways to get rid of it involves tricking the monster by having it hop onto a person who ‘thinks’ they committed a grave act and feels immense ‘guilt’ for it, but it turns out the act that caused their guilt didn’t actually happen.
To do this, Cerys kidnaps the Jarl’s kid and tells Geralt to throw it in a hot oven at the end of thePossessionside quest. The obvious and non-sociopathic choice here would obviously be to say no to putting a baby in an oven, but that’s not right. If the player chooses to get rid of the Hym the other way that doesn’t involve a baby in an oven, for example, then Geralt has to trudge through a pretty tedious alternate path for this questline that ends in a boss fight that Udalryk can easily die during if Geralt isn’t extra careful.
8Taking Money For Bringing Ciri To Emhyr
Blood on the Battlefield Main Quest
As anyone whowatched the Netflix seriesprobably knows by now, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, otherwise known as Ciri,is kind of an important character. She’s got the Elder Blood in her, and that’s something both her father Emperor Emhyr, and Eredin, leader of the Wild Hunt, desperately want.
Fans of the books likely know how gross and insidious both Emhyr and Eredin’s reasons are for wanting it, so it’s a good thing for Ciri that she got out of there. But, players can actually bring Ciri back to Emhyr if they so choose, and they’ll be rewarded with quite a bit of money. But, this path in theBlood of the Battlefieldquest basically ruins the relationship between Ciri and Geralt, two of the most likable characters in this setting, so almost no one goes down this route.
7Breaking Yennefer’s Heart
The Last Wish Side Quest
And speaking of awful betrayal, let’s talk about Yennefer of Vengerberg. She is likely the most important person in Geralt’s life, other than Ciri or Triss, and it shows. The guy does anything for Yennefer, well, once he remembers her that is. Those who are familiar with the books (though this isn’t a plot point in the books), Netflix show, or even the previous twoWitchergames know about Yen and Geralt’s love and how it “technically” is the result of a Djinn’s power.
And, what’s extra neat, is that players can take on a sidequest (calledThe Last Wish) where Geralt and Yenhunt down another Djinnto nullify this “Last Wish” and see if their affection is the real deal. Once it’s nullified, Yen asks if there are any feelings for her remaining, and players completely have the option of turning her down at this point and saying no. But, how could anyone possibly do that?
Obviously, there are fans out there who are bigger fans of Triss than Yennefer, but, after learning of Yen’s past with Geralt and Triss’s manipulation, how could anyone choose to break Yennefer’s heart? This choice and the quest as a whole are the most divisive questlines for the fanbase, as many feel that the writing and justifications during this quest border on fanfiction.
6Betraying Roche & Ves To Djikstra
Reason of State Side Quest
This decision may be one of the heaviest in the game, especially since politically it feels like the right call, but interpersonally it feels like pure evil. Basically, Geralt at one point during theReason of Stateseries of quests has to choose between Djikstra (the oddly charming schemer) and Roche (Geralt’s friend and a die-hard Temerian loyalist), two fan-favorite characters.
And, this isn’tjust a simple decision either, Geralt has to choose which one dies. If Geralt was truly neutral, it would make more sense not to intervene between Dijkstra’s and Roche’s conflict, but by the pointin this well-hidden questlinethat this choice appears, Geralt has already assisted in assassinating Radovid, so he’s long past being neutral.
So, most players end up choosing to protect Roche, butneither decision is really “good” by standard definitions. Additionally, this is another decision that feels like it directly contradicts who Djikstra is as a character. In what world did this hyper-intelligent and overly cautious schemer think he could take out a Witcher, Roche, and Ves with just himself and a couple of guards? It quite literally makes 0 sense.
