The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a masterpiece RPG. It’s offers a riveting dark fantasy storyline and interesting side quests in abundance. Saying this, it’s also got it’s fair share of sad tales too.
Expect betrayal, tragic marriages, infidelity and murder galore.
Read on for the most heartbreaking moments in the game but please be aware, there are Witcher 3 spoilers ahead.
Sad tales in the Witcher 3
Gretka and the Trail of Treats in The King of the Wolves
You are introduced to Gretka in Ciri’s first flashback in The King of the Wolves quest.
You will quickly realise that poor Gretka has been abandoned. Her father having led her to the trail of treats, a route to the cruel child-eating Crones of Crookshank Bog.
While on the harrowing trial, Gretka gets distracted by a butterfly who leads her away from it. She is later found by Ciri who saves her from nearby wolves.
Thankfully, Ciri’s temporary ward is led to safety and is later taken in by The Bloody Baron permanently.
- Main quest
The Bloody Baron and his wife in Family Matters
This entire Bloody Baron storyline is littered with moments of sadness. During Geralt’s Family Matters quest you’ll be asked to locate the Baron’s wife, Anna and their daughter, Tamara. It’s certainly an emotional rollercoaster.
You discover that Anna has forced a magical miscarriage and the improper burial of the baby results in a Botchling.
If you decide to lay the Botchling to rest under the family threshold, the Baron will somewhat redeem his actions. She will transform into a Lubberkin once named, assist you on the quest and her spirit will be allowed to peacefully rest.
As you progress in the game, you will eventually find Anna. Depending on your choices, her fate and the Baron’s is sealed.
If she dies, the Baron will hang himself. If she lives, the Baron will seek to cure her mind far away.
- Main quest
The end of true love in Wild at Heart
In Wild at Heart, you are asked to locate Hanna. Her husband Niellen, a hunter from Blackbough, and her sister, Margrit, are seemingly baffled by her whereabouts and fear the worst.
Although this may initially appear as an ordinary secondary mission, it’s a sad tale with numerous endings.
After a short investigation, you’ll conclude that Hanna was killed by a pack of wolves in the nearby woods. Weirdly, Margrit shows up and begs you to lie to Niellen about her sister in order to ease his sadness.
However, if your moral suspicion is raised, you can investigate further and you’ll be offered the full story.
Ignoring Margrit’s pleas, you can find Hanna’s corpse which has been ravaged by a Werewolf. Eventually, you’ll be led to a Hunter’s shack, which houses the werewolf’s lair beneath.
Meditate and it will appear, alongside three wolves. As the battle nears its end, Margrit will rush in and exclaim the werewolf is Niellen.
It becomes apparent that Margrit was jealous of her sister, hoping to show Hanna his true nature in the woods. However, this backfired, leading to Neillen killing his wife. Margrit had hoped Neillen would never find out and eventually fall for her instead.
You can choose to save Margrit or allow Niellen to take revenge on her. Either way, Neillen will die.
- Secondary quest
Annabelle’s tale of woe in Towerful of Mice
Annabelle was the daughter of the former Lord of Velen. After a Nilfgaardian invasion, her family moved to Fyke Isle under the protection of Mage Alexander, while the peasants around them starved.
An uprising occurs and a village mob approaches to storm the tower. On the advice of Alexander, Anna drinks a sleeping potion to feign her death and escape being raped and brutalised.
On waking, she is paralysed and is slowly eaten alive by rats. Her lover Graham, part of the mob, watches on in horror. On realising she is dead, he blames himself for not being able to fight the others and save Annabelle’s life.
Geralt speaks with Annabelle’s spirit within Fyke Isle Tower. She asks that he seek out her former lover. Geralt must bring her remains to Graham to bury, allowing her to finally rest.
If you choose to deny Annabelle’s request, she will transform into a Plague Maiden. However, she won’t die and will continue to respawn. On advice from sorceress Kiera, you will seek out Graham.
Out of the two options, one is far less gruesome. If you deny Annabelle and bring Graham to Fyke Isle, he will prove his love for her and they will rekindle, On sharing a kiss, he will pass away and reunite with her.
However, if you bring the bones to Graham in the nearby village, he will agree to bury them with harrowing consequences. Anne will transform into a Plague Maiden and murder him, his screams echoing from his shack after you depart. Additionally, this will cause an outbreak of disease that ravishes the village.
- Main quest
The sordid mind of Whoreson Jr. in Get Junior
Geralt will have to hunt down crime boss Whoreson Jr. in the Get Junior quest. This is in order to locate his friend, Dandelion, and to get further information regarding Ciri’s whereabouts.
On battling Whoreson Jr.’s guards and entering his hiding place, you’ll make your way upstairs. Here you will be greeted by many horrific sights with mutilated women surrounding you.
You can learn more of his deeds and choose to kill or spare the sadistic Whoreson Jr.
- Main quest
Skjall’s end in The Calm Before the Storm
Skjall is a Skellige warrior who helps an injured Ciri in The Calm Before the Storm quest. He takes Ciri to his village, Lofoten, and nurses her back to health.
During this short time, he becomes her love interest. As Ciri readies herself to leave the village to continue her quest, the Wild Hunt attacks.
Skjall assists Ciri to the detriment of his village, wanting to ensure her safety. For his actions, he is cast out as a coward and tries to redeem himself via an impossible task. One, that leads to his demise.
Some time later, Yen reanimates his corpse to learn more of Ciri’s whereabouts.
Eventually, alongside Ciri, you may locate Skjall’s body and honour him at his final resting place.
- Main quest
Finding Ciri in the Isle of Mists
After a long time searching, you’ll eventually find a motionless Ciri in the Isle of Mists quest. Understandably, presuming her dead, Geralt grips her tightly in grief.
Thankfully, this emotional rollercoaster is short lived and she reanimates quickly, embracing her adopted father.
- Main quest
Lambert’s backstory in The Final Trial
Lambert’s a bit of an ass. Okay, a real ass. However, in The Final Trial quest, you’re caught off-guard by his explanation as to why.
It’s a combination of an abusive childhood and being forced to become a Witcher. This backstory snippet makes his ongoing angst a little more understandable.
Vesemir’s demise in Battle of Kaer Morhen
Vesemir’s death during the Battle of Kaer Morhen quest is a harrowing watch.
Cruelly defeated by Wild Hunt Commander Imlerith while protecting Ciri, her emotional response, piercing screams and loss of control due to his death is truly shocking.
- Main quest
Olgierd and Iris’s relationship in Hearts of Stone
In the Hearts and Stone DLC expansion, Olgierd Von Everic will give you the seemingly impossible task to reclaim a rose from his former wife, Iris.
As you progress, you will discover Iris is long dead. Olgierd tried to regain his former nobility and fortune in order to marry Iris. Eventually, this desperation left their once loving and hopeful relationship in tatters.
On making a wish with the unholy Master Mirror, Olgierd is cursed. He becomes more irrational and loses his love for Iris, a consequence of his pact.
Olgierd murders Iris’s father after he announces his daughter’s wish to divorce him. Iris is completely isolated and left broken by his betrayal.
Eventually, Olgeird leaves and Iris succumbs to her loneliness, her spirit trapped in perpetual torment in the Painted World.
Entering it, Geralt must relive the couples tragic backstory and the extent of Iris’s pain in a hope to recover the rose. If he doesn’t, she is left in purgatory. If he does, Iris is freed. But it’s bittersweet.
- Main quest
Daphne’s cruel transformation in A Knight’s Tales
Jacob, a lumberjack, prompts Geralt to investigate a story of legend from the book Tales and Fables in the A Knight’s Tales quest.
Jacob says a young woman has been transformed into a bleeding tree, awaiting her lover who never returned. Daphne, the cursed woman, now weeps for him.
As you progress, you discover Daphne may have been mutilated by the jealous Witch of Lynx Crag.
Sir Gareth had sought out the witch due to troubles nearby. However, she enticed Daphne’s lover and killed him for trying to return to her. Daphne’s longing leads to her horrific transformation.
On meeting the witch, you can plead, say you can handle the situation on your own or threaten her.
If you plead or handle it alone, you will need Sir Gareth’s bone to complete the ritual. With the bone, Daphne will emerge as a ghost, asking whether her lover remained faithful. Without it, she will emerge as a Wraith and you’ll have to fight her.
If you threaten, you’ll have to fight the witch and her panther. Jacob will die, mauled by his dog who becomes possessed by the spirit.
- Secondary quest
Is there any happiness in the Witcher 3?
Okay, so I’ve painted a pretty depressing picture I’ll admit. Saying this, the game is complex and expertly written. It offers plenty of humour, action and redemption elsewhere.
So, if you love story and action driven RPG games that evoke every possible emotion, be sure to get a copy of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt!
What was your favourite quest?
Stephanie xox
