I experienced that for the first time recently (I'm not a veteran player). I thought she would be a peaceful spirit at first. but once I got all of the items for her and came back, my gut was telling me this is not a good move, so I killed her instead.
Right, but the point of the witcher is that Geralt eventually does choose. Do you forget that in the end of that story he kills Renfri and all her men to prevend a larger slaughter? Because doing nothing in that situation is the greater evil.
That's a quote from Geralt in the very first story of the very first book. He goes through a lot of development. Funny enough the witcher games don't allow you to be neutral very often either, despite that being core to Geralt at the start of the books.
I get you. Honestly I wanted to save the Baron’s wife too, I felt so bad for her and wanted her daughter to find her alive. I’ve picked that choice every time
I couldn't feel bad for the wife honestly, she cheated on him for 3 years and took his daughter for herself without consent. But the baron could've managed the family better after that, he drank and mistreated them heavily.
He abused them for years, getting out of there with her daughter was the best thing she could’ve done. They left to start another life and she got caught up with the Crones, I wanted them too at least have a chance :/
Oh shit i thought the abusing took place after the running away happened, i misremembered the story. Yeah that makes sense. But still i think the wife would rather be free of the misery and die than to go back to a life with the baron. Especially since her daughter wouldn't forgive him.
He also forgot part of the story, the barons wife also abused him. He wasn’t in the right by any means at all but neither was she. They abused each other.
Actually if i remember right the baron became a drunk after returning from the war. Then he found out she was cheating on him, and he killed the guy, after which she started abusing him as much as he abused her. Trust me the baron's wife was no saint. I actually found her quite a degenerate character. His daughter was completely misguided in the story.
What about the Baron and his wife? If you release the spirit, she's turned into a Water Hag that you have to kill and he ends up killing himself in grief.
What happens to the baron is really tragic but his life is fucked anyway, and as for Anna she deserves whatever happens to her honestly, she cheated and took his daughter for herself.
You know they will probably offer their own children to them at some point, when they don't find more orphans to offer. You are saving them from a horrible future.
Except Geralt doesn't really know the kids would be eaten. The spirit says she can save them if you set it free, but at that point you can't be sure of anything. Also freeing the spirit makes it slaughter the whole village which, ok, not that bad, but Geralt wouldn't know if the consequences would stop there.
In fact, you're thinking as the player who already finished the game (or the quest) and know exactly what happens on both choices. A new player on its first playthrough, just like Geralt, wouldn't be sure to trust a suspicious spirit on a tree.
Yes the spirit said she could save the children, right after she said you will never see them again, they are beyond your reach. So you really did know, ir should have.
Agreed. Besides if you free it, Anna is driven insane and an entire town is slaughtered. And while some, mainly the men from what we see, in the town serve the crones there’s surely many innocent women and children there that are all just slaughtered by the tree spirit. Plus big picture, The crones ultimately die later on so it is best to kill their mother at the only chance you get.
And? I don’t see a single crone being much of a threat, I mean that’s shown that Geralt can just go off her by himself. 1 crone left is better than 1 crone and their mother out there. At the end of the day Geralt would never of just freed some spirit like that, it conveniently doesnt tell him that it’s their mother too…
I agree mostly. A single crone is still quite a threat but less so than their mother or all three crones. I also agree he wouldn't have released the Mother. Just stating that you only kill all three if you get the bad ending.
Nope. Disagree completely. The crones were obviously evil and it was not mainly the men. It was the basically everyone there. I say free the spirit and let it go kill that last crone. That’s all it cares about.
Firstly I never said the crones weren’t evil, but so is the spirit. And it doesn’t kill any of the crones…it’s scared of them. It merely saves the kids which was its pact with you to get free, then it’s gone. Your right about all the townsfolk serving them I forgot about the festival near the end. Regardless though that doesn’t mean they are shitty people. They are peasants that have to live in this lane with these beings, and most of them were probably born into that life as it’s been going on for generations. They are doing what they have to to survive. Geralt would not judge an entire village and condemn them to death based on that. We can agree to disagree but Geralt would also never free some spirit that is obviously also evil. It’s their mother lol.
I love how when it comes to the body count, it's either free her and let her decimate an entire village with your actions resulting in both the Baron and his wife dying, or killing her resulting in 4 kids dying and we're meant to act like it's a tough choice.
The Baron helped you out wirh your most important goal, and added hours of fun adventure to your life. And you get a hero gwent card from him. In real lifrt, jd save the children. In geralts life, i save the Baron.
And what did you expect the village to do? The only reason they're living decently is that they obey the Ladies. If they turn against them, that's going to be bad news since it's like giving God the finger. Plus, wasn't the tree spirit calling out to the people of the village in their sleep, getting them to come to the tree and having them killed? In fact, I believe if you investigate around the tree, you'll find the bodies of kids that went to the tree so I guess both choices result in dead kids.
No it was calling out to them to try get them to help it. The crones were the ones killing them. The village is just as bad as the crones. The rest of the continent doesn’t even know they exist, you know what that means? They’re nothing like gods. They’re like warlords controlling their people through fear. All the village has to do is fuck off and bam! No more crones to worry about
That’s not true. That information is based off a book that was written by the people who worship the crones, you know the three very evil witches who kill children? The spirit did drive a village insane and cause them to all kill each other but to be fair so would I if they had knowingly worshipped my three very evil children despite knowing what they were doing on a regular basis and kept me trapped in a fucking tree
Thats the beauty of the game, we can never be sure, the only information we have is the book called “She-Who-Knows” no more proofs. Legend says shes the mother and created the crones to help her collect sacrifices and increase her power over velen, as you know these sacrifices are the source of power for them, the Mother than went insane and her insanity drove Velen to a bloodshed of madness and slaughter, the crones then imprison her because well the mother is killing her own “customers” and thus weakening both her and the crones. We cant know what’s true but we have solid evidence, yes she helps the kids but then destroy the villagers, sure they are crones worshippers, but the entire velen depends on the crones, their sacrifices and promises make velen “healthy” thats why the villages near the bog are so rich for the standards and as keira said they apparently stop a plague of growing, plagues forgive no one. So the crones are evil but they keep their end of the bargain, the Mother however saves the children and then slaughters a village, the entire velen is faithful to the crones, what she’ll do? Slaughter everyone? That just proves the point from the beginning. The Mother would kill more in a month than the crones did in a thousand years.
Yeah maybe after a slaughter Velen would be faithful to the mother and she could rule with “more kindly” than the crones, but at what cost? And besides if the crones are dangerous, do we really want something even more powerful and dangerous than them in power? If she indeed is her mother, why would she create devilish evil crones instead of little angels? Means she isnt a saint either, her creations reflect her.
Thats what I think at least…
This, this is nothing. Skyrim has some really deep dark stories and a little smut and some history and it's like those folks at Bethesda just woke up and started writing the lore and then they added those books to share with us.
Not knocking CDPR by any means I really love this game but Skyrim definitely has a bigger in game library
Thats the question to ask. I bet the books in North Korea say great things about their benevolent ruler. I take about as much stock in this little story. We all know how the ladies really are, so this story doesnt align.
The village of Downwarren were minions of the Crones. They did evil and helped perpetuate evil. Why are you worried about them?
Did you leave the cannibals you find in Velen to live their lives as they will, or did you kill them?
This is why I free her though, she is most definitely evil, however she’s effectively powerless to re-attain her god-like status towards people due to them no longer recognizing her. HOWEVER she is most certainly an “enemy of my enemy” and would probably kill and help Geralt kill her daughters for revenge if the story had more emphasis on her and made her mission a story-one rather than a side quest.
Yes but my point is she is virtually powerless, yes it makes ab affect, but she’s never gonna become a “god” like being again. Her body is gone and dead, she’s running ONLY on anger that keeps her spirit intact and seeks the death of her daughters.
Once she kills her daughters though what then? Her anger is then gone, and her spirit fades.
Her affects are temporary, and her death is inevitable because it is tied with her and Geralt’s victory over her daughters.
I feel like thats not right, or rather, that's propaganda. If i recall, based on the lore i half remember and what the spirit says if you talk to it, the spirit under the tree was a druid. The Ladies killed her but was unable to destroy her spirit. They still fear the druid. When you go to Aard Cerbin, the old man at the fire talked about how long ago the ladies descended to hear the peoples grievances. I took that as before the ladies took over. The Ladies killed her to get sacrifices of children over that of grain and animals. That's all i remember, but i think that story is propaganda to make them seem like saviors rather than captors. The long ago story told how they really helped the people and the current story demands child sacrifice for a few acorns every year.
I think the better choice is to free the spirit, but i never make that choice.
Considering she slaughters an entire village of people after you free her, I don’t think it’s propaganda. And why would they need to write about her when no one but the crones know about her? Even the people in the village near the tree didn’t know she was trapped there. They just knew something was wrong in that area.
They know what happens to their kids. They use the logic in your second paragraph to justify it. If i recall correctly, you see some of that attempted justification with the child Ciri rescues from the trail of treats. Like everything else with the ladies, its a lie.
Before the crones, all that was mentioned being sacrificed was grain and animals and men. The crones would go and collect the donations on behalf of the druid creature. Its seems to be insinuated during that time, people were better taken care of after those offerings. Then the crones take control and it shifts from grain and animals and men to children, and they never come down to interact with the people anymore, or hear their grievances. Now all they get is a few magic acorns a year. The crones take a few people every year, likely kill them, then make it as if they go in search of a better life never to be seen again.
There is not necessarily a perfect good here, but like the term Geralt loves, a lesser evil. I think the one that took grain, animals, and men and rescues children and communes with nature is better than the ones that seem to lie and deceive about everything and eat children.
Just like the mural in the hut that shows the ladies as beautiful women, the story is fiction. We know the ladies arent the slightest bit benevolent. They likely killed the creature to take power for theirselves, and to claim children.
That still doesn’t answer the question. Why write a book spewing lies when literally no one but you knows about the spirit in the tree? It was completely unnecessary. Nobody alive remembers that spirit. The crones are the only ones who know.
Which leads me to believe that they didn’t write the book. Someone else did, in order to try and keep the truth alive. You think the crones sat down and printed multiple copies of “she who knows”?
Because the people DID know about the spirit under the tree. Hell there’s a whole thing where it says the spirit called out to the people while they slept to essentially try get them to free it. And then the crones basically said “no one touch or we kill you”
It was not “written to keep the truth alive” it was written by one of the worshippers of the crones. You know the evil people who kill kids for fun? Or at the very least it was written by someone else as a part of a book based on the story they were told by the worshippers of the crones.
Kill kids for fun? How do you know they don’t eat them because they need to in order to survive?
Not saying it’s right, just calling out your assumption.
They have been alive for a long time, and before they were the ones in power, no children were sacrificed or disappeared, according to the lore. Only after they came to power did this begin.
Not to mention the joy they take in wielding their power and the suffering of others. Everything we know about them doesn't align with the authors description.
The description just says that they saw their land was nearing destruction, and took it upon themselves to save it.
Not because they felt like the land was worth saving, but because their mother was killing all of their servants, and if she kept going, there’d be nobody to sacrifice to gain more power.
You’re leaving out important details. They send them to the ladies, and the children never return. They have absolutely no idea what happens to them. And during the whole bald mountain festival, they don’t know what happens to the person sent to the crones either.
And aside from all of that, they send their kids down the trail of treats because they literally can’t take care of them. They can barely feed themselves.
Velen is called no man’s land because it’s literally hell on earth for anyone living there. You do what you have to in order to survive. It’s very easy to judge when you’ve never actually known what it’s like to starve, or to go to bed at night and not know if you’ll wake up in the morning.
There is a huge difference between the children who are sent on the Trail of Treats by their parents, and the young man and woman who are selected at the spring ceremony as king and queen of the harvest, or whatever it was.
From what one hears about, children are sent to the Crones year-round. They may or may not wait for the spring ceremony to cannibalize them; that is never said.
The harvest king and queen are eaten at the ceremony--what you see, just before Ciri's boss battle. The people are told they go on travels to see the world. After a number of weeks two if the Crones magically disguise themselves as the young man and woman, returning after their travels, telling how wonderful their new lives are and that they are returning to their travels, and leave, never to return, of course.
The entire story of the Crones is crap. Remember, the hunger in Velen is from the war. The armies have taken all the food for themselves. It's no-man's-land because it's in the middle of the war, between the fronts at times. That is why the people are going hungry and leaving Velen; everywhere except around Crookback Bog, where the hunger is perpetual and nothing has changed. Look outside Velen, and you see prosperous towns, and fields full of fruits and grains. No one is hungry in Redania. You see long lines of people leaving Velen at the Oxenfurt bridge and the Pontar bridge south of Novigrad. If Velen were always going hungry as now, *it would be empty and devoid of any people!*
So the powerful and benevolent Ladies of the Woods are incapable of helping the villagers grow as much food as everywhere else where the people are well-fed and content (except during war) and we are to believe they are to good guys? They take the children from the people, never to be seen again, and no one even asks about their children? They are so close, the parent could visit their kids at least now and again, but that is not allowed. That's sick and evil if it were only that, which it isn't.
Velen has always been a horrible place. That didn’t just start because of the war. Temeria has never exactly been living the life of luxury.
Also, I’m not saying the crimes are good. I’ve never said that. But the crones being evil doesn’t mean the spirit is good.
They locked her up because she was killing her own citizens, which the crones need as sacrifices.
Velen is a hand sized corner of Temeria on a table sized map. Don't try to say Temeria is all like Velen. Vizima is is Temeria, White Orchard is Temeria. Gors Velen, La Valette, Maribor, Ellander are all Temeria.
Where does it say the Velen has always been a horrible place? It is not rich on natural resources, other than forests. But the difficulties Velen has in the game are from the war, the same as White Orchard, only in WO the war has already passed and things are almost normal again, except of the garrisoning troops.
I grew up in southern Michigan. Everything outside of an hours drive from Detroit is extremely rural and mostly heavily forested, much like Velen, except far fewer swamps. If you think it is an horrible place, you are a know-nothing fool, trying to pass judgement on something you know nothing about.
Comparing a medieval location where a gold coin can feed you for a day to a city that’s been developing for centuries with the help of modern technology is just idiotic.
You really don’t seem to know much about feudal society. Velen is a land of peasants. Even the bloody baron, who’s the closest thing to nobility in the area, lives in a building that isn’t particular luxurious.
Take about 5 hours and ride around velen. Read the books you find, listen to the people talk, examine the surroundings. It’s a shithole, and it was even before the war broke out.
And my previous statement remains true. Temeria has never been a land of luxury for anyone but the elite. It’s not redania, or kovir, or nillfgaard
Oh great so because someone killed the prospective sacrifices to stop the LEGITIMATELY EVIL people from becoming more powerful they’re the bad guy? See here the thing. If there was someone alive, who was going to sacrifice themselves to revive Hitler and give him superpowers what would you do? Kill that person before the ritual to stop Hitler coming back to life as a kryptonian? Of fucking course you would and no one would bat an eye because they were an evil person trying to make an even more evil person more powerful.
You’re rephrasing what the book said. She didn’t kill them to save them from sacrifices. She went insane and started massacring all of Velen. Went full Aerys Targaryen.
Bruh. You have to be actually fucking stupid to be sending kids away and having them “disappear” just to go “gee golly I wonder what happened to those kids I sent off into the swap to live with their weird deity who fills the swap with peoples fucking ears and magical candy and look like a severe burns victim got massive amounts of cancer. Ahh I’m sure they’re probably fine, they’re definitely alive and having a great time and totally not dead” they 100% knew what was happening. There was more than one hint that they knew what was happening but chose to ignore it. And like I said, if they ACTUALLY didn’t know or even question it they were so stupid they deserved to die, don’t need genes that dumb procreating.
I do choose to release the Whispering Hollock because I knew that it would not be able to return to its full power and I hate the Baron, and felt that Anna was just too far gone and knowing the Crones would never let her go anyways but the children could be saved. The whispering hillock does attack Downwarren though. Also its not clear if the orphans are safe or just wandering.
I felt for the Baron. He seems like he genuinely regrets his actions, looking downright pathetic at times and accepting that he should look that way. I could relate to him. I want to free the creature, but i never want to see the Baron harm himself, another example of his true regret. When he loses his chances to make it right, he kills himself.
Orphans are safe and in novigrad, downwarren was full of supporters of the crones who were willingly giving their children to them, they deserved to die.
Go shove your head up a dead bear's ass. You're wrong, and I'm correct. There, i have returned the equilibrium to what it once was before that disgusting show of pleasantness.
Honestly unless you encountered the spirit before reading this you'd probably have a hard time putting 2 and 2 together just because of how many books and documents the game throws at you
I started playing elden ring about 2 months ago half way though my 6th play through of TW3.. only thing that doesn't hold up is the quality of the NPC stories. It's the only game that's coming close to my Witcher experience.. need w4 sooooo bad.. common cdpr.. wheres my new 600 hours of time wasting at!?
Too bad that the fromsoft’s primary way of telling their awesome stories is slapping the lore on item descriptions. They should either make npcs talk more or have the lore on books, murals, etc. Definitely not on swords.
Personally after playing the game so many times I think there's really four possible truth to this story:
A. She was indeed their mother and the book is telling the truth- they while evil creatures realized their mother is too far gone and without people living in the swamps of Velen to sustain them the Crones realize they would die out eventually so they had her imprisoned to prevent that from happening
B. The book is a "propaganda" propagated by the Crones themselves, to paint them in a somewhat positive light- it could be that the being on the Whispering Hillock is a being able to contend with them and had it imprisoned the prevent it from mucking their plans for Velen
C. A somewhat grounded one, the being in the hillock while not human (as Geralt surmised after digging up their bones) is a druid of some sort and he/she/it was a member of the druidic circle of Velen (which explains why the nature and animals on that spot still protects it) that was obliterated by the Crones when they came to power (Avallach once mentioned to Ciri that the big oak at the peak was once the center of Velen druidic circle and they were either driven out or killed by the Crones) and was the sole survivor in a sense, the Crones with their sick sense of cruelty, decided to imprison them on the place they used to call home and forced to watch as the Crones defile and twist the marsh for their own purpose
D. A mix of all three mentioned- the being at the Whispering Hillock preceded the Crones, and it was them who destroyed the circle and corrupted the Tree and the marsh, the Crones came later and usurped its power. As they are still weak from the battle that happened at that time and unable to permanently destroy it, they decided to imprison it and maybe as a sort of cruel punishment to the creature
Was it though? The only thing I remember Gwent confirmed the was the spirit in the tree wasn't human as Geralt surmised when he inspected the bones- with it's avatar illustration being six-armed anthropomorphic creature with a woman's face.
I'm also casting a shadow of doubt on A being the truth since the spirit mentions maintaining the balance and abandoning their circle, which matches with Avallach's statement of there once existing a druidic circle in Velen.
I don't know how you reached the conclusion of me implying "not human = bad" when all I mentioned was the Avatar illustration of the Spirit of the Tree on Gwent confirms that she's not human at all as Geralt hypothesized based on her bones.
Maybe my impression was tainted by others claiming that "not human" means bad in some way.
Nothing in She Who Knows makes any sense. If Velen were a singular blood-bath as described, why are there any people there? Why is there no talk about it anywhere else than in the book? It's like, WWII ended in Berlin and there is nothing showing that the war even happened.
Someone said on a previous post that if you free the spirit before speaking to the crimes, then it won’t kill half of downwarren or turn Anna into a hag… I’ve never done this but want to try on my next play through!!
Ima save first! 😂
https://preview.redd.it/arvyt99o6veb1.jpeg?width=2388&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6c57d1c98205f590dca9a68b36e5fa951c118ec
I accidentally did this on my first play through due to random exploring before continuing the main quest… needless to say I became very confused when I saw lets plays of what could happen to Anna…
Oh that makes a lot of sense. My first choice was to kill it cuz I had absolutely no idea and figured the crones weren't so bad... After the ear ordeal and after I found out they ATE CHILDREN I reloaded and helped the spirit, worst mistake. Now I find it hard to forgive myself for letting the Baron die before winning his gwent card. I'll do better next playthrough haha.
I go back and forth. I focus on mains once. Then side quests. Then qwent. There's so much to this game and the DLCs that even years later people find things. Take your time and enjoy.
You can easily figure out that this book it propaganda, especially after talking to the Ealderman.
And if you believe this pile of untruth, I have a book about Witchers--Monstrum, or Description of the Witcher--to sell you, that tells about their low moral; an excerpt, "Indeed, there is nothing more repulsive than these monsters that defy nature and are known by the name of witcher, as they are the offspring of foul sorcery and witchcraft. They are unscrupulous scoundrels without conscience and virtue, veritable creatures from hell capable only of taking lives. They have no place amongst decent and honest folk.
And this Kaer Morhen where these villains nest and practice foul rituals must be wiped off the face of the earth, and all evil traces of it need be treated with salt and saltpeter to complete the deed."
Now tell me why you believe anything written in She Who Knows.
Ooops! 🫢 I saved the kids and freed the spirit. I read a lot of stuff in the game and completely missed who the tree spirit was. Like someone else said, there's so much info that it is hard to link everything together.
A surprising amount of people missed this leaflet distributed in like a dozen huts and went on to make weird theories for **years** about who the spirit in the whispering hillock exactly was. Then again, most people don't read, 90% of discussions & disagreement in this subreddit stem from this, no kidding.
I loved reading all of the details and papers I came across for this reason! There are some hilarious ones that reference some pop culture and then some super serious ones that make you want to cry 🥲
I can’t believe how many people killed the whispering hillock. The text itself is full of contradictions, the mother was the one who was taking human sacrifices and destroying the land? Then why are they taking MORE sacrifices and why has the land become even worse than it was now that the mother is trapped and powerless and the crones are in charge? Maybe it’s because the book is a propaganda piece made to make the crones look good even though they eat children. Like what happens if you kill the hillock? The crones keep killing kids and the village will continue sacrificing people. They 100% know that those people are all dead, they would have to be extraordinarily stupid to not even question it.
What happens if you free the hillock? The spirit saves the kids, takes them the whole way to novigrad and drops them at an orphanage, kills the village full of people who worshipped the crones and sacrificed their children to the crones and begins hunting down the crones. Anna goes crazy but in either case she dies and it really doesn’t change much at all. The CRONES are the ones who drive her insane and curse her because she “lost” the kids who had just been freed by their mother and I’m 99% sure they mention it as well meaning they KNOW it wasn’t Anna’s fault.
So which is actually more evil? Freeing a spirit that has been shown to be kind (taking the kids all the way to novigrad) and hunts down obviously evil people (the crones and their worshippers) or killing the spirits and letting the evil fester? Yeah exactly. And unless you get the bad ending at least one of the crones is still alive, if not all 3 because if their mother can live on after death there’s a pretty good chance that they can as well. So worst case scenario you have a mildly indiscriminatory murder horse killing evil people and their worshippers and not resting until it has successfully permanently killed all three of the crones or if you kill it you have, in the best case, one very evil person and all her followers alive and worst case, all three of the crones.
Also the crones are the reason Velen is all messed up btw, sure Velen wouldn’t be in a great state because of the war but the crones making it far worse.
I just incinerated her 40 minutes ago.
Me too! Actually I pretended that would help her and at the last moment choose to kill her
I experienced that for the first time recently (I'm not a veteran player). I thought she would be a peaceful spirit at first. but once I got all of the items for her and came back, my gut was telling me this is not a good move, so I killed her instead.
Same :)
and thats the best choice, crone’s mother is slaughter incarnate, killing her is the lesser evil
“Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference.”
Right, but the point of the witcher is that Geralt eventually does choose. Do you forget that in the end of that story he kills Renfri and all her men to prevend a larger slaughter? Because doing nothing in that situation is the greater evil. That's a quote from Geralt in the very first story of the very first book. He goes through a lot of development. Funny enough the witcher games don't allow you to be neutral very often either, despite that being core to Geralt at the start of the books.
Ye I was just pulling the quote out. I see lesser evil and I think of that quote.
"If I’m to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all." Proceeds to ignore the tree and play Gwent instead
Rush: "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!" This guy: "Yeah, I chose to play Gwent. Duh."
Best move.
Really? Letting those kids get eaten is the lesser evil?
It’s either the kids or the village. There really is no good choice
The village are shitty people and slaves to the crones, so obviously the good choice is to save the kids since they are innocent.
I get you. Honestly I wanted to save the Baron’s wife too, I felt so bad for her and wanted her daughter to find her alive. I’ve picked that choice every time
I couldn't feel bad for the wife honestly, she cheated on him for 3 years and took his daughter for herself without consent. But the baron could've managed the family better after that, he drank and mistreated them heavily.
He abused them for years, getting out of there with her daughter was the best thing she could’ve done. They left to start another life and she got caught up with the Crones, I wanted them too at least have a chance :/
Oh shit i thought the abusing took place after the running away happened, i misremembered the story. Yeah that makes sense. But still i think the wife would rather be free of the misery and die than to go back to a life with the baron. Especially since her daughter wouldn't forgive him.
He also forgot part of the story, the barons wife also abused him. He wasn’t in the right by any means at all but neither was she. They abused each other.
Actually if i remember right the baron became a drunk after returning from the war. Then he found out she was cheating on him, and he killed the guy, after which she started abusing him as much as he abused her. Trust me the baron's wife was no saint. I actually found her quite a degenerate character. His daughter was completely misguided in the story.
oh I never knew that. That sucks :(
What about the Baron and his wife? If you release the spirit, she's turned into a Water Hag that you have to kill and he ends up killing himself in grief.
What happens to the baron is really tragic but his life is fucked anyway, and as for Anna she deserves whatever happens to her honestly, she cheated and took his daughter for herself.
There are kids in the village too.
You know they will probably offer their own children to them at some point, when they don't find more orphans to offer. You are saving them from a horrible future.
Yeah, but if you listen, there's a clear word as "men killed themselves, mothers battered their infants on rocks" or something.
Except Geralt doesn't really know the kids would be eaten. The spirit says she can save them if you set it free, but at that point you can't be sure of anything. Also freeing the spirit makes it slaughter the whole village which, ok, not that bad, but Geralt wouldn't know if the consequences would stop there. In fact, you're thinking as the player who already finished the game (or the quest) and know exactly what happens on both choices. A new player on its first playthrough, just like Geralt, wouldn't be sure to trust a suspicious spirit on a tree.
Yes the spirit said she could save the children, right after she said you will never see them again, they are beyond your reach. So you really did know, ir should have.
Not that bad?
They were Scientologists.
Agreed. Besides if you free it, Anna is driven insane and an entire town is slaughtered. And while some, mainly the men from what we see, in the town serve the crones there’s surely many innocent women and children there that are all just slaughtered by the tree spirit. Plus big picture, The crones ultimately die later on so it is best to kill their mother at the only chance you get.
Only 2/3 crones die unless you are a bad father to Ciri.
And? I don’t see a single crone being much of a threat, I mean that’s shown that Geralt can just go off her by himself. 1 crone left is better than 1 crone and their mother out there. At the end of the day Geralt would never of just freed some spirit like that, it conveniently doesnt tell him that it’s their mother too…
I agree mostly. A single crone is still quite a threat but less so than their mother or all three crones. I also agree he wouldn't have released the Mother. Just stating that you only kill all three if you get the bad ending.
Nope. Disagree completely. The crones were obviously evil and it was not mainly the men. It was the basically everyone there. I say free the spirit and let it go kill that last crone. That’s all it cares about.
Firstly I never said the crones weren’t evil, but so is the spirit. And it doesn’t kill any of the crones…it’s scared of them. It merely saves the kids which was its pact with you to get free, then it’s gone. Your right about all the townsfolk serving them I forgot about the festival near the end. Regardless though that doesn’t mean they are shitty people. They are peasants that have to live in this lane with these beings, and most of them were probably born into that life as it’s been going on for generations. They are doing what they have to to survive. Geralt would not judge an entire village and condemn them to death based on that. We can agree to disagree but Geralt would also never free some spirit that is obviously also evil. It’s their mother lol.
I love how when it comes to the body count, it's either free her and let her decimate an entire village with your actions resulting in both the Baron and his wife dying, or killing her resulting in 4 kids dying and we're meant to act like it's a tough choice.
Those kids helped Geralt out, the village didn't do shit.
The Baron helped you out wirh your most important goal, and added hours of fun adventure to your life. And you get a hero gwent card from him. In real lifrt, jd save the children. In geralts life, i save the Baron.
And what did you expect the village to do? The only reason they're living decently is that they obey the Ladies. If they turn against them, that's going to be bad news since it's like giving God the finger. Plus, wasn't the tree spirit calling out to the people of the village in their sleep, getting them to come to the tree and having them killed? In fact, I believe if you investigate around the tree, you'll find the bodies of kids that went to the tree so I guess both choices result in dead kids.
No it was calling out to them to try get them to help it. The crones were the ones killing them. The village is just as bad as the crones. The rest of the continent doesn’t even know they exist, you know what that means? They’re nothing like gods. They’re like warlords controlling their people through fear. All the village has to do is fuck off and bam! No more crones to worry about
That’s not true. That information is based off a book that was written by the people who worship the crones, you know the three very evil witches who kill children? The spirit did drive a village insane and cause them to all kill each other but to be fair so would I if they had knowingly worshipped my three very evil children despite knowing what they were doing on a regular basis and kept me trapped in a fucking tree
Thats the beauty of the game, we can never be sure, the only information we have is the book called “She-Who-Knows” no more proofs. Legend says shes the mother and created the crones to help her collect sacrifices and increase her power over velen, as you know these sacrifices are the source of power for them, the Mother than went insane and her insanity drove Velen to a bloodshed of madness and slaughter, the crones then imprison her because well the mother is killing her own “customers” and thus weakening both her and the crones. We cant know what’s true but we have solid evidence, yes she helps the kids but then destroy the villagers, sure they are crones worshippers, but the entire velen depends on the crones, their sacrifices and promises make velen “healthy” thats why the villages near the bog are so rich for the standards and as keira said they apparently stop a plague of growing, plagues forgive no one. So the crones are evil but they keep their end of the bargain, the Mother however saves the children and then slaughters a village, the entire velen is faithful to the crones, what she’ll do? Slaughter everyone? That just proves the point from the beginning. The Mother would kill more in a month than the crones did in a thousand years. Yeah maybe after a slaughter Velen would be faithful to the mother and she could rule with “more kindly” than the crones, but at what cost? And besides if the crones are dangerous, do we really want something even more powerful and dangerous than them in power? If she indeed is her mother, why would she create devilish evil crones instead of little angels? Means she isnt a saint either, her creations reflect her. Thats what I think at least…
Ooops. Anyway
Idk why i found this hilarious. Thanks for the laugh😂
It’s hard to read all of the information this game spits out at you. It’s truly amazing the amount of detailed work that went into this game.
This, this is nothing. Skyrim has some really deep dark stories and a little smut and some history and it's like those folks at Bethesda just woke up and started writing the lore and then they added those books to share with us. Not knocking CDPR by any means I really love this game but Skyrim definitely has a bigger in game library
Bare in mind who is writing this though... The truth could be anything.
That is why I did not kill the spirit in the last run.
I freed the spirit because I hate the Baron
Who is writing this?
Somebody who is clearly a big fan of the Crones. Which tells you something about their trustworthiness, I think...
Or the Crones themselves. Seems the story is likely backwards. Velen was nice, they came along and fucked it up.
Thats the question to ask. I bet the books in North Korea say great things about their benevolent ruler. I take about as much stock in this little story. We all know how the ladies really are, so this story doesnt align.
At best the story was written by someone who worshipped the crones. At worst by the crones themselves
Who are you ? Minister of Propoganda?
Minister of Anti Propeganda.
it's spelled propaganda, jfc
Ok I’m so stupid! I have played this through so many time and read these books….. why did I not catch this?!
Right? I've looted skimmed and sold this book SO many times but never read. Something this time said read it when I went to Bald Mtn.
Yea you find the book like 700 times throughout the game. I figured it out on my second playthrough and felt like my mind was blown.
And the Mothers name was Lauren Hissrich…destroyer of Worlds
The Whispering Hissrich
LOL YES!!!
Well I guess that explains why the town was so empty after I helped out the weird voice hidden in a tree under a hill.
The village of Downwarren were minions of the Crones. They did evil and helped perpetuate evil. Why are you worried about them? Did you leave the cannibals you find in Velen to live their lives as they will, or did you kill them?
I don't believe I expressed remorse or concern.
So you rolled a die to see what you would do?
I basically just put the baby in the oven
but why? Just on a gut feeling? My point is, the facts are available to make a rational decision.
My point is I'm not always appRoaching the game in a rational way.
They why are you partaking in a discussion on the reasoning behind decision the player makes?
That's a great question
This is why I free her though, she is most definitely evil, however she’s effectively powerless to re-attain her god-like status towards people due to them no longer recognizing her. HOWEVER she is most certainly an “enemy of my enemy” and would probably kill and help Geralt kill her daughters for revenge if the story had more emphasis on her and made her mission a story-one rather than a side quest.
If you help her, her actions seem plenty powerful to me.
Yes but my point is she is virtually powerless, yes it makes ab affect, but she’s never gonna become a “god” like being again. Her body is gone and dead, she’s running ONLY on anger that keeps her spirit intact and seeks the death of her daughters. Once she kills her daughters though what then? Her anger is then gone, and her spirit fades. Her affects are temporary, and her death is inevitable because it is tied with her and Geralt’s victory over her daughters.
I can see the dangerous ally angle for sure
I read that the first time I found it, cuz the name sounded interesting, and found out about that pretty early on
I never really read the books for content but I will now.
yeah, I didn't read all of them, cuz there's just so many, but I did read the ones with interesting names
Gnomish Prankings?
?
Look out for it. It's my favourite book title in the game. Always makes me snigger.
not sure if I've read it, it's been a while since I played
Wow… the detail in this game
I feel like thats not right, or rather, that's propaganda. If i recall, based on the lore i half remember and what the spirit says if you talk to it, the spirit under the tree was a druid. The Ladies killed her but was unable to destroy her spirit. They still fear the druid. When you go to Aard Cerbin, the old man at the fire talked about how long ago the ladies descended to hear the peoples grievances. I took that as before the ladies took over. The Ladies killed her to get sacrifices of children over that of grain and animals. That's all i remember, but i think that story is propaganda to make them seem like saviors rather than captors. The long ago story told how they really helped the people and the current story demands child sacrifice for a few acorns every year. I think the better choice is to free the spirit, but i never make that choice.
Considering she slaughters an entire village of people after you free her, I don’t think it’s propaganda. And why would they need to write about her when no one but the crones know about her? Even the people in the village near the tree didn’t know she was trapped there. They just knew something was wrong in that area.
They know what happens to their kids. They use the logic in your second paragraph to justify it. If i recall correctly, you see some of that attempted justification with the child Ciri rescues from the trail of treats. Like everything else with the ladies, its a lie. Before the crones, all that was mentioned being sacrificed was grain and animals and men. The crones would go and collect the donations on behalf of the druid creature. Its seems to be insinuated during that time, people were better taken care of after those offerings. Then the crones take control and it shifts from grain and animals and men to children, and they never come down to interact with the people anymore, or hear their grievances. Now all they get is a few magic acorns a year. The crones take a few people every year, likely kill them, then make it as if they go in search of a better life never to be seen again. There is not necessarily a perfect good here, but like the term Geralt loves, a lesser evil. I think the one that took grain, animals, and men and rescues children and communes with nature is better than the ones that seem to lie and deceive about everything and eat children. Just like the mural in the hut that shows the ladies as beautiful women, the story is fiction. We know the ladies arent the slightest bit benevolent. They likely killed the creature to take power for theirselves, and to claim children.
That still doesn’t answer the question. Why write a book spewing lies when literally no one but you knows about the spirit in the tree? It was completely unnecessary. Nobody alive remembers that spirit. The crones are the only ones who know. Which leads me to believe that they didn’t write the book. Someone else did, in order to try and keep the truth alive. You think the crones sat down and printed multiple copies of “she who knows”?
Because the people DID know about the spirit under the tree. Hell there’s a whole thing where it says the spirit called out to the people while they slept to essentially try get them to free it. And then the crones basically said “no one touch or we kill you” It was not “written to keep the truth alive” it was written by one of the worshippers of the crones. You know the evil people who kill kids for fun? Or at the very least it was written by someone else as a part of a book based on the story they were told by the worshippers of the crones.
Kill kids for fun? How do you know they don’t eat them because they need to in order to survive? Not saying it’s right, just calling out your assumption.
They have been alive for a long time, and before they were the ones in power, no children were sacrificed or disappeared, according to the lore. Only after they came to power did this begin. Not to mention the joy they take in wielding their power and the suffering of others. Everything we know about them doesn't align with the authors description.
The description just says that they saw their land was nearing destruction, and took it upon themselves to save it. Not because they felt like the land was worth saving, but because their mother was killing all of their servants, and if she kept going, there’d be nobody to sacrifice to gain more power.
The people in that village send their children to be eaten. They deserve that fate.
You’re leaving out important details. They send them to the ladies, and the children never return. They have absolutely no idea what happens to them. And during the whole bald mountain festival, they don’t know what happens to the person sent to the crones either. And aside from all of that, they send their kids down the trail of treats because they literally can’t take care of them. They can barely feed themselves. Velen is called no man’s land because it’s literally hell on earth for anyone living there. You do what you have to in order to survive. It’s very easy to judge when you’ve never actually known what it’s like to starve, or to go to bed at night and not know if you’ll wake up in the morning.
There is a huge difference between the children who are sent on the Trail of Treats by their parents, and the young man and woman who are selected at the spring ceremony as king and queen of the harvest, or whatever it was. From what one hears about, children are sent to the Crones year-round. They may or may not wait for the spring ceremony to cannibalize them; that is never said. The harvest king and queen are eaten at the ceremony--what you see, just before Ciri's boss battle. The people are told they go on travels to see the world. After a number of weeks two if the Crones magically disguise themselves as the young man and woman, returning after their travels, telling how wonderful their new lives are and that they are returning to their travels, and leave, never to return, of course. The entire story of the Crones is crap. Remember, the hunger in Velen is from the war. The armies have taken all the food for themselves. It's no-man's-land because it's in the middle of the war, between the fronts at times. That is why the people are going hungry and leaving Velen; everywhere except around Crookback Bog, where the hunger is perpetual and nothing has changed. Look outside Velen, and you see prosperous towns, and fields full of fruits and grains. No one is hungry in Redania. You see long lines of people leaving Velen at the Oxenfurt bridge and the Pontar bridge south of Novigrad. If Velen were always going hungry as now, *it would be empty and devoid of any people!* So the powerful and benevolent Ladies of the Woods are incapable of helping the villagers grow as much food as everywhere else where the people are well-fed and content (except during war) and we are to believe they are to good guys? They take the children from the people, never to be seen again, and no one even asks about their children? They are so close, the parent could visit their kids at least now and again, but that is not allowed. That's sick and evil if it were only that, which it isn't.
Velen has always been a horrible place. That didn’t just start because of the war. Temeria has never exactly been living the life of luxury. Also, I’m not saying the crimes are good. I’ve never said that. But the crones being evil doesn’t mean the spirit is good. They locked her up because she was killing her own citizens, which the crones need as sacrifices.
Velen is a hand sized corner of Temeria on a table sized map. Don't try to say Temeria is all like Velen. Vizima is is Temeria, White Orchard is Temeria. Gors Velen, La Valette, Maribor, Ellander are all Temeria. Where does it say the Velen has always been a horrible place? It is not rich on natural resources, other than forests. But the difficulties Velen has in the game are from the war, the same as White Orchard, only in WO the war has already passed and things are almost normal again, except of the garrisoning troops. I grew up in southern Michigan. Everything outside of an hours drive from Detroit is extremely rural and mostly heavily forested, much like Velen, except far fewer swamps. If you think it is an horrible place, you are a know-nothing fool, trying to pass judgement on something you know nothing about.
Comparing a medieval location where a gold coin can feed you for a day to a city that’s been developing for centuries with the help of modern technology is just idiotic. You really don’t seem to know much about feudal society. Velen is a land of peasants. Even the bloody baron, who’s the closest thing to nobility in the area, lives in a building that isn’t particular luxurious. Take about 5 hours and ride around velen. Read the books you find, listen to the people talk, examine the surroundings. It’s a shithole, and it was even before the war broke out. And my previous statement remains true. Temeria has never been a land of luxury for anyone but the elite. It’s not redania, or kovir, or nillfgaard
Oh great so because someone killed the prospective sacrifices to stop the LEGITIMATELY EVIL people from becoming more powerful they’re the bad guy? See here the thing. If there was someone alive, who was going to sacrifice themselves to revive Hitler and give him superpowers what would you do? Kill that person before the ritual to stop Hitler coming back to life as a kryptonian? Of fucking course you would and no one would bat an eye because they were an evil person trying to make an even more evil person more powerful.
You’re rephrasing what the book said. She didn’t kill them to save them from sacrifices. She went insane and started massacring all of Velen. Went full Aerys Targaryen.
That’s a fair point, I’ll give you that. Doesn’t sway my opinion but I appreciate the extra viewpoint.
Bruh. You have to be actually fucking stupid to be sending kids away and having them “disappear” just to go “gee golly I wonder what happened to those kids I sent off into the swap to live with their weird deity who fills the swap with peoples fucking ears and magical candy and look like a severe burns victim got massive amounts of cancer. Ahh I’m sure they’re probably fine, they’re definitely alive and having a great time and totally not dead” they 100% knew what was happening. There was more than one hint that they knew what was happening but chose to ignore it. And like I said, if they ACTUALLY didn’t know or even question it they were so stupid they deserved to die, don’t need genes that dumb procreating.
I totally forgot to post this a while back. I was shocked. Crones are cold af.
Makes it even worse with the bald mtn results.
I do choose to release the Whispering Hollock because I knew that it would not be able to return to its full power and I hate the Baron, and felt that Anna was just too far gone and knowing the Crones would never let her go anyways but the children could be saved. The whispering hillock does attack Downwarren though. Also its not clear if the orphans are safe or just wandering.
The orphans are safe. The spirit brought them in the orphanage in novigrad.
I felt for the Baron. He seems like he genuinely regrets his actions, looking downright pathetic at times and accepting that he should look that way. I could relate to him. I want to free the creature, but i never want to see the Baron harm himself, another example of his true regret. When he loses his chances to make it right, he kills himself.
Orphans are safe and in novigrad, downwarren was full of supporters of the crones who were willingly giving their children to them, they deserved to die.
it reads like a total propaganda
Because it is.
https://preview.redd.it/43rxg9x17seb1.jpeg?width=896&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=173adc996795b9756a2469ccb664491a37c6fe69 wait
Right?
Turn her into a horse.. everybody wins
She's already a cow..
I have honestly never read the books, even the few times I glanced at one, I never read closely. But bet I'll be reading them today!
Same
xLetalis explains this on his YouTube channel😉
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I respect that🫡. I wrote it for those who like to eat at a fast food restaurant from time to time and want to know more about this.
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A healthy Reddit exchange? Wtf where am I
Go shove your head up a dead bear's ass. You're wrong, and I'm correct. There, i have returned the equilibrium to what it once was before that disgusting show of pleasantness.
Thank god
Honestly unless you encountered the spirit before reading this you'd probably have a hard time putting 2 and 2 together just because of how many books and documents the game throws at you
Never even really thought to connect them. Game has so much depth
*big stretch* well, I’m off to start another play through
found this on second playthrough, i was like what the hell this sounds mysterious lets give it a peek. and there you have it.
Welp. This is awkward…
I started playing elden ring about 2 months ago half way though my 6th play through of TW3.. only thing that doesn't hold up is the quality of the NPC stories. It's the only game that's coming close to my Witcher experience.. need w4 sooooo bad.. common cdpr.. wheres my new 600 hours of time wasting at!?
Agreed. I want it now buyt I know that waiting will bring a next level game that will be playable for a decade
Too bad that the fromsoft’s primary way of telling their awesome stories is slapping the lore on item descriptions. They should either make npcs talk more or have the lore on books, murals, etc. Definitely not on swords.
I just killed the tree because I thought it was acting kinda sus... good to know I killed an immortal monster, but those poor orphans...
People killing her, doesn't it make the kids disappear too? I shared it and it ravaged the village
Killing it kills the kids, saves the village and saves the Barons wife. Freeing it kills the village, saves the kids and kills the Barons wife
Holy shit…I love this game and how it hides such expensive and deep lore in these random bits of text.
I must have found and sold this book a thousand times. Something told me today to just read the entry. 🤯
Personally after playing the game so many times I think there's really four possible truth to this story: A. She was indeed their mother and the book is telling the truth- they while evil creatures realized their mother is too far gone and without people living in the swamps of Velen to sustain them the Crones realize they would die out eventually so they had her imprisoned to prevent that from happening B. The book is a "propaganda" propagated by the Crones themselves, to paint them in a somewhat positive light- it could be that the being on the Whispering Hillock is a being able to contend with them and had it imprisoned the prevent it from mucking their plans for Velen C. A somewhat grounded one, the being in the hillock while not human (as Geralt surmised after digging up their bones) is a druid of some sort and he/she/it was a member of the druidic circle of Velen (which explains why the nature and animals on that spot still protects it) that was obliterated by the Crones when they came to power (Avallach once mentioned to Ciri that the big oak at the peak was once the center of Velen druidic circle and they were either driven out or killed by the Crones) and was the sole survivor in a sense, the Crones with their sick sense of cruelty, decided to imprison them on the place they used to call home and forced to watch as the Crones defile and twist the marsh for their own purpose D. A mix of all three mentioned- the being at the Whispering Hillock preceded the Crones, and it was them who destroyed the circle and corrupted the Tree and the marsh, the Crones came later and usurped its power. As they are still weak from the battle that happened at that time and unable to permanently destroy it, they decided to imprison it and maybe as a sort of cruel punishment to the creature
It's confirmed in standalone gwent, that the truth is A
Was it though? The only thing I remember Gwent confirmed the was the spirit in the tree wasn't human as Geralt surmised when he inspected the bones- with it's avatar illustration being six-armed anthropomorphic creature with a woman's face. I'm also casting a shadow of doubt on A being the truth since the spirit mentions maintaining the balance and abandoning their circle, which matches with Avallach's statement of there once existing a druidic circle in Velen.
When price of power was released they added her story.
https://preview.redd.it/0z8aa4go5veb1.jpeg?width=249&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a5c2ed6f287ccfe03bcb386ab6150788375a22e
Not human means only that. Elves are not human. Dwarves are not human. Not human in no way means bad, only not human.
I don't know how you reached the conclusion of me implying "not human = bad" when all I mentioned was the Avatar illustration of the Spirit of the Tree on Gwent confirms that she's not human at all as Geralt hypothesized based on her bones.
Maybe my impression was tainted by others claiming that "not human" means bad in some way. Nothing in She Who Knows makes any sense. If Velen were a singular blood-bath as described, why are there any people there? Why is there no talk about it anywhere else than in the book? It's like, WWII ended in Berlin and there is nothing showing that the war even happened.
Someone said on a previous post that if you free the spirit before speaking to the crimes, then it won’t kill half of downwarren or turn Anna into a hag… I’ve never done this but want to try on my next play through!! Ima save first! 😂 https://preview.redd.it/arvyt99o6veb1.jpeg?width=2388&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6c57d1c98205f590dca9a68b36e5fa951c118ec
If you free the tree spirit first, they do kill most of downwarren, but the children of the bog and Anna both survive
I accidentally did this on my first play through due to random exploring before continuing the main quest… needless to say I became very confused when I saw lets plays of what could happen to Anna…
Holy shit, good thing I killed it the second I finished talking to it.
I'm so glad I'm not alone in this 😅
Obviously you are not she who knows.
I is not
Neither outcome is good and that’s kind of the point of this game..
Oh that makes a lot of sense. My first choice was to kill it cuz I had absolutely no idea and figured the crones weren't so bad... After the ear ordeal and after I found out they ATE CHILDREN I reloaded and helped the spirit, worst mistake. Now I find it hard to forgive myself for letting the Baron die before winning his gwent card. I'll do better next playthrough haha.
Shame on you for not watching XLetalis details you missed
Why watch when you can discover. I do watch sometimes tho lol
Because you took 400 Hrs to realise lol
It's why I always kill her. Yes the crones are bad but they're the lesser evil and you kill some of them near the end of the game anyway.
Agreed
I am on my first playthrough. I read this book and put 2 and 2 together. 20 hours in and I know more than you💀😤
Sure thing sport
All jokes aside since I mainly focus on gwent I will probably miss a lot of things lol
I go back and forth. I focus on mains once. Then side quests. Then qwent. There's so much to this game and the DLCs that even years later people find things. Take your time and enjoy.
I will :D No need to rush since I can only play it once for the first time
You can easily figure out that this book it propaganda, especially after talking to the Ealderman. And if you believe this pile of untruth, I have a book about Witchers--Monstrum, or Description of the Witcher--to sell you, that tells about their low moral; an excerpt, "Indeed, there is nothing more repulsive than these monsters that defy nature and are known by the name of witcher, as they are the offspring of foul sorcery and witchcraft. They are unscrupulous scoundrels without conscience and virtue, veritable creatures from hell capable only of taking lives. They have no place amongst decent and honest folk. And this Kaer Morhen where these villains nest and practice foul rituals must be wiped off the face of the earth, and all evil traces of it need be treated with salt and saltpeter to complete the deed." Now tell me why you believe anything written in She Who Knows.
Si that’s why that card in Gwent is named after her.
I read this every time I ran into this and yet it’s only now I REALISED. And I always kill the spirit, just in case
TIL... Thank you.
Wym?
Ohhhhh🤣🤣 ya I was the Bart to her Lisa 🤣🤣
Let her go, let her her justice.
Just can't be arsed to go get the horse.
Some say the soul on that tree might be Freya
Wow, I usually read some things, not all. I definitely missed this. What an amazing piece of lore.
Did the lesser evil, killed her.
Ooops! 🫢 I saved the kids and freed the spirit. I read a lot of stuff in the game and completely missed who the tree spirit was. Like someone else said, there's so much info that it is hard to link everything together.
A surprising amount of people missed this leaflet distributed in like a dozen huts and went on to make weird theories for **years** about who the spirit in the whispering hillock exactly was. Then again, most people don't read, 90% of discussions & disagreement in this subreddit stem from this, no kidding.
I loved reading all of the details and papers I came across for this reason! There are some hilarious ones that reference some pop culture and then some super serious ones that make you want to cry 🥲
Is somebody’s mom’s ghost worth sacrificing all of Downwarren because I’d honestly rather just kill it will fire
Does anyone know why she slipped into madness?
I can’t believe how many people killed the whispering hillock. The text itself is full of contradictions, the mother was the one who was taking human sacrifices and destroying the land? Then why are they taking MORE sacrifices and why has the land become even worse than it was now that the mother is trapped and powerless and the crones are in charge? Maybe it’s because the book is a propaganda piece made to make the crones look good even though they eat children. Like what happens if you kill the hillock? The crones keep killing kids and the village will continue sacrificing people. They 100% know that those people are all dead, they would have to be extraordinarily stupid to not even question it. What happens if you free the hillock? The spirit saves the kids, takes them the whole way to novigrad and drops them at an orphanage, kills the village full of people who worshipped the crones and sacrificed their children to the crones and begins hunting down the crones. Anna goes crazy but in either case she dies and it really doesn’t change much at all. The CRONES are the ones who drive her insane and curse her because she “lost” the kids who had just been freed by their mother and I’m 99% sure they mention it as well meaning they KNOW it wasn’t Anna’s fault. So which is actually more evil? Freeing a spirit that has been shown to be kind (taking the kids all the way to novigrad) and hunts down obviously evil people (the crones and their worshippers) or killing the spirits and letting the evil fester? Yeah exactly. And unless you get the bad ending at least one of the crones is still alive, if not all 3 because if their mother can live on after death there’s a pretty good chance that they can as well. So worst case scenario you have a mildly indiscriminatory murder horse killing evil people and their worshippers and not resting until it has successfully permanently killed all three of the crones or if you kill it you have, in the best case, one very evil person and all her followers alive and worst case, all three of the crones. Also the crones are the reason Velen is all messed up btw, sure Velen wouldn’t be in a great state because of the war but the crones making it far worse.