There are plenty of side quests and monster contracts that the player can take on in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Many are straightforward undertakings, with the player having to find out what the beast is and how to defeat it. Others, however, are far more complicated, especially when the local peasantry decides to deify the creature that Geralt sets out to get rid of.
There are a number of these types of quests scattered throughout the world of The Witcher 3. Most of the time, they involve Geralt having to placate distraught locals who are afraid of losing the “god” they worship. While such quests do give more flavor to the world of The Witcher, it does imply that the Continent is severely lacking in monster education.
The Wrath of the Allgod
The first “god” that the player is likely to encounter in their Witcher 3 playthrough is the Allgod. Involved in the side quest “A Greedy God,” the Allgod is a hungry sylvan residing in the ruins of an old house south of Wastrel Manor in Velen. During the quest, Geralt comes across two peasants arguing among the ruins. They believe that they’ve been cursed because the supposed Allgod wasn’t happy with their recent offerings.
In undertaking the quest, the player can learn more about this strange god and what he does for the local peasantry. According to the locals, the Allgod had been watching over their town since their forefathers were alive, meaning the sylvan has been doing this for quite a while. As for this Witcher 3 sylvan, he maintains that the offerings he gets are a just payment for all the blessings and advice that he gives the peasant folk.
If the player agrees to help the peasants, Geralt will find a way into the swindling sylvan’s home and can then choose to kill him, threaten him to stop being greedy, or simply let him do as he pleases. Keeping him alive will please the peasants. On the other hand, killing the sylvan will make them fear for their lives. Despite Geralt’s explanation that the Allgod was just a run-of-the-mill monster, the peasants didn’t believe him as the Allgod had warned them that his departure would spell their deaths. The Witcher 3 quest then ends with them leaving to tell the town the bad news.
The Cult of Melusine
Another “god” is Melusine, an ekhidna that the player can find during the Witcher 3 monster contract “Here Comes the Groom” in Skellige. Melusine was a very old and very powerful monster. She was so powerful, in fact, that some of the locals worshipped her like a god, forming the Cult of Melusine. The cultists had even traveled to the cave system where she’d set up her nest and, there, built structures of worship. They gathered the remnants of crashed boats and put them together to form a twisted altar to their monster-goddess.
By the time Geralt arrives at the cave, only Melusine and a handful of Witcher 3 drowners remain. It’s unknown what happened to the cultists, though it’s easy to assume that the ekhidna feasted on them herself. Perhaps they offered themselves to Melusine happily, and when the beast had eaten them all, she took to kidnapping other, unwilling locals like Britt of Svorlag’s unfortunate groom.
The Mysterious Woodland Spirit
Less of a god and more of a mystical forest guardian, the Woodland Spirit is an old leshen that’s encountered during the Witcher 3 quest “In the Heart of the Woods” in Skellige. This quest is far less straightforward than others, as Geralt must choose between killing the leshen or undertaking a ritual that should, supposedly, stop it from killing the people of Fayrlund. The village elder believes that the leshen keeps their village safe and their people strong, but the younger folk simply see the monster as a menace.
Should Geralt side with the village elder, he must collect wolf hearts to sacrifice to the Woodland Spirit, which would then renew the pact that was forged between the leshen and the village. Alternatively, the player could simply kill the ancient leshen in The Witcher 3. Whatever they decide, there is no clear-cut answer as to which decision was the correct — whether the monster was truly a helpful force or merely a monster.
Monster-Gods in The Witcher World
These are some of the monster-gods of the Witcher world. Dissecting each of them reveals both nuances and commonalities. For instance, the nature of each “god” varies with each quest in The Witcher 3. The sylvan was not a powerful deity, but a trickster who took advantage of the unknowing townspeople. The ekhidna, on the other hand, likely had no intention of taking advantage of her cultists. She might not have even realized that she was being deified.
The ancient leshen’s case, however, is the most intriguing. Of the monsters on this list, an ancient leshen is the only creature powerful enough to have what one might call “godlike” powers. Whether such a creature is worthy of deification is another discussion completely, but the Woodland Spirit certainly has the power to act like Fayrlund’s divine protector. However, the player is never sure if the leshen is sentient — whether it intends to act as the peasant’s guardian. As such, it’s difficult to discern whether the townspeoples’ worship of the Witcher 3’s leshen is justified.
Differences aside, there is a common thread that binds the three different cases together, and that is the common folk’s lack of monster knowledge. Had the peasantry known about sylvans, ekhidnas, leshens, and the other creatures in the Witcher 3 bestiary, they probably would have stayed away. The only reason why Geralt understood what he had to do (at least, most of the time) was because Witchers had extensive knowledge of monsters.
Though with that said, if everyone knew how to avoid or stave away such creatures, then even the strongest Witchers would most probably be left copperless. So, maybe it’s best that the locals continue to worship monsters.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.