[Lore] The Witches' Sabbath

[cz]

Here's something about the Crones' activities on Bald Mountain I think I realized this playthrough, that I haven't seen discussed before on the internet. If this is a well-known fact, by all means let me know, but I personally had a pretty nice "eureka" moment about it and wanted to share!

If you haven't played till Act 3 of the game, the following is SPOILERish.

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So the peasants at Bald Mountain tell us that each year, three strapping, beautiful youths get the privilege of going up the mountain and meeting the Ladies/Crones. Of course, as Ciri and Geralt we know all too well that the Crones chop these humans up and eat them in a stew. However, the peasants also tell us that the youths come back down from the mountain, full of joy, and set out to make their living in the wider world, beyond Velen, never to return.

But we know that the Crones, in fact, kill and devour them. So the ones who come back down the mountain must, in fact, be the Crones themselves, shapeshifted to look like the very same youths they killed and devoured the night before. We know they have this ability because Ciri sees them around the cauldron in their young, beautiful shapes before they transform into their true form for the boss battle. Three youths sent up the mountain, three shapeshifted Crones come back down.

They cavort with their "friends" and "family", their eyes and faces filled with what the villagers take to be transcendent joy from meeting their goddesses in the flesh but what is in fact finger-licking satisfaction from drinking young, strong blood; then they tell the villagers that their experience with the Ladies has been so eye-opening that they are inspired to travel and make their fortune, and are never seen in Velen again. How convenient!

The Crones are terrifying enough in how the game portrays them explicitly, but even more terrifying in the layers and layers of subtext just below the surface of the game's plot. Same thing with the tree spirit you have to decide to kill or not kill earlier in the main questline. Some form of tragedy is unavoidable no matter how you decide to deal with the Crones. It reminds me very much of the Witcher universe's rule that necromancy *always* leads to horrific results in the end, even if the mage using it has the purest intentions. Very much at the game's thematic heart.

[BadGamer999]

Great explanation!

Just want to add that the reason the Crones stopped visiting the villagers during the Sabbath party is linked to the Ghost in the Tree mission and a few books scattered throughout the world.

Basically, the Crones used to meet with people and be the voice of reason & would take their demands to their mother - who ultimately they claim became evil and they locked her up under the tree. When their mother ruled Velen, the 3 Crones would take the needs of the people back to their mother.

Eventually, the Crones turned on their mother and started to rule Velen themselves. At that point, they stopped meeting with the people directly forcing them instead to bring them kids in exchange for granting favors to the villagers.