The game really brings out the philosopher in me.

[drakvyr]

Just dealt with the "Contract: Missing Miners" quest in Skellige. I must say, the game does a good job on making me think a lot.

I ultimately chose to kill Wham-a-Wham the Troll. I'm not happy or sad about it, I simply put myself in the shoes of the miners that the troll killed.

Like yes, from the troll's perspective, it is much like strangers invading my personal home and thus it's my right to defend myself and my home from these intruders.

But at the same time, I chose to put thoughts into this. Like what if those miners were fathers that wished to feed their wife and child(ren) through mining and delivering silver, so they were likely very desperate and chose to make a risk.

I also think, as a human, that if I was a miner going to a cave to do my work and I see a stone-like ogre with a big pot full of human remains, I wouldn't think that it's sentient and could be reasoned with.

Especially since there ARE wild ogres that are too feral to be sentient, so I likely couldn't tell whether or not the troll is friendly.

[Deo]

Ehh nothing to think there. If a monster is sentient, but it kills humans - we kill it as witcher.

Even with that village which worshiped leshen I did not think twice.

If you think that Geralt is a good person, you are mistaken.
Geralt a hypocrite. Sure he’ll help people, but usually for money. He only does things for free if he’s in the mood for it, or if something is TRULY evil.
His “Evil is evil” speech is ironic because he says there is no lesser evil, though he brings up that he always chooses the lesser evil later on.

It's a pretty good writing of a character with deep layers, that most people just skip past by.

[Flinsberg]

As a witcher, the game wants me to be more morally gray and neutral.

But as a human playing the game, I always choose humans over other races. I never think twice.

I don't care how sentient or intelligent the other races are: I'll always look out for my fellow h0m0 sapien.

[Dadpool]

In short, dilemma is: murder for invading personal space, I will let you decide whether it is deeply philosophical.

[Valden21]

Originally posted by Flinsberg:

As a witcher, the game wants me to be more morally gray and neutral.

But as a human playing the game, I always choose humans over other races. I never think twice.

I don't care how sentient or intelligent the other races are: I'll always look out for my fellow h0m0 sapien.

I have a different view. Many of the non-human NPC's we meet are rather peaceful, and just what to be left alone. For example, both of the succubi in the game are willing to talk, rather than fight. Heck, with the succubus encounter in Skellige, it's the druid who wants to fight. Now, look at some of the human NPCs. Caleb Menge's actively engaged in the torture of mages and non-humans, simply because they're different. Radovid has ordered them to be banished from all Redanian territory, and those who remain are in danger for their lives. IRL, we would call somebody who does those kinds of things a monster.

Now to Wham-a-Wham. Yes, he'll attack you when he first encounters you, but after you beat him up, he's willing to talk. If you let him talk, you'll learn the full story. He WARNED those miners to leave. He TOLD them that the cave was his home, but they ignored him. The moment he spoke, they should have realized that they might be able to strike a deal. But did they try? Absolutely not.

Considering all that, while SOME of the monsters are acting out of pure instinct, many of them are capable of thinking, and I don't bother those monsters if I can reason with them. But there's many humans in the game who, out of stupid arrogance and fear, lash out at anybody who's different. So while appearance is ONE determining factor for what classifies as a monster, there's also what somebody DOES. That's why even though Menge and his men require a steel sword to fight, I will always view them as monsters: they're doing monstrous things.