Philip Strenger Appreciation Thread

[yoobzon]

Philip Strenger Appreciation Thread

Howdy,

I'm on my third playthrough and I just finished the Family matters quest line again. It's really amazing how impactful this storyline is, even if you know the outcomes through and through. He really is the most complex side character in the history of gaming. You hate him and you feel for him at the same time. Even now, after I've seen this play out 3 times, I still can't decide whether I symphatize or hate the guy.

And the whispering hillock binary choice... It gets even harder once you know both outcomes. Such an impactful moment. I'm in complete awe. CDPR has achieved something that only great books and movies can normally achieve. This questline is just mind-blowingly complex

What do you think about the Baron? Is it just me or is the questline a bloody masterpiece?

 

[Willowhugger]

It is, though some people didn't sympathize with him too much.

I did, though.

Bloody Baron for Temeria's King!

 

[Deathstruck92]

He is, without a doubt, the best written character in RPGs I have ever met so far.

Also I might be wrong, but someone told me if you free the tree spirit before doing the quest, the Crones will blame just you and won't curse Anna, so you can still save her and the orphans at the same time.

Does anyone know if this is legit?

 

[yoobzon]

He is, without a doubt, the best written character in RPGs I have ever met so far.

Also I might be wrong, but someone told me if you free the tree spirit before doing the quest, the Crones will blame just you and won't curse Anna, so you can still save her and the orphans at the same time.

Does anyone know if this is legit?

I dunno about that but ultimately, even though I sympathized with the guy a fair bit, we all knew he kinda had to die to fulfill his arc because:

1) It frees him from the terrible codependent relationship that will surely destroy him and crazy Anna on a much deeper level than a suicide would. In the alternative ending, I can imagine him spending years on a wild goose chase looking for a cure and eventually going insane and dying alone
2) He kinda had it coming. It breaks my heart to say that but he did. There are mistakes you don't recover from. And the auicide ending is actually the better resolution for Phillip
3) He's a cruel wife beater that probably was the direct cause for Anna's miscarriage. As much as I love the guy, there is no absolution for what he did

 

[Songborn]

While I have no sympathy for the Bloody Baron and continued to tell him so in-game, I really enjoyed the whole questline, because it just seemed very real (Baby ghosts and horrific crones aside). It showed nicely that abuse is not something that is necessarily connected to hate and I was happy to see that it didn't try to justify what the Baron did to his wife. He might have loved her, but he also killed a man because he could not stand the fact that his wife loved somebody else and proceed to beat her for many years. It was fascinating to see him slowly realize just what he did to her after Geralt let's none his excuses ("She always knew have to rise my ire") stand.
Great questline and it definitely put up a high bar for the following content.

 

[Enfrize]

It's lame that we still don't know his destiny after he leave with his wife... Maybe later Devs will do something about minor characters and add them to the ending sliders?

 

[yoobzon]

It's lame that we still don't know his destiny after he leave with his wife... Maybe later Devs will do something about minor characters and add them to the ending sliders?

I would not necessarily agree with that, it's better that we dunno. Ifwe met him later one, it would have to be a scene like the Whoresonn Junior resolution scene. He would be desperate, alone and on the verge of insanity. While I enjoyed that happen to Whoreson, I don;t think the baron deserves to be humiliated in the story like that...

@Songborn - I definitely agree with you man. We see it a lot in every day life - decent people spiraling into obscurity and ugliness. Baron is a terrible person but you can see the goodness shining through. My sister teaches some vocational courses in a large prison in the UK. This is exactly how she describes the more hardened criminals

 

[Enfrize]

I would not necessarily agree with that, it's better that we dunno. Ifwe met him later one, it would have to be a scene like the Whoresonn Junior resolution scene. He would be desperate, alone and on the verge of insanity. While I enjoyed that happen to Whoreson, I don;t think the baron deserves to be humiliated in the story like that...

No, you misunderstood me. I was talking about that it will be good if we see him IN THE ENDING SLIDERS where you have description of world state after war, Ciri destiny and Geralt destiny. Not another scene with him (while it will be good too).

 

[yoobzon]

No, you misunderstood me. I was talking about that it will be good if we see him IN THE ENDING SLIDERS when you have description of world states after war, Ciri destiny and Geralt destiny. Not another scene with him (while it will be good too).

Oh, ok. However, you do get a "story snippet" like that at the end of the questline. It implies that he went away with Anna to seek a cure for her insanity and basically lost almost all control over Crow's Perch. For me, that was more than enough info to let the rest play out in my head

 

[Willowhugger]

I see Phillip as a victim of war and, unfortunately, there's no therapists in the Continent. I also think his wife was absolutely abused horrifically by him and would turn on him the moment she recovered.

 

[vivaxardas2015]

I like him very much. He is a good man but he and Anna screwed up their family life. I don't blame him any more than I blame her. If to listen to his complete story, and not interrupt with some stupid self-righteous b.s., it is pretty obvious. He deeply loves his wife, but after her affair, Phil just went all Titus Pullo (Rome TV Show) on that bastard Anna wanted to leave him for. After that everything went to hell with Anna trying to kill him as she was unable to forgive him and hated him to the end (her death or insanity). Phil was unable to resolve it, and stared to beat her regularly out of frustration. Yeah, some family therapy would be clearly beneficial there. Also it was not his immediate fault that Anna miscarried, it was her who asked the Crones to get rid of the fetus, and it happened as soon as she lost her amulet.
At the end of the day Phil pretty much sacrificed everything for her - even with the good ending he lost any hope of becoming a baron when he left for the Blue Mountains, so he pretty much ended up with nothing. I like to think that Anna gets better, and they all move to Oxenfurt and make some sort of decent life there.
Yes, this story-line is probably the best in the entire game.

 

[Willowhugger]

I think Phillip is absolutely to blame for most of his problems but also a product of his environment. In the culture of Temeria, murdering your wife's lover and feeding him to the dogs is probably a little extreme but if the lover was a peasant then Phillip probably didn't even do anything illegal.

However, it doesn't change the fact that his wife was probably a prisoner in her own home from then on. Both probably because it was expected of her and the fact that Phillip could turn her out at any moment to destitution (not to mention having no recourse given he'd already shown he'd keep their child no matter what).

Phillip is clearly suffering from numerous war-related conditions, alcoholism, and the fact that the culture of the nobility is toxic to any sane person. He's forced to be an abusive spouse and a murderer and a tyrant because that's how the NORTH'S CONCEPT OF MASCULINITY AND NOBILITY WORKS. He's as trapped in his role as a spouse as his wife is.

But in the words of Asha Greyjoy to Victarion Greyjoy. "I feel sorry for you but her more."

 

[vivaxardas2015]

Yes, she was a prisoner because no way in hell he would have allowed her to take their daughter and leave him. But she was not really helpless silent victim of a spousal abuse, like in a situation when a man simply gets off on beating his wife even if she obeys him and tries to please. Anna actively provoked him any chance she could get, and Phil was unable to control his temper and beat her, causing her to hate him even more. It was simply crazy, and with no end. She turned to the crones out of hate and desperation, but later, when she got an amulet, she clearly came to regret it. It was one big mess they got themselves into, and Dea was the one to pay for it.

 

[Charcharo]

As a character, writing... themes...

His entire quest line was glorious. I dont like the guy... but DAMN... that is how you do human, believable, flawed characters... I loved this line...

 

[CostinRaz]

The only good plot in the entire mediocre experience that is TW3. Quite liked the Baron and the nuance present there. If the rest of the game had been as good I'd consider it superb. Alas we are left with the Baron.

Robert Baratheon indeed.

Also I might be wrong, but someone told me if you free the tree spirit before doing the quest, the Crones will blame just you and won't curse Anna, so you can still save her and the orphans at the same time.

I really have to wonder about this myself.

 

[heschu]

Also I might be wrong, but someone told me if you free the tree spirit before doing the quest, the Crones will blame just you and won't curse Anna, so you can still save her and the orphans at the same time.
I really have to wonder about this myself.

But it seems bugged and not intentional, as far as i know when you get there again later, he will hang from the tree even if he went to the blue mountains with anna...


This may be the best Questline I have seen with any game and it gave me really trouble, first he really seemed as a guy I don't really care for sedning me on a quest to find his wife, then I find out why she ran and he beat her to a pulp. But after you learn more about him his story, the relationship and all of that you really start thinking, on the one hand he did all that but you definitly see that he has a kind heart, he is really helpful and took care of ciri as well as taken greta in, sure he sends you on missions^^ and only spills the beans bit for bit about ciri but you get why, he is desperate but he honors the deal you make, not like every other person in Witcher would do the same.
I get why he killed that lover of Anna and in a world like that it's not really something awful to do and in the following 200h of the game we will kill a lot o people for less. After this point Anna hates him and as we all know women who know us very well know how to make us furious just with a few well placed words, admit it your girlfriend knows exactly where your weaknesses are and if she pokes in them again and again just to hurt you, well nothing good is coming from that. And we see different times that he still cared for her after that and knows her well. Not to talk about his PTSD from the war. The more you think about it the more ugly questions come up, like if she hated him for so long and couldn't stand him anymore, did she really sleep with him willingly to get pregnant but that's some other sick theory for another day

In this Quest it seems there is no right and I believe everyone has a different ending, of that tale, that he prefers, for me it is freeing the ghost and ending the suffering and bringing some kind of closure, maybe because the fate of anna if she lives remember me of someone.

 

[Vargeras]

It doesn't matter when you do the quest.
I freed the spirit in my first playthrough before I even met the baron.
But the crones will always blame Anna for letting the children go.

 

[devivre]

Yes a wonderfully written character (you don't need to like him to appreciate that ).

 

[AdamSiuda]

Best story line written in the game. Why? Because its so real, beliveable. Im 26, but i fully admit, this quest made me tear up couple of times (when Stenger was talking about his past, how he destroyed his and familly life, turning Botchling into a Lubberkin). The ending is also hearth breaking, but it gives hope that Anna can recover from insanity.

"I hope you find your Ciri. And you will be a good father".

 

[heschu]

"I hope you find your Ciri. And you will be a good father".

That's a great foreshadowing regarding the ending choices, generally it kind of mirrors Geralts quest for yen and ciri, the mother involved with a third party, Crones and Nilfgaard, Ciri fleeing from the Wild Hunt and Tamara fleeing to the Witchhunters, the overall Father theme and a sneaky way to show you that you should accept the choices your spouse makes. Sure it is reaching a bit but parallels are defenitly there...