What is your favorite ending? [SPOILERS]

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What is your favorite ending? [SPOILERS]

  • Ciri becomes a witcher.

    Votes: 158 71.2%
  • Ciri become Empress.

    Votes: 51 23.0%
  • Ciri dies.

    Votes: 13 5.9%

  • Total voters
    222
Very true.

It's also possible the Emperor made a carrot and stick sort of situation. "It'd be a terrible shame if I had to kill every tenth person in the North because my daughter wasn't there to rule them fairly."

Huh... possible. Then again, Emhyrs is not a monster. Ruthless and uncompromising, yes, but he cares for his empire and the people in it... destroying the North just to beat his daughter into submission would be a bit below him.
 
True... in the end, Ciri only accepts the position after she talked to her father. While we can only guess what the actual conversation was, I think it's save to assume that Emhyrs didn't bate Ciri with wealth or power, which only leaves one possible motivation: Responsibility. To "her" people and the rest the world. The emperor knows his reign nears it's end, and he knows his empire will most likely not survive without him... if anything could sway Ciri to accept his offer, it would be that.

Exploiting someone's self-sacrificing nature and desire to see suffering end. Classy move. I wonder if Philippa can help with depression?
 
Very true.

It's also possible the Emperor made a carrot and stick sort of situation. "It'd be a terrible shame if I had to kill every tenth person in the North because my daughter wasn't there to rule them fairly."

Considering that he elected to spare Geralt and Yennefer for no other reason than that he didn't want to hurt / anger his daughter, I think that's highly unlikely.
 
Huh... possible. Then again, Emhyrs is not a monster. Ruthless and uncompromising, yes, but he cares for his empire and the people in it... destroying the North just to beat his daughter into submission would be a bit below him.

Well, there's the whole Cintra thing.

As Dandelion says....

"Not this war, Geralt. After this war, no-one returns. There will be nothing to return to. Nilfgaard leaves behind it only rubble; its armies advance like lava from which no-one escapes. The roads are strewn, for miles, with gallows and pyres; the sky is cut with columns of smoke as long as the horizon. Since the beginning of the world, in fact, nothing of this sort has happened before. Since the world is our world... You must understand that the Nilfgaardians have descended from their mountains to destroy this world."

Emryhs is willing to commit genocide to get control of his daughter and has done so in the past.

Though he might realize Ciri is more inclined to go "BOTH ARE FOR MONSTERS!" than be cowed, too.

Hmmm.

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Considering that he elected to spare Geralt and Yennefer for no other reason than that he didn't want to hurt / anger his daughter, I think that's highly unlikely.

Emrys is hard to read and Charles Dance is a good choice becasue Emryhs would spare Yennefer and Geralt because Ciri would never forgive him but I think he'd murder anyone if he thought it'd get him what he wanted too.

He's very results orientated.
 
Emrys is hard to read and Charles Dance is a good choice becasue Emryhs would spare Yennefer and Geralt because Ciri would never forgive him but I think he'd murder anyone if he thought it'd get him what he wanted too.

He's very results orientated.

That he is to a fault... no matter his intentions, one thing is for sure: Ciri will never really be happy as the empress... that's what both "good" endings clearly show.
 
That he is to a fault... no matter his intentions, one thing is for sure: Ciri will never really be happy as the empress... that's what both "good" endings clearly show.

Yeah, though she would do a super-super job given Royalty who considers common people human is unprecedented in the history of the Continent.

OTOH, General Voorhis seems like a decent dude. So Nilfgaard is unlikely to be especially evil under his rule too. Maybe even slightly on the "pro" scale since he doesn't have Emryhs godlike ambitions.

He seems more like a, "maybe I'll invade one or two countries" versus "conquer the world."
 
Sure but she's got her magic (most powerfull in the world i guess) so I bet there are some spells that grant protections from diseases. And thanks to them she wouldn't need potions (magic enhanced combat like vilgefortz in books).
I don't think that in the witcher world spells protect from the diseases. The best spell against the plague is to teleport yourself away to the safe place. And since she didn't really study magic seriously I doubt she'll be as good as Vilgefortz in the combat magic, who had dozens of years of practice. Ciri is only good at disappearing in the dangerous moment in terms of magic.
Pregnancy is good, isn't it? ;) Especially with the prophecy in mind.
Not if you're make a living as a witcher without any other source of income. To make it worth she'll need to marry a prince... but then she would have chosen to be the empress in the first place.
 
Voorhis has also two daughters Ciri's age.

Hell, one who might be a love interest in a Witcher ending or at least Ciri's type of girl.

Personally, I think it'd be cool after her failed Civil War if the Baroness Lavalette became Empress of General Voorhis.

Are you sure that Voorhis has two daughters of Ciri's age? According to the lore (original saga and The World of the Witcher) he is around 20 years old. But Ambassador var Attre has two daughters, Rosa and Edna.

Baroness is at least 15 years older and Nordling. It is so implausible that he would marry her. But she could marry Morvran's father, during the saga he was a widower. Being a stepmother of the Emperor is still cool.

Anyway, in my game Ciri becomes Empress and I am satisfied with that.
 
You're not enabling anything by telling Ciri the truth when she asks for the truth. It is disrespectful to tell someone a lie when they ask for your honest opinion. You are treating her like a child if you can't tell her the truth, a child that can't make a decision when all the facts are presented to her.

You are telling her your opinion, so that is not automatically "the truth". The game beats you over the head with the fact that she is an adult who can make her own decisions and who doesn't need advice to come to correct conclusions.

Ciri doesn't want to see her father because she knows he's a scumbag. You have to convince her to see Emhyr, it's not the other way around. In the end, if you take her to see Emhyr, he ends up manipulating her with guilt.

I see it the other way around. You give her the chance to overcome her own prejudices if you take her to him, so that she can form her own impressions. I don't see Ciri as someone who is easily manipulated (another fact made clear when the game sees it as the better choice to not accompany her to her meeting with the sorceresses).

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As for Voorhis as her future husband, he seems like a decent enough dude, but physically he reminds me of a more adult version of the hacker dude in the recent Dredd movie.
 
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The Witcher ending is the best for me, even the ending where Ciri dies is better than empress, in fact the empress ending make no sense to me, just my opinion anyway.
 
I like both the witcher and the empress endings. But it seems that people don't get the empress ending at all.
1) Emhyr didn't threat Ciri at all, she said about him trying to bribe her, not a word about "threats".
2) Believing Dandelion words about Nilfgaard invasion is counter-productive, common, it's DANDELION, if you check the facts he's completely wrong. No one annihilate Cintra, no one annihilate others kingdoms conquered by Nilfgaard, in the game Nilfgaard acting fine.
3) Before the empress ending Ciri had MONTHS to think about Emhyr offer, I think it's count for something, it wasn't hotheaded decision.
4) I didn't see the facts about someone manipulating Ciri to the empress ending. Emhyr talked to her only once and made the offer, that's all.
5) Ciri is talking about been a witcher and the freedom of the open road and etc. You may say that it's what she really want, but I can counter - that's what she ONLY knew, she didn't have another life at all, never! You saying Emhyr may trying to manipulate her? Heh, how old was she when Geralt start to make her a witcher? Yeaaa, I guess he give her a lot of choices. So you may say about manipulating - I may say about her chance for another life, she didn't have that chance at all during all her life, but Emhyr gave it to her and she agreed.
 
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So you may say about manipulating - I may say about her chance for another life, she didn't have that chance at all during all her life, but Emhyr gave it to her and she agreed.

Essentially why the Witcher ending is all about Geralt choosing the life he had for Ciri whereas the Empress ending is all about Ciri choosing her own end.
 
Essentially why the Witcher ending is all about Geralt choosing the life he had for Ciri whereas the Empress ending is all about Ciri choosing her own end.

Just as I see it. The Empress ending his her as a fully realized human being making her own choice.
 
Essentially why the Witcher ending is all about Geralt choosing the life he had for Ciri whereas the Empress ending is all about Ciri choosing her own end.

Really? You honestly think Geralt would want Ciri to be a Witcher versus having a normal peaceful life as an innkeeper or a cat burglar or a songstress like Priscilla?

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Just as I see it. The Empress ending his her as a fully realized human being making her own choice.

I see it as the "Princess Leia becomes the Empress of the Galaxy due to her heritage as Darth Vader's daughter" ending. It's a happy ending but an esoteric and weird one.

---------- Updated at 11:58 AM ----------

I like both the witcher and the empress endings. But it seems that people don't get the empress ending at all.
1) Emhyr didn't threat Ciri at all, she said about him trying to bribe her, not a word about "threats".
2) Believing Dandelion words about Nilfgaard invasion is counter-productive, common, it's DANDELION, if you check the facts he's completely wrong. No one annihilate Cintra, no one annihilate others kingdoms conquered by Nilfgaard, in the game Nilfgaard acting fine.
3) Before the empress ending Ciri had MONTHS to think about Emhyr offer, I think it's count for something, it wasn't hotheaded decision.
4) I didn't see the facts about someone manipulating Ciri to the empress ending. Emhyr talked to her only once and made the offer, that's all.
5) Ciri is talking about been a witcher and the freedom of the open road and etc. You may say that it's what she really want, but I can counter - that's what she ONLY knew, she didn't have another life at all, never! You saying Emhyr may trying to manipulate her? Heh, how old was she when Geralt start to make her a witcher? Yeaaa, I guess he give her a lot of choices. So you may say about manipulating - I may say about her chance for another life, she didn't have that chance at all during all her life, but Emhyr gave it to her and she agreed.

The Butchery of Cintra is something mentioned in an in-game book. The Nilfgaard are really MUCH nicer in this game than before. I'm impressed with CD_Red treating them this way, honestly.
 
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Really? You honestly think Geralt would want Ciri to be a Witcher versus having a normal peaceful life as an innkeeper or a cat burglar or a songstress like Priscilla?

Yes I do actually. That's what he wanted to do originally in the books as well and that's what he wants to do in the game as well as evidenced by the Witcher ending and what Phillipa says. It's even what he personally implies quite strongly in the Empress ending until the truth comes smashing down.

The Butchery of Cintra is something mentioned in an in-gqm3 book. The Nilfgaard are really MUCH nicer in this game than before. I'm impressed with CD_Red treating them this way, honestly.

But that's the inconsistency ain't it? Nilfgaard has it's own downsides in TW2 and TW3 but that's individual acts rather then state policy.

What CDPR understood was the North is far worse then Nilfgaard as a whole and portrayed that. Also I feel quite strongly that Ciri Empress as ending is the "good ending", or the one CDPR tried the hardest to sell as such.

Look at what is required to get it:

You first need to take Ciri to Emhyr. If you don't then nothing happens but if you do then you get a good amount of coin OR far more crucially if you decide to refuse the coin ( and you're a jackass if you take the coin ) a very sweet and tender moment between Geralt and Ciri along with a Black Horse, along with more screen time with Emhyr, Ciri, Geralt and Voorhis. Either way you are rewarded for the decision

Then let's look at the political situation, actually winning the war for Nilfgaard. Radovid is portrayed in a very negative light by the game with no reason at all for Geralt not to want to assassinate him besides some foolish notion of hardcore neutrality, but Dijkstra makes it very clear to you why neutrality is idiocy here: They'll come after you and those closest to you soon if you don't stop Radovid.

It's very clear the game pushes you very hard to kill Radovid and with regards to the Dijkstra choice the game also pushes hard there as well to help Roche. in TW2 you and him fought side by and side and bonded, hell you may spend the entire game with a tattoo you got by partying with his men and while even on Iorveth's path Roche saved your life from the Nilfgaardians.

In TW3 Roche risks his life to help you at Kaer Morhen. There's only one "good" choice as the game pushes it hard on you to go down that path.

Finally there's the actual epilogue itself versus the other two. In the Empress ending you have about 20-30 mins worth of content with a decent amount of dialogue with Dandelion, Zoltan and Ciri, also a small bit with Yennefer/Triss. The Witcher ending is considerably shorter and does not feature this, the only character or worth you talk to is Emhyr but it's a short conversation.

On top of that the Empress epilogue has a radically different landscape then the other two with CDPR changing the entire location to winter graphics, a lot of effort probably went into it, and there's the Temerian flags and soldiers around as they've reclaimed their country. It's a peaceful and quiet place unlike in the witcher ending.

Finally Geralt and Ciri say proper goodbyes to each other, either for good or only for a certain amount of time as Ciri will find Geralt, depends on your final dialogue choice.

In the witcher ending they don't say goodbye, but the epilogue slide makes it clear they split anyway.

The Ciri is dead ending is also better then the witcher ending in terms of a proper send off as you have Geralt tracking down the last Crone to recover Vesemir's medallion and throws away his life due to the grief he feels at the loss of his child. You also have a boss fight there versus nothing in the witcher ending and the forktail in the Empress ending.

The Empress ending contains the most amount of content, dialogue and overall effort from the team with the bad ending coming second the witcher ending being the absolute worst of the lot.
 
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Yes I do actually. That's what he wanted to do originally in the books as well and that's what he wants to do in the game as well as evidenced by the Witcher ending and what Phillipa says. It's even what he personally implies quite strongly in the Empress ending until the truth comes smashing down.

Eh, Ciri was FORCED onto him by destiny. Geralt did his best attempt to keep Ciri as a Princess in a castle loved by her family.

Queen Calanthe was like, "How many Witchers die in the Trials?"
"Most of them."
"So will you take my daughter, anyway?"
"No."

I think the books honestly implied the Cintra genocide happened BECAUSE of Ciri's destiny. If Geralt had taken her, it wouldn't have happened.
 
I am 99% sure that the "Bad ending" doesn't include Ciri dying but just not returning back to this world and seeing Geralt again.
Makes sense since to get this ending, you'd need to treat her in a bad way as Geralt, something that would annoy her a lot and she just wouldn't see a reason to return and see him if he is being such an ass to her...

On topic now, Liked witcher ending best, wow I was so sure she died and was really upset, then I saw her alive and was like wow awesome! Turned so happy, improved my terrible ending for Geralt by a lot (He got neither Triss nor Yen, at least he has Ciri even though they separate later on and go their own ways).
 
I am 99% sure that the "Bad ending" doesn't include Ciri dying but just not returning back to this world and seeing Geralt again.
Makes sense since to get this ending, you'd need to treat her in a bad way as Geralt, something that would annoy her a lot and she just wouldn't see a reason to return and see him if he is being such an ass to her...

On topic now, Liked witcher ending best, wow I was so sure she died and was really upset, then I saw her alive and was like wow awesome! Turned so happy, improved my terrible ending for Geralt by a lot (He got neither Triss nor Yen, at least he has Ciri even though they separate later on and go their own ways).

I think that's a valid alternate interpretation of the scene but I think the intention by the developers is she's dead.

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Funny thing - http://puu.sh/ifGWv/1b5c608cd0.png I know it's not the Empress of the Galaxy, but Chief of State of the New Republic not bad too.

To be fair, I'm not sure with the Prequels why Leia was all so hot to restore the Republic. They really needed a third option. Maybe we'll get that in the new movies.
 
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