Why a heart of stone

[CoconutChriss]

Why a heart of stone

Why did Olgierd's heart turn to stone after his wish was granted? What was the exact wording of his wish that O'Dimm could come up with this as one of the negative side effects?

Just finished the expansion... and it was fucking awesome. :geraltfeelgood:

But this one part I didn't understand. Maybe because of the English translation?

 

[Willowhugger]

Olgierd wished for the ability to live every day like it was last.

O'Dimm did so by making Olgierd utterly fearless but without any remorse, pity, or sympathy.

He made him a psychopath with no restraints, basically.

The other two requests were wealth and immortality.

 

[GoodOldB1ackjack]

I'm a bit more concerned by "hearts". It implies it's not only Olgerd.

 

[TheEmmentaler]

My guess is that the title is an allusion to Wilhelm Hauff's story "The Cold Heart", which is a about a mystic giant (or perhaps a devil) who offers people wealth, but in return, they must have their hearts replaced with a stone. The protagonist loses all emotions as a consequence. Olgierd's story is a bit more complicated, of course.

I'm a bit more concerned by "hearts". It implies it's not only Olgerd.

Well, Hauff's story inspired 20th century German writer Arno Schmidt to write his novel "The Heart of Stone", so maybe CR Project Red wanted to avoid a name clash

But seriously, my educated guess is that Geralt can prove, depending on his choices in the DLC, that he has or has not a heart of stone, too.

 

[Pug.]

"Hearts" (plural) of stone could be applied to a lot of the relationships within the game. The most obvious, of course, is Olgierd and Iris, but there's also the Borsodi brothers. Their father stipulated in his will that they needed to meet once a year and shake hands in order for the auction house to remain within the family. Olgierd later tells Geralt that they haven't spoken in years, and depending on the choices that you make, one brother ends up killing the other. You could even apply "heart of stone" to Geralt's relationship with Shani. She teases him several times throughout the expansion about his inability to express emotion, and his unwillingness to subordinate his own interests to hers was the reason for their breakup in the first place:

Though a very young woman, Shani proved more mature than the witcher, who had always found relationships puzzling and difficult. Geralt would dodge his obligations towards her, preferring instead to pursue the missions King Foltest assigned him. The medic quickly realized this flour would yield no bread.

Just my opinion, though. Could be something more pragmatic like Emmentaler said.

 

[GoodOldB1ackjack]

My guess is that the title is an allusion to Wilhelm Hauff's story "The Cold Heart"

Nice to know, thanks! Going to read it.

my educated guess is that Geralt can prove, depending on his choices in the DLC, that he has or has not a heart of stone, too.

I was kinda suspecting back then, that maybe dealing with O'Dimm also started to affect Geralt the way it affected Olgerd, and maybe that's the reason he doesn't even think of Yennefer/Triss while having fun with Shani at the wedding, even if it's happening post-maingame. But i couldn't notice any evidence of that after beating the expansion, so i guess it's just a tiny bit unelaborate writing.