The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an action RPG that was first released in 2015 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One; the game later received ports to newer consoles, including PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S. In that time, the game has come to be regarded as one of the best RPGs ever made.
Part of The Witcher 3’s lasting legacy lies in its main protagonist, Geralt of Rivia. His complex yet honorable role in the game is best exemplified by a line he says that other RPGs will have to scramble to match.
Geralt of Rivia Is the King of Video Game Anti-Heroes
The premise of The Witcher 3 centers on Geralt of Rivia rescuing his adopted daughter Ciri, who is currently being pursued by the Wild Hunt, a supernatural team of hunters who want her to join their mission. From this basic premise, one can be forgiven for thinking that Geralt is straightforwardly characterized as an undeniable heroic figure.
In reality, Geralt’s personality, as well as his standing as a hero, proves to be a little more complicated than one may expect. For one, he spent much of the first Witcher game dealing with amnesia, which effectively made him a blank slate with a muddled perception of morality to begin with. For another, by nature of being a Witcher, he has to deal with the stigma of being a mutant.
This renders him considerably more cynical in terms of his worldview. On the one hand, as seen in The Witcher 3, Geralt is clearly devoted to his daughter and will go to great lengths to protect her from harm. On the other hand, he is more than willing to kill for his daughter, and he is not afraid to show it.
Indeed, over the course of The Witcher 3, Geralt is forced to confront the forces preventing him from reaching Ciri. Here, he can choose to show limited mercy toward his enemies or outright slaughter them, whatever suits him best. He could have located and rescued Ciri peacefully, allowing them to live without fear.
However, not everything in the real world works like that, which Geralt knows all too well. He is painfully aware of the fact that any choices he makes can lead to serious consequences, which is reflected in a line he says in the game.
Geralt of Rivia Says He Is Forced to Make Tough Choices
Andrzej Sapkowski, creator of the source material for The Witcher games, makes a point about how arbitrary morality is when it comes to choice. Geralt’s quote comes in the short story collection The Last Wish, from the chapter “The Lesser Evil.”
More specifically, he says: “Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference. The degree is arbitrary. The definition’s blurred. If I were to choose between one evil and another… I’d rather not choose at all.” The line receives many callbacks throughout The Witcher 3. More importantly, the quote is repeated verbatim in the game’s famous Killing Monsters trailer.
Geralt ends up killing almost immediately after saying this line, which may come off as ironic but also makes sense in the context of the game. Given The Witcher III‘s many endings, there’s no way for Geralt to reach them without killing anyone. It is just the nature of life, and if Geralt had it his own way, he could rescue Ciri without going through the trouble of engaging in a bloodbath against his enemies.
Andrzej Sapkowski designed Geralt to be as neutral a character as possible. However, he made a point that Geralt couldn’t strictly stick to his moral code under intense pressure. To this end, he may make choices that will either lead to others getting hurt or, even worse, lead to his daughter being in grave danger.
In the end, players have to come to accept that there is no real pacifism, either in the real world or in the Witcher universe. They can only hope to inflict as little damage as possible on others.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Released
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May 19, 2015
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
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CD Projekt Red
- Publisher(s)
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CD Projekt Red
- Engine
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REDengine 3