CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3 hit 18-year-old me and every other fantasy role-playing games dork (honorific) like a truck. The threequel had everything: a dynamic open-world, multi-faceted characters and in-game choices that actually felt like they mattered. However, the latter bit me in the ass several times over in my first playthrough.
Despite being a huge lover of fantasy RPGs with impactful decisions (looking at you, Dragon Age: Origins,) I went into The Witcher 3 fairly ignorant of the lore. I hadn’t yet played the previous two games and so didn’t know too much beyond “Oooh, magic and swords and monsters!” All I cared about was that I was a basilisk-slaying protagonist named Geralt who was looking for my pseudo-daughter Ciri, while my beautiful lover Yennefer told me how stupid I was and didn’t understand why that only made her want to kiss me all the more. As you can probably tell, this lack of comprehension led me to places I wouldn’t go with a gun. Namely: right into the arms of Keira Metz.
[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for the Keira Metz questline in The Witcher 3.]
Keira Metz is part of the Lodge of Sorceresses, a secret organization dedicated to overseeing matters of magic and counseling the kings and queens of the Northern Kingdoms. By the time The Witcher 3 comes round, Keira’s swapped a life in the royal court to become the local witch for the people of Velen. Not by choice: she’s been run out after losing the trust of her liege, King Foltest of Temeria. Because of this, she’s desperate to get back into the lap of luxury – by any means necessary.
So desperate, it seems, that Keira takes the notes for the potential cure of the Catriona plague and shapes it into a weapon for the worst person alive: the magic-hating King Radovid of Redania. In Keira’s mind, impressing Radovid will earn her a place at his side and a total willingness to totally forget about the whole I-hate-magic-and-all-who-wield-it shtick that he has going on.
Now, Keira’s desperation for a life without bed bugs coming at the cost of thousands of people seems a little, shall we say, dramatic? But, in a really roundabout way, I sympathized with her. It’s not easy being forced out of your home, never knowing when or if you’ll ever be able to go back. Should it come at the cost of thousands of lives? Ehhhhh.
So, I made a decision. And it turned out to be a terrible, no-good-at-all, very bad, one. Again, I was 18 and had not yet mastered the idea of making multiple saves before what might be a terrible decision. Keep that concept at the front of your mind, please and thank you.
I decided to trust that Keira knew what she was doing. Besides, if anyone could charm the pants off Radovid, it would probably be her, right? So, off I went and continued to spend 30+ hours doing my own thing in The Witcher 3. I made choices that I regret, but ultimately didn’t feel too awful about. Slowly, but surely, I completely forgot about Keira.
Then I headed to Novigrad again during the quest Final Preparations and found out that I’d made a little big mistake. When asking Triss where the other sorceresses of the Lodge were, she revealed that Keira’s confidence in gaining amnesty from Radovid was unearned, and she, sadly, was put to the stake.
To say I was gutted was an understatement. There was a Keira Metz-shaped hole in my heart and it only got worse when myself and Triss had to sneak her body out from the square of Novigrad’s city. It’s a heartwrenching scene, and I adored how The Witcher 3 gave even a minor characters’ death the gravity it deserved. It’s probably why it’s still one of my favorite games of all time.
I also learned a valuable lesson that day: Only believe beautiful women know what they’re doing 99% of the time, and, for the love of god, make multiple saves. It may save a virtual life.