Something Ends, Something Begins – Witcher 3 Quest

This guide is a walkthrough of a main quest of the Witcher 3 endgame. The guide is composed of a map, map legend, and walkthrough to show readers exactly where to go and what to do to complete the quest.

Map Legend

1 – Abandoned Garrison
2 – Inn
3 – Mislav’s Cabin
4 – Ciri
5 – Griffin Nest
6 – Frozen Lake

Walkthrough

This quest will show you Ciri’s ending for the game. Where you’ll start out and what you’ll need to do will change depending on what you did earlier in the campaign.

Velen

If you corrected, coddled, and / or ignored Ciri during the campaign, then you’ll start out in Velen East. You’ll be hunting for the Weavess, the last remaining Crone (who you might remember from the quests Ladies of the Wood and Bald Mountain). During your search, you’ll pick up the trail of a werewolf named Berem, a reluctant minion of the Weavess. When you catch up to him a short distance away, he’ll ask you why you’re after the Weavess, and you’ll mention that Ciri is dead. He’ll then agree to lead you to the Crone.

While you’re following Berem, he’ll tell you that there’s a wolf den nearby, and he’ll ask you to carry the cubs away from the swamp, to prevent them from being transformed by the Crone. But when you get to the den, you’ll find some peasants camped out front, with the mother wolf caught in their trap. When you tell the peasants to leave, they’ll attack you. The peasants and their dogs won’t put up much of a fight, and you’ll earn 180 xp when they’re dead.

Afterwards, you’ll continue following Berem to the orphan village where the Crone still lives. Berem will offer to help you in the fight against her, but you’ll send him back to the wolf den so he can save the cubs himself.

When the Weavess reveals herself, she’ll have some drowners and water hags with her. We’d recommend taking out these other enemies first and then concentrating on the Crone when she’s alone. When the Weavess dies, you’ll earn 900 xp, and you’ll find Ciri’s (Vesemir’s) medallion in her house.

Vizima

If you supported Ciri during the campaign but didn’t take her to see Emperor Emhyr during the quest Blood on the Battlefield, then you’ll start out in Vizima, where you’ll need to make a report to Emhyr. You’ll tell him that Ciri died while battling the White Frost, and he’ll tell you that he never wants to see you again.

Back in White Orchard, you’ll need to travel north to the fortress where the Nilfgaardians once garrisoned their soldiers (#1). When you get there, you’ll meet a swordsmith named Master Ort, and you’ll purchase the silver sword Zireael from him.

Next up, you’ll need to travel to the White Orchard inn (#2). On your way there, you might spot a dwarf who will run away from you. When you track him to his camp, you’ll discover the dwarves that you rescued — that is, who sailed away in your boat — during the quest The Isle of Mists. They’ll tell you that they’re now “investors,” but then they’ll run away and hide, and you’ll meet some guardsmen claiming that they stole Lord Dagborg’s golden chalice. If you send the guardsmen packing and ask the dwarves for a cut of their profits, then they’ll pay you 250 crowns.

When you finally reach the White Orchard inn, you’ll meet Ciri there — not dead after all — and you’ll give her Zireael so she can begin her new career as a witcher.

White Orchard

If you supported Ciri during the campaign and took her to meet Emperor Emhyr during the quest Blood on the Battlefield, then you’ll start out inside the inn in White Orchard (#2). Dandelion, Zoltan and your love interest will be there, and you’ll be reminded that you have an appointment to keep.

When you exit the inn, the game won’t put a quest marker on the White Orchard map, but you’ll see that you’re supposed to head southwest. As you travel in that direction, a peasant will invite you to dinner, and you’ll pass by a notice board that might be colored yellow even though you won’t be able to interact with it.

Eventually you’ll come to your destination, the hunter Mislav’s cabin (#3). When you talk to Mislav (who you might remember from the quest The Beast of White Orchard), he’ll tell you that Ciri isn’t much of a hunter, and that she can be found “over yonder” to the west.

When you head west, you’ll find Ciri sitting on a ledge (#4). She won’t be overly talkative, but she’ll ask you to take her to the nest of the royal griffin that you killed at the start of the game (during The Beast of White Orchard). You’ll find the griffin nest to the south (#5). When you get there, Ciri will be distracted, and she’ll nearly get clawed by a level 30 forktail. You’ll then have to kill the forktail, which shouldn’t be too difficult with Ciri helping you. The forktail will drop a leveled version of the steel sword Dancer when it dies.

At this point, it’ll be clear that Ciri is upset about something, but she still won’t talk to you, so you’ll suggest that the two of you go fishing. You’ll then need to head east to a frozen lake (#6). However, when you get there you’ll discover that a bear is already there, so you’ll decide to scare it off by throwing a bomb at it. Any bomb will work for this. When you land a bomb near the bear, it’ll go running off and you’ll earn 200 xp. The bomb will also do your “fishing” for you and leave four Dead Fish behind.

Note: If you kill the bear with a sign or a weapon, then you’ll need to throw a bomb into the lake to make the Dead Fish appear.

Another Note: If you can’t see the Dead Fish, then just turn on your witcher senses to make them glow red.

With the fish collected, you’ll decide that it’s time to head back to White Orchard (#2). A long walk and a short piggyback ride later, you’ll arrive at the town to discover that Emperor Emhyr’s forces are there waiting for Ciri. Ciri will then finally reveal what’s been on her mind — that she’s agreed to become Emhyr’s successor, and that she plans to spend the rest of her days at court. You won’t be able to talk her out of this decision. Ciri will then hand you her sword (although you won’t actually receive anything), and she’ll ride off with the soldiers.

Conclusion

After completing this quest and watching the credits, you’ll find yourself back at Kaer Morhen. You’ll still be able to play the game, and in fact this a good point to start working your way through the DLCs, if you have them. You can also save your game here, and then use that save to start a New Game+, where you’ll get to play through the campaign again with a higher level Geralt plus higher level enemies. Almost all of your equipment (minus quest items and gwent cards) will carry over in this mode.

Congratulations for completing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt!