The Witcher 3 is home to plenty of incredible questlines, which is probably the strong suit of the game. That's not to say that most of the other mechanics in the game are unsatisfying or anything like that, it's just that there are only so many games in recent memory that makes the player care about retrieving a frying pan for an old lady in the wilderness.
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One of the most interesting quests in the game, "The Ladies Of The Woods" follows Geralt through Crookback Bog, while he's looking for any clues to Ciri's whereabouts in addition to trying to track down The Bloody Baron's wife. Here are a few things the player should know before jumping in.
10 There's Really No Good Way To Deal With The Whispering Hillock
During the quest, there'll be a bit of sidetracking thanks to a request by the Ealdorman the player meets while trying to actually start the quest, therefore diverting the action. This quest, The Whispering Hillock, follows Geralt as he deals with a spirit trapped in a local oak tree. This spirit might have worse intentions than it lets on, and in fact, it does. If the player releases it, it destroys Downwarren and children are freed from the crones. If it's killed, the children are eaten.
9 The Children Know More Than They Let On
When the player first steps foot in Crookback Bog, they're treated to a lengthy venture into the picturesque, foggy woods before a cutscene happens. During this cutscene, Geralt encounters a few children who are singing and playing in the Bog, a rather odd place for children. After encountering the orphans, he meets Gran, a tight-lipped old woman who orders a child inside. Distracting Gran after playing hide-and-seek with the children allows you to talk to the child inside, who divulges the location of a helpful Godling nearby.
8 Gran Isn't Who She Appears To Be
While it might be obvious to some players who identify a lot with the fantasy detective part of Geralt, Gran isn't who you think she is.
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It's easy to assume that she's most likely an envoy of the Ealdorman from Downwarren who takes care of the kids before they're consumed by the crones, but we find out instead that it's Anna, the baron's wife, who traded a year of her life tending to the meals of the Crones in exchange for this great hiding spot.
7 There's Some Moral Ambiguity In Geralt's Decisions
Kind of altogether, this quest is one of the first that really makes the player question the morality of Witchers as a whole, but also of Geralt in specific. Whether we're talking about Ladies Of The Wood or The Whispering Hillock, Geralt is supposed to choose between actions that sacrifice an entire town, 4 or 5 children's lives, the life of Anna, with really no indication as to how it's supposed to turn out. What's worse is that whether Anna dies or returns to the Baron, she can't be in for a great time.
6 The Crones Are Likely Based On Greek Myth
The fact that there are three Crones in Crookback Bog might be a reference to the Fates from Greek mythology, three sisters who shared only one eye but were wise due to the fact that they had been around for as long as time or maybe even before. They only had one eye to share between the trio, constantly bickering over who got to look into the future provided they were given a sacrifice by whoever was asking the questions.
5 They Have A Basis In Fact As Well
While the trope of witches living far away from civilization is a fairly common one, almost as if there's supposed to be some sort of moral in the fiction about not traveling too far from home, these characters don't quite do that.
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People from the past, wise women, people who would be considered "witches" in modern-day usually isolated themselves at the edges of small villages, provided herbal mixtures to the townspeople, and are referred to in modern academia as "cunning folk".
4 Be Sure To Have Candy On Hand
While it's not an absolute necessity and the player shouldn't get tripped up on it if they're having trouble locating some, having a little bit of candy on hand is pretty useful. When the kids proposition Geralt for a game of hide-and-seek, (which isn't particularly difficult thanks to Witcher Senses) he can opt instead to ask them if there's anything else they'd like, to which they'll answer that they'd like candy. This does away with a pretty boring section of the mission and lets Geralt get right into the action of the quest.
3 The Crones Could Also Come From Polish Myth
In Polish lore, (where both the author of theWitcher book series and the developer CD Projekt Red are based) there are spirits or deities referred to as Rozhanitsy. The Rozhanitsy are spirits associated with childbirth and fertility of which there were usually 3 appearing together at any given time.
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There's also literature to support the fact that people used to sacrifice humans to them, although that's questionable considering that religions which were colonized by Christianity frequently include that theme when there's no primary literature to suggest it.
2 Mind The Werewolf!
When investigated the spirit that's stuck in the tree during the quest that interrupts Ladies Of The Wood, The Whispering Hillock, mind the entrance to the cave in which Geralt speaks to the spirit, because there's also a werewolf that no one in Downwarren has seemed to have a problem with. It isn't a huge inconvenience if the player is playing on normal difficulty, but on the higher ones, running into a werewolf without the proper preparation can be detrimental to success.
1 The Kids (Might?) End Up In Novigrad
While it's not a sure thing and there's a lot of argument about this point within the community, it's probably much better for the mental health of anyone who comes into contact with the crones to assume that this fact is true. There's an orphanage in Novigrad in which Geralt can find paperwork including the names of the kids from the bog, in addition to all of their character models wandering around inside. They can be found during the Broken Flowers quest.
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