@@yidingliu8663 yeah, tbh bringing them back into the story there kinda ruined them. They went from something kinda Lovecraftian to just some bigger monsters.
Thats how I felt. I have the soundtrack and I hear that song and I just feel uncomfortable. Out of every game I ever played The Witcher 3 had the best sound track
I think the Dark Souls series is even more deeper when it comes to the lore as it leaves more room for speculation but Witcher is definitely more terrifying.
There are a few very small, tiny clues during bald mountain that suggests the whispering hillock is more reliable/trustworthy than the book "she who knows." In a conversation with Ciri she mentions that the oak used to be part of a druidic circle. Ciri would have learned this either from A'vallach or perhaps from her own travels to the past. The Hillock claims to have been a druidess. At the bald mountaintop during the quest you can find several lore books, including "She Who Knows", "Ithlinne's Prophecy", and "Necromancy, the Forbidden Magic". Necromancy states that "reviving [the dead] always involves entirely negative side effects" and "no matter how noble a mage's motives might be, necromancy will always lead to evil." You can overhear a conversation between some peasants discussing how the oak's acorns can raise the dead. (this is a very easy conversation to miss. it will occur once near the merchant you encounter after Johnny.) This suggests that the acorns are soaked in necromantic magic. The peasants then use these acorns as medicine or as fertilizer. (as per the old guy who explains the festival to you during bald mountain.) They're sewing their fields with necromantic magic and contaminating the entire land with this stuff. No wonder Velen is a cesspit.
This was beyond impressive. Being a Skyrim junkie that only recently started playing Witcher 3, your videos greatly help bring depth to an already incredible fantasy world.
I played both games intensely at their release time and while I had a formidable time with both, by now I have forgotten a good bunch of details or didn't play certain things. Watching these videos make me appreciate immensely the writing for Witcher 3, the amount of details and quality it brings really shows how incredible dense and well thought the universe is, but also the execution. Many characters and world mechanics are still unclear, adding a real sense of mystery and grandeur in the way things are.
Just wanted to add, Baba Yaga a lot of the time isn't really good or evil. In a lot of stories heros are nice to her and she helps them. In other stories however she is easily pissed off or sometimes just kidnaps and eats children
there shall be NO EATING of children. 12 tribes agree to peace, a 13th on the horizon to assist in healing. Too much fear, kills the mind's ability to "tune in" proper. BLESS.
Well she's neutral. If you really needed aid and no one else could and you were properly polite baba yaga would help ya. Provided you fulfilled your end of the bargain.
Baba Yaga is a folklore personification of Mother Nature. Ancient beyond time, neither good nor evil, Mother Nature can be cruel or can provide. Mother Nature is not to be tested, and she owes us nothing.
I completed the game with all side missions a couple year's back while I was out of work on a injury. Took me just over 300 hours, I searched every area and location on the map...This is on My top 5 game's of all time.
For some reason these three characters creeped me the hell out when I first played the Witcher unless there was a main story mission I refused to head back into the area
Honestly Drew, you've spoiled all other Witcher TH-camrs for me. Your living, vivid descriptions are unmatched. Where others need to repeat themselves to artificially extend video time, you weave language into a spell of your own, leaving us enthralled and helpless. Can't get enough, mate.
The content is good but this dude speaks out every sentence in the same intonation. I find it pretty distracting to listen to which is disappointing cuz like I said the contents solid
"Zireael is dead. Naught but a small frozen corpse in an icy wilderness. And you are afraid... You feel fear." "You lie. I don't feel a thing anymore." Got that on first playthrough, that ending will stick with me as long i live.
There are Eastern Europeans watching, but let me assure you - the insanely high quality of your content absolves you of all minor pronounciation missteps.
just hearing that music makes my hair stand on edge. horrific creatures, and that’s saying something considering the amount of monstrosities you can encounter in this game
There is one thing in the witcherverse that is more terrifying, The Crones are creepy, but Gaunter O’Dimm is the only thing in a game that actually scares me.
Gaunter is either the devil or a very powerful demon as far as I can tell, and seems to have the power to do as he pleases like stopping time itself. If he doesn't have limits on his power itself and just doesn't use all of it by choice, that'd make him the most powerful being in the witcher universe right now by a LOOOONG shot. Being able to stop time on a whim is strong, but he managed to make it so it didn't effect Geralt, which shows that he has an insanely strong control over his power. Honestly if he felt like it he could just destroy the world if he isn't restricted by contracts with other mortals.
I think the reason why Gaunter's more terrifying is because he's uncannily nice and has a "humble/polite" manner to him. Ngl when he helped Geralt escape that Ofierian prison ship, I almost had a sense of trust in him until more shit was revealed and it was really unsettling. Well done on CDPR's part for narrating the devil this way instead of a cliche demon with horns
@@Esoteraeon Gaunter O'Dimm is a godlike being playing as he likes with the Witcher universe like moving chess pieces for his own entertainment. Kind-a like God was portrayed in the Supernatural series - a scriptwriter and story driver, all happens how it wants it to happen, so you can call Destiny - God's Will.
I find it a wasted oppertunity that we can kill 2 of them, but the last one can only be killed if you go through the bad ending. She still has Vesimer's Medallion, why would the game just forget about that especially after the Wild Hunt killed him?
This is funny, I actually just started The Witcher 3 for the first time and after completing the main story in Velen I have been trying to research if I should have trusted the ghost in the tree or not. My thing with the book "She Who Knows" is... how much can we actually trust it? The people in the bog were basically cultists who followed the Crones' whims, and the author comes across as one of them. Can we really trust it's an unbiased telling of what really happened?
We can't but there's always some truth in legends. I figure that the tree spirit is definitely the crones' parent or something. It would explain why the spirit knows so much and the crones want it dead.
@@babysinclairfan damn I should've sided with the tree then.. *SPOILERS* But I was worried about sending so many people to their deaths over the death of some kids..
Well, we know that the tree spirit was killing people and we also know that if freed, she would kill pretty much the whole village. Also, she is creepy af. Finally, that way, the baron hangs himself and he is such a great character
Okay, I've said this before on another Witcher channel but, if you play the game and ask every question of the Crones you learn that those monsterous forms are a Polymorphy magic. They don't LOOK like that normally. Its possible their power is more potent in their polymorphed forms. And they're vulnerable and weaker in their real forms since they are only in their human forms when needing to consume their brew.
I think that their very ability to change forms by will is classified as polymorphism, but that doesn't mean that their monstrous form is their real face
honestly that question didn't make sense to me when i played the game, why would geralt assume they can change form instead of the painting just being how the villagers think they are? all he had seen of them at that point was the painting
The bog is one of the most terrifying locations in the base game, but it's also the only place where the 'Steel for humans' battle theme plays, so I keep coming back to that place just to vibe while fighting foglets and drowners.
They wouldn't use it really. Necromancy in The Witcher universe can only be used be Sorcerers, Sorceresses, and Elven Sages. Also it would most likely require them to drain the magic of their bog just to raise a single body. Not really worth it.
The night was as black as the inside of a cat. It was the kind of night, you could believe, on which the gods moved men as though they were pawns on the chessboard of fate. In the middle of the elemental storm a fire gleamed among the dripping furze bushes like the madness in a weasel’s eye. It illuminated three hunched figures. As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: "When shall we three meet again?" There was a pause. Finally another voice said in far more ordinary tones: "Well I can do next Tuesday."
Surprised you didn't mention the bit about Whispess in Toussaint. There's not much info there, but it at least shows that they aren't limited to Velen. Whispess once lived in the Chuchote Cave in Toussaint, where she peered into a certain knight's heart, she saw that it was black and refused him aid. The knight reacted with wrath and burned her alive in the cave. Soon afterward, the knight went mad and killed himself - claiming he was tortured by a strange voice whispering in his ear that no one else could hear.
As the crones are a reflection of the Greek Moiras, the Roman Parces or Germanic Norns, Melitele / Freya is a reflection of the Magna Mater, hailed by the people, who erected the megalith temples and tombes. She is the big mother goddess of a matriarchic society, who appears as old woman, fertile woman and young girl - just like Melitele.
The Crones are kinda similar to the Three Norns of the Norse mythology, "3 Sisters who dwell at the root of the Yggdrasil weaving the fate of every living being into a web or a thread". Also didn't the crones live under that big ass tree where you have to fight them as Ciri? If so, it's kinda clear that CDPR took inspiration from the Norse Mythos.
As a Russian versed in Slavic Mythology I would like to add some fun facts about Baba Yaga that might be of relevance here. Especially since Witcher seems to heavily inspire itself on this ; 1. In some versions Baba Yaga used to be an Earth Goddess before becoming a forest hag. Some even point out the annagram of Gaya/ Gaia in her name. (in Slavic the same letters are used and there is no Y/I differance) 2. In some versions she has 3 daughters who are three spirits, these daughters however are not permanent but rotating, as unlike her they are human mortals blessed with the right to learn from her. 3. In this same version she picks the most beautiful and most talanted of her three daughters to become her new body, and then she uses that young body to seduce a man of status and have him impregnate her, she does this until she again had 3 daughters and then repeats this process to stay alive, apparantly needing a human body as a host to remain alive since falling from Godhood somehow. 4. I recognized this last bit with the crowns from Witcher and the Sabbath. Maybe they are just these three daughters who learned to emmulate their mothers immortality tricks and then killed her, or well, trapped her. 5. A similair play is done in Dragonage Origins, where Morigain is one of three daugters.
The 3 sister witches, are all over the place in ancient folklore. The three fates are probably the oldest example I can think about. The Sanderson sisters from Houcus Poucus are pretty similar to the crones from the Witcher games too. Making potions from kids to stay young. The youngest sister was skinny, the middle sister was fat, and the oldest was average size and kept talking about human body parts. Main differences the Sanderson sisters had a spell book, and as far as I know the Crones don't.
The thing that makes Witcher lore so much more captivating than really any other fictional game is its ties to my European forebears lore and mythos. The fact that so much of its content is so richly IndoEuropean... beautiful to experience.
13:50 I was first a bit skeptical when you said the Weavess seemed to have additional legs sticking out of her torso, but in this tapestry it does look like she has four legs?
Please do a lot more witcher videos There is so much Rich lore that you guys have not even touched upon yet. As the Bethesda has turned a blind eye to the Elder Scrolls you kind of picked up there and pretty clean However The Witcher lore your just getting started with thousands of video thank you.
I seriously doubted that the Crones could be topped... then came G. O'D. And even now I do not know who is more terrifying. Gaunter is unsettling, immensely powerfull but like somewhat reasonable. The Crones on the other hand are more beastly, more vicious, harder to argue or play. They could even be wicked. Gaunter never lies and keeps his word. Man! Those 4 are so haunting. Not even horror-games or movies could reach this level of "unsettling".
Best part of the game by a landslide. Dark, sinister, the soundtrack... like an European sprookje. Absolutely epic I could play an entire game like this.
This video was really well made! Thank you for this excellent and creepy breakdown! I love the mysteries of the Witcher’s dark lore. It also seems possible that the Crones were once mortal women themselves or at least witches who wore the disguises of them. Killed by peasants for their blasphemous rituals and evil magics. Perhaps they too, like their mother She-Who-Knows cheated death and were reanimated or preserved through vile sorcery. Whispess was hanged (hence the noose around her neck); Brewess was bound and killed with bees (hence her bloated, distended body and the wicker beekeeper’s mask she wears). Whispess may well have been burned. The description of Chuchote Cave in Toussaint reads: “To listen to the old folks' jabber, this place was once home to Whispess - a woodland witch eager to help any in need. When Whispess peered into a certain knight's heart, she saw that it was black and refused him aid. The knight reacted with wrath and burned the witch alive in her cave. Soon afterward, the knight went mad and killed himself - claiming he was tortured by a strange voice whispering in his ear that no one else could hear.” In French, chuchote means whisper. As in, the cave of the whisperer. Also, in the Defender of the Faith quest, Geralt is tasked with repairing idols around Velen honouring Verna the merciful, one of three idols found around the swamps. Perhaps Whispess’s real name was once Verna? (Courtesy to XLetalis for bringing this to my attention) I though that was a really neat connection! There’s just so much rich lore and mysteries surrounding the Crones!
i think you havent found that out in the game but its there: The "mother godess" you talk about was bound to the roots of the tree in the middle of the swamps - she was bound there by the 3 hags. In the quest you can kill the bound godess/god and finish it as the hags wanted. or you can "trick" the hags by freeing the bound godess and letting her transfer herself to the body of the black horse you lead to her to free her. I also didnt knew it before. lot of cool things to find in the game, lot of lore, lot of choices
The crones are creepy and I like how they are creatures no one meddles with in the game. There's an intense atmosphere surrounding them from the story and the music. It sort of gives a claustrophobic feeling where you won't be able to leave.
The bogman the monsters remind of Swedish The skunk is a supernatural male water creature that mainly lives in rivers, streams, ponds and lakes inland. The figure is known from old Nordic folklore and poetry since Old Norse times, mainly from legends and folk songs from Norway and Sweden. The neck is an embodiment of the dangers associated with water and appears in a number of different guises. Often he tries in various ways to attract people to drown them.
So a few things to add Baba Yaga is actually referenced in The Witcher 3 by Keira Metz when you ask about the Trail of Treats, she says something along the lines of “Didn’t you know that all witches live in gingerbread houses perched upon chicken legs?” Second thing in the same conversation she also mentions that when she first moved to Velen she had horrible nightmares beckoning her to Crookback Bog until she tried Lucid Dreaming and came into contact with a creature, this would imply that one of the Witches has the ability to control and manifest dreams and that they needed Keira for some reason... Which brings me on to my third point, the Crones have a really decadent appetite, they tend to enjoy feasting on those with richer and more potent blood type, the way they react to finding out Ciri has the elder blood and how Eredin won’t miss an arm or a leg from her. Final thing Gaunter O’Dimm might be the most powerful entity in the lore but damn if the Crones theme doesn’t slap
I prefer this channel for witcher content compared to witcher george for example, i dont dislike him but your presentation and the entire video making process is unmatched in my opinion.
Witches in lore are often demonized due to rampant propaganda and a lack of understanding. I think Sir Terry Pratchett explored witches and the concept therein the best.
@@rejvaik00 I would disagree. It has plenty of faults, worst of which being what it did to Vilgefortz so far, but I think it's a pretty good adaptation to the medium. On screen adaptations can, and have, failed a lot worse. It's not an easy series to make work, so I think they did a pretty admirable job honestly.
@Sarah Umayyad true that. Of course this wouldn't be the last game in this universe, what I mostly meant was a follow up story with Geralt as the main character
It is possible that the Crones you see in Roman Polanski's film version of Macbeth owe a lot to Slavic mythology. Being that Polanski and Andrzej Sapkowski are both Polish as well now I see the link.
I imagine the crones shitting themselves seeing gaunter o dimm and be like "its him! Its him! The master of mirrors! The one name whom shall not be uttered!"
I have been thiking of the monstrous appearances of the Crones. I have a theory that each one of them (or rather, their corporeal forms) were executed long time ago. Weavess is tangled in ropes and has her neck clearly stretched, which would suggest her form once was sentenced to death by hanging, and that flies would lay eggs on her eyes. Why she has extra legs attached to her dress like in the tapestry I have no clue. Brewess, too, is tied in ropes but the ropes also hold hay and her body is swollen, which to me looks like her body was tied in ropes and tossed into a river to drown and rot. However, looks like Whispess is an exception here, as her body doesn't really give much clue. Perhaps she was skinned alive? Why is she wearing bracers -- was she crucified? Why is such a big lady holding a mask? Whatever the case she either died in an extremely painful way, or she avoided death altogether. But if the crones are older than humans, how could they ever be executed by humans? Why would they wear such brutal marks in the first place? Maybe they once possessed village ladies which were executed as heretics.
Hey, weird question, but in the ending where Ciri doesn't come back, the Weaves (i think it was the weaves) talks to the tapestry and two sisters talk back... So, thing is, that does mean they weren't killed by Ciri, right? This also means their prophecy "You shall return, our fates are bond." "And one will die, and it shan't be one of us" is true as only Imelith dies ._. Also, I think "If you find her... if... the girl will die" is probably the safest prophecy ever spoken. I mean we're not even told which girl... that might just be about Anna. Also "will die" didn't say when. Ciri might die of old age at 42069 years OR use her power to travel back in time to crookback bog and become the whispering hillock while trying to eradicate the possibility of the crones ever-existing and that would still hold true... SO, I dare say, the crones actually never lie (just as Gaunter O' Dimm) or rather they cannot lie about their Omens AND are just as mislead as they try to mislead us with those exact omens :D. I mean, at "one will die" they prolly thought of Gerald that moment, but of course it was someone else ^^
I've come to think, that the crones are very old and ancient druidesses, who delve in black magic to gain their extraordinary powers. It explains their attachment to a specific region (druid circles were known to enhabit and preserve the places of Power long before the founding of the first sorcery schools). Their monstrous visage is most likely a direct result of multiple self inflicted dark rituals. They are practically immortal (a thing not uncommon to most mages), they don't require food, drink or sleep, but, to sustain themselves, they need to extract the life force of others (that's why they constantly need children brought to their swamp shrine) by making a magical brew. And they made nearby folk to believe that they are a goddesses, and gullible and uneducated peasants eagerly worship their deities, supplying them with resources for their magic to continue, for who knows how many centuries. No wonder that their legend became a reality, due to how powerful and inhuman the Crones have become... As for the Spirit of the Whispering hillock, and the ancient text of "She, Who Knows", nearly everything that it is perceived to be, is entirely untrue. First of all, neither Crones, nor the Spirit refer to each other as mother and daughters, while the text clearly implies that. It is also unlikely that the Three Sisters where a creation of the Spirit, because this also never brought up by any of them. It is more likely, that the Sisters where apprentices of the one, who haunts the Whispering hillock, bested and attempted to murder their mentor, but, likely due to the immense dark power and presence of later, could not, and trapped it in the tree instead. The Crones likely got most of their knowledge from the Spirit, which is reinforced by the fact that it managed to manifest its will, imprisoned and strip of it's phisical form, retaining it's power over the wild. After all those centuries of their reign of terror, the Sisters where still afraid of their teacher's return, so afraid, that they sent a witcher instead, to deal with vengeful Spirit once and for all... The Witches are spiteful, arrogant, greedy, and heinously lustful - not a qualities of the all-powerful eldritch entities they make out of themselves. But that doesn't make them any less dangerous and frightening. They are as cruel and deadly as their domain. Or, maybe a land became this way because of their corruption...
@@Itsachapel Also, the thing I didn't think about when first writing this comment: the Spirit is more then likely is a post-Conjunction relic, which explains the "clearly inhuman bones" found on the hillock. But it definitely was corporal in nature, and thus, not a primevil nature spirit, so it doesn't change much
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
The crones are the most scariest and the most mysterious things in the witcher universe..... Until you meet Gaunter O' Dimm.
I was scared to shit by them until in the sabbath villagers told me that they bow to that big chunk of foolish meat Imlerith.
@@yidingliu8663 Then Geralt exploded his head.
gaunter is not near as scary
@@yidingliu8663 yeah, tbh bringing them back into the story there kinda ruined them. They went from something kinda Lovecraftian to just some bigger monsters.
Agreed when I was doing my first play through and I saw my first thought was "what the fuck are those things"
The crones genuinely terrified me, especially with the horrifying feeling the soundtrack creates
its like a hurdy gurdy violin lmao what is it
so unsettling and creepy
I'll never forget these 3 witches for the creepy ass music and apperence, my god I could feel the fear these witches create by just looking at them 😣😣
Thats how I felt. I have the soundtrack and I hear that song and I just feel uncomfortable. Out of every game I ever played The Witcher 3 had the best sound track
@@taninsam7893 How about Toussaint though. Music is magnificent
@@Sparkball Toussaint was great too. But nothing beats the fighting music. It literally made all the battles feel epic no matter how easy
This series has some of the most deep, terrifying lore known to gaming so far.
For me, another crazy one is the A.I from Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty.
I think the Dark Souls series is even more deeper when it comes to the lore as it leaves more room for speculation but Witcher is definitely more terrifying.
You just wait untill you see Gaunter O’Dimm
@@toasty2800 the Patriots stuff is creppy. Parallel to Illuminati
Try playing more games before talking out of your ass
There are a few very small, tiny clues during bald mountain that suggests the whispering hillock is more reliable/trustworthy than the book "she who knows." In a conversation with Ciri she mentions that the oak used to be part of a druidic circle. Ciri would have learned this either from A'vallach or perhaps from her own travels to the past. The Hillock claims to have been a druidess.
At the bald mountaintop during the quest you can find several lore books, including "She Who Knows", "Ithlinne's Prophecy", and "Necromancy, the Forbidden Magic". Necromancy states that "reviving [the dead] always involves entirely negative side effects" and "no matter how noble a mage's motives might be, necromancy will always lead to evil." You can overhear a conversation between some peasants discussing how the oak's acorns can raise the dead. (this is a very easy conversation to miss. it will occur once near the merchant you encounter after Johnny.)
This suggests that the acorns are soaked in necromantic magic. The peasants then use these acorns as medicine or as fertilizer. (as per the old guy who explains the festival to you during bald mountain.) They're sewing their fields with necromantic magic and contaminating the entire land with this stuff. No wonder Velen is a cesspit.
This was beyond impressive. Being a Skyrim junkie that only recently started playing Witcher 3, your videos greatly help bring depth to an already incredible fantasy world.
I played both games intensely at their release time and while I had a formidable time with both, by now I have forgotten a good bunch of details or didn't play certain things. Watching these videos make me appreciate immensely the writing for Witcher 3, the amount of details and quality it brings really shows how incredible dense and well thought the universe is, but also the execution. Many characters and world mechanics are still unclear, adding a real sense of mystery and grandeur in the way things are.
Just wanted to add, Baba Yaga a lot of the time isn't really good or evil. In a lot of stories heros are nice to her and she helps them. In other stories however she is easily pissed off or sometimes just kidnaps and eats children
there shall be NO EATING of children. 12 tribes agree to peace, a 13th on the horizon to assist in healing. Too much fear, kills the mind's ability to "tune in" proper. BLESS.
Unless you kill his dog and steal his car.....Sorry, wrong Baba Yaga. =)
@Qwerty Bastard nope, she just maintains a healthy diet
Well she's neutral. If you really needed aid and no one else could and you were properly polite baba yaga would help ya. Provided you fulfilled your end of the bargain.
Baba Yaga is a folklore personification of Mother Nature. Ancient beyond time, neither good nor evil, Mother Nature can be cruel or can provide. Mother Nature is not to be tested, and she owes us nothing.
I’ve been playing so much Witcher 3 recently. I’m intent on completing every quest. Such a good game.
I completed the game with all side missions a couple year's back while I was out of work on a injury. Took me just over 300 hours, I searched every area and location on the map...This is on My top 5 game's of all time.
Did all that on my first play through on hard difficulty (first 30 hours were hell lmao)
Really wanna replay it too, got the bad ending first time round by tryna get too clever with the game logic
@@tawnymonarch4813 got the good ending
For some reason these three characters creeped me the hell out when I first played the Witcher unless there was a main story mission I refused to head back into the area
Their track is one of the best in the game and also the definition of spine chill.
One of the most disturbing music I've ever heard. It fits them perfectly.
The Crones music is epic and unforgettable
And terrifying
Honestly Drew, you've spoiled all other Witcher TH-camrs for me. Your living, vivid descriptions are unmatched. Where others need to repeat themselves to artificially extend video time, you weave language into a spell of your own, leaving us enthralled and helpless. Can't get enough, mate.
hey r u gay?
@@dylanmonstrum1538 No, but for Drew I'd consider it.
@@modernshoggoth hell yeah
"Do you want us?"
The content is good but this dude speaks out every sentence in the same intonation. I find it pretty distracting to listen to which is disappointing cuz like I said the contents solid
"Zireael is dead. Naught but a small frozen corpse in an icy wilderness. And you are afraid... You feel fear."
"You lie. I don't feel a thing anymore."
Got that on first playthrough, that ending will stick with me as long i live.
Same, looking back I’m kinda glad I got the bad ending because it is hands down the best written ending.
@@willzie8286
Yes, yes it is i still get chills when i remember that ending
Made me cry on my failure (being a stepfather it hit me very hard)
Then, I replayed the game to redeem Geralt and me
I got the Ciri Witcher ending with Nilfgaard winning the war on my first go.
The true Instagram reality.
There are Eastern Europeans watching, but let me assure you - the insanely high quality of your content absolves you of all minor pronounciation missteps.
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Fudge muppet: uploads
Me: I'll watch it late...
Fudge muppet: it's a witcher video
Me: class can wait
This reads like a poem
That rhymed
@@tsukuamatesusa222 that's what I was going for XD
just hearing that music makes my hair stand on edge. horrific creatures, and that’s saying something considering the amount of monstrosities you can encounter in this game
There is one thing in the witcherverse that is more terrifying, The Crones are creepy, but Gaunter O’Dimm is the only thing in a game that actually scares me.
Gaunter is either the devil or a very powerful demon as far as I can tell, and seems to have the power to do as he pleases like stopping time itself. If he doesn't have limits on his power itself and just doesn't use all of it by choice, that'd make him the most powerful being in the witcher universe right now by a LOOOONG shot. Being able to stop time on a whim is strong, but he managed to make it so it didn't effect Geralt, which shows that he has an insanely strong control over his power.
Honestly if he felt like it he could just destroy the world if he isn't restricted by contracts with other mortals.
The Crones can be killed. Gaunter is straight up near god status
I think the reason why Gaunter's more terrifying is because he's uncannily nice and has a "humble/polite" manner to him. Ngl when he helped Geralt escape that Ofierian prison ship, I almost had a sense of trust in him until more shit was revealed and it was really unsettling. Well done on CDPR's part for narrating the devil this way instead of a cliche demon with horns
@@tingispingis my nigga is God
@@Esoteraeon Gaunter O'Dimm is a godlike being playing as he likes with the Witcher universe like moving chess pieces for his own entertainment. Kind-a like God was portrayed in the Supernatural series - a scriptwriter and story driver, all happens how it wants it to happen, so you can call Destiny - God's Will.
I wish the game gave you the option to hunt down the last crone in the post game, these things freaked me the fuck out
I find it a wasted oppertunity that we can kill 2 of them, but the last one can only be killed if you go through the bad ending. She still has Vesimer's Medallion, why would the game just forget about that especially after the Wild Hunt killed him?
The music when youre at Crookback bog is so unsettling. So dark and evil
This is funny, I actually just started The Witcher 3 for the first time and after completing the main story in Velen I have been trying to research if I should have trusted the ghost in the tree or not.
My thing with the book "She Who Knows" is... how much can we actually trust it? The people in the bog were basically cultists who followed the Crones' whims, and the author comes across as one of them. Can we really trust it's an unbiased telling of what really happened?
We can't but there's always some truth in legends.
I figure that the tree spirit is definitely the crones' parent or something. It would explain why the spirit knows so much and the crones want it dead.
@@babysinclairfan damn I should've sided with the tree then..
*SPOILERS*
But I was worried about sending so many people to their deaths over the death of some kids..
@@Esoteraeon children are clean slates, the villagers were not. It was a simple decision.
I didn't like the crones. The crones imprisoned the spirit. Q. E. D. I turned it into a horse.
Well, we know that the tree spirit was killing people and we also know that if freed, she would kill pretty much the whole village. Also, she is creepy af. Finally, that way, the baron hangs himself and he is such a great character
You have the best narration for the Witcher Lore. You set the tone based on the subject.
Okay, I've said this before on another Witcher channel but, if you play the game and ask every question of the Crones you learn that those monsterous forms are a Polymorphy magic. They don't LOOK like that normally. Its possible their power is more potent in their polymorphed forms. And they're vulnerable and weaker in their real forms since they are only in their human forms when needing to consume their brew.
I think that their very ability to change forms by will is classified as polymorphism, but that doesn't mean that their monstrous form is their real face
honestly that question didn't make sense to me when i played the game, why would geralt assume they can change form instead of the painting just being how the villagers think they are? all he had seen of them at that point was the painting
The bog is one of the most terrifying locations in the base game, but it's also the only place where the 'Steel for humans' battle theme plays, so I keep coming back to that place just to vibe while fighting foglets and drowners.
"Thrice to thine, thrice to mine, thrice again to make up nine"
3 plus 3 plus 3 equals 9.
Bars.
Geez just imagine if they got their hands on the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis.
They wouldn't use it really. Necromancy in The Witcher universe can only be used be Sorcerers, Sorceresses, and Elven Sages. Also it would most likely require them to drain the magic of their bog just to raise a single body. Not really worth it.
wait but isn't there a book in the game that talks about the necronomicon because I remember finding that book in kaer morhen
If you really want to give them an evil book then go find the Oghma Infinium or the Book of Magnus
that's some scary combinations right there
They wrote it!
The cap reminds me of the red caps from England and Scotland, kinda goblins with red caps that have to be covered in blood to keep them alive
The crones always made me feel nothing more than disgust
The night was as black as the inside of a cat. It was the kind of night, you could believe, on which the gods moved men as though they were pawns on the chessboard of fate. In the middle of the elemental storm a fire gleamed among the dripping furze bushes like the madness in a weasel’s eye. It illuminated three hunched figures. As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: "When shall we three meet again?"
There was a pause.
Finally another voice said in far more ordinary tones: "Well I can do next Tuesday."
Surprised you didn't mention the bit about Whispess in Toussaint. There's not much info there, but it at least shows that they aren't limited to Velen.
Whispess once lived in the Chuchote Cave in Toussaint, where she peered into a certain knight's heart, she saw that it was black and refused him aid. The knight reacted with wrath and burned her alive in the cave. Soon afterward, the knight went mad and killed himself - claiming he was tortured by a strange voice whispering in his ear that no one else could hear.
As the crones are a reflection of the Greek Moiras, the Roman Parces or Germanic Norns, Melitele / Freya is a reflection of the Magna Mater, hailed by the people, who erected the megalith temples and tombes. She is the big mother goddess of a matriarchic society, who appears as old woman, fertile woman and young girl - just like Melitele.
Your editing is A+. Please make more Witcher content! One of my favorite TH-cam vids
The Crones are kinda similar to the Three Norns of the Norse mythology, "3 Sisters who dwell at the root of the Yggdrasil weaving the fate of every living being into a web or a thread". Also didn't the crones live under that big ass tree where you have to fight them as Ciri? If so, it's kinda clear that CDPR took inspiration from the Norse Mythos.
Then you find out Norse mythology shares many things from slav mythology. Then you find out the slavs existed before the nordic people.
@@alensavic2685 And then you find out that the crones have more in common with the Norns then the Rodzanice or w/e, so that is irrelevant.
Right when I was looking for something to watch at 2 am. Lol thanks!
I think your looking on the wrong website if you get what I mean
I love how poetic your description is. Great series!
Only thing in a video game to ever make me feel my skin crawl. Well done 👏
Thank you for your Witcher lore videos. They are amazing and I really appreciate all the work behind each of them.
As a Russian versed in Slavic Mythology I would like to add some fun facts about Baba Yaga that might be of relevance here. Especially since Witcher seems to heavily inspire itself on this ;
1. In some versions Baba Yaga used to be an Earth Goddess before becoming a forest hag. Some even point out the annagram of Gaya/ Gaia in her name. (in Slavic the same letters are used and there is no Y/I differance)
2. In some versions she has 3 daughters who are three spirits, these daughters however are not permanent but rotating, as unlike her they are human mortals blessed with the right to learn from her.
3. In this same version she picks the most beautiful and most talanted of her three daughters to become her new body, and then she uses that young body to seduce a man of status and have him impregnate her, she does this until she again had 3 daughters and then repeats this process to stay alive, apparantly needing a human body as a host to remain alive since falling from Godhood somehow.
4. I recognized this last bit with the crowns from Witcher and the Sabbath. Maybe they are just these three daughters who learned to emmulate their mothers immortality tricks and then killed her, or well, trapped her.
5. A similair play is done in Dragonage Origins, where Morigain is one of three daugters.
Never has the welsh accent has sounded so spine chilling
The 3 sister witches, are all over the place in ancient folklore. The three fates are probably the oldest example I can think about.
The Sanderson sisters from Houcus Poucus are pretty similar to the crones from the Witcher games too. Making potions from kids to stay young. The youngest sister was skinny, the middle sister was fat, and the oldest was average size and kept talking about human body parts. Main differences the Sanderson sisters had a spell book, and as far as I know the Crones don't.
The Crones eat people, that's how they probably stay young. They're highly 500% using cannibalistics-spells and bloodmagic
The thing that makes Witcher lore so much more captivating than really any other fictional game is its ties to my European forebears lore and mythos. The fact that so much of its content is so richly IndoEuropean... beautiful to experience.
Aryan
13:50 I was first a bit skeptical when you said the Weavess seemed to have additional legs sticking out of her torso, but in this tapestry it does look like she has four legs?
I got goosebumps when the music started
I love the crones one of my favorite parts of a game bursting with gold
Ive always loved the big tapestry of them in the house in crookback bog just something about it.
Too bad the ladies don’t look anything like the tapestry 😂
Those rhymes were some serious BARS
Do you remember watching Hercules by Disney?
Those old - hag maidens with the thread and scissors?
Yes! Also a nice example of three witches in European mythology. In Greek myth, they were called The Graeae
I thought they were the fates?
Yep and the sisters of fate from God of war 2
The sister of fate also exist in norse mythology. They are called Nornen. Interestingly they do the same as their Greek counterparts.
Please do a lot more witcher videos
There is so much Rich lore that you guys have not even touched upon yet.
As the Bethesda has turned a blind eye to the Elder Scrolls you kind of picked up there and pretty clean
However The Witcher lore your just getting started with thousands of video thank you.
I seriously doubted that the Crones could be topped... then came G. O'D.
And even now I do not know who is more terrifying. Gaunter is unsettling, immensely powerfull but like somewhat reasonable. The Crones on the other hand are more beastly, more vicious, harder to argue or play. They could even be wicked. Gaunter never lies and keeps his word.
Man! Those 4 are so haunting. Not even horror-games or movies could reach this level of "unsettling".
Best part of the game by a landslide. Dark, sinister, the soundtrack... like an European sprookje. Absolutely epic I could play an entire game like this.
Maiden, Mother & Crone by The Sword is a wonderful track if you enjoy early Black Sabbath/70's metal. Quality content as always FudgeMuppet \m/
Loved their background music track so much
"they weave hair, and twist lives" idk why that sounds so cool
DEAR GOD YESS!! Nod one does witcher lores better than FM!
This video was really well made! Thank you for this excellent and creepy breakdown! I love the mysteries of the Witcher’s dark lore.
It also seems possible that the Crones were once mortal women themselves or at least witches who wore the disguises of them. Killed by peasants for their blasphemous rituals and evil magics. Perhaps they too, like their mother She-Who-Knows cheated death and were reanimated or preserved through vile sorcery. Whispess was hanged (hence the noose around her neck); Brewess was bound and killed with bees (hence her bloated, distended body and the wicker beekeeper’s mask she wears). Whispess may well have been burned.
The description of Chuchote Cave in Toussaint reads:
“To listen to the old folks' jabber, this place was once home to Whispess - a woodland witch eager to help any in need. When Whispess peered into a certain knight's heart, she saw that it was black and refused him aid. The knight reacted with wrath and burned the witch alive in her cave. Soon afterward, the knight went mad and killed himself - claiming he was tortured by a strange voice whispering in his ear that no one else could hear.”
In French, chuchote means whisper. As in, the cave of the whisperer. Also, in the Defender of the Faith quest, Geralt is tasked with repairing idols around Velen honouring Verna the merciful, one of three idols found around the swamps. Perhaps Whispess’s real name was once Verna? (Courtesy to XLetalis for bringing this to my attention)
I though that was a really neat connection! There’s just so much rich lore and mysteries surrounding the Crones!
i think you havent found that out in the game but its there:
The "mother godess" you talk about was bound to the roots of the tree in the middle of the swamps - she was bound there by the 3 hags. In the quest you can kill the bound godess/god and finish it as the hags wanted. or you can "trick" the hags by freeing the bound godess and letting her transfer herself to the body of the black horse you lead to her to free her. I also didnt knew it before. lot of cool things to find in the game, lot of lore, lot of choices
Thank you for making these amazing witcher vids
I was just trying to fall asleep to some Witcher lore and this totally freaked me out and I can’t sleep now. Gd bro
Well done! Perhaps my favorite of your videos so far!
This video was UNREAL! Dude well done
I fucking love the design of the crones, they are one of my favourite beings in witcher 3
The crones are creepy and I like how they are creatures no one meddles with in the game. There's an intense atmosphere surrounding them from the story and the music. It sort of gives a claustrophobic feeling where you won't be able to leave.
The bogman the monsters remind of Swedish The skunk is a supernatural male water creature that mainly lives in rivers, streams, ponds and lakes inland. The figure is known from old Nordic folklore and poetry since Old Norse times, mainly from legends and folk songs from Norway and Sweden. The neck is an embodiment of the dangers associated with water and appears in a number of different guises. Often he tries in various ways to attract people to drown them.
So a few things to add
Baba Yaga is actually referenced in The Witcher 3 by Keira Metz when you ask about the Trail of Treats, she says something along the lines of “Didn’t you know that all witches live in gingerbread houses perched upon chicken legs?”
Second thing in the same conversation she also mentions that when she first moved to Velen she had horrible nightmares beckoning her to Crookback Bog until she tried Lucid Dreaming and came into contact with a creature, this would imply that one of the Witches has the ability to control and manifest dreams and that they needed Keira for some reason...
Which brings me on to my third point, the Crones have a really decadent appetite, they tend to enjoy feasting on those with richer and more potent blood type, the way they react to finding out Ciri has the elder blood and how Eredin won’t miss an arm or a leg from her.
Final thing Gaunter O’Dimm might be the most powerful entity in the lore but damn if the Crones theme doesn’t slap
FudgeMuppet: *uploads Witcher lore video*
Me: Oh yeah baby give it to me
Many people fail to include that Avallac’h mentions they are Velens curse
In Christopher Walken's voice: you need more lore
I prefer this channel for witcher content compared to witcher george for example, i dont dislike him but your presentation and the entire video making process is unmatched in my opinion.
I literally did a project relating the witcher to other forms of media toward trios of witches
10:14 reminds me of the cult to Pachamama in the Andes region...
Excellent work and the narration was incredible. Maybe the next video is about the Hags? there is a lot of very interesting information.
Your witcher content is like crack, I just can't get enough. Dunno if that's a problem or not..
Love mythology ,great videos and voice, well done.
There's also the Norns of Norse mythology. Maiden giantesses and weavers of the fates of men. Found at the roots of Yggdrasil the world tree.
brewess is an absolute unit.
the way one of them pronounced" Witche'er "still echos in my dreams
Witches in lore are often demonized due to rampant propaganda and a lack of understanding. I think Sir Terry Pratchett explored witches and the concept therein the best.
Melitele is pronounced Meh-li-teh-leh, not meh-li-tel. Stress is on the second syllable. Worry not, even the Netflix show bungled the pronunciation.
That show has done more bungling than anything else. I don't recommend you watch it
@@rejvaik00 It really did. What a bummer.
@@rejvaik00 I would disagree. It has plenty of faults, worst of which being what it did to Vilgefortz so far, but I think it's a pretty good adaptation to the medium. On screen adaptations can, and have, failed a lot worse. It's not an easy series to make work, so I think they did a pretty admirable job honestly.
Wow man...Witcher has a deeper lore than I initially thought...
When’re we getting an “Ideal Witcher 4” voiced solely by Drew?¿
I don't think there will be a witcher 4
Leo Lius Nah it should stay a trilogy, I’m just lookin for an excuse to hear Drew’s voice for 90 minutes
@Sarah Umayyad true that. Of course this wouldn't be the last game in this universe, what I mostly meant was a follow up story with Geralt as the main character
After all the drama that the guy who wrote the books put CDPR through. They said they're not ever going to be making a The Witcher 4 game.
@@kamron_thurmond forgive my ignorance please because Im new to all things Witcher related but what happened?
It is possible that the Crones you see in Roman Polanski's film version of Macbeth owe a lot to Slavic mythology. Being that Polanski and Andrzej Sapkowski are both Polish as well now I see the link.
geralt's seal of approval.
Nah whoever designed em needs a raise they legit gave me fear and throw up sensations
The bloody baron arc was very disturbing but still the best of witcher 3
We need more
Is this a reupload? Swear I saw this before.
Witcher George's channel maybe? Got a serious case of deja vu from this vid
Yeah that’s what I was thinking of. They are basically the same video
Sad to see how they are unable to create original content that isnt elder scrolls related
@@GunGun-cf3ss this isn't elder scrolls.
sky turtle 5 E and it's not original content
The Witcher lore is the most believable lore in medieval fantasy games
These witches are like the creek three witches that shared a eyeball.
Always regretted not trusting the tree... I'm actually haunted for not saving the kids.
I imagine the crones shitting themselves seeing gaunter o dimm and be like "its him! Its him! The master of mirrors! The one name whom shall not be uttered!"
I love your reading dude. Keep it up 👍
I have been thiking of the monstrous appearances of the Crones. I have a theory that each one of them (or rather, their corporeal forms) were executed long time ago.
Weavess is tangled in ropes and has her neck clearly stretched, which would suggest her form once was sentenced to death by hanging, and that flies would lay eggs on her eyes. Why she has extra legs attached to her dress like in the tapestry I have no clue.
Brewess, too, is tied in ropes but the ropes also hold hay and her body is swollen, which to me looks like her body was tied in ropes and tossed into a river to drown and rot.
However, looks like Whispess is an exception here, as her body doesn't really give much clue. Perhaps she was skinned alive? Why is she wearing bracers -- was she crucified? Why is such a big lady holding a mask? Whatever the case she either died in an extremely painful way, or she avoided death altogether.
But if the crones are older than humans, how could they ever be executed by humans? Why would they wear such brutal marks in the first place? Maybe they once possessed village ladies which were executed as heretics.
I think Whispess was burnt?
Hey, weird question, but in the ending where Ciri doesn't come back, the Weaves (i think it was the weaves) talks to the tapestry and two sisters talk back...
So, thing is, that does mean they weren't killed by Ciri, right? This also means their prophecy "You shall return, our fates are bond." "And one will die, and it shan't be one of us" is true as only Imelith dies ._.
Also, I think "If you find her... if... the girl will die" is probably the safest prophecy ever spoken. I mean we're not even told which girl... that might just be about Anna. Also "will die" didn't say when. Ciri might die of old age at 42069 years OR use her power to travel back in time to crookback bog and become the whispering hillock while trying to eradicate the possibility of the crones ever-existing and that would still hold true...
SO, I dare say, the crones actually never lie (just as Gaunter O' Dimm) or rather they cannot lie about their Omens AND are just as mislead as they try to mislead us with those exact omens :D.
I mean, at "one will die" they prolly thought of Gerald that moment, but of course it was someone else ^^
Can you make; is being a Dwemer worth it?
"Funder and lightning."
I have seen a drawing of the brewess in an old (very old) european art book i forgot the name tho
I've come to think, that the crones are very old and ancient druidesses, who delve in black magic to gain their extraordinary powers. It explains their attachment to a specific region (druid circles were known to enhabit and preserve the places of Power long before the founding of the first sorcery schools). Their monstrous visage is most likely a direct result of multiple self inflicted dark rituals. They are practically immortal (a thing not uncommon to most mages), they don't require food, drink or sleep, but, to sustain themselves, they need to extract the life force of others (that's why they constantly need children brought to their swamp shrine) by making a magical brew. And they made nearby folk to believe that they are a goddesses, and gullible and uneducated peasants eagerly worship their deities, supplying them with resources for their magic to continue, for who knows how many centuries. No wonder that their legend became a reality, due to how powerful and inhuman the Crones have become...
As for the Spirit of the Whispering hillock, and the ancient text of "She, Who Knows", nearly everything that it is perceived to be, is entirely untrue. First of all, neither Crones, nor the Spirit refer to each other as mother and daughters, while the text clearly implies that. It is also unlikely that the Three Sisters where a creation of the Spirit, because this also never brought up by any of them. It is more likely, that the Sisters where apprentices of the one, who haunts the Whispering hillock, bested and attempted to murder their mentor, but, likely due to the immense dark power and presence of later, could not, and trapped it in the tree instead. The Crones likely got most of their knowledge from the Spirit, which is reinforced by the fact that it managed to manifest its will, imprisoned and strip of it's phisical form, retaining it's power over the wild. After all those centuries of their reign of terror, the Sisters where still afraid of their teacher's return, so afraid, that they sent a witcher instead, to deal with vengeful Spirit once and for all...
The Witches are spiteful, arrogant, greedy, and heinously lustful - not a qualities of the all-powerful eldritch entities they make out of themselves.
But that doesn't make them any less dangerous and frightening. They are as cruel and deadly as their domain. Or, maybe a land became this way because of their corruption...
Boreal Sullivan ooh really good concept! It would make sense
@@Itsachapel Also, the thing I didn't think about when first writing this comment: the Spirit is more then likely is a post-Conjunction relic, which explains the "clearly inhuman bones" found on the hillock. But it definitely was corporal in nature, and thus, not a primevil nature spirit, so it doesn't change much
God be praised your doing witcher lore!
Ayyy been waiting for this