Setting and characters

Set in the fantasy world of The Witcher, the game takes place entirely within the Continent, a northern region in the setting based on Slavonic mythology. The player takes the role of Queen Meve, widow and sole ruler of the sister nations of Lyria and Rivia, who finds her realms invaded by the armies of Nilfgaard, an imperialist nation from the south, in the onset of an enormous military conflict known as the "Great War", or the second Northern War. At the start of the game, not yet fully recovered from the previous Northern War are the Northern Kingdoms, these including Temeria, Redania, and Lyria and Rivia's neighbors, Kaedwen and Aedirn. Other locations visited in the game include the Dwarf kingdom of Mahakam and the swamp region of Angren.

Meve (Lucy Black), who rose to power after the death of her husband King Reginald, is considered an upstart ruler with little experience in governance but respected for her warrior spirit and skill in martial combat and battlefield tactics. At court, she is accompanied by her lieutenant Reynard Odo (Chris Porter), chief advisor Count Caldwell (Nigel Betts), and oldest son, Prince Villem (Clare Corbett). Other characters that feature in the game include the thief Gascon (Liam Garrigan), the commander of the Nilfgaardian forces in the region Duke Ardal aep Dahy (Anthony Howell), King Demavend III of Aedirn (Ronan Vibert), and Clan-Chief Brouver Hoog of Mahakam (David Rintoul).

Plot

Returning from a summit of Northern rulers to debate on how to deal with the matter of Nilfgaard's aggression, Meve reaches Lyria after a long travel. She is met by Count Caldwell, who informs her that the nearby towns have been terrorized by a notorious bandit named Gascon. Meve defeats Gascon in battle and captures him alive, only to receive the news that the armies of Nilfgaard have crossed the river Yaruga and begun another invasion of the North. Meve immediately convenes a council of Rivian and Lyrian nobles to decide how to respond. Though favoring open warfare, Meve is overruled by Caldwell, who reveals that the aristocracy have reached an agreement with Duke Ardal aep Dahy for Rivia's and Lyria's immediate surrender. When Meve refuses, Caldwell has Meve arrested and detained, replacing her with her eldest son Prince Villem as the regent. Meve and the loyal captain Reynard are thrown in the dungeons, where Meve is unexpectedly freed by Gascon. The three flee Lyria and make way for Aedirn.

In Aedirn, Meve encounters the Aedirnian captain Black Rayla (Caroline Catz), and rescues her from the elven rebels known as the Scoia'tael, as well as the sorceress Isbel of Hagge (Susan Brown). They find Demavend under siege and assist in his escape from Aedirn, but with the Aedirnian forces defeated by Nilfgaard, Meve did not get the military support she had hoped for. Instead, Demavend advises her to travel to the Dwarf kingdom of Mahakam and gives her a leaden ring that will guarantee an audience with the Dwarf ruler, the Clan-Chief Brouver Hoog. In Mahakam, Meve encounters the Dwarf explorer Gabor Zigrin (Gordon Cooper) and gnomish inventor Barnabas Beckenbauer (Matthew Gravelle). Meve is granted her audience with Brouver, who at first rejects her pleas for assistance against Nilfgaard, but changes his mind after they are attacked by Scoia'tael and enlists a small company of Dwarf warriors for her aid.

Now with a sizable force of Lyrian loyalists, Gascon's marauders, and Dwarf warriors, Meve decides to strike at Nilfgaard directly and attack the forces commanded by Caldwell, currently garrisoned in the lowland county of Angren. In the swamps, Meve discovers the truth that both her chief advisors, Reynard and Gascon, are both traitors who have betrayed her to Nilfgaard: Reynard has been in secret correspondence with now-King Villem hoping to reconcile the two, while Gascon has been hoping to trade Meve's life for his own freedom. Both claim to be truly loyal to her; Meve can forgive or banish either or both. After reaching and killing Caldwell, Meve flees deeper into the swamp to avoid Nilfgaardian reinforcements, and enters the realm of a dangerous monster known as Gernichora, whom she kills. Unable to find an alternate way out of the swamp, Meve is forced to fight the reinforcing Nilfgaardian army in a hopeless frontal assault. During the battle, Meve receives the unexpected help of the witcher Geralt (Doug Cockle), who had also been attempting to find an escape from the swamps. The Nilfgaardian army is defeated, and after their victory Meve knights Geralt, thus granting him his "of Rivia" title.

Meve returns to Rivia as a liberator, meets with King Villem to discuss a possible parlay, and can either forgive him and thus gain him as an ally and heir, refuse to forgive him and maintain him as an enemy, or violate the terms of their meeting and have him captured and kept as a prisoner. Marching on to Rivia Castle, where Ardal is garrisoned with his army, Meve at first intends to lay siege to the keep but then learns from aep Dahy that another Nilfgaardian army is reinforcing and imminent. Meve realizes her only chance of victory is to storm the castle. Either Reynard or Gascon goes on a suicide mission to infiltrate the keep and open the gate and dies in the attempt, or Villem if he was allowed to leave the meeting as an enemy will sacrifice himself to open the gate, and Meve's army enters and defeats Ardal's force, though the Duke himself escapes. Meve is restored to rule over Rivia and Lyria, marking the turn of the tide of war against Nilfgaard.

Returning to Aedirn, Meve meets with Demavend and King Henselt of Kaedwen, preparing to face Ardal's army and decide the fate of the Northern Realms. Unexpectedly capturing a small Nilfgaardian force led by a man named Caldwyn, Meve discovers that Caldwyn is a messenger sent by the Emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr var Emreis, with secret orders forcing aep Dahy to poison himself as punishment for his failure to conquer the North. Meve allows Caldwyn to proceed with his mission, resulting in the death of Duke Ardal aep Dahy, and then the three rulers crush the Nilfgaardian army in Aedirn, thus ending the war. The narrator of the story, a man called the Storyteller, is then revealed to be Borch Three Jackdaws (Timothy Watson), who finishes the tale by recounting the fates of Meve and all of her companions gained throughout this journey.

Accolades