All Bloody Baron endings and how to get them in Witcher 3

The Bloody Baron is the first important sub questline you can come across in Velen, the first area from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s main quest. Though you might tackle it before or after the “Hunting a Witch” quest, I’d recommend you do the Baron’s story first.

The titular man might immediately strike you as a typical good-for-nothing drunken abuser — as he struck me — but don’t let the game fool you. Despite his many flaws, the Bloody Baron is a surprisingly deep character with intricacies that require your attention should you want to experience the full emotional range of this story. The Bloody Baron’s questline is one of the best and definitely the most harrowing one you’ll encounter in the base game.

How many endings are there for the Bloody Baron quest in Witcher 3?

The Bloody Baron questline can only end in one of two ways. Once completed, this quest might trigger a knee-jerk reaction to reload your save and go in the hopeless search of a happier outcome — though there’s no such thing to be found in this tale. Yes, this quest only has two real endings, each rather bleak in their own way. I’m here to save you the psychological hassle of working tirelessly to find an outcome that doesn’t exist for the Bloody Baron quest and get you to the ones do exist.

The Bloody Baron’s quest, explained

Most different outcomes on The Witcher 3 result from decisions players are aware they’re making, but that’s not so much the case here. We are making decisions that will impact the Bloody Baron quest even before we start it, so let’s look at what you need to beat it in the smoothest way possible.

The Bloody Baron’s quest starts at Crow’s Perch, but it will remember a sneakily important decision from The Nilfgaardian Connection, a previous quest. Having been previously aggressive to the Baron’s men will have you go on a fetch quest before beginning the quest itself, whereas the decision to be nice to the guards will take you right to the Baron. Feel free to do battle with the guards if you feel like it. That won’t impact the outcome, but it will have players jumping through more hoops than necessary to complete the Bloody Baron quest, so I recommend you go the peaceful route.

Screenshot by Destructoid

Bloody Baron’s very bad ending

As I’ve previously mentioned, the ending where the supposedly evil Baron meets his demise might sound the best, but things aren’t quite that simple.

To get this ending, you need to release the evil spirit that asks for Geralt’s help in the Whispering Hillock quest. That might not immediately feel like something directly related to the Baron’s destiny, but it is. Releasing the spirit will cause Anna, the baron’s beloved wife, to get cursed. The game will give players many options to lift the curse, but all lead to the same outcome. Geralt will end up lifting the curse, but Anna will always die as a result. This then results in the death of the Baron as well.

Another way to get this ending is by completing the Return to Crookback Bog quest before Whispering Hillock.

While trying to avoid as many spoilers as possible, completing Return to Crookback Bog will set in motion a series of events that will result in the death of Anna, followed by the Baron’s.

Bloody Baron’s less terrible ending

If you complete The Whispering Hillock quest before, however, you will eventually meet an evil spirit trapped inside a tree. This spirit will ask Geralt for help, and he can either free or destroy it. For this ending, you will need to destroy the spirit. Then, doing the Return to Crookback Bog quest will have Geralt rescuing Anna from the Crones of the bog.

Killing the spirit leads to a series of events that culminate with Anna losing her sanity. That doesn’t sound ideal, but it also allows for her to be rescued, and also for the start of a somewhat cathartic subplot. Anna’s rescue will prompt the Baron to go on a redemption arc of sorts.

Spoilers in the paragraph below:

The baron will take it upon himself to take Anna to the Blue Mountains in the hopes of ridding her of her ailment. The game never truly shows the outcome of Baron’s last-known actions, but this ending at least leaves players on a somewhat hopeful note.

Bloody Baron’s true good ending

While the two endings above were all you’d ever know about the last days of the Baron for a few years, 2017 saw CD Projekt Red releasing a video celebrating the 10th year of the series that would provide much-welcome extra insight.

While you cannot unlock this cinematic in the game, it feels like the happy epilogue you’d get after making all the best choices in the game. It’s a very heartwarming video that shows the Baron at a party with Geralt, Ciri, and all of their friends. From that, we can assume Anna is alive and, from the smile on the Baron’s face, that she’s recovered. It’s up to you to accept that video as canon or not, but why wouldn’t you?

To get this “ending,” you just need to click the YouTube video above.

Screenshot via Destructoid

What else do you need to know about the Bloody Baron?

And before you go, there’s another important thing to remember for Gwent completionists that’s important to mention despite its tone-deafness. You should challenge the Baron as soon as you meet him, as either final outcome of the quest will cause him to be unavailable for further card game pursuits.

You can now play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and PC.

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