The Witcher 2 decision checklist

This page covers the decisions you have to make during The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and the way they impact the further story. For the decision checklist for the original game see The Witcher decision checklist.

Spoiler warning: Significant plot details follow.

Πρόλογος‎

Help Newboy

Decision: Talk Newboy into wearing his armour or let him assault the castle wearing the magical amulet.

Consequences:

• If you manage to persuade him and to give you the amulet he survives the battle and helps you during the escape by distracting guards. He thanks you for saving his life and gives you a tome about dragons.
• If you tell him you are not sure about the effects of the amulet, he will survive as well, but he will not give you the amulet and you would need to kill him later in order to obtain the amulet.
• If he goes into battle in his underwear only, hoping the amulet will protect him, he dies and you can loot his corpse for the amulet later.

Reference: Melitele's Heart

Aryan La Valette

Decision: Kill Aryan La Valette or force him to surrender.

Consequences:

• If you kill him, you will later encounter Mary Louisa La Valette, his mother. It is hinted that the La Valettes may fall under the influence of Nilfgaard .
• If you kill him, along with two other opponents later in the game you will be awarded the Executioner Character attribute.
• If he lives, you encounter him later in the dungeons. The La Valette house remains respected in Temeria. You will see him in Chapter 3.
• If you aid in his escape you will be awarded the Strong Back Character attribute.

Reference: At the Fore

Interrogation

Decision: Cooperate with Roche after you have told him the story... or not.

Consequences:

• Most of the dialogue choices lead simply towards Roche giving you the keys to your chains.
• It is a bit ironic, but the less you cooperate, the more information he gives you (e.g. the story of King Demavend's death).
• However, do not pull the string too much because if you try to attack Roche, Ves delivers a very deadly crossbow bolt right into your belly.

Reference: None

Dungeons: Aryan

Decision: If Aryan lives, encounter him near his cell or in the torture chamber.

Consequences:

• If you find him in the torture chamber, he is just being tortured to sign a confession that the royal bastards are actually his children conceived in an incestuous relationship with his mother. You help him escape, he shows you a secret passage and blows the castle up. Carrying him to safety gives you the "Strong Back" achievement (+50 carrying capacity).
• If you find him near his cell, the confession is already signed and you see him escape from the guards. You help him, he shows you a secret passage and blows the castle up. Carrying him to safety gives you the "Strong Back" achievement (+50 carrying capacity).

Reference: The Dungeons of the La Valettes

Dungeons: Mary Louisa

Decision: If you killed Aryan, you encounter her near her cell or in the torture chamber.

Consequences:

• If you find her in the torture chamber, she is just being tortured to sign a confession that the royal bastards were actually conceived in an incestuous relationship with her son Aryan. You help her escape (during which you can see her topless for a while) but shortly after that ambassador Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen intervenes. He takes the baroness under his "protection" and helps you escape trough the main gate. The castle remains intact.
• If you find her near her cell, she has already signed the confession and is being led away by the ambassador. You encouter them later, she persuades the ambassador to let you escape trough the main gate. The castle remains intact.

Reference: The Dungeons of the La Valettes

Κεφάλαιο I‎

Viziman alchemist

Decision: He asks you to participate in his long term research concerning mutations. You can either choose to drink his potion or to tell him you are not interested.

Consequences:

• Unknown
• Appears to just add a critical effects mutagen to your inventory that you can use after unlocking a mutagen slot; or you can sell it if you wish to use a different or Greater mutagen.

Reference: None

Malena

Decision: After examining the cave you can either accuse her for working for the Squirrels or go to see what she wants to show you or you can pretend you do not know about her work for the Squirrels.

Consequences:

• If you accuse her, she is taken to Loredo's for trial and presumably execution. Note: This also happens if you do not accept the quest at all.
• If you accuse her, but then agree to go with her to see 'evidence of her innocence', you and the soldiers are ambushed by the Scoia'tael. She can not run away, so she is taken to Loredo's for trial and execution.
• If you cover for her, she lures you (alone) into a Scoia'tael ambush consisting of a half dozen elves. She runs away, but you can find her later and decide whether she is to: be taken to Loredo, die by your hand, or let her go/run away. Future consequences of these choices are unknown; she does not appear again in the Witcher 2.

Reference: Malena (quest)

Bath with Triss

Decision: Go searching for the Rose of Remembrance alone or with Triss.

Consequences:

• If you decide to go together, you will have an opportunity for sex in the ruined elven baths. To initiate the cut scene, choose "You need a bath" dialogue option when it is given to you. After the sex scene, you can use Aard on the wall and enter the secret room and open a chest.
• If you decide to go together, but reject her in the elven baths, you can cast Aard on the stone wall. Then you will gain Resistance to magic ability.
• The secret room is also available during a fight scene after the scenes with Triss, but I'm unaware if the loot is different if you avoid the room until the fight.

Reference: The Rose of Remembrance

Troll trouble (DLC)

Decision: Kill the troll or help him to find out who killed his wife.

Consequences:

• If you kill him, you can loot him and Louis Merse gives you the contract reward.
• If you help him instead, you will in the long run get to the bandit hideout in the woods and get paid by the village chieftain.
• Killing him or letting him live is also an objective of a Steam achievement.
• There is an option to help him first but kill him in the end, thus receiving the majority of both rewards (see the reference for more info).

Reference: Troll trouble

Iorveth's sword

Decision: When your meeting with Letho is ambushed by the blue stripes, you can either give Iorveth's sword back to him or punch him instead.

Consequences:

• If you give him the sword, he escapes the ambush and can be later found amongst the Squirrels. Using the struggle between the elves and the blue stripes as an excuse, Loredo starts a pogrom in Flotsam , resulting in a big fire as some of the non-humans defend themselves. Many non-humans are killed, including Derae; Madame Margot survives. In a cutscene, you will see Triss talking to Philippa Eilhart.
• If you punch him, he will be overtaken by Roche's men and captured. (If you join Squirrels later, he will obviously not be present.) Loredo proclaims a holiday on the occasion and you are given a big credit for capturing his arch-enemy. Derae survives, but Margot commits suicide in order to escape punishment for being Iorveth's informant. In a cutscene, you will see Triss talking to Dethmold. When searching for Cedric, you will be attacked by a group of elves.
• There is a dwarf near the Vergen's Marketplace, marked by a blue dot on the map (Iorveth's path), whose behaviour towards Geralt changes according to this choice. Needs further clarification.
• Note: This choice has no practical effect on the later "Crossroads" decision. The game however can be sometimes inconsistent if you do not choose the matching options: give the sword to Iorveth and side with Scoia'tael or punch him and side with Roche respectively. This is a known bug / plothole. E.g.: On Iorveth's path in Vergen Geralt states he knows Triss had a conversation with Philippa, although your choice led to the Triss' conversation with Dethmold.

Reference: The Assassins of Kings, Where is Triss Merigold?, Margot's Disappearance

At the Crossroads

Decision: Side with the Scoia'tael or the blue stripes.

Consequences:

• Major choice with huge effect on the game!
• Siding with Scoia'tael will ultimately lead to the so-called Iorveth's path. You will mount an attack on the prison barge, so that the prisoners are not transported to Drakenborg . If you gave Iorveth his sword so he escaped capture (see above), you can use a diversion to avoid killing most of the guards. After the assault you sail of with Iorveth to Vergen . In the long run this gives Iorveth the chance to prove his good side and to find a new place in the world for him and his Scoia'tael.
• Siding with the blue stripes will ultimately lead to the so-called Roche's path. Roche tells you Loredo is a traitor and you mount an attack against his compound, killing him and finding Moril. After the assault, you leave her son with Seherim in Lobinden and sail off with Roche to the Kaedweni military camp near Vergen. When you pick this side, it is inevitable that prince Stennis later dies in the wraith's mist.

Reference: At a Crossroads: Scoia'tael, At a Crossroads: Vernon Roche

Hero or Avenger (Iorveth's path)

Decision: Go after Loredo or save the elven women from the burning tower.

Consequences:

• If you decide to kill Loredo, you will have to fight him and his personal guard on the Flotsam Marketplace. You get your revenge on him and you will be able to loot his corpse. The elven women will die in the tower, as no one in the harbour (except Dandelion, who fails) is willing to save the non-humans. At the end of the game you also learn that by killing Loredo you stopped him from selling Flotsam to Kaedwen.
• If you decide to save the imprisoned women, you will have to get to the tower before the flames destroy it and free them from their chains (a quick time action). You do not have much time, so do not waste it while killing the guards outside the tower. Quen Sign can protect you from the flames for some time. You will not have the chance to kill Loredo, as he is summoning reinforcements and Iorveth forces you to flee with him. One of the saved elves, Mottle, later offers Geralt sex as a payback for saving her life. She also gives you a key to passage that makes exploration in Κεφάλαιο I‎I faster.(Note: This option is said to be unavailable in Australian version of the game, because the censors had issues with the "sex as a reward" thing.) At the end of the game you learn Loredo sold Flotsam to Kaedwen and non-humans had it there even worse.

Reference: Mottle

Κεφάλαιο I‎I

The Succubus (Iorveth's path)

Decision: Trust Ele'yas or the succubus?

Consequences:

• Note: The decision whether to follow the succubus to her lair with Dandelion or not has no real effect on the game. The only difference is whether you let him gain the experience of some unearthly pleasures (lorewise, no cutscenes this time, sorry ;)
• If you choose to trust Ele'yas , you simply kill the demoness when you find her, loot her and claim your reward. And, as the evidence suggests, you are pacting with a mad murderer by doing so.
• To side with the succubus, you have not only to choose the appropriate dialogue options, but you also have to buy yourself the surgical tools to take the metal splinter from the corpse in the catacombs and present it as a proof to Iorveth. On the other hand she does not only reward you with some items but she also offers you to spend some time with her doing what succubi do best. She will actually make you feel drunk even some time after she leaves, never to return again.

Reference: With Flickering Heart

Stennis (Iorveth's path)

Decision: Kill Prince Stennis or save him ?

Consequences:

• If you let the mob kill prince Stennis you can use his blood to save Saskia. Upper Aedirn collapses because it does not have a king. Nobility is terrified by this horrific and unprecedented action. On the other hand this means stronger Pontar Valley under Saskia's rule.
• If you protect Prince Stennis it will be revealed he did order Saskia's poisoning but the laws of the gods remain unshattered. You will not get his blood, so you will have to obtain it from King Henselt later. In Act 3 he tries to get other kings to help him conquer the Pontar Valley.

Reference: Royal Blood

Henselt (Roche's path)

Decision: Let Roche kill King Henselt or stop him ?

Consequences:

• If you let Roche kill King Henselt in Act 3 Henselt's body will be in Dethmold's chamber and a Kaedwenian representative will be at the meeting.
• If you stop Roche from killing King Henselt he will conquer all of Aedirn.

Reference: Conspiracy Theory

Κεφάλαιο I‎II

Triss or Saskia? (Iorveth's path)

Decision: When you find Philippa Eilhart in her cell, will you help her hoping you can thus lift the curse from Saskia, or will you grab the ambassador and try to save Triss?

Consequences:

• If you choose to help Philippa, Iorveth will appear and together through a series of quests you will find the cure for Saskia (an enchanted dagger), despite the fact that Philippa betrays you in the process. You still have to fight the dragon, but you will afterwards free her from the spell. At the summit Shilard reveals the list of Lodge's sorceresses and because of that a witch hunt for all mages starts in the North.
• If you choose Triss instead, you will be given an opportunity to unleash hell in the Nilfgaardian camp and free her from the prison. You and Triss go to the deliberations, Triss accuses Síle de Tansarville of the regicides but the Conclave and the Council are re-founded. Later you find Iorveth critically injured by Philippa's magic. He however somehow managed to get the enchanted dagger from her and you take it although you already missed the opportunity to use it.

Reference: Witcher 2 Ending

Triss or Temeria? (Roche's path)

Decision: Will you go with Roche to save Anaïs, or alone to saveTriss?

Consequences:

• If you choose to help Roche, you will attack the Kaedweni camp where you kill Dethmold and save Anaïs. She is by law the heiress of Temeria and you must make a decision affecting her future. The Nilfgaardians will bring Letho to the deliberations and accuse the sorceresses of the regicides, thus ruining the rulers' trust in the Conclave and the Counsel and a witch hunt for all mages begins. Letho rescues Triss, who will be with him when you meet during the epilogue.

Decision: Will you hand Anaïs over to Radovid and the Redanians or John Natalis and the Temerians?

Consequences:

• If you hand her to Radovid it is revealed at the end that Temeria wasn't divided but became a protectorate of Redania.
• If you decide to give her to John Natalis, once you leave Dethmold's chambers you will have to fight Knights of the Flaming Rose. If you spared Sigfried in Witcher 1 the knights will let you go. Thanks to Anaïs Temeria keeps her independance and she will become a queen one day.

• If you choose Triss instead, you will be given an opportunity to unleash hell in the Nilfgaardian Quarter and free her from the prison. You and Triss go to the summit, Triss accuses Síle de Tansarville of the regicides but the Conclave and the Council are re-established. Roche, who rescued Anaïs on his own, is declared an outlaw and you help him later against the brigands. Anaïs' future looks less bright this way.
  

Reference: Witcher 2 Ending

The flawed diamond

Decision: Remove the flawed diamond from Síle de Tansarville's megascope or leave it in place?

Consequences:

• There are some different lines of dialogue referring to this decision during Geralt's final conversation with Letho.
• If the diamond is removed, Síle escapes from Loc Muinne after telling Geralt to go to Nilfgaard if he survives, where he will find Yennefer.
• If the diamond is left in place, Síle is torn to bits.

Reference: The Assassins of Kings, Síle de Tansarville