Crach an Craite

The fearsome jarl of Ard Skellig and lord of Kaer Trolde, an old friend of Geralt bound by oath to protect Ciri.

Crach an Craite is the head of Clan an Craite, jarl of Ard Skellig and lord of Kaer Trolde. Nilfgaardians know him as Tirth ys Muire, the Wild Boar of the Sea, and for good reason: his raids on the empire’s coasts were so ferocious that mothers used his name to scare their children. He is a nephew of King Bran Tuirseach and learned his trade from his other uncle, Eist Tuirseach. Red-haired, loud and famous for his appetite and his temper, Crach is also a far sharper politician than outsiders give him credit for.

Crach an Craite in The Witcher 3
When Geralt and Yennefer reach Skellige, Crach lights King Bran’s funeral pyre and summons the jarls to a feast at Kaer Trolde to choose a new ruler. He could easily have claimed the crown himself, but he backs his son instead, laying Hjalmar’s axe on the table in his absence. Then his daughter Cerys throws down her own weapon, to everyone’s surprise, and Crach promises to support both children equally. He asks Geralt to look out for them, which sends the witcher to Spikeroog in Possession and to Undvik in The Lord of Undvik. In King’s Gambit he rewards Geralt with the silver sword Fate, just before a bloody massacre at his feast leaves the other jarls blaming his clan. True to an old pledge, he puts everything Skellige can offer behind the search for Ciri.

What happens to Crach an Craite?
Crach always dies, whatever you choose. When the Wild Hunt’s ship, the Naglfar, appears during On Thin Ice, he rams it with his own vessel so his warriors can board, then faces Eredin himself. He is no match for the King of the Hunt, who toys with him, but Crach picks up his axe for one last swing and is cut down. The islanders remember it as the way a true hero should die.

In the books
In The Last Wish, a young Crach travels to Cintra with Eist and the druid Mousesack as a suitor for Princess Pavetta, at the feast where Geralt sits beside Queen Calanthe in disguise. After Pavetta’s death, Calanthe makes him swear a blood oath to guard Ciri, and he later breaks up the childish engagement between Ciri and Hjalmar. He fights at Marnadal and Sodden in the First Northern War and refuses to sign the peace with Nilfgaard. In The Tower of the Swallow he shelters Yennefer, an old flame of his, while she searches for Ciri.