Spoiler warning: this guide covers the whole story of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, including the ending.
The Witcher 2 has no simple good or bad ending. Instead, a series of choices decides who rules Temeria, Aedirn and Kaedwen, who lives through the summit at Loc Muinne, and what the world looks like when Dandelion closes his story. This guide goes through every major decision in order, explains what it changes, and points out which ones carry over into The Witcher 3.
The decisions that matter most
| Decision | When | Options | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | — | — |
| Aryan La Valette | Prologue | Talk him into surrendering, duel him, or kill him and his men | Whether Aryan survives the siege. Asked again in The Witcher 3 |
| Roche or Iorveth | End of Chapter 1 | Vernon Roche or Iorveth | All of Chapter 2 and the start of Chapter 3 |
| Bernard Loredo (Iorveth’s path) | End of Chapter 1 | Chase Loredo or save the elven women | Who controls Flotsam |
| Prince Stennis (Iorveth’s path) | Chapter 2 | Let Saskia judge him or let the mob have him | Whether Aedirn keeps its rightful heir |
| Henselt (Roche’s path) | End of Chapter 2 | Let Roche kill him or stop him | Whether Kaedwen keeps its king |
| Who to save | Chapter 3 | Triss, or Anaïs (Roche) / Philippa (Iorveth) | How the summit plays out, and Temeria’s future |
| Anais La Valette (Roche’s path) | Chapter 3 | Radovid or John Natalis | Whether Temeria stays independent |
| The dragon | Chapter 3 | Kill it or spare it | Saskia’s fate |
| Síle de Tansarville | Chapter 3 | Save her or let her die | Whether Síle survives. Asked again in The Witcher 3 |
| Letho | Finale | Fight him to the death or let him go | Whether Letho survives. The biggest carry-over into The Witcher 3 |
Prologue: Aryan La Valette
During the assault on La Valette Castle in At the Fore, the attack stalls at a tower held by Aryan La Valette, the baroness’s son. Geralt climbs up to talk to him, and there are three ways it can end:
- Persuade him to surrender. Aryan gives up the tower to spare his men. Later, in The Dungeons of the La Valettes, Geralt meets him again in the dungeons and they fight their way to a secret passage, but Aryan chooses to stay behind in his family’s burning castle. He survives all the same, which matters later.
- Accept his duel. Aryan fights Geralt one on one to decide the battle and dies.
- Kill everyone. Geralt cuts down the defenders, and Aryan falls with them.
The choice has little effect on the rest of The Witcher 2, but it is one of the questions The Witcher 3 asks about your past.
Chapter 1: Flotsam
Chapter 1 has several smaller choices that shape the mood in Flotsam more than the ending:
- Loredo’s offer (Indecent Proposal): Loredo asks Geralt to capture Iorveth. Geralt can accept and leave as Loredo’s “friend”, or refuse and make an enemy of him.
- Malena (Malena): an elven woman accused of leading soldiers into a Scoia’tael ambush. Geralt can stay out of it, tell the truth about the elven arrows in the soldiers’ bodies, or hide it and let her go. If he covers for her, she leads him into an ambush. Geralt can then let her go, hand her over to the guards or kill her. If Geralt is already working with Iorveth, the Scoia’tael let him walk away.
The big one: Roche or Iorveth
After Letho kidnaps Triss, Geralt picks his ally in At a Crossroads: Vernon Roche and At a Crossroads: Scoia’tael. This decides your whole Chapter 2. Our Roche or Iorveth guide compares the two paths in detail.
- Roche: Geralt kills Loredo in Death to the Traitor!. Flotsam is not sold to Kaedwen.
- Iorveth: Geralt helps free the Scoia’tael from the Prison Barge in The Floating Prison. Loredo sets a tower full of elven women on fire to cover his escape. If Geralt chases Loredo, he kills the commandant and Kaedwen’s plans for the trading post fall apart. If he saves the women, Loredo gets away, and the journal later reports that he handed Flotsam over to Kaedwen for a fat purse.
Chapter 2 on Roche’s path
- The conspiracy (Conspiracy Theory): when Dethmold offers a reward for the dead conspirators, Geralt can take the money or refuse it on principle. This is a small choice, but the chapter ends with Henselt having the Blue Stripes hanged, which turns Roche against the king for good.
- Ves in the arena (Ave Henselt!): if Geralt reaches the final of Henselt’s tournament, Ves challenges him. Beating her fairly earns her respect. Losing on purpose insults her.
- Iorveth or Síle (The Siege of Vergen): inside Vergen, Geralt can help Iorveth in the besieged keep. Síle and Philippa escape the town either way.
- Henselt’s life: at the end of the siege, Roche faces Henselt. Geralt can let Roche kill the king or stop him. The journal says both outcomes change “the fate of two kingdoms”. With Henselt dead, Kaedwen loses its king. If he lives, Henselt remains a player in the fight over Temeria’s lands.
Chapter 2 on Iorveth’s path
- Prince Stennis (Royal Blood): peasants accuse Stennis of poisoning Saskia and are ready to storm his house. Geralt can question everyone involved, including the peasant who overheard Stennis talking to his priest, Olcan, and then decide. He can hand the prince over to Saskia’s judgment or let the peasants tear him apart. If the mob kills Stennis, Aedirn loses its rightful heir. The journal says this death “set in motion events” that are still felt afterwards.
- The succubus (With Flickering Heart): Geralt has to decide whether the succubus or Iorveth’s warrior Ele’yas is the murderer. He can kill the succubus, kill Ele’yas, or take the case to Iorveth, in which case Ele’yas flees.
- The trolls (Where is Triss Merigold?): to get Triss’s bandana back, Geralt can side with Adam Pangratt’s mercenaries against the she-troll or protect her and reunite the troll couple. It is a small choice, but a sweet one.
- The siege (Vergen Besieged): Vergen wins on this path no matter what. Henselt has to give up his claim to Upper Aedirn, and the Pontar Valley becomes independent for now. The bad news comes right after, when Geralt discovers that Philippa poisoned Saskia and now controls her mind.
Chapter 3: Loc Muinne
Who to save
Early in Chapter 3, Geralt has to choose between Triss and someone else. Triss is held by the Nilfgaardians, and the only way to her is to take the envoy Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen hostage.
- Roche’s path (For Temeria!): save Triss, or go with Roche to free Anaïs La Valette from Dethmold in Of His Blood and Bone.
- Iorveth’s path (For a Higher Cause!): save Triss, or free the blinded Philippa Eilhart from the Redanian prison. Philippa knows where to find the dagger that can break her spell on Saskia (The Spellbreaker).
If Geralt saves Triss, he kills his way through the Nilfgaardian camp. Shilard dies when the knight Renuald aep Matsen shoots his own envoy. At the summit, Triss publicly exposes Síle de Tansarville’s part in the murders.
If Geralt goes the other way, Letho frees Triss himself. But the Nilfgaardians have already used her testimony against the sorcerers, and the summit ends in the worst witch-hunt the North has seen.
Anaïs: Radovid or Natalis (Roche’s path)
If Geralt helped Roche free Anaïs, the last question is who gets her, and Geralt has a say in it:
- To Radovid: Roche keeps his promise to Radovid V of Redania. Radovid uses the girl to make Temeria a Redanian protectorate, and his kingdom comes out stronger than ever.
- To Natalis: Roche breaks his word to Radovid and gives the girl to John Natalis, Temeria’s regent. Knights of the Order of the Flaming Rose sent by Radovid try to stop them. Depending on how things stand with Geralt’s old friend Siegfried, the Grand Master either lets them pass or the knights have to be fought. With Foltest’s daughter as his ward, Natalis has a real chance to keep Temeria independent.
If Anaïs is not secured, Radovid and Henselt plan to divide Temeria between them so that Nilfgaard cannot take it. If Henselt is dead as well, that plan falls apart and Temeria is left to its quarrelling barons.
The dragon
A Summit of Mages is cut short when a dragon attacks the amphitheatre, and Geralt fights it in Enter the Dragon. The dragon is Saskia, now controlled by the sorceresses. Geralt can kill her or spare her. On Iorveth’s path, if Geralt chose Philippa, Iorveth helps him get a magical dagger that can break the spell, so Saskia can be saved and freed.
Síle de Tansarville
After the dragon fight Geralt finally catches Síle, as she tries to flee through her megascope, which suddenly starts to fail. He can help her escape, knowing her crimes will soon be public anyway, or let the failing spell kill her.
Letho
The story ends with Geralt and Letho face to face. Letho explains everything: he is a witcher of the Viper School, working for Emperor Emhyr of Nilfgaard, and he used the Lodge of Sorceresses to kill the northern kings and throw the North into chaos. After the talk Geralt can duel him to the death or let him go. The choice matters a lot in the next game.
The epilogue
The story closes with Dandelion’s summary of what became of the North. The main things your choices decide are:
- Temeria: independent under Natalis with Anaïs as its symbol, a Redanian protectorate under Radovid, divided between Redania and Kaedwen, or, if Henselt is dead too, torn apart by its own barons.
- Flotsam: with Loredo dead, Temeria keeps the trading post. If he lived, he sold it to Kaedwen and its nonhumans were scattered.
- Aedirn and the Pontar Valley: on Iorveth’s path Saskia’s victory turns the former Upper Aedirn into a promised land for outcasts dreaming of freedom, though the epilogue warns that hard times are coming. On Roche’s path Vergen falls and Saskia’s side loses the war.
- Kaedwen: with or without Henselt, depending on whether Roche got his revenge.
- The sorcerers: mages are hunted across the North after Loc Muinne no matter what. If Triss was rescued, she publicly exposes Síle. If not, her forced testimony makes the witch-hunt even worse.
What carries over to The Witcher 3
If you start The Witcher 3 without a Witcher 2 save, you can choose to “simulate” one. Morvran Voorhis then asks Geralt about his past while he waits for the emperor in Vizima. The questions cover:
- Whether Aryan La Valette lived. This makes a small difference in the Witcher 3 quest Broken Flowers.
- Whether Geralt left Flotsam with Roche or Iorveth, and whether he chose to save Triss or someone else. These make only small changes. Triss and Roche are alive in The Witcher 3 either way.
- What happened to Síle de Tansarville.
- What happened to Letho. This is the most important one: if Letho lives, Geralt can meet him again in Ghosts of the Past, and he can join the defence of Kaer Morhen later in the story.
If you want to keep the most content open in The Witcher 3, let Letho live.
Keep exploring
Compare the two halves of the story in our Roche or Iorveth guide, plan a build in the Witcher 2 Character Planner, and find every quest, character and place in the Witcher 2 hub.