Francis Bedlam

Francis Bedlam, who calls himself the King of Beggars, is one of the Big Four who run Novigrad’s underworld in 1272, alongside Whoreson Junior, Sigi Reuven and Carlo “Cleaver” Varese. The title is a joke with teeth: Novigrad has not had a king for almost two centuries, so Bedlam mocks the pomp of crowned heads while helping himself to a little of it. His gang, the Blindeyes, is a network of thieves, beggars, tramps and street urchins that reaches every corner of the city. It brings him the freshest gossip, and the cut he takes from his “subjects” pays for his court in the Putrid Grove.

Bedlam is a pragmatist, but he has no patience for fanaticism or prejudice. That is why mages running from the witch hunters so often end up under his protection. According to Gwent lore, he was also one of the founders of the Syndicate, the alliance of Novigrad’s leading criminals.

Francis Bedlam in The Witcher 3
Geralt first meets him in Pyres of Novigrad, while searching for Triss Merigold. Getting into the Grove means tailing a thief, finding the right beggar or sneaking in through the sewers. Once inside, Geralt finds Triss doing business with Bedlam, who gets into politics and hints at big plans for the city before letting them go.

He is at the bathhouse meeting in Get Junior when Whoreson Junior’s assassins attack the Big Four. Later, if Geralt frees Bedlam’s halfling spy Rico Meiersdorf from Junior’s casino, the King of Beggars keeps Rico’s promise in Honor Among Thieves and rewards the witcher with Freya’s Warriors’ armor and the sword Eirlithrad. Honor among thieves, it turns out, is real.