Loc Muinne

Loc Muinne is an ancient city of white stone on the upper Pontar, in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Its history is older than the elves who made it famous: the first settlement there belonged to the Vrani, who died out long ago, and the elven sages known as the Aen Saevherne later rebuilt the city and taught magic there for generations. It was in Loc Muinne that the first human Sources were trained by elves, and where Agnes of Glanville became the first human sorceress. That brief age of cooperation ended in a massacre of the city’s elves, and by the time of The Witcher 2 only grand, empty ruins remain.

Ruins with that kind of symbolism make a fine stage for politics. In Chapter 3 of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, the kings of the North and the sorcerers gather here for a summit meant to rebuild the mages’ ruling bodies, and every faction Geralt has met so far shows up with its own agenda.

In The Witcher 2

Geralt arrives with Vernon Roche or Iorveth, depending on the choice made in Flotsam, still hunting Síle de Tansarville and the kidnapped Triss Merigold. The knights of the Order of the Flaming Rose, led by Geralt’s old friend Siegfried, are camped at the gate, and King Radovid of Redania holds court inside.

The chapter’s big decision depends on the path. With Roche, Geralt chooses between rescuing Triss and helping free Anais La Valette, Foltest‘s daughter, from the Kaedweni. With Iorveth, he witnesses Radovid’s cruel revenge on Philippa Eilhart and must choose between rescuing the blinded sorceress, the only one who can free Saskia from her spell, and finding Triss.

The summit itself is held in the amphitheatre. The Nilfgaardian delegation brings out the captured kingslayer Letho, the debate goes nowhere, and then a dragon appears over the city. Geralt chases Síle up a tower as she tries to escape through a sabotaged megascope, then deals with the dragon, which can be killed, spared or, with Philippa’s help, freed from the spell. Afterwards Geralt finally faces Letho, who reveals that he has been working for Nilfgaard all along. Letho can be killed or allowed to leave.

What happens to the city’s guests depends on Triss. If she was rescued, the mages’ Conclave is restored and Loc Muinne is sealed; if not, the summit ends in a bloody pogrom of mages.

Quests in Loc Muinne

For Temeria! (Roche) or For a Higher Cause! (Iorveth)
Of His Blood and Bone (Roche) or The Spellbreaker (Iorveth)
Where is Triss Merigold?
A Summit of Mages
Enter the Dragon
The Assassins of Kings (final meeting with Letho)

Side quests include The Secrets of Loc Muinne, Dearhenna’s Journal, A Tome Truly Rare, An Encrypted Manuscript, The Gargoyle Contract, and on Roche’s path Lilies and Vipers, Crown Witness, The Messenger and Pacta Sunt Servanda.

Good to know

Minigames continue here: Poker Face: Loc Muinne against the Incredible Lockhart, Bring It On: Loc Muinne against the Mighty Numa, and the fistfighting rematch in A Score to Settle.
Gargoyles prowl the ruins, and the sorcerers pay a bounty to have them cleared.
The old elven sewers run under the city and offer one way to reach Philippa on Iorveth’s path.
On Dark difficulty, the mage-smith Bras of Ban Ard forges the last cursed set, The Kinslayer’s Outfit.

Across the games

In The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Loc Muinne is the setting of Chapter 3. The ancient elven city lies on the upper Pontar among the peaks of the Blue Mountains, and by the time of the game only white ruins remain of its former splendor.

The journal recalls its history. Centuries earlier, the sorcerer Geoffrey Monck brought the Sources, human children gifted with magic, to the city so that elven Sages could train them, and for a while it seemed humans and elves might live together in peace. A few years later, Redanian armies slaughtered all of the city’s elves, sparking a war. That conflict concluded with Aelirenn’s uprising and the Shaerrawedd massacre, and afterwards most surviving elves withdrew east into the Blue Mountains.