Something Ends, Something Begins is the epilogue of The Witcher 3’s main story, following Tedd Deireadh, The Final Age. It plays out in one of three very different ways depending on how Geralt treated Ciri and how the war in the North ended. This page describes all three, so expect heavy spoilers. For a checklist of every choice, see our Witcher 3 endings guide.
How to start Something Ends, Something Begins
It starts right after Tedd Deireadh. The suggested level is 30. The XP depends on the ending: 150 XP in the Witcher ending, 200 XP for scaring off the bear in the Empress ending, and 1,000 XP plus 200 XP for an optional fight in the Tragic ending. If you play Blood and Wine at the same time, its last quest, Be It Ever So Humble, won’t start until this one is done.
The choices that decide the ending
Five moments give Ciri a positive or a negative point:
- Blood on the Battlefield: say “I know what might lift your spirits” (positive) instead of “Relax, you don’t have to be good at everything” (negative).
- Blood on the Battlefield, only if you take Ciri to Emhyr: refuse his payment (positive) or accept it (negative).
- Final Preparations: let Ciri meet the Lodge of Sorceresses alone (positive) or go with her (negative).
- Child of the Elder Blood: say “Go for it” when she wants to smash the lab (positive) or “Calm down” (negative).
- After the lab: go with Ciri to Skjall’s grave (positive) or don’t (negative).
The Empress ending also needs Ciri to have met Emhyr and Nilfgaard to have won the war. That means completing the assassination quests, keeping things civil with Dijkstra in Blindingly Obvious, and siding with the Temerian patriots in Reason of State.
Witcher ending
Requirements: at least as many positive points as negative ones. If you took Ciri to Emhyr, Nilfgaard must also lose the war, either by skipping Reason of State or by siding with Dijkstra.
Geralt goes to the palace in Vizima, follows Mererid to Emhyr and tells him Ciri died fighting the White Frost. Then the story moves to White Orchard, where Geralt waits at the old Nilfgaardian garrison for a swordsmith, Master Ort. Ort brings what he calls the finest silver sword ever made, and you choose its inscription; one option is its name, Zireael. At the village inn a hooded woman is waiting. It is Ciri, alive, and Geralt hands her the sword. She is setting out on the witcher’s path.
Who won the war changes the details. If Radovid won, witch hunters are about to burn Tomira near her hut, and you can untie her. On the way to the inn you can also meet one of the dwarves from The Isle of Mists, then cover for him and his friends when soldiers or witch hunters come looking, threaten or fight them, or hand the dwarves over. Unless you give them up, you can ask for a reward of 250 crowns.
Empress ending
Requirements: at least three positive points, Ciri taken to Emhyr in Blood on the Battlefield, and a Nilfgaardian victory in the war.
It is winter in White Orchard. At the inn Geralt can talk to his partner if he romanced Triss or Yennefer, and banter with Zoltan and Dandelion, who gives news of Priscilla. The hunter Mislav points Geralt to Ciri, who seems oddly sad. Geralt shows her the griffin’s nest from The Beast of White Orchard, kills a forktail that ambushes her, and takes her “witcher fishing” with bombs on a frozen lake. On the walk back she finally cheers up, until they find Nilfgaardian soldiers waiting. Ciri has chosen to go to Nilfgaard and take the throne, because that is where she can do the most good. She gives Geralt her sword, hugs him and rides off with Morvran Voorhis.
Tragic ending
Requirements: three or more negative points.
Ciri does not come back. Geralt returns alone to Crookback Bog in Velen to take back her medallion from the last of the Crones, the Weavess. A werewolf blocks his way. Spare him and he gives his name, Berem, guides you through the swamp and asks for help saving a wolf from hunters (200 XP). Kill him and you head straight for the crone. At the Orphans of Crookback Bog Geralt fights the Weavess and her summoned monsters (1,000 XP). Afterwards he tears the house apart, finds the medallion in a small chest and sits holding it as monsters gather outside.
Tips
- Make a save before Blood on the Battlefield if you want to try more than one ending without replaying the whole game.
- Empress ending: Geralt draws his steel sword against the forktail, so switch to silver yourself.
- Empress ending: the short quest Faithful Friend starts as you leave the inn and is only available during this epilogue.
- Empress ending: if the contract Devil by the Well isn’t done yet, it fails, because the fishing scene takes its place.
- Witcher ending: this is your first chance to loot the Nilfgaardian garrison in White Orchard without angering any guards.
- Whatever the ending, after the credits Geralt wakes at Kaer Morhen and you can keep playing side quests, contracts and the expansions.
