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The Witcher 3 does not have a single ending switch. Ciri’s fate depends on how you handle four specific scenes, and whether she then becomes Empress or follows the witcher path depends on one meeting with Emhyr. The war, the ruler of the North, Skellige, and individual characters run on separate branches, so you can shape them without changing Ciri’s result. The endings produce different results rather than a clear ranking, so the useful question is which outcome you want, not which ending is objectively best.
CD PROJEKT RED’s official game page describes the game this way: “The morally ambiguous world of the Continent is full of delightful and dreadful encounters with complex choices and consequences.” The sections below separate Ciri’s outcome from the other epilogues so you can plan for the one you want.
Ciri’s survival: the four scenes that count
Prima Games’ ending guide for the Complete Edition names four pivotal interactions. Each has a favorable choice, and the guide treats the number of favorable choices as the deciding factor for whether Ciri survives. The scenes below follow the order of the guide’s headings.
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| Scene | Favorable choice | Choice it replaces |
|---|---|---|
| Blood on the Battlefield | Have the snowball fight with Ciri | Drink with her |
| Final Preparations | Let Ciri speak with the Lodge of Sorceresses by herself | Not stated |
| Battle Preparations | Let Ciri ransack Avallac’h’s laboratory | Give her Lara Dorren’s necklace |
| Skjall’s Grave | Make time to go with Ciri to Skjall’s grave | Refuse her request |
Source for the table: Prima Games, “The Gentleman Will Lead. The Emperor Will Follow.”
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How to read the four choices
The guide calls all four choices favorable, and they share a theme: each gives Ciri more room to act or grieve on her own terms. She speaks with the Lodge without Geralt present, takes initiative in Avallac’h’s laboratory, and gets Geralt’s time at Skjall’s grave. The guide does not explain why each scene counts beyond labeling it favorable, so that reading is an interpretation rather than a mechanic the guide spells out.
How many favorable choices you need
The guide states two thresholds:
- Two or more favorable choices among the four: Ciri survives.
- Three or more negative choices among the four: Ciri dies.
The guide frames the outcome as a running total rather than the result of any one scene, so each choice matters in relation to the others. Most runs fall clearly under one threshold. The guide does not say how a run with one favorable choice and two negative choices resolves, which can only happen if one scene is neither favorable nor negative. If your run looks like that, check the scene-by-scene outcomes in the guide before relying on either result.
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Witcher path or Empress: the Emhyr decision
Survival is the first condition for both paths. What separates them is a second decision tied to Emhyr. The guide’s witcher-path condition names one specific meeting: Emhyr in Vizima during Blood on the Battlefield.
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How do I get the Witcher ending for Ciri?
- Make at least two of the four favorable choices above so Ciri survives.
- During Blood on the Battlefield, do not take Ciri to see Emhyr in Vizima.
Both conditions come from the guide’s Ciri entries, and the guide lists them together for the witcher outcome it describes.
How do you get the Empress ending?
- Make at least two favorable choices so Ciri survives.
- Bring Ciri to meet Emhyr.
The Empress entry states the Emhyr requirement without repeating the scene name. Because the witcher-path warning names the Vizima visit in Blood on the Battlefield, that is the meeting to plan around if you are unsure which visit counts.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which other choices change the epilogue?
The branches below change the world around Ciri and the people in it. They do not change the survival count or the Emhyr decision.
The war and the ruler of the North
The guide’s “The Gentleman Will Lead. The Emperor Will Follow.” section lays out variations involving Radovid, Dijkstra, Vernon Roche, Thaler, and the “Reason of State” quest. The side you back determines whether Nilfgaard, Dijkstra, or Radovid controls the North, which changes the texture of the political epilogue. That result is separate from Ciri’s imperial role: the war shapes the surrounding epilogue, not the Emhyr condition.
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Skellige’s ruler is a separate political outcome, and romance outcomes are a separate branch as well. This article does not give trigger steps for either, so check the relevant quests in the game before assuming how they resolve. Neither should be treated as part of Ciri’s result.
Character endings
Prima Games’ “Character Endings” section describes the outcomes below. Some ending scenes in the guide play before the main quest ends, so these results do not all appear in one final cutscene.
| Character or group | Choice | Outcome described in the guide |
|---|---|---|
| Bloody Baron | Kill or free the tree spirit | Changes the chain of events in “Return to Crookback Bog.” In one branch the Baron takes Anna away; in another he hangs himself. |
| Keira Metz | Convince her to go to Kaer Morhen | She can ally with Lambert |
| Keira Metz | Send her to Radovid | She is executed |
| Mages in Novigrad | Complete “Now or Never” | Helps Triss get mages out of danger |
| Mages in Novigrad | Ignore the quest | Radovid’s purge goes unchecked |
The guide’s summary does not match each Bloody Baron branch to one tree-spirit decision, so treat the pairing of kill or free with either outcome as unconfirmed here.
Quick Recap
What this guide does and does not verify
- Edition: The route rules come from Prima Games’ eGuide for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – The Complete Edition. The publisher’s page lists the Complete Edition as the available edition, including Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, and names a Remastered upgrade for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
- Testing: These routes were not checked through playtesting or save-file inspection, and they were not verified across every platform or patch. If an outcome does not match, check the scene against your own version before assuming the guide is wrong.
- Playtime figure: Bandai Namco Entertainment’s official The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt website cites over 100 hours of core and side-quest gameplay. That figure describes the game’s scope, not how long any ending takes to reach.
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