The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt doesn’t have a single ending but a whole set of variations you build up as you play. This guide explains how many there are, which parts an ending is made of and in which quests it gets decided. The first part is spoiler-free. The specific choices and their outcomes only come further down, below a clear warning. Everything also applies to the Remastered version (patch 5.01) as of 19 October 2026.
How many endings The Witcher 3 has (no spoilers)
The game has 36 ending variations. That doesn’t mean 36 completely different final cutscenes. The ending is made up of several separate parts that combine based on your decisions:
- The main story ending has three variations and matters most.
- Geralt’s personal ending depends on how his relationships turn out.
- The war: who ends up controlling the North.
- Skellige: who takes the throne of the isles.
The main ending isn’t decided by one choice in the finale. The decisions are spread across the second and third acts, and some of them are easy to miss. If it’s your first playthrough, the best advice is to play the way you want and keep saving. The Blood and Wine expansion also has its own endings, and once you finish it, your choices from the base game come back into play too.
The order of the main game and expansions is covered in our DLC order guide. If you’re only just starting, head to the beginner’s guide instead and come back here once you’ve finished.
Warning: spoilers from here on
Everything below this heading reveals the plot of The Witcher 3, including the end of the main story. If this is your first playthrough and you don’t want anything spoiled, stop reading here.
Five choices that decide Ciri’s fate
The three main endings are about Ciri. Her fate comes down to five moments in the second and third acts, in the quests Battle Preparations, Blood on the Battlefield and Final Preparations. Each moment has a positive and a negative option:
| Moment | Positive choice | Negative choice |
|---|---|---|
| After the Battle of Kaer Morhen | Snowball fight (answer “Know what might lift your spirits”) | Drinking in the keep (answer “You don’t have to be good at everything”) |
| Meeting Emhyr | Take Ciri straight to Velen | Visit Emhyr with her and accept the payment |
| Meeting the Lodge of Sorceresses | Let Ciri go alone | Go with her |
| Avallac’h’s lab | Let her trash the lab | Tell her to “calm down” |
| Skjall’s grave | Go to the grave with her | Decline (“no time”) |
What the choices lead to: Ciri’s three endings
What counts is the number of positive choices, not any single one:
- Ciri the witcher: at least three positive choices and no visit to Emhyr. Ciri survives and becomes a witcher. Geralt gives her a sword at the inn in White Orchard.
- Ciri the empress: at least three positive choices, a visit to Emhyr and a Nilfgaardian victory in the war. Ciri survives and becomes Empress of Nilfgaard.
- Ciri doesn’t return: three or more negative choices. Ciri doesn’t come back and Geralt finds only her medallion.
Watch the second row of the table. Visiting Emhyr is what separates the witcher ending from the empress ending, so decide based on the ending you want.
Geralt’s ending and romance
Geralt’s personal ending depends on romance:
- With Yennefer: Geralt settles down with her.
- With Triss: Geralt leaves with her for Kovir.
- No romance, or trying both: Geralt stays a witcher on the Path, alone.
That’s why our beginner’s guide warns that romancing both Triss and Yennefer in one playthrough can backfire.
Who wins the war
The war in the North ends with one of three winners: Emhyr (Nilfgaard), Radovid or Dijkstra. The outcome mostly depends on the Reason of State questline. A Nilfgaardian victory is also a requirement for the ending in which Ciri becomes empress.
Who rules Skellige
The throne of Skellige goes to Cerys, Hjalmar or Svanrige. Svanrige only rules if you don’t complete the an Craite family questline.
Blood and Wine endings
The Blood and Wine expansion has three main endings built around Anna Henrietta, Syanna and Detlaff. You can’t pick the best one with a single choice in the finale; you have to set it up through several steps over the course of the expansion’s story.
If you finish Blood and Wine after the main game, someone visits you at your vineyard in Toussaint based on your earlier choices: your romance, Ciri or Marigold. When to start the expansion is covered in our expansions guide.
Does this still apply in Remastered?
Yes. Remastered, released on 29 September 2026, changed the graphics, the skills and many gameplay systems, but the ending conditions stayed the same. According to the official FAQ, saves from older versions work in Remastered, so you can finish an existing playthrough with all your earlier decisions intact.
Join our Discord to compare which ending everyone else got and what they’d do differently. Come over to the GamersTogether Discord.
FAQ
The game has 36 ending variations. They’re made up of the main ending with three variations, Geralt’s personal ending, the outcome of the war and the ruler of Skellige.
Ciri’s fate hinges on five choices in the second and third acts, not on the main story path. Which ones they are and what they change is covered in the article below the spoiler warning.
The game doesn’t let you have both without consequences. Trying leads to a specific outcome described in the section on Geralt’s personal ending.
Three characters, depending on whether and how you finish the an Craite family questline. Names and conditions are in the Skellige section of the article.
No, the endings and their conditions still apply in Remastered. Older saves work in the new version.
Information verified on 19 October 2026. More guides are waiting in our Witcher 3 guides.