The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is probably one of the best games of this generation. However, if you’re not familiar with the book or previous games, the third part may be a bit overwhelming. There are a lot of characters, a lot of backstory, and a lot to keep in mind as you play through Geralt and Ciri’s adventures. If The Witcher 3 on Nintendo Switch is your first foray into the Northern Kingdoms, here’s everything you need to know about the story before starting the Wild Hunt.

For more information about The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Nintendo Switch, check out our What You Need to Know Quick Start Guide. A review is on the way, but in the meantime, check out our first impressions of how the Switch port performs in the livestream video above.

Major Backstory Of The Witcher

Let’s start with the basics: Geralt of Rivia is a sorcerer, and sorcerers are professional monster hunters. To become a sorcerer, one is usually taken from their family at an early age and undergoes rigorous training, including the infamous Trial of Grasses, where children are infused with alchemy ingredients. Most do not survive, but those who do develop superhuman reflexes, senses, and abilities. The downside is that once a witcher completes their training, they are said to no longer have emotions. Witchers then traditionally travel the world, hunting monsters for money. But because Geralt has a good heart, he tends to work around this venerable rule of policy.

So what makes Geralt so unique? Well, not much, actually. He’s not some chosen hero destined to save the world, nor is he more powerful than other sorceresses. He’s just trying to help his friends, and fate has inexplicably tied his destiny to the most powerful being in the universe, Cirilla Fiona Ellen Rhiannon – don’t worry, most characters just call her Ciri for short.

Unlike the first two games, the father-daughter relationship between Geralt and Ciri determines the plot of the third game. However, Ciri is not Geralt’s biological daughter. In fact, witchers are infertile due to the trials they go through. So how did Geralt and Ciri meet? Before Ciri was born, Geralt put a curse on her father, a man named Danny. Instead of asking for money, Geralt invoked the Law of Surprise, which means that the next surprising event that happens to Dany is up to Geralt. To Dany’s surprise, his lover, Queen Cintra, was pregnant with a girl.

Six years passed, and Geralt returned to collect the money from Duny and his wife, but ultimately decided not to take Ciri with him. Years later, when Cintra fell to the Nilfgaardian Empire, Geralt agreed to train Ciri at Kaer Morhen and hide her from Nilfgaard.

You may be wondering, “Why did Geralt hide Ciri from Nilfgaard?” This explanation is related to Duny. After all, his real name is Emil var Emrys, also known as the Emperor of Nilfgaard. Whether Ciri likes it or not, she is the heir to the Nilfgaardian throne and has a birthright to fulfill.

These events bring us to where the first book in the Witcher series, Blood of Elves, begins. Ciri first trains with Geralt, then with a sorceress named Yennefer (more on her later), then separates from them. On the run from Nilfgaard and other nefarious forces, Ciri joins a gang for the majority of the series. Meanwhile, Geralt, who has assumed a fatherly role towards Ciri, tries to track her down.

There’s a lot more detail on these characters in the books, so be sure to check them out if you’re interested. If you decide to read the books, I don’t want to give away the events at the end of the books, so I’ll leave it vague. But by the end of the series, Ciri inevitably disappears. Despite being a very important character in the books, she doesn’t appear in the first two Witcher games. It’s her return that sets the events of The Witcher 3 in motion, and it’s up to Geralt and Yennefer to find her at the request of her father, Emil.

So who is Yennefer? If Geralt is like a father to Ciri, then Yennefer is like a mother to her. In the short story “The Last Wish”, Geralt and his good friend the bard Dandelion encounter a djinn (or ghost) on their travels. After attacking Dandelion, Geralt takes Dandelion to the nearest town to get help from a sorceress. This sorceress is Yennefer of Vengerberg. She decides to tame the djinn and harness its powers. Of course, this doesn’t go as planned, and the djinn begins terrorizing the city. Geralt makes a deal with the djinn, and in the process begins a romantic relationship with Yennefer. Geralt also uses a genie to grant wishes, but Andrzej Sapkowski, the creator of the Witcher series, never explicitly stated Geralt’s final wish. However, in the context of The Witcher 3, it seems likely that Geralt’s final wish was for him and Yennefer to be together forever, no matter how difficult the circumstances.

Not surprisingly, things are getting shaky. At the beginning of The Witcher 1, Geralt loses his memory and begins a romantic relationship with another sorceress named Triss Merigold, Yennefer’s best friend. Unfortunately, Geralt knows no more than that, having spent so much time getting to know her in The Witchers 1 and 2. So that’s why Yennefer seems a bit cold at the start of The Witcher 3. Like Ciri, Yennefer doesn’t appear in The Witchers 1 and 2. She seems to be doing her own thing.

Triss Merigold of Maribor is like a sister to Ciri. Triss took her under her wing when Ciri was imprisoned in Kaer Morhen with a group of disgruntled sorceresses. While Geralt and his Witcher friends taught Ciri how to fight, Triss taught her how to be polite. However, one of the more important details about Triss, aside from her relationship with Ciri, is that she loves Geralt dearly.

In case you didn’t already know, Yen, Triss and Geralt have a long shared history. Keep this in mind as you start playing The Witcher 3. Remember: Yen and Triss are friends and they talk, so don’t be too careless with your words when dealing with them.

Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer and Triss may be the most important characters in The Witcher 3, but they are certainly not the only ones to note. It would be too long to list them all, but here are some noteworthy characters:

• Dandelion: Geralt’s best friend and loudmouth bard.
• Zoltan Chivay: A good-natured dwarf and friendly ally.
• Vernon Roche: Commander of the Temerian special forces known as the Blue Stripes.
• Keira Metz: A sorceress forced into hiding.
• Philipa Eilheart: Leader of the Lodge of Sorceresses. A group that saw most of the powerful and influential wizards eliminated. King Radovid blinded them.
• King Radovid: A power-mad Redanian tyrant.
• Eskel, Lambert, and Vesemir: The three remaining Witchers (besides Geralt) of the Wolf School, based in Kaer Morhen.
• Crach an Craite: Jarl of Skellige.
• Cerys an Craite: Daughter of Krach
• Roach: Geralt’s horse, but not a specific horse. It’s the name Geralt gives to all the horses he rides.

If you want to know more about these characters, I recommend reading the glossary in the game, but the above should be fine.

Starting The Witcher 3 — Here’s The State of the World

That’s a lot of background information, so you’re probably wondering where The Witcher 3 fits into all of this. The game takes place primarily on the border of Temeria and Redan and in Skellige. Your goal is to find Ciri before she’s found by a mysterious group known as the Wild Hunt. However, the region is currently embroiled in a fierce war between the Temerians and Nilfgaardians. The battlefields are littered with corpses and many ordinary commoners have been forced to flee.

The politics in these games can be hard to understand, but this is likely intentional for a few reasons. First, Geralt is a good Witcher, so he shouldn’t be involved in politics. Emphasis on “shouldn’t.” Second, there are no good or bad people in the Witcher world. It’s the kings and queens who mobilize the poor to fight for them. Finally, real-world politics are messy, but for that world to be believable, politics need to be messy too. It’s okay if you play through the game and still don’t understand why Nilfgaard is at war with Temeria. The Witcher 3 is the story of Geralt, Ciri, and their friends. The more context the better, but confusion about the state of the world is, to some extent, an integral part of the experience.

However, it must be remembered that ordinary people usually do not trust mages, sorcerers, and non-humans simply because they are different. The so-called Novigrad Free State is currently in the middle of a bloody witch hunt. Sorcerers and non-humans are burned at the stake. The surviving dwarves, elves, and sorcerers are herded into ghettos or forced into hiding. There are still no laws against witchers, but most people are afraid or cower when they see Geralt.

The hatred towards non-humans and sorcerers can be traced back to the Church of Eternal Fire and King Radovid. The Eternal Fire was founded in Novigrad, and its followers believe that the Eternal Fire will get them through hardships. They also hate non-humans, sorcerers, and monsters. King Radovid seems relatively indifferent towards non-humans, but he especially hates wizards and sorcerers, especially a sorceress named Philippa Eilhart. For this reason, King Radovid turns a blind eye to the intolerant actions of the Church of the Eternal Flame.

Perhaps due to the hatred and violence resulting from this social climate, the Lodge of Sorceresses has now fallen into obscurity. A once powerful group of Sorceresses played a key role in the politics of the Empire. Many of them advised kings and potentates, although some of their tactics were shady. Today, its members are dead or underground.

However, the game does not start south of Novigrad’s border with Redania. After a lengthy introductory section in White Orchard, you begin exploring in Velen, a war-torn region commonly referred to as No Man’s Land. Here you’ll find a series of small, impoverished villages under the watchful “protection” of the Bloody Baron. Meanwhile, Geralt’s friends are scattered throughout the region. Triss was last seen in Novigrad. After a brief acquaintance with her, Yen tracks down clues in Skellige. And there are no delphiniums.

As Geralt, you must navigate the world’s turbulent political climate and hidden conspiracies as you search for Ciri and her friends. There’s a lot to explore, but everything we’ve covered so far should prepare you for the big journey ahead.