The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Artbook

THE WILD HUNT At the cavalcade’s head rode the King of the Hunt. A rust-eaten bassinet swayed above a skull-like mask and gaping eye- sockets […] ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI, TIME OF CONTEMPT Eredin Eredin Bréacc Glas, King of the Wild Hunt, is the ultimate enemy in The Witcher 3 and the fiercest opponent Geralt has ever faced. This merciless, calculating, and ambitious warrior will stop at nothing to achieve his goal: capturing Ciri. Eredin has led the Hunt’s riders for dozens, possibly even hundreds, of years. In order to inspire greater terror, he wears armor making him look like a ghastly wraith. Elements of it are enameled in red and shaped so as to resemble a body whose skin has been flayed off. Crowning the armor is a skull-shaped helmet made of black steel, heavy, spiked brassards and greaves, and an openwork breastplate shaped to resemble skeletal ribs. Galloping on his mount, sword raised in the air, Eredin seems to most mortal men the incarnation of their worst possible nightmare.

| 150 151 Very few are aware of the fact, but underneath aristocratic features, a pale complexion, and thin the King of the Wild Hunt’s ghastly armor lies a lips twisted into a slight grimace complete our being made of flesh and blood. The Riders of the main antagonist’s appearance. Wild Hunt are in truth not wraiths, but warriors The illustrations on the right show different ver- of the Aen Elle, the Alder Folk, distant relatives sions of the King of the Wild Hunt’s helmet. of the Aen Seidhe, the elves inhabiting the world in which our tale takes place. Beneath the helmet of the King himself lies the face of Eredin, ruler and general of the Aen Elle. His face is slim and attractive, though clearly marked by cold cruelty. Dark, deep-set eyes

THE WILD HUNT The nightmarish cavalcade turned and soared directly towards her, the hooves of their spectral mounts churning the gleam of will o’ the wisps in the sky above the swamp. […] The King of the Hunt reared his skeletal steed and let out a wild, terrifying laugh. ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI, TIME OF CONTEMPT The Wild Hunt’s warriors are described in the novels as terrifying riders astride no-less-terri- fying steeds. Like the elves mounted atop them, these horses owe their ghastly appearance to armor stylized to make them look like undead creatures. The illustrations on this page show one of the early versions of the King of the Wild Hunt riding his armor-clad steed. The armor was modeled to a certain extent on historical exam- ples of protective fittings for horses, known as barding.

| 152 153 In the world of the Aen Elle, Eredin Bréacc make them look like wraiths. The armor adheres Glas once led an elite cavalry unit known as to the general style used by the people in the Dearg Ruadhri, meaning the Red Riders in Elder world they are invading; that way, their victims Speech. It was this unit that constituted the mistake them for dead warriors, inspiring terror initial core of the Wild Hunt, an elite formation and hiding their true identity. Although each able to move between worlds. The initial number Dearg Ruadhri is a superbly trained fighter, more of Dearg Ruadhri is not known, yet one can con- skilled than even the most elite soldiers of Nilf- fidently assume that it rose greatly after Eredin gaard or the Northern Realms, this extra element ascended the throne after the death of his pre- of “psychological warfare” tips the scales even decessor, King Auberon. These skilled Aen Elle further in favor of the Aen Elle. warriors are foes that Geralt will have to face many times in this installment of the series. The warriors of the Wild Hunt are attired in a way similar to that of their leader—heavy armor with skull motifs and bare, protruding bones to

THE WILD HUNT Imlerith Imlerith, one of the commanding officers of the Wild Hunt, is Eredin’s right-hand man and most fervent supporter. This powerful and brutal war- rior is a veteran of the many wars of conquest the Aen Elle have waged against other worlds over the course of centuries. Imlerith prizes physical confrontation and direct, bloody battles in which training, quickness, and strength determine who lives and who dies. Imlerith’s armor is covered with blade marks— mementos earned during his thousands of bat- tles. His high, heavy brassards protect his neck and shoulders as well as his head. Like the other warriors of the Hunt, his chest is protected by armor with a reinforced, openwork breastplate stylized to resemble a bare ribcage. Steel gaunt- lets and decorated, segmented bracers guard his hands and forearms, while his thighs, knees, and shins are covered by their own layer of armor. The whole ensemble combines to make this ter- rifying Aen Elle nearly invulnerable to all blows.

| 154 155 Caranthir Caranthir is Eredin’s second most-trusted lieutenant. His unique abilities have made him a key officer for the Wild Hunt, responsible for guiding their expeditions across the expanses of time and space that separate the Aen Elle’s world from others. His very appearance—gray, fur-lined coat, fan- cifully-capped helmet, steel staff tipped with a sphere emanating magic energy—makes Caran- thir stand out from the other warriors of the Wild Hunt. He stands out in terms of abilities as well, as he is also a powerful mage who relies in combat first and foremost on his spells and supernatural powers. He may not be as dan- gerous as Imlerith in a direct fight, but he can swing his steel staff with murderous speed and agility—something which his opponents will get to witness firsthand during The Witcher 3.

THE WILD HUNT

| 156 157 Skellige legend speaks of a ghastly ship called the Naglfar carrying specters and wraiths from the hideous land of Mörhogg. Though the myth never equates this with the Wild Hunt, the similarities struck us strongly enough that we decided to use this motif to make the Naglfar become Eredin’s ship in our story, the vessel that will carry his warriors to the final, decisive battle.

THE WILD HUNT

| 158 159 Many sketches and designs for the Naglfar were made. Early ones assumed this ship would fly through the air. In the end, however, the more subdued concepts which better fit the grounded feel of the witcher universe won out. The drawing above shows the final version of the Naglfar, the ghastly Hunt’s equally ghastly vessel.

THE WILD HUNT The Wild Hunt also counts among its ranks smaller minions—its Hounds—that accom- pany its warriors into battle. “Hound” is a bit of a misnomer, for these are no normal dogs, but strange four-legged beasts born in some nameless place far beyond our world and time. While designing these monsters we tried to give them as alien a look as possi- ble. Early designs for the Hounds are shown in the drawings below, while the illustration on the right shows the final version. At a glance, one can see that any relation these Hounds have to dogs is very distant in- deed. Their heads feature blunt snouts and almost no neck whatsoever, melding abruptly into their barrel-chested abdomen. This monster runs on four widely-spaced legs tipped with sharp claws. Its grotesque body is covered in hard, coarse armor. The Hounds of the Hunt are merciless creatures that obey their master’s every command and kill with brutal efficiency.

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chapter viii Monsters From the dreary swamps and depopulated wastes of Velen to the bustling alleys and canals of Novi- grad and the windswept hills and dales of Skellige, monsters are an omnipresent element of this world, a very real threat that every one of its inhabitants must face. It is the existence of these creatures, brought to this world in the Conjunction of the Spheres, that gave rise to the witcher profession. Such professionals were needed because even the best-disciplined, best-trained soldiers stood little chance in a direct fight against some of the larger, more aggressive, or more treacherous beasts inhabiting this brutal and dangerous world. On the following pages we present some of these creatures, a sampling taken from the much larger bestiary of the witcher universe.

MONSTERS The Crones The Crones of Velen do not come to us from the witcher novels, yet they bring a look and feel that fits in perfectly with the established character of a world full of monsters and other elements drawn from European folk- lore. These three sisters are not human; instead, they are members of some degenerate breed of humanoid monsters whose origins are hazy, even to scholars and witchers. Each of the three has her own function and unique abilities for performing it. The oldest of the sisters, Whispess, can hear everything that happens in the swamps of Velen thanks to the sliced-off human ears she hangs from the trees and imbues with magic. Brewess brews magic concoctions and mixtures, while the youngest of the three Crones, Weavess, weaves magic fetishes from human hair.

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MONSTERS Fiends Like many other creatures in the witcher uni- verse, fiends are inspired by beings that appear in pagan Slavic beliefs and folk tales, in this case those about amorphous evil spirits called biesy. The fiend we created poses a more concrete and immediate danger—not to mention a serious challenge, even for experienced monster hunters such as Geralt of Rivia.

| 166 167 Ice Giant For the Ice Giant, we drew on creatures de- scribed in ancient Scandinavian myths and sagas. He is most likely the last representative of his race in the witcher’s world, the sole remaining survivor from those who, thousands of years ago, lived in abundance in the cold regions of the Continent and the Skellige Isles. This brutal and primitive being, responsible for driving off the inhabitants of Undvik, is thus in its own way an antique, a relic of a former age. The Ice Giant dresses in a parody of human ap- parel made up of scraps of leather, sails, ship’s rigging, shattered shields, and animal bones, and decorates his massive body with primitive drawings. The black-and-white sketch shows the earliest version of this creature’s appearance and depicts him with a harpy perched on his forearm.

MONSTERS Plague Maiden The plague maiden, a spirit personifying dis- ease and pestilence, also has roots in European folklore. In those legends she is most often depicted as a deathly pale woman dressed in a simple white peasant dress, who walks across plague-stricken towns and villages leaving dead, corpse-strewn streets in her wake. The concept drawing created for our game shows the plague maiden in her true, more horrific form. Her rotten, worm-ridden flesh is covered in a ragged shroud seemingly woven from miasma and foul vapors. Crawling out from under it are dozens of plague-bearing rats.

| 168 169 These wraiths’ immaterial bodies resemble des- iccated female corpses dressed in the tattered remains of the dresses or robes they wore while living. Noonwraiths still wear withered wreaths of flowers atop their heads, while in their hands they hold sickles, attributes tying them to rural life. Nightwraiths wear dark clothing and hold lanterns in their hands, which they use to con- fuse travelers hurrying home along country roads late at night. Noonwraiths & Nightwraiths Taken from Slavic mythology, these female wraiths are only active during certain times of day. Usually they are born of some horrible tragedy tied to ill-fated love. Women falling victim to such events become—depending on the time of day in which they die—either noonwraiths or nightwraiths, with grief, longing, or a thirst for vengeance having cursed them and driv- en them insane. They are only found in rural areas, primarily meadows, crop fields, orchards, and crossroads, with farmers and travelers being their main victims.

MONSTERS Godlings Another creature with its origins in Slavic my- thology, a godling is not a monster, at least not in the pejorative sense of the word. The godlings of myth were guardian spirits that watched over farmyards and houses, bringing good fortune and wealth in exchange for small offerings of food and drink placed for them by the farmers. Since no descriptions of these creatures have survived, our artists had a great deal of freedom in inventing their appearance. Godlings in the world of the witcher thus look like children with serious, wrinkled faces and disturbingly large eyes. Barefoot and covered in mud, they dress in simple clothing pieced together from discarded rags. Though they might seem frightening at first glance, upon further acquaintance they turn out to be quite pleasant and even helpful in their own way, making them unique among the other, more often dangerous creatures presented here.

| 170 171 Botchlings Botchlings are cursed beings arising from un- wanted fetuses or stillborn babies discarded without a proper burial. They only attack preg- nant women, sneaking into their bedrooms at night and siphoning off their life energy until, their victims weakened nearly to death, they can attack and drink of their blood directly. Botchlings look like macabre, deformed fetuses. They move around on wobbly, crooked legs and are wrapped in their own umbilical cords. In keeping with how they are described in Slavic folklore, they possess two rows of teeth—an attribute also ascribed to strigas, who like botch- lings are born from children who die tragically. Also like strigas, botchlings can be cured of the curse that has made them hideous, after which they transform into lubberkins, household guardian spirits.

MONSTERS Water Hags These deformed humanoids dwell in swamps, bogs, and wetlands as well as on the banks of rivers and lakes. In appearance they resemble gigantic, hunchbacked crones with long, claw-like hands, drooping breasts, tangled hair, and gaping maws full of crooked, yellowed teeth. They hunt lone trav- elers and fishermen, and sneak into human settlements at night to kidnap the unwary and the unlucky. Water hags (baby wodne in Polish) appear in central and eastern European legends as harmless creatures that peer out at bathing youth. We decided to base our hags instead on tales of creatures such as the infamous Baba Jaga or Baba Drasznica—monstrous old women who feed on human flesh.

| 172 173 Foglets Considered part of the necrophage family, foglets are creatures gifted with powers of deception they use to haunt unpopulated and wild regions. With their control over fog, their ability to imitate human voices, and the pale light they emit from their bodies, they can lure unwary travelers off the beaten path and into bushes, swamps, or simply off mountain cliffs, feast- ing on their corpses after they die. Foglets are only mentioned in passing in the books, and so our artists had a great deal of freedom in giving them a visual identity. During work on these creatures we created many different drawings, though in the end we chose the one shown in the illustration on this page.

MONSTERS Ghouls Of all the monsters returning in The Witcher 3 from previous games in the series, ghouls have probably undergone the most change in terms of their appearance. The concept shown here combines the look of a deformed, degenerate humanoid with that of the hyena-like scavengers of our own world. The end result is a grotesque and unsettling four-legged creature. The ghoul’s front paws are fitted with massive claws with which it can dig up buried bodies, and its strong jaws are used to crush bones in order to better get at the marrow—its favorite treat.

| 174 175 Alghouls Alghouls make up a larger, stronger, and more aggressive subspecies of ghoul that otherwise shares most of its cousin’s traits. Yet while some- thing human remains in the faces of ghouls, al- ghouls have almost nothing humanoid left about them. Their legs are widely situated to support their large frames, and cresting their heads are two bony growths that protect them from blows and can be used to scoop up dirt covering tasty bodies.

MONSTERS Bears Not every danger lying in wait for travelers venturing off the beaten track takes the form of a monster or magical creation. Normal predators also in- habit remote woodland and mountain regions, and when driven by hunger or provoked they can be just as dangerous as ghouls or fiends. Bears are one such creature featured in The Witcher 3. Our artists sought to emphasize these animals’ raw strength and heft, as well as their powerful, sharp claws and blunt, grimacing snouts.

| 176 177 Leshens Leshens are another monster mentioned only in passing in the witcher saga, but one with rich roots in the mythology and folk tales of central and eastern Europe. Described as mysterious, shape-shifting beings possessing power over the forest and its denizens (their Polish name—leszy—derives from the Slavic root las, meaning woods), leshens were ideal candidates for use as one of the more interesting opponents Geralt will have to face in the latest game in the series. The leshen’s appearance was inspired by Slavic legends but also by Celt- ic and Anglo-Saxon descriptions of a distantly related figure, Herne the Hunter—a deep woods spirit fitted with large antlers. Our in-game leshen stands over seven feet tall with an enormous moose or elk skull for a head. The creature’s long arms end in powerful claws and its body is adorned with the bones and skulls of its victims. Leshens are incredibly deadly hunt- ers, the ultimate terrors lurking in the darkest woods of the witcher’s world.

MONSTERS Katakans Katakans are one of several species of powerful vampires mentioned in the books. We took as a starting point the idea that all of these nocturnal predators should look more like bats than humans, and thus the katakan possesses many bat-like traits, though stretched to monstrous proportions. There are of course still humanoid elements to its appearance, such as its upright posture, eerily sentient gaze, and the man-made objects collected and woven into its fur, but the being’s whole suggests a deadly predator that attacks with membranous wings tipped by razor-sharp claws.

| 178 179 Cockatrices The cockatrice appears in the legends of several European countries, where it is known for its deadly stare. The version of the beast presented in the Witcher books is a one-of-a-kind representative of the fictitious ornitho- saur genus, a made-up species combining reptilian and avian traits. The monster’s head is decorated with a characteristic red comb that makes it resemble a giant rooster. Though, contrary to popular belief, the cock- atrice’s gaze does not kill or even turn one into stone, one would still be ill-advised to take this opponent lightly. Its short, seemingly harmless beak is extraordinarily sharp, and the monster wields it with unerring precision and enormous strength, aiming for its victims’ eyes, neck, or aorta and dealing deep wounds that bleed profusely.

MONSTERS Sirens Sirens are bloodthirsty, treacherous creatures that lure naïve travelers in close with their illusory female forms and then, when escape is impossible, transform into hideous monsters and tear their unfortunate victims to shreds. These creatures are commonly confused with mermaids, which are in fact a mostly peaceful race of underwater humanoids. They are quite easy to distinguish, however, because the more deadly sirens have large, bat-like wings that lift them into the air and fold up when swimming. For the sirens’ appearance we drew inspiration from the so-called “flying fish” of our oceans, which have broad pectoral fins that let them glide above the water for short distances.

| 180 181 Griffins Griffins are, along with dragons, one of the most iconic creatures of the fantasy genre. They exist in the witcher’s world as well, though this will be the first game in which these enormous flying monsters will be shown in the full glory they deserve. Griffins are hybrids, or creatures possessing the traits of two different species. The front portion of a griffin’s body—its head, ribcage, and front legs—resembles that of an enormous bird of prey. Its rear, however—its back, hind legs, and tail—is that of an equally enormous predatory cat. This aggressive beast’s sheer size, combined with its ability to fly and dive at great speeds, makes killing it a challenge for even the most experienced monster hunter.



chapter ix Flashbacks Our ambition was to create a storyline stretching across all three games that would be consistent, epic, and branching—one that would stick in the collective gaming imagination for the ages. From the very start of the series, a key part in our presentation of major plot points has been the use of flashbacks shown via partly animated, hand-drawn sequences. Their task was to highlight key mo- ments and the effects of the most important decisions our hero makes. The following pages present a few chosen frames from these, depicting crucial moments in the story of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

FLASHBACKS

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FLASHBACKS

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FLASHBACKS

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epilogue We are rebels... There is an inner fire in everyone at CD PROJEKT RED. It’s fueled by what we surround ourselves with; it’s what we play, where we live and who we spend that life with. We want to hone that fire and make it grow. It’s what makes the games we create so unique. As a studio, we have one mission: making the best RPGs on the planet. Off duty, we’re not only colleagues, but also dear friends who spend time together and support each other every day. We’re a family. And here’s our family album. Meet the people behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

WE ARE REBELS... 2012 2013

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The end of our journey

is the beginning of yours... cd projekt red

credits concept artists Paweł Kwiatek Bartłomiej Gaweł Peter Gelencser Monika Zawistowska Sebastian Nowak Jan Marek Sebastian Spłuszka Marek Madej Simon Besombes Lea Leonowicz art production Marta Dettlaff Dominika Gonsierowska Andrzej Dybowski Michał Krzemiński characters artists Michał Stec Paweł Mielniczuk Stan Just Antonio Jose Gonzalez 3d renders Arkadiusz Matyszewski Paweł Brudniak Bill Daly Marcin Błaszczak additional illustrations Sebastian Bąkała Grzegorz Rutkowski Grzegorz Chojnacki Sławomir Maniak Dominik Milecki Victor Titov Tomasz Stryjewski world map illustration Marcin Klicki Damien Mammoliti (painting) Wojciech Michalski Lea Leonowicz (sketch) Ovidiu Voica animation sequences Grzegorz Magiera Marcin Przybyś (direction & editing) Dave Yablonsky Grzegorz Przybyś (storybooks, flashbacks, recap) Marcin Karolewski (finalboards) environment artists Lucjan Więcek Katarzyna Niemczyk (additional illustrations) Adam Wrotek text Daniel Cordell Marcin Batylda (author) Daniel Olejnik Andrew Stone (proofreading) Elena de Gracia Travis Currit (translation) Fabian Kubicki Robert Malinowski (additional text) Javier Pintor cover Joanna Królak Bartłomiej Gaweł Jonas Mattsson layout Jose Teixeira Przemysław Juszczyk (design) Kacper Niepokólczycki Paulina Łukiewska (grid) Kamil Grzelak photos Krzysztof Kornatka CD PROJEKT RED Library Łukasz Maj Łukasz Łakomski artistic supervisor Adam Badowski Marcin Michalski Jean–Francois Mignault Marian Chomiak Bartłomiej Gaweł Mark Foreman Michał Buczkowski special thanks Michał Janiszewski Ashley Karas Michał Stelmachowicz James Daly Miles Tost Karolina Lewandowska Norbert Narożnik made in poland