There's something really eerie about entering the bog.Things just don't feel right and downright depressing.Not that rest of Velen is the most uplifting of places anyway,but there's a clear difference.Might be just callbacks from the quest we went through there,but they did a spectacular job of creating a certain atmosphere around that area.
The first time you actually get to see how they look was awesome (so was the whole red baron questline), kinda expected sexy young witches, not something out of silent hill!
Being Welsh I picked up these most evil people in the game were given Welsh accents and am most offended! Also I think I've dated at least two of them!!
Eric Fisher Never! The brewess makes a great breakfast but it was complicated and the whispess just didn't fancy me! Weavess next though, fingers crossed ;)
My concept art teacher designed them and he told us in the class that what he wanted to achieve is a realy scary visualisation, that's why he hid their faces, because we fear theuknown. He also said that he was really ungappy that only 2 of them ended up with their faces covered, but you don't get to decide on everything, especially when you're a concept artist.
WitcherGeorge well he's one of the game's concept artist and right now my bachelor thesis consultant (concept art is my major) so I'm under quite a lot of pressure haha
Hey!! Im writing a dissertation about concept art in witcher III and i was just wondering who actuallu designed the crones cause ill be writing about them and for some reason its hard to find this info. Thanks:)
SPOILERS: I am mostly disappointed that all the build up to the Crones' powers and lore was wasted during their battle. They were basically Gargoyle and Water Hag reskins with one or two unique abilities. It didn't reflect their actual power, and even the conclusion of the battle felt that way. Ciri didn't even feel like she broke a sweat; and by that time she hasn't completely mastered her abilities yet despite having made progress. I understand that Ciri's extremely powerful, but it still doesn't line up with all the times Geralt talked about the miles separating the Crones and their powers.
They are most powerful when they have time to do some kind of magic ritual. But when some random girl just comes and starts swinging sword at you its hard for them to use their strongest weapons.
Mura Casardis why do you think radovids men and the witch hunters were so successful at hunting down and killing sorcerers, it's because no matter how powerful magic can be the more powerful the spell the more time it takes to cast. In a full front battle mages would be slaughtered which is why most scenes with them battling involves the attacking from long distance. Philips did it when geralt was chasing her and Kira did it at the battle of khaer morhen.
Borsalino Kizaru they are ancient creatures. They are extremely dangerous.. Why ppl underestimate them that much And Black Beauty is a goddess level creature
In the best ending (where she becomes a Witcher), she would have had TWO; her own Witcher medallion, and Vesemir's. I'll watch it, just to check and verify...
@@lemjustlem Actually Ciri's medallion is from the Cat School, in the books Yen gave a griffin's medallion to Ciri who found it kinda ugly, later she finds a Cat medallion and return the griffin's to Yen
@@matthewgraham7331 no its a shit ending. she doesnt want to be empress and nilfgaard is corrupted af. She will have to married someo ne who will take over political decisions. Best ending is witcher she always wanted to be a witcher
During the Sabath mission i thought at the beginning that those three beautiful women at the cauldron were actually the past form of the crones. I thought that the Sabath restores their power and in doing so makes them beautuful again although temporaly. Never thought that the crones ate the women and took their form. Sad.
they ate the women and took their form? how do you know that? they ate the young men that go to them on the sabbath. I never read anything about women... Maybe i overlooked something.
@@dwightsmith3815 They ate them, took their form, and then pretends to be them in front of their worshippers, who claim that these ladies "left" Velen after
I also believe that to be true actually, why else would the tapestry show three young women similar to the ones you see during the sabbath, it would make no sense if they would constantly shift into different forms, instead I believe that during the sabbath, their powers are most probably at their strongest, which is why they enjoy returning to the younger versions of their bodies. To add to this, you can see that the sacrificed humans in the cauldron seem to be male and not female, so the part where they use someone elses shape seems more like a theory than an actual fact.
"Bald mountain" exists in every slavic folklore of every slavic nation. For example, there is a "bald mountain" in the center of Kyiv, capital of Ukraine and noone builds anything there, because obviously you wouldn't live where the witches organize their black sabbath.
I think the real question here is how powerful is the Pellar to be able to craft a necklace that completely neutralizes the crones' magic and even prevent them from directly going after Anna while she was wearing it.
7:45 in the endings where Ciri lives she's seen with her medallion again so I'm guessing the implication was that Geralt kept his promise to return with her and kill the remaining Crone.
I liked the feeling in the game while reading and hearing so much about the crones and you begin to imagine what people or creatures they might be. I always thought they would be some sort of human witches. And then comes this super epic scene where you get to meet them and you didn't expect anything like this. Along with the amazing background music and the fascinating atmosphere it was for me one of the most memorable scenes in the game
Just discovered, in the building with the painting of the crones there’s a cellar you can go into to the right of the painting. If you look closer to one of the walls you can see the bones of children behind a short little fence
The tapestry itself is from children's hair. Woven by weavess. That's common mythology that appears to whole Europe btw. 3 sisters and one weaves a string which is the fate humans.
I love how all these creatures that just casually taunt Geralt. "Oh, you are pathetic and stupid, you're just a Witcher." However, you know, canonically, it's a madman who's dealt with who might be Satan himself, immortal Vampires, and basically everything.
the crones reminded me of a fairy tale I read (or was read...can't really remember) as a kid (I was raised in germany..so guess what kind of fucked up fairy tales I came across)...it was about a young wife, or princess, whose husband wanted her to take on weaving, which she didn't want...she wandered of to find a solution to her problem and came across 3 crones: One with a huge right foot, one with an enormous thumb and one with a huge lower lip. She asked the crones how they came to their deformities and they explained that they were weavers and their deformities came from using the spinning wheel: The huge foot came from working the pedal for years, the enormous thumb came from working the yarn and the huge lower lip came from constantly moistening the yarn....the young woman brought the three crones to her husband and told their story and asked if he still wanted her to take on weaving....he never mentioned the subject again....I still remember the illustration of the 3 crones in the book: and they stongly resembled the crones in the game
The Crones are the reason I got interested in and bought the Witcher 3. I had heard about the game and some of the hype before its release, but I hadn't really looked into it. But when I was at a store I saw a gameplay preview with the Crones, and thats what got me interested, as I loved the creepy vibe they gave. Made me realize the cool mythology of the game, istantly loved it
Dreathus Thats true, you see, back in the vikings days they believed in Odin, freya, Thor ect. But also in the fate goddesses which are named norns. So they transfered these goddesses into the game, with the same tasks but just called them differently and gave them different names. Which the real ones are called Urdr, Verdandi and Skuld, which are btw good goddesses instead as the crones are :D CD Project RED did such a great job with this!
Andreea C Someone mentioned to me that the characteristics of the three are more close to the Slavic folklore of Baba Yaga. I understand that Witcher is more into Norse mythology than actual Greek.
Witches eating children for centuries or this is just fairy tales? What you think people? ruclips.net/video/1yUMxOONIz0/видео.html ; ruclips.net/video/u7-QEFa8NdM/видео.html
Crones have nothing to do with norse religion and mythology it has to do with Slavic tradition and folk stories. Even today in some parts of Balkans(tho it's rare) there are peasant stories of witches who eat children and cast curses and help people. Lot of people in Romania for example still belive in those stories. Even 30 years ago there were villages which had their witches tho that old tradition is soon to die out. That's where Witcher took it's inspiration. Now what's really interesting is my life expirience when i was a kid i spent some time in Romania with my dad's family i had some issue with my skin on my hand and grandma took me to the old women in village which people called "witch" there were stories that she cast a curses that would kill people, that killed people that she also helped many etc... I was always scared of her as most kids there anyway cuz of stories and how creepy she looked. But she took me outside to the back of her house, took my hand whispered some words and tomorow the thing on my hand was gone. I don't belive in anything but i can't explain what happend then either. Now all this probably sounds weird and impossible for someone who is not familiar with slavic culture but visit Romania you'd be surpried how things such as "black magic" "witches that eat children" and "curses" are normal even today in 21th century. Witcher devs did a great job at bringing others slavic tradition and folklore.
Kinda surprised the two crones were able to be killed off for good by ciri and didn't have a backup plan to comeback or put a nasty curse on ciri or geralt.
I know what you mean, I had the same reactin when the 'golden child' (Caranthir) and the king of the wild hunt(Eredin) are killed within about 5 minutes haha
Michael Millich ciri is the most powerful character in witcher. It doesn't feel so as you play the game but she's supposed to be extremely op compared even to Geralt or the witches
The music around Crookbag Bog and the Crones scenes are so powerful, they chill me down to the core. The rest of Velen has creepy music as well, but it's more of a hopeless, lost and tragic kind of creepy. They capture the surroundings perfectly.
Another day another reason to be proud to have played this game. I have been gaming since the 90's and Witcher 3 is hands down the greatest of all times.
You know only in the witcher universe will you find a group of people who "worship" a trio of sadistic and extremely creepy witches who demand weird sacrifices and in turn they give "protection". And somehow have another equally evil/creepy choice, and despite this there is still no good choice between the two. Finally on a side note even if it's a really bad ending, It was satisfying to kill that final crone. Anyways nice vid George 👍
UncertainRain -MarioMartocchio you should play d&d where character gets his power is from an entity who demands me to teach peasants rituals and to convert people to a fish less diet
O darn I saw you can kill her I was going to ask how but then I saw it’s only available in the bad ending so darn I got the emperoress ending by the way on my first play through
On my first playthrough, I met the crones when it was around 2 AM (dont ask, i had a messy sleep schedule). I genuinely was afraid to go sleep bc i'd had a nightmare that night...
the scenes with the crones are so well written and set up, the people who directed them definitely know, and understand the feel of classic slavic fairy tales (yes i know they are inspired by the three fates but the atmosphere is definitely more from slavic folklore), they honestly seem as if they are taken directly from the pages of affanassievs fairy tales, i absolutley love that about these scenes.
if a mother birth anything like the "crones" clearly she cant be good herself. ofc, they could have been corrupted, but yeah, I dont think there is a win-win situation.
I remember the first time I played this and then I saw the crones through the painting. I thought: Damn, 3 hot witches. Then I played more and they turned out to be monsters and I was like oh hell nah. 😂😂😂
Just like the Baron and the Regicides questlines overshadow the main storyline, the crones overshadow the Wild Hunt itself. The crones should've been the main villains, tbh. They are perfect. I wish the whole game was about them.
Yeah well,that's just, like, your opinion, man Do not forget the fear and respect that they had for Imlerith. The crones were afraid of Wild Hunt which concludes that they realize the Wild Hunt is more fearsome and powerful from them
They havn't always used the ears. Eredin ask them to listen for any information on Ciri. They phrased it something like, keep an ear open for.., and they did it literally.
I know it's probably never going to happen but I'd really love for the Crones to appear in the Netflix show. I would really love to see what the showrunners would do with them.
damnit its so hard to stay away from spoilers while im playing. I did really good for 4 years staying away from this universe. Now im just playing the game and fell in love with the lore... i can't help myself!
Ok, one thing I was alway curious about with the Crones was their appearance.... specifically, if the time they spent as corrupt rulers took their toll on appearances... like if they started out maybe similar-ish (I know not identical cause Geralt describes the bones of the original Lady as being 'not quite human') to the human form they take, but were corrupted by power and their ways over time to turn into those horrific creatures... Because no way would I ever believe those 3 to be kind and good if they looked like that their whole lives
There are two books, I don't remember the names, one in the Novigrad bookstore, and another in the cave where the Kaer Morthen mutagens were made, in these books they explain the history of the crones. In one of the books it was said that the "lady of the wood" created three witches from mud and water.
Also you forgot to say they were based on a legend from Baba Yaga, people in slavic culture believed there were 3 of them and thus the Crones were created.
The Crones are a Slavic retelling of the sisters of fate in Greek or Norse mythology. They weave a string of your life from your hair and are responsible for everything that happens to you during your lifetime.
This was too funny: "Now on to Whispess, she demands tribute in the form of human ears" **Ad plays** "Trouble hearing? You don't want to skip this video."
if im not mistaken the main reason Whispess hangs ears in the swamp is because Imlerith told the crones to keep an eye out for Avallac'h and Ciri, in case they show up in Velen, since avallach has a hideout there. i think they mention this at one point. but they could be doing it before all that who knows
I would like to learn more about what they really are. If they're older than men, elves, and all the other races, wtf are they? I wish cdpr delved into their history more. What a mystery!
It's pure speculation, but based on their ties to the land and water, their lack of natural immortality, and their female forms, I thought they were Vilas like Dryads. I thought Brewess came up with some way to extend their lives, possibly altering the natural forms. Their "mother' being bound to a tree reinforced that notion. There's no proving it, but they do have a few things in common with Vilas, albeit twisted ones.
7:42 Ciri can't actually die in TW3. She survives no matter what, the "bad ending" is just Geralt being a dick to her the whole game so she decides to never come back, thus Geralt *thinks* she's dead. Geralt knows this is a suicide mission, which is why he doesn't do it in the good endings, but if Ciri doesn't come back he becomes depressed and suicidal. The trip back to Crookback Bog in that ending is essentially his shotgun retirement.
Is it ever stated anywhere that she lives? Granted it never shows her death, but I was always of the mind that she stopped the white frost but never managed to get home due to her confidence and ability to keep cool during difficult situation weren't developed enough by the player in-game. I think it's implied that Geralt simply gives up and let's himself be killed.
It's not outright stated, but very, very heavily implied. Ciri maintains the same level of confidence in her abilities no matter what Geralt does; the point of Geralt's choices with Ciri influencing the ending are in shaping your relationship with you: Whether Geralt trusts her to be in charge of her own destiny, or trusts in the validity of Emhyr's path for her, or, in the case of the bad ending, if Geralt doesn't trust her at all. Throughout the game, Ciri's independence and self-worth is a constant theme, and if Geralt doesn't respect that in her in their time together and continues to treat her like a child, she has no reason to come back, so she doesn't
The Crones were such terrific characters and the music's so unsettling. I found it interesting how in that clip at the start, one of the crones was unknowingly correct about their fates "And one will die. But it shan't be one of us."
The crones are also extremely similar in both design and mythological reference to the witches from the Marshes of Morva in the famous Disney movie The Black Cauldron, it's also heavily welsh in terms of naming and characters and draws from old Welsh folktales including what's known in the Witcher as The Wild Hunt
It's a very interesting story and it seems to have been repeated throughout history Shakespeare himself using it in Macbeth as the video points out, I think the witcher draws from some other pieces from the wider story such as the undead realm of Anuvin (not sure if that's the right spelling haha) it's presented very similarly to the realms of the wild hunt and I really fell in love with the witcher because of it I came across the Black Cauldron book series known as Chronicles of Prydain it's a great set of books and it really nails the feeling of the folktales well! Really enjoyed the video btw Witcher has a wealth of awesome stories can't wait to see more!
They reminded me of the classic '3' in most mythology. For instance the Norns in Norse mythology and the Fates in Greek Mythology. But, I know the wild hunt is based on an old Germanic mythos/folklore.
The Witcher 3 has some of the best missions I’ve ever experienced in gaming . They are so interesting , that I don’t want to miss a single one , I even purposely held out on story missions as long as possible to do every side content I could find . This game set standards that so many studios still can’t hang with .
Mentioned master mirror so I had him in mind when the scene Anna is has her hand burn at it hit me. Both parties burn symbols to people that owe them to ensure their cooperation.
I never read the books but i have a feeling that these 3 witchies travel around WITCHER world from region to region and do this EVENT everywhere NOT just in VELEN. So in the end THEY eat THE young FLESH not just once a year but EVERY month. Hmmm?! ^_-
The crones were one of my fav parts of witcher 3 love lore of them nd the dialogue nd personalities... If u haven’t already lore vids of the island nd “vikings” of skellege wud be awesome ‼️ Also lore vid on Doppelgängers
i thought that the Crones were the good ol' wicked ladies of the bog... But now i want to load a shotgun with incendiary silver shells just to see them scream.
That symbol burned into Anna/Gran's hand is very similar to the one found in Professor Shakeslock's house. In that instance it's associated with Gaunter O'Dimm. At 5.03min you can the symbol burning in the palm of Gran's hand: a triskelion with an intersecting bar at the end of each spiral.
You mentioned hang mans tree in this video?!?! theres a tree called hangmans tree in the witcher 1 in chapter 4... ARE THE CRONES IN THE WITCHER 1 😱 Is that why the music was so damn ominous when i was in a area that looked like a beautiful countryside field
The hang man's tree is the one you spawn near when you first arrive in Velen, the only quest near there is one with Roche and the blonde woman's name which I've forgotten and a Gwent card location if you miss it in White Orchard. The tree you fight Imlireth near is on Bald Mountain
CDPR was very clever with the endings to Witcher 3, as for the 'bad ending' actually happens one week after Ciri's disappearance, while the meeting with emperor Emhyr from the 'good ending' takes place two weeks later. Plus, the crones are deceitful and mind-crushing liars all the way. I love that.
if Ciri lives and becomes a witcher and she comes to Geralt's home in Toussaint after you finish Blood and Wine expansion, you can see that she bears the wolf medallion.
The atmosphere for crookback bog is INCREDIBLE. It's the attention to detail that sells it. For example, I love how you discover candy and treats scattered around on your way there.
The Crones power was portrayed so well, they were something different, something like o'dimm would be in his true form, the hellish reverb, they way they move, even geralt despite of how experienced and capable he was lore-wise HE KNEW HE HAD NO CHANCE OF TAKING THEM ALONE, HE DARED O'DIMM TO A FIGHT BUT EVEN THE CRONES WERE TOO MUCH FOR HIM
This is soooo accurate. The problem comes when Ciri kills "them"... also remember with a non silver sword.... Its a pity the developers tryed but didnt dared in the end. Its my opinion i feel the Crones could have been much more and Gunter O Din its the "fix". The Crones should be next to inmortal even against Ciri. And opposing them directly (freeng its mother from the tree or helping the kids) should have HEAVY consequences on the late game.
Worth noting, is that the Crones seem to be inspired by the Slavic mythological creature "Baba-Yega", which best described as "scary witch, but not as human's profession, but a creature of it's own".
I can tell you started scripting your videos like I recommended. Sounds so much better, You also sound much more confident. George, good job, keep it up, proud of you.
Thanks man, I took all the scripting advice on board and went for a solution that I was comfortable with, I now have a set list of topics (with some notes) that I cover and it allows me to not sound like a robot haha
It's great that the LEGENDARY Kevin Vance with his 6 subscribers first of all bothered to comment on a creator with a mere 11k subscribers, and better yet actually had the creator listen to him, and him alone, and heed his creative input. We are truly in awe of Kevin Vance of 6 subscribers fame, all hail to him. Thank you for improving WithcerGeorges content.
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the music heard during their scenes is the best in the game imo as far as atmosphere. its so unsettling.
There's something really eerie about entering the bog.Things just don't feel right and downright depressing.Not that rest of Velen is the most uplifting of places anyway,but there's a clear difference.Might be just callbacks from the quest we went through there,but they did a spectacular job of creating a certain atmosphere around that area.
yes, I'm not the only one!
I tend to basically call that the "yucky feeling of impending doom" but the feeling around the bog is just the nastiest
That's slavic mythology in a nutshell
The crones are the nastiest of the nasty, they just make me puke, very unsettling indeed, very well done CD P R.
The first time you actually get to see how they look was awesome (so was the whole red baron questline), kinda expected sexy young witches, not something out of silent hill!
Well they can appear as just that...
Haahah exactly.. like from Silent Hill
+Jonny B well, they _are_ a Polish development studio after all...
The horrible thing is that they chose to take that form. They can shapeshift into whatever they want but chose those forms instead.
Imagine fucking them in their beautiful form and when you're about to cum they shapeshift back to their real form. Jesus.
Being Welsh I picked up these most evil people in the game were given Welsh accents and am most offended!
Also I think I've dated at least two of them!!
wales is a ghastly place..Huge gangs of tough sinewy men roam the valleys terrorising people with their close-harmony singing
ChunkyLover ataoldotcom
Blackadder much?
Mugwump
ah..you caught me...but still better than being welsh...good job neither of us is ...french!...
Stay off of tender dude.
Eric Fisher Never! The brewess makes a great breakfast but it was complicated and the whispess just didn't fancy me!
Weavess next though, fingers crossed ;)
Devs did a top job of making those things disgusting. The weavesses eyes make me wanna puke.
You have tripophobia. Excuse my spelling.
Those extra pair of legs on Whispes is what freaks me out
If you look closely, the holes in her eye actually beats
@@yuanxu656 eeewww😰
Would be cool if you could have their heads as trophies
Cool Idea
great chimdale YASSSSS and that you could hang them in Corvo Bianco!
great chimdale I would not want that vile creatures head
I'm just curious about what Brewess and Whispess' faces looks like under their cloth and basket
@@justgween7573 probably disgusting
I think the Crones are the most scariest and unsettling characters in the whole Witcher universe.
*Rape Capital*
Personally I think gaunter o'dimm a lot more scary
agreed, he is way more cunning and a lot more powerful. When he stuck that spoon in that guys eye.....
I'm with Mike on this the crones are fucking creepy sure but are nothing compared to Gaunter
if we're talking about creepiest it's that dead baby now that's fucking creepy.
“Where are the children?”-Geralt
“They’re far away now.”-Cron
(Child’s dead limb is dangling out of her bloody pouch)
@Varonvan they saw their parents flogged by soldiers laughing, as a kid, it's death vs death
Those limbs are there even if you save the kids
My concept art teacher designed them and he told us in the class that what he wanted to achieve is a realy scary visualisation, that's why he hid their faces, because we fear theuknown. He also said that he was really ungappy that only 2 of them ended up with their faces covered, but you don't get to decide on everything, especially when you're a concept artist.
Wow really! That's very interesting, how did your teacher end up being able to do that?
WitcherGeorge well he's one of the game's concept artist and right now my bachelor thesis consultant (concept art is my major) so I'm under quite a lot of pressure haha
Ah well good luck with it all!
Hey!! Im writing a dissertation about concept art in witcher III and i was just wondering who actuallu designed the crones cause ill be writing about them and for some reason its hard to find this info. Thanks:)
That would make me ungappy too.
Weavess gives me some serious trypophobia.
fuck me - i should not have googled that
Me too. I literally can not stand looking at her
She has a bee hive in her eye, but constantly scratch it, so it is weirdly covered in blood.
Shit, my skin hurts now.
Are those little things insects flying around her eye?
The Witcher felt more real than any other story
The crones are definitely one of the creepiest and most interesting characters in the Witcher
Great video man!
Thanks mate
Any time I hear their voice I get shivers down my spine........Unsettling beings
It's the welsh, mixed with distortion that really does it haha
I'm welsh and it disturbed the fuck out of me
MaxBlaze Vile creatures
MaxBlaze yessssss
ti gives me a shiver inside my anus
The kardashians of witcher3
Haha best underrated comment
😂😂😂
Lmfao
Keeping up with the crones
Best comment EVER 😂
SPOILERS:
I am mostly disappointed that all the build up to the Crones' powers and lore was wasted during their battle. They were basically Gargoyle and Water Hag reskins with one or two unique abilities. It didn't reflect their actual power, and even the conclusion of the battle felt that way. Ciri didn't even feel like she broke a sweat; and by that time she hasn't completely mastered her abilities yet despite having made progress. I understand that Ciri's extremely powerful, but it still doesn't line up with all the times Geralt talked about the miles separating the Crones and their powers.
They are most powerful when they have time to do some kind of magic ritual. But when some random girl just comes and starts swinging sword at you its hard for them to use their strongest weapons.
Mura Casardis why do you think radovids men and the witch hunters were so successful at hunting down and killing sorcerers, it's because no matter how powerful magic can be the more powerful the spell the more time it takes to cast. In a full front battle mages would be slaughtered which is why most scenes with them battling involves the attacking from long distance. Philips did it when geralt was chasing her and Kira did it at the battle of khaer morhen.
Mura Casardis play it on very hard mode.
Syamim Shahab the witcher isnt a hard game the patterns are pretty simple you can play the whole thing on death march without much trouble
Borsalino Kizaru they are ancient creatures. They are extremely dangerous.. Why ppl underestimate them that much
And Black Beauty is a goddess level creature
in the good ending Ciri kills Weavess since she is shown to have gotten the medallion back
In the best ending (where she becomes a Witcher), she would have had TWO; her own Witcher medallion, and Vesemir's. I'll watch it, just to check and verify...
@@lemjustlem Actually Ciri's medallion is from the Cat School, in the books Yen gave a griffin's medallion to Ciri who found it kinda ugly, later she finds a Cat medallion and return the griffin's to Yen
@@lemjustlem the best ending is Ciri becoming the empress overall.
@@matthewgraham7331 no its a shit ending. she doesnt want to be empress and nilfgaard is corrupted af. She will have to married someo ne who will take over political decisions. Best ending is witcher she always wanted to be a witcher
@@enclave9614 and shes kinda canonly lesbian,even gaunter say going to nilfgaard is selling her out
During the Sabath mission i thought at the beginning that those three beautiful women at the cauldron were actually the past form of the crones. I thought that the Sabath restores their power and in doing so makes them beautuful again although temporaly. Never thought that the crones ate the women and took their form. Sad.
they ate the women and took their form? how do you know that? they ate the young men that go to them on the sabbath. I never read anything about women... Maybe i overlooked something.
@@dwightsmith3815 young men AND women (and children).
@@dwightsmith3815 They ate them, took their form, and then pretends to be them in front of their worshippers, who claim that these ladies "left" Velen after
I also believe that to be true actually, why else would the tapestry show three young women similar to the ones you see during the sabbath, it would make no sense if they would constantly shift into different forms, instead I believe that during the sabbath, their powers are most probably at their strongest, which is why they enjoy returning to the younger versions of their bodies. To add to this, you can see that the sacrificed humans in the cauldron seem to be male and not female, so the part where they use someone elses shape seems more like a theory than an actual fact.
The crones make me completely unsettled, and extreme shivers.
The Brewess creeps me out the most
Nah man, that creep the Weavess is what gets me. Especially the ending.
Creature Creator whispess is very scary
Bald mountain is an actual place in Poland and it is a legend that witches lived there and they had their sabbath there
"Bald mountain" exists in every slavic folklore of every slavic nation. For example, there is a "bald mountain" in the center of Kyiv, capital of Ukraine and noone builds anything there, because obviously you wouldn't live where the witches organize their black sabbath.
I think the real question here is how powerful is the Pellar to be able to craft a necklace that completely neutralizes the crones' magic and even prevent them from directly going after Anna while she was wearing it.
Man I had t thought about that. But your right. Maybe there’s more to the pellar than we see.
He’s goated
@@TEFFTPATTERNew
7:45 in the endings where Ciri lives she's seen with her medallion again so I'm guessing the implication was that Geralt kept his promise to return with her and kill the remaining Crone.
Nice!
I liked the feeling in the game while reading and hearing so much about the crones and you begin to imagine what people or creatures they might be. I always thought they would be some sort of human witches. And then comes this super epic scene where you get to meet them and you didn't expect anything like this. Along with the amazing background music and the fascinating atmosphere it was for me one of the most memorable scenes in the game
Just discovered, in the building with the painting of the crones there’s a cellar you can go into to the right of the painting. If you look closer to one of the walls you can see the bones of children behind a short little fence
The tapestry itself is from children's hair. Woven by weavess. That's common mythology that appears to whole Europe btw. 3 sisters and one weaves a string which is the fate humans.
I love how all these creatures that just casually taunt Geralt.
"Oh, you are pathetic and stupid, you're just a Witcher."
However, you know, canonically, it's a madman who's dealt with who might be Satan himself, immortal Vampires, and basically everything.
Nice point!
I fucking loved the crones and their whole aura. The soundtrack combined with their appearance, their weird voice effects... Amazing
Just looking at them makes me sick. Bleh
whiuch means it's a good design :) that's what the designer wanted to achieve
Jelly Bean That eye with holes in it creeps me out I hate holes in skin
+edi gross dude lol
0:15 "And one will die. But it shan't be one of us"
Actually she was right, it wasn't one of them, it was all 3 of them.
the crones reminded me of a fairy tale I read (or was read...can't really remember) as a kid (I was raised in germany..so guess what kind of fucked up fairy tales I came across)...it was about a young wife, or princess, whose husband wanted her to take on weaving, which she didn't want...she wandered of to find a solution to her problem and came across 3 crones: One with a huge right foot, one with an enormous thumb and one with a huge lower lip. She asked the crones how they came to their deformities and they explained that they were weavers and their deformities came from using the spinning wheel: The huge foot came from working the pedal for years, the enormous thumb came from working the yarn and the huge lower lip came from constantly moistening the yarn....the young woman brought the three crones to her husband and told their story and asked if he still wanted her to take on weaving....he never mentioned the subject again....I still remember the illustration of the 3 crones in the book: and they stongly resembled the crones in the game
Not suprising. Much of The Witcher is directly lifted from European folklore and fairy tales
The Crones are the reason I got interested in and bought the Witcher 3. I had heard about the game and some of the hype before its release, but I hadn't really looked into it. But when I was at a store I saw a gameplay preview with the Crones, and thats what got me interested, as I loved the creepy vibe they gave. Made me realize the cool mythology of the game, istantly loved it
Dreathus Thats true, you see, back in the vikings days they believed in Odin, freya, Thor ect. But also in the fate goddesses which are named norns. So they transfered these goddesses into the game, with the same tasks but just called them differently and gave them different names. Which the real ones are called Urdr, Verdandi and Skuld, which are btw good goddesses instead as the crones are :D CD Project RED did such a great job with this!
Andreea C Someone mentioned to me that the characteristics of the three are more close to the Slavic folklore of Baba Yaga. I understand that Witcher is more into Norse mythology than actual Greek.
From some small research, Baba Yaga, Norse norns, and some Greek mythology seems to all have helped inspire the Crones
Witches eating children for centuries or this is just fairy tales? What you think people? ruclips.net/video/1yUMxOONIz0/видео.html ; ruclips.net/video/u7-QEFa8NdM/видео.html
Crones have nothing to do with norse religion and mythology it has to do with Slavic tradition and folk stories. Even today in some parts of Balkans(tho it's rare) there are peasant stories of witches who eat children and cast curses and help people. Lot of people in Romania for example still belive in those stories. Even 30 years ago there were villages which had their witches tho that old tradition is soon to die out. That's where Witcher took it's inspiration. Now what's really interesting is my life expirience when i was a kid i spent some time in Romania with my dad's family i had some issue with my skin on my hand and grandma took me to the old women in village which people called "witch" there were stories that she cast a curses that would kill people, that killed people that she also helped many etc... I was always scared of her as most kids there anyway cuz of stories and how creepy she looked. But she took me outside to the back of her house, took my hand whispered some words and tomorow the thing on my hand was gone. I don't belive in anything but i can't explain what happend then either. Now all this probably sounds weird and impossible for someone who is not familiar with slavic culture but visit Romania you'd be surpried how things such as "black magic" "witches that eat children" and "curses" are normal even today in 21th century. Witcher devs did a great job at bringing others slavic tradition and folklore.
Kinda surprised the two crones were able to be killed off for good by ciri and didn't have a backup plan to comeback or put a nasty curse on ciri or geralt.
I know what you mean, I had the same reactin when the 'golden child' (Caranthir) and the king of the wild hunt(Eredin) are killed within about 5 minutes haha
Michael Millich ciri is the most powerful character in witcher. It doesn't feel so as you play the game but she's supposed to be extremely op compared even to Geralt or the witches
I mean, you need a possession to make one of those voodoo dolls they make... and the last one does have ciris necklace...
Although that would've added more quests in the witcher and I ain't complaining
You know Ciri is OP right?
The music around Crookbag Bog and the Crones scenes are so powerful, they chill me down to the core. The rest of Velen has creepy music as well, but it's more of a hopeless, lost and tragic kind of creepy. They capture the surroundings perfectly.
"They draw power from nature" so they're basically neutral evil druids
Yup!
Hmm kinda like leshens
They represent the cruel side of Nature.
The part that harvests the weak and maintains the strong.
Another day another reason to be proud to have played this game. I have been gaming since the 90's and Witcher 3 is hands down the greatest of all times.
You know only in the witcher universe will you find a group of people who "worship" a trio of sadistic and extremely creepy witches who demand weird sacrifices and in turn they give "protection". And somehow have another equally evil/creepy choice, and despite this there is still no good choice between the two. Finally on a side note even if it's a really bad ending, It was satisfying to kill that final crone. Anyways nice vid George 👍
Thank you man and yeah, it's a shame that you can only kill her in the bad ending.
Yeah either kill a group of kids by having them eaten or release a plague spirit which kills a bunch more people
I got the good ending, but now i want the bad one just for that :O
UncertainRain -MarioMartocchio you should play d&d where character gets his power is from an entity who demands me to teach peasants rituals and to convert people to a fish less diet
O darn I saw you can kill her I was going to ask how but then I saw it’s only available in the bad ending so darn I got the emperoress ending by the way on my first play through
I really appreciate you still doing videos on the witcher keep up the good work ☺
Thanks man
On my first playthrough, I met the crones when it was around 2 AM (dont ask, i had a messy sleep schedule). I genuinely was afraid to go sleep bc i'd had a nightmare that night...
Going thru that swamp was scary especially with the background music lol
That it was aha
@Varonvan why? I think that one was the most climatic and Best written.
@@JudgeHolden2003 it was terrifying, I can’t play that quest at night
@@Sparkball Velen almost as depressing as Undvik.
the scenes with the crones are so well written and set up, the people who directed them definitely know, and understand the feel of classic slavic fairy tales (yes i know they are inspired by the three fates but the atmosphere is definitely more from slavic folklore), they honestly seem as if they are taken directly from the pages of affanassievs fairy tales, i absolutley love that about these scenes.
I love the Welsh accents, it makes them somewhat devious and mysterious because it's an accent you won't usually hear in the game.
if a mother birth anything like the "crones" clearly she cant be good herself.
ofc, they could have been corrupted, but yeah, I dont think there is a win-win situation.
just seeing them makes me want to spam Igni for an hour or two
Or three...
@@ogeraldo1388 or thirty
@@ogeraldo1388 don’t exactly mince words
I remember the first time I played this and then I saw the crones through the painting. I thought: Damn, 3 hot witches. Then I played more and they turned out to be monsters and I was like oh hell nah. 😂😂😂
Aha
Love the atmosphere and the music
Just like the Baron and the Regicides questlines overshadow the main storyline, the crones overshadow the Wild Hunt itself.
The crones should've been the main villains, tbh. They are perfect.
I wish the whole game was about them.
Yeah well,that's just, like, your opinion, man
Do not forget the fear and respect that they had for Imlerith. The crones were afraid of Wild Hunt which concludes that they realize the Wild Hunt is more fearsome and powerful from them
Never have I wanted to leave a nonexistent place that I'm not actually in, so badly in my life
Has anyone also noticed how they are (physically at least) all monsters? Like Brewess is a Sylvan, Weavess is a Foglet and Whispess is a Grave Hag.
They havn't always used the ears. Eredin ask them to listen for any information on Ciri. They phrased it something like, keep an ear open for.., and they did it literally.
They're definitely the creepiest of the Witcher monsters.
Great video. :)
Yuuuuuus George! I'm glad you've finally posted this. Been looking forward to it ! Great job bud
Glad you enjoyed it mate
I know it's probably never going to happen but I'd really love for the Crones to appear in the Netflix show. I would really love to see what the showrunners would do with them.
damnit its so hard to stay away from spoilers while im playing. I did really good for 4 years staying away from this universe. Now im just playing the game and fell in love with the lore... i can't help myself!
Ok, one thing I was alway curious about with the Crones was their appearance.... specifically, if the time they spent as corrupt rulers took their toll on appearances... like if they started out maybe similar-ish (I know not identical cause Geralt describes the bones of the original Lady as being 'not quite human') to the human form they take, but were corrupted by power and their ways over time to turn into those horrific creatures... Because no way would I ever believe those 3 to be kind and good if they looked like that their whole lives
There are two books, I don't remember the names, one in the Novigrad bookstore, and another in the cave where the Kaer Morthen mutagens were made, in these books they explain the history of the crones. In one of the books it was said that the "lady of the wood" created three witches from mud and water.
Also you forgot to say they were based on a legend from Baba Yaga, people in slavic culture believed there were 3 of them and thus the Crones were created.
I always thought of them as being based of the clash of the titan witches haha
I don't think since that's greek mythology , I would say most Witcher lore is based of Slavic mythology.
WitcherGeorge chęci tnie one jadę by Platige image and Tomasz Bagiński ruclips.net/video/uKbuFYd468w/видео.html
The Crones are a Slavic retelling of the sisters of fate in Greek or Norse mythology. They weave a string of your life from your hair and are responsible for everything that happens to you during your lifetime.
The Crones are based on the Fates (Moirai in Greek mythology and Parcae in Roman)
According to Withcher 3 wiki
This was too funny:
"Now on to Whispess, she demands tribute in the form of human ears" **Ad plays** "Trouble hearing? You don't want to skip this video."
if im not mistaken the main reason Whispess hangs ears in the swamp is because Imlerith told the crones to keep an eye out for Avallac'h and Ciri, in case they show up in Velen, since avallach has a hideout there. i think they mention this at one point. but they could be doing it before all that who knows
I would like to learn more about what they really are. If they're older than men, elves, and all the other races, wtf are they? I wish cdpr delved into their history more. What a mystery!
Kenneth Lee imo they are an ancient race of demons....present before the conjunction of the spheres
No. Mystery is what makes them creepy.
Knowledge removes mystique and fear. (See Reapers of ME)
I love them. They are creepy, mysterious, and have weird powers. The vibe of their scenes is awesome too.
Thanks for the video
Sad there is no bangging option.
But there are mods.
Wtf man..
Dem bru
Gwent
The crones and all the related and even peripheral quests are so unnerving. The whole scenario gets under my skin in uncomfortable ways. I love it.
It's pure speculation, but based on their ties to the land and water, their lack of natural immortality, and their female forms, I thought they were Vilas like Dryads. I thought Brewess came up with some way to extend their lives, possibly altering the natural forms. Their "mother' being bound to a tree reinforced that notion. There's no proving it, but they do have a few things in common with Vilas, albeit twisted ones.
The music and voices are amazing! Love this game!
Wish I could erase my memory of playing this game and play it again.
I'd also love to do that!
7:42 Ciri can't actually die in TW3. She survives no matter what, the "bad ending" is just Geralt being a dick to her the whole game so she decides to never come back, thus Geralt *thinks* she's dead. Geralt knows this is a suicide mission, which is why he doesn't do it in the good endings, but if Ciri doesn't come back he becomes depressed and suicidal. The trip back to Crookback Bog in that ending is essentially his shotgun retirement.
Is it ever stated anywhere that she lives? Granted it never shows her death, but I was always of the mind that she stopped the white frost but never managed to get home due to her confidence and ability to keep cool during difficult situation weren't developed enough by the player in-game. I think it's implied that Geralt simply gives up and let's himself be killed.
It's not outright stated, but very, very heavily implied. Ciri maintains the same level of confidence in her abilities no matter what Geralt does; the point of Geralt's choices with Ciri influencing the ending are in shaping your relationship with you: Whether Geralt trusts her to be in charge of her own destiny, or trusts in the validity of Emhyr's path for her, or, in the case of the bad ending, if Geralt doesn't trust her at all. Throughout the game, Ciri's independence and self-worth is a constant theme, and if Geralt doesn't respect that in her in their time together and continues to treat her like a child, she has no reason to come back, so she doesn't
Whispess reminds me of the Czech mythologic character Polednice, witch which comes for naughty children
That's a common theme - like the trail of sweeties ... very Hansel and Gretel
3 evil entities created by another worse evil. I always understood it as, "Shub Niggurath created the three crones(Baba Yaga)
gaunter O’dimm is much more creepy than these crones 😐
Creppy O'dimm
Always will remember this crone music in the background. So gnarly
The Crones were such terrific characters and the music's so unsettling. I found it interesting how in that clip at the start, one of the crones was unknowingly correct about their fates "And one will die. But it shan't be one of us."
Such a fantastic encounter the art style is amazing
The crones are also extremely similar in both design and mythological reference to the witches from the Marshes of Morva in the famous Disney movie The Black Cauldron, it's also heavily welsh in terms of naming and characters and draws from old Welsh folktales including what's known in the Witcher as The Wild Hunt
There's always 3, I always thought about the clash of titian's film (original of course) with the 3 crones using 1 eyes to see haha
It's a very interesting story and it seems to have been repeated throughout history Shakespeare himself using it in Macbeth as the video points out, I think the witcher draws from some other pieces from the wider story such as the undead realm of Anuvin (not sure if that's the right spelling haha) it's presented very similarly to the realms of the wild hunt and I really fell in love with the witcher because of it I came across the Black Cauldron book series known as Chronicles of Prydain it's a great set of books and it really nails the feeling of the folktales well! Really enjoyed the video btw Witcher has a wealth of awesome stories can't wait to see more!
they look like baba yaga
They reminded me of the classic '3' in most mythology. For instance the Norns in Norse mythology and the Fates in Greek Mythology. But, I know the wild hunt is based on an old Germanic mythos/folklore.
The Witcher 3 has some of the best missions I’ve ever experienced in gaming . They are so interesting , that I don’t want to miss a single one , I even purposely held out on story missions as long as possible to do every side content I could find . This game set standards that so many studios still can’t hang with .
The witcher with the hat literally has a eye that looks like a festering knee
The Brewes' hand looks like one of a Sylvan. Could that be?
Mentioned master mirror so I had him in mind when the scene Anna is has her hand burn at it hit me. Both parties burn symbols to people that owe them to ensure their cooperation.
It's very interesting
I read every single book I find in Witcher 3 so, much of the info you shared, I already knew.
To be honest the Crons are one of the interesting stories and event of Witcher Universe I see horror stories in them
I had the pleasure of beating the quest for the first time today and it was exceptional
The swamp and the whole area where they rule are my favorite parts of the game
Soo creepy
Very Creepy
shame its also were my fps shits itselfs
I never read the books but i have a feeling that these 3 witchies travel around WITCHER world from region to region and do this EVENT everywhere NOT just in VELEN. So in the end THEY eat THE young FLESH not just once a year but EVERY month. Hmmm?! ^_-
Could be. But maybe on the important dates of elf calendar.
The crones were one of my fav parts of witcher 3 love lore of them nd the dialogue nd personalities...
If u haven’t already lore vids of the island nd “vikings” of skellege wud be awesome ‼️
Also lore vid on Doppelgängers
i thought that the Crones were the good ol' wicked ladies of the bog...
But now i want to load a shotgun with incendiary silver shells just to see them scream.
Jejeje agree
I wish you could’ve asked Gaunter to kill the remaining Crone permanently and recover Vesemir’s medallion.
Keep it up, you are doing an amazing job with these
Thank you man!
Weavess is killed by Ciri in the good ending. You can see she has Vesemir’s medallion when you meet her in white orchard
Is it ever confirmed if it's vesemirs medallion?
good eye my dude
That symbol burned into Anna/Gran's hand is very similar to the one found in Professor Shakeslock's house. In that instance it's associated with Gaunter O'Dimm. At 5.03min you can the symbol burning in the palm of Gran's hand: a triskelion with an intersecting bar at the end of each spiral.
You mentioned hang mans tree in this video?!?! theres a tree called hangmans tree in the witcher 1 in chapter 4... ARE THE CRONES IN THE WITCHER 1 😱 Is that why the music was so damn ominous when i was in a area that looked like a beautiful countryside field
Gwen Blagdon technically yes they exist at that time but don't make an appearance, the hang man's tree is where you fight the wild hunt I believe
Blain Allison Thanks
The hang man's tree is the one you spawn near when you first arrive in Velen, the only quest near there is one with Roche and the blonde woman's name which I've forgotten and a Gwent card location if you miss it in White Orchard. The tree you fight Imlireth near is on Bald Mountain
AuzzieArtyst I meant in the witcher 1 an i recently finished it The crones were not in it
Different hang mans tree.
CDPR was very clever with the endings to Witcher 3, as for the 'bad ending' actually happens one week after Ciri's disappearance, while the meeting with emperor Emhyr from the 'good ending' takes place two weeks later. Plus, the crones are deceitful and mind-crushing liars all the way. I love that.
I can't wait for these to be in the witcher Netflix show!
if Ciri lives and becomes a witcher and she comes to Geralt's home in Toussaint after you finish Blood and Wine expansion, you can see that she bears the wolf medallion.
Woww. I will look into it. But one ?. For Ciri to come you have to no-romance neither Yen nor Triss?
Brewess is the scariest!
This was such an adult story and part of what makes the Witcher so good.
It was so awesome!
To answer the question in the title, DISGUSTEN
The atmosphere for crookback bog is INCREDIBLE. It's the attention to detail that sells it. For example, I love how you discover candy and treats scattered around on your way there.
0:37 i am scarred for life
The Crones power was portrayed so well, they were something different, something like o'dimm would be in his true form, the hellish reverb, they way they move, even geralt despite of how experienced and capable he was lore-wise HE KNEW HE HAD NO CHANCE OF TAKING THEM ALONE, HE DARED O'DIMM TO A FIGHT BUT EVEN THE CRONES WERE TOO MUCH FOR HIM
This is soooo accurate. The problem comes when Ciri kills "them"... also remember with a non silver sword....
Its a pity the developers tryed but didnt dared in the end. Its my opinion i feel the Crones could have been much more and Gunter O Din its the "fix".
The Crones should be next to inmortal even against Ciri. And opposing them directly (freeng its mother from the tree or helping the kids) should have HEAVY consequences on the late game.
Anyway its a huge and marvelous game
They're just regular women going through a mythical cycle called, menopause
That's just what women look like after they turn 25
@@Oll1000 thats not true at all. Dont be sexist you fuck
@@wrathofthelamb318 sorry, I meant 21
Happy?
@@Oll1000 you dont need to be such a ignorant assfuck. No woman will ever want you.
Oliver
I have to agree. You sound like a right good ass.
Try compassion sometime, it may help your chances.
Worth noting, is that the Crones seem to be inspired by the Slavic mythological creature "Baba-Yega", which best described as "scary witch, but not as human's profession, but a creature of it's own".
I can tell you started scripting your videos like I recommended. Sounds so much better, You also sound much more confident. George, good job, keep it up, proud of you.
Thanks man, I took all the scripting advice on board and went for a solution that I was comfortable with, I now have a set list of topics (with some notes) that I cover and it allows me to not sound like a robot haha
It's great that the LEGENDARY Kevin Vance with his 6 subscribers first of all bothered to comment on a creator with a mere 11k subscribers, and better yet actually had the creator listen to him, and him alone, and heed his creative input. We are truly in awe of Kevin Vance of 6 subscribers fame, all hail to him. Thank you for improving WithcerGeorges content.
Cloverskull Your words flatter me. I'm sure if you work hard, you might be as legendary as me one day.
Another grand video of one of my favourite antagonists besides Leo Bonhart thanks for the upload witcher. Ladies of the woods is a great song
Thank you mate
when is the regis video comming? i would love it!
At some point!
Regis is one of my favourite characters in this series. I could listen to him narrate a computer manual and be enraptured.
Thanx for the reply everyone!