You remember the music first. That shrill, dissonant screech of a cello that kicks in the moment Geralt steps into the muck of Crookback Bog. It’s unsettling. Most games try to make their villains look imposing or cool, but the Ladies of the Wood Witcher 3 encounter goes in a completely different direction. It goes for the gut. It goes for the "I want to wash my eyes with holy water" vibe.
Honestly, the Crones—Brewess, Weavess, and Whispess—are probably the most effective subversion of the "fairytale" trope in modern gaming history. CD Projekt Red didn't just give us bosses to hit with a silver sword; they gave us a philosophical nightmare wrapped in rotting meat and human hair.
The Crones are not your average monsters
Most things Geralt hunts are just animals. A drowner is a nuisance. A griffin is a predator. But the Ladies of the Wood are something else entirely. They are ancient. In the lore of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, these entities are basically the manifestations of Velen itself. They aren't "evil" in the way a bandit is evil; they are a force of nature that demands a blood tax.
If you pay attention to the in-game book The Ladies of the Wood, you realize the locals don't just fear them. They worship them. In a war-torn land where Nilfgaard and Redania are trampling every harvest, the Crones offer a twisted kind of stability. They provide. They protect. But the price is always your soul, or your ears, or your children.
It’s gross.
Look at their designs. Brewess is a mountain of flesh decorated with severed limbs. Weavess has a nest of wasps for an eye. Whispess wears a necklace of human ears so she can hear everything whispered in the swamps. It’s a masterclass in visual storytelling. You don't need a cutscene to tell you they're dangerous; you just need to look at the soup they’re stirring.
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What most people get wrong about the Whispering Hillock
This is the big one. This is the choice that keeps players up at night. When you're playing through the Ladies of the Wood Witcher 3 questline, you eventually stumble upon the Whispering Hillock—a spirit trapped in a tree.
Most players think there is a "good" ending here.
There isn't.
If you free the spirit, it saves the orphans of Crookback Bog. That feels like the "hero" move, right? Except the spirit then goes on a rampage and murders everyone in the village of Downwarren. Oh, and Anna Strenger, the Bloody Baron's wife, gets turned into a Water Hag and dies, leading the Baron to take his own life.
If you kill the spirit, the village lives and the Baron might find a way to save his wife, but the Crones eat the children.
The game doesn't give you a win. It gives you a choice between a massacre and a tragedy. That is the essence of Velen. The Crones win either way because they've already corrupted the landscape so deeply that Geralt—the legendary White Wolf—is basically just a fly buzzing around their web.
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The lore connection to Mother and She-Who-Knows
There’s a deeper layer to the Ladies of the Wood Witcher 3 lore that many casual players miss. If you find the book She-Who-Knows, it suggests the Crones weren't always the rulers of Velen. They supposedly had a mother, an even more powerful entity who went mad. The Crones killed her and buried her in the marsh—and some fans believe that the spirit in the Whispering Hillock is actually the mother seeking revenge.
This adds a massive amount of nuance. It means you’re caught in a family feud between ancient, eldritch deities. You aren't the protagonist of this story; you're the witness.
Why the Crones are Ciri’s biggest threat
The Wild Hunt is the titular threat, sure. Eredin is scary. But the Crones are the ones who actually got their hands on Ciri. They wanted to eat her. They wanted to consume her Elder Blood to gain even more power over time and space.
When you finally get to play as Ciri and fight them at Bald Mountain, it feels cathartic. But even then, the game denies you total victory. One of them—Weavess—usually slips away if you don't get the "perfect" ending. It leaves a lingering sense of dread. Even when the world is saved, the rot in the woods remains.
Technical mastery in atmospheric design
Let’s talk about the environment. The Trail of Treats is a brilliant piece of environmental storytelling. It’s literally a path of candy and sweets leading kids to their doom. It’s Hansel and Gretel, but if the witch actually won.
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The contrast between the beautiful, golden-hued sunlight filtering through the trees and the literal piles of bones in the mud is what makes the Ladies of the Wood Witcher 3 quest so memorable. It uses "folk horror" elements better than most actual horror games.
- The Tapestry: The way the Crones appear as beautiful women in the painting but are actually hags is a classic trope handled perfectly.
- The Voice Acting: The rasping, wet sounds of their dialogue make your skin crawl.
- The Impact: Your choices here ripple across the entire Velen map, changing which NPCs live and which towns thrive.
How to handle the Ladies of the Wood quest on a replay
If you’re diving back into The Witcher 3 (perhaps for the tenth time, no judgment), there are a few ways to approach this quest to see different outcomes.
First, try finding the Whispering Hillock before you even meet the Crones. If you deal with the spirit before the quest technically starts, you can sometimes "game" the system and trigger a slightly different set of dialogue and flags, though the ultimate tragedy usually remains.
Second, pay attention to the orphans' names. You can actually find a note later in the game at a school in Novigrad that lists the names of children who were "found" after the events in the bog—if you saved them. It’s one of those tiny, heart-wrenching details that makes the world feel alive.
Practical next steps for your playthrough
To get the most out of this haunting storyline, you should focus on these specific actions:
- Read everything. Collect the books The Ladies of the Wood and She-Who-Knows before finishing the "Family Matters" quest. It changes how you perceive the dialogue options.
- Explore the outskirts of Crookback Bog. There are hidden shrines and "offerings" left by peasants that give you a better idea of how deeply the Crones have indoctrinated the population.
- Prepare for the Bald Mountain fight. Since this is the culmination of the Crones' arc, make sure Ciri’s abilities are mastered. You’ll be fighting two of them at once, and their area-of-effect attacks can be brutal on Death March difficulty.
- Observe the Baron's fate. Don't just rush to the next main quest. Visit the Baron's castle after the "Return to Crookback Bog" mission to see the long-term consequences of your choice regarding the spirit in the tree.
The Crones represent the worst parts of the world Geralt inhabits. They are the personification of the idea that sometimes, there is no "lesser evil"—only different shades of dark.