The Strange and Disturbing Witcher “Iceberg” Explained

[@franklygamingextra]

This guy fucks

[@FranklyGaming]

Damn right he does me

[@angel8fingers]

Huh? Best James Tour impersonation!

[@jcburgess2009]

Rhis must be the royal me/we

[@Bloo91]

😂😂

[@bormby_jones]

This guy fucks

[@AndyJP]

There is a single cat in Witcher 3 that does not hiss or react negatively to Geralt. You can find it (if I remember correctly) in the scene where you locate the Baron's daughter Tamara. If not there, then it is in a different indoor scene with her.

[@FranklyGaming]

Thanks for the clarification! Some cats are nice haha

[@shawnamiller191]

The doohickey Yen gives you will react to the presince of cats

[@Trumplican]

Yeah its when you find the baron's daughter Tamara in Oxenfurt. The CDPR team said they need a distraction for the player while she walked down the stairs so they had Nibbles sitting there and for some reason totally fine with Geralt. After this the cat can be seen throughout the rest of the game. For instance in The Plays The Thing the cat will be watching from the rooftops during the play. Nibbles is also mentioned by one of the dwarves in the isle of mists. Nibbles appears in both DLCs also.

[@AndyJP]

@@Trumplican Wow holy crap thanks! I've always wondered about that.

[@Lordoftheyeet]

​@@Trumplican nibbles is also the name of the pet cat V can have in cyberpunk as well

[@Sageoftheforest7]

I think the reason Geralt was so strong is that his mother was a sorceress. They meet in the second book and she saves his life and is said to look even younger than him. The whole "sorceresses should not have children" thing was something Tissaya de Vrie created (Yennefer's mentor). But in reality there are many magic users and sorcerers who can have children. So Geralt being extremely resiliant and strong could be genetic. Also his father was a mercenary and adventurer, so he also wasn't a regular man.

[@kjh4496]

Geralts strength comes from his unique witcher mutation that gave him white hair. It’s possible he has an affinity for magic though with his mother being a sorceress.

[@derekfrost7751]

@@kjh4496 he received that mutagen because other witchers saw that geralt could resist better the herb trials, that resistance could be recieved from his mother

[@AmsyarBrosku]

​​@@kjh4496 pretty sure it was stated somewhere that geralt would've been a powerful sorcerer if he chose that path, it's just that he's already chosen the path of a witcher indicating that geralt does indeed have a lot of potential with magic, he just doesn't want to witcher mutation just made him more into a superhuman

[@Quazi-Moto]

@@kjh4496 _"Geralts strength comes from his unique witcher mutation that gave him white hair."_ But we don't see any other witchers with white hair. I agree his hair color possibly (likely?) comes from his mother's sorceressness...? sorceressity? When I first played W3 (my intro to that universe), and first met Vesemir and saw Ciri, I assumed they all had white hair. But I've since learned Vesemir's hair color is simply due to him having been alive for multiple centuries. Plus Ciri is not a witcher. Ciri's hair isn't purely white, but more a color between gray and white -- at least, that's the definition of "ashen". It's theorized (or perhaps it's canon... I've not read all the books yet) that Sapkowski chose that color as a symbolic combo of her adoptive parent figures; Yen's black hair and Geralt's white. Not to mention that Ciri's real mom had naturally ashen hair. And then there's the fact of her Elven Blood. Many possible reasons for Cir's hair color, even though she's not a true witcher. Perhaps she has some Targaryen blood too =-D

[@sorenwestlock2899]

He went through a second round of The Grasses. That's the canon reason. EDIT: Eskel is canonically better and stronger at signs, and I'm paraphrasing "his Igni was like a dragon's breath".

[@DaiseeAi]

"It has been widely theorized by many many fans that CDPR actually based this speech on medieval Georgian languages" As a Georgian I can tell you it's not medieval, but simply current everyday Georgian lmao. When I was playing the game I got freaked out because somehow this devil person talked to me in my own language. You can imagine just how much of a 4th wall break that was and therefore that much scarier.

[@wah8974]

Elven speech is literally just Welsh

[@vm7528]

The idea that Coral is pretending to be Triss falls apart after you add Yen to equation - jealous, vindictive and pretty powerful sorceress who would surely see through the charade of Coral trying to behave and look like her best friend to seduce her man

[@philipott6691]

The arch-villain of the Stephen King multiverse, Randall Flagg, is referred to as Walter O'Dimm in the Gunslinger. He has a very similar demeanor to Gaunter O'Dimm and I believe Gaunter is an homage to the man in black.

[@bahaanaldo]

One of the senior writers did say he was inspired by both Walter O'Dimm and Leland Gaunt, a spirit that grants wishes with a twist. "Karolina Stachyra, senior writer at CD PROJEKT RED, said he was indeed inspired in part by these two."

[@AxiiBoss]

@@bahaanaldothats Awesome

[@daniellewillis2767]

I used to name all female chinchillas Ingrid. That's just what female chinchillas are called. There was a Zoe in there somewhere but she was never right in the head...

[@hypocriticalsatire3966]

​@@bahaanaldo Gaunt-er O'Dimm lol

[@dawid9113]

O'Dimm was one of the only characters that I was genuinely scared of

[@derglobster]

Gaunter O'Dimm is based on Walter O'Dim a figure out of the Stephen King universe. He is a trickster and mighty magician, once a ordinary human, now a powerful, nearly godlike wizard, connected with the crimson king - who is one of the most powerful, oldest and most evil beings of the universe(s). Walter is one of my favorite characters out of this universe, just as Gaunter is one of my favorite character in Witcher 3 haha

[@gaunterdimm7522]

@@derglobster Didn't know this thanks for informing me friend.

[@smittywerbenjaggermanjensen69]

​@@derglobsterThat and Goethe's Mephisto

[@herofromthedark]

​@@derglobsterhe was also based off of Leland Gaunt, the villain from Needful Things. He provides items to people in exchange for small promises or small tokens of future exchanges. They all inevitably ruin themselves.

[@mackobogdaniec2699]

​@@smittywerbenjaggermanjensen69 Not really. Hearts of Stones is rather heavily based on Polish legend about Sir Twardowski. It's very similar to the better known German story of Faust. CDPR used also other Polish inspirations. Wedding theme is based on... "The Wedding", play from 1901.

[@cyborg6904]

Learning that Geralt is the most powerful witcher alive while watching him scrub a floor was amazing

[@le563]

The black sun is a self fulfilling prophecy, by being so caught up in stripping these women of their wills, huting them, torturing them and locking them away out of the prophecies fear, they created the monsters that they were trying to contain, it was dabbled with in "The Lesser Evil" with Renfri, where she was debating if she was really a monster or not

[@redith137]

So here's the weird thing about the curse of the Black Sun. While yes, it is possible that these women act this way because of the self-fulfilling prophecy concept. There are some things that make it ambiguous. It is true that these so-called afflicted girls did actually have mutations in them when they were autopsied. They also in the book are immune to a lot of forms of magic which most humans are not able to do. That's why even in the books and the TV series geralt tries to use axi and it doesn't work on her. That's what makes the curse of the Black Sun thing so crazy because there is proof of both

[@vahlen5281]

Pretty much. Geralt even states a similar train of thought in Witcher 3 when talking to/about Syanna in the Blood&Wine expansion.

[@commentlurker3874]

just like a wise turtle once said

[@elifriedman8812]

The Coral as Triss theory is pretty interesting. If I had to venture a guess, maybe they wanted to have a hat-tip to the character in-game but she was dead so they gave Triss some of her characteristics? I do know they changed certain things from the books regarding various characters.

[@elisthebirb2357]

they had to give Triss some personality seeing as she is a spineless tool in the books. xd

[@zacharypickering-rust1889]

I'd love this, because it gives triss more of a personality than being a spineless coward who had to wait until geralt lost his memories to have sex with him

[@meteormedia7021]

The theory is utter nonsense. Only someone who didn't do their research could come to this conclusion.

[@zacharypickering-rust1889]

@meteormedia7021 I mean is it???? Triss is almost too perfect so I belive it

[@elisthebirb2357]

@zacharypickering-rust1889 @meteormedia7021 ok since i'm getting notifications from your replies for some reason... the theory doesn't entirely stack up. the thing is, triss is triss. even game triss, as much as cdpr wants you to forget what she's done, is at the core herself. sweet and a bit naive exterior, manipulative traitor interior. despite her constantly quoting other characters in witcher 1, she does what triss would do; immediately take advantage of his amnesia to sway geralt to her side. yes, coral and geralt slept together in season of storms, but the difference here is that geralt consented to that. which cannot be said about the incident with triss described in blood of elves. throughout that entire book, geralt makes it very clear he has no interest in triss. why would coral need to assume triss' appearance to get closer to him? it'd work more if she were still herself. i don't like this theory because it unnecessarily convolutes an already shitty situation. it's more than enough that triss becomes a mainline romantic interest in the third game despite her being geralt's literal rapist who sold him and ciri out to the lodge and then had the audacity to withold information from geralt when he lost his memory. and ultimately, you can't not see the metatext. which really is just that cdpr has a very obvious bias in favor of triss and pushed quite hard to give her spotlight and things to do. it's not deeper than that.

[@ZeroReaper42]

On the idea of The Witcher world being on the verge of a renaissance, you're not far off. There are some tales of the Witcher that take place after a second Conjunction, where a new school of Witchers were established, called the School of the Crane. These Witchers are specialized not only in swordplay, but also guns as well, likely flintlocks. Whether these are canon or not, only the author knows. But it is entirely possibly we can get a more modernized setting of a new Witcher game later on down the line.

[@skynyrdjesus]

What stories are these? I'm fairly certain I've read all of the books, and I've never heard of this, or anything close. Is this like a graphic novel type thing?

[@JessicaSilva-gq7zc]

I think it’s in Tales from the world of The Witcher

[@kaiares5109]

Oh guns would suck

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

@@kaiares5109 why? guns and swords were used together in war for some 400, 500 years. early matchlocks dominated Eastern cultures and their battlefields in places like Korea, China and Japan. Wheellock guns are fantastic bits of fantasy-meets-reality and matchlocks are very restrictive as to when you can fire them, and just like flintlocks take ages to reload. Things like Witchers making use of igni to light their powder charges and their reflexes to reload really quickly, it would make for that renaissance feel (that times have moved forward) whilst still being entrenched in the fantasy idea of a Witcher school full of damaged people with superhuman abilities, carrying a pouch of cast-silver ball shot with a shorter silver sword that would allow the use of a pistol.

[@WhenDevilsDuel]

​@@AdamOwenBrowningthey don't even like to use crossbows let alone guns. Also you're not really making any arguments as for why it wouldn't suck, just arguing that it makes sense. And I'd argue it doesn't make sense, sounds like what it is, fan fiction. Would armies eventually use guns? Yup. Would witchers? Nope. By the time guns are a thing witchers would be lucky to exist. Guns make hiring a witcher pointless unless dealing with a curse, even then witch hunters are probably cheaper, especially cheaper than someone like the famous white wolf who charges more than what most people can afford. Pay 200 for a witcher to save your village, pay 200 to merchant or gunsmith for a weapon(s) that'll protect the village now and in the future. Easy choice.

[@saladinbob]

The Lizard men trope comes from the Robert E. Howard's _The Shadow Kingdom_ which is the first Kull of Atlantis story (the character that would go on to become Conan). In the story, one of the prominent characters talks of a race of Serpent men who are older than humans. Since that story, first published in 1929 it's spread to almost every fantasy and sci fi IP out there.

[@elifriedman8812]

Final comment: regarding the book 'She Who Knows' in the game about the Crones, a number of other KZbinrs have speculated that the story in it is heavily-embellished propaganda. After the Battle of Kaer Morhen when Geralt goes with Ciri to Bald Mountain in Velen to confront Imlerith during the Crones' "Sabbath," when they approach the hill she remarks that the site used to be a hallowed ground for druids, "then the Crones came and twisted the tree." The Ghost/Lady in the Tree mentions Geralt when he goes to kill her, that she "abandoned her circle, where she'd kept the balance." The three Crones are also said to be of various ages, with the Whispess being the "oldest," the Brewess being the middle, and the Weavess being the "youngest." There is also a location in Toussaint where if you hover over the marker on the map, it mentions the Whispess used to live there before. Finally if Geralt chooses to help the Lady/Ghost in the Tree and gets her bones, he remarks that they don't look human. This all points to a likely possibility that she was either a super powerful being from another world or more likely, that she and the Crones were all once regular humans who used magic and alchemy to keep themselves alive and/or more powerful which resulted in them mutating. The fact that the Crones look like young maidens in their tapestry and can make themselves look like that by feeding on the blood of children to maintain that form, may mean that this used to be their original appearance but the magic they worked to become powerful and stay alive came at the cost of their humanity and youth, similar to but also very distinct from how it is with Witchers when they go through the trials. The Crones may have just been her apprentices, all four of them dabbled too far in the dark arts and overthrew the original druid circle with power getting to their heads, then they likely overthrew her and seized power for themselves. Given also that the Crones work for the Wild Hunt as informants and that the Wild Hunt has advancements far enough beyond anything in the Witcher's world, it's also possible the Crones and their "mother" betrayed the other druids in exchange for power and resources offered by the Aen Elle and Wild Hunt.

[@xlgapelsin6173]

Where in toussaint is that place? Would love to check it out

[@gahlster]

@@xlgapelsin6173 Do the quest with the logger who is a fan of romantic fairy tales and believe a tree is crying, and I think you will find it.

[@tahaali5713]

That quest is related to the witch of lynx crag, a totally different character.​@@gahlster

[@gahlster]

@@tahaali5713 No, I wasn't thinking of her the character. It was just a way to find the signpost as it's rather likely it will pop up when you head to the marker to start the quest "A Knights Tale". The Vintners quest you think of you pretty much can't get without popping the signpost and wouldn't be much help. However I think "Big Game Hunter" would be a better quest to track as it gets you pretty much spot on and can be picked up at more places I believe then "A Knights Tale", which means it's more likely you get that sooner.

[@tahaali5713]

​​​@@gahlster Oh my bad, I actually fired up the game just to check your claim myself. You were absolutely right. Then it's highly possible that the same whispess was once a resident of Toussaint. I finally understood that you were clearly implying that the Chuchote Cave signpost will popup while doing A Knight's Tale or even better, as you said, by doing the big game hunter with count Beladal.

[@lafarfalla2273]

I believe it is said that Geralt being the sun of a sorceress was what made him take to the mutations better than the other witcher candidates, as most sorceresses tend to become sterile through their use of magic or are preemptively sterilized, as those that are not tend to produce abominations (meaning both physically and having uncontrollable powers, in-game book The Poisoned Source I believe)

[@marz6770]

Let's note that it is not clear what Visenna is. She seems to be a druid and/or a sorceress, although Sapkowski never gave more details about that and what it entails.

[@vaclavsoukup7302]

@@marz6770 I’d say she’s more of a druid.

[@marz6770]

@@vaclavsoukup7302 It's not really clear but she does sound like a druid.

[@Magdalena-vr6we]

@@marz6770wdym in books there was even a conversation with Geralt with vilgefortz about becoming a sorceress given he had inherited abilities after his mother. She was a mage They constantly mention it

[@marz6770]

​@@Magdalena-vr6we What I said stands. I said "or/*and*" a sorceress. She's a sorceress, but she seems to operate in the way of a druid. She seems totally absent of all the mage's politics, wandering around and healing with plants. That doesn't make her a druid, but it's really not a jump to say she may be affiliated with them.

[@verox4924]

such a curiosity in Croatia there is a river called Jaruga, the town of Maribor and the port city of Novigrad which is the same as in the game

[@danielbroome5690]

I suspect that the lizard races comes from the Conan the Barbarian stories and also that author's own inspirations. Lizards/snakes and their symbolism are ancient and evil symbols in that series.

[@Steel_]

Awesome video! There was a lot I didn't actually know about. 1:29:15 - to add onto this, there's a quest in monster hunter: world, where you, as your hunter, follow the trail of an unfamiliar creature, which leads you to a Nekker and, eventually, Geralt himself. he informs them he fell through a botched portal, and The research division decide to hire Geralt as ANOTHER unknown animal has been terrorizing the local wildlife in one of the zones. You actually play as Geralt (in the dual blade weapon class) and begin hunting it down. Near the end, you find out it was a leshen of all things, fighting the local Wyverns for their territory. A very awesome crossover, and I'd consider it canon.

[@FranklyGaming]

Oh damn this is some great insight thanks! And I appreciate the support a ton ❤️

[@SunsetEnvy]

The games and crossovers aren't really canon lol it's considered fanfiction in Poland (where Witcher comes from) since the games are heavily based on books.

[@Romagi104]

Thronebreaker is such a blast! Please we all have to save the series with purchasing it!

[@FranklyGaming]

Such an underrated rpg for sure, and thanks for watching!

[@jackmary720]

So very underrated. I hope more people get Thronebreaker.

[@redith137]

So after the battle of sodden there is a creation of a group of sorceresses and sorceresses, only. That's called the lodge. In order for this to be true, this would mean that not only would she have to be able to successfully trick geralt who doesn't see her a lot but also trick multiple members of the lodge who know who coral and who triss are and yennifer and tris we're extremely good friends and there's no f****** way that Yen would not have been able to tell the difference between the two of them

[@PolishTortoise]

2:06 confirmation from Pole about Roach: In Polish version it's called "Płotka" which is a species of fish often present in polish lakes. The noun's gender (we have that in polish, just like for example in german grammar der die das *noun*) in polish is female.

[@Agrona33]

Love your Iceberg videos! And I agree, there is so much lore behind the Witcher universe, it's mind boggling! I'm wondering if the Lizard men idea comes from the real life conspiracy theory that most of the people who rule great nations are shapeshifting Lizard People 😂😂😂

[@FranklyGaming]

Exactly what I was thinking lol 😂, and I appreciate all the support!

[@hunternorth8817]

I thought of "LIZZID PEEPLE!" from The Why Files.

[@ConnorLovelace-l8e]

Did anyone else catch the creepy nursery rhyme about Gaunter O'Dimm the kids sing before you meet him at the crossroads

[@One--chance]

I really want to learn it. So I can sing it down dark allyways

[@cardioasthenia]

It’s a voice line in the game about roach, he’s talking to lethos about how his horses name is roach “because every horse is the same”

[@cardioasthenia]

Not a fish lol

[@StariMojE]

One of my fave gaming youtubers "iceberg-ing" one of my fave games, hell yeah. Great video bro

[@FranklyGaming]

Appreciate the support ❤️

[@July-gj1st]

Found your channel recently through the Dragon Age Iceberg video and I love these videos of yours. Somehoy you've managed to do one on every single one of my favourite series lol. I know it's probably too much to ask but I'd love to see your take on the Assassins Creed franchise iceberg, I remember back in the day before all the new entries (I'm talking 1, 2, B, R, and 3) there were some awesome theories. Also maybe GTA? You know the whole thing with the weird drawings in the mountain?

[@FranklyGaming]

Assassins creed or warframe is probably the next one I’ll do! That or Diablo after release if I love it. Thanks for watching!

[@anthonyaddio5628]

I love this franchise. Luckily I had the chance to start with the second game on the old xbox 360.

[@FranklyGaming]

It really does have so much great content, and thanks for watching!

[@alexalexander1772]

Old 360. If I could still run I’d chase you down youngin. Jokes on you though, I get all the close parking spots with my infantry blue parking pass. Old 360. I just recently retired.

[@AndreyAndreev-Narf]

But we actually do know of a surviving Cat school witcher and meet him - Gaetan, of that DLC quest. Also, internal item ids for cat school gear use the word lynx instead, and given how much content we know was cut/recycled, I believe CDPR have had Lynx school plans for a long time.

[@Atlantis1986]

Roach theory is pretty absurd. 1. It is well stated in the books that Geralt gives this name to every one of his horses. There is even one dialogue in "Witcher 3" confirming that. There is no other way, especially taking long lifespan of a witcher into account. 2. "Płotka" is not polish word for fish (that would be "ryba"). "Płotka" is a polish word for particular species of fish, which translates into English as... Well... "Roach". :) Also in Polish this word has a second common meaning - it can be used to describe something small or insignificant, like low level member of an organization. There are elements of "Witcher" lore that are extremely hard to translate or require some knowledge of Polish socio-cultural context to understand. 3. Geralt would have noticed that his current horse has some strange teleportation powers. What we witness here is just another example of ludonarrative disonance. This is common in video games. Sometimes we need to simplify narration to make game more enjoyable, but it leads to paradoxes. My favorite example: protagonist of "Watchdogs" lamenting over one guy who have died because of his actions, after during the game play he killed hundreds of opponents. Yes - developers could have implemented mechanism requiring you to retrieve Płotka from the stable you left her. But that would kill fun. So it is assumed your horse just travels with you and is always around. The same can be said about chest, where Geralt stores his equipment. This is extremely weird that in every chest, everywhere we have exactly the same set of items. But it would be frustrating if you had to remember where you left some sword you currently need. And about Shrek theory: "Witcher" books predate first "Shrek" movie by over a decade. Friendship between Jaskier (in games translated as Dandelion) and Geralt had been introduced pretty early in the books - in the original short stories. Both works simply use the same trope - friendship between men who are polar opposites: a grumpy warrior/loner and slightly silly artist who talks much.

[@Rolasta]

She Who Knows, the mother of the crowns, is an actual creature, her history is told in the Gwent standalone game Also nice video, the way you talked about thronebraker was pure reality, that game deserve mooooooore love!!!

[@FranklyGaming]

Thanks for watching!

[@desiarts9797]

1:13:18 Isn’t this also the symbol that appears when Regis opens the door in Tesham Mutna? It’s also the same symbol on his gloves. Could the symbol be vampire related?

[@Mrludwig886]

Of course, i think is something related to vampires original world, i think the thing in the flame may be somenthing like a tower in their world(?). The fact it is also in cyberpunk can be, because vampires were a thing in cyberpunk before be coming cut content.

[@grottybt5006]

Roach is an English word used in England for a specific type of fish. We possibly have no words of polish origin, it's probably from Norman English "roche" which becomes a bit jarring later on lol

[@Nuka13]

I need the painted picture of Roach on top of the house framed in my home and I didn't know it lol.

[@FranklyGaming]

😂

[@LETSROCKTA]

Damn. I haven’t played any Witcher game yet but this video and the work you put in it made me want to. Awesome work.

[@FranklyGaming]

Really appreciate that! Thanks for supporting my channel

[@deadcard13]

Ciri couldn't have been talking about Night City. She said everyone had a flying ship and we still can't get UAVs in Cyberpunk 2077....unless...... CIRI KNOWS ABOUT THE MODDERS!? 🤯

[@FranklyGaming]

Now we are talking 😂

[@angel8fingers]

She does, she refers to them as “worldshapers”

[@jcburgess2009]

Maybe she IS a modder.... Ciri has RedTools

[@Monarchz_0]

I like how Netflix fucked up all the lore for the conjunction

[@noxturnae]

Ciri is an imposter, Triss is an imposter, Roach is an imposter... Geralt's entire life is a lie...

[@panorzech]

C’mon, Shrek as an inspiration for Witcher?? Are you nuts? First short story about Witcher was written in 1986. That’s 15 years BEFORE the first Shrek film. Whole saga with Dandelion aka Jaskier as a prominent character was written by 1999.

[@FranklyGaming]

That one was just a joke one not sure if you saw the ending haha

[@LuckyOnFleek]

Here’s a wild theory: what if the elves that appeared from a warring world are Dwemer from the elder scrolls series who have vanished from the world during a great battle against the other elves?

[@FranklyGaming]

Tier 5 hahah

[@UltimaSigmarAlonso]

But Dwemer are dwarfs not big elves

[@UltimaSigmarAlonso]

Jub

[@LuckyOnFleek]

@@UltimaSigmarAlonsoI'll just copy this from the fandom. "The Dwemer (also referred to as the Dwarves, Deep-Elves, Deep Folk, Deep Ones, People of the Deep, Deep-Counseled or Secretive People or the under-Elves) were an ancient "Lost Race" of Mer who were remnants of the early Aldmer, and lived primarily in the region of Dwemereth. Mer used the term "Dwemer," roughly translated as "People of the Deep.""

[@ScotCinamon]

Holy hell, there are so many mispronunciations in this video that it's extremely hard not to think about how much this dude actually knows about anything he's saying... i.e. if you had only played the games, you wouldn't be fucking up Tretegor or Aedirn (10:34). There's also many more Witcher schools outside of Kaer Morhen in Kaedwen, which again is rather elementary in the lore. I mean I could go on, but the context of these things in pretty clear... If this guy thinks Witchers are only from Kaedwen, what does that say about the rest of the content presented.

[@RobertMunteanu105]

This level of quality of content blows my mind. Back to gaming for now, but will definitely be back. Many thanks!

[@FranklyGaming]

Thank you very much!

[@JasmonTP]

You keep saying "he", Roach is a "she".

[@EpicSOB_]

The triangle in the oroborus was solved a couple. Months ago, it's related to the cyberpunk 2077 arg and was related to the conclusion of it.

[@brandoncyoung]

The music is so good in the Witcher 3

[@FranklyGaming]

Some really good tracks for sure

[@SobearSobearSobea]

There's also another Shrek/Witcher connection in polish version. In that Roach quest, she's voiced by Wojciech Mann who also voiced Doris in Shrek series.

[@Janinalisi]

Roach isn't a elder demonic being of any sort. She's a unicorn, which in the books also have sphere/ world teleportation abilities. Roach is just masking her horn. ;-)

[@VVen0m]

To specify - Roach is a literal translation, as in Polish she is called "Płotka" (Straight-up just "Roach"), which is feminine

[@averagegamer8665]

its crazy how much we explore the world of the witcher form 1 to 3 only to realize that we just only scratch the surface of the lore and the story of the world itself. it makes geralt like an insignificant character if you look it that way

[@tymondabrowski12]

He kinda is, in a way. When he marches to Nilfgaard with Hanza, they are walking through forests and hear echoes of battles happening around them while they're trying to avoid all the armies. At some point Geralt gets knighthood from Meve (funnily, Geralt of Rivia, because the knights he fought alongside were from Rivia) just because he and his friends wanted to go across the same bridge that the armies fought for. And many characters told him explicitly how insignificant they consider him to be.

[@daevyl]

He's not insignificant. He's just a part of a vast, living world.

[@konradkopec]

You are wrong about the name of the horse. Płotka does not mean Fish in Polish. Plotka is a species of fish. Zero to do with cockroaches.

[@arto4214]

About the tier 4 enigma, the last big Cyberpunk update added a phone in an isolated abandoned house with also an enigma, maybe it's linked, I don't know at what point the guys solving the enigma are now

[@semir9112]

Where did you find the Werepig and Werewhale references? The only known Teriantrops in The Witcher are Werewolves, Werecats, Wererats and Werebears.

[@meteormedia7021]

The "Triss Merigold is actually Lytta Neyd"-conspiracy is actually wrong for so many reasons. I just recently read through all the books again and played through all 3 games and this theory is utter nonsense. Only someone who didn't do their research could come to such a conclusion.

[@yourdude4197]

So this kinda gave me a different perspective into Vesemir and all the more just made me more sad about his death. He was already intending to sacrifice himself for Ciri should the moment arise and he knew they kind of stood no chance against the Wild Hunt since they clearly outnumber you in Kaer Morhen no matter how many NPCs you recruit. Not being able to talk to the Bloody Baron and the Kaer Morhen buddies were the saddest moments of my playthrough especially after playing the main story and being spawned alone inside Kaer Morhen. The music that plays just brings you back to the very first cutscene you have at the game. A strong contrast from the lively Keep with the love of your life, mentor, and buddies right there to the now dark and broken place you once called home.

[@hpcarlos2255]

Been Gaming Since Commodore 64c Days and the Witcher III Pc Gold edition is my favorite all time 🍷

[@KeytarArgonian]

No, Dandelion is nothing like Donkey in Shrek, only in the Godawful Netflix show.

[@felinehermetica]

As far as roach goes, from the books I just got the vibe it was sentimental thing as well as a “it’s easier this way” thing, as if Geralt doesn’t have time to name or remember a new name. Now that I’ve heard it, I’ll like to theorize about what roach is in the future. it just never occured to be to imagine roach as anything except a horse. Maybe just an enchantment? Or it’s a different horse every time, when he whistles it into existence. But roach does show up on the map at times without being called so…🤷🏼‍♀️

[@silkwormchan]

False Ciri is married to Emhyr in the books, that's probably why we don't meet her, as well as most of Nilfgaardian court. Also we tecnically can see her in Gwent and her discription reads: "Here she comes," he thought, "our imperial interest. A mock-princess, a mock-queen for Cintra. A mock-ruler for the mouth of the Yarra, future lifeblood of the empire." So that whole theory is very unlikely, unless the Empress of Nilfgaard disappeared and no one noticed.

[@arbitrary_raspberry]

Where did that false ciri come from? I didnt really understand

[@silkwormchan]

@@arbitrary_raspberrySomeone tried to trick Emhyr into believing she was real Ciri for the reward

[@daevyl]

@@arbitrary_raspberry She was brought to Emhyr to trick him to believe she was Ciri... As far as I remember, Codringher ("an attorney" Geralt approaches to get information about various people) offered Geralt to bring Ciri's doppelganger to Emhyr, if the witcher paid good money for it. Geralt refused, but Codringher did it anyway (I can't remember if it was explained, why).

[@j.w.8664]

Ok I'm currently watching the video so my question may be answered in the vid but, Gaunter O'Dim sounds a lot like Walter O'Dim from Stephen King lore. Also the character acts a lot like the man in black from the Dark Tower

[@sahmuss1164]

The Witcher iceberg is much deeper than this, my friend. Read the books through and through then come back and make a second part to this video - I guarantee that you will have much more context for theory crafting and lore exploration.

[@oberstul1941]

Probably my fav game of all time, played it to death - and I highly enjoyed this deep dive into the crazy theories which most, hate to admit, hold a lot of water. Cheers!

[@FranklyGaming]

Thanks for watching!

[@wafflingmean4477]

Wormhole Conjunction theory has a lot more evidence for it. In the books Ciri literally travels to planet Earth, as in our real world Earth, likely sometime during mid 1300s as Ciri accidentally started the Catriona Plague by returning to the world of the Witcher with an infected flea clinging to her. And I recently read that if you look straight up during the Conjunction scene in Witcher 3, you can see planet Earth (but I couldn't find footage so I'd have to replay to be sure). So most likely wormholes in both canons (meaning humans in the Witcher setting likely came from Earth during the known Conjunction, or perhaps an earlier conjunction. However, a scary thought could be that the world of the Witcher was created by the Conjunction duplicating parts of all the worlds it interacted with, and forming a new one out of those essences smashed together. Kind of a compromise between World-Merging and Wormhole theory. That may mean the vampires will never be able to return to their true home, but only another aberrant combined duplicate, possibly unrecognisable by centuries passing on all involved worlds.

[@SirSpenace]

Holy shit this is probably one of the best lore dives I've ever seen. Tons of stuff even avid players wouldn't catch. Though, plenty of whale fossils are found in deserts contemporarily. It doesn't mean they fell from the sky lol it just means there was once a body of water in that location. Still, though, the bones themselves aren't something I've noticed and it adds to the immersion/world building.

[@RainbowdashLT]

Steeds are just a horse that is being ridden, but it does not refer to gender of the horse You mean either geldings or stallions.

[@GarienAries]

First Płotka is she. Second thing is that Płotka stands for diminutive of "roach" in the meaning in Polish language "fence"which can be reffered to her problems with jumping over the fences

[@jonneyblack4458]

This is definitely one of the best iceberg videos I've seen. It highlights everything I love about the Witcher universe

[@wileyberggren2585]

Your icebergs are sweet man, love the topics that you pick for these videos, any hints at what’s next?

[@FranklyGaming]

Really appreciate the support! Next video is going to be about the most profound questions ever asked in games, next iceberg not sure yet

[@Trumplican]

i dont think Ciri was talking about Cyberpunk. What in Cyberpunk looks like a megascope and kills people from long range? Maybe im missing something idk.

[@FranklyGaming]

I just interpreted it as like a machine gun or something or tesla tower in reality it could technically be any random universe I would say for sure, thanks for watching by the way!

[@Trumplican]

@@FranklyGaming yeah good video thanks for the reply!

[@djclawson]

I don't think false Ciri is mentioned in the games because she's a result of an incest-driven plotline in the books, and the writing team for Project Red wisely decided to skip past all that. Emyhr's love for his daughter in Witcher seems platonic and appropriate, with no hint that he tried to marry her to produce a male baby that would rule the world. He even has a picture of her as a CHILD in his office. This is a way better way to go.

[@tymondabrowski12]

Games also show him kinda whitewashed. In the books it never implied he's in any way a good person after the marriage with Pavetta (at that point he was shown in a sympathetic way, and he saved Ciri's grandfather life). He was responsible for destroying Ciri's life and the war against Northern Kingdom was particularly brutal, leaving scorched earth behind, and that's what we know before we even learn that he killed her mother too and was planning to marry his daughter (note that he was already twice as old as Pavetta when he married her... Calanthe was right to be wary of him).

[@djclawson]

I mean, there's every possibility that he's just a more mature guy later in life. By the end of the books he's matured considerably, realizing that marrying Ciri was a bad idea and approaches his marriage to the false Ciri pretty rationally, laying out the terms to her as clear as he possibly can. He's older, he's not a fighter, and he's spending most of his time as an administrator. Yes, he invades the North, but as we've seen the North is pretty terrible and their kings offer nothing better than Nilfgaard to their people. In fact, if you don't kill Radovid, you get a bad ending, which I thought was wild the first time around. That's why Geralt's so neutral - he knows all of these people are pretty bad and that the systems they represent aren't just. You can make choices for him because it's obvious the choices are pretty equal in terms of morality. It's a nuanced approach I really liked in all of the Witcher games. @@tymondabrowski12

[@brooklynbaby3705]

Gaunters second line is my native tongue which is not medieval but living “modern” Georgian language, third line is Ossetian which is also caucasian language

[@Mrludwig886]

The symbol in the wraith crypt is the same that regis has on his gloves, i’m sure is something related to vampire original world.

[@PaTrick-cf6ev]

Ha! I knew my Roach was brown and now it's grey!!!!

[@zqrahll]

You got some of the Last Wish wrong-- Geralt didn't go to Yennefer for help with the Djinn, he went to her to have her heal Dandelion, who the Djinn had nearly killed (and who Yennefer wrongly believed had control over the Djinn.) And Yennefer then goes on to use mind control on Geralt to force him to attack a number of her enemies, nearly getting him tortured and executed to death, all while she is trying to enslave the Djinn. And considering the situation, the idea that Geralt wanted to have a child with Yennefer is pretty far out there.

[@VamosViverFora]

01:10:10 : I found really strange how a lot of vineyards are in financial trouble. It’s strange (you can see at the Carmelego) the ducal treasure maybe is not big enough to maintain the constantly gold outflow to pay the knights. At the books it’s clear the ducal family is a puppet. They are somehow connected to the imperial family and nobody messes with them. Why? Maybe it’s a agreement between the vampires and the empire. 🤔

[@itisyerdad]

Starting off by calling Roach “he” is a rocky start…

[@FranklyGaming]

I called her a she! I reference he after since I am making the speculation about the demon stuff lol

[@GreyfauxxGaming]

The color Magenta might be important in the aspect that the color itself doesnt really exist. It's just an illusion of sorts.

[@franciszaldivar337]

56:18 Actually the first phrase is Antillean Creole, the second is Georgian, and then Ossetian (an Iranian dialect)

[@Travula87]

In geigax D&D yuan-ti snakelike humanoids and the winged elves are indeed some of the earliest races and are involved in the creation of many other races

[@Tom_Quixote]

Voice actor fail when Roach says "for you-ou-ou"... obviously it was intended to mimic whinnying but the voice actor just says it like it's written. Total fail.

[@Goonie3353]

Thanks for another interesting video :) Not sure if somebody did mention it in comments below, beacuse I didn't red all of them, but I could add a bit of data to the orginis of a nowadays franchise. Original novel of Andrew Sapkowski titled 'the Witcher' was published in 1986 as an entry to contest in probably the biggest Sci-Fi and Fantasy related periodic back then called 'Fantastyka' and it earned 3rd place, but since it was highly appreciated by fans the author have created further stories related to this universe. Here is one thing worth mention - the problem with maps and world itself in Witcher was partially caused by Andrew Sapkowski himself, he didn't bother to much in creating it, he just need it for purpose of stories so some places overlaps in books or are placed elsewhere and we don't know how Zeraikania (as landmass) looks like on maps ;) Than after short stories collections ('The Witcher', 'Sword of Destiny' and 'The Last Wish') came the Saga composed from 5 novels published between 1994 and 1999. Then came an interesting event related to the franchise, in 2001 was published a movie (a month before Peter Jackson's first part of of LOTR adaptation) it was made entirely in Poland and apart from SFX controversy (quality was close to Heroes III era animations and consumed majority of the budget), whole script consists from highly compressed plot threads of above mentioned stories and honestly it was purely terrible in comparison to original stories and as I remember there were also rumors that script writer wanted to stay anonymous. A year later from the whole catastrophy of movie a TV series has emerged, it was sharing similar footage but has way less compressed plot and was just better than the movie (but in my opinion it was still derived from humor). Fun fact is that the person who was playing Geralt in both movie and tv series from that time is a voice actor for Johnny Silverhand in polish version of CP2077 ;) Since I mentioned a game lets move to CD Projekt Red that came to live in 2002, as a subcompany of 'CD Projekt' which was known from creating first professional translations of games to polish language (still got that battered box release of 'Baldurs Gate' with 'Tales from the Sword Coast expansion' and few other titles ;) ). Since they have good contacts and flow with Bioware they managed to obtain Aurora engine and a licence to game version of 'the Witcher' series and thank's to the success of first two games (at least locally) Witcher has became something more than just the local franchise. Then arise another controversy related to copyrights - in short Andrew Sapkowski originally sold the rights to CDPR for laughably low amount of money (it could be sth. around few thousands of $) because he didn't like the computer games and gamers (to be honest I need to mention that this is consistent behavior of older generation of people in Poland - those born and raised in communism, for majority of them games are considered as an addiction and waste of time and life). So he fought that the idea of creating game based on his books would be doomed to failure from the beginning and when it turned out that CDPR earned huge ammount of money, well in short version things go to the court and has been realtively recently finally resolved. Ok I've produced huge wall of text so let me finished it by saying that from the 'Witcher III' onward history of franchise is probably well know ... :)

[@ImperialGit]

I'm hoping for a grand strategy game set on the Continent, that allows you to command battles on the tactical level. And no, not developed by the charlatans that have highjacked Total War and Paradox.

[@MaxMerciful]

Well it isnt 1st april kerbal, nor dragon age iceberg 2. But i love it! You doing it so ellegant and artistic, like true top price director. Kodzima of icebergs!

[@FranklyGaming]

Thanks for all the support!

[@CretinH]

Computers could exist very soon considering we see a very computer like defense system in The Tower Outta Nowheres

[@JerryBlaze7]

Guanter is the Witcher Universe's version of "The Outsider" from the dishonored series. change my mind' lol

[@satoramaciej]

White frost is explained in books. Half of your speculations will be answered to you after reading them mate

[@FranklyGaming]

Ya I did a lot of research it’s much different than the books though it’s almost a completely different thing, even cdpr has come out and said as much

[@Bubba1025]

That shrek shit had me actually cackling like a madman 😂

[@bpooboi]

Netflix really really really fucked it all up. It was sad. So sad

[@timbuckley321]

You keep using male pronouns for Roach, who you've acknowledged as female. funny

[@FranklyGaming]

😂

[@fizyk1769]

In Polish it's not really Fish as the horse name. Płotka is the very specific species of fish and actually is feminine kind :)

[@agentoy6065]

that tower is related to cyberpunks "purple" easter egg

[@finnish_hunter]

"Objectively worse versions of dogs" Yeah at least cats don't bark at strangers and shit all over our lawns.

[@FranklyGaming]

I stand corrected haha

[@finnish_hunter]

@@FranklyGaming :D

[@kelsiel6147]

The Roach one is interesting, because in the french version of the books, and games, Roach carries the name of a small fish that is very common in europe. I guess the english translation is just weird.

[@kurzackd]

This really is *NOT* an "iceberg" ... It's just an informative video for people who are either brand new to the Witcher Lore, or -- completely unfamiliar with it. Tons of "info" here that's either: 1) already beaten-to-death, 2) useless or 3) downright *misleading* . Like for example drawing on the "connection" between Shrek and The Witcher at 6:40 -- DUDE... you *DO* know that *The Witcher books predate* Shrek by at least *A DECADE* , right? ~_~ Really *a LOT of missed opportunities here...* Like, for example: 1) Dandelion potentially being an otherworldly / magical / non-human being. 2) Sorceresses and Mages being in cahoots with heads of Witcher schools, by intentionally spawning Monsters into the world so that Witchers would *ALWAYS* have jobs. 3) Gaunter o"Dimm secretly helping Geralt throughout the entire game, even before Hearts of Stone. etc. tsk-tsk... :/

[@FranklyGaming]

Ya that’s why at the start I say it’s my own “iceberg” and put it in quotes, shrek was a joke not sure if you watched the whole thing lol? And I mentioned both the other two? I really appreciate the feedback but can’t tell if you are trolling haha?

[@kurzackd]

@@FranklyGaming oh, I thought that when you said you were kidding about Shrek, you were only referring to that last part about its fan club being caught in acts of cannibalism. Guess you mean you were kidding about the WHOLE Shrek thing then? In that case.. well.. ok! :O Regarding that *"And I mentioned both the other two?"* ... Hm.... where? :O .

[@vincentsavoretti2201]

Calm the fuck down and make your own, then

[@Sgt-Wolf]

1:29:50 Don't forget geralt being in soul calibur 6.

[@deijigates4664]

1:06:25 no. that is flatout wrong. Not EVERY witcher from the cat school had been kiled. Afterall you find that one who slaughtered that Village and JAD KARADIN. The one from Lamberts personal quest. Oh and what about Aiden? Also from the cat school. For everyone who doesn't know. Aiden was a cat school witcher who travelled with Lambert until about a year before the witcher 3 happens. And he was killed in an assassination by Jad Karadin, who is ALSO a cat school witcher. And lamberts personal quest is basically killing jad karadin as revenge to the fallen comrade.

[@syrku3842]

Płotka (Roach in Orginal vesrion) mean a popular fish and also a not important person

[@beelow84]

Nearly 1000 hours, never seen or even heard of the Roach talking quest. This game man.

[@DarthKhai1991]

19:30 as far as I know it’s most likely a reference to Dragonborns from D&D since lord of the rings doesn’t have any creatures like that.

[@euanlithgow7558]

Possibly roache is a tribute to Franz Kafka. In the Kafka novel ‘Metamorphosis’, the main character suddenly changes into a beetle (a roach??). So roache could once have been a mage hence the teleporting or some other spirit.

[@daevyl]

It's a common roach, not a cockroach.

[@davidgutierrez7268]

15:53 not a boy, his brother, and for getting his clan's sword

[@bilmecebildirmece23]

If I remember correctly the lines mentioned on 1:15:03 are also see in the cave of unseen elder

[@svenlauke1190]

The word roach is not just derived from a polish word for fish. it's a type of fish. and roach is just the English name for that fish. "The roach, or rutilus roach (Rutilus rutilus), also known as the common roach, is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the family Cyprinidae, native to most of Europe and western Asia."