Throughout The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you'll have to make a few tough decisions. Some of them influence the fate of the witcher Geralt, some of them influence the people around him, and some can turn the tides of war, ensuring the side you choose can win the deadly political battles.
Most of these decisions are made through dialogue choices, but the results and consequences of them are not always apparent or obvious. The fallout and impact of what Geralt does and says have wide-reaching impact, so you'll have to make sure you're choosing the right things to say so you get the endings you want for each character — and the world.
10 Kill or Spare Whoreson Jr.
While Geralt is navigating the criminal underworld of Novigrad, he'll meet several shady characters. Without question, the worst of them is Whoreson Junior, gang leader of The Cutups. Once Geralt enters his home in Oxenfurt, it's apparent that he's a sick man.
The bodies of women can be seen mutilated, tortured, and defiled in a number of ways. More personally to Geralt, Whoreson Junior's actions led to Ciri becoming injured. You'll be presented with the choice to kill or spare the terrible man. Regardless of what you choose, you won't hear from him again and the quest will continue the same way.
9 Romance Yennefer or Triss
Geralt has a wide variety of romance options in The Witcher series, but the main two in The Witcher 3 are Triss Merigold of Maribor and Yennefer of Vengeberg. Several quests offer certain decisions that will influence which sorceress the witcher ends up with at the end.
If you choose Triss, you'll retire to Kovir, where Geralt will take on an occasional witcher contract while Triss works as an advisor to the king. If you choose Yennefer, the two will retire far from adventure and political struggles. If you try to romance both of them, they'll simultaneously abandon you and Geralt will wind up all alone.
8 The Next Ruler of Skellige
Skellige, while removed from the politics and war of the continent, is a region with its own political strife. Bran of Clan Tuirseach has just died, and Skellige is looking to elect its new leader, with a few candidates in the running. Geralt can help influence who wins, by helping either Cerys an Craite or her brother Hjalmar following an attack on the candidates.
If Cerys is chosen, the murderer will be found, and she'll focus on the economic prosperity of the island, and peace between the clans. If Hjalmar wins, the murderer is not found, and he raids Nilfgaard constantly and his people suffer heavy losses. If neither is chosen, Svanridge an Tuirseach becomes king, and he kills many people while inserting a new hereditary monarchy on the archipelago.
7 Triss' Torture
Back in Novigrad, you'll have another hard decision to make. This one will take place while you are hunting for Dandelion, who seems to be locked in the Church of Eternal Fire's prisons. Caleb Menge, commander of the Temple Guard, will be the next person to talk to.
Depending on how you act and what you decide to say, you can either allow Triss to be tortured by the witch hunters or engage in a large, difficult fight. Either way, Menge will be killed and you'll learn Dandelion's location. It's up to you if you want to take the hard route, or let Triss be tortured.
6 Letting Kiera Go
While looking for Ciri in Velen, Geralt will run into his old friend Keira Metz. She'll help the witcher find what happened to Ciri before he decides he needs to head to Novigrad. But, if you stick around, you can help Kiera with some favors.
One of these involves heading to the terrifying Fyke Isle to retrieve notes from a tower. But, it is revealed that Keira lied to you. From here, you have a few choices. You can duel her and ultimately kill her, send her to Radovid, where she'll be killed, or send her to Kaer Morhen, where she'll help fight the Wild Hunt at the end of the game.
5 Sarah the Godling
While in Novigard, Geralt learns of a rich banker who is having issues with a house he just bought, insisting it's haunted. Upon investigation, Geralt will find Corrinne Tilly, a local Oneiromancer, suffering from something mysterious. He eventually learns it is a Godling, an ancient creature, named Sarah.
Geralt can either help Sarah, and she'll stop giving Corrinne nightmares, leading to them becoming roommates and friends, while the banker gives up on the home. If he drives the Godling out, she'll move to Bald Mountain and become friends with another Godling named Johnny, who helps Geralt during his time in Crookback Bog.
4 Assassinating Radovid
There's a war going on in the Witcher 3 between Nilfgaard and Redania. The latter is led by a King many consider mad, Radovid V. There are several moments during a few different quests that will influence the outcome of the war and the leaders of both sides.
One of these is the decision to assassinate Radovid. If Geralt decides to kill the king, he will then be presented with another decision: to kill or spare Djikstra. What he decides here will determine whether Redania wins, led by Djikstra, or if Nilfgaard wins. If he does not assassinate Radovid, Redania will win the war.
3 The Ghost in the Tree
Do you want to sacrifice a group of orphans to be (probably) eaten by some ancient witches, or do you want to cause the genocide of a local village? This is the insanely tough choice presented to you in the quest The Whispering Hillock.
During this quest, Geralt must decide the fate of a mysterious spirit inhabiting a tree, which has some relation to the village of Downwarren and the Crones of Crookback Bog. If Geralt kills the spirit, the orphans die, but the village is saved. If he lets the spirit go free, the orphans live but it massacres the village. Even after finishing this quest and making a decision, it's still not fully clear who or what the spirit is.
2 The Baron and the Crones
As part of the same quest, The Whispering Hillock, Geralt frees the aforementioned spirit. But, the consequences of this decision are so far-reaching, they impact other parts of the world as well. This spirit's fate is not just tied to the orphans and the village of Downwarren, but to the Baron and his wife, Anna's destinies as well.
If Geralt kills the spirit and the orphans die, Anna loses her mind over the loss of the children. Her husband, the Baron, will whisk her away to some far off land to seek mental health help. If the spirit is freed and saves the orphan, the crones punish Anna by turning her into a hag. Once the curse is lifted, the player learns it was keeping Anna alive and she dies. The Baron kills himself as a result. It's some heavy stuff, so choose wisely.
1 Ciri
The choice you make regarding Ciri's fate will ultimately determine the ending of the game, and might constitute the biggest set of decisions you have to make. These quests, specifically Blood on the Battlefield, Father's Day, Final Preparations, and Child of the Elder Blood. The decisions you make here will determine if you get one of two good endings or a bad one.
The three outcomes to these decisions are as follows: Ciri becomes Empress of Nilfgaard, Ciri becomes a free witcher, or Ciri disappears and is presumed dead. There's a long series of decisions to make to sway Ciri's fate, so make sure you do your research before you set out on saving her.