Should I save the tree spirit Witcher 3?

Walkthrough

The Whispering Hillock is a main quest in Velen.

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Walkthrough
choices and consequences
Up Next: Ciri's Story: Fleeing the Bog
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What happens if you save the tree Witcher 3?
Is the tree spirit evil Witcher 3?
Should I trust The Whispering Hillock?
What happens if you free the tree spirit before the quest?

The quest is embedded within “Ladies of the Wood”. The quest can also be done before the event of “Ladies of the Wood” if you so happen to discover the tree first. It involves an evil spirit inside a tree (which might not be so evil after all depending on your point of view). Go inside the cave and dive beneath the roots. Pop back up and walk deeper into the cave. The source of the voice is revealed as a creepy tree spirit. You may either trust the spirit and free it or kill it. If you choose to free it, two possible scenarios will play out.

The backstory to this quest relating to the Whispering Hillock and the Crones can be read in the in-game book "Ladies of The Wood".

choices and consequences

Saving the Tree Spirit- If you want to save the tree, you’ll need a woman’s remains, a raven’s feather, and a black wild horse. It may sound like a lot but you already have a raven feather from the nest with Johnny, and both the woman's remains and the horse is easy to find. Just leave the cave and follow your marker to find the woman's remains. From there, follow the marker to an open field where you will encounter a pack of wild horses. Slowly approach them and use the Axii sign to tame one of the horses. Ride the horse back to the tree spirit to free the spirit.

If you do this AFTER starting the main quest “Ladies of the Wood”, the tree will free the children at Crookback Bog, which will upset the Crones and spell danger for Gran.

If you do this BEFORE starting “Ladies of the Wood”, the tree will not have made the promise of saving the children. But the tree spirit will be freed and Gran WON'T be in danger. Regardless, the tree will exact revenge on the village of Downwarren.
Note: If this quest is done AFTER starting “Ladies of the Wood” it will have a negative impact when it comes to finding Anna, the Bloody Baron's wife. If the quest is done BEFORE “Ladies of the Wood” Anna won't be in the same kind of danger.

Killing the Tree Spirit- If you choose to kill the tree, the tree will put up a shield and summon three endreagas that attack. Kill the giant bugs and then wail on the tree spirit. It will put its defence back up. Repeat one more time to kill the tree spirit. The Crones will be satisfied, which is good for Gran and the village of Downwarren, but not for the children.
Note: This decision will affect the outcome when it comes to finding the Bloody Baron's wife, Anna, in a positive way.

Your choice on this quest will have an impact in the side quest “Return to Crookback Bog" which will determine the fate of Baron and his wife, the orphans of Crookback Bog, and the nearby village of Downwarren. With this quest done, you may continue with "Ladies of the Wood."

PS: If you want to save both Gran (and in turn the Bloody Baron) and the Whispering Hillock, you must do this quest first before starting the quest “Ladies of the Wood”.

Up Next: Ciri's Story: Fleeing the Bog

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The thing is... it really doesn't matter.

It doesn't effect end game, any of the characters that really matter to Geralt, or the world very much. I mean if you let the tree spirit go than later you will find wraiths in Downwarren (sp?), which I though was a clever touch actually. But ultimately, it makes no difference.

The villagers and children are barely characters, they have couple lines of dialogue here and there, but they are all disposable characters. From a story perspective, who cares if they live or die?

If you want to think of them as "real" people then choosing between them also isn't rewarding because you're just choosing between these dead people or those dead people.

But as others have pointed out, that's not how this is supposed to work anyway. Like if you let the tree monster go, it is supposed to be a surprise that villagers, Baron and Anna are killed.

This is the game presenting an illusion of choice, which I can't decide is brilliant or stupid, really.

On my current playthrough, knowing all the consequences because I played it before, I feed the tree monster, just because I like getting a black horse, seeing that cool red-eye horse monster animation, and pissing off the Crones.

What happens if you save the tree Witcher 3?

If you agree to free the tree spirit, she will agree to help you and will save the orphans, but she will destroy the village (and the villagers) nearby. If you refuse to free her and kill her instead, the village will remain intact and the villagers will live, but the orphans will die.

Is the tree spirit evil Witcher 3?

The spirit tells you that it wants vengeance. You are assuming the tree spirit stopped with the village. It is an evil spirit that has been set free, the mother of the crone's, crone's who are evil and eat children, and the crone's felt their mother was more evil than themselves.

Should I trust The Whispering Hillock?

The Whispering Hillock is pretty much our last required stop for this visit to Velen; it will wrap up Family Matters as well as the entire Velen sequence of the In Ciri's Footsteps quest. Don't worry though, finishing it won't close any leads or activities.

What happens if you free the tree spirit before the quest?

Freeing the tree spirit before you get the quest from the crones, just means the trigger that tells the crones you freed the spirit isn't set. & so instead of cursing Anna (which is certain death) she goes insane for good. (just as she would if you killed the tree spirit.)