All things related to The Witcher - books, games, TV... You name it. The Witcher is a critically acclaimed fantasy book series created by Andrzej Sapkowski. The series follows Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter in a universe where people often prove more wicked than beasts. Though originally written in Polish, the franchise gathered a large international following from likewise acclaimed game adaptions by CD Projekt. The books now translated into a dozen languages have also been adapted for TV.
Help or leave Olgierd? (Spoilers for HOS)
Discussion
At the end of hearts of stone do you choose to save Olgierd or let Gaunter take his soul? Please provide reasoning behind your choice I’m interested to here different peoples reasonings. Personally I prefer to help Olgierd as I simply see him as the lesser evil when compared to gaunter but it really depends how I feel on any particular play-through
Sort by:
Best
Open comment sort options
Best
Top
New
Controversial
Old
Q&A
![r/adventofcode - [2023] Premature optimization is a slow and insidious killer](https://a.thumbs.redditmedia.com/XC3dR4OL3_XnKgnLkyznxOAgMC9i1lIfuv3J_WQdAp8.jpg)
I help olgierd first. But second playthrough i discovered that u get to choose reward from ODim if you don't so yea i did both. Story wise.. Idk is saving Olgierd is good ending he was bad man after all, its just a slighty lesser evil again
I mean in the paintimg mission it was impliead that he went mad due to o'dimm s contract wish bs
Well you know what they say “Careful what you wish for”
I only saved Olgierd because to make geralt even more badass . Beating the wild hunt, the devil , and vampires . Dude got a insane resume
Very few people in the history of humanity across all timeliness deserve to have their soul tortured for eternity. To let O' Dim do that to him and not stop it is just vile. ( i mean if this situation was real, not in game.)
Olgierd isn't evil. Once the stone around his heart melts, you can tell he will feel shame and guilt and sadness for the rest of his life over what he did to his wife and the life he has lead. He gives you his sword, he leaves behind his ridiculous crew, and takes ownership of what he had done. He's not evil. Compare him to Gaunter or Whoreson Junior and see if he scales.
Olgiered is a human being. He was deeply in love, made decisions out of pain and emotion and watched as his world fell around him. He didn't realize it until 4 minutes before Gaunter came to collect his soul. No, I'd never let him die like that.
I actually hung up their photo in Corvo Bianco because both of them had such an impact on me the first time I played the game. Wished them both nothing but the best. This life and the other.
This. He's tragic, not evil, my friend told me he'd sided with O'Dimm and I couldn't understand it, assumed he hadn't paid enough attention.
Olgierd was also a raider that pillaged, killed, raped and burned far before he even met Iris. He also sacrificed the life of his brother for things as « trivial » as eternal life and wealth (even if it was out of love). He was most definitely an evil bastard without the need for O’dimm’s intervention, if what Vlodomir says is to be believed he was even close to Woreson’s level.
Does that mean he does not deserve a chance at redemption ? Of course not. But I wouldn’t say letting him reap the consequences of his actions would be a vile choice, even in real life. It’s kind and heroic to let him leave, but it’s not bad to refuse to intervene, especially when defying O’dimm could cause repercussion not just on you but on those you care about (Iris and Vlodomir are examples).
I dont know. I do see what youre saying though. But, his company was primarily raiding in the name of Redania as a part of the army. That's when it formed. And Vlodomir is a chronic exaggerator and storyteller, so you can't really rely on his narrative of things.
Now, like you said, he did continue to raid after he left the army, but from when this was vs. meeting Iris vs. contacting O Dimm vs losing his estate is anyone's guess. Nor do we know the extent that Olgierd raided. It's just hearsay, and legend rarely matches the truth, even in the Witcher.
What I do know is that if he were actually evil, he would've said to Geralt, "Thanks. Now, back to my plundering". He's a changed man.
So, you're probably not wrong about him. He was a bastard, but now he's aware enough of all that has happened and seems to be on a path of redemption and guilt. Which is why its such a vile thing to let him die to a monster. To me, he's more human and less "evil" than Gaunter (who steals souls) and Whoreson (who tortures, rapes and kills women). But an evil act is an evil act.
I personally think that, after all he's been through. Olgierd doesn't deserve his fate. He's not completely innocent but Gaunter is the real villain here (he's evil incarnate after all). So I saved him and it didn't feel forced to me; I see Geralt as someone who would always try to do the right thing, even if this can easily make things worse. Also, the 'bad' ending is too anti-climatic for my taste.
His Remorse makes it better for sure
"Now at least I sense how much I've lost. I've a heart again, yet all it feels is grief, sadness and defeat." One of my favourite lines
I let Gaunter have him and since I was already fucking rich, I wanted nothing from Master Mirror either.
I help O'Dimm.
My reasoning is this:
Playing games with a being as powerful as O'Dimm, where the stake is my soul, for the sake of a piece of shit like Olgierd just doesn't make sense. Why in the world would I ever take that risk? For a scumbag that got me into this mess in the first place, and who, even if you disregard O'Dimm's influence, was never a particularly great guy to begin with.
Greater or lesser evil argument doesn't come into it. You can't "defeat" O'Dimm, you can just beat him at his game and effectively annoy him.
2) We have a deal. O'Dimm saved my life, or at the very least saved me an absolute shitton of trouble. Not selflessly of course, but that doesn't matter, he didn't have to do it.
I 100% agree with everything you’ve said.
I still play the riddle though because it’s just a way cool section to play and you only get the chance going against GOD and seeing a small part of the beast that truly is shine through as it applauds and congratulates you in ancient Latin while he fades away defeated. Freaking cool cinematic. Afterward I wish I could just kill Olgierd for dragging me into this mess.
It’s apparently Georgian, not latin
Word? That’s cool to know. Still sounds creepy as hell
Bad reasoning, Gaunter O’Dimm is objectively more evil than Olgierd. And has likely sewn much more evil for much longer a time for many more people than Olgierd has. Olgierd is also arguably capable of redemption. A being of pure evil such as O’Dimm is not.
You miss my point entirely.
Of course O'Dimm is "more evil", I never argued that he wasn't. As I've said, it is not about who is more evil, or anyone's redemption.
It's pretty much nothing personal when it comes to siding with O'Dimm. I don't do it because I think Olgierd deserves to die, I do it because going against O'Dimm is about the stupidest thing you can do. And again, for the sake of what? Someone else's redemption? I don't owe Olgierd shit. I certainly don't owe him my life.
Not to mention siding with Olgierd and beating O'Dimm doesn't destroy O'Dimm, so you don't rid the world of an "evil" by besting O'Dimm at a game of his own making. But that's just a sidenote, and wouldn't matter for the decision, since it's information you get after making the decision.
In a world of Witcher, this is a the most witcher script there is
You did complete the deal with O'Dimm, then you made a new one if you choose to save Olgried.
First run through i let him die to get the capricious sadle from odim (best sadle in the game), then on ng+ i help him to get iris and the viper sword.
This is the way
What’s the actual use for the saddle though? When do you actually use up all that stamina?
The stamina is cool but the best part is the saddle gives Roach the ability to stun one of your opponents so if you run into a group of bandits he helps you out in a fight. And he gets these crazy demon eyes which looks cool as shit.
I helped so I could complete the Viper School set, but like the old scholar said “he gives you exactly what you ask for, not what you want”. He made a deal with a demon for wealth and power, so I can’t quite be too moved to stop the piper from collecting payment
I feel like the (seemingly) overwhelming majority who view Olgierd as utterly irredeemable haven’t lived enough. Help the guy. He may yet go on to do some good in the time Geralt buys him.
The curse has lifted. You are free now.
Dude used to raid villages, not even for need but just because he found them fun.
In a time where one bad harvest caused many to die. Who knows how many he’s killed both directly and indirectly just for fun.
No matter how much of a bastard Olgierd was, I do believe he is capable of some kind of redemption. And even if I changed my mind, no one deserves to be whisked off by something like O'Dimm. At the very worst I'd free him from O'Dimm and then kill him myself.
Kill him, he deserved it.
Killed his own brother for a pact with basically the devil, cursed and then had an ofieri prince killed, ruined his wife.
Olgierd is a motherfucker. Yeah, ODimm is evil, but he's not a human He's a phenomena, a thing, a god maybe... You know. He deals. But Olgierd is a bastard.
Who could Gaunter O Dimm be ?
Lol! Ive never realised! Nice.
ohhhh i never put this together!
I agree on everything except the last part. Iris knew what she was getting into. She was the one who suggested the standing on the moon bit. If she had cut ties with her family she could have married Olgierd. They would have been poor but they'd have each other and Vlod. Because of her reluctance and trying to outsmart O'Dim, she lost her family in the end anyway and her lover abandoned her. Her fate is sad but I think she did have agency in its outcome.
That is true, she has faults too
Gaunter is the evil incarnate and are destroying lives for centuries, Geralt has the need to purge the evil and since you have a way to banish Gaunter I am certain book Geralt would try to help Olgierd.
I think Olgierd is one of the best characters in fiction, the way he is written is very human. He made a ton of shit after getting a heart of stone but he was desperate of losing Iris which made he do bad choices.
In the end he didn't lose his soul to Mirror but he lose everything he loved, at least in my playthrough.
I’m going through the DLC now and trying to decide what to do, and I’ve read all the comments here, and this is the one that convinced me helping Olgierd is the “correct” decision. It’s as simple as, Gaunter is a monster and Geralt kills evil monsters. Thanks dude.
Iris love Olgierd too much so I must save him.
Ironically enough, I find olgierd as a very relatable character and I have 2 exes named "Iris" - still waiting for the third I guess
Olgierd is honestly one of my favorite characters in the Witcher. I see him as a man ambitious enough to do whatever it takes to solve his problems - which turned cold because of external intervention.
If you choose to save him, the short dialog with him in the end proves that he is capable of redeeming himself
I left him for the saddle, that and what he did to his wife.
I help Olgierd. I’m not going to lie, I like Olgierd, but Gaunter also pisses me off on a level that I can’t really explain. It’s been a minute since I’ve played HoS so I can’t point specifically where but every time I see him I’m like “oh great it’s this asshole again.”
Do I save Olgierd out of spite? Yes, sort of. But also because I think he was fucked out of a good future through his own stupid mistakes and it’s not my job to decide and dole out punishment like that.
I help Olgierd because O’Dimm is obviously PURE evil, whereas Olgierd is more lawful evil.
Don’t get me wrong, Von Everrec is a nasty man, but after seeing how he tortured that scholar to stay in that circle blinded, it solidified my resolve against the devil.
I help Ogy so I can complete the Viper set for my Corvo Bianco.
On the other hand leaving him to Mirror would let me have a spooky looking roach.. but I prefer a normal looking mare.
Plus I gave Master Mirror an entertainment in his game.
A spooky-looking Roach?? Wdym?
One of the rewards Gaunter offers you is a saddle which makes Roach look spooky
Ohhhh wow. This game is never ending with new surprises. I haven’t done a full playthrough of the game&DLCs since 2017 and I saved Olgierd that time around.. thanks for the explanation!
I helped Olgierd in my first playthrough, but I really like the reward where he guides you to get the good ending in the main quest.
You fight O'Dimm you can get the last piece of Viper gear.
I'm a suckered for Sabres sooooo....
I just let him die for the sweet demon horse saddle then save him on NG+
I tried both and now always choose to help olgierd bc I like the following mission.
I would side with o'dimm but i want that sword
i am quite surprised to see so many people hate olgierd (even more than gaunter o'dimm - the evil incarnate) .. personally, some of the things olgierd said really caught me. he may not be all good but not all bad either.
Well, we are told he is 'evil incarnate', but not all of the things he does in HoS are necessarily 'evil'. He helps Geralt (yes, this is also motivated by him needing a proxy), and gives him advice that is not altogether bad. From the fact that, in Blood and Wine, he punishes Marlene when she refuses to share her food with him it is also apparent that he has a sense of morality, although the punishment he doles out is extremely harsh. All in all, he is reminiscent of some of the more complex depictions of the devil (e.g. Book of Job, Milton's Paradise Lost).
Explain the spoon in the eye of a man who simply interrupted him or torturing a man who simply found out more info about him than he wished. O'Dimm sucks as much flaccid cock as Radovid, both evil fucks.
I did not say Gaunter was not evil; I said not all of the things he does are necessarily evil. Olgierd is a murderous bandit who causes his brother's death and tortures others (the 'frog prince', the man in the barrel, even Iris by condemning her to a life of loneliness on their estate). Olgierd is also indirectly responsible for all of the deaths caused by the frog in the sewers. I see no reason to save him, especially not since (a) attempting to do so may cause Geralt's own death and, thus, that of Ciri (if you have not yet completed the MQ) and (b) it is clear Gaunter cannot be banished permanently.
Does he deserve death? Perhaps. Punishment, at the very least. But his soul? For a lifestyle that Gaunter established? Geralt would help. It's by far the lesser evil.
This is my, uh... dear friend.
Help of course, demon shouldn't receive any human souls
I helped Oglierd. Based on his backstory, he was always kind of a bad person being a delinquent for fun but he was never truly irredeemable.
The worst thing he seemed to do is cast the curse on the oferi prince and even then olgierd admits he didn't even really mean for that to happen. And him even making his deal with O'Dimm is based on the fact that he didn't know O'Dimm was the Witcher equivalent of Satan. He was just desperate to keep Iris after his entire life had already gone to shit with the Borsodi's stealing his home and farm after a repeated bad crops. And once he made his pact but realized what it cost him, Olgierd tried desperately to back out but O'Dimm didn't even care
Olgierd may not be a 100% angel or even be as good of a guy naturally as Geralt but he doesn't deserve to have his soul taken and eternally tortured by Satan
I tend to help him, I usually play Geralt as a frequently interfering bleeding heart, and while Olgierd's a bad person, I don't think he deserves what Gaunter will do, while Gaunter himself needs to be put down a peg, if only briefly.
I can see refusing to help Olgierd if you're roleplaying as Geralt, because it's a massive risk and it isn't as if Olgierd is Geralt's friend or anything, but man I've only left Olgierd on one playthrough just to try it and felt so bad.
He knew what he signed for and had to fulfill his part of the deal.
I helped O'dim. Like, I'm not pissing of witcher's version of devil for Olgierd, who was gigantic asshole even before his heart become stone
First playthrough, side with O'Dimm to receive a special item. Second Playthrough side with Olgierd to have a chance at receiving a witcher sword.
Well I have two thoughts before I choose number 1 what sword do I have? If I need iris easy choice. Number 2 if I have a better sword then do I need anything from odimm(usually I use infinite horse stamina so no need for the saddle and I'm already rich so no money) and do I feel like going to the mirror world to get the viper sword diagram (before I modded the diagram into another place). If I don't feel like doing that level then olgeird dies.
Story wise why the fuck would you risk pissing of the most powerful being in the universe? Especially for a piece of shit like olgeird. Gaunter could wipe out everyone geralt has ever met including vilgefortz and Regis with no effort so what does geralt gain from pissing him off? Usually Geralt will defend the innocent but olgeird isn't innocent
I give him to O'Dimm. For free.
Its Help GOD for me.
Olgierd made a deal. He did not specify certain aspects and tried to weasel his way out of it. He clued Iris in and both of them came up with the "standing on the moon" clause in order to get away without fulfilling their end of the bargain. Instead, they were effectively reverse-UNO'd by Gaunter and paid the price. The way I view Gaunter is as a mirror, which reflects who you are back at you, not as the devil or evil incarnate.
Olgierd is a greedy, deceitful and selfish person, and his wish reflected that. And Iris is not an innocent victim here either. She was not willing to do the one thing that would have prevented all this misery and death: cut ties with her family and simply elope with Olgierd. Instead she went for the option with at least 2 bodies (Vlod and the toad Prince), only to end up abandoned by her lover and her family dead. This is one if these "make your bed now lie in it" scenarios. Both were greedy, grabbed the hand when they were given a finger and got what was coming for them.
But the main reason I am not willing to stake my life for Olgierds, is that he willingly sacrificed his brother, Vlodomir, for greed. It doesnt matter if Vlod was a good or bad guy, he was the most important person to Olgierd, who stood by him and supported him. Olgierd does not deserve to come out of this with a new chance at life at my risk.
I’ll be completely honest. I helped him, killed O’Dimm and then researched what I’d get from O’Dimm had I sided with them, ultimately using the command console to get that.
I did help him due to his backstory and it is hard so he deserved redemption :)
Please remember to flair your post and tag spoilers or NSFW content.
Thanks!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
First play through I let him die so I can get the saddle then with new game plus I save him so I can get the viper set
For the swords I help him. Even though I hate him :)
I always save Olgierd because I find him to be very charming and I really like getting one over on an ancient, all powerful being like Gaunter O'Dimm.
Help Olgierd, gotta get the Viper venomous silver sword somehow. Also it's fun to mess with Gaunter, beating him at his own game.
My gut call is always to save him.
I leave him because the rewards from Gaunter (with the exception of gold) are significantly better than Iris/Viper sword.
I always leave Olgierd to his fate and take the saddle as the reward on my first run through. Then on new game plus I always save him to get his sweet sword. The saddle is the best in the game period but the sword only last for so long before being replaced in Blood & Wine with a better one.
I've done all the things and I've come to the conclusion that not helping is the best outcome. Not because it's right or anything, but because I found helping him to be less engaging than the rest of the storyline and not doing so is rewarding enough. I didn't like the man but that is just a statement about how brilliantly he was written.
I help Olgierd cause he’s cool and I love the Viper set, but realistically I think Geralt would stay out of it and let Gaunter kill Olgierd
She's a girl. All you'll do is poison her.
Up to you, I normally let Guanter O'Dimm take his soul, the first time around, so I can get the reward, usually the saddle reward, the 2nd time in New Game Plus I save him. Maybe I'll just save him from now on, you can get almost as good saddles for roach in Toussant now.
Help Olgierd
7 playthroughs and always saved him. Iris > any Odimm reward, even if Iris is just going to be Corvo Bianco Decoration
Oh and also Viper sword
I saved him this playthrough. I feel like he’s suffered enough, and at least this way he will die eventually. If you let oDimm take his soul he will be tortured for eternity. I feel he has learned his lesson and ultimately turns his life on to a new path.
I also give him respect at corvo bianco because of the impact he made and hang his picture up.
Just did the quest last night and saved Olgierd.
Olgierd was evil but he was a lesser evil than O'Dimm--and the whole "lesser evil" is a Witcher theme.
Their was more questing to play to save him and in this game, they make moral decisions impossible, so I usually choose whatever has more story/extra quests. The more characters you keep alive, good or bad, the more quests/stories you may get later on. Olgried may appear in Wticher 4 if he is still alive.
The character entry if you let Olgierd lose his soul says "Geralt knew of a way to stop this, but for some reason did nothing" makes it sound like the game makers wanted the other option.
More Glory for beating O'Dimm.
Rewards:
I like the 2 swords you get if you save him, however I think the magic saddle would have been item that is the top of the line for the rest of the game whereas the swords will get out leveled. Also with the new patch 4, the never ending food is supposed to be the best food in the game.
I choose nothing between evil and lesser evil. Nuthin’! I’d gladly let Olgierd die because of his past and current crimes. However, when he (Olgierd) says “You swore to protect the ill, the endangered, and the fuckin who knows what”, Imma pass on that briskly without a second thought.