One of the most curious settings in The Witcher’s lore is none other than the home of The White Wolf himself. Kaer Morhen, the legendary Witcher fortress where boys would train from an early age under the Wolf school, is steeped in interesting history. If you played Wild Hunt, Geralt’s path inevitably leads you to Kaer Morhen to fend off the wraiths hunting Ciri, and you had the chance to experience the latest iteration of Kaer Morhen for yourself.
Before your epic clash with the Wild Hunt, you might have stumbled on some bits of lore scattered around the region where the fortress is located. Or you might have wondered why a derelict castle makes for good defense against an army of specters.
10 Where Does All The Food (And Booze) Come From?
Some of the best moments in Wild Hunt happen when you finally return to Kaer Morhen, Geralt’s childhood home and school. The absolute high point during the streaks of quests tied to Uma happens when Geralt, Eskel, and Lambert are eating food, playing Gwent, and having far too much to drink.
Where did all the provisions come from? Witchers are notoriously out of coin due to the lack of work they, unfortunately, come across. Perhaps Vesemir has a secret farm somewhere with a brewery to provide his students with the necessary resources to enjoy some time at home. Or maybe it all comes from Geralt’s endless inventory.
9 The Walls Are (Still) Crumbling
One detail you might have noticed while playing Wild Hunt is the recurring mention of the keep’s walls being heavily damaged. This interesting piece of knowledge comes from the Witcher book series and is briefly expanded on during gameplay. Following the attack of a group of fanatics, backed up by powerful mages that detested Witchers in the days of old, the castle suffered more than considerable damage to its structural integrity.
Virtually every Witcher or young boy in training died during this massacre, except for Vesemir and a few others who were out on The Path. Fast-forwarding to Wild Hunt’s timeline, the walls are still deteriorating. Vesemir talks about fixing them, but following his untimely demise, neither Geralt nor his comrades think to finally complete this task, though they do haphazardly patch them up before the battle against the Wild Hunt.
8 Why Not Put Bombs In The Floor?
In The Battle Of Kaer Morhen quest, you can choose to either brew potions or lay explosive traps inside the fortress. These are both meant to be defensive strategies against the Wild Hunt, and they both make sense at first glance. However, considering the already crumbling structural integrity of the castle, putting bombs inside it may not be the best logical idea.
Naturally, choosing to lay traps has no negative consequences within the game itself, it is simply a matter of personal preference. Though Vesemir would probably shake his head at more of the castle being destroyed.
7 Exploding Gasses Underneath The Pavement
If explosive traps are not enough to repel some icy wraiths, why not employ the help of science and open cracks into the floor that release flammable gasses? Seriously, The Battle Of Kaer Morhen could have used some hydrogen bombs to raze everything to the ground. Poor castle.
During the meeting where characters discuss various defensive strategies, no one seems concerned with the issue of damaging the castle internally. Coupling volatile gasses with explosive traps does make for some blazing gameplay, though. Thankfully, Kaer Morhen can take serious punishment, so the castle will still be there when you are done fighting the Wild Hunt.
6 The Armory Was Forgotten
Every castle comes with some staple characteristics: nice large rooms, a fortified gate, and high towers, to mention a few. Armories are invaluable to supply residents with the means to defend themselves and repel an attack. And yet, our beloved Witchers procrastinated restructuring theirs until the last possible minute.
During The Battle Of Kaer Morhen, players have a choice to either quickly patch up castle walls with makeshift materials, or clear the rubble blocking the castle’s armory to obtain better weapons. Much like the castle’s walls, this is something the Witchers could have attended to if they ever considered using Kaer Morhen as a fortress rather than a bed and breakfast for the winter.
5 Only One Way In
The best features in castles or spooky mansions are secret passages that lead to other rooms or outside. Wouldn’t a secret tunnel be extremely useful to evacuate Kaer Morhen in case of, say, an attack by the Wild Hunt? Instead, the only way into and out of the castle is through a fairly complex and dangerous route which was used to train Witchers in developing better agility and endurance.
This roughly translates to an extremely daunting escape in case of danger, which is probably why Geralt and his group inevitably remain stuck inside the fortress during The Battle Of Kaer Morhen.
4 The Region Is Filled With Monsters
You would think the area surrounding the stronghold of a Witcher school would be relatively monster-free compared to the rest of the world. Well, not really. Witchers are rare by the time the events of Wild Hunt unfold, as monsters are harder to find since humans expand their presence across the world and weed out other lifeforms.
Despite all this, Kaer Morhen is literally surrounded by plenty of dangerous fauna ready to rip and tear you apart. Maybe Kaer Morhen is like a sort of wildlife conservation environment — except the wildlife is mostly constituted by monsters.
3 Witchers Won’t Work For Free (Even At Home)
Another interesting quest in The Witcher 3 is Berengar’s Blade. Geralt finds a note in one of the castle’s bedrooms, left by Berengar, one of his old companions. He talks with Vesemir to discover more about it, and he tells him that Berengar was trying to forge a formidable sword before losing his life in a fight against a Chort.
Vesemir also tells Geralt this Chort lives in a cave accessible by the river outside the keep. Interestingly, no Witcher at Kaer Morhen though to go check the cave and avenge Berengar, before Geralt. Perhaps the stories about them not lifting a finger for no payment are not wholly unfounded, after all.
2 First Wolf School Gear Is Here
Sometime after The Witcher 3 released, CD Projekt Red came out with some great free DLC content, including the lore-friendly Wolf school armor and weapons. Interestingly, the first tier of armor pieces is found in Kaer Morhen, allowing you to craft the weakest Wolven gear.
However, by the time you find Kaer Morhen, Geralt will most likely be at a much higher level than the Wolven gear found here, effectively putting you at a disadvantage if you choose to wear it immediately without looking for the upgrades. It makes sense that the armor is here since it directly belongs to the school of the Wolf, but its level could have been upscaled.
1 Toss A Sword To Your Witcher, O Valley Of Plenty
Sometimes the silliest, and best, bits of nonsense in a game are found through weird glitches and bugs. The Witcher 3 had its fair share of patches and updates to fix and improve the gameplay experience, like virtually every game. However, a glitch still found to this day enables players to farm a relic sword to be sold for a profit.
You already guessed this glitch is found in Kaer Morhen, and it basically consists of this: find the Pang Of Conscience, save your game, return to the main menu, and resume your save. The sword will be back in the same derelict tower you found it in.
NEXT: The Witcher: 10 Side Quests We Want To See Done In The Netflix Show
