As far as fictional religious organizations in video games go, the Church of the Eternal Fire in The Witcher games has been one of the most deplorable. They were once a mere cult with an armed wing in the first game but somehow managed to become a recognized church by the third game.

Even so, their beliefs and conduct didn’t change at all– they were still a bunch of racist humans in The Witcher world and would jump at any opportunity to promote hate. That’s why King Radovid’s psychotic hate for mages became their green light. Thus, they have done some of the worst humanitarian crimes in The Witcher 3 games. Here are 10 of those to prove that they’re not so holy after all.

10 TORTURING AND EXECUTING INNOCENT MAGES

As part of Radovid’s paranoia brought about by Philippa Eilhart, he’s grown more violent towards sorceresses. The Church of the Eternal Fire saw this as a huge opportunity to practice their core beliefs and started doing most of Radovid’s work for him.

That would be making life a living hell for any magic-user in Novigrad. Along with Radovid’s army and mercenaries, the Church of the Eternal Fire excitedly tortured and burned countless mages in the town square of Novigrad. So much for civilization.

9 TORTURING AND ATTACKING GERALT’S FRIENDS

It just so happens that many of Geralt’s friends are actually magic-users or magical people, making them targets for the Church of the Eternal Flame. Their armed wing or allies, the Witch Hunters notably tortured Triss Merigold as part of her plans to kill their leader.

Meanwhile, Ciri also had her fair share of brutality from the Church of the Eternal Fire when she was escaping Whoreson Junior’s henchmen. Ciri thankfully escaped but Dandelion was captured and nearly tortured as well.

8 KILLING AND HUMILIATING KEIRA METZ

One unforgettable consequence in the game if you let Keira Metz do whatever she wants is her dying a horrible and gruesome death at Radovid’s hands with plenty of help from the twisted minds of the Church of the Eternal Fire.

Keira Metz was put on a stake and was displayed in the town square for all to see. She received a special case of torture and death, being one of Philippa Eilhart’s colleagues. Lucky for her, you can ask her to avoid such a cruel fate, depending on your whims.

7 SHIFTING HATRED TOWARDS NON-HUMANS

After Triss Merigold successfully smuggles all the remaining innocent mages and magic-users out of Novigrad, the prey of the Church of the Eternal Flame and the Witch Hunters thinned in numbers. Apparently, they felt that they have to continue their hatred.

Too bad they also hate non-humans– that is, dwarfs, elves, and many other races in Novigrad. The Witch Hunters and the Church of the Eternal Fire will suddenly shift their efforts and attention to these poor inhabitants as soon as they run out of mages to kill and torture.

6 CORRUPTION

Similar to some cults and religious organizations, the Church of Eternal Fire also has its own rotting core of corrupt priests and officials. These guys abuse their power and their Church’s holy symbol for coin or other depraved vices.

Geralt even meets one of them outside of Novigrad and asks him to burn bodies under the guise of a sacred task. Turns out the priest just wanted to get rid of any evidence that he was dealing with fisstech (drug) smugglers and that he cheated them and wanted them disposed.

5 DISCRIMINATION

Even before Radovid gave the Church of the Eternal Fire permission to start killing anyone suspicious, the religion has always centered around loathing for anything that isn’t a non-magical human being. That’s how extreme they can get.

As a result, they despise anyone with the capability of magic– even those that help them such as herbalists. Moreover, they also hate non-humans living among them and are always willing to jump at any opportunity to hurt them. It’s safe to say that only humans are allowed in their Church.

4 RABBLE-ROUSING

It’s not hard to make people angry and riled up against a perceived scapegoat enemy if your religion is based on hatred. This is likely one of the main tasks of the priests of the Eternal Fire. To babble their church’s propaganda on the streets.

In fact, you can even hear one of them as soon as you start up The Witcher 3 where a priest is agitating the human populace while also providing some good exposition for the players. As Geralt, you can also try to refute them in-game, usually by communicating fluently in steel sword.

3 UNREASONABLE BELIEFS ABOUT MAGIC

Magic is one of the things that the Church of the Eternal Fire hates more than nonhumans. Because according to their beliefs, magic can taint and sully their fabled “Eternal Fire” that burns bright and leads them in the darkness.

Their priests or even their pope-figure likely didn’t explain to the peasants how and why this can happen and anyone who asks that question is bound to be excommunicated or flogged. Hence, they hate magic, just because their pope says so.

2 WITCH-HUNTS

As a cult, the Cult of the Eternal Flame already had its own powerful and annoying military wing called the Order of the Flaming Rose. It’s full of self-righteous paladins and knights. Their retinue eventually upgraded to add Temple Guards by The Witcher 3.

However, the worst of their military arms came in the form of the Witch Hunters provided by Radovid. These guys are the most brutal, cold, and efficient enforcers of the Church of the Eternal Fire and their mad suspicions reflect that of Radovid’s, leading to witch-hunts that killed many innocents based on hearsay alone.

1 VIOLENT BIGOTRY

Last but not least, bigotry, which is usually argued by the Church of the Eternal Fire using violence. After all, they’re a religion based on obtuse contempt. It’s only fitting that anyone who disagrees with them publicly and indignantly is dealt with.

That’s also why the Church of the Eternal Fire has many armed men, so that they can easily whip out or warn anyone who doesn’t respect their disrespectful beliefs. To them, they are the only thing right in the world and any other religion can go to hell… sounds awfully familiar.

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