The Witcher 3is lauded by many as one of the best RPGs of the last generation. However, for an immersive fantasy game, there’s one element ofThe Witcher’s world which feels totally out of place in the main quest.
The journal entry for the Crones and the quest Reason of State both heavy-handedly reference Shakespeare’sMacbeth, going as far to directly quote the play in the game’s main plot despite Shakespeare not existing inThe Witcher’s universe. While this may seem like an immersion-breaking reference, it’s actual a stroke of genius that makes perfect sense in the world ofThe Witcher 3.
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Macbeth References in The Witcher
Aside fromthe Ladies of Crookback Bogthemselves, there are two main direct textual references toMacbethinThe Witcher 3. The first can be found in the journal entry for the Crones, which reads:
“Sister crones, hand in hand, terrors of the sea and land, thus do go about, about: thrice to thine and thrice to mine, and thrice again, to make up nine.
Macveth, Act 1, Scene 3”
This is an almost word-for-word reference to Act 1, Scene 3 ofMacbethand an incantation spoken by the three witches, which goes:
“The weird sisters, hand in hand,Posters of the sea and land,Thus do go about, about:Thrice to thine and thrice to mineAnd thrice again, to make up nine.”
Macbethis directly referenced far later in the game as well, during the quest Reasons of State. Here,Dijkstraquotes Macbeth himself, revealing his presence with “if it were done when ‘tis done, t’were well it were done quickly,” a part of Macbeth’s famous monologue as he commits fully to the murder of King Duncan. Dijkstra explains that this is a quote from “Vakmeth, Act 1, Scene 7,” which is also where the line can be found inMacbeth. It’s unclear why there’s a discrepancy between “Macveth” as referenced in the Crone journal entry and “Vakmeth,” but the different placement of the letter V could likely be explained in the same way that Shakespeare was spelled multiple ways at the time. Spelling of proper nouns at the time was hardly ever consistent, with Shakespeare also reportedly spelling his own name 6 different ways.
The bigger question is why CD Projekt Red included such an on-the-nosereference inThe Witcher 3. Many players could find such a direct reference immersion breaking; it implies that someone came up with an almost identical play to Macbeth inThe Witcheruniverse, and reminds the player of the real world when they’re trying to immerse themselves in a fantasy one. However, there’s a reasonThe Witcher 3’sMacbethparody is a stroke of genius that actually makes perfect sense in-universe, as well as other similarities to reality.
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The Conjunction of the Spheres
1500 years before the events ofThe Witcherwas an event known asthe Conjunction of the Spheres. It shook up the entire multiverse, trapping creatures from different dimensions across all sorts of different realities. It’s the reason there are monsters in the world ofThe Witcherat all, as well as non-humans like elves and dwarves.
According to the elves, humans themselves did not originate in the universe in whichThe Witchertakes place, but arrived their after the Conjunction of the Spheres destroyed their own reality. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the humans inThe Witchercame from this reality in-canon, but the Conjunction of the Spheres does explain some aspects from our reality likeMacbethbeing found inThe Witcher’s world– elements from all universes were displaced.
As such, one of the most straight-forward and potentially immersion-breaking references inThe Witcher 3: Wild Huntactually adds up in the specific lore of the series. Perhaps this is just a victory for the nitpickers of the world, but either way, the Conjunction of the Spheres provides a unique backstory behind some of the franchises’ references, including many of the fairy tales seen in theBlood and Wineexpansion’sLand of a Thousand Fables.
Witcher 3: Wild Huntis playable on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One with PS5 and Xbox Series X ports set to release in 2021.
