Talk:Hellhound/@comment-93.105.250.220-20180513221506/@comment-2601:643:C001:F09E:2C21:F428:8A81:13F2-20180602040707

I like to think the Hellhound specifically was somehow created by Abigail but the barghests are more the fault of the outskirts as a whole.

Abigail does something to create the Beast (whether or not she meant to do so or even knew that she had doesn't really matter) and the barghests showed up after that dark magic drew them there. If whatever happened is still in effect to some extent, presumably because of the Beast's continued existence, it would explain the barghests that show up when a dog dies in the outskirts at night; it's an extension of the initial magic, but without whatever emotional connection existed between Abigail and the Beast, they just end up regular barghests.

So the barghests show up because of Abigail or the Beast's magic, and they reappear every night and stick around because of the general darkness surrounding the outskirts due to the murders and guilt and whatnot. Maybe barghests don't show up for dishonor or guilt, but negative energies in general, which happen to conglomerate around unpunished crimes and misdeeds, leading to pathetic fallacy, which makes everyone believe they have some inherent moral reason to appear. This could also apply to archespores.

Then, after Geralt kills the Beast as well as either Abigail (the source of the initial magic) or the townsfolk (the source of the guilt and dishonor), at least two parts of the three part evil magic cocktail are gone. So either the barghests stop showing up because the magic runs out or they stop showing up because all the sources of negative energies are dead.