The Witcher 2 ending

There are combination of endings that can be achieved that will change various things in the meeting and the ending. Nothing in Chapter I, apart from choosing Roche/Iorveth at the end, will directly affect the ending.

Roche's Path
Prince Stennis will always die trying to leave the battlefield.

If you decided to kill King Henselt then his body will be on display in Dethmold's chambers. Surprisingly little is mentioned of the Kaedweni succession, though Henselt had no immediate heir which likely complicates the process.

If you let him live, Henselt does not only have Upper Aedirn but whole of Aedirn will be given to him as there is not anyone left to ascend to the Aederninan throne because prince Stennis dies in the ghostly mist.

If you went with Vernon Roche to save King Foltest's daughter, Anais, and you convince Roche to give Anais to Temeria: Roche will say that she decided to pick up a sword instead of a doll, John Natalis will teach her warfare, and he believes she will be a great leader.

If you went with Roche to save King Foltest's daughter, and you convince Roche to give the daughter to Radovid: Temeria becomes a protectorate of Redania, Anais is to be raised in Redania until she is of age to marry. Radovid or one of his barons will likely be her future husband to unite the two kingdoms under Radovid's banner. It is suggested that Temeria could possibly regain its independence under her as queen once she comes of age, but Radovid will likely never allow it.

After defeating the dragon you can choose to slay it or let it live. You cannot release it from Philippa's control.

In the Epilogue, If you went to save Triss yourself, then on your the path to see Letho, You will see Roche saved Anais by himself and is defending her from a bunch of soldiers. You will save him, but he is officially an outlaw and Temeria disintegrates into baronies — with the implication that they are far more vulnerable to being annexed by Redania, Kaedwin, and/or Nilfgaard. Iorveth is also mentioned as having a huge price on his head and is likely enjoying the attention of being "public enemy #1."

Iorveth's Path
If you kill Prince Stennis Aedirn will collapse because there is no one to rule it.

If you spare Prince Stennis it will be revealed that he did order Saskia's poisoning. After he becomes king he will try to oppose Saskia with the support of other kings.

If you kill Prince Stennis and Saskia then the Pontar Valley will have no clear ruler.

King Henselt will always survive.

As Roche does not appear in Chapter III and is not mentioned it is possible that King Henselt had him killed for treason.

If you decide to rescue Philippa Eilhart from the dungeon, then you will be automatically release the dragon from her control. You will not be given an option to kill the dragon.

If you decide to save Triss instead, then you will be given an option of killing the dragon or leaving it. Iorveth will be unconscious and surrounded by soldiers, having gone to rescue Philippa and then badly hurt by her. You will be given the option to walk away and leave Iorveth to the troops, or attack them and tell Triss to save him. She will say that he is badly hurt and will take months to heal him. Philippa's dagger will be found nearby, though the dragon is long gone at this point.

Shared Choices
If you saved Síle de Tansarville, Letho will mention she will be hunted by Royal witch-hunters and will likely die a slow death by them. If you let her die, then Letho will say you showed her mercy.

In both paths, if you save Triss instead, the Council of Sorcerers will still be created, since Triss is the one that pointed out Sile was the traitor and Nilfgaard is not present to incite hostilities.

In both paths, If you did not save Triss she will be saved by Letho. The major disruption during the talks will be Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen revealing both Sile as the traitor and the Lodge of Sorceresses as a conspiratorial body. The Council/Conclave of Sorcerers will not be created, and the summit degenerates into a literal witch hunt by the various faction armies after the dragon attack.

After fighting the dragon's Quick Time Event, if you decide to kill the dragon, then you will lament that she was enslaved by Lodge and reduced to a tool to do their bidding. If you did not kill the dragon, then you will reason later explaining that dragons are exceedingly rare and the only one who deserves death is Philippa.

No matter what path or choices taken, you will ultimately have to choose to either kill Letho or let him walk away; this will be the last action in the game and has no other plot significance aside from possibly enabling a Witcher 3 appearance.

Ending Sequence
If you go with Roche/Iorveth in Chapter III, then you will walk out with Roche/Iorveth and Triss.

If you opted to rescue Triss in Chapter III, you will walk out with Triss only.

Ending Plot Summary
No matter what, Nilfgaard will be on the march north to invade the northern kingdoms. Letho was employed by Nilfgaard to kill kings in the northern kingdom to soften them up and cause chaos and disunity for the later invasion. Letho used the Lodge of Sorceresses as a cover to kill the kings because they initially had the same objective, albeit on a far smaller scale.

The Lodge of Sorceresses initially only wanted to kill Demavend because he was shown to be a weak but resistant king, and they figured they could use the unrest to raise up Saskia as head of a new egalitarian nation in the rich Pontar Valley — one that the sorceresses would have ultimate influence over. But after Demavend's death, Letho used the Sorceresses' resources to get in contact with Scoia'tael — ostensively to hide from the Aedirnian manhunt — and convinced them to help him kill Kings Foltest and Henselt. After the death of Foltest, Letho felt Iorveth was too wilful and perceptive to keep deceived and he tried to remove him from control over the Squirrels, which is where Geralt intervened. Síle was sent after Foltest's death to Flotsam to eliminate Letho and his crew to both stop their spread of regicide-inspired chaos and to eliminate evidence that the Lodge had initially worked with them.

Geralt's memory is mostly restored by the end. He learned of Yennefer of Vengerberg's fate and that she is alive in Nilfgaard; her situation and the condition of her memory is unknown.

Sixteen endings
The prize for being the first person to send CDProjekt all 16 endings was won by Guipit. According to his post the 16 endings are as follows.


 * Aryan Alive → Choose Roche → Henselt Alive → Save Anais
 * Aryan Alive → Choose Roche → Henselt Alive → Save Triss
 * Aryan Alive → Choose Roche → Henselt Dead → Save Anais
 * Aryan Alive → Choose Roche → Henselt Dead → Save Triss
 * Aryan Alive → Choose Iorveth → Stennis Alive → Save Saskia
 * Aryan Alive → Choose Iorveth → Stennis Alive → Save Triss
 * Aryan Alive → Choose Iorveth → Stennis Dead → Save Saskia
 * Aryan Alive → Choose Iorveth → Stennis Dead → Save Triss


 * Aryan Dead → Choose Roche → Henselt Alive → Save Anais
 * Aryan Dead → Choose Roche → Henselt Alive → Save Triss
 * Aryan Dead → Choose Roche → Henselt Dead → Save Anais
 * Aryan Dead → Choose Roche → Henselt Dead → Save Triss
 * Aryan Dead → Choose Iorveth → Stennis Alive → Save Saskia
 * Aryan Dead → Choose Iorveth → Stennis Alive → Save Triss
 * Aryan Dead → Choose Iorveth → Stennis Dead → Save Saskia
 * Aryan Dead → Choose Iorveth → Stennis Dead → Save Triss

The effect these ending have on any sequel is currently unknown.

Notable "bad" endings
Endings in which Geralt dies

Prologue

 * During interrogation Geralt can insult Roche (by calling him a whoreson) then attack him in an attempt to escape; Ves shoots the witcher dead with a crossbow.

Chapter I

 * If Geralt looses a fistfight with the executioner during By the Gods - Stringing Up Sods quest, the witcher is hanged along with others.
 * If Geralt pulls out his sword at the main square of Flotsam, he will be noticed by the guards, if he doesn't pay the "donation" he is shot dead by crossbowmen.
 * If the talk with Iorveth goes the wrong way. The elf gives an order to shoot both Zoltan and Geralt. The Scoia'tael archers obey his order.