Talk:King's Gambit/@comment-108.214.170.223-20151028110300/@comment-47.20.137.147-20180716231108

If you choose to help neither Cerys or Hjalmar during King's Gambit, or simply miss it, Svanrige Bran is crowned King of Ard Skellig.

What happens here is interesting. Since no one investigated who was behind the massacre during the wake, Birna Bran was free to complete her scheme to put her son on the throne. She had made a deal with Nilfgaard that if they supported her son's claim for the throne, he was support Nilfgaard in the war.

When Geralt returns to Kaer Trolde, you'll find Arnvald telling you about Svanrige's turn of fortune. There's a few Nilfgaards in the room and one demands to speak with Svanrige. He wants to hear from the young man himself that he agrees to the terms brokered by his mother. Only Svanrige has plans of his own. With the throne within his grasp, and neither Cerys nor Hjalmar around to challenge him, he boldly attacks the Nilfgaards present making it clear that he'll be his own man and will not bow to Nilfgaard.

The assumption in this scenario is that both Cerys and Hjalmar are both dead or will die in the coming battle with the Wild Hunt, but it won't be possible to speak with either again for the Brothers in Arms quest.