A Night to Remember

"A Night to Remember" is a pre-launch trailer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt released by Digic Pictures and CD Projekt RED on 14 May 2015. In the same way as Killing Monsters, this one also told a short but very interesting story about Geralt hunting a bruxa.

Story
At start, our protagonist fearless witcher Geralt of Rivia meets a woman that is not revealed by name on the bank of river, who is singing a haunting lullaby. When Geralt approaches and notes that locals paid him for her, she remarks that in the times past witchers would never take such a contract. Then she throws off her clothes transforming into something invisible and unnaturally quickly disappears in the nearby barn. Geralt, after taking some preparations and drinking a potion, he enters it. And then a scramble begins where as she is revealed to be a type of kind of higher vampire. During the fight, she manages to bite Geralt, but the potion which happens to be Black Blood affects her, slowing her down. Geralt seriously wounds her and she flees to the barn, falling right outside it transforming back into her human form. Geralt follows preparing his hook for trophies, but collapses alongside her seeing her last tear and agony.

When White Wolf of Rivia awakes, it is revealed that song, the lullaby, was about witchers who are paid for killing. He leaves her melting body without taking the trophy and rides on his faithful Roach away in a hurry towards the capital city of Toussaint, Beauclair.

In the trailer
Lyrics are original and together with the music arrangement were composed by Marcin Przybyłowicz. Vocal is performed by Laura Doddington. The lullaby and trailer partially use the music from A Hole in the Sun by Two Steps From Hell

Full version
Full version of the lullaby was released during 2015 on August 26 on official youtube channel under the name "Lullaby of Woe".

Interpretation

 * This is only an interpretation and it doesn't claim to match unexpressed intent of authors.

After the release of Blood and Wine the true story behind the trailer is revealed as the woman singing the song turns out to be a vampire Geralt meets during his journey, thus it is not a meeting of strangers but rather the conclusion of a storyline left open in the game.

As Geralt and the Vampire know one another the atmosphere leading up to the fight is rather calm, as both know what they are going to do next. She sings a song which higher vampires would sing to their younglings, describing witchers as creatures from her childhood, those who hunt her kind for gold from a time when many witchers roamed the world hunting vampires without mercy. The doll and song may also be a direct reference to the vampires connection to children established in La Compassion Orphanage. As Geralt sets out to take the trophy he collapses from the effects of blood loss and the Black Blood potion he drank. When Geralt awakes hours later, The body has decayed to a point where she can no longer be identified, this could be the reason why he returns to the Capital of Toussaint without taking the trophy.

Making of
One of the main goals of this project was to convey the harsh ‘reality’ that killing monsters is actually hard work because as it should be known it is difficult, grueling, and mostly unpalatable - there’s nothing ‘beautiful’ or glorious in it. Interestingly, audio was an early element in the animatic to fine tune the mood needed. “In this particular case,” says Zorkóczy, “it worked so well that the track we originally used as temp music made it all the way into the final version - A Hole in the Sun by Two Steps From Hell.

The final audio mix was provided by CD Projekt RED who did a wonderful job, and really nailed the right tone for the film” also design of Geralt, main protagonist is based of course on promotional materials for third game “They would identify key features like his build, his hairstyle, or his cat-like eyes resulting from the magical mutations of his training,” says lead character modeler Tamás Varga.

Hidden note
The teaser for this trailer released earlier has a hidden message from developers during 00:22 seconds: ''After 3 long years The Witcher: Wild Hunt is finally ready to go. The reviews are already out and the reception is amazing. We can't wait to hand our baby over to you. It is a very important milestone for all of us here. We went from 50 people in the first Witcher to over 200 creating a massive world of Wild Hunt.''

''It's a grand scale now, but the nuance and soul of the series is intact. We won't have it any other way. This is one for the fans who supported us all this time Those who cheered for a different kind of fantasy. One that's dark unsettling and personal. Here's something to sweeten these last days of waiting. Here's "A Night to Remember," a short, spoiler free cinematic.''