Defender of the Faith is a secondary quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Walkthrough[]
To start the quest you'll need to find the old woman who can be encountered at 2 of the 3 shrine locations:
- between Blackbough and Crow's Perch
- at Duén Hen
Regardless how you find her, fix the shrine for her and she'll ask if you can fix the rest, earning 10 
.
However, two more shrines need to be fixed in Velen and while the level for this quest is 10, there are high leveled enemies between the two shrines in lower Velen, particularly a griffin if you stick to the main roads, so be mindful of this.
Note that while it doesn't matter what order you fix them, as you'll earn 25 at the second, if you do the one at Duén Hen second, you'll encounter an endrega warrior, while if you do the unmarked location between Byways and Frischlow there will be wolves, so if you're looking to avoid as many fights as possible, it's best to find the woman at Duén Hen then do the one near Crow's Perch second (as it doesn't spawn anything).
The last location is where you'll run into the vandals destroying the shrines. Letting them do as they please fails the quest, but beating them up (or killing them) completes it, earning 50 .
Journal entry[]
- Geralt has a "live and let live" policy regarding the gods and their worshipers: if they don't bother him, he returns the favor. Sadly, not everyone follows this sage precept. A distraught woman in Velen informed him someone had been destroying the shrines that dot that region's roadsides. She begged him to repair the damage and, if possible, punish those responsible. Though he did not share the woman's devotion or outrage at this sacrilege, he decided to help all the same.
- While following the trail of damaged holy sites Geralt encountered a group of young men who, he learned, were students at Oxenfurt Academy. Influenced by some radical philosopher, they had taken up arms in the battle against religion.
- If Geralt stops the vandals:
- As is often the case with students, what began as a measured discussion of worldviews ended in a brawl.
- If Geralt doesn't interfere (fails quest):
- The witcher engaged them in a philosophical discussion which threatened to come to blows, but luckily merely ended with an exchange of profanities and insults.
Objectives[]
- Fix all the damaged shrines. 2/3
- Defeat the vandals. (50
)
Trivia[]
- A number of references exist in this quest to philosophical and religious figures and works:
- The title of the quest "Defender of the Faith" may be a reference to Philip Roth's short story titled "Defender of the Faith", or to a title given to monarchs.
- Many make a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche's works, including "Overman", "God is Dead" quote, and Beyond Good and Evil.
- "Religion is the Opium of the Massses" is attributed to Karl Marx.
Notes[]
- If you don't draw your sword, the students won't draw their swords as well, so it becomes a fistfight, not a bloody massacre, though the result is the same - they all end up dead or unconscious.
Videos[]
