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"Do you really wish to know?" — Spoilers from the books and/or adaptations to follow!
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Marlene de Trastamara was a baron's daughter who lived in the Trastamara Hunting Cottage.

Biography[]

Since she was young, Marlene loved to arrange parties, to which she invited all the people of the duchy. One day, during one such party, a certain individual claiming to be a beggar, heavily implied to be Gaunter O'Dimm,[1][2] knocked on the door of her residence, with a bowl and spoon in hand, asking for food.

According to an old Toussaint tradition, the owner of a house must offer food and wine to such a beggar but Marlene refused to feed him, saying she'd prefer to give the leftovers to the dogs. The beggar then cursed her, stating "None shall sit and dine with you at your table, no spoon you have shall sate you, never again shall you wish to spy your reflection in the mirror" before breaking his spoon and leaving. The curse grew gradually and eventually turned her into a spotted wight and her family, distraught over her transformation, left the cursed estate for Kovir, leaving her behind.[3]

Over the following hundred or so years, Marlene the wight tried many times to lift the curse by capturing people and forcing them to dine with her, but without any success. She also hoarded spoons, littering the estate with them, and spent most of her time preparing a wight's brew in a cauldron in the cottage basement. In 1275, however, Geralt of Rivia arrived at the estate in search of a sample of spotted wight saliva, which he needed for a Resonance potion.

If Geralt did not lift the curse: Either because Geralt attacked the wight immediately, or because he did not follow the required procedure for lifting the curse, Marlene perished while still a wight.

If Geralt lifted the curse: Geralt lifted the curse by willingly sitting down at the table with Marlene the wight, and together, without using spoons, they ate the brew which Marlene prepared. Once she finished the brew, Marlene looked at the bottom of her bowl and saw her own reflection, which caused the curse to break. This broke all the conditions which held the curse in place, as someone sat and dined with Marlene, she was sated without having to use a spoon, and she saw her own reflection without using a mirror. Marlene ran outside where she transformed back to a frail, old, human woman. Geralt took Marlene to Corvo Bianco, his estate, where Marlene made a full recovery under the care of majordomo Barnabas-Basil Foulty.[4]

Associated quests[]

References[]

  1. Decaying letter
  2. Upon Marlene's arrival at Corvo Bianco in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Gaunter O'Dimm's soundtrack plays, as Geralt recounts the story to Foulty
  3. Soiled letter
  4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine expansion
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