The Witcher 2 Easter eggs

"Do you really wish to know?" — Spoilers from the books and/or adaptations to follow!

This article will catalogue Easter eggs in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. The developers have stated that there are a fair number of them.

A virtual Easter egg is an intentional hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, computer program, or video game. The term draws a parallel with the custom of the Easter egg hunt observed in many western nations.

This practice is analogous to hidden signature motifs such as Diego Rivera including himself in his murals or Alfred Hitchcock's legendary cameo appearances. (Wikipedia)

Visual Easter Eggs

• In the first official trailer for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, there is a hidden message which particularly observant fans can read if the video is paused just before the end of the video. The next similar message could be found in Disdain & Fear trailer.
• The character Anezka has the face of Didi Cardoso, editor-in-chief of Gamer's Intuition and long-time contributor to the Witcher community forum.
• The executioner in Flotsam wears a Batman style mask.

Posters

• Some of the posters in Vergen strongly resemble communist shock-worker motivators known in the former Eastern Bloc.
• At the beginning of the game, in Foltest's military camp, one of the posters strongly resembles the poster series with Uncle Sam

Auditory Easter Eggs

• In La Valette dungeons, you can overhear three prisoners talking about their escape plans. The entire conversation is mocking Prison Break TV series.
• In Chapter I, at the docks, one worker asks what's in some of the boxes and is told "the Amber Room", a treasure looted from the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, that disappeared during World War II and whose present location remains a mystery.
• In Chapter II, in Rhundurin Square outside Vergen, a man named Robert Hasabe can be found wandering around, sometimes dozing off at a table just inside Mahakam Gate. Occasionally he wakes with a start, looks around in disgust, and says "*ptooey*, cosplayers..." before resting his head back down.
• In Chapter III, in Loc Muinne's main square (where the vendors are) a group of Nilfgaardian soldiers can be heard saying Semper Fi , most known as the motto of the United States Marine Corps, but also several families and a few cities in most countries. Blue Stripes soldiers will also say this line often, and it was also the motto for the Order of the Flaming Rose.

References to Other Games/Media

• During the Ballista section of the Prologue. You can find a dead body near the large iron gates. The body is wearing a white suit and it appears that the cause of death is falling from a great height into a cart full of hay. Geralt makes a comment and receives +1 in the Assassination Attribute. This is clearly a reference to the Assassins Creed game franchise. Most people refer to the body as Altaïr, the protagonist of the original Assassin's Creed.
• During At a Crossroads: Scoia'tael, when meeting Iorveth and his commando outside Flotsam and choosing the option to fake Iorveth's capture, instead of fighting through the town, Iorveth says "Piece of Lembas?" (reference to Elven bread in Lord of the Rings) and on Geralt inquring says "Never mind".
• If you take Iorveth's path, in the dialogue between Geralt, Iorveth and Philippa, when Philippa first explains the ingredients required to save Saskia she first says she need magical objects like rings of power. Geralt and Iorveth then proceed to take turns to jokingly recite the journey of Frodo Baggins to destroy the One Ring of Power from The Lord of the Rings. Philippa then changes her mind and asks them to look for something else that is magical.

"Iorveth: One ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them...

Geralt: And then I'd have to run barefoot to a volcano..."

• In the Mines Of Vergen, you can find a body that holds a note. It says that they have overmined the mine and awakened an ancient evil. At the end of the note, the writer says "Fly, you fools!" which is a reference to a scene from The Lord of the Rings.
• In the beginning of Chapter II, Philippa asks Saskia if she's hurt, which Saskia responding with saying "it's just a flesh wound", a possible reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• If you choose to give Iorveth his sword during the ambush in the elven baths and then choose to help Iorveth rather than Vernon Roche he'll plan an attack to seize the prison barge. if you say "I'd resort to a trick." when you meet him just before the attack, Iorveth and Geralt will separate from the group and meet somewhere close to the town gate, Geralt will say they have to get past the gate somehow and Iorveth will answer this with the sentence "Piece of Lembas." which is a reference to the elven way bread Lembas in The Lord of the Rings.
• During the Hey, Work's on in the Mines! quest (Iorveth's path), there are many references to the mines of Moria in The Lord of the Rings, e.g. dwarves delving too deep and thus starting conflict with underground creatures, as demonstrated in Balin's journals and the final appearance of a bullvore similar to a balrog.
• In Vergen you'll meet an elf named Drizzt who moves sneakily. It's an obvious reference to Drizzt do'Urden character from Dungeons & Dragons - Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
• A number of minor NPCs are named after characters from The Lord of the Rings. It is possible to find characters named Radagast, referring to Radagast, a wizard.
• Sword of the Dun Banner is referred to by the wraith as a sword of Colonel Gondor, with the name being another LotR Easter egg.
• In Vergen, if Geralt loses the game of dice poker with Skalen Burdon while trying to win the spear head, the dwarf will mention a character named Blazkovitz, who sought the Spear of Destiny. This is a reference to the main character of the Wolfenstein game series and namely to the expansion to Wolfenstein 3D: Spear of Destiny.
• Once again, in Chapter II in Vergen, when Geralt wins the second dice poker game with Skalen Burdon, he gets the Princess Xenthia sword as a reward, which is a reference to the "Xena: Warrior Princess" TV series.
• In Vergen you can find a dwarf named Valland Fibich who works the mines. If you speak you him he'll began to chant "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho" Which is a clear reference to the 7 dwarves' song when they work the mines.
• In Vergen, during the armwrestling contest, Skalen Burdon refers to his fellow-dwarves Yarpen and Sheldon as "Dopey and Sneezy", referencing Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• In Chapter I when you first talk with Einar Gausel, he mentions some books Síle had recently bought. One of them is "De Vermis Mysteriis". The book is actually part of the Cthulhu Mythos. It's not as well known as the Necronomicon but it's mentioned in several stories-including some by Robert E. Howard and Stephen King. Robert Bloch (who wrote Psycho) created it in 1935. A parallel allusion can be found in the first Witcher game: Dagon as well as the inscription at his altars are taken from H.P. Lovecraft's works. As in both cases, a creature from a water habitat is to be battled, and both those creatures resemble (partly) kraken-like creatures, the similarity of both references is evident.
• The sorcerer Dethmold has three potion bottles on his belt: two blue and one red. Red (health pts) and blue (mana pts) potion bottles have been standard in fantasy video/computer games for decades.
• In the Kaedweni camp, when Geralt passes by groups of soldiers, they sometimes comment about him and a "super soldier serum". A reference to Marvel Comics iconic character Captain America.
• In Chapter 3, in Loc Muinne, there is a merchant named the Incredible Lockhart — one of main characters in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• When first encountering a monster-type enemy, Geralt will utter 'Damn, you're ugly'. This is also one of Duke Nukem's one liners said in Duke Nukem 3D
• In the Steam version of the game, there is an achievement called "Oh My God! You Killed the Kayran! You Bastards!", which is a clear reference to South Park.
• In the brothel near the Kaedweni camp in Chapter II a soldier is heard singing a lewd version of the Sesame street theme song.

References to Polish Culture

• In the Polish version of the game, it is possible to challenge a man named 'Naizdup' (Fliparse in English) to a fistfight, and it is hinted by a judge that the man does everything backwards. Spelling 'Naizdup' backwards gives 'Pudzian', which is a nickname for Mariusz Pudzianowski, the world's strongest man and recently an MMA fighter. Naizdup also shares some outward appearance with Pudzian.
• In the Kayran quest, in the Kayran's lair, there is the body of a man. Near his body lies a fake sheep which is a reference to a Polish folk legend about Wawel Dragon. In the tale, a dragon was killing whole herds of sheep and people in the nearby city of Kraków. Many knights tried to kill the dragon but all of them failed until a young shoemaker, Dratewka, came up with an idea. He bought a sheep, gutted it and stuffed the carcass with sulfur and tar. Dratewka then used the sheep as bait for dragon, who then proceeded to eat it. This caused the dragon pain and a burning sensation in his stomach so he tried drinking the water from a nearby river to relieve the symptoms. He drank and drank and drank... until he exploded. Everybody lived happily ever after. That same tale is also reflected in the short story "The Bounds of Reason".

Miscellaneous

• Ship wreckage that Geralt explores in monster's lair is named after Petra Silie, a Witcher community forum moderator.
• Another ship is mentioned, named the Daerdin, Daerdin is also a long-time Witcher community forum moderator.
• Additionally, one of the prostitutes in the Camp followers' encampment is named Undomiel, which is either the name given to Arwen, one of the LotR main characters, and the name of a long-time Witcher community forum moderator.
• The second opponent in the Chapter I quest One on One: Flotsam is named Kcorb Ransel (AKA Fliparse), a nod to MMA fighter Brock Lesnar.
• The Scoia'tael password and its response in Chapter I is "Kier-ke-gard" and "Hei-deg-ger", the names of two philosophers.
• The Dun Banner standard is folded in a triangular shape, just like the U.S flag.
• The name Vandergrift was the name of United States Marine Corps General. His name was Alexander Archer Vandergrift.
• In the 1st chapter after the scene connected with hanging, there are 3 guards walking together and chatting. In the Polish version, they are saying that in other towns, guards have loads of sunlight during patrols. One of the guards asks if those guys are called "Słoneczny Patrol" which means "Baywatch" and is connected with the TV series with David Hasselhoff. This easter egg needs confirmation on non-Polish versions of the game. In the North American version of the game, the line is, "Sarge, since Cidaris is on the sea shore, are the town guards there called the Baywatch?"
• Also in Chapter 1, after the town hanging, the three guards make several other references including Watchmen. Saying that the Nobles will look up and whisper Save Us, and we'll say... to which the second soldier responds, "Okay, sure thing."
• In the Elven Bathhouse during the Rose of Remembrance quest there is a chest containing "Hardened Leather" and "Mail Enhancement" for the sex scene with Triss Merigold.
• In one of the houses during the siege of lavalette castle there is a painting of a hare wich is a famous painting by german painter Albrecht Dürer.

Videos

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