The Reason of State quest in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt stands out as one of the most politically charged and impactful secondary missions in the entire game. Navigating this late-game assignment requires a firm understanding of previous faction alignments and specific prerequisite decisions. Failing to prepare for this conspiracy can lock you out of determining the future ruler of the entire Northern Realms.
Prerequisites For Unlocking The Quest
Before you can initiate this massive political assassination plot, you must complete several crucial side storylines throughout your journey. Players need to finish An Eye for an Eye, A Deadly Plot, and Redania's Most Wanted during the earlier acts. Additionally, you must be careful during the Blindingly Obvious quest to feed Sigismund Dijkstra crucial information rather than breaking his other leg.
Once these conditions are successfully met, the conspiracy will formally culminate during Act III in Novigrad. You will receive an invitation to meet with your fellow conspirators in a secluded warehouse near the docks. This meeting sets off a chain of events that directly alters the continental balance of power.
Assassinating King Radovid V
The primary objective of the mission involves luring King Radovid V into a carefully constructed trap on the bridge of Novigrad. Geralt acts as the bait by claiming to have found the runaway sorceress Philippa Eilhart in a nearby hideout. Radovid eagerly takes the bait, leaving his heavily fortified vessel to personally oversee her capture.
Once the trap springs, a massive combat sequence begins against elite Redanian guards along the barricaded city pathways. You will fight alongside Vernon Roche, Ves, and several Temerian partisans to carve a path toward the mad monarch. Ultimately, the treacherous king meets his demise, leaving a massive power vacuum across the unstable Northern territories.
The Critical Decision and Concluding Choices
After the king falls, the temporary alliance between your fellow conspirators collapses into a bloody standoff. Dijkstra reveals his true intentions to rule a unified North through absolute tyranny and demands the deaths of Roche, Ves, and Thaler. Geralt is suddenly forced to make a defining choice that carries massive geopolitical consequences for the ending of the game.
If you choose to walk away and leave your former Temerian allies to die, Dijkstra successfully unites the North against the Nilfgaardian Empire. Siding with Roche and slaying Dijkstra allows Emhyr var Emreis to conquer the lands while granting Temeria status as a self-governing vassal state. This pivotal choice represents the core dilemma of the entire assignment, proving that neutrality is rarely an option for a witcher.