Nilfgaard. No other kingdom in The Witcher mythos has a name that can strike fear into the hearts and minds of every citizen who isn’t a Nilfgaardian. The said Southern kingdom is directly responsible for the majority of the political turmoil in The Witcher video games, books, and even the show. Suffice to say, they make the whole lore a lot more complex and intricate.
Of course, they do this by being one of the most violent and aggressive factions ever in The Witcher franchise. As such, they are responsible for numerous crimes against humanity, non-humans, magical creatures, and even Geralt and his friends. At some point in the third game, they even proved to be a challenge to otherworldly beings. That’s how dangerous Nilfgaard really is. Here are 10 of those evil transgressions as proof.
10 INTERNAL USURPERS
Since the Nilfgaardian Emperor holds supreme power over all the territories of Nilfgaard, you can bet that every noble and their dog wants a piece of that. Hence, you’ll find no shortage of usurpers who would be happy to lend a hand in the downfall of the current emperor.
In fact, Emhyr var Emreis gets to have the same fate should you choose to side with Dijkstra and kill Roche. Even if Dijkstra hasn’t intervened, Emhyr’s life would likely still have a deadline as he’s already made too many enemies in draining Nilfgaard’s resources for a failed conquest, and his refusal to marry someone from the noble families is seen as an insult.
9 SUPERIORITY COMPLEX
Nilfgaard loves to spread its own culture and ideologies. That’s because they believe that they are superior in everything. From the smug lords of the Nilfgaardian court to the proud citizen on the streets, Nilfgaardians think of themselves as the better human beings compared to other kingdoms.
To a certain degree, this could be true; they are well-fed and enjoy a good economy thanks to their visionary rulers. Part of this complex stems from the fact that they also had elven blood since they mixed with the primary inhabitants of their territory, which were Black Seidhe elves.
8 CHASING CIRI
At the start of The Witcher 3, we immediately see the immense power and influence of Nilfgaard in the form of its current Emperor back then, Emhyr var Emreis or the White Flame Dancing at the Graves of His Foes. As you can imagine, he has millions of men at his disposal, and he uses them to full effect.
He even orders some of them to go after Ciri and essentially spy on her or to locate her whereabouts. This wasn’t the first time Emhyr did this; in the books, he has always been looking for his daughter and has employed many powerful mages and mercenaries to do the dirty work for him, often putting Ciri in danger.
7 DIABOLICAL PLANS FOR CIRI
Of course, Emhyr just wouldn’t overturn tables looking for Ciri without a definite goal. We can categorize his objective into two parts, one that is canon (books) and one that is for the video games. The latter is a lot tamer but still bad, as Emhyr apparently wants Ciri to rule as the Empress with him working in the background, like a puppeteer.
The canon, however, is a lot worse as it involves Emhyr marrying and impregnating Ciri since his oracle told him that Ciri’s child will become the ruler of the world. Whether this claim is true or not, that’s pretty much Emhyr’s book canon reason for wanting Ciri — so much so that he even invades all of Cintra just to find her.
6 MAKING ROCHE AND DIJKSTRA KILL EACH OTHER
Vernon Roche and Sigismund Dijkstra are two of Geralt’s longtime friends in the video games, the latter also in the books. Roche is a loyalist of the Temerian throne and has remained active in his role as a commando despite the fall of his kingdom against Nilfgaard. Meanwhile, Dijkstra hates Nilfgaard and wants to fix Redania so he can deal with Emhyr. Technically, the two should be allies.
The problem arose when Emhyr makes a deal with Roche to restore Temeria back to its former glory as a vassal state of Nilfgaard — something the Blue Stripes commando accepts. As a result, you as Geralt will have to choose who to help as the two will end up killing each other. Because of Emhyr, you get to lose either Dijkstra or Roche, a tough call.
5 FEEDING OFF OF PEASANTS’ LIVES
Expanding your territory to the far-flung corners of the map can be a double-edged sword. That’s because armies are also composed of human beings who have basic necessities. That’s why Nilfgaard lets its conquered territories shoulder the logistics, meaning the people they invaded are to provide everything to the very soldiers who killed their kin and burned their homes.
That’s regardless of how poor the peasants are — the Nilfgaardian army will squeeze them to the last bushel of wheat or what little they have in order to keep their campaign going. This was demonstrated early on in the tutorial section of The Witcher 3 where the local Nilfgaardian garrison is bleeding the populace dry with their logistical needs.
4 TOTALITARIAN RULE
One of the worst things Nilfgaard has done to their conquered kingdoms? Subject them to an iron fist, of course. In addition to violently propagating its own culture to neighboring territories, Nilfgaard also likes to erase the previous territories’ identity. They are an empire, after all, and they need to look and stay strong in the eyes of their enemies.
They do give their enemies a chance to surrender and become a vassal state, but this does bind them to the empire’s beck and call. Needless to say, the word of the Nilfgaardian Emperor is law in all of Nilfgaard and its territories.
3 REGICIDE
Before starting a war, Nilfgaard did the worst thing imaginable to their enemies: playing dirty. They did this by assassinating every major king who might stand against them. Emhyr employed Letho’s expertise as a witcher in order to carry out these scandalous assassinations as an act to soften up the kingdoms for invasion.
Letho proved too successful and threw half the continent into pure chaos just by beheading the right people. This not only ensured Nilfgaard’s success in invading Temeria and the other kingless kingdoms but also put Letho in the crosshairs of Geralt. Goes to show just how far Nilfgaard is willing to go just to reign supreme.
2 INVADING KINGDOMS
In addition to waging war, Nilfgaard is all about subjugation and conquest. That means they will assimilate any territory they defeat whether its populace likes it or not. Granted, that’s how wars were back in the medieval era, but Nilfgaard also dabbles in a cultural purge in order to keep the populace under control.
Hence, invaded kingdoms often suffer from unrest and populace dissatisfaction as they watch the very traditions they enjoyed throughout the years get replaced by something alien. In the video games, Nilfgaard has successfully conquered Temeria, some of the surrounding kingdoms, and even Skellige depending on your choices in-game.
1 WAR
Some wars might be justified and reasonable, but Nilfgaard’s is not one of those. For most of Nilfgaard’s history during The Witcher books, video games, and show, they were merely conquerors who are after territories and other kingdoms. They’ll easily upset the peace just to forcibly spread their beliefs.
The result of a war like this is often terrible and exacts a heavy toll both for Nilfgaard and its enemies. Hundreds of thousands of innocents also die in the process and children become orphans all because Nilfgaard doesn’t believe in coexisting with other kingdoms. This has been shown time and again in The Witcher 3 quite vividly.
