The Bloody Baron's questline, Family Matters, is one of the best tales in The Witcher 3. Not because it's a laugh-a-minute or anything, but it showcases the true grey morality of the series and is truly an emotional journey. It takes up a substantial portion of The Witcher 3's story and various decisions made along the way will affect what ending you get.
With that in mind, let's take a look at how to get the best ending in the Family Matters quest.
How to start Family Matters
To get started, head to the Crossroads Inn and choose the option "I'm a Witcher" to avoid getting into a fight with the Baron's men. Continue with the story until the Bloody Baron questline unlocks after completing The Nilfgaardian Connection. Then, head to Crow's Perch and seek out the Baron for a chat.
After revealing that Ciri was indeed at Crow's Perch, he'll reveal his true intentions: if you want to find Ciri, you need to help him find his wife, Anna, and his daughter, Tamara. He'll lead you to their bedrooms to gather clues but you only need to search Anna's to progress the quest. I would still search Tamara's room though for bits of valuable loot and you'll get a hint as to where she's disappeared to.
Search Anna and the Baron's room
Use your Witcher senses to investigate the room. You're looking for:
- A damaged candlestick
- A pale piece of wall that's recently had a painting hung there
- A painting that's been moved, revealing a hole in the wall
- A dresser that has the rest of the broken candlestick
- The spilled Evreluce wine
You'll then need to track the scent of the wine but the trail goes cold quite quickly. You'll find a floorboard you can interact with that reveals a talisman, so speak to the Baron to tell him what you've found. He'll deny any knowledge of a fight or anything sinister but will point you in the direction of a cunning woman (read: a witch) and the pellar. Go see the pellar first, as he has a delightful goat named Princess you need to lure home with a bell.
The cunning woman—notably, Keira Metz—you can visit later unless you want to embark on a different lengthy sidequest. The pellar's house can be found in Blackbough, so just follow the waypoint on the map until you meet him. The Baron's men are already there and you can either pay them, use Axii on them, or your swords to dispel the group. If you fought the Baron's men at the Crossroads Inn they'll remember you and you'll have no option but to fight, otherwise, they should leave well alone.
Visit the pellar
As I explained earlier, you need to retrieve the pellar's goat first, so go ahead and lure her back and watch out for the bear. After that, the pellar will perform a ritual, revealing that Anna and Tamara fled the Bloody Baron's abuse and that Anna was pregnant, but miscarried. The child became a Botchling due to not receiving a proper burial, and they are dangerous wee creatures.
You then need to travel back to the Baron and confront him about his lies. Unfortunately, everything is on fire and you need to get to the stables to rescue the horses and a guard called Oswin. You can ignore this fire but you'll miss out on a reward, so climb up the ladder to get to the top of the stable and make your way through the stables to the lower level to break out the door.
After that, you'll have to have a fight with the Baron as he's drunk and belligerent. He's easy to beat because he's super slow, and afterward, you'll have another cutscene where the Baron reveals the truth. Essentially, you have to decide what you're doing with the Botchling. You can choose to name the Botchling and bury it, turning it into a Lubberkin—a friendly guardian spirit who will aid you—or kill the Botchling and give its blood to the pellar.
Follow the Lubberkin
Again, we're going for the best ending, so choose to bury the Botchling. You'll need to fight some wraiths and make sure the Botchling also stays calm using Axii. If it doesn't, you'll be forced to kill it, so make sure you calm it down between slicing up enemies. Eventually, a cutscene will trigger and the Baron will name the baby Dea, and once laid to rest, the Lubberkin will appear and lead you to a smokehouse and horse tracks. Keep following and eventually, you'll find a fisherman's hut, so head inside.
The fisherman, Voytek, will pretend he's never met Anna or Tamara which we obviously know is nonsense. He reveals Tamara has gone to Oxenfurt but Anna was kidnapped and her whereabouts are unknown. At this point, reveal what you know to the Baron and he'll give you a doll, which you can take to Tamara who, surprise surprise, joined the Eternal Flame religious cult.
The Ladies of the Woods
This is where you need to do the old switcheroo to the Keira Metz questline, so continue until you complete "The Ladies of the Woods" and find Anna has been kidnapped by the Crones, three very old and scary witches. You'll want to kill the Whispering Hillock during this quest to get the good ending in Family Matters.
You can then speak to the Baron again now that you've found Anna and that concludes Family Matters. However, to truly finish the storyline and get the good ending, you need to complete the Return to Crookback Bog as well. The Ladies of the Wood will summon a fiend to fight you and the witch hunters, so you'll need Relict Oil, Samum bombs, and heavy use of Quen. After it's defeated, the Baron will take Anna to a healer in the mountains and Tamara remains a member of the Eternal Flame.
As Netflix's The Witcher Season 4 loses another star, once again I feel compelled to tap the 'this no-budget YouTube fan film does the Witcher better' sign
I can only assume this upcoming Witcher children's book takes it easy on the folk horror, fantasy racism, and brutal violence I associate with the series
