Learn about my Sins, Witcher ...

I slept with the witch Abigail. I did it in a moment of empowerment. I did it to spite the villagers and the game. I did it because I liked her. 

Abigail

I finally finished up the outskirts of Vizima this past week. I killed the beast, the end of the major questline in the area, and I helped Abigail, one of the main people in that questline. The beast itself was rather disappointing, to be honest, so I will be focusing on Abigail instead. 

Abigail is a single woman living in her own house in the outskirts. She is an alchemist. She supports herself by selling potions to the villagers (for better or worse). She is pretty, but more or less looks and dresses like all the other women in town. Her home looks neat and orderly. She even takes in the orphan Alvin. 

Does this sound familiar? It should, historically, these types of women were accused of witchcraft. In the game, Abigail is an actual witch (she does not hide this) and other than the reality of her witchcraft, her story falls in line with depictions of historical witches in the physical world. 

The reverend claims that Abigail summoned the beast that is terrorizing the village - as witches were blamed for black magic, plagues, and anything else humans couldn't control. She talks about people mistaking her for a whore - inline with commonly expressed patriarchal fears of female sexuality. 

From the start I liked her. As a woman, the idea of the powerful and independent, yet stigmatized and persecuted woman calls to me. Growing up in a patriarchy, little girls often don't have any other strong historical role models (they existed but they tend not to make it into the textbooks) and so like many others I idolized the so-called witches. And even though as an adult I know how integral to history women have been, the appeal of the witch lingers. 

This is why I slept with Abigail. 

Near the end of this questline I find Abigail hiding in a cave. A mob has come after her, seeking to burn her because they say she summoned the beast. Now, Abigail is not innocent. She freely admits to selling poisons to villagers to aid them in their evil deeds, claiming that what they do with what she sells is no business of hers. I realize I am judging her in this moment. I am claiming she is not innocent, but I do agree with her when she says, “Don’t let them harm me. My sins are not as great as they say.” Given her situation I do not blame her and she is most certainly not as bad as the other villagers trying to put all the blame on her for their own actions. 

So I decide to sleep with Abigail because I want to, and appropriately enough the dialogue option I have for this is, "Abigail, I was drawn to you from the start..." and it's true (even if on a different level). I sleep with her because I am attracted to her and respect her and will leave this cave to defend her from the villagers when we are done. I do this to treat her like a person and to spite the villagers. I find the decision empowering. 

OK, great, so how does this spite the game? Well.... you see the lead up to sex is less sexy. Here's the dialogue, 

Abigail: “Don’t let them harm me. My sins are not as great as they say.”

Geralt: “Really?”

Abigail: “Learn for yourself, if you like. We’re alone, we have some time …”

Geralt: "Abigail, I was drawn to you from the start..."

This lead up follows from the patriarchal views of the villagers outside the cave – they are talking about sins and Abigail equates sinning to sex – learn about my sins, Witcher, by sleeping with me – is the implication here.

And then there is the sex card.* 

The woman in the card doesn’t look like Abigail at all. She looks wild, feral, dirty. Her hair is unkempt, she is naked save for some “primitive”** looking jewelry. Her facial expression looks more like a predator eyeing dinner and she is squatting with her knees spread as far as they will go. Technically – by American standards – she is covered, by a hand, some hair, and the jewelry. She is depicted as animalistic as one can while keeping her human. She looks like a witch – a woman who would be running around the woods, offering her body to Lucifer by the light of a bonfire (also pictured in the card).    

And then, Abigail helps me-as-Geralt slay the beast.

*Ya I know they are "romance" cards, but let's be real, this isn't romance, this is sex.

**I realize this word is loaded and terrible, but for the sake of this depiction it is what the villagers would be thinking about Abigail and is what men often claimed about women/witches in the physical world.