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This iconic Witcher 3 sword made it into the RPG's best expansion, all because a modder won a replica of it years before
The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine expansion features Aerondight, a powerful silver sword won by a developer in a modding competition, making it a significant in-game item.
A former Witcher 3 developer has revealed Aerondight made it into the game's Blood and Wine expansion as a tribute to when he won the sword itself from CD Projekt.
To celebrate The Witcher 3's powerful new REDkit modelling tool going live on Steam earlier this week, CD Projekt got together to a bunch of its own developers for the video below, which explores how the individuals began as modders before becoming professional developers. The Witcher 4 narrative lead Philipp Weber, who worked on The Witcher 3 as a quest designer, was among those interviewed.
"When the REDkit released there was a big competition for the best mod," Weber recalls of The Witcher 2's modding tools, back in the day. "And I happened to win that competition, and the prize was Aerondight, Geralt's special silver sword," Weber further explains. "When I was later a quest designer at CD Projekt, in Blood and Wine, I made sure to add a quest where you can get Aerondight back," Weber adds.
Aerondight originally appeared briefly in The Witcher 2, but Geralt basically loses it in the game's prologue, when he stabs a huge dragon with it. In The Witcher 3, Aerondight is only obtainable in the 'There Can Only Be One," quest in the Blood and Wine expansion, where Geralt needs to prove that he has all five chivalric values, for the Lady of the Lake to bestow the sword upon him.
What you might not know is that Aerondight could also be bestowed upon Geralt in the exact same fashion in the original Witcher. She could be found in the Murky Waters region not too far from Vizima, and while Geralt can predictably sleep with her, he can also be granted Aerondight from her as a tool to help him on his quest to find those who attacked Kaer Morhen.
In The Witcher 3, Aerondight is basically positioned as one of the best silver swords in the entire massive RPG, mainly because it's obtained so far into the game itself, where the player will likely be well over level 40 by the time they encounter the Lady of the Lake. It's nice to know the sword is there in Geralt's last adventure because it's important to one developer.