The Witcher 2 Easter eggs

This article catalogues the Easter eggs in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.


 * A virtual Easter egg is an intentional hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, computer program, or video game. The term draws a parallel with the custom of the Easter egg hunt observed in many western nations.


 * This practice is analogous to hidden signature motifs such as Diego Rivera including himself in his murals or Alfred Hitchcock's legendary cameo appearances. (Wikipedia)

Visual Easter eggs

 * In the first official trailer for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, there is a hidden message which particularly observant fans can read if the video is paused just before the end of the video. The next similar message could be found in Disdain & Fear trailer.
 * The character Anezka has the face of Didi Cardoso, editor-in-chief of Gamer's Intuition and long-time contributor to the Witcher community forum.
 * The executioner in Flotsam wears a Batman style mask.

Posters

 * Some of the posters in Vergen strongly resemble communist shock-worker motivators known in the former Eastern Bloc.
 * At the beginning of the game, in Foltest's military camp, one of the posters strongly resembles the poster series with Uncle Sam.
 * The "wanted" posters (ones with sketches of Iorveth's or Letho's faces) in fact spell WANTED as a header, using English words with letters replaced by ones from Glagolitsa. An example with full translation can be found here.

Auditory Easter eggs

 * In La Valette dungeons, you can overhear three prisoners talking about their escape plans. The entire conversation is mocking Prison Break TV series.
 * In Chapter III, in Loc Muinne's main square (where the vendors are) a group of Nilfgardian soldiers can be heard saying Semper Fi, the motto of the United States Marine Corps.

References to other games/media

 * During the Ballista section of the Prologue. You can find a dead body near the large iron gates. The body is wearing a white suit and it appears that the cause of death is falling from a great height into a cart full of hay. Geralt makes comment and receives +1 in the Assassination Attribute. This is clearly a reference to the Assassins Creed game franchise. Most people refer to the body as Altair, the protagonist of the original Assassin's Creed.
 * When first encountering a monster-type enemy, Geralt will utter "Damn, you're ugly". This is also one of Duke Nukem's one-liners said in Duke Nuk'em 3D.
 * If you take Iorveth's path, in the dialogue between Geralt, Iorveth and Philippa, when Phillipa first explains the ingredients required to save Saskia she first says she need magical objects like 20 legendary rings of power, which is a hint to 20 rings of power from the Lord of the Rings - three for the Elven-kings, seven for the Dwarf-lords, nine for Mortal Men, and one for the Dark Lord. Geralt and Iorveth then proceed to take turns to jokingly recite the inscription on the One Ring and journey of Frodo Baggins to destroy it. Phillipa then changes her mind and asks them to look for something else that is magical.
 * In the beginning of Chapter II, Philippa asks Saskia if she's hurt, which Saskia responding with saying "it's just a flesh wound", a possible reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
 * If you choose to give Iorveth his sword during the ambush in the elven baths and then choose to help Iorveth rather than Vernon Roche he'll plan an attack to seize the prison barge. If you say "I'd resort to a trick." when you meet him just before the attack, Iorveth and Geralt will separate from the group and meet somewhere close to the town gate, Geralt will say they have to get past the gate somehow and Iorveth will answer this with the sentence "Piece of Lembas." which is a reference to the elven way bread Lembas in The Lord of the Rings.
 * During the Hey, Work's on in the Mines! quest (Iorveth's path), there are many references to the mines of Moria in The Lord of the Rings, e.g. dwarves delving too deep and thus starting conflict with underground creatures, as demonstrated in Balin's journals and the final appearance of a bullvore similar to a balrog.
 * In Vergen you'll meet an elf named Drizzt who moves sneakily. It's an obvious reference to the Drizzt do'Urden character from Dungeons & Dragons - Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
 * A number of minor NPCs are named after characters from The Lord of the Rings. It is possible to find characters named Radagast referring to Radagast the Brown, Undomiel, referring to Arwen Undómiel and etc.
 * Sword of the Dun Banner is referred to by the wraith as a sword of Colonel Gondor, with the name being another LotR Easter egg.
 * In Vergen, if Geralt loses the game of dice poker with Skalen Burdon, the dwarf will mention a character named Blazkovitz, who sought the Spear of Destiny. This is a reference to the main character of Wolfenstein game series.
 * Once again, in Chapter II in Vergen, when Geralt wins the second dice poker game with Skalen Burdon, he gets the Princess Xenthia sword as a reward, which is a reference to the "Xena: Warrior Princess" TV series.
 * In Vergen, during the armwrestling contest, Skalen Burdon refers to his fellow-dwarves Yarpen and Sheldon as "Dopey and Sneezy", referencing Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
 * In Chapter I when you first talk with Einar Gausel, he mentions some books Síle had recently bought. One of them is "De Vermis Mysteriis". The book is actually part of the Cthulhu Mythos. It's not as well known as the Necronomicon but it's mentioned in several stories-including some by Robert E. Howard and Stephen King. Robert Bloch (who wrote Psycho) created it in 1935.
 * In Flotsam you can find two elf girls sitting on a bench, talking about designer shoes. One is named Carrie. A reference to the TV show Sex and the City.
 * In Chapter II during the quest Subterranean Life (available only if you've sided with Iorveth), talking to Sheldon Skaggs sometimes prompts him to say "A true dwarf's got three things to do in life: build a fortress, cut down an oak, and plough regularly." This is a reference to Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft, and Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones novels and television series, respectively.
 * The sorcerer Dethmold has three potion bottles on his belt: two blue and one red. Red (health points) and blue (mana points) potion bottles have been standard in fantasy video/computer games for decades.
 * In the Kaedweni camp, when Geralt passes by groups of soldiers, they sometimes comment about him and a "super soldier serum". A reference to Marvel Comics iconic character Captain America.
 * In Chapter III, in Loc Muinne, there is a merchant named the Incredible Lockhart — one of main characters in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
 * In the Chapter III part of the An Encrypted Manuscript quest, Geralt can find a message which contains the text from the beginning of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen encrypted with  ROT13 cipher.

References to Polish culture

 * In the Polish version of the game, it is possible to challenge a man named 'Naizdup' (Fliparse in English) to a fistfight, and it is hinted by a judge that the man does everything backwards. Spelling 'Naizdup' backwards gives 'Pudzian', which is a nickname for Mariusz Pudzianowski, the world's strongest man and recently an MMA fighter. Naizdup also shares some outward appearance with Pudzian.
 * In the Kayran quest, in the Kayran's lair, there is the body of a man. Near his body lies a fake sheep which is a reference to a Polish folk legend about Wawel Dragon. Since it is a very old legend (earliest: XII century) there are a few variations:
 * In the tale, a dragon was killing whole herds of sheep and people in the nearby city of Kraków. In a mild version, mainly for children, the dragon was eating sheeps and cows, wreaking havoc and destroying farms unless paid a weekly tribute with livestock. The less "censored" version states that the tribute had to be paid not in livestock but in virgins, since they were dragon's favorite food. As the town nearly ran out of young women to sacrifice, there was only one left - the princess. By the order of the King who wanted to spare his own daughter, many knights tried to kill the dragon but all of them failed until a young shoemaker, Skuba, came up with an idea. He bought a sheep, gutted it and stuffed the carcass with sulphur and tar. Skuba then used the sheep as bait for dragon, who then proceeded to eat it. This caused the dragon pain and a burning sensation in his stomach so he tried drinking the water from a nearby river to relieve the symptoms. He drank and drank and drank... until he exploded. Skuba married the princess he saved and everybody lived happily ever after. That same tale is also reflected in the short story "The Bounds of Reason".
 * Another, oldest variant states that it were King's sons who came up with the trick to stuff cow's carcass with sulphur. The dragon took the bait and choked with it to death. The brothers couldn't come to an agreement which one of them killed the dragon and so one killed the other. The "victor" told his father that it was the dragon who killed his brother. The murdered later became the King but his secret was discovered, thus he was banished. There are even more variations of this story. For example, the killing of the dragon is attributed to the King who was a father of two sons and the fratricide came after resolving the dragon problem.

Miscellaneous

 * Ship wreckage that Geralt explores in monster's lair is named after Petra Silie, a Witcher community forum moderator.
 * Another ship is mentioned, named the Daerdin, Daerdin is also a long-time Witcher community forum moderator.
 * Additionally, one of the prostitutes in the Camp followers' encampment is named Undomiel, which is either the name given to Arwen, one of the LotR main character, and the name of a long-time Witcher community forum moderator.
 * The second opponent in the Chapter I quest One on One: Flotsam is named Kcorb Ransel (AKA Fliparse), a nod to MMA fighter Brock Lesnar.
 * The Scoia'tael password and it's response in Chapter I is "Kier-ke-gard" and "Hei-deg-ger", the names of two philosophers.
 * The Dun Banner standard is folded in a triangular shape, just like the U.S flag.
 * The name Vandergrift was the name of United States Marine Corps General. His name was Alexander Archer Vandergrift.
 * In the 1st chapter after the scene connected with hanging there are 3 guards walking together and chatting. In Polish version they are saying that in other town guards have loads of sunlight during patrols. One of the guards asks if those guys are called "Słoneczny Patrol" which means "Baywatch" and is connected with the TV series with David Hasselhoff. This Easter egg needs confirmation on non-polish version of the game.

Videos
The Witcher 2 Easter Eggs