How did Nilfgaard took 3 tries to even take out the north. is

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>>376432652
>take out the north
>get its asswhoop by based bald man

>>376432652
first war was because of mages, 2nd war was because of good tactics and cooperation by redania, temeria, kaedwen, lyria, and aedirn.
then emrhy just basically sent an assasin to kill all of the kings on the onset of the third.

>>376432773
>"based" bald man
>literally murdered by an old blind dyke
cuckvid fags GET OUT

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>>376433769
I bet Keira metz loved getting radovid's pike.

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>the North will never see a charismatic and morale boosting king like Foltest again

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>>376434056
wouldn't mind getting to pike her.

>>376434142
>I forbid you from dying like idiots!

>>376434142
Foltest and Roche were just great characters. Shame that Roche was turned into a D-lister in TW3. He deserved better.

Also, his redesign looked fucking weird.

>>376432652

Kovir/Poviss alone has enough concentrated technology and magic to blow Nilfgaard the fuck out. Kovir is the kingdom everyone sent their intellectuals/engineers/eccentric scholars and mages to keep them out of their business. After a few decades of exiling all the smartest and craziest people in the world to Kovir, the Kingdoms all tried to invade it and were utterly blown the fuck out. It's like the U.S Navy in the 1860's forcing Japan's ports open, the technological difference is just too strong.


With that said, Nilfgaard is barely held together internally- the Trade Corporations have as much power, or more, than the Imperial House. Going to war and succinctly mobilizing the Empire is a pain in the ass.

Because the witchers decided to get involved.

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>>376434715
It would just be better if Roche wasn't in the game at all like Iorveth, his presence in Novigrad didn't make any sense and it just felt like fan pandering.

>>376434142
Foltest was a retard.

>charismatic and morale boosting
That was Natalis, not Foltest.

>>376432652
>The Blacks from the south invade and conquer the north.
Really makes you think...

>>376434842
actually, the imperial houses and the trade corps were working together to depose emrhy from the throne after his two botched invasions of the north. war is expensive and having nothing to gain from it really set the wealthy merchant houses mad in nilfgaard, while emrhy's act of marrying twice and in both instances married someone not part of the imperial families angered the nobles of nilfgaard.

Nilfgaard is unable to project enough power to rule there.
That's why even in their best ending they still have to create vassal states similar to Toussaint.

>>376435649
Nilfgaardians are closer to Romans, you fucking idiot

Because they unexpectedly encountered wizardry that wrecked armies by dropping giant fireballs on them or discovered that the North actually kicks ass when they all stop fighting each other for 10 minutes to stave off the Black Ones' invasions. Also because the corporate overlords and Emhyr aren't on good terms, as shown by the fact their assassins stab him to death in the middle of their senate floor if the North repelled the invasion and Emhyr had to go report he expended a vast amount of money and manpower for nothing. Then again leaders who drag you into fruitless wars SHOULD be held accountable for being colossal pieces of shit.

>>376436391

Thats partially due to his illegitimacy to the throne. Reminder that Emhyr was a literal who and ended up on the throne.

>>376434757
>won't have sex with me
That's where you are wrong.

>>376432652
Insane and incompetent emperor + overextended empire.

>>376436736
>insane and incompetent emperor
He's perfectly sane and competent.

>>376434757
You forgot the bloody baron

+ Likes a drink
+ Able to keep what is essentially a bunch of rapists with swords under control.
+ Able to hold onto the barren cunt of a land that is Velen, bonus: Velen post-invasion, which is basically worse than Russia in Winter.
+ Doesn't mind he doesn't have a Gwent card.
+ Nice garden
+ #1 dad
- not really #1 dad
- not #1 husband
- Likes a drink

>>376432652
The northern realms are literally nothing like Poland.

The polish actually do quite well at their ethnic cleansing.

>>376436391
nilfgaard also had mages, its just that northern mages were just more superior than nilfgaardian mages, nilfgaard doesn't have arcane institutions like ban ard or aratuza and mages in nilfgaard weren't viewed as respected envoys rather they were viewed as slaves to the state.

>>376436972
>killed his wife and started 3 wars because he wanted to fuck his own daughter
>perfectly sane

>>376436607
Emhyr wasn't a literal who, he was the son of a deposed Emperor who returned to take back the throne from an usuper.

>>376437606
Your point being?

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>>376434757
>not serving the best Emperor

I forgive you anon, this time.

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>>376437606
>implying incest is unreasonable
>implying you wouldn't kill thousands for her.

>>376438442
Ciri pleasures old Elves though

the north always united against nilfgaard, that's why nilfgaard has to assassinate kings to break them down

and if i remember correctly they only lost twice, third time depends on your choices in witcher 3

>>376434757
>anyone but based duck king

>>376434757
>Emhyr
>Tolerant of other races
Also missed the fact that Radovid is a condescending little shit

>>376434757
reminder that its canon that morvran is the next emperor after emhyr

only a true terrible father would force ciri into that relationship

>>376434757
> no anna henrietta

she gave you a vineyard that got to account for something

>>376434993

They needed someone to represent Temeria's interests, though I guess they could have go with Natalis instead, but they probably wanted someone with who players are more familiar with.

>>376439314
I thought it was weird how all the important Temerians never featured at all besides Roche desu. Not even a mention of Ada or Anais, Roche talks about Natalis holding the line but not if he survived or died, etc.

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>>376434757
>once upon a time
>not all the time

>>376439483
technically can could be dead if you killed her in witcher 1, cd project just decided to ignore that or tried not to aproach the issue as much as possible

they did similar shit with anais and henselt, sort of retconing any decision the player made in the previous game. technically temeria could keep it's independence in one of the endings of witcher 2. or the pontar vally could be independent in another

Just beat this and about to start the dlc. Great game. What endings you guys get?

Witcher Ciri because I didn't care at all about the emperor. Yen because she seemed better for geralt. Baron dead because I wanted to see what happened when I let the spirit in the tree go. Cerys as queen because it's worth a shot right. Keira lives, I tried to spare everyone I could, except those elves at the beginning. The asked me to put down my weapons, when I politely said no they attacked. Only instance in game where that happens, normally you always get a second chance, so fuck em. Kill the shit out of radovid. Killed Dijkstra, even though he grew on me, wasn't about it abandon my bro Vernon from w2.

>>376434757
It is natural and beautiful that a man should love his own sister.

>>376439981
besides the tree spirit you did well

do hearts of stone first and then blood and wine. after that your life is over

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>>376439209
he's only the right amount of condescending to remind you plebs of his position.

>>376441421
he was a good kind in witcher 2, at least until the witcher hunt starts

in witcher 3 he already went off the rails

>>376441553
witch hunt*

>>376441553
>went off the rails
what he did was all logical. It was the witcher's fault for having grapes for a brain to not understand it.

>>376434757
>Foltest
>Strategic genius
To be fair, Demavend III was tactically the best king in the North, despite Aedern being poor as fuck. That's why Letho killed him first, since with the resources of the full North he would have fucked up Nilfgaard, again.

That's the thing about Nilfgaard. They always expect discipline and manpower will win them the wars, and they get BTFO by something unexpected.
So their next step is to kill the thing they got BTFO by during peacetime, and then try again.

>>376441814
Are you Jewish by any chance? It would be like having thousands of little Jesus running around and randomly deciding to kill them. Even if a few of them are Jesus' evil clone.

>>376441814
killing your own mages during a war with your invading arch nemesis is such a bright idea. it's like living with a roommate and assaulting him when a robber breaks into your home

i realize you are just fishing for attention but still

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>>376441421
>>376441553
That was the first symptom though, I cant find the screenshot from the book right now but he was brewing a massive inferiority complex since child because of Philippa

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>>376442015
Radovid knows, more likely from Redania's great spy network, that Emrhy isn't only fighting against the north but is also fighting against time. the nilfgaardian army could not withstand another northern winter and if emrhy fails to deliver a decisive victory, his backers will finally tire of him and remove him from his rule, ending the northern campaign. So what radovid needs is the ability to survive a war of attrition.
first he needed to remove a loose end, After the lost of their king, a weakened kaedwen would easily be eaten by nilfgaard and the resulting annexation would open redania to two fronts. on the mountains and the pontar river. so during winter, he took kaedwen by force and reinforced the kaedweni's portion of the pontar, essentially using the river as a natural wall for the nilfgaardians to bash themselves repeatedly into while also removing the possibility of redania to ever be faced with the prospect of being surrounded.
secondly, to win a war of attrition, you need two things, the love of the people and a well-funded military. after the events of the coup of thanned and the revelations in the summit of loc muine, the northern folk had no more love for mages and its here where radovid saw his opportunity to secure both the trust of the people and his financial stability.
he sought to stoke and support the mage pogroms as a way to position himself as part of the masses' crusade against magic all the while confiscating the mages' wealth to fund his armies. he also acquired military assets like the witch hunters and the order of the red rose due to his efforts

if radovid was left alone, he will have no detractors to incite rebellion even when in a war economy due to his support of the mage pogroms all the while managing to keep his army well fitted, fed, and payed for. he only needs to hold the pontar as long as he could until nilfgaard defeats itself or until an assasination plot was successful.

>>376443213
prosecution of the mages wasn't "just" some strategic maneuver against nilfgaard it only gets worse if he wins the war. and it extends to simple herbalists and non humans too

he will impale keira metz even though she could solve the catriona plague

>>376443213
Not to mention the financial support from the Eternal Flame.

>>376442267
>>376442065
>>376442015
>but muh chess
can a king go on his monolouge about the realities of war without being called mad anymore?
>but philippa
listen to yourselves you luddites. you only support philippa because she has multiple holes for you to fuck.

>>376443562
ofcourse, as king you can't just pretend to be a supporter of a movement and not follow through with it.

>>376443816
he doesn't pretend shit he just lost it. the lodge was part of the conspiracy to assasinate kings and he crumbles under the paranoia fearing his neck will be next he set fire to every mage he could get his hands on

radovid sucks flaccid cock

>>376444003
The lodge was part of a conspiracy to assassinate kings, the lodge killed his father, helped in the deaths of demavend, helped in the death of foltest, and also killed a thyssed.
the lodge was a main propagator of regicide which ultimately weakened the north so much that they became susceptible to invasion

>>376444227
killing all mages because of the lodge is like killing all the jews because a jewish professor was not impressed with your art project

you get the idea

>>376444227
The fact that the Lodge survives TW3 is a shame.
I mean, some of the sorceresses are fine but the whole organization is just pure cancer. Except if you're into femdom.

>>376444402
Killing a king is a giant crime, killing or aiding in the deaths of four is worst. Not to mention the attempt to kill the last remaining vestiges of temerian nobility and henselt during the summit after philippa sent a dragon to burn the place down.
The resulting mage pogrom was the north's answer to how the lodge shafted the north in their attempts to keep the practicers of magic strong and influential.

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>>376437606
He was trying to fulfill the prophecy that would save the world from the incoming ice age.

>>376444645
a leader needs to be pragmatic and know how much he can swallow before he fucks up by playing tough guy too much

killing all mages because of the lodge is like going to iraq and bleeding there for years because of 9/11. he made shit worse for his country where as leader he needs to guide his people to prosperity

he could've used people like kalkstein instead of setting him on fire

>>376444834
>he made shit worse for his country
saved his country from an invasion is now called making it worst.
and killing a king is a stupendous crime, the entire health of a state depends on the stability that a king projects. without a king, nobles will divide the country into little pieces as they greedfully fashion themselves rulers of their own lands. To murder a king is to bring an entire nation into chaos. Heck that should be abundantly clear when you see what happened to temeria after the lost of foltest.
Not to mention that a nation's identity is so solely reliant on its king and also the religious ramification of a king's assasination, seeing that they are also often seen as people who have divine right to rule and to murder a king is to impose the wrath of heaven.
Mages needed to be shown that such actions are not to be warranted. too bad the regicides happened in a time were people were desperate or that the regicides happened at all.

>>376444821
He has nothing to do with the stupid prophecy.

>>376444821
that's what emrhy tells himself everynight as he tries to go to sleep.

>>376445386
you couldn't even address the fact the witch hunt was counter productive so you just shifted to how horrible regicide is. which is a crime that falls on the shoulder of the lodge and not all mages. even if an important figure gets assassinated you don't go apeshit if you care about your future. WW1 is a good example

and those idiot kings should prepare a legitimate and well know heir in advance to prevent chaos. a common mistake all rulers in the witcherverse fall for

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>>376444821
>believing the words of a mage
>mage isn't even a hot girl

>>376445748
I just explained how the mage hunts were extremely productive. read >>376443213

>>376435917
nilfgaards are fucking turks 101.

>>376445995
> it was productive because it rallied the angry people up and we stole the mage's gold

you don't set fire to your own home when you have an invader at your doorstep, those mage hunters should be on the front line aiding the redenian army

shani alone saved dozens of lives, the mages and herbalists could've been an excellent force but kovir will be the kingdom to enjoy them

>>376439981
>Yen
>Released She Who Knows
Not bad other than that

>>376432652
>is this polish power fantasy?
Kinda obvious you know

>>376446005
>t,turk trying to be relevant.
Nilfgaardians are pretty roman, to their acceptance of slavery, to their devotion to nilfgaard, to their caste system that focuses mostly on the true "roman citizen" those who were born in nilfgaard proper.

>>376446005
nilfgaardians are a german-roman hybrid. as in germanic people in nature with a roman like empire

>>376446214
> he fell for the triss meme

>>376443562
Keira is a greedy whore who deserves a cross. Literally the only reason to allow her to live is to give your boy Lambert a good ending

>>376446204
>you don't set fire to your own home when you have an invader at your doorstep
No, that is in fact an excellent time to remove all the problematic elements from the board.

>>376446204
rallying angry people to your side ensures that those angry people will not be used by the enemy against you, And having the finances to fund the war ensures that your army is strong and loyal.
Shani is an infinitesimal spec compared to the war. What matters to Radovid isn't some oxenfurt reject but how to retain northern freedom against nilfgard.

>>376446284
Not everyone gets off on being treated like shit, anon. Some of us prefer significant others who don't always act like they're better than everyone else

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>>376437125

Which is what makes the whole plot of Witcher 2 so genius as a prelude to the invasion.

Emhyr (or Shillard) basically discredited mages, had a number of kings killed and dashed any of hope of nothern union in one fell swoop.

That Rad the Lad managed to mount a defense at all is a huge credit to him. Too bad he broke under the stress and turned into the most annoying piece of shit in the world.

>>376446279
>>376446284

heck the whole "praise the sun thing" is an analog to the cult of solarius that the romans were big lovers of.

>>376446284
>nilfgaardians are a german-roman hybrid
Yes besides the fact the scriptwriter said Nilfgaard was inspired by the Mongol empire.

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>>376446665
If there's one thing that can be said about emrhy is that he's a Giant when it comes to subversion and plots like this.

>>376446350
he's going all out!!

>>376446515
you could rally the people against the lodge who served the interests of nilfgaard and get all that angry peasent support for much less. in fact you are much less likely to shatter redenian society that way as the witch hunts are not popular with everyone

also prosecuting mages makes them a valuable asset to your enemy. nilfgaard gave the lodge amnesty in the end

>>376446808
the only similarity the have to the mongols is that they are a huge empire

>>376447006
but the lodge itself is a shadowy organization, the people can't accurately place its anger on an enigma like the lodge, it needs something concrete. something that the people can actually do something about, you fail to realize that In times like this, its smart to position yourself in a way to garner the people's sympathy. Radovid just gently pushed the mage pogroms along all the while confiscating the wealth of the mages the masses can find and funding his army with it.

>>376447006
>the only similarity the have to the mongols is that they are a huge empire
It fits more into a historical analogy seeing as the HRE never invaded Poland in the first place and the Mongols did in a time of similar crippling chaos in the Polish state.

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>>376446665
>Emhyr (or Shillard)
Pretty sure only Emhyr, Vattier and Letho (and his two friends) were aware of the assassination attempts IIRC.

>>376447325
isis is a shadowy organization too that doesn't mean a leader should go full retarded at please the fisstech addicted eternal fire fags at the expense of greater interests. and you insist on potraying him as if it was some 4d chess move when it's proven he's a fanatic with killing keira metz who basically served him a gift he could only dream of

if dijstra can defeat nilfgaard without going full retarded on mages and non humans so can radovid if he wasn't an idiot

>>376447453
redenia is basically the poland of the witcherverse for what i've figured judging by it's symbols at least. yet they are called nordlings which is something you'd expect the people of skellige to be called by. they mish mashed all sorts of different stuff to every fictional country in that universe

>>376446204

Nah, man. Rad's strategy was solid as a defense.

Problem is, he has no endgame. He'll run out of mages and nonhumans to shake down and the instability post-war will be something to behold.

That's basically the flaw of Radovid. He's a strategic and political genius who's plagued by intense paranoia and has cracked under stress. An intelligent guy who can't be pragmatic when he must due to his huge hate-boner for mages.

He's Stalin, basically.

>>376447692
If ISIS are wealthy magic wielding autists aiding saudi arabia to conquer syria, and the people hate those ISIS bastards so much that they're gearing up to exterminate them and anything that comes in their way, wouldn't you want to immediately cement your rule by aiding the vast majority of your citizens?

>>376447942
this

if you start pleasing the plebs with bread and games your head will be game too once the mages and nonhumans are done with. you won't be able to tame the beast you've unleashed. what will rad do if the church of the eternal fire decides to undermine his rule and establish some eternal fire caliphate? he will be tossed out by the same maniacs he gave power to

>>376448007
see above

>>376448198
after the war, Radovid removes the military arm of the church "the order of the red rose" by creating a political scene that shows them trying to usurp Redania's beloved monarch.
again, Radovid's brilliance is that he knows when to use and sacrifice the pieces he has to again the upperhand.

who was that guy from the ending of witcher 1?

>>376436982
>king

>>376448438
> after creating the taliban in afghanistan to defeat the soviet union we will dispose of them!

you can't dispose of these bloodthristy degenerates as easily as you'd like to believe. they have priests preaching in novigrad gaining people's trust going against them is a civil war (and guess what nilfgaard does to broken down countries?)

>>376448467
you mean the grandmaster? it's a grown up alvin

>>376439981
Almost identical save for the tree spirit

Velen is fucked anyways

>>376448691
Well, he actually did.
Radovid didn't do all of that so that the people will love the church, He did all of that so that the people will be loyal to him. hence why he supported the mage pogroms, allowed the creation of the witch hunter guilds, and sought to be public when he tries to "discipline" a mage.

>>376448691
>you mean the grandmaster? it's a grown up alvin
no, that witcher guy who wanted to kill Foltest and was killed by Geralt

>>376448952
at the trailer? a nameless nobody as far as i know. but considering the lore of witcher 2 he's probably from the school of the viper

>>376448939
> we will use the SS to dispose of the brown shirts who used to be my tool too until they outlived their usefulness

you need to refine both your bait and your knowledge on politics

>>376435794
Vassal states is how they project power, by granting regions that negotiate and capitulate a modicum of independence they get the ability to maintain the empire and win wars easier.

>>376449159
Its actually more like
>we will frame the SS as if they're trying to kill the furher and turn the entire german nation against them so when we reapropriate their lands and titles no one will question it and we get to finally remove a potentially military arm that the forces behind the SS could use against the furher.

>>376449545

>And they'll remain passive throughout this entire process.

>>376449545
only a retard or an insane person will believe this is a reliable plan

>>376449690
The Order of the Red Rose did try to protest but in the end, Radovid got his way and removed them. this is why you see remnants of their order selling fisstech.

>>376434757
Tie between Radovid and Henselt tbqh.

>>376432652

>First attempt

The Northern Kingdoms mostly have their shit together, especially Temeria, and they have the full support of all northern Mages. Nilfgaard manages to take Cintra, and they kill a lot of people, but ultimately they are forced back across the Yaruga.

>Second attempt

Nilfgaard gets sneaky. They recruit non-human terrorists, they set Kaedwen up against Aedirn, and they force a schism amongst the mages. The main northern powers in the war at this point are Temeria and Redania, but they are bankrolled by Kovir. Nilfgaard make slow progress until Brenna, where Foltest just fucks them senseless and turns the war around.

>Third attempt

Nilfgaard gets extra sneaky and then gets extra bogged down in Temeria for the third fucking time. This one goes either way depending on how alive Radovid is by the end of TW3.

>>376434757
>emhyr
>tolerant of other races
>butchers an entire elven brigade for just being elven.

>>376451548
you do realize dijstra wins against nilfgaard too if you don't kill him right?

>>376452309

Yes but that requires killing Roche and Ves.

It's one of the few things in TW3 that really bug me: the second Radovid dies all of the conspirators have fucking strokes and turn retarded.

>Roche, despite fighting as a guerrilla for Redania for months, wants Temeria to be run by Nilfgaard instead of creating a new Temeria-Redania super state.

>Djikstra starts a fight with Geralt present who A) has not picked a side, B) has history with Roche and C) is probably the most dangerous swordsman in living memory.

Maybe they were making a point about these kinds of plots, and how people will work against a common enemy and then just turn around and eat each other. If that's the case then it certainly could have been done better.

Or maybe I'm just salty that the "best" end is behind a paywall of broche-murdering trauma.

>>376453831
it's the only mission in W3 that was made really bad

just let nilfgaard win, they're no saints but it's the better option

and let enslaving nilfgaard own the north? Fuck them, they're the ones who starting all of this shit.

>>376454276
nilfgaard are war mongering faggots but the north aren't much better to say the least

might be better to have one giant nilfgaard rule over than northen kingdoms fighting everything and themselves endlessly

>>376454483
it was nilfgard who instigated the disenfranchisement of mages in the northern kingdoms,
and witchers have no future to even ply their trade in the south.

>>376454698
geralt did just fine as a witcher in toussant, a nilfgaardian puppet state. which is also a better state than any northen one

>>376453975
>>376454276

The resolution of the war and the whole Eredin/Ciri/White Frost thing are the only real low points of the game for me.

Personally, I think it was too much for the developers to take on Emhyr and Eredin in one game.

>>376454846

Toussant is a special snowflake state, and gets leeway because it is wealthy and doesn't stir shit.

The trouble with Nilfgaard is that one day you are doing absolutely fine as a sanctioned Witcher's guild, and the next day they are nailing your yellow eyeballs to a dinner table. The political currents run deep, and even a small shift can put you in the shit.

>>376434056
Wait what? This bitch never died in my game...

>>376455464
>Toussant is a special snowflake state
not really, Maecht got the same deal

>>376455551
because you are not a retarded and sent her to kaer moren

>>376455464
the political bullshit is the same in the north

>>376455769
>the political bullshit is the same in the north

Very true, but at least there are other countries to flee to.

>>376457364
if you want to flee kovir is there either way

>>376443213
so Radovid is confirmed to be only competent king alive in the north