InThe Witcher 3’s Blood and Wine DLC, the player can undertake the quest “Turn and Face the Strange.” This side quest triggers at a certain point in the expansion’s main quest and involves looking for a hidden laboratory. Upon arriving there, the player can then unlock Geralt’s mutation abilities, providing new skills slots and a new set of abilities to unlock.
The enhanced mutations are no doubt useful to Geralt and his exploits inThe Witcher 3. However, the story behind the laboratory and its former occupant is a heinous one. It belonged to a mage and scientist named Tomas Moreau, who conducted gruesome experiments on his son, Jerome — all in the hopes of saving him.
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‘Turn and Face the Strange’ in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
After completing theBlood and Wine main quest, “Blood Run,” a young boy will approach Geralt to deliver an important letter. The sender and contents will depend on whom the player romanced in the base game, but the heart of the message is always the same. There’s a laboratory somewhere in Toussaint that was owned by Professor Tomas Moreau, who delved into genetics and the nature of Witcher mutations. Geralt, the sender writes, would likely benefit from unearthing the secret lab.
After some investigation, the player will find a way to Tomas’ lab, accessible only through a specific sequence of portals. Digging around the facility will then reveal a Megascope where the professor recorded his progress. Once Geralt has learned enough about Moreau’s experiments, the quest will prompt the player to use these experiments on Geralt. This unlocks a new set ofWitcher 3character skillsand completes the quest. Though Tomas’ experiments are a boon for Witchers like Geralt, the findings proved detrimental to the professor and his son.
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Jerome Moreau and His Life as a Witcher
Long beforethe events ofThe Witcher 3, Tomas Moreau was saved by a Witcher from the School of the Griffin. This Witcher then invoked the Law of Surprise, which bound Tomas’ son, Jerome Moreau, to the mutant. Years later, the unnamed Witcher returned to claim Jerome as the two were bound by Destiny. Young Jerome was taken to Kaer Seren and trained as a Witcher, but Tomas swore an oath that he would one day get his son back.
Meanwhile, in Kaer Seren, Jerome took well to his training and was surprisingly resilient when undergoing thenecessary Witcher mutations. As such, he retained the appearance of an ordinary human, unlike his mutated brethren. It’s said that the people around Jerome treated him better than other Witchers as a result of this, as the only clue to Jerome’s occupation were the two swords on his back and his Witcher medallion. That said, Jerome’s human appearance was a blessing as well as a curse — one that would be brought about by his own father.
While Jerome had wholeheartedly accepted his destiny, Tomas was hard at work, trying to find a way to pull his son back into a life of normalcy. The professor kept tabs on his son’s movements, and his relatively normal appearance led Tomas to believe that he could reverse the Witcher mutations effects with magic and science. He began to study the mutations. Eventually, he lured Jerome to Toussaint with amonster contract like those inThe Witcher 3.
Jerome, aware of his father’s constant eye on him, traveled toToussaint ofThe Witcher 3to confront Tomas. Upon arriving, however, the professor paralyzed him, took his swords away, and kept him captive in his laboratory. During this time, Jerome wrote on the back of one of his diagrams that he’d, unfortunately, left the rest of his gear elsewhere, making it impossible for him to escape from his prison. He also leaves a message for his father, calling him a madman and a cold-blooded murderer. Jerome had felt nothing but hate for Tomas and wanted nothing more than for the professor to pay for his crimes. However, his most chilling admission in the note has to be this single sentence: “Think I’m gonna die in this place.”
Experimenting on Witcher Mutations
Now that Jerome was at his mercy, Tomas began conducting experiments so that he could better understand howthe Witcher mutations changed the human body. These experiments were brutal, often reducing the young Witcher to a state of near-death. Despite this, Tomas continued experimenting, making valuable scientific discoveries along the way.
Though in the end, Tomas failed to “cure” Jerome. His various experiments did not reverse his son’s Witcher mutations. On the contrary, they deepened them. Jerome became much stronger, faster, and more inhuman, like therest of the Witchers inThe Witcherworld. Thus, after years of research, Tomas Moreau gave up. While his reason for doing so isn’t mentioned, it’s likely because Jerome finally died from the strain of the mutation experiments.
Tomas left his laboratory. He planned to return to his wife, Lydia, in hopes that she would take him back again. As for his son’s body, the professor burned it as he couldn’t face what he’d done to Jerome. The rest of thelaboratory inThe Witcher 3, he simply left within the Elven ruin, and it’s unknown what Tomas did for the remainder of his life. However, inThe Witcher 3, Geralt finds his grave in Toussaint, desecrated and bearing an inscription in Elder Speech.
In Common Speech, it reads, “Salvation lies not in the Valley of the Nine, but in our hearts. Glory be to Aelirenn.” The Valley of the Nine is where the Elven ruin that held Tomas’ laboratory is located. Perhaps this is meant to chastise Tomas’ past actions as he’d tried to find peace in his experiments when he should have sought it in himself. However, the meaning of the second sentence is unclear as Aelirenn is anElven hero fromThe Witcher 3’srecent history— one who was never mentioned in Tomas’ dealings.
Whatever the case, it’s clear that Jerome is the true victim of this story. Though he’d accepted his fate to become a Witcher, his father prevented him from living the life he was given, even going so far as to torment Jerome with heinous experiments. The young Witcher did not deserve his death, yet his ashes remain trapped in an Elven ruin, while his father’s are buried neatly in a city cemetery.
The Witcher 3: Wild Huntis available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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