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Great moments in PC gaming: Geralt's bath in The Witcher 3


The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Developer: CD Projekt Red
Year: 2015

Geralt's bath-time is iconic and not just because it became a meme. It's an important scene in The Witcher 3 and the first statement of one of its significant themes. Before we ever see Geralt fight a griffin, follow clues to catch a killer, or haggle over a payment we see him relaxing, at ease in a way few videogame protagonists ever are. It's a scene that's echoed later when Ciri hangs out in a sauna, and turned on its head when Yennefer convinces Geralt to have his beard shaved. These scenes are moments of peace being enjoyed by characters who don't know enough of it.

Once you notice them, they're everywhere. The dinner with Keira Metz, Geralt getting drunk with his Witcher buddies, the snowball fight. Like the Hobbiton scenes in The Lord of the Rings or all the conversations about food, they contrast the ordinary with the epic, but not to belittle it—to show that these small comforts are things worth fighting for.

And the fact Tub Geralt's a meme now makes it even better. At first it was fun attaching the picture to Witcher stories because it's always fun to enrage the kind of dudes who get mad online because they were shown some male flesh yet never have anything to say about videogame art overflowing with women's skin. But then the complaints changed. People stopped being mad at Tub Geralt—they started being mad whenever we published a Witcher-related story without Tub Geralt. And that's why he's here to stay. (Even if we do sometimes go with Big Geralt for variety.)

Long may he bathe. 
