The Witcher 3: The Lord of Undvik

Help Hjalmar an Craite deliver the island of Undvik from a fearsome foe - an Ice Giant.

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The Witcher 3: The Lord of Undvik

Both The Lord of Undvik and Possession are best attempted in Act Two; if you take no action regarding Skellige’s succession battle before Act Three, the matter is decided for you. It is one of the necessary quests in securing Skelligan aid for Brothers in Arms: Skellige in Act Two, too.

The Lord of Undvik becomes available once Geralt has reached Skellige and spoken to Crach an Craite at the wake of the late King Bran in the mission The King is Dead – Long Live the King. An Craite asks Geralt to look over his two children, Cerys and Hjalmar, who have both vowed to accomplish difficult tasks in order to prove their worth to stand for election as Skellige’s new ruler.

Your search for Hjalmar begins in Kaer Trolde. Visit the inn and ask around; exhaust the dialogue options of Jonas the Innkeep, Tante the Navigator and Axel the Survivor to get the most complete picture of the disaster and the expedition to put down the giant.

Before you set out from Kaer Trolde, make sure you have some nails and twine in your inventory.

We are sailing

You'll need to sail to Undvik. The easiest way is to take a boat located right down at the end of the docks at Kaer Trolde. Open your world map and take a look at your route; it's a long way and there are ample opportunities to damage your boat. Set a waypoint due west in the deepest water between two islands, and sail directly for it. steering around any circling Sirens you spot.

When you've passed through these islands, open your map again and set a waypoint to the south, just outside the many rocks and islands guarding the waypoint. Sail for it - again avoiding any enemies on the way. When you are just off Undvik, go slowly and carefully, picking your way between the rocks, to land safely on the beach. If you don't have any nails and twine, scour the beach for them. Otherwise, proceed.

Where's Hjalmar?

Your HorsePS is a bit useless in this area; if you follow it, you'll see it tends to lead you to where a huge wooden wall has been hastily erected over the slipway. Facing this wall, you want to head left, hugging the rocky wall on your right hand side and periodically using Witcher Senses as you circle back behind the wall via a rocky path. Along the way you may find sea graves, a Clan an Craite shield, and footprints, but what you're looking for is a trail left when someone dragged a litter. This will lead you to the slipway.

When you reach the slipway, battle any Sirens or Ekhidna that attack and approach the half finished ship; you ought to trigger a cutscene here where you see the Ice Giant feeding his pets. When that's passed, enter the ship to speak to the survivor there.

He's not one of Hjalmar's men, as you'll learn if you keep talking with him. Give him the nails and twine to make him happy. He'll tell you Hjalmar's men camped out in a tower nearby.

From this point on you can elect to proceed directly to Hjalmar across the lake, but we're going to take a more circuitous route which brings greater rewards. Enter your quest menu and make sure the tower is selected as your next goal. Follow along to the west until you reach the site of a battle; search around with Witcher Senses to discover a number of clues about the battle - the one you're looking for is two sets of footprints leading off to the west, up a hill. Follow these.

Keep following the trail, checking in at a Nekker ambush, a log used for cover and various other interesting signs until you find the corpse of one of the men you are following. Pick up the Hjorval Horn; you can equip and sue this to make flying foes on Skellige plummet to the ground for easy victories.

But where is the second man? Search around and Geralt concludes he was taken by Trolls. Follow the blood trail into the caves, battling one ice troll, and save your game before you approach the lit area of the cave further in.

You can either kill the ice trolls or play at riddles with them, but in either case if you take too long the man in the pot boils alive, and we don't want that. The quickest route to victory is to play riddles, and get the first one right. The trolls may ask you various riddles, but they're all very easy - the one I got was "troll". Geralt then asks his own riddle, which the trolls can't answer, and Folan is released from the pot.

With Folan at your side, return to Hjalmar's camp and search around for signs which eventually lead you into a cave system. The path here is a bit tricky to sse sometimes, involving lots of ledges, so equip Cat or a torch for best results. When you reach a high ledge overlooking a deep pool and Geralt remarks that it's safe to dive, jump on in.

As you proceed through the caves, keep searching periodically for evidence of Hjalmar's passage - corpses, blood, signs of battle. You'll have to battle both Ekhidna and Devourers (a kind of Rotfiend you might not have seen before) along the way, but eventually you'll emerge from the caves to find a building filled with corpses. This is the Ice Giant's pantry, and there are a few Devourers here which Geralt calls "mice".

Search the pantry carefully with Witcher Senses and and you'll find a trail of giant footprints. Follow these a little further to another abandoned village, where Hjalmar is fighting Sirens. Help him finish them off and then chat away about your various adventures. Hjalmar is determined to go on, so accompany him.

A little way along the path the route is blocked, and Hjalmar asks for your help clearing it. Agree, and save your game!

SPOILER ALERT: Skip past the italics to avoid a potential spoiler with consequences for later in the game.

If you have not rescued Folan from the Ice Trolls, go back and do it now; proceeding any further will cause him to be eaten, and he won't be able to attend the battle at Kaer Morhen in Act Two.

Sneaking up on the Ice Giant

Pass through the newly-opened path to the Ice Giant's lair. Apply Ogroid Oil to your silver blade, and have Quen and Yrden handy.

You'e very close to the Ice Giant now, and if you want the best result from this quest, you need to be very careful here. When you enter the cave, you'll spot another friend of Hjalmar's in a cage. Vigi the Loon asks you to free him.

SPOILER ALERT: Skip past the italics if you don't want to know the consequences of your decision regarding Vigi.

If you do not free Vigi immediately, the Ice Giant kills him during the course of the battle ahead, while retrieving his anchor weapon. He will not be available in the battle at Kaer Morhen in Act Two.

If you want to do free Vigi, you need to get the key from the chest on the southeast wall. To get to the key without waking the giant, you must not step on snow - stick to the darker areas on the floor. If you still have Cat active it can be hard to see; use Golden Oriole to flush it from your system, or just wait.

Regardless of whether you choose to free Vigi or not, you will have to battle the Ice Giant. Use similar tactics as you would for any big, slow-moving foe - use Yrden to make him laughably easy to dodge, then evade an attack, get behind him, and hammer away for a bit before rolling away to rinse and repeat. Hjalmar, Vigi and Folan (if they are with you) will help distract the beast. Part way through the battle the Ice Giant will pull out an anchor weapon on a chain, but it's not that much harder to dodge than his fists.

After the battle ends, Hjalmar says he'll have your deeds praised across Skellige; agree in order to secure discounts at all merchants. Do some more exploring if you like, but then Hjalmar back on the beach to complete the quest and return to Kaer Trolde. If you have also completed Possession, you can now continue with King's Gambit.