So I came to the end of Act 1 and was having real trouble deciding. Beforehand, I was thinking I'd go with Roche, since he'd stuck his neck out for me, but then Zoltan wanted me to team up with the elves, and oh man, Zoltan is a friend, so I have to give that some consideration, right? BTW, that's a real testament to how well the characters are written in this game, that I am able to think of Zoltan as a real person who can influence me, the player, through his friendship to Geralt, the character.
Anyway, I was having a real hard time, and I decided to put the game aside and sleep on it, come back to it the next day with fresh eyes.
That didn't help. So I decided to cheat a little. I decided to keep a save and play out both choices, just so I could see the start to each path and see if one of them rubbed me the wrong way. And boy did it ever.
The second Iorveth said: "Leave them. Our women are prepared to die", I saw him for what he was: A terrorist that has lost his moral compass in the pursuit of his goal. In light of recent events in the real world, you can see that just as with Al Qaida and ISIS, there are the beginnings of a legitimate cause in there somewhere, but the methods they employ are so beyond the pale that any legitimacy is instantly wiped out and replaced with revulsion.
Roche on the other hand is not ruled by hatred the same way Iorveth is. He is doing his job. He never (so far in the game, at least) expresses dislike for any innocent non-humans. His problem with the scoia'tael is not that they are non-humans, it is that they are bandits and terrorists, no matter their race. And that is the only position I can morally get behind. To me, going with Iorveth is like hating every white westerner because you are arab, or hating every arab because you're a white westerner. Going with Roche is like judging people by their actions, and not by their color or religion.
Plus, you get to kill that scum Loredo as a bonus. Jesus H. tapdancing Christ, it felt good to skewer that asshole!
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