In Witcher 3, Free Spirit is a side quest during which Geralt helps a man who fell in love with a Freya priestess.
How to start
To start the quest, travel north from Ard Skellig and get to Snidhall Isle. It’s uninhabited, but if you walk along the shore, you’ll hear screams near a small hut. Investigate and watch as an NPC runs towards another one who has almost nothing to protect himself with. There are two ways to intervene. You can:
- Observe or help the attacker kill the other guy, after which you’ll be told to get lost, getting nothing from the encounter.
- Kill the attacker. Once he’s dead, talk to the guy you saved. He’ll share his sad story with you.
His name’s Ivar, and the sister of the warrior you just killed, Irma, ran away with him instead of serving the goddess Freya. But there’s one problem – priestesses of Freya aren’t allowed to have relationships with men; otherwise, they risk drawing the wrath of the goddess upon themselves. Ivar doesn’t believe in all those god things and tries to prove that the priestesses are wrong. He’ll ask you to find five books to help him on his quest.
Collecting the books
You can come across the books while exploring dungeons and crypts, or simply visit booksellers, like Markus at Books and Scrolls on Hierarch Square in Novigrad. Check the following locations to find each of the books:
Tristianna and Isador
- Price: 43 crowns.
- Location: Lindenvale, the shop standing near the sign.
Religion and Life
- Price: 43 crowns.
- Location: Vronitsa Castle, right by the entrance to the bridge.
The Cult of Freya
- Price: 53 crowns.
- Location: Elector’s Square, Novigrad. Talk to the priest of the Eternal Fire. It’ll take some convincing before he shows his products.
The Curious Cases of Virtuous Vegga
- Price: 55 crowns.
- Location: Shop owner in Novigrad, not far from the St. Gregory’s Bridge sign, next to a barber’s place. The item is among Aeramas’s confiscated books.
Change your life! A Handbook
- Price: 55 crowns.
- Location: Novigrad usurer, northwest of the South Gate signpost.
Wrapping up the quest
When you have all the items, head back to Snidhall and look for a hut at the foot of the volcano. Talk to Ivar again and hand him the items. After reading them, he vows to travel the world and find out how to spend the rest of his life with his special someone.
To avoid a bug, hand him one book at a time. Some players discovered that the quest may remain unfinished after Geralt gives all five books in one run. And keep in mind that if you have multiple copies of the same book, they’ll all end up in Ivar’s pockets.
You can meet him after you’re done with the quest in Novigrad, northbound on the Silver City, chilling under the St. Gregory’s Bridge. Ivar will tell you that he wants to be hired as a sailor on a ship.
