Guides / The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition
Hanged Man's Tree
Geralt enters Velen at this location directly after finishing his audience with the Emperor in Vizima. The landmark features executed corpses strung from a massive gnarled tree, serving as a grim introduction to No Man's Land and unlocking the area's first fast travel point. From here, players must begin tracking down leads for Ciri by traveling toward the Inn at the Crossroads to continue the main story.
- Region
- Central Velen (No Man’s Land)
- Levels
- 1–5
- Getting there
- After completing the audience with Emperor Emhyr at the Royal Palace in Vizima during "The Nilfgaardian Connection," fast-traveling through the palace exit map directly loads Geralt at Hanged Man's Tree.
- Connects to
- Mulbrydale, Inn at the Crossroads, Devil's Pit, Border Post
- Related quests
- The Nilfgaardian Connection · An Eye for an Eye · Collect 'Em All
Services and people
Invaders and enemies 1
- Wolves · Hostile wild beastsGrassy perimeter around Hanged Man's Tree
Services 1
- Hanged Man's Tree · Fast travel signpostHanged Man's Tree
The short version
What matters
- •The Hanged Man's Tree signpost, providing your initial fast travel waypoint into Velen.
- •The loot pouch under Aldert Geert's hanging corpse, which contains his Unfinished Book and a second chance at the neutral Zoltan Chivay Gwent card.
Common mistakes
- •Leaving without checking the dirt under the hanged scholar; missing the Zoltan Chivay Gwent card here can permanently void the Card Collector achievement.
What you can skip
- •Searching the immediate landmark for shops, merchants, or dungeons, as none exist directly at the tree.
Walkthrough
The area in the order you play it. Tick things off as you go: they tick off in the checklists below too.
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1
Arrive in Velen
When you arrive automatically via fast travel from the Royal Palace in Vizima, you will watch an introductory narrated cinematic welcoming you to Velen. You appear on a hill overlooking Mulbrydale, right in front of a giant withered tree hung with executed bodies. Upon arriving, you discover the Hanged Man's Tree fast travel signpost, though you will find no merchants, traders, or interactive NPCs at this landmark.
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2
Clear the Perimeter
As you step away from the signpost, watch for wild wolves roaming the grassy perimeter surrounding the tree. Defeat these non-boss beasts to collect basic crafting ingredients like wolf pelts, dog tallow, and raw meat. There are no other hostile encounters or bosses directly at this location.
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3
Inspect the Scholar's Body
Walk directly beneath the branches of the giant tree to find an environmental corpse missing its boots hung next to a campfire. Inspect the body to recognize it as Aldert Geert, the scholar who introduced you to Gwent in White Orchard. While you cannot take the corpse itself down, it will stay suspended from the bough indefinitely.
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4
Loot Aldert Geert's Possessions
Check the ground right beneath Aldert Geert's body to spot a loot pouch resting on the dirt beside the campfire. Loot this pouch to retrieve his Unfinished Book, which remains permanently available if left behind. If you failed to win the neutral Zoltan Chivay Gwent card from him in White Orchard, you will also pick up the card right here.
Watch out: The Zoltan Chivay Gwent card and unfinished book can be permanently missed if left uncollected before advancing past cutoff points for the Card Collector achievement, and a known bug can cause the card not to spawn if skipped in White Orchard.
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5
Survey the Surrounding Points of Interest
Before setting out, survey the surrounding landscape from your hilltop vantage point since the tree itself holds no dungeons or sub-locations. You can spot a Nekker Monster Den cave situated nearby to the northwest, the settlement of Mulbrydale down to the southwest, and the large Devil's Pit quarry bandit camp off to the southeast.
Checklists
Items
0/2
Secrets May be incomplete
0/1
Enemies
Frequently roam the grassy outskirts surrounding the tree in packs.
Tips
- Loot the ground right around the base of the tree immediately upon arriving to recover the Zoltan Chivay card if you failed to defeat or play the scholar in White Orchard.
Not listed for this area: shops and people.
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