Iris von Everec

Iris von Everec (née Bilewitz) was Olgierd's wife and a talented painter.
== Biography ==
Iris was from a noble family and, for a time, her family approved of her and Olgierd von Everec's courtship. However, when the von Everecs fell on hard times that led to them going bankrupt and losing their estate, Iris' family decided Olgierd was no longer suitable for their daughter and decided instead to give her hand in marriage to a visiting Ofieri prince, Sirvat.
Upset about this, Olgierd asked Iris to elope with him, but she didn't want to cut ties with her family. So Olgierd, full of rage at not being able to marry his love, inadvertently brought a curse down on the visiting prince, turning him into a giant toad. Sometime later, Olgierd made a pact with Gaunter O'Dimm and gained back his former noble position and fortune and thus, Iris. The two were soon happily wed, though her parents had reservations about it as Olgierd tended to hang out with bandit types, going as far as letting them into the house.
Over time their marriage declined as Olgierd started to no longer have feelings for Iris, an unintended consequence from O'Dimm's pact. At one point, Iris wished to divorce him so her father began to read over the reasons to Olgierd. However, Olgierd lost his temper during the reading and killed Iris' father, making her lose all feelings for Olgierd.
As more time passed, and with Olgierd only remembering that he was supposed to love Iris but had lost all such feelings due to the pact, he tried to placate it and gave Iris the black cat and dog for companionship and a mysterious being only known as the Caretaker for protection, not realizing she didn't want any of it. Then, deciding he didn't want to cause her anymore pain, Olgierd left, leaving behind a letter and a violet rose to remember him by. Iris, alone in the estate, laid in bed for days, just staring at the rose until it finally crumbled to dust, and she died soon afterwards.
=== Recovering the Rose ===
Despite passing on, Iris' spirit continued to haunt the estate, lashing out at anyone who dared to enter the ruin. However, Geralt managed to make his way in and found Iris' remains. Needing to talk to her while at the same time hoping to put her spirit to rest, Geralt buried her remains in the gardens surrounding the estate, causing a skeleton form of Iris to appear. However, she still refused to talk and instead showed Geralt a painting, revealing when she'd been alive she'd created a painted world in her mind to try and forget certain memories, but when she died her spirit made it stronger and magnified her fears within it, with it all centered around her greatest fear: that of her husband, Olgierd.
After Geralt fought through all her fears, Iris finally revealed herself, now able to clearly see that Geralt wasn't Olgierd, who she'd originally mistaken him for. Now free of her nightmares and able to remember herself again, she explained how the rose Geralt came for had bloomed once more in the painted world when he had buried her remains. However, Geralt revealed the rose was what witchers called a pin: her feelings and attachment to Olgierd's last gift to her was also keeping her bound to the world of the living instead of moving on, and that by taking the rose she might cease to exist, though no guarantees her sadness and suffering would end. However, overcome with the uncertainty of it all, Iris didn't know whether ceasing to exist would be better or worse for herself.
 Deciding it was better to brace uncertainty and put her spirit to rest, Geralt asked for the rose and she obliged, handing it over, freeing both the black cat and dog's service to her as well as making Iris and the painted world fade off into nonexistence.
 Geralt, feeling Iris' spirit was only a threat to intruders and not wanting her to possibly suffer more if she ceased to exist, refused to take the rose, thus leaving her spirit tied to the world of the living. Not wanting Geralt to leave empty-handed, Iris informed the witcher to look for the rose outside in the real world before she drifted off into a deep sleep once more.
== Journal entry ==
:When Geralt visited Olgierd von Everec to hear his third and final wish, he learned the rough and rowdy ataman had once been married. At some point he had left his wife, however, and gave her a violet rose as a parting gift. Geralt's task was to find this rose somewhere in the von Everecs' abandoned manor. When he arrived there, he discovered the estate was haunted by a malicious wraith tied to Olgierd's wife, Iris, who had died of loneliness years prior. Her rage and remorse now filled her former house with evil energy.
:Geralt gathered up Iris' remains and buried them in the manor's garden. He did this both out of simple human decency and cold calculation, for he knew this act would calm her unsettled spirit and lead him to the violet rose. During the funeral a now quieted Iris appeared to Geralt and took him on a journey to a world which existed only in her mind. This "painted world" consisted of her fears and memories, which Geralt now had to confront.
:Iris von Everec's memories first recalled happy days spent in Olgierd's company, then became darker and darker. In fact, even the sunnier ones had an ominous cloud hanging over them – an uneasy feeling something horrible would soon happen. Iris von Everec had been a sensitive woman and noted subtle changes in her husband's behavior. She had lacked the courage, however, to delve into their cause.
:Olgierd von Everec's heart had turned to stone, turning him into a monster. Iris hated what her husband had become, but could not stop loving him. The couple endured together in a painful cohabitation until Olgierd ended it by abandoning his wife. Iris never came to terms with their separation, could not, in fact, even bring herself to read her husband's farewell letter. Yet the violet rose he gave her upon leaving she kept, making it a focal point for all the longing and love raging in her soul. When she died, these unresolved feelings kept her spirit in this world and continued to cause her suffering.
:If Geralt takes the rose:
::The witcher's intervention helped Iris accept what had happened to her and her husband. When he asked for the rose, she agreed to give it him, knowing this would put a final end to her pain and suffering – and also her very existence.
:If Geralt leaves the rose:
::The witcher's intervention helped Iris accept what had happened to her and her husband. She was now free to dissolve into the ether, but the thought of this horrified her. She thus entrusted her fate to the witcher, who was unwilling to deprive her of existence. She thus remained in our world by entering a painting which Geralt then delivered to Olgierd. Her sad eyes stared out at him from that canvas for the rest of his life.
== Associated quest ==
* Scenes From a Marriage
== Trivia ==
*Her maiden name Bilewitz is a likely reference to Aleksandra Billewiczówna, the main female protagonist from the novel The Deluge by Henryk Sienkiewicz. This is the same story that Olgierd seems heavily based on.
== Notes ==
* It is unclear how Iris came to learn about O'Dimm and his agreement with Olgierd, but a conversation with Geralt reveals Iris was aware her husband's behavior was linked to O'Dimm.
== Gallery ==
HoS paintings q604 rose painting.png|Painting of Iris with the purple rose
HoS paintings q604 small painting.png|Painting of Iris and Olgierd
iris08.jpg|Iris on her deathbed
iris07.jpg|Iris as a ghost
iris06.jpg|Iris in a flashback
Gwent cardart neutral iris von everec.png|Gwent card art
Gwent cardart neutral iris shade.png|Gwent card art of spirit
== External links ==
*
ar:آيريس فون إفريك
cs:Iris von Everec
es:Iris von Everec
pl:Iris von Everec
pt-br:Iris von Everec
ru:Ирис фон Эверек
uk:Іріс фон Еверец
it:Iris von Everec
Category:Humans
Category:Hearts of Stone characters