There is tragedy abound in The Witcher franchise, as it exists within a magical world overshadowed by darkness and woe. How one faces their tragedies is a matter of perspective and will, and those who try to control the forces darkening their doorstep soon learn they must be careful what they wish for. Introduced in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Hearts of Stone DLC, Olgierd Von Everec strove to alter the tragedies he faced but learned all too quickly that a wish is often more than a wish. Wishes have power beyond the simple fantasy to create a better life.
Olgierd was the oldest son of Bohumil and Kristina, and the Von Everec's were a respected noble family out of Redania. He and his younger brother, Vlodimir, grew up on the family's estate, learning to read, write and fight. When the brothers were old enough, they formed a band of rogues, each of its members born of noble blood, and the mere mention of Olgierd's name struck fear in the people of Temeria and Velen.
During this time, Olgierd met a beautiful young noblewoman named Iris. The two fell madly in love, but the Von Everec family fell on hard times after a series of bad investments and a year of bad crops. As is often the way, they may have recovered in time, but a debt collector named Horst Borsodi bought the Von Everec's debts and demanded they settle it immediately. Unable to settle the debt, Borsodi seized the family's assets and home, evicting them onto the streets.
Iris's family decided Olgierd was no longer a suitable match for their daughter and demanded she stop seeing him. They offered her hand in marriage to a visiting prince, and Olgierd attempted to convince Iris to elope with him, but she refused. Desperate to save his love, the one bright spot left in his world, Olgierd cursed the prince, wishing he would turn into a monster. He had no idea how powerful that wish was, as the prince was turned into a giant toad.
Even though the prince was out of the picture, Iris's family would not allow her to be with Olgierd so long as his family was in such dire straights. He knew the only way to get back his love would be to restore his family's wealth and power, and so he sought out a being he learned of that granted wishes. He found Gaunter O'Dimm, and Gaunter agreed to grant him three wishes--for a price. In exchange for those three wishes, Olgierd had to sacrifice the life of someone he loved: Iris or Vlodimir.
Olgierd chose to spare Iris and sacrifice his brother, and the next day Vlodimir was overrun during a raid and killed. In his guilt, Olgierd lied and told everyone his brother died heroically so he would be honored and remembered, and he visited Vlodimir's grave regularly. Holding up his end of the bargain, Gaunter O'Dimm restored the Von Everec family fortune and granted Olgierd immortality, as he'd asked.
Olgierd and Iris were married soon after, and for a time, they lived happily, but his wish for immortality came at another price. Over the years, Olgierd's empathy and compassion began to die, his heart turning to stone. His marriage suffered, and he realized that despite the granting of his wishes, he was paying far more than they were worth. He began learning the forbidden practice of demonology in hopes of re-summoning Gaunter O'Dimm to break their pact, but nothing he did worked.
In his frustration, Olgierd accidentally killed Iris's father during a heated argument, tearing them even further apart than they'd already grown. Eventually, with no love left inside him, Olgierd left Iris and the estate, leaving behind a violet rose and a letter explaining he didn't want to cause her any more pain than he'd already done.
Geralt met Olgierd after accepting a contract posted by one of his men. After dueling Olgierd and chopping off his head, Geralt was drawn into the mystery of the other man's life. Olgierd set Geralt to three tasks, which included vengeance upon the Borsodi family for purchasing his family's debt, showing Vlodimir's ghost the time of his life and heading into the haunted Von Everec estate to help fulfill Olgierd's third wish.
Through his investigations, he learned of Olgierd's past, his wishes and he gained the opportunity to intervene and save the other man's life and soul from Gaunter O'Dimm before he could extract it in exchange for the final wish. Geralt could bargain both his own soul and Olgierd's against O'Dimm's riddle, and in doing so, free Olgierd from the contract and restore his emotions and mortality. With his emotions restored, Olgierd was forced to truly face his past and actions for the first time ever. Overcome with grief and remorse, he promised Geralt to start a new life and be a better man for the rest of his days.
Being careful what one wishes for is not an uncommon theme in The Witcher, as Geralt himself spent years of his life in a painfully questionable romantic relationship with Yennefer because of the wish he made to save her life in Andrzej Sapkowski's short story "The Last Wish." Depending on the player's actions, Geralt could have chosen to help Olgierd out of a sense of compassion, understanding completely the devastating effects of a wish meant to do good but causing grief and woe instead.