So I read somewhere that there's a 3rd ending to the bloody baron quest and it involves freeing the whispering hillock first before going to the downwarren ealdorman. the wife didn't go insane and 3 members of the family left together. I tried doing that but the children still get eaten and the ending still gave me the baron leaving crows perch with his wife. I read that . Did I miss something?

The 3 members of the family never end up back together
Freeing the tree spirit before you get the quest from the crones, just means the trigger that tells the crones you freed the spirit isn't set. & so instead of cursing Anna (which is certain death) she goes insane for good. (just as she would if you killed the tree spirit.)
If when you first return to the crones with the ear, instead of asking about Ciri, you have to say "You used me" that will give you the option to tell the crones you set the tree spirit free. which then saves the 5 orphans.
But the Tree Spirit (The crones creator) is more evil than the crones & will kill every man women & child in Downhaven.

Killing everyone at the village (Downwarren?) is far from being more evil than crones. Sisters have much longer kill log than their mother.

I don't think so. The tree spirit created the plague.
Even when the crones had her trapped in the tree, she still enticed hundreds to their death.

(!!!! WARNING. Spoiler. Do not read if you haven't resolved the Ciri case yet !!!)








(!!! You have been warned !!!)
Yes, but crones were killing three villagers at every witches' sabbath. This went for very, very long time. And I'm sure they did more than that. Anna was a good example.
(!!! End of spoiler !!!)

All of them are evil, no doubt about that. There's no right or wrong choice in "Ladies of the Woods" quest. Just choice.

I would think killing the tree spirit is the only right choice, killing a whole town to save 5 kids doesn't stack up.
And she used to preside over the whole of Velen, so there is no reason to think she will stop at one village.

You don't have to choose between mother and daughters, you can kill both.

But there is no evidence of Spirit rampaging over Velen later in the game, apart from killing all people in one village for revenge. Velen looks pretty much the same, and folk at the sabbath seems to be perfectly fine.
I haven't finished the main story line yet (blocked by a bug), but I'm very close. Unless this whole Spirit thing won't come back at the end, I think releasing her was a lesser evil. Crones are dead anyway and Velen has a mystical guardian running around and taking care of the land and not doing anything wrong. Until someone pisses her off that is.

so you're saying the people who are saying there is a 3rd ending are trolling?

No, if you free the spirit before going to the Crones (or going to Downwarren I think), Anna will be crazy and the Bloody Baron has the option to take her away to try and heal her. Otherwise she dies unless you kill the spirit and in which case the kids die.

The "3rd" ending is kind of a glitch anyway.

If you do it that way, the sisters will initially be happy about Anna for keeping the kids fat and juicy, and just 2 seconds after, when you tell them you freed the spirit they will get angry because the kids are not there anymore.
It looks silly.

No, but the 3rd ending is just a compilation of the 2 intended outcomes, provided you make the right dialogue choices to let the crones know you freed the spirit.
But what I am saying, is any ending that frees the tree spirit, goes against what a witcher was created to do.(protect humans from evil monsters)

By freeing the tree spirit before you get the quest from the crones, it doesn't trigger the crones freed spirit response & you get the killed the tree spirit dialogue & outcomes. Unless you choose the "You used me" instead of the top one about Ciri, you won't get the option to let the crones know you freed the spirit & so you get the entire killed the spirit outcome. except of course the freed spirit goes on a killing spree. (Which is what you got)

If you tell the crones you freed the spirit, it switches mid sentence to the intended freed spirit outcome with the orphans being taken from the crones by the tree spirit. Except Anna isn't cursed because that part of the dialogue is already passed. And she has just gone insane as a result of her own bad decisions.

Anna going insane is also a consequence of destroying the spirit when the witches ask you to. So there's nothing to gain from dealing with the spirit before talking to the witches. Basically the consequences are as follows:

*HEAVY QUEST SPOILERS*

- the spirit is freed, the children are safe, Anna gets cursed, the Baron hangs himself; or
- the spirit is destroyed, the children get eaten, Anna goes insane, the Baron leaves with her to seek help.

Personally, I think the latter scenario is the better one.

* WARNING SPOILERS HEAVY SPOILERS*






















You are entitled to your opinion. Definitely. I find it hard to believe the life of complete lunatics and weaklings who wouldn't know how to shit properly without any kind of guidence from above, and the life of a Baron who couldn't behave, is worth more than the life of 5 innocent children who's stories are yet to be written.

Lets have it in points:

The Baron
1. Wife beater; domestic violence
2. Murderer; Killed his wife's secret lover
3. Allows his troops to rape, steal, abuse
4. Sold the country to the invader in exchange for power. Remind me again how did he get the keep? (I might be wrong here)

Daughter
1. Joins the eternal bullshit flame. Nothing to add here. Bloody racists, technophobes, willing to cast the whole North into dark ages again.

Mother
1. She is as guilty as the Baron is. So she didn't like Baron's dick but she loved her position and money? Cheating while husband is away? Dunno, maybe I am too harsh on this but she should have left a long time ago.

Those 5 kids who will or will not get eaten
1. They lost their parents in the war. End of story.

The Village and the idiots
1. Complete lack of any willpower to live the life on their own
2. They are so stupid they are unable to learn how to plough their damn land or how to defend it.
3. How long did the witches rule that part of Velen? How many people died?

Baron's tears did not impress me much. He had the chance to set things straight again. He didn't. So may he plough deep underground. I couldn't sacrafice the life of 5 young, innocent souls for the sake of an old drunk and his band of misfits.

The tree spirit didn't show up again afterwards, doing more damage. Win for me.

Next time you play guys, try not to kill the Baron's soldiers when they arrive at the village tavern (The one you are supposed to ask about Hendrik). Hear what the soldiers do afterwards. Gang rape a young girl...as a punishment for the father who told her to go and hide. Seriously? O_o no ploughing way.

I assume you also killed Keira because she used you? :D Yay! I hope you all die from Catriona @_@ She invents the cure if you push her in the right direction.