The screenwriter of "Ballad of the Past" for The Witcher 3 wrote a thesis on "Hearts of Stone" – is the story in good hands?

If you want evidence that the team shaping the next addition to the Witcher saga includes longtime fans, consider this: Paula Meissner, now the lead writer on the Ballads of the Past expansion, once defended an academic thesis that dissected the Hearts of Stone expansion.

Back in 2017, Meissner published an analysis of the first expansion for the The Witcher 3. She dissected that DLC from the standpoint of comparative literature; the thesis was titled "Video Games as a Way of Experiencing Literature: An Analysis of Hearts of Stone, DLC to 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt'." At the time she completed the paper, Meissner was still years away from working on the game professionally.

Meissner says she wrote the thesis while playing Hearts of Stone and studying comparative literature, a period when she became deeply engaged with The Witcher setting.

It was then that I fell in love with the world of The Witcher... the thesis is exactly about what I talk about: how rich the world of The Witcher is in terms of literary references.

Her academic work highlighted how The Witcher draws on the spirit of classic Polish literature; she compared elements of the game to Wyspiański's play "The Wedding" and examined the figure of Gunter O'Dimm as a devilish character laden with cultural allusions.

Reflecting on the route from student researcher to industry writer, Meissner said she partly pursued the analysis to demonstrate games' cultural value to her professors.

I wanted to analyze this and probably did so to prove to some of my professors that games are valuable and are also cultural texts.

Honestly, I’m proud of myself for having worked on The Witcher. But, as always, there was a lot of luck involved in the process. Nevertheless, it’s a real dream come true because it’s exactly what I dreamed of when I was writing my thesis. Writing as Geralt is truly amazing.

Ballads of the Past is an upcoming expansion for The Witcher 3 titled Complete Edition. Meissner’s progression from academic interest in games to lead writer on a major expansion illustrates a direct career path from scholarship to development.

The expansion is scheduled for release in 2027, and the Witcher 3 remaster will be available to play at the end of this month.