I had a totally different idea about this. I thought Ves implicitly admitted that she was raped by Henselt and Geralt's suspicion was that Ves betrayed her comrades (maybe acting as a spy for Henselt).

But Dethmold theory makes slightly more sense.

The admission of Henselt's rape is quite explicit. Twice, in fact. One by the cutscene itself, which is basically how Ves tells what happend to her, and the second through actuall speech, when Ves mentions "i can still smell him on me" - or something very similar, i can't check her exact words right now.

Regarding Deathmold, to me, the sequence of dialogues clearly implies that Deathmold did raped her.

Geralt - "Ves is lying"
Roche - "I vouch for her with my life"
Geralt - "Deathmold wouldn't just let her go..."

And at this point Roche goes ballistical with the thought of giving Deathmold a very painfull death, the same very painfull death he was already contemplating for Henselt. So...

that is suppose to help with your choice of letting roche kill the king or not. every little bit of info helps you decide :P awesome game.

I though about it, and had a idea after another playthrough and seeing again the last phase of Chapter 1.

Ves told that she let Henselt have his way in exchange to save the Blue Stripes. Maybe the lie is about the motivations, and more simply she gave herself just to save her skin.

About chapter 1... I wondered how I executed a perfect stealth run while breaking on Loredo mansion, and still he was ready to kill me and with a freaking halberd to boot.
Maybe (again) Ves warned Loredo about Geralt coming.

This is just speculation and of course only CDRP has a reply to this thread, and I'm not saying that Ves is a "omg evil person". Just that she may have some pretty human weakness under that though soldier skin.

Her reaction after Moril suicide also shows how she isn't that heartless Terminator she want to look.

She admits the rape by Henselt explicitily.

Geralt asked Henselt about it to see if there was any inkling of remorse there. There wasn't, naturally.

There's no need to guess in regards to this, Geralt says what he means about Ves lying very plainly in his talk with Roche after Ves goes to the Percival

Why would she warn Geralt when he reaches the tower then ?

Nah, Geralt has no way of seeing what' going on in Loredo's tower, those cuscenes of Loredo and Ves are for your benefit, for the player's benefit, not Geralt's, which means it wasn't an act between Ves and Loredo, things were really about to get very nasty for Ves

Or... as suggested before on this forums...

Dethmold let Ves go knowing that this would quite possibly piss of Roche and Gerald and they would surely seek Henselt's blood (as they did, being an option in game).
Perhaps Dethmold have had his own agenda and used Ves as a pawn in his own political game...

Now if only OP posted the above question more as a discussion and less as protagonist centered moral accusation... next thing you will be telling me that you never lied to save your skin before? :)

That's one of a few possible explanations for Deathmold's motivations for letting her go, but doesn't explain Geralt's assertion that Ves was lying and in regards to what was she lying about.

The tricky thing is, the blue stripes were invited to the canteen, but Ves to the royal tent?

Ves was an acting commander at the time...
She was invited there in the said role...
It's all in dialogs....

Also, being a woman, Dethmold and Henselt were not inclined to see her as a threat. See how Henselt talks to her, and see how Ves responds should you actually take her seriously in Proximo's (of course!) gladiatorial pit. Geralt gets to see her fight and has the chance to earn respect for her abilities, and also may be slightly inclined to take a more egalitarian having previously faced bigoted mobs, so may have difficulty /not/ seeing that... but Henselt and Dethmold haven't.

Hell, in the beginning, it's even Ves specifically being asked to fetch food and drink for you and Roche. Heh. Am I the only one that sees her as a bit irritated during the prologue?

In my opinion, Ves as a traitor simply doesn't fits in her portfolio. She was saved and raised by the Blue Stripes, remember. Even if it wasn't that saint brigade unit, she owed her life to them. A treason like this would undermine the image of her, and the morale behind it:Unwanted Thankful Lifelong Loyalty.

Geralt's clear mind is always pointing at something, however, like in our case. But despite his claim, I don't doubt that Dethmold would let her go just like that.
Remember, Dethmold was playing rude only on Henselt's pressure. He didn't give a damn about Conspiracy, but realized that it could be very useful if Geralt uncovers such an low and intricate case, unburdening his shoulders.

And when Henselt made him to resolve the problem, he resolved as a nervous layman repairs a crashed old PC: Eliminating everything suspicios. Only because Master Henselt wanted results. When he lastly almost decimated the army, and Henselt was pleased (both ways, in fact, with humiliating Ves, a conspirator), the example was perfectly made.There wasn't need to kill her. Besides he knew that a "girl" is harmless, leaving her as the weakest member of a "dying breed" to live, sets the example, and spreads the idea that conspirators get "f*cked" in the end:P

And another thing: how do you think that Dethmold raped Ves, if Dethmold is proven to be a rotten pervert gay and pedofil?! Or transsexual...Anyway, some of these, but especially not hetero.:D :P

Welcome to how things were back in ancient times. Certain things were only considered horrible when it was someone else doing it to you, your countrymen, etc. If you were doing it to someone else who wasn't a countrymen or member of your community, it was A-OK.

You find out during Chapter 1 that Henselt has been "shooting blanks" for a long time, and that Sile is supposedly in Flotsam to recover rare ingredients that cure men of not being able to impregnate in order for the sorceresses to regain Henselt's favor and get a sorceress back in his court.

The Witcher 2 - The Conspiracy Theory - HD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSu94ipMJPE

I think Geralt says she's lying because Ves said "they laughed and let me go" while the flashback shows Henselt coercing her into submission. Geralt says "there's no way Dethmold would let her go" as suspecting Ves had to pay a price for her freedom. That's my opinion.

(there's a bit more information with the video I'm editing right now but it will take some time to upload... The Royal Punch! =)

I have friends who thinks she's lying because she gave herself willingly to Henselt! eww

Either way ask your friends how many of them would not do the same to save their lives...
Really I think we are all grown up on this forums to establish that protagonist centred morality does not exists and that everyone has a breaking point... which does not make them any lesser of a person...

As for conspiracy theories, every story has a legion of fans swearing that there is one (and most of them seem to have problems agreeing on what exactly it is)… its actual existence can only be proved or disproved by the writer.

As an example, for 20+ years people argued if Deckard was a replicant or not, it took Ridley Scott to confirm this for the arguments to stop… until then, people had nothing better to do with their time... for 20 years :)