The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past scriptwriter wrote her thesis on Hearts of Stone – is the story in good hands?

If you need proof that real fans are working on The Witcher 3's new expansion, here's one: the lead writer of Songs of the Past wrote her thesis analyzing "Hearts of Stone" almost a decade ago.

Paula Mejsner did this long before she ever joined the development team.

Back in 2017, she dissected the first expansion for The Witcher 3 through the lens of comparative literature. Her thesis was titled "Videogames as a way of experiencing literature: Analysis of the 'Hearts of Stone', a DLC to 'The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt'". At that point, her actual work on the game itself was still years away.

When discussing her current work on Songs of the Past, this detail was impossible to skip. According to Mejsner, the thesis came together right around the time she was playing Hearts of Stone while studying comparative literature.

That was at the time when I played Hearts of Stone, and The Witcher, and I was studying comparative literature. That's when I fell in love with The Witcher… [the thesis] touches upon what I said when it comes to how rich The Witcher is, when it comes to literary references.

Specifically, Mejsner examined how The Witcher channeled the spirit of classic Polish literature. She drew parallels with Wyspiański's play The Wedding and the character of Gaunter O'Dimm – a devilish figure built from references to many other pieces of culture.

I wanted to analyse it, and I did this to probably prove to some of my professors that games are worthy, and they are also texts of culture.

To be honest, I'm pretty proud with myself, that I did manage [to work on The Witcher]. But, you know, as always, there's been a lot of luck in the process. But yeah, it truly is a dream come true, because this is what I dreamt of when I wrote my thesis. It's pretty awesome to write Geralt.

Songs of the Past is being developed by Fool's Theory, the same studio that previously worked on the Complete Edition re-release of The Witcher 3. Mejsner's path from student thesis to lead writer on a major expansion shows how academic curiosity about games as a cultural phenomenon can turn into a genuine industry career.

The expansion arrives in 2027, while the remaster of The Witcher 3 launches later this month.