Eh, the emperor is a pussy anyway, ready to submit himself to the brain of chutulu even after we consider releasing Orpheus, so, eh, serves him right. And, uh, if you forgot the mindflayer on the mill, there is one more to go
Lmao. This comment is even funnier to me because within the first few seconds of seeing this video I was wondering why tav is so much smaller in general.
A magician doesn't need to be charming to trick people. From the way she talks to other, her CHA stat makes sense. She's one annoying brat to strangers
It's the pretty face and the wisdom that are her strong suits, charisma is a person's magnetism, the leadership qualities. Like Minthara, her intelligence is an 8, but her charisma and wisdom are what give her words influence and makes her a good leader.
Larian has admitted they cut *a lot* of content from Act 3 so it wouldn't surprise me if that was gutted too. The game is an absolute gem so it doesn't bother me much but it does feel weird in some places (like how you can talk to Gortash's corpse and it hints to a questline that is supposed take place in the Upper City)
@@TheCrazyZebra1honestly it makes sense . Free choice games are probably a coding nightmare with so many different event flags for different things , so many triggers for different events
@@crusaderpr7683 I will freely admit I only downloaded and started playing BG3 yesterday, so I have no idea if this clip happens before or after the romance option. But hey, never let it be said I let facts get in the way of a good joke! 😉
I honestly didn't get what's the deal with mindflayer Tav "not being able to live in Baldur's Gate". Like dude, new duke is my friend, new archmage owes me big time, and Disguise Self is a 1st level spell lasting all day. And Emperor pulled it off erlier.
@@bengunn9670 if you save him from the iron throne. you can listen to him at the lodge telling blaarg he uses illusions and disguises himself as people. mainly he disguises himself as blaarg. Its not a major conversation, just something you can overhear if you idle next to them long enough
@@ianturpin7693 well, yes, he doesn't go in the streets startling strangers. But I don't think that presence of a MF in SoB is a big secret. Not like he hides in a secret basement like Emperor and uses a secret society for cover.
@@Nugnugnug True but there are always Alhoons, Illithid Liches! Or demi liches since they aren't true liches but could achieve true lichdom. The biggest problem i guess is that it might be hard for a Mindflayer to provide verbal components to a spell since...they can't talk really. But the Alhoons actually modified many spells so they don't need them.
@@Nugnugnug not always remember Omeluum ? He said that his latent Wizard talents from his previous life allowed him to break out of mind flayer hive mind so there is a chance player character can learn magic again.
"But I don't think you've changed quite as much as I think." Shadowheart, she literally gave in to Illithid nature 10 seconds after you turned your back on her.
I hate the ending where you become a mindflayer bc you make the ultimate sacrifice of not only your life, but your soul as well, and then everyone is all chill with it and pretends that disgusting abomination waltzing around in your clothes is you. It feels like shit.
If you do the ending where you kill yourself, Withers fully says otherwise. He’ll meet you in the afterlife and confirms you do indeed still have your soul. While your body is gone, it is still you
It's bc Tav's mindflayer is different in that they actually still posses their soul. Some allies will have grievances (e.g., romanced Astarion and La'azel will abandon you), but most generally still take the chance to accept you as a mindflayer.
Well, souls aren't that immortal in D&D. You die, you go to heaven or hell. If you die there, you merge with the place and disappear. Or you can evolve into an angel or devil, but how much of it will be "you'? And when they're killed, they're gone too.
Important to note that in Forgotten Realms lore, some Mindflayers are capable of having their original consciousness survive ceremorphosis through a phenomenon known as Partialism, which is likely what Balduran and of course Tav and other origin characters if they become Mindflayers experience. For players who had Karlach turn, the devs basically implied during an interview that she was in fact still Karlach, just with an expanded consciousness she had to get used to. Note also the lore on souls re: mindflayers is iffy; and in this case they seem to be heavily expanding the concept of souls by stressing they don’t have “apostolic” ones like the races of Faerun etc have. They clearly have *something, however different, or that ending where they meet Withers after dying wouldn’t be possible.
Also, in all honesty, I was more expecting the "joke" going along the lines of "in today's day and age the size and length of tentacles doesn't matter, it's how one uses them" Still a bit trashy though
Mind flayers dont change really. but a few rare tadpoles can be what is called a Ulitharid. and when made into mind flayers they are 7 1/2 feet tall with longer tenticals. they tend to be the leaders when away from the elder brains.
I don't think it's because of that. We saw people transform into mindflayers and their design and model was identical to the Emperor's one. I think they wanted to made our mindflayer design different.
The Underdark might not be a bad prospect for a Mindflayer. It's still a shitty place to live but you'll still live. Maybe living with the Society of Brilliance with Blurg and Omeluum
not to mention Omeluum has been researching ways to not have to feed on brains. If they manage to crack that then Mindflayers could be reintroduced into society proper.
The weird thing I find about mindflayer is that they have a weird neccesity with eating sentient brains, but what exactly would be the line, there probably is a line between the dumbest goblin out there and the smartest cow.@@BlazeMakesGames
Rules of Nature started playing in my head the second she said that. MGR was too fucking good to have been such a sleeper hit. Too bad everyone either thought it was another Asura's Wrath or skipped the tutorial when it first came out.
Honestly very valid. If you somewhat "romance" the emperor and then reject his ass he basically admits he doesnt care about you, your simply a tool in his plan, and that yes, he has been manipulating you.
On the contrary, it is even more humanizing than if he were indifferent. We have all felt up so hurt or angry before that we just say the worst thing that pops into our minds. Even if we don't mean it. Its a very human and emotional trait. Seemingly contradictory with how people THINK mindflayers are
@@Birbucifer Except you are dead, that is simply a mindflyer with your memories still fresh. It thinks its you, eventually that will fade. I don't envy Shadowheart in the moment.
Didn't know that was a possible ending omfg lol. Then again I killed the Emperor as well but in the fight with the dragon. My shadowheart ending though was great. She had her parents and wiped out the Sharr. So she basically just said, "Hey we won! Lets go get fucked up!". A real OG. I'm sad I didn't bring her to the last fight because I needed thematically the characters I chose there. I like to think I left her behind so she could get to know her parents.
Kind of curious what you mean by wiped out the Sharrans? Do you mean you merely killed all in the house of Grief but still have the curse? Or did you do something I missed?
@@JustSayRance Yes, I wiped out the entire house of Grief and she does still have the curse. Although she's still in pain, she has her family so it's well worth it. Shes already dealt with it her whole life, so it's a small price to pay for having family. She seemed really happy at the end of the story with that outcome.
Won't lie, gobbled up the Emperor's brains and was ready to ascend in his place as top tentacle-head of Baldur's Gate as I had schemed for months. Then Karlach departed and I decided to banish myself instead. Heroes of the city should look like her, not a conniving mind flayer like the beast I had become. Love you Karlach, I'll think you in my exile as both comfort and penance for my ambition.
shadowheart being like "i need time to myself" because you changed to save the world was an all time low, especially as you really shouldn't be alone after that change... and then the 180° "okay fine lets do this!" -_- not the best writing on this ending
@@rodrigosouza8471 I understand you don't understand there are many written responses. Larian claims thousands are written in. I've played through 3 times. So please. These videos show possibilities but not the only. This is common knowledge by now.
Baldurs Gate 3 gets almost everything wrong about Mind Flayers (its fine though it makes for a good story), for example: Mind Flayers do not chew open someones skull while holding on with their tentacles, though this is a common mistake in art. Their tentacles actually are able to secrete an enzyme potent enough to dissolve flesh and bone on contact. They literally scoop your brain straight out of your head like it was water with their tentacles. However, Mind Flayers skin is naturally immune to this enzyme, so a Mind Flayer cannot easily eat another Mind Flayers brain. Even then they wouldnt want to, and would get little nourishment from it. A Mind Flayers "brain" is in many ways the actual Mind Flayer, the tadpole grown to the size of a brain and connected to the nervous system. The reason Mind Flayers eat brains is because they are not capable of producing the chemicals and psychic energy a normal brain uses to sustain its converted host body. A Mind Flayer eating another ones brain would get physical sustenance (which they dont really require), and some amount of psychic, but not the resources it really needs. Source: Lords of Madness
@@ddevil768 Potentially, I suppose it would depend on exactly how brain-like a matured tadpole is. But that is one good reason to do so! Lore technically says they gain the memories of humanoids and Mind Flayers are abberations, but thats likely more prose than crunch.
I was in my mates playthrough and as soon as we seen this option, we knew he was getting scranned on like fuck. We were all in stitches with laughter cause of how funny it was 😂
Just call up Elminster or Gale and ask them to True Polymorph Tav into their original race, Clone the True Polymorphed form, Dispel the True Polymorph on tne mind flayer form so that they recover their class abilities and etc and then commit sudoku as the mind flayer, then return to their original form with class levels and etc. Easy peasy.
I think I would have respected her wish and let her go. Sometimes the path we share with others will split and we need to go our own way. Such is the way of life.
@@ianbaker672 at the end she's going to live her own life. at the most, she'll meet with MC as they come and go out of each others lives. like an old fling
Within a matter of months our character is likely to forget why they ever cared for Shadowheart and consider her inferior. Worst case, we may even decide to Thrall her, as Illithids have an innate genetic drive to enthrall people and feel distressed when they have no thralls. Further, a mind flayer can only survive about a week without feasting on brains, specifically sentient brains (so it's even worse than someone like Astarion, who could at least survive on beast blood). Which means we need to kill a humanoid at least once a week and eat their brains. I'm not convinced Shadowheart will stick with us through that given everything. And again yeah, Illithids don't have a limbic system or hormones or brain setup that is built for feeling love.
@@JB-xl2jc Unfortunately you are incorrect. Mindflayers can survive a month without a brain, but a healthy mindflayer needs to at least eat a sapient brain, not sentient brain once per week. Sapience is different from sentience. Also I don't understand why people keep forgetting omeluum exist. You character doesn't have to enthrall people, it is completely up to them if they wish to pursue enthralling people since again, illithids do have individual personalities. For some reason you retain your personality in this game. Your character will be fine, unless they let themselves become a feral sociopath, as yes when you become a mindflayer negative emotions are amplified. But that does not = you losing your emotions. Again Omeluum even develops irrational fears of the ocean. So I don't get where everyone is getting, you'll lose all your emotions and etc. It seems like a lot of people are misreading the ending options. Also in canon, once you turn into a mindflayer, your brain is eaten, you are gone. Dead. There is no fading memories. Your character is just I guess special.
The emperor tried romancing me in my friends save, i rejected and the narrator said something about me feeling a bit hurt about it not happening Me out loud at my pc: i think fucking not i am not disappointed im ok with not having a squid man. 😂😂😂 made my friend laugh
Of all the creepy attempts at romance from some companions, the Emperor's is probably the creepiest one. Granted: I thought a bit differently about its "guardian" form during my very first play-through. God, she was hot! :D But I definitely draw the line at Cthulhu-looking monstrosities with Ken-/Barbie-style nether-regions and an appetite for human brains. Who pull me into their minds without my consent while I'm sleeping to try and ruin my relationship with sweet, sweet Shadowheart.
If Karlach leaves with Wyll then the Shadowheart epilogue doesn't trigger. On my original ending Karlach left, but I reloaded the save to test it, and if Karlach blows up, the Shadowheart epilogue plays.
shart going on about how even a former follower of shar can’t hide even this. Disguise self is literally a first level spell lol it’s the first thing any cleric/wizard can learn
Disguise self only holds up so long as nobody touches you or looks at you hard enough. Living amongst everyone is gonna cause someone to break the spell, really quickly.
Theoretically isn't it...not possible? I thought mind flayers just don't have brains. Like you get one earlier in the game but I thought I read there is no brain hence why they need other people's brains.
Pretty sure it's been lore as far back as the Adversary, a rare instance of an illithid born with natural immunity to the Elder Brain and actually retaining his full mental faculties and ability to feel, and superior psionic powers to boot, which are only enhanced by eating other illithids.
Imagine being the emperor, somehow escaping and defeating the dead three and their enslaved netherbrain and their cult of the absolute, surviving all that, and then this fucker just eats you immediately afterwards. God.
@@LilMeep_x It is wholesome in a way, but also completely fucked, sad, doomed. Your character will eventually devour shadowheart's brain as you slowly lose your memories and personality. Killed by the one you trust the most.
@@NanoLTthe sapient mind flayers don’t seem to lose their memories, the emperor has been alive for god knows how long. And especially with the gith princes power you never have to worry about an elder brain taking control of you
@@throwitouttheairlock9556 The emperor was only recently transformed into a mind flayer and his whole thing is a facade, he is incredibly good at manipulating. He has retained a lot of his memories, which might have something to do with the netherese tadpoles, or just an anomaly. Usually some memories remain and it differs per person. Maybe the length of time these tadpoles have spent in the head without tranformation allows them to absorb more memories. In the end they will slowly lose them and gain a new mind flayer personality. If they end up under the thrall of an elder brain it may absorb any remnant memories and speed up the process. Either way the host is dead and their soul is gone, they are a new being.
@@LilMeep_x even though its you it is also not you.. Even if you do contain your memories they vanish over time becoming broken trapped in a body that seals your soul being intertwined with that of a creature that controls you. It becomes a prison more so and there is no way to escape.. To keep your memories you must feed and do so till you are no longer you. This holds true even for those that are free. You still exist only in the wake of the creature that binds you.
Seriously, guys, could you stop putting spoilers in video titles? Bg3 videos keep showing up everywhere on RU-vid recommendations. It's hard not to read them.
If you don't want spoilers then stop reading titles on youtube. People have to make the titles what they are or the youtube algorithm won't list the vids at all.
literally the emperor, after all, was proposing to create a secret-society to control Baldur's Gate. After all, nothing wrong about early kill a future corrupt leader
You know, now that I think about it, being a mind flayer is the only way to have some exceptional power for our character, something that may even help him fight beings of higher levels. Also with the passage of time I start to understand some aspects of illithid teachings, having different type of soul that gods cannot digest, they see those deities for what they truly are, nothing more than beings of absurd power limiting the mortals as much as they can, while feasting on their souls and worship, they are nothing more than competitors that had more time and better cards on their hands, offering borrowed power that will never threaten their reign, as they can take it back at any moment, and one day they will make you pay for it, whether it will be your life or soul, they are not that different from devils really. I do not share the disdain for arcane arts that illithids posess, but I understand where this is coming from: your connection to the weave is dependent on the Goddess of magic and that is kind of unreliable as weave can be damaged and magic is heavily regulated, while psionic powers are entirely yours and have no limits on their development, nonetheless I consider magic is a handy tool, while I wouldn't be too overreliant on it
"You know, now that I think about it, being a mind flayer is the only way to have some exceptional power for our character" - Or you can roll the dice and take a chance on Ascended Astarion keeping his word on sharing Mephistopheles blessings and eventally making you a true vampire. Long shot I know, but as the mindflyler lore seems to state you die and its i different being that walks around with your memories, I know which one I'd rather take the chance on.
@@paulinemillard8156 illithid tadpole offers much more power as you can put it through trials and make it evolve via zaithi'sk and Omeluum's potion, also you can consume Orpheus, who has an immense amount of psionic power that can rival the elder brain, he inherited it from mother Gith herself, and considering that his powers allow you to retain your sense of self while using illithid powers for an entire game, I don't think you will be altered much, player still controls the character, there is no game over screen that shows what happens when you transform without protection and lose yourself, so you become the strongest mindflayer in history with nearly limitless potential and that is worth something, considering the fact that they dominated the entire known universe at some point in time. Quite a unique opportunity for sure, and you don't have to rely on an evil aligned character for you freedom, that also resembles Cazador more and more after his ascension and you know how he treated his thralls, right?
@@manofculture3638 I'd still rather be myself and a slave to an evil vampire as it would not be totally impossible to break free as Astarion proves. True vampires tend to come about by spawns killing their masters and taking their power. This was even the case with Cazador. Even so, I don't buy into Asended Astarion being Cazador 2.0. He is changed for the worse, sure but Cazador only made those seven spawn to use in the ritual. As Astarion tells you earlier, True vampires don't like competition, and any spawn is a potenial stab in the back at a later date. Astarion makes you his spawn as an actual gift. At the time he is truly grateful for what you did for him, he knows you are powerful in your own right, so he must know he is potentially signing his own death warrant in the future. But he does it anyway. I mean he doesn't even retailate if you back out of the offer and kick him in the balls. He could have easily killed you or made you spawn by force but he doesn't, he just leaves. Even evil Astarion is better than Cazador, at least for now.
@@paulinemillard8156 still, power that you get as a true vampire isn't actually that great, you can achieve better results if you just turn yourself into a lich, which has way more potential, while being the most powerful psionic among the mortals is much more appealing and you are still you, as player still has complete control over the character thanks to Orpheus
@@manofculture3638 Astarion is not a true vampire though, he is a vampire ascendant by ritual. A living and more powerful form of vampire then a true vampire. Like I said I would rather take my chances with him being true to his word and sharing or being able to take his powers for myself at a later date. Rather then take the chance that I am actually bucking the trend and am still me just with an illithids body and powers, rather then a new born illithid with my memories. Maybe if there was more proof, if I wasn’t the first then I’d be more tempted but otherwise its too much of a risk. You can’t rely on the absorbtion of Orpheus powers as there are two points in the game where you can be turned by getting too close to the absolute even while the emperor is using him to protect you. Meaning even with your evolved tadpole and powers there will always be a chance of a more powerful elder brain then the absolute, or elder brains working together to overcome your control and complete your transformation into a full and true newborn illithid fully under the control of another hive mind. All the power in the world would not make me risk losing myself.
I met a similar bug before. If Karlach is not burned to be dead in the end, an epilogue for Shadowheart won't be seen. Maybe you could try this if Karlach is in your team.
This ending scene glitched for me and the Ilithids were still floating around the city.m in this cut scene. Me: Either the people forgot and forgave the very people they were slaughtering or the Illythids succeeded
Larian really went with "Characterisation? What's that?" Everyone acts to please you. Shadowheart who would kill an Illithid without a thought about it, is down to fuck one? Hardly.
"I need time to deal with all the changes thats happened in my life!" *Me the martyred mindflayer* "nooonoooo take your time! Must be just so much to go through for you!!!"
@lilmeep7671 Well, i'd like to see what would happen for the choices of 1, 2, and 3. If at all possible with the emperor in the video, you don't mind if you can make it possible. It's your choice.
In places like Baldur's Gate, there are wards against that type of magic in a great number of important buildings. You can easily decide to track down a Hat of Disguises and live discretely at a remote farm, but major cities risky. As common as illusion magic is, its counters are equally common. You can detect aberrations with a mere 1st level spell.
That's what I wondered. The Emperor could've at least used illusion magic. Better yet, why not search for someone able to cast true polymorph or something like that? I imagine he'd be able to pay them off no problem Also - I became full illithid and used Disguise Self (via the shapeshifter helm) to appear as a human, everyone just reacted to me as if I was an illithid :(
In game? Probably because the game has a hard time with that, many times I’ve been disguised and the game simply ignored it. In universe? Wouldn’t be too hard, even if you aren’t magically inclined they make lots of magic items to conceal your appearance. But there’s lots of magic that counters illusion magic too (anti-magic fields, true sight, etc.) so eventually you’ll be discovered. You’re better off saving up your gold to pay for someone to True Polymorph you into a non-mind flayer body.
@@darrianfriant In the ending where Gale blows up the Elder Brain, in the end he just comes and says that he needs to get the crown, as if nothing happened
And then, Tav ate Shadowheart's brain after years of harmony and love... The temptation and hunger overtook them in a small, dark moment. Tav then took their own life because they could not handle their guilt. Thereafter, life continued. For a century the people of Baldur's Gate lived in prosperity, and and rumor of Tav the Mindflayer who saved them was lost. And a new evil started to rise... a new threat to Fae'run was brewing. Cue: Baldur's Gate 4.
Wait, how do you get that dialogue with the Emperor? The only thing I did he didn't like was get the hammer, but I didn't free Orpheus. Does that prevent you from talking to him like this after the fight?
No but a wish spell would. Maybe the reïncarnate spell.. The problem with the latter is the soul. It is said by multiple sources that mindflayers have no soul.
Isn’t the players mindflayer different though? I can understand that a soul ditches the body once it transforms because it would be a prisoner. The player still has full control of the body, in fact, the player chooses the change.
@@odst123451 Actually it's theorized that your player dies alongside with the soul, and the parasite takes control of the body with all of it's memories and personality if you transform
@@Vorleh I was taking about the players modified parasite. I know that a normal tadpole would “kill” the player. The soul would either abandon the body or be destroyed. I’m curious about the effects of the modified tadpoles. I’ve been researching EA and the cut content. Apparently, the story had been completely changed a few months before release.
@@LilMeep_x Yeah, there were so many more opportunities for achievements. Aside from big moments, some of the stuff that triggers inspirations is pretty achievement-worthy as well.
If you remember what I asked before, try adding the romantic choice with the emperor and see if the Choices change too if not then just show me while adding the emperor romance to it as well so I can see the outcomes of those choices.
I don't see why you don't just come clean and tell everyone what happened and say it was necessary to save Baldur's Gate. I feel like with the backing of Wyll, his father, Gale, people you've helped, etc, they would accept you. I mean Githyanki are a step away from being monsters, and they have been routinely murdering people in cold blood all up and down the sword coast during the events of the game, and yet Laezel isn't being forced to conceal herself or hide what she is despite all that. A rich, powerful, prominent figure in the city that happens to be something unusual doesn't seem out of place.
You really think Joe on Basilisk street is going to go along with that? Nah, he’s going to start to believe that the whole Absolute incident was an inside job (which, it kinda was, come to think of it…) and start a group with a bunch of other disaffected wackos. And before you know it, you’ve got people who believe there’s magical chemicals in the water turning the owlbears gay
While I do agree, I think despite being a savior, people will be paranoid and traumatized by all that happened. Some people might just find it hard to truly trust a mind flayer, and maybe for good reason if you know about a certain character...
This is like thanos somehow letting himself get bisected by Ultron with infinity stones, there's no way the Emp would've let himself get oneshot like that... especially by a fresh mindflayer
