What if you feed the Newborn Mind Flayer in Rivington? - Baldur's Gate 3

[@Cy8erTron1x]

I grabbed one of those brains in a jar on the nautiloid on a subsequent playthrough cause I was like "You totally can give him this, there is no way larian didn't think of this!" Turns out you can't, he doesn't like pickled brain.

[@gregorymckenzie7511]

Well that's good to know. You'd think some answers would be so obvious.

[@eipimuja]

You can use those brains in Act 2 though!

[@Cy8erTron1x]

@@eipimuja I didn't know that, awesome lol

[@eipimuja]

@@Cy8erTron1x use them on the floating head in the oubliette before meeting Ketheric. There is a small dialogue for each brain.

[@Rasta796]

He did say fresh, though

[@rachelc8368]

You brought the whole famn damily

[@lillkloniis]

the more the merrier 😂

[@francosalgado4556]

He then kills a family, you can find their and the minflayer corpses in a house at the Lower City, with the windmill key

[@kairaaitken938]

​@SordidusFellatioyes their role is to show you for future playthroughs you're better off killing it so you can get extra powers because this mindflayer is made evil by being a thrall to an evil Elder Brain

[@TannerLindberg]

@@kairaaitken938 WRONG all mind flayers are very evil by default it is impossible to be truly good as a mind flayer

[@ThePsiclone]

Player : "I'mma feed him" The Emperor: "no!" Player : "yeesh!" Johnny Silverhand "ya just don't fuckin' listen!"

[@JohnSmith-bn5mi]

This one just transformed and it STILL has longer tentacles than Tav.

[@lillkloniis]

Yeah, life is unfair 🤣

[@mercedeswalt6621]

Tentacle envy?

[@jogzyg2036]

This Mind flayer is more significant than it seems, because the way it speaks about its "vessel" clearly proves that even an enthralled newborn mind flayer is fully aware that it is an adult tadpole and the person it had infected is now gone, destroyed by the transformation. This proves that the emperor is lying about his past being Balduran, if even this newborn is aware that he is not the person he transformed from, despite having his memories, then the emperor must be aware of this as well. The stories he tells of "his" adventures as Balduran are lies meant to manipulate us into believing he is more human than he actually is. He knows he isn't Balduran, he just considers him an expended vessel. But he keeps up the illusion when he speaks with us and ansur.

[@ВладиславБулаев-л3э]

Okay, then why tf does Ansur call him Balduran? Am I missing something?

[@shroomian2739]

@@ВладиславБулаев-л3эhe was Balduran but he lost that identity when he became illithid

[@desmond1164]

That's not the vibe I got from him though? The Emperor in my playthrough (after defeating Ansur) clearly said that he views his former life as a thing of the past, and no longer who he is.

[@jogzyg2036]

@@desmond1164 Yes but the key there is no longer who he "is." In reality he never was Balduran to begin with. He had no "former life" as Balduran. He is the tadpole, Balduran is a completely seperate person. Balduran died when he was infected and transformed, the Emperor is just the adult tadpole that infected him. Every interaction related to the Emperor's "past" as Balduran, whether speaking to Ansur or the player, is a total illusion crafted to make himself sound more human. He even admits it himself if you choose the right dialogue options after you visit Balduran's old hideout and you visit him in your dreams during a log rest.

[@pwnsage]

Another interesting thing to note is that, in terms of newborn Illithids, this individual acts *radically* different from Tav/Durge, Karlach, or Orpheus should any of them undergo ceramorphosis. All of them retain far more of who they were pre-ceramorphosis, showing no signs of being the tadpole that could very easily cut and run back to the Absolute and ruin all hope of the party beating it in the process. Of course, they have to exercise a measure of extra needed control over themselves, and some of them show varying degrees of success in that department, but you can still tell it's at least mostly them. My theory is that some combination of the Netherese magic screwery that these tadpoles are infused with and Orpheus' abilities isolating them from the hivemind effectively botches the part of ceramorphosis that wipes the consciousness/soul of the host, leaving that of the tadpole just kind of shit out of luck when it finally gets to move in for what would otherwise be the kill.

[@tsuukimarunakayama9055]

If you want to become an oathbreaker feeding him will make you one.

[@docmacabre]

Yep, happened to Minthara. Used her to carry the body of some refugee, fed it to the guy. Bam, oathbreaker!

[@Bacjuszx]

I fed him the damn corpse of Isobel I carried as my Durge campaign. I thought maybe I can throw it to Ketheric for some reaction, but no cigar. When I ran across this dude, I was like 'Wait, I got a corpse lying around just fine'. Best use of the cleric ever :D

[@qisty3017]

Dear lord

[@gasparsigma]

Many played as Dark Urge but you sir were the *Darkest* Urge

[@WaterZer0]

When you talk to him before the fight, I thought for sure I could taunt him with "I killed your daughter"; but there was no option. 😔

[@lillkloniis]

Oh man that escalated quickly. Are you okey? 😂

[@kiemugen9830]

now why the nine hells YOUR illithid character doesnt have LONG tenticles, wide shoulders and GLOWING yellow eyes?

[@eebee8052]

partial-illithid. you only turn fully towards the end of game if you choose to

[@kiemugen9830]

@@eebee8052 yeah, I mean full transform, you get small piggy black eyes, pathethic short tentacles and inferior outfit compared to yellow-eyed illithids

[@jogzyg2036]

The player's tadpole is different from normal, probably because of exposure to the astral prism. This is somewhat confirmed by the fact that if the player kills themselves as an illithid Withers is pleasantly surprised to see us in death, since under normal circumstances our souls should have been destroyed by the transformation. In other words our party members become unique mindflayers, which is why we look different.

[@gathin1]

The yellow eyes are when they are part of the collective as thralls. Same eyes your companions get if you take over the nether brain and become the absolute at the end. Their eyes turn yellow. As a mind flayer yours don't turn yellow because you are not a thrall to the netherbrain.​@@kiemugen9830

[@sushles]

@@kiemugen9830i mod that shit right off

[@OldManRogers]

Larian please add Mike the Mindflayer as a companion!!!

[@ladynymue]

Again proof that the person you are is gone when the worm evolves into a mindflayer. He refers to the "vessel" having trouble dealing with the transformation.

[@IvanGarcia-xy7bf]

I assume you can gain 2 instead of 1 , if you Kill him right after you feed him 😂

[@comicdans6608]

Absolutely you do. Pretty nifty if you need an extra

[@lillkloniis]

Cool, imma do that in the future 🤓

[@zacharyspurlock6961]

Sounds like Ramsey Bolton

[@ircrzqvtl]

i fed him minthara then got withers to revive her

[@Shadowswolf9666]

Jesus

[@razrv3lc]

I feed him with one of the dead tieflings from the temple of ilmater in rivington usually lol. Don’t have to kill anyone and you get to be nice 🥰

[@annelienv]

How do you have all the companions in your party?

[@NMyardsKBSubStroy]

Mods

[@UnholyRoman]

companion mod, big dawg. Amazing mod, only downside is act 1 when you cross the lake to the forge. Characters bug out.

[@ProgramKiraTV]

They also bug during the Kethric fight.

[@6I6l6.]

party limit begone mod

[@6I6l6.]

​@@ProgramKiraTVwhat bug is this? mine didnt

[@StevenZagaris]

Howd you get 6 companions?!

[@laureni3276]

party limit begone mod is what i use. i have every companion i can in my party at once, plus hirelings if i wanna have someone for lockpicking or heals lol

[@lillkloniis]

A mod called PartyLimitBegone

[@srellison561]

Don't you also get one ilithid power if you kill it?

[@lillkloniis]

Perhaps. Imma try it in my current playthrough, might upload the test later 🤓

[@Kayuubi1]

Was my game bugged? Every time I tried selecting that option he attacked me

[@EmaKolarova]

I guess you have to be half-illithid for him not to kill you. You can become half-illithid if you choose to consume the astral-touched tadpole

[@Buffbud96]

how do you have everyone in your party? mods?

[@lillkloniis]

Yes. A mod called PartyLimitBegone. You can find it at Nexus Mods.

[@andreweaston1779]

If you attack it after this do you get another?

[@JustCh33sy]

hmmm, that would be awesome, i ended up just killing it since that was what the emperor wanted. And gained a parasite that way, but if he gives you one after feeding aswell it should be possible to get 2

[@andreweaston1779]

I off'd it too. I considered letting it live, but then I was like: no it's a mindflayer why would I do that @@JustCh33sy

[@bruh-vk6io]

can you kill your companion and feed their brain to him?

[@lillkloniis]

Good question. Imma try that in my next playthrough 😂

[@bruh-vk6io]

​@@lillkloniis oh hi i actually remembered to check that recently and basically you Can feed companions to him. they will die, you get their parasite, and then you can go and resurrect them. they will still be infected as if nothing happened and can use their illithid powers if they had any. also they dont comment on it whatsoever (at least astarion doesnt so i assume rest doesnt either) tldr you can feed them to a mindflayer with No consequences, resurrect them, and get free parasite while at it

[@keiroty7187]

I feel sorry for that guy

[@mausebas]

so it's the same as instantly killing him

[@alexandruanton7492]

You cant find someone who is alive to this mindflayer ????

[@lillkloniis]

Hmm... I'm not sure, never tried it. But the quest tells us to give a fresh corpse. Would be cool to give a live person thou :P

[@Bacjuszx]

maybe if you dominate a humanoid you can do it, should have tried that shit myself@@lillkloniis