Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Nostalgic Mind Flayer theory

Hello everyone,

I have been playing Baldur's Gate one and two since I was young, when they first came out. A few years ago, I started replaying them in the enhanced version and now I have been playing them again but this time I've been hunting for clues as to what the plot of Baldur's Gate 3 might involve. That may sound odd given that Larian were not involved in the creation process of the first two, however, it's surely a given that the team at Larian would have played through both of the original two games. There WILL BE a link to the original series, as Swen Vinke himself said on the AMA on Reddit: "Let me just say that we touch upon the story of BG 1&2 in meaningful ways, there are returning characters and what happened in BG 1/2/tob leads to what happens into BG3"

These links are likely related to the Bhaalspawn, especially given the fact that we have seen a symbol for The Dead Three in the first teaser trailer. However, as the over arching villains appear at the moment to be the Illithids, perhaps it's worthwhile having a look at some possible links to the mind flayers in the last two games. In the videos below, I have a look at these links (apologies for the sound quality in the first... I had a proper microphone by the second video). If you don't fancy watching them and you feel like doing some of your own research, then here is a list of things to look at:

1. "The Hidden" a mind flayer disguised as a human (Through Jan Jansen quest line)
2. Nobles in Athkatla being influenced influenced by The Hidden (namely the Jysstev family)
3. Firkraag and Tazok having a link to The Hidden (Tazok has the only key in the game to the mind flayer compound within the Athkatla sewers)
4. The apparent leader of the mind flayer compound being an Alhoon
5. The Hidden tasking you with killing Githyanki
6. Nalia De'Arnsie quest line (More nobles being affected by unknown forces?)
7. "The Stronger" are referred to by Trolls in the De'Arnsie keep. Who are they?
8. Umber Hulks in the De'Arnsie Keep
9. The Roenalls link to slavers
10. The Hidden compound in Athkatla has someone called Maferan and if you take control of him using the console and look at his inventory his sprite is a mind flayer
11. That Hidden Compound in general is a mystery and linked to the slavers, who are linked to the Roenalls, who are linked to the De'Arnsie Keep.
12. The Hidden Compound NPCs have the same dialogue as the humans in the Mind Flayer base

Bonus:

13. The Twisted Rune (That will be in a third video)

Anyway, the list is more made for people very familiar with the games to jog their memory. I explain all the links in the videos and remember this isn't supposed to be super serious... I could be totally wrong! It's just a fun nostalgic look back. Please enjoy and hopefully we can have some good discussion over this...

I just want to say I appreciate you doing this and look forward to part 3. Your vid inspired me to do another play through because honestly I didn’t even remember that whole mindflayer Jan Jansen thing, not sure if I’ve always skipped it or ignore it or what. Just goes to show how much varied content and replay ability bg2 has.

Yup, all those things you mentioned were loose ends in the original BG, though I sort of felt that the special secret area in the Temple Sewers was kind of the climax for the Illithid-related stories.

As far as plotline connections, I would reach all the way back, beyond the origins of Mind Flayers in D&D. With a little online research, you will find that Gary Gygax created them after seeing the cover art of a book called "The Burrowers Beneath", by Brian Lumley. Lumley, in turn, was inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft such as "the Haunter in the Dark". I think the older BG series had sort of captured the Lovecraftian theme somewhat, that there are entities in the universe to whom mankind is insignificant. The best we can expect from such entities is indifference, and in the worst cases of dealing with such creatures, our perceptions of reality are shattered and we devolve into madness and chaos. Lovecraft was a genius at capturing the horror of the unknown, and I hope Larian takes advantage of this wonderful legacy.

or a enity god, shapeshifter

*******
autism is a curse and sometimes a benevolent thing
pain is nothing to doomn doiom is but a man
sorry for the copyright this tjhing makes or breaks my mind, dont break it let me help you, help me help yourself, larian
named based on a graphic novel T&T Victorvndoom herin was copyright of marvel but i lost the O (between the v en N) in stepping on the time platform
also tried multiple times to contact larian for an idea but need some ideas to fund it myself

I'm glad that you like the videos! Jan Jansen always gets skipped, probably because of the never ending monologues but he has a lot of interesting things to say. The twisted rune have really caught my eye recently and I'm not expecting them to have anything to do with Baldur's Gate 3, but we will see! There's always potential.

The third installment... All about the Twisted Rune's links

The secret Mind Flayer base beneath the temple district in BG2 is the first thing that came to my mind when I first heard Illithids were the villains. I thought it would be pretty cool to pick up after this.

Also, me and my friends are playing trough Descent into Avernus right now and I noticed the Dead Three symbol painted on a wall at the very beginning of the first teaser. I just can't wait to see what connection it has to BG3 and its story.

Are you running Descent into Avernus or are you a player? There is something else interesting in that campaign that I'd like to mention but I don't want to ruin anything that your DM might have planned for you!

I'm running it.

Write it between spoiler tags, just in case

Nice theory -- you might also include the lich that appears in the Cerd's baby quest. He's in the house right next to the Jaastev' and it's implied that the lich is a twisted rune member.

Brilliant, thanks. I'd completely forgotten about that Lich in Cernd's quest. I don't remember the Twisted Rune implication though?

In the Baldur's Gate Gazeteer, it says the following:

I'm probably misremembering then. I tried loading on old save but couldn't trigger the dialogue I was thinking of -- I *thought* that if you fought both Deril and Lagole Gon the lich would say something about the rune not appreciating weakness. Probably bad memory and/or mistaking my own attempt to tell a story about the rune's involvement for reality. My bad.

Still, there are things you can use.

But who are Deril's guests? Why doesn't he want anyone to know who they are? If one is a lich are the others liches as well? Could the rune be recruiting members of the cowled wizards? Has the rune taken over the cowled ones?

If you go on the Forgotten Realms Wiki and have a look at the Twisted Rune, it says they have infiltrated the Cowled Wizards within lore. I'm definitely going to get on and play Cernd's quest.

It seems the videos are deleted? Where can I find them?
Thank you!