Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Think I figured out the Mind flayer transformation

Not my post but I thought it would be a good idea to post it here full credit goes to Maverick on steam here is the link to his post https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/tradingforum/1750150007021560168/

I am just guessing here but based on contextual clues from the gameplay and the intro video but I believe I know why the Ceremorphosis or Mind Flayer transformation is not as devastating to the player characters as it usually is in the lore.

First off in the lore the tadpole has to be in the brine pool for 10 years before it is ready for implantation. At that point they are quite large and are inserted into the ear canal (NOT THE EYE) where they will kill the host after 24 hours. The transformation into a Mind Flayer is complete in 7 days.

In the game the Mind Flayer piloting the Nautiloid is alone on the ship. He looks at the other dead Mind Flayer with disapointment. One of his captives also happens to be a Githyanki which leads me to believe that the other Mindflayer fell recently in the battle where that Githyanki female was captured. Githyanki are otherwise a rare race in Faerun and would unlikely be in a normal group of captives from a Mind Flayer raid. The other Githyanki that are attacking on the dragons are very likely affiliated with her story. Regardless the important thing here is that the Mind Flayer is recently alone and that he is moving with hesitation like he is burdened by what he is about to do. He opens the brine pool and pulls out tiny tadpoles. Now if you look at any artwork for Ceremorphosis implantation you will see that traditionally the tadpoles are depicted as rather large which is why they can only enter the ear canal. He also chooses to have the tadpole enter the eye of the host which is a non-typical site for infecting a host.

This leads me to believe that the Mind Flayer knew he was being hunted and was desperatly trying to infect as many hosts as possible to rebuild the colonies Mind Flayer numbers before his potential demise. This is also why he likely raided that settlement in the video for more hosts. More importantly the Tadpoles being used where too young so the process is not working out how they normally would. ie. In the eye instead of the ear and the fact that the hosts did not immediatly die when they broke camp the next day. A mature tadpole would have begun eating the brain painfully and immediatly which has obviously not happened here. So in BG3 I believe that due to the tadpoles being too younge for implantation the player characters are going to have much more time before transformation than is typical. The tadpoles could potentially require years to reach maturity before killing the host though likely it will be months in game for dramatic purposes. The tadpole parasite is currently maturing in the host without damaging the brain as is typical and the characters are acquiring some of it's psychic abilities as a defense mechanism to protect the parasite and host until it is ready to change. So the main plot will be a desperate bid to try and reverse the infected condition that is according to lore ireversable outside of ressurection magic. This time limit will be a major theme driving the player group to action.

Any thoughts?

I mean, it makes sense in a way. But I don't remember reading anywhere that tadpoles enter through ear canal.

I think it is stated in the monster manuals but here is an article with Chris Perkins who discusses Mindflayers.

https://venturebeat.com/2019/07/30/...ark-horrible-secrets-of-the-mind-flayer/

Cool thanks

I was certain it was through the eyes

It doesn't make sense that it's just sitting there, waiting.
If it's not eating your brain, what is it doing?
And if it is eating your brain, then you are already damaged. So instead of you dying slowly and painfully in 24 hours as your brain is being devoured, you get amazing powers.


I hate it.

We will find out

Well there did say it's a unique worm I hope we get some unique dialogue with the great old one warlock like maybe able to talk with the worm telepathically

The Illithid approaches Lae'zel with a tadpole first, and more hesitating than the next time.
She turns her head away, and he places the tadpole on her cheek, right between her eye and her ear.

The (apparently too young) tadpole decided to go for the eye, not the mind flayer.

The second time, with the first-person-person, he is way more confident to do it the same way, since he
a) did not even allow this person to turn the head to the side, he moves it back, and then
b) puts the tadpole right into the eye this time.

He obviously gained confidence between the first and the second time,
maybe by learning that 'he can get these tadpoles into people's heads already',
supporting the thesis that he made this decision spontaneously.

And since he allowed Lae'zel, and only her, to turn her head away, exposing her ear,
he maybe actually expected the tadpole to go there, before learning otherwise.