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...