Wait. But if the Emperor is Balduran, does it mean Balduran was involved in this? Or would this be something that he went into after becoming illithid?

I haven’t read everything I got in BG3 and I’m going off memory here, but it seemed to me the Emperor either tadpoled or did something to Stelmane. Wyll comments how in her last years she would stare intently right on your face - that sounded very much like the description of a mind flayers’ gaze.

Her getting worse if the Emperor did not come to visit seemed to me at first to be some sort of love sickness, but now it feels more grim than that. Maybe his influence or him providing her with something she needed?

This is a very interesting plot area that I wish I knew more about. I don’t remember finding many answers about Stelmane in the game, but then again - I skipped reading a lot of stuff towards the end lol.

Rawr.