Yeah, but then again we have True Soul Nere who requires no direct argument with Emperor and Prism doing its thing passively, let alone with all the tadpoled companions we find in Act 1 (not all tadpoled victims on Nauthiloid were protected and were in fact enthralled - best seen in Early Access version of introduction). So it's inconsistent either way, unless Orpheus subconsciously severs the connection to Netherbrain/Absolute somehow.
A lot of things have changed since EA and it doesn’t need to be brought into discussion because it’s not really canon though? The tadpoled companions we find in Act 1 are shown to need no protection at first and when we met them, the Emperor likely extended his protection to gain our trust. Meanwhile, Minsc and Minthara were already under the Absolute’s thrall so they’re entirely different cases.
Persuading Nere is the only outlier in this case that I’m even willing to chalk it up to the guy being nearly asphyxiated to death lol. I’m just trying to suggest that
maybe it’s not as inconsistent as you think. All this talk of “inconsistency” reminds me of people who criticize The Emperor for having inconsistent writing when he literally is just an Illithid and a manipulative ass XD
