Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General What is the Absolute SPOILERS

We dont see when exactly he was infected but due to how its all set up, with the sudden attack on the city and taking people left and right, we can safely assume it was done shortly before ceramorphosis.
Its an important thing in the lore, a new development, which we get confirmation on in the very tutorial. By a loaded Illithid pod.

The BG3 announcement trailer looks like what the dead mindflayer shows as "their plan" if you highjack Ragzlin's interrogation. Part of the game plot will be to stop that from happening I suspect. Well unless you achieved "True Soul", in that case you're probably more Illithid than you would want, you just don't know it yet.

He calls it "strange magic", not shadow magic, though.

WotC let it be known in an interview that those seen in the teaser had the tadpole for 7 days, suggesting a normal transformation sequence. But the symbol of the absolute is clearly visible on a wall so that would indicate that the absolute cultists also infect people with normal tadpoles. Or the communication between Larian and WotC does not work.
I guess that the teaser really showed the events of the mindflayer interrogation. I still wonder how they got the plans for the nautiloids, they had lost the capability to build them a long time ago. I am pretty sure these things need a lot of time to grow, so the alliance between mindflayers and absolute must have been in place for a long time.

Hm, whatever, i guess it will be clarified sooner or later. In any case we have seen that a quick transformation is possible.

He says its sheilded from physical and magical attacks iirc, even telepathic reaching out it all seems part of the same magic shield.

You're comparing board game logic to computer game logic. Don't assume that will apply here. Nothing in Baldur's gate computer games has ever given any indication of ALL children of Bhaal being wiped out. For we know we could be playing as one. I highly doubt this tabletop game you mention even mentions the main character in BG2. Who is of course a bhaalspawn. And I really don't see how ALL children of Bhaal can be found and hunted down if there's so many (let alone THEIR children to boot). You can follow a trail of destruction of course but what of those that keep a low profile? Or even go out of their way to not kill? What if you just THINK you got them all but haven't? No, that seems unlikely. But this isn't necessary for Bhaal to resurrect.

Bhaal doesn't need ALL Bhaalspawn to resurrect. He simply needs enough. "A good chunk". That's his failsafe. So even if/when he resurrects there's every chance we'll be playing AS one. Which will further make the encounter all the more interesting. The "lust for blood line" at the end of the early access version of BG3 indicates this might just be happening. If not the character then perhaps whatever sent the parasite. Mindflayers deal more with "converting" then "slaughter".

It's all speculation at this point. All we know for sure is that Bhaal is involved somehow. The absolute is likely some shady organisation that either banded together under bhaal (knowingly or not) or some resistance movement against whatever threat Bhaal presents even if he has yet to present himself "in person". The absolute isn't ONE person. It's a gang/group. That's why the goblins fear you're with them. And the drow with the goblins seems to be one of them herself. She's not THE absolute. She's ONE absolute. If it was just one person then the goblins would never call YOU the absolute. You don't just know someone and then look at a stranger and go "That's who I know". But it's very easy to do that when it's a group. That's why it shows you the mindflayers and gnolls and drow. And mentions "unity". For whatever reason they all share the same goal. Whatever that goal is. Which likely involves the parasite somehow.

Well, some of the illithid colonies still had nautiloids. Of course, such colonies are extremely rare and incredibly old, but still.
Nautiloids were often used for escape or the last line of defense, while illithids obeying the Absolute use them to kidnap people.
It seems to me that the presence of nautiloids speaks first of all about the return of the illithids and the beginning of active aggressive actions.
One of the forum topics raised the idea of the influence of the Far Realm and the intervention of the Arcane (mercanes), but it seems to me that it is too early to judge this.

Now I'm thinking the Absolute is just the Dead Three, Voltron'd together into a mega-god.

It doesn't seem so to me. The true soul tadpoles are in stasis too, but they do not appear to be shielded from the absolute. Only the party is.

Also, the encounter with the goblin priestess indicates that

It might actually be their attempt to circumvent Ao and regain immortality. We'll have to wait and see...

I dont think there is a direct link to the absolute like you are suggesting otherwise Gut Ragzlin and Minthara would have known what we were and attacked immediately

On that point, I agree. While on the outside Absolute is behaving like any other aggresive cult would, on the inside it behaves just like a Shar cell vs cell: no one knows for sure that this is a Shar agent before you (ofc, unless it is Shadowheart with her circlet and armor).

But it doesn't mean anything conclusive at all.

They have a connection, it doesn't mean it's always up or that the Absolute knows what the party looks like. Gut gets real interested once she learn that you have a tadpole, going as far as trying to study you.

There are also ambient dialogues that suggest the higher ups at Moonrise Towers don't trust them (hence the scrying eye).

The Goblin priestess has no idea about any tadpole. She simply believes she got powers from a new god. She thinks the tadpole is only your character problem, a regular illithid tadpole that will turn you into a mindflayer. When you tell her she has one too she refuses to believe it, says its only your tadpole making you think crazy things because its already eating your mind so you are hallucinating. *

There is no direct connection with the absolute that affects that. The Goblin warlord also doesnt reveal any such direct communication with the Absolute. It doesnt seem to communicate directly but only through visions created by the tadpoles while at the same time it hides the existence of tadpoles from infected. The true souls genuinely believe the false story about a new god, the Absolute. Its not a direct control.

The only difference between other true souls and our characters is that our implantation process was cut short so we remained aware of the tadpole. Its possible but unclear if any other higher force was involved in any of that.

A merged god is a real possibility but Shar has to be part of the conspiracy for shadow magic to be involved.

The "Shar as Protector" is a possibility but that doesn't explain the instant transformation we saw on the nautaloid. As I see it shadow magic keeps the tadpole in stasis, the true souls use the powers, tadpole gains power without changing the body and at the right time the absolute pushes the button and 'bam' all the leaders become flayers.

Yeah, presumably Tav/The Origin characters would have been mind wiped when they arrived at Moonrise, or even on the Nautiloid had it not been attacked

Not completely mind wiped, but just enough so we dont remember the implantation. Other True souls retain their personalities and memories as usual, they just dont remember being infected with tadpoles.

Also worth noting the Nautiloid mindflaners were specifically studying the last thousand years of history wonder if that could narrow down what the absolute is

If we are going with Chekhov's rifle theory, then yes; but aren't mindflayers are a race which gathers all the info they could get, all the time, by definition?