I’ve been diving into some lore about Mindflayers and I’m a bit confused. Withers mentions that Mindflayers don’t have souls, and that when someone goes through ceremorphosis, their soul kind of just disappears. But there are these characters like Omeluum, who seems pretty friendly and is even looking for alternatives to brains rather than preying on humanoids. I mean, he’s got a life outside the elder brain. Then there’s The Emperor, who is definitely manipulative but shows signs of still being human in some ways. He even remembers being human and seems to want companionship. Now, Karlach is another puzzle; if she becomes a Mindflayer at the end, she seems to keep her core personality traits intact—she loses some anger but remains compassionate. Six months later, she’s helping terminal patients with their last memories, which feels way nicer than The Emperor’s approach of just munching on criminals. On a side note, why are her mouth-tentacles so short compared to other Mindflayers? Anyway, what are your thoughts on all this? Do Mindflayers really not have souls, or is there more to it?
1 Answer
It seems like Mindflayers do have souls, despite what Withers says. In a certain ending, Withers can actually find your character’s soul in the Fugue Plane, which is where souls go when mortals die. This suggests that maybe he was just mistaken about Mindflayers not having souls. Plus, Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms, has confirmed that they have non-apostolic souls, which the gods can’t really interact with.
And yes, there’s lore supporting that Mindflayers have feelings. For instance, in the sourcebook “The Illithiad”, they even use resonance stones to express emotions, which wouldn’t make sense if they were soulless or had no feelings. Plus, in BG3, there’s a moment where Omeluum actually experiences joy while watching a performance, which is pretty wild for an Illithid.
Haha, right? Withers feels like that know-it-all who doesn’t know much at all! But yeah, I get it. I’m still wrapping my head around the whole Illithid lore myself. What’s his deal with believing they lack souls? Seems he might have some pretty old-school views.