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Mind Flayers?
Mind Flayers.
The name itself sounds like something that should inspire fear and terror the mind’s eye. But what do they look like-
OH GOD THAT THING HAS TENTACLES ON ITS FACE!
Yeah, that’s a Mind Flayer.
Whether you call them illithid, or ghaik, if you’re a gith, you’re all talking about our squid-lipped friend right there. They’ve more than earned the classification of Abberation in Dungeons and Dragons.
For those that are unfamiliar with the classification, an aberration is a creature that is so unnatural, it doesn’t have a place in the natural order of the material plane. It’s not simply the fact that they’re alien in nature, no it’s worse. They’re physical presence is something most mortals cannot even begin to comprehend. And if that’s sounding familiar, well, you can call forth another squid-face-like being into your mind and you may have an idea as to how the concept of a Mind Flayer came to be.
So what is it about them that’s terrifying? Well, I can share a few things in brief, but their name should give you a major clue: They. Feast. On. Brains. And not the classic zombie way, where they’ll shamble up to you and munch you til you're dead and then try and crack your skull for that juicy brain matter. No, if given the chance to enthrall prey, or they find a way to grab behind them, they bite into the back of your skull with surprising ease, and suck out your brain, leaving you a cold dead husk with a tell-tale exposed hole in the back of your head.
What is it with them and brains? That’ll make this delve fairly long, but I can tell you that their hunger for intellect is massive. Even more so when you consider that their society and colonies thrive on gathering intellect. But…how is it they can do so? Well, they could do so personally themselves, but because of their weak frame, they may not be inclined to personally get their hands dirty. Thus, they have thralls and pets. Yes. Pets. What kind of pets?
Why, an Intellect Devourer, of course! This tiny cute thi-
Okay, I can’t front anymore, this thing is right terrifying.
Now, if you’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3, you would have run into one of these fairly early. You hear it first before you see it, and that’s because intellect devourers, like their mind flayer masters, use psionics to communicate with one another. They hunt down those with considerable intelligence, and should one succumb to their psionic onslaught, they will psionically eat their brain, while also taking over the body and controlling it as its host.
Now, it would be inaccurate to really call them “pets” more so as “slaves” to the illithid, but they can be found in and about the Underdark in general. Given their psionic abilities, they can lure down a curious adventurer, only to pounce on them. But why do this? Simple: spy work. Should an intellect devourer eat one’s brain and play host to them, they could venture into the over-world and interact with folks, their ‘fellows’ unaware of their true nature. The information they glean, they can send to their mind flayer masters.
The sheer amount of terror these little guys (though didn’t used to be so back in earlier editions) can bring is enough to make even the most hardened adventurer shiver. But for what purpose do they gain information? For that matter, what purpose do mind flayers gather information?
Why, something far more sinister. Something that not only hungers for knowledge, but is largely considered the mastermind behind a growing mind flayer population, as well as their growing hunger for knowledge:
An. Elder. Brain.
Like a queen of an ant or a bee colony, an elder brain is the head of a mind flayer colony. If there is an elder brain within the colony, their duties are akin to that of a hive mind-gathering knowledge and information for the growth of the colony. This huge hunk of brain is also responsible for any military action taken, so if a group of mind flayers are making a coordinated and prolonged attack on an unsuspecting city, you can bet that an elder brain is the one giving orders. An elder brain also isn’t small, by ANY means. Clocking in at a Size Large in DnD, a humanoid creature would be more than a little intimidated seeing this brain with tendrils at the heart of a colony.
On the topic of hive minds, Elder Brains take that to the next level. See, most mind flayers aspire to…shall we say “commune” with an elder brain by the end of their life cycle. It is seen as the pinnacle of greatness within their colony. How do they do this? By letting their brain and individual self be absorbed within the brain. This of course kills the mind flayer, but strengthens the elder brain, not just with knowledge, but with tangible psionic power. And should a humanoid be unfortunate enough to be brought to an elder brain, or try to fight one, they’d best be prepared to guard their minds, lest they find themselves dominated by it.
With the way how all of these things relate to a squid-faced alien-like creature, the entire package is terrifying.
Speaking of packages,
did you know that they also reproduce?
Yes, Mind Flayers indeed reproduce, and this last lil fact is how I will end this tale of horror. They are technically sexless, so you can’t quite sex up a mind flayer; they’ve found something more efficient, AND painful. From a brine pool of an elder brain, mind flayers will reach in and grab a single tadpole, mature enough to make its way on inside their new host. What do I mean “make their way inside”? Well, simply put, they place the tadpole in the host’s eye and it goes to work on the brain. Once that’s done, the rest of the body, over the course of a week, goes through a painful transformation, until, eventually, a new mind flayer is born.
A horrifying process, yes?
Well, four years ago, the creators of the most recent Baldur’s Gate game, Larian Studios, released a cinematic on how horrifying it truly is.
And if you think that’s bad, on their official release, their opening intro showcases the method as to how that tadpole is inserted.
And if you think that’s bad, on their official release, their opening intro showcases the method as to how that tadpole is inserted.
May want to sleep with a face-mask.
-Choco (10/23/2023)
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