Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
Today we’re talking about Mind Flayers.
Mind Flayers, think of a Mind… now flay it!
Also referred to as Illithids which means mind flayer or mind rulers in undercommon.
They are one of the lovecraftian horror monsters of Dungeons and Dragons.
These monsters are thought to have originated from the Far Realm, and have made their way
throughout the D&D Universe.
Other sages theorize that mind flayers are from a far distant future, sent back in time
to save their species from extinction.
They are advanced creatures with spelljamming capabilities flying around space.
They have infested countless worlds and taken many slaves.
If you ask a Mind Flayer their origins, they have been traveling so long that they don’t
even know anymore.
Most likely they are from the Far Realm fitting their weird aboration creature type, however
a group of Mind Flayers did travel to the Far Realm and were changed upon returning.
Their bodies were changed, but it wasn’t clear in the 3.5 Monster Manual V what those
changes were.
However all of them returned worshiping a new Illithid deity of sorts named Thoon.
What Thoon is exactly nobody knows, except it exists in the Far Realm and is powerful
enough to have a Mind Flayer following.
When asked “Is Thoon a god?”
The Mind Flayer’s answer “Thoon is Thoon, and Thoon is all!”
Mind Flayers have a tentacled face and primarily eat brains.
With a healthy brain diet a Mind Flayer will excrete a slimy mucus that coats their skin.
It’s rather disgusting.
From these tasty brains Mind Flayers get nourishment in the form of hormones, enzymes and psychic
energy.
In order to survive a Mind Flayer needs to ingest 1 humanoid brain a month.
They receive a euphoria when eating humanoid brains, gaining memories, personality, and
fears from the victim.
Mind Flayers are psionic, they have power over the minds of others.
Able to communicate telepathically they can also dominate other creatures, which they
do and turn them into slaves.
Over the centuries certain species have proven better slaves both for food and labor.
The most famous of mind flayer slaves were the Gith.
The illithids controlled empires that spanned many worlds, using their spelljammer ships
to traverse the cosmos.
This empire was literally built upon the slave labor of the Gith.
The Githzerai and the Githyanki were two factions but both share common genetics.
No one is sure where the Gith came from, some believe they are from an unknown crystal sphere
in the universe.
Others think the mind flayers mutated the original and unknown species into what the
Gith are today, mixing their humanoid hosts with powers from the Far Realm.
It was after centuries of enslavement that the Gith gained a resistance to the Mind Flayers
psychic powers.
There was a revolt and the Gith destroyed many Mind Flayers and Elder Brains freeing
themselves from captivity.
Afterwards they have been left with some psionic powers that appear to be part of their genetic
makeup now.
Much like the Gith this is how the Durergar came to be as well.
The Durergar was a tribe of Dwarves that dug too deep, and became enslaved after finding
a Mind Flayer city deep in the Underdark.
After generations of mindless servitude they eventually broke free.
Now we have a separate group of dwarves, the dark dwarves of the underdark, the Duergar.
On Faerun Illithids live in the Underdark.
It is thought that Mind Flayer eyes do not process light in a normal fashion.
Bright lights hurt an Illithid so they make their homes deep underground to protect themselves.
They capture slaves and turn them into thralls, mindless servants for the Mind Flayers.
Oddly though for how powerful the Mind Flayers are they are a race on the edge of extinction.
Once controlling much of the universe, but with the Gith slave rebellion, unable to hold
onto the Durergar Dwarves, they have become much weaker.
Living in dark places, trying to reclaim their empire.
Mind Flayers don’t reproduce in the traditional sense.
They lay eggs which turn into these odd tadpole-like creatures.
These tadpoles are implanted in a hosts brain and the process of ceremorphosis occurs, transforming
that humanoid into a new mind flayer.
This tadpole grows as it slowly devours the humanoid’s brain, finally attaching to the
victims brain stem and essentially becoming the new brain.
If a tadpole is left alone too long it can grow without being part of a humanoid host.
These horrors are called Neothelids and they are hated by the Mind Flayers.
They grow to immense size, like that of a purple worm and devour everything in their
path.
The Neothelids mostly acts on instinct, and are considered a savage and feral creature.
Humanoids work best for Mind Flayer reproduction, but Mind Flayers have experimented with other
creatures and ceremorphosis.
Creating new and interesting monsters within the world of Dungeons and Dragons.
A Brainstealer dragon is the result of a mind flayer tadpole in a dragon, which transforms
the beast into a creature hungry for brains with the power of a dragon.
Oh and mind blasts, so that’s fun.
Placing the tadpole into the brain of a beholder creates a Mindwitness.
This creature is naturally buoyant, allowing it to fly like a beholder.
Several of the eye stalks change into tentacles around the mouth.
These creatures were created to aid in telepathic communication within a Illithid Hive structure,
they are imprinted with such devotion to others that if left alone they seek out other creatures
to serve.
Certain Mind Flayers evolve into Elder Brains.
This giant Brain is at the heart of a mind flayer colony.
Just like Mind Flayers having control over their thralls, the Elder Brain exert some
control over it’s Illithids.
This is generally a mutual relationship and the Illithids are not forced to stay in said
colony, but a certain amount of obedience is in play with the Elder Brain.
The Elder Brain holds a collective memory for the colony, knowledge, expertise, and
skills are there for others to tap into.
It’s almost like a large library for Mind Flayers to access.
They can only access the Elder Brain within 5 miles of it.
This limits the size of Mind Flayer colonies in the Underdark.
It’s rare for an Illithid to leave the colony, they do so under strict orders from the Elder
Brain in the hopes of bringing back new information or treasures.
There are some Illithids that flee from the colony, these renegade mind flayers break
the bond of obedience and often start new colonies out of the Elder Brain’s reach.
These usually are a single Illithid with a few mind controlled thralls, but occasionally
the mind flayer is an Ulitharid.
Rarely during ceremorphosis an ulitharid is created.
These are more powerful than your regular mind flayer and they have a personality conflict
with the Elder Brain.
Eventually a Ulitharid grows so strong it takes a handful of Mind Flayers with it and
leaves the colony creating a new one roughly 100 miles away from the original.
Protecting the Elder Brain and the colony is of the highest importance.
So colonies, or Illithid cities are kept secret as much as possible.
When needing food of new thralls small groups use stealth and deception to infiltrate humanoid
communities and steal a few unwilling creatures.
Illithids have no way to really speak, they communicate telepathically.
This bars them from divine and arcane spellcasting with verbal components.
However some mind flayers have figured out a way to use one of their tentacles shoved
down their throats to act as a sort of tongue.
Enabling them to cast arcane magic.
Mind Flayers that pursues arcane magic are usually exiled from the colony by the Elder
Brain, I find this odd as you would think all information is accepted in a Mind Flayer
colony.
Many of these Arcane Mind Flayers become obsessed with their own deaths, knowing their memories
will not live on in the Elder Brain.
Lichdom is an obvious choice at a chance for immortality.
This type Mind Flayer is known as an Alhoon.
Not considered a true lich, it is possible for a Mind Flayer to become an Illithilich
and gain more powers of undeath.
Mind Flayers also like to experiment, and create.
Which is where we get creatures like the Mindwitness mentioned earlier.
They are also responsible for Intellect Devourers, and some believe Cranium Rats as well.
Thanks for joining me on this deep dive into Mind Flayers.
If you like this content please consider subscribing, I have new D&D lore videos every Wednesday.
Special thanks to my patrons on Patreon that keep these videos going.
Thank you all!
I’ll be back next week with another video, see you all then.