#based on dnd mind flayer lore

[xalatath]

the emperor killed ansur in self-defence when ansur tried to kill it (because it became a mind flayer, which he couldn't bear, but the emperor didn't want to be cured)☝️"he came to me as i slept - a mercy killing, in his mind. i saw the tears - i felt his grief." also, the emperor tries to convince tav the whole time as they do the trials to NOT go to ansur.

"Curing" the Emperor would just be killing it though - like I said, a mind flayer is not the person that was tadpoled, but the adult form of the tadpole itself.

I won't deny that there's a chance it retained some memories, because some mind flayers do, but usually they would be destroyed by the elder brain or else would be distressed by the condition which is called partialism. But the fact is that the Emperor and Balduran are not the same person. Any attempts by the Emperor to convince you otherwise would be an attempt to get you to trust it more.

As for the second point, the Emperor continually tries to convince you not to seek out anyone whose advice might go against its own. The githyanki creche, and later Kith'rak Voss, Raphael, etc. Regardless of whether their advice would be helpful or hurtful to Tav, it's a dissenting opinion, and the Emperor above all else needs you to follow the plan it laid out. Its primary motivation for everything is its own survival and it will do anything to achieve that. Exactly the reason why it will immediately turn against you and join the elder brain if you decide to free Orpheus.

[adinfernumadinfinitum]

Welcome to my silly little fan theory @emmg:

How Raphael is the ‘Mastermind’ behind the plot of Baldur’s Gate 3…

…or how I give him more importance than I should.

DISCLAIMER:

In this ‘dissertation,’ I present my take on things based on Dungeons and Dragons 5e lore from the Forgotten Realms universe, along with fandom theories and headcanons where they suit me. This is NOT an in-depth analysis of anything, so I won’t be reciting specific quotes, etc.

I repeat, this is just MY take on things. If a similar theory already exists, feel free to reach out, and I’ll gladly tag the material!

Oh, and there are a lot of spoilers about, well, everything, so read at your own risk ⚠️

I thank the lovely @bitethedevil for allowing me to tag their posts, making it easier on me so I don’t have to write everything out! I also want to take this moment to appreciate their work and contributions to this fandom! ☺️

Introduction

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a brilliant, complex, multi-layered game filled with multiple villains, heroic figures, and a plot that weaves players in seamlessly. That’s why we love this game—at least, that’s why I do—the gripping storyline and its faceted characters.

The game is set in the Forgotten Realms with DnD lore and rules, while still adding and maintaining its own unique features and twists.

But what if we entirely take a look at it from DnD lore perspective?

Section 1: Raphael as the core character in Baldur’s Gate 3

Fans of the Emperor might argue with me here, but oh man, have you seen how many pies Raphael has his fingers in?

This narcissistic little shit of a cambion plotted his grand design to take the Crown of Karsus for over 2,000 years, planning everything with terrifying precision and putting in a staggering amount of effort—all to manipulate Tav or Durge into giving him the crown.

To understand just how far back his scheming goes, we have to start with the fall of Netheril. As Raphael himself tells us, this is where it all began, and when his father seized the crown, it became impossible for Raphael to obtain it himself.

Baator—the Nine Layers of Hell—has its own system and rules. The plane is aligned as lawful evil, and by its laws, anyone who breaks them is punished; in other words, theft is a crime (don’t try this at home edition).

Am I going to explain the system and rules of the Nine Hells? Hell no, or I’ll be sitting here until next Halloween. Sorry, maybe in a separate post sometime (or not) 😭

So Raphael had to get creative if he wanted to get his greedy claws on the crown.

You can read about how much Raphael’s involvement is actually found in the game Baldur’s Gate 3 here.

What’s relevant for this ‘dissertation’ are the following points, which all show how he orchestrates the plot:

1. Raphael, Vlaakith, and the Astral Prism —

Raphael even plots to capture Orpheus. Not personally, of course, but with the knowledge that it could benefit him and would even serve its purpose in the future. This is a crucial detail.

However, I don’t believe Raphael would craft or have someone craft an item like the Astral Prism, as well as the bindings of Orpheus (the mask, chains, and binding crystals) and the Orphic Hammer. It’s more likely these objects already existed in the Hells, with Raphael profiting by dealing with them.

Sadly there is no official information on that, I really find that interesting.

As for why the Orphic Hammer is called Orphic Hammer - why is Orpheus called Orpheus? He’s a liberator for his people, having inherited the power of Mother Gith, who freed the Gith from mind flayer enslavement. The character of Orpheus draws heavily from Orpheus in Greek mythology, a symbol of liberation, love, and the attempt to rescue a soul from the bonds of death. The term “Orphic” reflects this sense of breaking free from constraints or seeking transformation (of course, it has other meanings, too, but this one feels like what the developers were aiming for).

So the hammer’s name has both symbolic depth and a bit of pun, as it’s intended to free the character Orpheus from his chains.

ANYWAY

2. Raphael, Moonrise Towers, and the Gauntlet of Shar —

The amount of interwoven contracts Raphael has made in the Shadow Cursed Lands is suspicious, and each and every one of them is too , an important point.

Isn’t it just a bit too convenient that Ketheric’s misery plays right into Raphael’s hands? The Shadow-Cursed Lands—Reithwin, once ruled by Ketheric, formerly full of Selunite worshippers but ruined by schemes of the Dark Lady who turned a grieving worshipper of her sister into a Shar follower and leader of an army of Dark Justiciars—is a whole breeding ground for contracts and a stage for Raphael’s play.

Hold on, I’m not implying that I believe Raphael had a hand in Shar’s mischief here, but I do think Raphael handpicked Ketheric, a grieving and obsessed madman (a truly tragic character, honestly), to be an unwitting pawn in his schemes, without directly involving himself. To do this, he contracted with desperate beings like the Architect, Yurgir, and the last Dark Justiciar.

To understand why Raphael would even need Ketheric, we have to look a step further.

3. Raphael and my beloved raccoon boy, Gortash —

Raphael buying Gortash from his parents was a calculated move and the final piece in the Netherbrain plot scheme.

I believe Raphael specifically chose Enver Gortash, a boy with potential, for his plans to get the Crown of Karsus.

Look, Gortash is anything but dumb; in fact, he’s the exact opposite. He learned the ropes in Hell, literally imprisoned in Raphael’s House of Hope. All jokes aside about pot-scrubbing duty and overhearing Raphael and Haarlep getting it on, Gortash is a quick learner.

Raphael just had to watch as Gortash escaped the House of Hope with vital information about the crown. With this, Raphael set up an ambitious, cunning man with the drive to steal the crown.

And this is where Ketheric returns to the picture. Ketheric, the chosen of Myrkul; Gortash, the chosen of Bane; and Durge, the chosen of Bhaal.

As for how Raphael might have gotten his hands on Durge? I’ll leave that as the theory’s plot hole.

I could fill it with headcanons—like Gortash and Durge knowing each other even before Gortash was sold—but that feels a bit far-fetched.

Actually, all of this is a bit far-fetched, but hey, it’s my silly little theory.

But hey again, we’re slowly coming to a conclusion how Raphael is the mastermind behind BG3, do you see my vision?

All Raphael needed was patience. The chosen ones, Gortash and Durge, set the stage by planning the Netherbrain coup and, in stealing the crown, executed Raphael’s plan. All they needed was the third chosen, Ketheric, to carry out the rest of the plot: building the Absolute’s army, etc., the rest we know...

So, what was left? Just someone desperate enough to make a deal with Raphael and actually hand over the Crown of Karsus. And how would he pull that off?

✨The Tadpole Gang✨

Every single one of them fits the bill. Especially if the player chooses Durge.

The next question is: how could he manipulate the group if they were under the Absolute’s influence? Well, that’s where the Emperor comes onto the stage.

Because, hear me out one more time: isn’t it convenient that the Emperor, of all people, finds the Astral Prism? A figure obsessed with freedom and manipulation, ambitious and clever, who would serve perfectly as a kind of protection shield from the Elder Brain’s influence for the gang? And to that even a disposable figure as it is a mind flayer who would not be trusted in the end.

(Naturally, in the game the player is the ultimate executional force, making any kind of higher plan or scheme either perfect or useless)

Nevertheless, this is as far as I will dive into this specific pond.

I just think it adds up nicely.

But Björni, if you have a Section 1, what about a Section 2? you might ask. Well, here it comes…

… how this ‘dissertation’ is actually about Mephistopheles being the ‘Mastermind’ behind the plot of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Section 2: Raphael as the Scapegoat

DnD’s lore about fiends—and, specifically, cambions—teaches us that they’re doomed to fail from birth. While they may think they’re in control of their schemes, they’re actually playing into the hands of their fiendish parent.

Ever wondered why Mephistopheles would even bother devouring Raphael if we defeat him? Sure, cambion sons are nourishing (yum yum), but given Mephistopheles’ personality, I’d guess he does it to humiliate his son, even in death, for being a failure—a failure to retrieve the crown for his father.

But wait, Mephistopheles already had the crown—why would he bother plotting all of this just to get it back? Isn’t that a bit over-the-top, Björni?

Bear with me: it’s not officially written anywhere, but it’s more or less canon based on what we know of the Archdevils Asmodeus and Mephistopheles.

Asmodeus rules the Hells, while Mephistopheles, as the Archduke of the 8th layer, Cania, is arguably the second most powerful being in Baator. Mephistopheles has never stopped dreaming of overthrowing Asmodeus, even after repeatedly failing miserably. But if he openly tried to use the crown against Asmodeus, it would be a direct affront, and Asmodeus would have shut it down from the start.

Mephistopheles has other children besides Raphael, and Raphael isn’t exactly useless, he’s actually the complete opposite. Strategically, it wouldn’t make sense to discard such a puppet (call him son)—unless Raphael had done something atrocious. And for someone as mighty as Mephistopheles, controlling his little cambion son would be child’s play. So, then why does Raphael hate his father so much, and why is Raphael ‘residing’ in Avernus?

As we know, Avernus is the armpit of Baator, a plane for exiles and outcasts.

I think Mephistopheles intentionally filled his relationship with Raphael with hatred, so Raphael’s ambition to overthrow his father would ignite and one day serve him. When Mephistopheles got the Crown of Karsus, unable to wield it himself, he set the stage for his son’s scheme—by casting Raphael aside, Mephistopheles set him on the path to steal the crown, with Mephistopheles only indirectly involved in overthrowing Asmodeus. Raphael would do the dirty work—taking over the other layers—before ultimately facing his father, who could then just snatch the crown from him. And yes, I do believe Mephistopheles is arrogant enough to think he’d still be more powerful than his son, even with a god-like artifact. He has that bloated of an ego.

BUT (Nr. 36,252), what about Asmodeus? Wouldn’t he step in and crush the plan?

Here’s the thing: Asmodeus generally doesn’t mind if his archdukes fight for control of their layers, as long as it doesn’t threaten his supreme authority or destabilize Hell’s hierarchy. In fact, he encourages a bit of rivalry and ambition among his archdevils, as infighting serves his purposes.

And can you imagine THE Asmodeus being worried about an over-ambitious cambion?

However, this leads to the TRUE instigator and the true subject of this ‘dissertation’…

… how Asmodeus is actually the ‘Mastermind’ behind the plot of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Section 3: Asmodeus doing things, just because

Joke’s on you—it’s been about Asmodeus all along, because even if he’d lose (not that he ever would—he’s just that powerful), he’d claim at the last minute that it was his plan all along. Losing trusted allies? What a bunch of traitors—perfect excuse to clean house. Losing Baator? Finally, he was sick of the job.

All jokes aside, Asmodeus being the cunning bastard he is, would likely pull off everything mentioned above.

To understand why he’d even bother, let’s take a quick (really quick, this is already getting too long) dive into his background and shenanigans in DnD.

Throughout DnD’s development from 1e to 5e, Asmodeus has gone through quite the evolution, eventually becoming a Greater Deity, the Embodiment of Evil, and one of the mightiest beings in existence, rivaled only by Ao.

While 5e keeps things vague to allow player interpretation, Asmodeus has consistently been the most powerful entity in the Hells—a schemer, strategist, and supreme manipulator.

(Here’s the only quote I’ll reference:) “[…] His sinister machinations could take centuries, if not millennia, to come to fruition, and his master plans extended across the entire multiverse. His labyrinthine, insidious intrigues could seem inexplicable to most outside observers, for Asmodeus let even his own servants stew in fear of his next move. With all the planes as his board, the Lord of Lies maneuvered the forces of evil like chess pieces in his grand designs, slowly and subtly manipulating everyone from deities to, when needed, lowly mortals.”

He’s described as being a thousand steps ahead of everyone. And while most of his plans serve greater purposes beyond even godly comprehension, some things he does just because—just for fun.

CONCLUSION

Of course Asmodeus knew Mephistopheles had the crown. Of course he knew Mephistopheles would never use it openly against him. And of course he knew Mephistopheles would keep scheming to use it indirectly, bringing his cambion son Raphael into the game.

Why would Asmodeus let all this happen, and why am I saying he’s the real mastermind?

Like already mentioned, Asmodeus often (indirectly) encourages and manipulates his archdukes to scheme and fight among themselves as a means to reinforce his dominance, foster survival of the fittest, and test loyalty within the infernal hierarchy. However, he maintains strict boundaries, and any conflict that risks his supreme authority, disrupts Hell’s role in the multiverse, or leads to excessive chaos would be swiftly and ruthlessly quashed. In Asmodeus’s mind, such rivalries are a useful tool—as long as they remain safely under his control.

In my view, the Crown of Karsus was never a real threat to him; this whole plot served his entertainment, tested loyalties, or helped him gauge his chess pieces.

And that’s how Asmodeus is the real mastermind behind the plot of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Thanks for reading this mass of nonsense ❤️

Why I even bothered with all this shit? It’s one of the key plot points in my longfic, Ah, You Devil!

[zorkaya-moved]

navigation: baldur's gate 3.

WARNING ! this verse is based only after playing bg3's act i and the writer does not know the deep dnd lore. all the information about lunar sorcery and astral elves was taken from wikis and quick research. all is created for fun's sake and for roleplaying/writing on tumblr.

Upon reaching the crashed Nautiloid's center, you find a woman standing above the surviving mind flayer. However, before you can say anything, the creature is set on fire. The illithid's screams echo in your head through the tadpole's presence but it silence down with a moment.

When you meet the woman's eyes, you notice they shine in gold. Your tadpole is ringing in your head, showing you images of cold-hearted destruction, you feel nothing as you can see the strike against the mind flayer. You see several people die in front of you, but you have no desire to help them.

You feel powerful, you feel hollow.

Your head hurts, you must stop reading her mind, you must stop, you must not be consumed, you must step away—

Your pain stops. You can breathe. She smiles at you...

???: Another survivor? Ah, yes, I remember you from the Nautiloid. Good job in taking care of the tieflings' general. You do understand how fucked our current situation is, yes? I don't need to give you a run down?

Who the hell are you?

Pardon but who are you?

For someone who's about to lose their life, you talk too much.

[ARCANA] Your powers... They're unlike what I've seen before.

???: Aw, you're such a charmer. My name is Zarina, my last name is of no importance to you. Say, would you be interested in letting me join your little merry band? It'd be quite a shame to travel alone with a tadpole in my heart.

Narrator: You were not given a chance to reply.

𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍.

o1. OF HIEMAL MOONS & DEATH'S LULLABIES (PT2) (PT3) — general background knowledge about zarina, her status in faerun/baldur's gate, and her past.

o2. OF LUNAR SORCERY — short headcanon about stats and what zarina is known to be proficient in. (tba)

o3. EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD — first impressions of bg3 companions.

o4. COMPANION QUEST SUMMARY — the title explains everything. (tba)

o5. CAN YOU MAKE THE ICE QUEEN SMILE? — approval and disapproval, how to gain zarina's high approval if she were a companion? (tba)

CURRENT RAMBLINGS THAT WILL BE USED FOR THE VERSE BUT ARE NOT YET FULL METAS:

Current short draft of Zarina's BG3 verse. + More in-depth study fo the future verse with better explanations of her past. You can find the main information here.

What can you expect from Zarina's companion quest?

Current rough draft of how to gain Zarina's favor or have her disapprove of your character.

A tidbit about Zarina's travels.

A small ramble about how long Zarina's been to Faerun post Astral plane.

[raccoon-wizard]

I have been shoehorning TMA lore into my DND campaign lately (basically I have decided that my homebrew world is Somewhere Else) and I have decided to share my conclusions with anyone who might be interested in pulling off some similar bullshit.

So here's some DND stuff assigned to the Entities.

The Eye - Beholders (duh), Divination wizards.

The End - Liches, Demiliches, and most undead shit tbh.

The Flesh - Gibbering Mouthers, Mind Flayers (bear in mind I've only dealt with them in BG3 and I'm still only in Act 1, but the whole ceremorphosis thing is just very Flesh coded to me, plus just look at the nautiloid), Ghouls, Flesh Golems.

The Stranger - Mimics, False Hydras (not canon I know but well known nonetheless; could also be the Spiral).

The Hunt - Vampires (fight me), Displacer Beasts, Owlbears.

The Buried - Bulettes, Purple Worms. Yes I know they have nothing to do with claustrophobia but they are under ground. Therefore I'm right.

The Slaughter - Gnolls (and Yeenoghu), barbarians.

The Corruption - Oozes, Puddings, Gelatinous Cubes, all those yucky bois. Also Ankhegs.

The Web - anything spider-esque, obviously. I think Mind Flayers could also be here because of the whole hive mind business.

The Desolation - lazy answer, but anything fire based.

Feel free to add your own or correct me!

[spainkitty]

So firstly, before I forget: Oh no, Agnes is not Lolth-Sworn! Her goddess is Tymora. She was raised on the surface. I'm basing her red-eye choice on maybe outdated lore?? I read some the old R.A. Salvatore books back in high school, and most drow just genetically had red eyes because they lived so long in the Underdark (except for the Protag, Drizzt Do'Urden, our special snowflake with purple eyes😌😌). They had infrared vision, too! (I think... it's been a long time) lol Did Larian/BG3 change that?

I'm so glad you like Karik's design! She is the VERY FIRST dnd character I've ever made and played, back in 3.5e/Pathfinder days! Yep, I have lots of tt DnD experience. I've been playing since I was 18, and I'm in my 30s now.🤭 Wildshape was so much cooler, then😔 Also, the very first original novel I finished, and won NaNoWriMo in 2010 with!, had Karik as the main character. My og gorl 🥰

Agnes Hamasa was actually a fire genasi in her campaign and we played up to, like, level 20. In her epilogue, she ended up joining with the gith (basically githyanki, but ENEMIES), getting a space ship, and travelling the Astral Plane, saving lives and killing mind flayers, so it's hilariously ironic to re-make her as a Tav!🤣🤣🤣 I made her drow because that fit her fire genasi design (ash grey skin, pointy ears, turn the typical drow white hair to flame red for FUNSIES) the closest. When I actually play, I'll have to think up real backstory for her though...

Wait wait. Hold everything. MR BUTTONS🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Okay, I'm back. I love all that stuff about the monk class and how it specifically changes dialogue! I played Karik for, like, an hour and noticed some Wisdom/Druid specific choices. Like when you see Gale's hand in the portal. (When I played Agnes, my friends were watching and made me slap his hand. LOL perfect first impressions. they totally gotta fall in love now)

Playing Nephalem sounds like it's going to be difficult, but also really rewarding and interesting! Did you get Minthara in his run? (Okay, wait, you used pt, does that mean playthrough? I thought it was a new stand in for "Tav", hence my confusion earlier, but playthrough makes more sense...) Did you go Durge with any of them? My friend (the Xbox guy) did a femDurge run, romanced Karlach, and ran off together in the end. He really liked it! He wants to replay to lean into the actual Dark Urge instead of redemption/fighting it. I don't know if I could, though. 😕 Even playing like you are with Nephalem sounds so HARD (I wanna play Karik True Neutral/Very Druid-y, but we'll see if I can manage that lol)

I'm so embarrassed! I thought I had replied to your last ask and I didn't😳 I'm sorry!🙈

I hope you're feeling better. I remember recommending you cloud gaming for BG3 so I wonder if you gave that ago and if you did, if it works for you👀

I'm deep in BG3 brainrot🙈😅 I'm in my 4th pt right now lol. I have a stand-by pt of my monk tav in act 3 cause the kiss animation with Astarion with a tav with body type 1 (the smollest one lol) is broken since patch 4. And yes, I'm becoming the kind of person who romances Astarion with every single tav I make😂

I'm curious to see your tavs so please show me whenever you can👀

Here are mine in chronological order of my pts:

Iriel - seldarine drow sorcerer

(the 2nd pt I did was Astarion's origin so no tav)

Ceres - half-elf monk (on stand-by until Larian fixes the kiss animation with Astarion in act 3 lol)

Nephalem - high-elf necromancer (current pt)

And yes, they're all head over heels in love with Astarion🙈😍

I really hope you've got the chance to play BG3 further! If you have, please tell me about your tav(s) and what you think if the game so far👀

I... can't even remember what I sent you, but I gather it was about BG3 LOL I'm feeling much better. I haven't tried your cloud idea yet. I wanted to finish my Adaar run and I replayed DAO instead. Mainly because my friend said during our little Christmas break (we have 4ish days off for it and we're coworkers) he's getting it on his Xbox and I'm gonna go play it with him! Which means when the spiders come I can hide 🤣🤣 I DID make three "Tavs" before I gave up (and I'll be remaking one for the Xbox marathon).

All your Tavs (pts?? pcs??) look SO cool! I wasn't super pleased with how limited the faces were, but you did a great job making each unique. Silly Larian, fix the bug so Ceres can have a kiss! KISS KISS KISS! Oh, also, how is it playing a monk?? I had a tabaxi (cat person) monk in a campaign and she was so fun to rp, does it work out well in bg3?? I think Iriel's design in my favorite, though. I looove that half-buzz cut. Nephalem looks very suave and cool, too 😎

As for my girls, I'll show the few pics I got.

This is Karik, my Moon Circle Wildshaping half-elf Druid! And her dream guardian. I made her look like my current campaign's Tepin Pallis Cuautl Lozano, another Moon Circle Druid Wildshaper 🤭🤭🤭 I wanna romance Lae'zel, but I never met Wyll or Karlach, so... we'll see.

Then, there's Andry Cousland, my og Warden, Warrior-Archer human. I just wanted to see what she'd look like in BG3. Not bad🤔

Lastly, the one I'm going to remake for the Xbox and I'm super excited for it! I'm probably going to romance Gale, maybe... Anyway, meet:

Agnes, half-elf drow, Trickster Cleric of Tymora

(you can see where the computer started losing itself and her hair looks weird and pixel-y, but still cute 💖)

[henrysglock]

Hi! Love your theories! Mine are changing and evolving, so it's good to read other people amazing analyses. It really helps.

Every day I find new things, references and parallels... Like, ST Mind Flayer is more like the Serpent in D&D, an ancient being, depicted as a serpent made of cloud and lightning, who whispers in Vecna's ear, telling him the secrets of lichdom. Also depicted wrapped around Vecna (the vines!) It's basically the very embodiment of magic/power. And imo, it's the source of all the powers in ST, from the moment Henry and his mom sensed it at the Creel House and their abilities were activated. They were like Force sensitive, lol? That's why Brenner would've never let Henry go. When El remembers her mom, for example, those strange clouds/colors she sees are the same we see a minute later, when Henry gets banished in the UD. Imo, El was remembering the very source of her powers. Then there's Will's name on Henry's grandfather clock... the damn neck tingle, the Soteria and the electric shock collars. It's always the neck!

But after all these months, I'm still not sure: why does Henry want Will? He must have some power, right? Maybe Henry needs it like he needed El's? Some space-time manipulation power Henry could use to rebuild the world? Or Will is like Bastian of the Neverending Story and can shape things permanently while Henry can only shape things temporarily or create illusions?

I'm very curious. What do you think?

It we're talking strictly supernatural, it's possible that Henry needs Will for something more creation-based, the same way El is the only one who can open gates on her own. I can also see the argument for this Serpent character, but that doesn't fit with the fact that Henry is more similar to an Ilithid mind flayer than he is to the actual Vecna character. Brenner is actually more similar to the actual Vecna character, and I talk about that in a post titled "Henry, Brenner, and DnD Lore", which is available in my pinned link library. Essentially, by absorbing the numbers, Henry boosts himself to Vecna-levels and becomes an almost-Vecna, which by your addition re: the serpent, would allow him to commune with such a creature. The contradicting fact is that the Shadow Monster couldn't reach Henry, and Henry couldn't reach it, without an open gate. Like...that's canon. No open gates, as far as we know, existed before 1979, and Henry simply isn't strong enough to reach the Shadow Monster before he's banished through that same gate in 1979.

So...It's possible that that's all there is to it if the Duffers started throwing in gotcha details, but, imo...it's not a complete fit, and it's not very narratively satisfying.

Per aemiron-main and my analyses, it's believed that Virginia knew about Henry because she knows herself. He's his mother's son. His powers had to come from somewhere, and we know the Shadow Monster can't reach into the RSU without an open gate nearby. Henry most likely got his powers from his mother, which is (among other reasons) why she was having him sent away. She, like Brenner, wanted to control him. Brenner absolutely wants Henry for his abilities, and double-crossed Virginia to get him with no strings attached. Brenner is also subtextually a pedophile, which is actually quite important narratively. There's a lot to unpack there, but if you look for the Montauk subset of MKULTRA, you'll figure out a lot of what you need to know there. I also have a collaborative post with heroesbyler linked in my pinned link library under "Mamas and Papas: Spiders, Flowers, and Bathtubs". Brenner has so many weird attachments to both Henry and El, and all of them revolve around being able to abuse them until they're brainwashed, and then harness and wield their powers vicariously. His inability to let Henry and El go centers around all these weird attachments. I talk about that more in another part of my pinned post titled "Stranger Things: Absorption, Ghosts, and Loss of Self". The source of El's powers, much like Henry's, is her mother. Now, whether Terry had latent powers that were activated by MKULTRA or her powers were already presenting before then...who knows. All we know is that for El and Henry, at least, the powers are most likely genetic. It's true, it's all in the neck, but it's not necessarily all linked to the Shadow Monster. I'd wager it's more likely that they're linked to each other via Henry. Henry has been shocked before by those collars, he had Soteria, and he was the one responsible for either giving Will his spidey-sense or awakening his spidey-sense. Now, we know that Henry canonically absorbs everyone he kills into his mind. We also know that he's very closely paralleled to Will. I'd argue that if Will didn't innately have powers (which he likely does based on ST1), then Henry inadvertently gave him powers when Will died and came back in the UD. Either way, they're so similar narratively that we can draw the conclusion that Will might at this point in time have the same regenerative/healing abilities as Henry, which is all linked to Henry's neck via the collars and Soteria. It's all the same web.

Now, why I think Henry wanted El to join him has nothing to do with her supernaturally. It's all very human, actually, and I've laid it all out in a different link on my pinned link library titled "ST4: Stories by Proxy". Essentially, it all centers around the fact that based on a lot of the canon pieces which indicate that Henry was never responsible for the Creel massacre in the first place, and that he may actually experience a fair amount of guilt over Alice's death. It continues deeper with "Stranger Things: Siblings, Love, Sacrifice, and Guilt" (also pinned!). This ties into why he's so fixated on Will. He sees his younger self in Will, which I talk about in part 3 of the last pinned post I mentioned. At first it's a twisted idea of freeing/saving as a moral disguise for his abuse of Will in search of power, and then that turns to jealousy/obsession in ST2 once he realizes Will has everything he ever wanted. We also have to hold in mind that Henry didn't display the tendencies and behavior that he does not until after the massacre has begun. His behavior shifts as he absorbs the minds of the people he kills, the same people who abused him mentally, physically, and likely sexually throughout his life. I also talk about this in "Stranger Things: Absorption, Ghosts, and Loss of Self". He's warped by the people he absorbs, so he does terrible things while hiding behind his original self's moral code of saving/freeing.

I think his desire for Will as a little to do with powers and a lot to do with his own mental state, and I think we're going to see that play out as they interact in ST5. Pre-Massacre Henry is not as bad as he and the audience have been lead to believe by Brenner, who skips months of footage to give El a certain image of Henry, and who is part of MKULTRA, which is known for breaking people's memories down and building them up "stronger" to create brainwashed soldiers (I talk about this in "MKULTRA: Man-Made Monsters", also in my pinned).

Henry's retelling is arguably less reliable than Victor's, and Victor is in an insane asylum.

Either way, I think the main reason why Will has been targeted again and again is because he's narratively identical to young Henry. This makes him stand out like a beacon to Broken, No Longer Henry in the UD. It also means he's the best shot at reaching the core of Henry and orchestrating his defeat. I talk about this in my two most recent posts, which are the bottom two links in the "main meal" section of my pinned.

[ezra-iolite]

Law of the Valiant Ramblings: Part 1

Story/Campaign Location

So... I have some OCs I really need to put out there, just to prove that I'm not entirely obsessed with Transformers... well, only a little. 😅 I've been benching this project of mine for some time now due to how complex and vast it is, but now I feel like I can finally work on it again.

In short, it's a novel I've been working on for a long time now, called "Law of the Valiant: The Bronzemoon Legacy" and it's going to be a series of books, if it ever does become more than just a personal project and turn into an actual original story to be published somewhere.

Luckily, this is a shared project I've been hammering away at with my boyfriend for the last 3-5 years, out of the 6 we've been together... it really says something about how impactful DND is, doesn't it? ¬w¬ But it all thanks to him, in the end! He helped me create my own character, how to understand the rules of DnD, and because I have no one to really play a session with, we created our own campaign, mainly based on our very own homebrewed world and races. It's gotten so big, we literally created an entire pantheon that has different deities based on the races and cultures of the entire world, alongside how each island/country is run.

So... screw it. I'm gonna infodump about it here and see where it takes me. Enjoy the long read!! Also, @tigracespace , @exileandtrust , or anyone else with a DnD AU or OC, you're more than welcome to take snippets of this lore if it'll help you in any way! 🥰 Just give credit where it's due!

(Also yes, I signed the picture to prevent any eejits from taking it for themselves, since this is actually my BFs casual work. We worked too hard on this together for it to be used without my consent! 🤬)

~*~

For this post, I'll start with the world that "Law of the Valiant" takes place in.....

The campaign/story occurs within a world that mainly consists of islands clustered at the tail of the Valian Empire, with the biggest island being the land of Kernai. For convenient purposes, when referring to everything you see on this map as a collective, the entire world can also be called Kernai, only because most of the action occurs on that island.

Moving in a clockwise manner, we'll start on the bottom left corner of the map to describe each island within the vast world shown here...

Leviathan's Veil: Said to be the birthplace of the world's magic, as well as the original home to the dragons and magical fauna that now inhabit the rest of the world, the floating islands are eternally shrouded in mists that force any who foolishly approach by boat or airship to turn back towards the mainland, no matter the mechanical tools or magical help they use to ensure their path keeps towards the floating archipelago. But even if they do find the means of passing through the protective magical fog, they will soon learn why these floating islands are only accessible by air, and why the entire area, mainly the shielding mists, are called Leviathan's Veil...

Soultorn Isle: At the heart of this craggy island, where it is said that one's lifeforce is drained from you upon setting foot on its cold, granular surface, dwells a tower that serves as a dark omen to any who are foolish enough to approach this island. For deep within its dark, skyward walls are its prisoners... the Mind Flayers, once an advanced civilization that had originally conquered all of Kernai and its inhabitants to become their willing slaves. No one remembers what led to their disappearance into the depths of the prison tower, but what they do know is that any who dare make it across the island and into the tower are never seen again.

Namdia: A land purely made of rock and ice, only those who's bodies and spirits are equal in strength have any chance at surviving on this island... And yet the fur-cladded (Viking-like) humans and Tabaxi who call this place their home have since thrived in their underground kingdom, one that is run by traditions consisting of the use of steam pipes built by their Dwarven founders, trade with their neighbors only ever performed on the icy tundra above their kingdom to ensure its secrecy, and their practiced use of control over the embodying elements of the island, of earth, fire and water.

Thesbia: Thousands of years ago the island was once home to the mountain-sized Giants, that is until the arrival of the first humans, the earliest known instance after "The Great Divide" that would split the world between humans and humanoids. Now, only their human-hybrid descendants, the clan-armored Titans (who now only reach under 10 feet in height), remain as the sole protectors of their ancestral home. Roaming the island with their swords and axes in hand, they live alongside the savannah dwelling Leonin, the forest based Centaurs, the mountain clambering Minotaurs, and many other humans and humanoids in the Greek-Romanesque kingdom. The inhabitants of Thesbia, mainly the once colonial and explorative Leonin, are mostly known for their hand in the creation of the magic barrier that keeps out the northern chill from half the island, caused by a war that destroyed the upper half of the island and turned it into the three sectors split by climate... the warm south, the icy mountain split, and the magically-created desert north.

Torbroch: An island entirely inhabited by Orc and Goblin tribes, it is under the rule of the xenophobic and prideful Order of the Four Fangs, who guide the chieftains and leaders of the tribes and punish any who trespass on the island or form a half-breed offspring with one of the tribe folk with the death penalty.

Valia/The Valian Empire: The "Cradle of Humanity" and the deathbed of Kernai's magic, Valia is a country ruled by the iron fist of Emperor Solias Valis and the (Victorian) caste based culture of science and steam-powered machinery, all at the cost of free will for the lesser populace and the prejudice against magic and the people outside the empire's rule. Under the city of Valiento dwells a city of criminals, undesirables (aka humanoids and disabled folk alike) and forgotten Warforged, struggling to get by day by day in the eternal twilight of the city, a city only known as the Hive. It is run by the Upper Guards, those sent by the Emperor himself to control the "beastly folk", with the elite amongst them being the Lightning Riders and the Plague Bearers, as well as a few notable gangs who run the underbelly of the Hive, such as the Azumites and the Warforged Time Lords. There's even word of a Warforged who wanders within the Hive, built to embody the Emperor in his younger days and act as his second hand, with a mind containing all his memories but without any of the human need for fear or fatigue. This project is known only as The Emperor's Shadow.

Azuma: Once a prosperous and bountiful oriental kingdom, Azuma was governed by an Emperor named Daijo Ori'ai alongside his Council of Lords, who in turn governed each major city across the island kingdom. Some years ago, Azuma was conquered by the Valian Empire as Emperor Solias enslaved the kingdom to fund his research into understanding Kernai's magic for his use. As insurance against a rebellion, Solias stole the Daijo's youngest heir, Prince Ai'Maketa, and made him a guinea pig for his assistant, the amortal alchemist Doctor Blanca Nyx. The young prince is still trapped in Valia, bound by Blanca's binding runes branded onto him that ensnares his own elemental power and ability to escape, while unbeknownst to him the kingdom of Azuma now lies in ruin, nothing more than a barren wasteland of ash and death after the successful test of Solias's newest weapon.

Hell's Gate: A haven for pirates and fleeing rogues alike, the archipelago consists entirely of sharp rocks between barely habitable islands, making travel by boat near impossible to those who do not frequent its protective harbor. One island, however, lies deep within its craggy clutches, and is home to the Pirate Matron.

Kilvaani's Rest: Home to the Scholar's Academy, the Great Library, and one of the biggest temples to the God of Knowledge, Kindness and the Four Winds, Aeori; this small kingdom is ruled by the last Tiefling of noble blood, Princess Lyria, who survived one of the Empire's many early crusades across Kernai in its attempt to control the land of Kernai. Since then, Kilvaani's Rest has become walled off against any who are not proven scholars in pursuit of humble and peaceful knowledge, earning the kingdom's nickname of the Fortress College.

The Khanaran Desert: Home to the struggling Tieflings of the small, and the only place that's habitable, village of Aesyir (the rest being scattered across the island of Kernai), the slaver Nagas of Cathargo and the pyramid temple to Akri, the prosperous and proud Aarakocra of the northwestern city of Aerkin, and the Dragon Rider clans on their side of the Silverthroat Mountains. It was here that the once white sands were turned red from the multitude of wars fought, between the earliest civilization of Dwarves and Tieflings (who would later establish their first kingdoms at the end of this war, later to be known as the Khanaran War) against their former masters of the Demon Court, Prince Oxarus the Eternal Flame and Thogodius the Fool; between the once prosperous Tiefling and Naga kingdoms, a war that drove both kingdoms to ruin and forced both races into a dwindling memory of their former selves; the more recent war between the Dragon Riders and the forces of the Valian Empire, one that has brought ruin to the desert through the glass forests and graveyards of airship and dragon skeletons.

The Emerald Valley/The Kingdom of Whitecliff: Consisting entirely of lush farmland, homely villages, outposts for stationed guards to help protect the region, some villas and vineyards for the nobility, and the ancestral Mathaerin Forest, the last part of the once towering forest that covered the entirety of the valley before The Great Divide. This region is ruled by two governing bodies rather than just one kingdom; the imperial capital city of Whitecliff, and the Agrarian Council, consisting entirely of farmers and important members of the community per village all across the Valley. While the council does report to the king of Whitecliff, it is a symbiotic relationship of equal trade of labor and fair pay in exchange for peace and safety. This safety comes in the form of Whitecliff's elite knights, known as The Emerald Guard, who follow a strict code and seven years worth of training before being stationed in one of the many outposts across the Emerald Valley. To ensure that the Emerald Guards never bring fear or harm to the people, the royal court mages created a curse on the armour of every guard who graduates from training that would only ever activate the moment the curse's words came true...

"Only the blood of tainted hearts may touch the green you wear. For if your plating should turn black, their weight in blood you shall forever bear."

It is also here where the story begins, in the small farming village of Alentou, built to support travelling farmers and merchants journeying to and from the capital or Hammerdeep and the forest city of . Quiet and dull, the lakeside village has everything one could need to live a humble country life, including the tavern known as the Daisy Djinn Inn, owned and run by a retired Rune Knight-Fighter Mountain Dwarf named Maddie Bronzemoon-Diazerae, and her entire family... consisting of her adoptive Elven mage sister and co-owner, Daisy Bronzemoon, Maddie's Rogue-Ranger Tiefling husband, Calder Bronzemoon-Diazerae, alongside their seven children; Bula Bronzemoon-Diazerae (Calder's half-orc daughter from a past relationship with a Torbroch chieftain's daughter), Garth Silverfang, Layla Bluemoon, Daisy's twins Raevyrn and Allora, Wren and baby Lorelai. More will be explained about those in orange in the next post...

The Silverthroat Mountains: At the foot of the mountains, on the western side, resides the great Mathaerin Forest, home to the High and Wood Elves, Centaurs, canine Leshen, forest spirits, and a plethora of both dangerous and docile magical fauna hidden within the protective tress of old. Deeper still within the forest, you will find trees that nearly reach half the height of the mountains, wider than any standard house, and their trunks containing the ruins of the very first homes of the ancient Erikeans who lived in early Kernai. But at the heart of this forest lies the High Elven capital, Silvervale. None are permitted to enter its stronghold walls unless they are merchants with an invite from the Mathaerkin/Matron Queen, a badly injured person on the brink of death seeking refuge (which by their code they must offer help but with tight security to ensure none are harmed while they are within their walls), or a fellow Elf.

If you travel along a path hidden within the forest, only known by those with experience journeying to this location, you will come across your first obstacle through the mountains... the Dragon Riders. Clans consisting of many mixed races but all bearing the exact same defining features that unite them as their own separate kingdom and community, of scales along their arms, back and cheeks, reptilian eyes, and never without their loyal dragon steeds to help protect their mountain home. The clans are divided into two based on where they live... the western Glacial tribe that help protect the Emerald Valley from large or country-wide threats such as delivering goods to help alleviate a famine or defend the mountain path against any Valian spies, and the eastern Sun tribe who continue to fend off the Valian Emperor's men from the shores of the Eastern Gap and their side of the mountain path through the Khanaran Desert.

However, if you manage to get by the Dragon Rider guards and follow the path to the largest mountain within the Silverthroat range, you will finally come to the grand stone gates of the underground Dwarven kingdom, arriving first to its capital city of Hammerdeep. Rocky structures made with golden details and steam pipes will be the first thing you see, alongside a bustling market as far as the eye can see, for Hammerdeep is the true heart of all crafter based trade within Kernai, mainly jewelers, stonecarvers, and the biggest trade being sword and blacksmithing. The city is run by a family-clan based hierarchy, while the rest of the kingdom is ruled by a council made up of the most powerful and providing clans, much like Whitecliff and its agricultural council. The largest and most influential clan are the Bronzemoons, the surviving descendants of Hammerdeep's heroic founder, Boic "Bravesoul" Bronzemoon, and one of the best family of blacksmiths and swordsmiths due to their use of runework and artistic craftsmanship, with their emblem being a bronze Celtic knot style crescent moon branded on anything they create.

~*~

And that's the world of Kernai for you! Sorry for this being so long, but as you can tell a LOT of work has gone into this over the years. So feel free to tell me your thoughts on how I could improve this, and enjoy the fruits of the labor my boyfriend and I have created together. And eventually I'll get around to posting about the OCs for this world, including my boyfriend's character, Calder~

Thank you so much for reading. ^w^

[zigzagzoom94]

Hey! Do you like tabletop rpg actual-play shows that are equal parts audio drama and improv comedy? You should check out the criminally underrated DnD podcast 'Dice Funk'. It manages to combine the comfy vibe of good friends chilling out together cracking jokes with some legitimately interesting worldbuilding that examines existing DnD lore and conventions to put its own spin on them.

 Each season is a self-contained storyline with new characters so you can jump in at whichever one sounds interesting (you might get spoilered for some stuff 'cos the PCs have a tendency to make world-altering decisions that still have big repercussions, even with the substantial timeskips between seasons, but otherwise they limit any references to earlier seasons to non-essential easter eggs to keep things accessible).

 Personally I started with seasons 3 & 4 and they served as a good introduction to some recurring concepts like "the World of Forms".

 Below the Read More I'll break down each season so you can see what appeals to you:

Season 1, "Stoneroot": A noir-esque black comedy that follows a trio of varying levels of competence attempting to solve a simple missing person case that spirals wildly out of control.

 I kind of think of this as the 'Here There Be Gerblins' of the show since it's the only season with a different GM so it has a pretty different feel to the rest of the show and takes a bit longer to find its feet.

 Personal Highlight: One of the PCs rolls a 3 Intelligence, leading to a running segment where that player brings up monsters from the Monster Manual and asks the other players if they think it has a higher or lower Int than that PC.

 Season 2, "Lorelai": A more lighthearted romp in which a cast of interplanar travellers explore the world trying to figure out the cause of a catastrophic flood and put a stop to it. According to the creators this was conceived as a cross between 'Princess Bride' and 'LoZ: Wind Waker' but morphed into more of a "moist Undertale".

 Personal Highlight: The first time the GM has to portray a mysterious entity making deals with lower life forms he decides to portray them like a wheeling-and-dealing used-car salesman and it honestly made every scene they're in a delight.

 Season 3, "Ilium": The party are trapped in a strange city that people can enter but never leave, taking whatever jobs will make ends meet. Inspired by 'Hot Fuzz' and 'Twin Peaks', this series places a lot of emphasis on how the supernatural elements affect people's normal lives and uncovering the many dark secrets these characters hold.

 Personal Highlight: The GM wrote a custom "Wild Magic" table for the party sorcerer with some absolutely buckwild shit on it. I was on the edge of my seat every time it was rolled.

 Season 4, "Valentine": A cyberpunk urban fantasy with near-future technology levels in which the cast struggle to make ends meet while doing shady jobs for uncaring megacorporations. If your familiar with DnD, this season's based on 'Shadowrun'. Probably the season most explicitly about how capitalism sucks.

 Personal Highlight: One of the PCs is a wizard who uses yugioh-esque trading cards to cast their spells instead of a spellbook. I did not anticipate being so invested in their rivalry with not-Kaiba and neither did the player.

 Season 5, "Markov": If you love unlikely found families then this is the season for you! It's a space-faring sci-fi story in a galaxy reeling from war with the colonialist Mind Flayers, setting the stage for a lot of political turmoil. If you're familiar with DnD, this story's based on 'Spelljammer' and absolutely riffs off of a lot of the bizarre ideas that setting introduced.

 Personal Highlight: The Son Gun. I will not elaborate on what this means but you'll know when you get to it.

 Season 6, "Purgatory": The season opens on a group of mortals who have just been resurrected and tasked with taking up the mantle of the Furies; interplanar assassins who traverse the various afterlives dealing with whichever god-like entities threaten the balance of power between the planes. If you've played 'Planescape: Torment' or are familiar with the city of Sigil you know what to expect.

 I honestly think this might be the best individual season of 'Dice Funk'? Everyone's really firing on all cylinders.

 Personal Highlight: King Badass has my heart. Y'all can't claim to support himbos and then not be supporting my favourite dumbass bae.

Season 7, "Wormwood": After all the previous seasons deconstructed a lot of elements of classic DnD ("what's up with certain species automatically being evil?", "isn't delving into a dungeon to murder its inhabitants and steal their stuff kinda colonialistic and messed up?", "how would access to magic actually affect the way a society functions?", etc.) this seasons brings this all together by having the closest set-up to a conventional DnD adventure. The world is post-apocalyptic and draws a lot of elements from the 'Dark Sun' setting.

 Personal Highlight: Two of the PCs are a cult leader and his follower and I thought I knew exactly what direction that storyline was going...then it absolutely surprised me.

 Season 8, "Grendel": I can't comment on this one yet since it's only just started but so far it has had a very cosy, 'Animal Crossing'-like vibe with a focus on a small community, in contrast to previous seasons' much higher stakes.

[brialavellan]

So Baldur's Gate 3 seems like it'll be a decent game. My impressions are generally positive.

It doesn't have the same vibe, mechanics, or storytelling that the preceding games created 20 years ago by a very different company has (shocker, I know) but it's certainly not a bad game so far. I enjoyed what I saw. I think the best predictor of who would enjoy this are not necessarily people who liked Baldur's Gate 1&2, but moreso people who like Larian's other games (especially people who like Divinity: Original Sin)

In fact, I almost wish they called it "Baldur's Gate: (Insert Title Here)" instead of "Baldur's Gate 3" because I honestly think the tone and the setting is just so far removed from the other games that it should be considered a different installment entirely - but again, the last game was made 20 years ago by a totally different company so you can't really be too surprised.

Having checks and rolls for damn near everything strikes me as a major annoyance tho. It's in early access so maybe some things will be changed but its definitely going to encourage lots of save scumming and frustration when you fail checks you really shouldn't be failing just because of a bad roll.

This also applies to combat. Combat is turn-based and there are checks that, again, mean a bad roll can doom a fight. And when fights are already longer by default because of the turn-based combat, I could see a definite rage-quit moment in my future. I just personally don't like that much randomness in my game (even if it is truer to a DnD experience than Baldur's Gate 1&2 was). Also, you can't use other characters to pass checks in dialogues that your main character wouldn't as far as I can tell.

It also seems that they chucked alignments and reputation and now your actions are judged based on whether companions approve or not. I'm not sure how I feel about this since one of the things I do appreciate about Baldur's Gate is my ability to be a total bastard (even if my main OC is a goody-two-shoes with a super high heroic reputation). I don't think there seems to be a consequence to things besides which companions like you or not as far as I can tell.

I think the storyline itself is...ok. I think the characters are decent so far. It's nothing mind-blowing yet but again, early access. They apparently haven't finished Acts 2 or 3 yet so either it'll really pick up later on or they'll blow it.

I adore the art design. Graphics are janky but in terms of assets and art, it's a VERY pretty game. I saw a couple reviews complain about how colorful it all was and about the prominence of supposedly rare creatures like tieflings and githyanki and mind flayers/illithids but I disagree profusely. I don't know about lore compliance with Forgotten Realms but if I want dingy low fantasy, I wouldn't pick up a Forgotten Realms product.

Anyway, I just felt like writing some thoughts down now that I've been on a Baldur's Gate hyperfixation. I might also write some thoughts on Siege of Dragonspear because people seem to hate it for some reason? It's really not bad at all. It's perfectly decent.

I might post some video and screenshots of my future OC and stuff when I get a new computer since mine finally died right before I got the game :(

[themikewheelers]

Soo i guess s4 will be revolved around the UD finally!!! I mean it’s practically the most important aspect of the show and since s1 they haven’t got into it so it’s time. So excited but sad at the same time because we had to wait at again lmao

yeah !! it’s such an integral part of the show and wasn’t rlly directly a big thing in s3. like it was obviously affecting everything, but we didn’t see what was actually going on there or anything. there was the scene with Billy and I genuinely can’t remember there being another part taking place in the UD? they’ve also been so unclear how exactly the gate to the UD formed. like personally i always figured it was when El got scared seeing the Demo and she lost control of her powers, all that energy formed the rift. But I know a lot of other ppl see it less as being El directly opening it with her powers, but when she touched the Demo and contact was made between the dimensions the gate formed. Or it could be smth else for all we know. We still don’t know exactly how the UD works, but we know it’s more of a living entity itself, but it’s still this entire ecosystem we don’t know anything about. We don’t even know if the Mind Flayer is actually from there, bc from the DnD comparison used to explain it, that would say it’s not from the UD but originally from another dimension, but then that raises a question, how much of the comparison to the DnD flayer is true for the show flayer, and how much is just part of the analogy.

i know there’s all those theories that the upside down is rlly the future, which is now being fueled by the clock stuff, but i don’t /exactly/ agree with that. i could see smth however where like, in the past the upside down was almost exactly like the real world, but then once the mind flayer invaded and took it over it became what it is today, with all the death and decay and monsters and whatnot. so like instead of it directly being the future, it’s more of like “this is what will happen in the future if the mind flayer takes over our world too.” idk, just spitballing. that could also fit with a lot of the theories that demogorgons are former humans, which i mean, i don’t personally agree with but i know it’s a common theory.

there’s also so much we don’t know about what the russians know about the upside down. they were already trying to open a portal only a few months after the events of s1, and if u want my opinion, even tho we didn’t see them until s3, they knew about the upside down loooong before the american government did. they’d been planning to open a portal for a while, unsuccessfully, but then after november 1983 and they started getting readings of a portal in Indiana, they started with their Plan B for having a base in the US. Then as we know, after Grigori threatened the scientists in summer of 84, they started pooling all their resources into that US base and who knows when they actually arrived, but they likely didn’t start any actual tests until after s2 when the gate was closed. But yeah I’m sure the Russians know a lot more about the Upside Down than we think they do, and i’m hopin s4 will go into that more and along with the American plotline, give us more background on what the Russians have been up to this whole time.

but yeah! i love learning more about the lore of the show and the upside down and i hope we learn a lot in s4!

[willel]

Fun Monster Idea

Upon crusing through reddit as I sometimes do hoping with all my might to find something interesting... I did!

Someone suggested this could be the monster for season 3:

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Astral_dreadnought

Astral dreadnought

Astral dreadnoughts were originally created by Tharizdun, with the objective of hunting down travelers who searched for portals into the Outer Planes. Setting the ageless creatures loose with their insatiable appetites, Tharizdun hoped to prevent mortals traveling in the Astral Plane from gleaming into the secrets of godhood.

Ideas:

This would be interesting because... if that’s the case... all the monsters and zombies in season 3 will be trying to hunt down anyone who has had contact with the Upside Down I guess? I actually theorized that that may happen, that our gang of heroes would be hunted down because they are the only people in town able to resist the infection or hypnosis. 

The people who would be hunted in order would be Will, El, Hopper, Joyce, Nancy,... Dustin. Jonathan, and then everyone else in the group (this is based purely on their physical contact with Upside Down contagion like the air and the goo)

So one by one going down the list, they start noticing someone, something, or people following them around and stuff. First Will, who is always the “bad stuff is about to happen” alert system for Hawkins. Then El, who’d start investigating right away. Then Hopper, who would immediately start getting paranoid (maybe he’s learned not to brush it off this time). Then Joyce, who will immediately make a huge stir 

Problems:

As I always say, I don’t technically know a lot about DnD. I have a surface level understanding. I know some lore here and there, but not very deeply. I am also bad at math. BUT, based on this fine wiki here (and a warning from my pallll), the Astral dreadnought might be too powerful? 

The Astral dreadnought has a challenge rating of 21. The Mind Flayer only has a level of 7. Surely... the monster of this season won’t be stronger than the Mind Flayer... and so I decided to be generous and look at the stats of the monster I think the Mind Flayer actually is, the Elder brain.

(the elder brain is literally a huge brain of doom who is in charge of the Mind Flayers. The Elder brain is basically the brain of all Mind Flayers. When a Mind Flayer dies, it joins the bring brain. By itself, the Elder brain isn’t exactly a beast of an enemy, it uses its pawns to protect itself, aka the Mind Flayers.)

But, even the Elder brain is only a challenge level of 14 so... I mean. Ok, that might mean nothing, but google has not provided me with more information so based on this, I don’t think they have anything to do with one another.

HOWEVER, I do think whether this is an Astral dreadnaught or not, the concept of it might still be used here.